Bowling Center

A fight among several youths outside a Randallstown bowling center early yesterday sent six to at least two area hospitals for treatment of stab wounds. One person was arrested, and police said they expect to identify more suspects among the wounded. Police said the altercation occurred outside AMF Bowling Center in the 4100 block of Deer Park Road about 12:30 a.m., and was quickly broken up by several officers from the Garrison Precinct - but not before six people had been cut or stabbed.

In his own words, Matt Birk "can only imagine" what Andre Gurode must be going through. Gurode, a five-time Pro Bowler at center between 2006 and 2010 when he was a member of the Dallas Cowboys, is preparing to possibly start at right guard for the injured Marshal Yanda when the Ravens visit the Cincinnati Bengals in the teams' regular-season finale on Sunday. Birk, the starting center since joining the team prior to the 2009 campaign, smiled when asked about the difficulty in Gurode's assignment.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms is working with the county Fire Marshal to determine what caused the Oct. 22 fire that destroyed the Greenway Bowling Center.Fire department spokesman Battalion Chief Gary Sheckells said investigators have learned the 5-alarm blaze started in the ceiling above the second story. Nobody was upstairs at the time, and the fire smoldered undetected until a passerby saw smoke and went inside to alert the manager.Greenway workers had suspected the blaze began between the wood roof and the second-floor ceiling of the building, on Greenway near Crain Highway.

If the bruised ribs and thigh that Marshal Yanda suffered in the Ravens' 20-14 victory over the Cleveland Browns are too problematic for Yanda to overcome, Andre Gurode figures to be the first in line to start at right guard in Sunday's road contest against the Cincinnati Bengals. Gurode is a five-time Pro Bowl center, but he started five games at left guard this season while Ben Grubbs was rehabilitating a big-toe injury on his right foot. Coach John Harbaugh praised Gurode's ability to fill in during the game against the Browns.

A one-time bastion of duckpin bowling and birthplace of the Fair Lanes bowling chain is poised to become Baltimore's next loft housing development. The old Recreation Bowling Center, a four-story building at 602-610 N. Howard St. that became Fair Lanes' flagship, was acquired this month by a group that intends to convert it to approximately 50 residences. The building was constructed in 1922 as a multistory bowling and dancing emporium, with 100 bowling lanes and a top-level ballroom and roller rink where big-name bands performed in the 1920s and 1930s.

Two armed men robbed an AMF Bowling Center just before midnight Monday after going to the manager's home and forcing him and his daughter at gunpoint to drive back to the Rolling Road facility and empty the safe, police said.It was the seventh robbery by apparently the same two men at an AMF Bowling Center since August. Two other robbery attempts failed.AMF Rolling Road Lanes Manager Norman E. Blackston and his daughter, Candice Marie Flint, who also works at the bowling alley, were not hurt, police said.

A 300 game never has been recorded at Hampstead Bowling Center, but Joe Hall came close.Hall lives in Manchester and started out bowling duckpins. But in the 1970s he took up tenpins, dropped them for many years and in 1988 started bowling again.Today, Hall bowls tenpins in the Friday Twilight league and duckpins in the Monday church league, both at Hampstead. His duckpin average is 126, tenpins 175.A few months ago his wife, Harrit, bought him a new ball from the pro shop at Hampstead Lanes.

The Greenway Bowling Center survived nearly 40 years of economic ups and downs until it burned to the ground in October.This week, owners of the 24-lane duckpin house decided they will not rebuild. It was not an easy decision."If we made this decision on whether to rebuild with our heart, then we would rebuild," Jacob Davis, one of the owners, said yesterday. "Our minds won over our hearts."The center near Crain Highway and Baltimore-Annapolis Boulevard was a Glen Burnie landmark, a meeting place and home to numerous bowling leagues.

There is no evidence that God ever set foot on the maple wood lanes of the historic, soon-to-be-closed Southway Bowling Center in Federal Hill. But faith transcended doubt yesterday morning at SS. Stephen and James' Evangelical Lutheran Church, where impassioned testimonials of his pin-side presence were taken as gospel in a service that paid homage to the 61-year-old duckpin landmark. "We know in our heart and in our memories that God's grace was present with us each time we bowled," church member Mel Tansill told the crowd of about 100 worshipers.

The conversion of Southway Bowling Center from old Baltimore to new has been delayed two weeks, giving preservationists until the end of the month to find a home for the 61-year-old maple lanes. Southway, which will soon become New York-style loft apartments, was supposed to close Saturday. But developers decided to wait two weeks to give residents a chance to save the lanes and bowl at the Federal Hill landmark one last time. Developers Patrick Turner of Henrietta Corp. and Glenn Charlow of Manekin Corp.

Andre Gurode is expected to start at left guard after the Ravens deactivated both Ben Grubbs and Mark LeVoir for Sunday's road contest against the St. Louis Rams. The team announced that Grubbs, who did not practice this past week, had been scratched because of sprained ligaments in his toe. The surprise was that LeVoir, who started at left guard in a 26-13 loss to the Tennessee Titans last Sunday, had also been deactivated. Gurode is a five-time Pro Bowl center who hasn't played right guard since 2004 when he was a member of the Dallas Cowboys.

Andre Gurode, a five-time Pro Bowler at center who started at right guard in 2003 and 2004 with the Dallas Cowboys, compared making the switch to left guard to asking a right-handed person to write with his left hand. “I've played guard before,” Gurode said Thursday. “I played on the right side, but I've never played on the left side. It's challenging, but I'm getting better day by day.” Gurode said he and Mark LeVoir are getting reps at left guard while starter Ben Grubbs continues to rehabilitate his injured toe. Grubbs has sat out the team's past two practices and is extremely questionable to play in Sunday's road game against the St. Louis Rams.

With starting left guard Ben Grubbs listed as doubtful for Sunday's game at the Tennessee Titans due to a toe injury, the prevailing thought was that Andre Gurode -- who is listed as the first backup at center and both guard positions -- would slide into that left guard spot. But it was Mark LeVoir, an offensive tackle, who got the nod over Gurode. It was a somewhat surprising development since Gurode had played guard during his first three seasons with the Dallas Cowboys. Then again, Gurode had made his living at center, where he was a five-time Pro Bowler.

The Ravens reached a one-year agreement Sunday with five-time Pro Bowl center Andre Gurode, increasing questions about Matt Birk's availability for the season opener against the Pittsburgh Steelers. Birk, the Ravens' starting center for the past two seasons, didn't play this preseason after having knee surgery Aug. 3. He didn't participate in the team's only practice since the preseason finale. Gurode, 33, is the best insurance policy the Ravens could have gotten at center.

A month after expressing uncertainty about his future, Matt Birk informed Ravens coach John Harbaugh this week that he plans to return for the 2011 season. The six-time Pro Bowl center was non-committal on the 2011 season when he limped out of the locker room last month after another physically challenging year. But Birk was back at Ravens headquarters this week working out and receiving treatment for his knee injury. "I told them I would be good to go," Birk told The Baltimore Sun on Tuesday.

There's no doubt about it: Baltimore needs more bowling alleys. Seidel's shut down this year, leaving the Patterson Bowling Center as one of the last, if not the only, old-school bowling alleys in the city. Enter Mustang Alley's, a new 12-lane bowling center and bistro that opened this month on Bank Street. After spending an evening there, one thing's for sure - it's not your grandparents' bowling alley. Though my friends and I had fun when we were there last week, I don't know whether we'll be going back soon.

After Chris Carter met professional bowler Parker Bohn III last year, his star-struck mother, Ginny Carter, told him not to wash. After all, he had just shaken hands with one of the biggest names in bowling. "I don't think that before that day they knew what it meant to play with Parker Bohn," she said of Chris, 16, and his brother, Kyle, 18. The Freeland residents were looking forward to mixing with some of bowling's top stars again this weekend at the Professional Bowlers Association Wild Turkey Bourbon East Region tournament at Forest Hill Lanes.

A liberal guest policy and cheaper rates at Fort Meade's bowling center add up to unfair competition, according to the president of an Odenton bowling alley.And some Odenton liquor store owners say the taxes not charged on beer, wine and liquor sales on the military base hurt their business.Jacob Davis, president of Greenway Bowl Inc. in Odenton, says the bowling center on Fort Meade has attracted local leagues by bending the rules on guests.He has started a letter-writing battle with officials in the Army's community and family support organizations over exactly what Army regulations allow.

Washing the bowling balls was his Saturday morning ritual. Lance O'Hara was just 7 when he started hitting the lanes with a bucket of soapy water and a terry cloth rag, cleaning the oily grime off the house balls at Seidel's Bowling Center in Northeast Baltimore. His dad and a friend owned the place then, in 1967, when business at Seidel's was booming - its shiny red plastic booths packed with duckpin bowlers. In the late 1990s, with his dad getting older, O'Hara took over, managing to keep patrons with his fast talk and folksiness.

Duckpin bowling is up their alley It's Saturday night at Glen Burnie Bowling Center, and Ed Craver has warmed up his cowbell. Standing at a table behind Lane 23, he cheered on his teammates in the Saturday Night Fever duckpin league. He cheered, yelled directions to the ball such as "Go! Go!" and "Get there ... get there!" or just rang his cowbell. "I don't bowl to win or lose," Craver said. "I bowl to have fun and to have a good time. I like the people I bowl with."