300 . . . Times Two?

Whenever I think of bowling, I think of bad shirts, bad shoes and Big Ern — that would be Ernie McCracken, played by Bill Murray in the Farrelly Bros. cult classic Kingpin.

I don't often think "amazing feat!" when I think bowling. But even this story made me stop and take note of the sport my mom used play while leaving us with the babysitter every Tuesday night. She was a loud, proud member of the Gutter Queens. Nice, eh?

Anyway, more impressive than that team name, which is probably a not-so-clever cliche name in leagues across the country, is what Brandon Rhea accomplished Sunday morning in a backroads bowling alley in Ruthven, Ontario — population 400. I kid you not.

Rhea bowled not one, but two perfect games. And he did so in succession. That's right, Rhea threw 26 consecutive strikes and bowler back-to-back 300 games. This is the equivalent of a pitch tossing a no-no in both games of a double-dip.

"By the eighth frame, the whole bowling alley had stopped and was watching," said Rhea of an incredible run of strikes that led to back-to-back perfect games of 300 Sunday. "I could see everybody gathering and watching so by the 10th frame there was some pressure."

Rhea then bowl 193 in his third game; leading me to ask: What the hell happened?