Players Trade Footballs For Bowling Balls To Aid Charities

Arena football player Juan Long whooped after scoring a spare at Splitsville today, zig-zagging his size-13 bowling shoes along the slick floor in a dance.

"I have my own ball and shoes at home, but they're a little rusty," said Long, who was in camp with the Buccaneers in the 1990s.

Long and four other gridiron guys spent the morning at the Channelside bowling-and-billiards lounge for a charity fund-raiser dubbed Supper Bowl II. Somebody Cares Tampa Bay, a network of nonprofit agencies that provides food and other needs to families in poverty, organized the event.

Twenty-four teams raised money for charities of their choice by obtaining sponsorships for each pin knocked down during their games: from a nickel to a dollar per pin, or a flat donation. The teams also planned to divide the proceeds from a silent auction and raffle, aiming for $100,000 raised overall, organizers said.

"How wonderful the timing is with the Super Bowl coming to town that we can raise money and keep it right here in the community," committee chairperson Pam Wolf said.

Christopher Wade, 42, of Brandon, and his wife brought four of their sons to cheer on friends playing for God's Share Program, which provides money and supplies to Christian Missionaries.

Wade reached a high score of 180. "Both my wife and I opened with strikes," he said.

Long and the Tampa chapter of the National Football League Alumni Association raised money for the Children's Cancer Center, Big Brothers Big Sisters and other groups supported by their annual golf tournament.

Bowling is like golf, said chapter president Tim Watson, a safety for the Kansas City Chiefs in the 1990s. "If you don't use it, you lose it," he said.

Watson brought his own shoes, ball, glove and towel, earning him some ribbing from his teammates.

"He's the Tiger Woods of this game," said Charlie Garner, who played with Watson on the Philadelphia Eagles and finished his NFL career in 2004 as a running back for the Bucs.

"Jerry Rice always said if you look good you play good," Watson said, referring to the famed wide receiver who won three Super Bowl rings with the San Francisco 49ers. "That was his thing, and I'm sticking with it."

Watson and his wife play in a bowling league, but today he finished just seven points ahead of Long with a score of 118. Garner racked up a 138, just one point above former Green Bay Packer Hurley Tarver. Talib Douthard, a former running back for the Cincinnati Bengals, topped them all at 162.

Tarver said he hadn't bothered with technique. "It's all luck," he said.