you
On the first part of our morning show today, we bring in Chris Gerber to talk about the third annual Marcy strikeout Alzheimer's bowling tournament, which is going to be happening one week from this weekend.
We had you on in the summer.
It seemed like a long ways off, but
you're getting down there.
Chris, boy, it does.
It, you know, everybody says Chris, how, you know, it's so far away.
Why do you talk about it?
Because this week is crunch week.
I mean, it's really.
I'm taking two days off before the event because I've got stuff to collect and you know how it is.
You guys do a big fundraiser for grace too.
And it seems to go so fast.
And then all of a sudden.
During the summer, I take a little time to just evaluate and how everything went.
What can I change?
What can I do?
Um, so I've added a few things we'll talk about this week, but, uh, I want to talk to you first as a broadcaster.
Um, congratulations by the way on how, and you've deserved every accolade you've gotten.
Phil, this radio station, this radio station does by far the best job for local sports, whatever it may events, anything.
So thank you for that.
The next thing I want to talk about that I know a lot of people listen here and your sports announcer is if young kids and coaches of young kids want to learn how to play baseball, watch the Brewers right now.
No big ball, no big home runs, slap the ball, put it in play, become a hitter.
I know that's not what we're here for, but my mom was my scorekeeper.
I found two books when I was in a little league that she kept when we were little league.
And it was pretty fun to go back and look at those.
But if you're going to be a player in baseball of any level right now, watch what the Brewers are doing with just their slap and run and defense.
Yeah, you make up a good point.
Fundamentals,
you know, and on defense too.
Same thing.
And we've all said it before, when you watch a pro athlete try to bunt.
It almost is scary, most of the time, to see how uncomfortable they are to square it a bunch.
Yeah, they haven't
had to.
Oh, if you can learn how those fundamentals, you're gonna go far in a week, I'll tell you that.
But, you know, Ithaca, I've always seen their baseball program, does a phenomenal job with teaching fundamentals.
And I know Hank doesn't, we'll use not gritty, I guess, we'll use tenacity.
Tenacity to me is a better word for this team.
They just don't give up.
Right.
And it's crazy.
I mean, to see the payroll and everything else of what they're doing.
But if you want to, as a coach or anybody teach baseball, having them watch the pros that watch them brewers right now, it's pretty cool.
It is.
So I want to thank you for just your coverage of all of those and things.
But yeah, then we'll get on to my mom's event, which is my famous, my favorite sport, which is bowling.
So, um, but Alzheimer's and dementia, um, you know, we were talking earlier, I don't see a lot of funding going towards it.
Um, so that's why I'm doing this in memory of mom.
I had to go to two shifts this year, so 24 teams, we are full.
We start at the November 7th, we'll be at 11 o'clock at the bowling alleys when the tournament starts.
That's when the basket raffles will start, silent auction will start, and the gun raffle.
New this year, so we're doing three guns this year.
A shotgun, a 270-deer rifle, and a nine-millimeter pistol.
We're adding in, my mom loved to shoot guns.
She taught me how to shoot it.
My dad taught me it.
We're raised around guns.
So we're doing a gun raffle this year.
I'm only selling 100 tickets, $20 a ticket.
My tickets are a little different than the normal ticket.
They come with 15 numbers attached to them.
So you'll tear off each number and put it in the basket.
So really with every ticket, you have 15 chances to win.
But we're only doing 100 of them.
I had a double D express, um, out of loan rock, LLC, big Mike, um, trucking company there.
He sponsored the guns.
Andy Meaden down at, uh, open season, hunter outlet.
Um, you know, he, uh, he did the great deal for me as well on the guns.
So Andy, thank you.
He's also a bowler.
So that kind of helped with the comment there, but, uh, great store, but we're, we're looking forward to November 7th and see where it goes from there.
Yeah, sounds like all your ducks are in a row.
You have a nice poster you put out with a vintage picture on there circa 1980, it looks
like.
Yeah, 19.
I think that one is 1986 or something.
I've got about three or four of them.
That was mom's, what I would call the old, if mom was around, she wouldn't know what I'm talking about.
But that's the OG crew right there.
That picture has my mom and Betty Carpenter and Donna Selner and just her crew that she bold with every year.
And I
I have some other pictures that are quite funny that are not, they must have been when they were done bowling, I take it.
So I can look through them, but that's where my heritage for bowling comes from.
Mom taught me, mom coached me through high school.
She was.
the sideline cheerleader for the whole time.
Um, she never got to see me bowl in college, but, uh, she did go along the whole step.
She was working full time at that point when I was going through college, but, uh, yeah, no, that's the, uh, poster for it.
It'll be at the Phoenix center.
Greg and Amy treat me so good there and, uh, we'll have 96 bowlers in town, November 7th.
So it says three, six, nine.
What's the significance of that?
Thank you for bringing that up.
I've, I brought this tournament up.
Um, and I cannot believe how many bowlers that are involved in it and said, yes.
And then I seen them at a tournament this last weekend that I was at and they're like, Chris, what's the three six nine about?
I said, so you signed up for a tournament.
You're not sure about it.
He goes, it's your fundraiser.
We don't really care.
I guess we'll deal with it when we get there.
So every bowler is going to get a strike in the third, sixth and ninth frames of every game.
So you're automatically scoring 30 points a game, no matter what.
Um, but you're getting a free strike in the third, sixth and ninth frames.
Um, my mom and I used to bowl in a few of them.
It was a lot of fun up north.
They were more popular in Minnesota, I guess.
Um, down here, it's more no tap, you know, nine pin tap, eight pin tap.
Um, but yeah, so the three, six, nine tournament, um, it's a team event, four man teams or four co-ed teams.
I've got quite a few ladies bowling in it too.
Um, but four co-ed teams and you get strikes in the third, sixth and ninth.
Huh, so it'll be a it's gonna be some big scores.
Yeah, make some high scores Oh, I think it's gonna make some high scores.
It is a handicap tournament But something new I've brought a different format to all three events You know, I did a Baker tournament one year.
I did You know the Baker tournament was a lot of fun.
I did a regular team
the first year, just to kind of get underway.
But next year, I was already being in the works in my mind.
I'll announce that format at the tournament.
But there will be a next year already.
There will be fourth.
It won't be, you know, I put annual on there the last, the annuals got to come off.
This is basically a fourth, and I guess you could say it's annual, but the one year we did two.
So it's kind of the fourth event will be in
2027.
You need
to have one where you aim at one pin.
Have you ever bowled like
that before?
Because I've never gotten as many strikes in my life.
I shoot for one and I get it right down the bulls.
I'm like, I should do that all the time.
You should do that all the time.
Yeah, no, it's the bowling to me is one of those sports.
I had a meme the other day come up on Facebook that I've never met more amazing people than I have at the bowling alley.
It's kind of like the ball field.
It's kind of like where you hang out with the people that do team sports or under a different kind of realm, you know, that they are there and this community, I can't stay enough.
I can't say enough about it.
How much this community, and I say community, it's Muscaday, Blue River, Richland center has stood behind this event, but it's also because of Alzheimer's.
Well, yeah, it's a fun event, Chris, but also the stats are kind of staggering.
And you were telling me before we went on the air that it doesn't look really good for the future.
So let's, let's go there with Alzheimer's slash dementia.
There's a huge misconception that while my mom had dementia or my mom had Alzheimer's, let's just put it all under one big umbrella.
Like cancer is some have lungs, some have heart, some have whatever it may be.
Alzheimer's and dementia is the same Category realm as let's just put it all there.
It's all has to do with mental health.
It all has to do with degeneration of the mind But we're getting affected more and more.
We've all had personal effects from Alzheimer's or dementia by 2050 They are estimating 13 million people will be affected by Alzheimer's dementia.
I mean that to me is a
And that's just in America.
I mean, that's just here.
Globally, they're talking 150 to 153 million people at a cost that went from roughly, I think, one, about 409 billion dollars currently.
And they're looking at probably a trillion dollars by 2050 that this disease is going to cost for people to
to do that, and then that doesn't even count the unpaid caregivers.
If you were a caregiver to anybody with this disease, my condolences to you.
Or if you're going through it now, reach out, get support, because it is one of the hardest things that you're going to go through mentally, physically, emotionally.
Everybody always said, Chris, be ready when your mom doesn't recognize you.
I don't know how you're ready for that.
But it happened.
And she looked at me and goes, do I know who you are?
and you look familiar, I'm not sure.
And when that happens, I mean, Roxanne and I were talking, maybe it's your glasses.
So I'd take the glass because I'd just gotten them before.
So I took them off and she just, she knew the outside figure, but she didn't quite know who I was.
And it doesn't help telling her cause she, it won't remember tomorrow.
Unfortunately yelling, screaming, fighting you.
It's not, it's not worth it.
at the time, because their day is different.
Tomorrow is going to be a different day for them.
They have good days, bad days like anybody else, but their bad days are bad.
But yeah, we're talking a lot.
And right now, unpaid caregivers are 13 million, roughly, with billions of money not paid.
I mean, it's hard to stagger those kind of numbers and then try to do and justify not doing something to help.
And that's what you're doing.
You're stepping up a little bit.
Last year, you had success.
Even statewide, you were kind of, you did pretty well among the speed
of the race.
End of summer.
We had that end of summer when you and Hank showed off your singing abilities.
That was awesome.
I love that.
Thank you very much for playing along.
I knew you would.
And I knew I'd make Hank uncomfortable.
So that was fun.
But yeah, I got told there by the Alzheimer's Association, I was number two in the state of Wisconsin as individual fundraiser.
So, you know, there's a lot of corporations and stuff and like UW Green Bay does a phenomenal job with their raising.
But as far as individual fundraiser, I was number two in the state of Wisconsin with nine
Just over $9,000.
I had $5,000 in the first event, so I'm sitting at about $14,500 for two events.
So my goal this one is $10,500 to make it to $25,000 in three events.
But I would think that it's well worth in reach, but you need people to
show up, right?
I do, I do.
I need people to come.
You know, the bowlers
the bowlers do a phenomenal job.
But I do not keep any of their entry fee.
Their entry fee is $265 a team.
So 65 bowlers, you know, it's a little less than I think it's 260 260 because it's $65 a bowler.
But I pay all that back.
So I want to have a tournament because we're we all bowl, you know, the
the bowlers that are doing this have bold mini tournaments and you take first and you win 200 here 300 there maybe if you win it and there's a lot of entries I have 24 teams right now first place is going to pay 1600 bucks second place will play 12 and I pay all the way down to 10th and 10th is going to get 160 dollars so you get some of your money back if you take if you make the cut into the bracket play so
I don't keep any of that.
So to really think about what I raise off of bowlers paying 50-50, the bowling ball raffles, which I think all of my bowling reps and everybody I get to talk to on bowling balls, I'm giving away 14 bowling balls this year.
All of those raffles is where I collect my money from.
So to think each bowler coming in, so that's where I need the public.
I need the public to show up for basket raffle, gun raffle.
I've got
40 I think I just counted them so I've got 20 basket raffle items and 25 silent auction items as of currently so that's 45 plus and then I've got the three gun raffle and we're only selling a hundred tickets for that at $20 a ticket so Andy Meaden is coming down at four
We're going to do all the drawings at four o'clock for all the baskets and the silent auction is going to get ended at four.
That way when we move to bracket play for the tournament, everybody's done focusing on that.
And then we'll go from there, but I'm going to give all the bowling balls away during that event too.
So all of it will be done basically by four o'clock.
So don't show up at five and go, oh, I'm here for the event.
You're wrapping up.
It's a little sooner than you have in the past.
I have and just because a lot of time it gets hectic when I'm trying to pay out all the events and everything else and you know my family
God bless them.
They help me as much as they can, but not a lot of them have ever been bowling.
So they don't know quite.
I'd love to bowl in my mom's event, but I don't have somebody to run the tournament if I do that.
So, and it's too hard to do it, but thank them for all the help.
I couldn't do it without my wife.
I couldn't do it without all my, you know, my family and support.
So, um, yeah, we're looking for a huge event, but I need the public to show up.
We're doing my mom's favorite meal, which was sloppy Joe's for a lunch special with chips at the bowling alley, too.
And then drink specials as well and all those things.
Greg and Amy do such a good job with moving things around for me because of all the things we have going on.
So lots of basket raffles and silent auction.
Can you give us maybe a little bit of insight into some of those?
Yeah.
So
I've got, if you're, if you have, which has become huge in this county,
is using your UTV to drive around and do all those.
If you have a Polaris or a K&M or Kawasaki CF model, I have Rotocap has donated two tonneau covers, they're hard covers, with a cooler that fits underneath it.
They're $1,000 packages.
I have two of those.
So I found out now recently what dealer cost was and last year they sold under that.
Make sure you get there for that.
Um, foggy bottom woodworks donate a wood design or a wood sign for deer camp, which is awesome.
Um, I've just got so many great sponsors that, uh, you know, honkers, Jones Chevrolet.
Um, it's just crazy how many people actually do that for me.
Randy Olson trucking a load of gravel.
Um, Diane nautical.
Um, I was shocked.
She had been not.
doing overly.
She had some things going on.
But she said, Chris, I'm not missing it for a world.
And I know what her cheesecakes are because I've had two of them every year.
So I've been truly blessed that she's back on board for this event.
If you want a phenomenal cheesecake, Diane's the one to buy.
If you're going to be down there, but I'll have that.
Julie Karen State Farm made a gift basket.
There's so many of them that are going to be awesome.
And I'm still waiting on a couple yet.
that said, yes, we'll do something.
They just haven't told me what yet, which happens there again.
Here's something else I would like to recommend for anybody, just from a business ends point.
I was in this, I was in retail for a long time.
I worked for a very popular power sports business.
And we got donation requests all the time, one after another coming through the door.
I don't hound people.
But if I walk through the door and just say yes or no, it's okay.
It's fine.
Say, hey, you know what?
And I think it's just our part of our mentality that if we say no, it's probably about, no, everybody understands.
You know, I'm competing against a really good fundraiser that needs to be done too.
So I understand how hard people get hit.
So just say, you know what, Chris, not at this time.
and I'll hit you up next year.
That's fine.
It's all good.
Just make sure you let people know.
So they're not always having to re-circle because nothing makes me feel worse than stopping in and saying, hey, you said you were going to, what are you doing?
What are you doing?
Either yes or no, just let me know or choose then.
And I know it's hard to do.
It's end of year.
It's also times are tough, right?
Times are tough.
I'll let I let everybody know.
I understand where I'm in the retail business still right now of
turn signal kits and oh yeah, that'll be on that turn.
We'll have $250 gift card for kinetic creations where I work as well.
Jacob is donated every year.
So if you're looking for a new turn signal kit, come down and bid on that.
It'll be part of the silent auction.
But yeah, we're looking forward to some great things.
You really have some good bowlers there.
So the bowling is taken care of.
You
just need people to come down and support in other ways.
All the teams are taken care of.
And I've got some, if you want to come and watch some phenomenal bowling.
And you know, people don't do that anymore these days.
It's just come down and watch bowling.
I remember Phoenix when I was outside of town, people were always standing around watching bowling.
You don't see that much anymore.
But come on down, mingle, talk to it.
I'll have the Alzheimer's Association there, ADRC will be there for any questions.
So if you have questions about what you're going through, or if you're a caregiver and you need ideas to where go for support,
I'll have people there for you.
Um, so you can do more than that.
You do not have to be a bowler to enjoy this event.
Um, I've got end tables from like the area support group here.
They're solid.
You could probably put a truck on them from what I can see.
And, uh, of course we'll have the normal bowl, some of the bar gifts of free bottles of boozes that you might win.
You know, it might sue some times that we're going through.
The good thing is, is after my, the election will be over by the time we hit my mom's event November 7th.
Yeah.
And we're getting close to the construction being done too.
So I think people
are, everything should be smooth.
Lots of reason to celebrate,
right?
Oh, thank
you Phil so
much.
I appreciate coming in.
No problem.
And the, and the money raised Chris, um, you know, maybe you could talk about that.
Does it go towards some research then?
100% of all my money raised goes to the Alzheimer's association, which 90% of it will stay here in the state of Wisconsin.
So.
it does not go to California.
It all stays here.
It goes to the headquarters in Milwaukee and then gets chunked out for research and everything from there.
So no, I don't, everything goes to them.
Every dollar goes to the Alzheimer's Association.
And like I said, it's pretty impressive when you figure out that 90% of it stays here in the state of Wisconsin to help with that.
Even though we know what's happened globally, it's going to be
It's one of those things and when you think about 2050, when I heard that stat, I'm like, well, that's long.
Boy, it's not that far.
I mean, we're only 24, 24 years from that, um, which puts me at 76 and it puts me at that age of, you know, and unfortunately we're starting to see a lot younger people with it.
We're starting to see because of technology and everything else.
You know, when I had my stroke at 43, everybody said, that's kind of crazy.
Not so much anymore.
We're starting to see and I.
I think there's a lot of things that contribute to that.
When we toured Switzerland and went there and you saw there's none of the processed foods, there's none of that real, I think some of that has to play in it.
I don't want to get into that whole debate because that's a debate with people.
They feel that we're fine, but you know, processed foods and everything else that we're living in, I think is playing a role in whether it's cancer, whether it's Parkinson's or whatever it may be, and especially when it comes to your brain health.
So,
Come down, talk to me, talk to the ladies that I'll have on board.
I'll have Pam down there.
Everybody knows Pam Colbert.
She's been on here before.
She does a phenomenal job with the Alzheimer's Association as well.
And with being the head of Alzheimer's here with support groups and everything.
So come down and be part of it.
And it's next weekend, not this.
Yes.
So it's one week from this weekend.
So it's November 7th.
Halloween this weekend, then we'll get through it and we'll get through all the construction and the election.
And if you voted, that's that Saturday right after that.
Sounds good.
So come down and have a wing ding, right?
Yeah, come down and at least enjoy it.
Talk to people.
If you are dealing with it, or if you are a caregiver or have lost somebody, please come down.
I like to talk to people that have gone through similar things and come up with ideas for the following year.
And so does Alyssa from the Alzheimer's Association.
I belong to a committee that we try to, we had the end of summer here that we got chosen for that we're trying to do more and more for Alzheimer's.
Wonderful.
Well, good luck with your event.
Thanks,
Phil.
Thank you very much.
You bet.
Chris Carver joining us, the third annual Marseille Strikeout Alzheimer's 369 bowling tournament next Saturday, November 7th at the Phoenix Center.
It gets underway at 11 a.m.