If cheering on 60 bowling teams raising money for animal welfare charities sounds like a tame way to spend a day, you haven't been to the Pets911 Bowl-A-Rama, staging its third annual event Saturday, August 6, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the AMF Shea Village Lanes, 10870 North 32nd Street.
"You would think all people into animal rescue were the nicest people on Earth, but it's not necessarily true," says Leslie Hans, director of the Scottsdale-based organization, which helps raise money for more than 70 animal welfare organizations nationwide. "There are dog people who don't want to save cats, and people who get mad when you help horses. Oh, yeah! It's crazy!"
Hans says it costs the most to nurse a sick or abused horse back to shape. That's the mission of the three WildHorse Ranch Rescue facilities around the Valley, who'll have the event's one celebrity bowler, ABC 15 news anchor Katie Raml, on their team. "You can probably save 15 dogs with surgery for what it costs to save one horse," Hans says.
Attending the Bowl-A-Rama is free, but pledges are appreciated at the event, where supporters don costumes of their favorite animals to cheer on the team of their choice. And Hans says it's not uncommon to see people dressed as dogs and cats scratching it out. Call 480-926-8007. -- Jimmy Magahern
Fists of Fury
Pick a fight in Glendale
SAT 8/6
Cage fighting is kind of like scrapping with your kid sister, back in the day: "No head-butts, no throwing elbows, no eye-gouging and no hair-pulling," says Roland Sarria, promoter for Rage in the Cage Extreme Fighting and instructor at Brausa Academy in Tempe. "Other than that, pretty much anything is fair game." Sarria brings a unique blend of jujitsu, kickboxing, grappling and other techniques to Glendale Arena, 9400 West Maryland, for "Rage in the Cage No. 73: Domination," on Saturday, August 6. Although the Marc Zee vs. Melville Calabaca bout will draw the most eyes, Sarria assures that each of the night's 12 fights will be worth watching. The fists fly at 7:30. Tickets cost $20 to $100. Call 480-446-8127. See the related story "Rage in the Cage". -- Evan Wyloge
