[ball rumbling]
- Brady Hoeth: Ball coming.
- Luke Seielstad: It's a little cannonball.
So, when you say,
"I'm gonna go chuck a cannonball down the street,"
people get really confused.
You have to Google it,
and once you do, you realize, "I wanna do that.
Why not chuck a cannonball down the road?"
That's exactly what it comes down to.
That might live.
- Angela: On the backroads of La Crosse County,
Luke Seielstad and Brady Hoeth have come to play.
- Luke: That'll do. - Brady: Basically,
it's a sport that they do in Ireland on back roads.
- Angela: Irish road bowling is a sport
born during the Renaissance,
and now enjoyed by these modern-day Renaissance men.
- Luke: It's a historic thing that happened in Ireland
all the way back to the 1600s.
There is a theory that
the Irish stole cannonballs from English
and didn't wanna carry 'em the whole way,
so they just threw 'em down the road.
- Angela: The weapon of choice these days...
- Luke: We call it a bowl.
That's why they call it Irish Road Bowling.
- B-O-W-L and it weighs 28 ounces.
- Luke: So, it's a 28-ounce steel and lead and iron ball.
- Angela: On this particular evening...
- I gotta figure that out.
- Angela: ...Luke and Brady scout the course
for the 5th annual
Irish Fest Road Bowling Championship.
- Luke: I'm really kind of wondering
if they're gonna let us play that back section.
- Brady: The gravel?
- Luke: That could be interesting.
- Angela: And these defending champions are ready for battle.
- Luke: When you talk a big game,
you have to be able to put up a fight.
- Angela: So, let the championship begin.
[jovial fiddle music]
- Brady: Think we're gonna win? - Luke: Absolutely!
- Brady: We better.
[bowl rattles against road]
- Luke: Bowl coming!
- Once a year, I live for this game,
just like Irish Fest.
- Angela: The rules are simple;
as simple as propelling a two-pound cannonball.
- Brady: It's heavier than you think.
- And you want to chuck this two-pound ball
as hard as you possibly can as far as you possibly can.
And it's exhilarating; it really is.
It's liberating.
- Man: There you go. - Woman: Nice throw!
- Luke: You can't toss it overhand;
it's all gotta be underhand.
You can be gentle, you can be hard.
But the answer is
you have to go across the set course
in the fewest number of throws;
it's kind of like golf in that respect.
- Angela: The gamesmanship is intense.
- Stop talking and start bowling!
You gotta put some mustard behind it.
- Luke: That's a nice line.
Get that bowl, get that bowl!
- Angela: This might look like chaos...
- Is it far enough or not? - Yeah.
- Angela: But there is a method to Luke and Brady's game plan.
- Brady: I think Luke kind of takes care of
the long power shots.
- Luke: I thought it was gonna wind up short
and it just kept going.
It works out having a partner like Brady:
He has the finesse role, he can make those curves
and things like that.
Look at that too, dead on, DEAD ON!
- Brady: Where it goes off the road, that's where you mark it.
- Luke: Hey, you wrote 19, right?
So, this is 20. - Brady: Yeah.
Between the two of us, we make it work.
- Luke: Perfect.
- Angela: Making it work isn't always easy.
One bad throw...
[playful fiddle music] - Brady: We'll find it.
- Angela: Other times, that's just how the bowl bounces.
- Brady: You could have a perfect shot,
and one little rock in the middle of the road
might just send it flying the other way.
- Luke: Stay up.
[exhales audibly]
- Brady: MULLIGAN!
- Angela: Then again, redemption lies in the luck of the Irish.
- Brady: Good roll, Luke.
- Luke: Told you about that side.
Ayy, we'll take a kick.
That's what I'm talking about!
- Angela: The game also teaches patience and perseverance.
- Luke: Road bowling takes a lot of time,
only because you lose the bowl.
[ball rolling] [mischievous music]
Right off the edge? - Brady: Yeah.
It didn't go that far either,
but I just didn't watch the exact spot it left.
Thankfully, there are a bunch of people there
that are watching it
and that are willing to help you find it.
Otherwise, you spend a lot of your time
tromping through the grass
and just trying to find your bowl
so you can throw again.
[Luke and Brady in unison] That'll do donkey, that'll do.
- Angela: At the end of the day,
with the battlefield behind them,
Luke and Brady win another championship
while sporting their Irish pride.
- We've got a lot of Germans, Norwegians around here,
and they have all their festivals and stuff.
It's kind of cool to bring the Irish bit in.
- I hope people get excited about it.
I hope they see how much fun we have,
and I hope we bring more people into it.