AUBURN - This is a story of tough love, with a lot of humor thrown in.

First there is Joe Valerio, the well-known Auburn bowler of yesteryear. During the late 1970s, he spent time as a professional but admits, “I didn't win any money.”

Ask him about his greatest accomplishments and the crafty 63-year-old will modestly talk about a fourth-place finish in The Citizen Masters, or winning a couple of 700 Club events with his doubles partner Timmy Locastro.

But the man knows the game. He was once a certified coach, teaching high school kids in Seneca Falls.

Indeed, any youngster aspiring to excel on the lanes would be in good hands with Valerio.

Then you have his grandson, Mike Suarez, 15. By all accounts, the Port Byron freshman is a bowling rat. He spends four days a week at Starlite Lanes tossing all the games he can get in, his aunt, Toni Youtt, said.

He recently captured the handicap singles and doubles (with Chris Fleming) in the Auburn Youth Association Tournament, and was also on the winning team. He'd like to follow in his grandfather's footsteps and one day turn pro.

But he's carefree on the lanes. He loses his focus. Perhaps he doesn't take it seriously enough. And it drives his grandfather nuts.

“Quitter, quitter,” Valerio yelled playfully at Suarez on Sunday at Starlite Lanes. The boy had just won a pair of matches in the Byrn's Junior Masters. He'd kept his chances alive to win the boys tournament. But that wasn't enough for the crafty veteran.

“He gives up too easily,” Valerio said. “That really aggravates me. But I don't try to talk to him when he bowls.”

With the competition over, Valerio sat his grandson down for a stern talking to. Unfortunately, Suarez heard only half of what he said, or maybe nothing at all.

“He likes to tune me out,” Valerio said.

Suarez bowls a lot of games, but he's missing the point.

“He needs to practice with a purpose. I tell him that over and over,” Valerio said. “It does him no good, otherwise.”

Despite it all, this is also a story of real love.

The crafty veteran and his grandson are close. In the summertime Valerio borrows Starlite owner John Mendillo's boat so he and Suarez can fish on Cayuga Lake. They travel to Suarez's basketball games together.

“I've been with him forever, and I love him,” Suarez said.

And the relationship may be hitting its stride. Valerio, slowed by a massive heart attack four years ago, has rebounded. He said Suarez is a self-taught bowler, but he'd finally like to take his grandson under his wing, or maybe get back into the game himself.

“I used to bowl 150 games a week, all alone,” said Valerio, who has three perfect games to his credit. “I worked on my timing, my footwork, my release. I'd like to show him a few things.”

Nothing is set in stone. For now, Valerio will watch Suarez in the Byrn's Junior Masters. Suarez needs to win every match, or else his chances end. But somewhere inside, through that carefree attitude, he thinks he can pull it off.

“I'd like to do it for him,” Suarez said.

He'd do it for his grandfather, the crafty veteran who gives him such a hard time.

That's how tough love goes.