September 1, 2010 by Rich
Tonight was the Brunswick Mixed League’s no-tap tournament, but this one was not as fruitful as last week’s was, as I had no game over 200. Part of the story was that my left foot was barking at me a little bit, so that may have been playing with my mind a bit. However, when it didn’t, I felt I threw some good shots, and, when I knew my issue was being settled in the negative, I started experimenting playing a bit deeper inside (standing 35) with decent results. My buddy Rob threw a no-tap 300 in the last game, with 9 of the 12 natural, and took home the top prize, so congrats to him.
My team from last season is returning intact, but we’re trying to come up with a new name, and John was looking at a list of them online through his iPhone, but some of the ones I liked weren’t met favorably by at least one of the other members, particularly Eileen. Hopefully, we can hash out a few ideas next week and settle on something. Anyone who’d like to offer suggestions can comment to this post with them.
A last thing I wanted to do to get ready for the new season was to get my Target Zone spare ball polished back up, as I’m finding spares on the right side tough, and hopefully the extra shine allows the ball to skid further and not hook as much. Jay did that for me in the pro shop, but I’m not going to have much of a chance to try it out, as Monday is the Labor Day holiday, and there will be no half-price bowling.
As a final note, I introduced myself to Keith Kaestner, someone I had only known online through the Massachusetts Imperial Syndicate (a chapter of FanForce, an international Star Wars fan club), tonight. He’s returning to bowling after living on Cape Cod for three years, and my league was his old league, so I’m sure the people he knew back then are glad to see him back, and that I finally got a chance to meet him in person. I look forward to bowling with him.
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August 30, 2010 by Rich
When I got in the door for practice today, I noticed Rob with the lane machine out, so I figured something was being tested, so I asked, and it was testing of this year’s Coke Classic shot. When I got around to asking about the house shot for the fall, I was notified that one of the new Kegel Navigation patterns, called “Bourbon Street” (click link for pattern chart), which is a 40′ shot w/ about 23.5 mL total oil and a ratio of something less than 8:1, was being tested for use as the “house shot”.
The characteristics of Bourbon Street are that the pattern is drier with a bit more room on the outside, so I was trying some lines in practice, and found, through trial and error, that lining up on 33 looking 10 or 11 at the arrows with my Fast gave me my best chance at the pocket as long as my speed was reasonable and not much axis rotation was used. I struggled for two games, but lined up a turkey in the last game, which was the point where I found my best line. If I can repeat my later shots, I stand a chance of doing well this winter.
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August 25, 2010 by Rich
…it was no-tap.
My team, counting the extra money, received almost $40/bowler, and I entered the no-tap tournament following payout. After a first-game 192 in which I had 3 8-counts, making only one of the spares, I got things going in the second game with a 244, with six in a row natural in the middle. It was the last game that really did it for me tonight, however, as I had the first ten, with six of those natural, before leaving a baby split on the 11th ball, which I then whiffed for a 286 (and a no-tap 722 series). I entered the side pots this year, unlike last year, and I knew I had Sean Richard beat, but only got third place in the third game side pot because of a 300 by Harry Thibeault Jr. and a 297 from someone else (I want to say it was Carl Nordstrom, but I’m not sure). Third in the side pots was still worth $6, so I got about half of my money back on the night. With my confidence growing again, I’m looking forward to next week’s no-tap tournament, which will be the one after the Brunswick Mixed League meeting.
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August 25, 2010 by Rich
The PBA reported that Brendan Bierch of Grafton, MA finished 7th and George Tignor of Winchendon, MA finished 12th in last weekend’s PBA East regional Colony Park Lanes Senior Open in York, PA. Bierch lost to David Kneas of Annapolis, MD 2-0 in the best-of-three round of eight in match play, while Tignor lost to Kneas 3-1 in the best-of-five opening round. The tournament, which was contested on Senior Pattern #1, was won by Gary Shultis of Levittown, NY.
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August 24, 2010 by Rich
As noted on a blog attached to the Chicago Sun-Times, the White Sox held their first-ever White Sox Charities Celebrity Bowling Classic last night at the Chicago Lucky Strike Lanes. Many current and former White Sox players joined some of the coaching staff and general manager Ken Williams for the event, which supports, through the foundation, pediatric cancer research at two area children’s hospitals.
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August 19, 2010 by Rich
“Trip N Shred” ended up in 13th place, four points behind “Wyld Stallyns,” but two ahead of “Hocus Pocus.” The 2010 Wednesday Summer Mixed League champions are Team 13, consisting of Harry Thibeault Jr., Debbie Butler, and Jane Welch, with a vacancy due to the fact that Derick Thibeault had surgery following the winter season and spent the summer recuperating; we hope Derick is ready for the new fall/winter season.
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August 18, 2010 by Rich
My Week 13 bowling, frame-by-frame (Linked to series page on BowlSK)
This was not only my best set of the summer tonight, but my most consistent one, as well, especially in the 210 second game, which was my only clean game of the summer. The Fast was not ready to use after surface repair, so the attack plan with the Hy-Road was to throw it fast and with as little axis rotation as possible, and the plan largely succeeded. I also got my spare game figured out: I need to go at the second arrow on all of my spares with my spare ball, and when I hit that mark on my second ball, I didn’t usually miss. 
Result: 202-210-181=593
Final average (39 games): 174
Average for last 9 games: 173
Rob backed up my 210 with a 250, so we won the second game’s points; unfortunately, those were our only points of the night.
Although this was a summer I’d largely like to forget, I did feel I got things figured out toward the end, so I’m looking forward to the start of the fall/winter season with a renewed sense of confidence.
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August 18, 2010 by Rich
An Indianapolis Colts blog noted that the team had an offense-vs-defense bowling event after Monday’s walk-through practice. The offense won, but, according to one of the quoted tweets, the defense suspected quarterback Peyton Manning had a hand in rigging the outcome.
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August 18, 2010 by Rich
This post to the ChicagoNow blog mentions the bowling party that is part of Dwayne Wade’s weekend for his “Wade’s World” foundation this weekend. The post includes a video interview with D-Wade, but there was no mention of if Wade’s new Miami Heat teammates, LeBron James and Chris Bosh, would be involved.
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August 17, 2010 by Rich
When he was head coach of the Denver Broncos, Mike Shanahan made it a custom to take his team bowling in lieu of a walk-through practice on the Monday before the second pre-season game, and, as Comcast SportsNet Washington notes, the “tradition” has carried on to his new team, the Redskins.
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August 16, 2010 by Rich
Just to make things clear, the note about my ball damage problem was not meant to negatively reflect on the management and staff of Westgate Lanes; the problem was relatively small, and they were aware of it and were working to resolve it. My apologies go to the Minassian family.
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August 14, 2010 by Rich
Texas Rangers starter C.J. Wilson held his second annual “Strike Out” charity tournament on Thursday at Splitsville Lanes. The event benefited his children’s charity, which assists children suffering from chronic, life-threatening illnesses and their families.
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August 13, 2010 by Rich
The updated standings (available at BowlerExpress at press time) find “Trip N Shred” in a rematch with “Wyld Stallyns” next week by virtue of being in 11th and 12th positions, respectively. My team has a chance to move into a tie for 8th place, and cannot finish last because there are two teams with 36 points (my team has 42 points) at the bottom. At the top, Team 13 will win the league championship outright by avoiding being swept by “Lounge Lizards,” who can only hope for a tie for 1st.
Friday notes:
- I was watching some of my friends bowl tonight, one of them being Jay Sherwood, who now works in the pro shop. Jay told me that there was a ball damage problem on the pair my team was on in league this week that came to a head in the Thursday morning senior league. This prompted me to check my new Fast for lane damage, and there were, indeed, a couple of small chips that had been taken out of the ball, though none of them were in my track area. Still, I may want to get the damage repaired, and I might be able to have Ray do it for free if I mention that it happened on the problem pair.
- The list of leagues for the fall/winter season are also now out, and there’s a new one on the schedule…after asking around, I learned that the Friday night singles league that had been running at Boston Bowl would be moving to Westgate Lanes. John Hayes, Jr., whom I also saw tonight, told me he had been that league’s secretary and that it was a very good league. With that in mind, I look forward to following the “new” league online.
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August 12, 2010 by Rich
The Miami Herald noted that the Dolphins canceled a 5 PM practice yesterday, boarded 3 charter buses, and headed to a local bowling alley for a little afternoon fun.
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August 11, 2010 by Rich
My Week 12 bowling, frame-by-frame (Linked to series page on BowlSK)
I felt I bowled better than my score tonight, and they might have matched if I had made more of my spares. I’m finding the Fast very effective for playing the deeper inside on this shot…just decrease the axis rotation, throw it fast, and give it some room.
Result: 204-156-161=521
Average (36 games): 172
Average for last 9 games: 172
Next week’s AVG+1 score: 545
It was a team effort for the sweep tonight, with my contribution coming not so much from having good games, but making clutch shots near the end of games. Eileen continues to contribute in a big way, having a 177 second game, which I believe was her second best ever. John and Rob were also both over their averages for two of the three games.
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