“X Factors” did indeed split 4-4 (eight point league) with “Rose and Thorns”, so the tie is for 7th place with five other teams. Two teams won all eight points in the first week: “Wyld Stallyns” and Team 18.
2013 Brunswick Mixed banquet
May 19, 2013I was hoping to post last night, but the place where we were didn’t have wifi, and I’m kind of shy about using the 3G connection on my phone.
About the only thing different this year was that there was a large enough prize fund so that every team got a team prize apart from point money, and my team was awarded 2nd high handicap game, which we shot 1,110 for. My individual prize was men’s “B” high scratch series, which was my 648 of the “Turkey Shoot” night.
No photo of the champion team coming, as they were missing a member at the banquet, but I will recognize them by name here: Courtney Harris, Durell Gomes, Dwayne Gomes, Dana Gomes, and Ed Godino III.
May 18 practice
May 18, 2013My practice session started slow, with a 155 game, but I really had an “Aha!” moment in the 10th frame and, while not striking out to end it, I started the next game well, went a clean 237, then ended with a 224 that might have been in the 240s if not for a couple of single-pin misses. All told, it was a 616 series, which was even better than last week. I’m happy I’ve been practicing well…just need to bring that to league now. 
My league’s banquet is tonight, and I will have my phone with me, so I’m hoping I can post from the site (maybe including a photo or two).
May 15 league night recap (first night of Summer 2013)
May 15, 2013Liz and Mike DiBenedetto are bowling this summer, so it was natural for me to ask Liz (but not Mike, who was sick tonight) to have them join my team. Our fourth is Dave Currier, who bowls winter league in the ENE Systems league on Wednesday night (one of the leagues by the desk) as well as the Sunday Niters league. Both Liz and Dave liked my idea of “X Factors” for our team name.
My Week 1 bowling, frame-by-frame (Linked to BowlSK sheet)
My second game was a result of distracted bowling while resolving a matter of a missing pay envelope, and I had a better third game once we knew that I did, in fact, give the envelope to Donna.
Result: 169-135-189=493
Average (3 games): 164
Next week’s AVG+1 score: 497
Both Liz and Dave were over their entering averages every game (we took the 150 vacant tonight in the absence of Mike). We were hopeful of splitting 4-4, bowling against Eileen’s team. Eileen, for her part, had her first clean game in the second game.
As the administrivia of this post, I am giving BowlingTracker.com another go, as the spam activity seems to have ebbed, putting the new stat sheet in the “Author’s links” portion of the sidebar. This will start the summer links transition.
John Jemison posts 11 in a row 290 in BBIS league
May 15, 2013The winter leagues at Westgate Lanes are winding down, but not before John Jemison had a chance to throw a 290 game last Friday night in the BBIS league. Congrats!
April 2013 People’s Tournament results
May 13, 2013The People’s Tournament reported that Wayne Cleary (AMF Chicopee Lanes, 209 avg.) was the winner of the event held on Apr. 21 at Westgate Lanes. Cleary defeated Brent Watkins (Lanes & Games, 150 avg.) by a score (with handicap) of 207-190 in the title match. Representing Westgate Lanes, Josh Skuby (170 avg.) made the semifinals, while Kris Higgins (196 avg.), April Raines (177 avg.), Paris Cook (203 avg.), and Elliot Miller (180 avg.) also cashed.
“Excel for bowlers tutorial” added to “Author’s links” sidebar
May 12, 2013Bowling lends itself to statistics, as you’re even judged as a bowler by your average, and I know many bowlers track their scores on spreadsheets. I’ve been keeping spreadsheet logs since I returned to bowling, even tracking my early practice sessions with them, but they haven’t been in too great detail so far.
Enter 2013, and BowlingTracker.com, which I’ve been keeping stat sheets on since I started bowling in leagues again, has encountered a spam problem on their forums, which has, in turn, caused the score tracking part of the site to be slower than usual. Because of that, I’ve been forced to find a way to make my Excel logs do more, and have generated a prototype log that does everything BowlingTracker.com does, and more. Wanting to give back and help my fellow bowlers, I decided to post a tutorial thread of sorts on BowlingCommunity.com that shows you how to use Excel to do many things with your bowling scores. I have linked the thread on my blog in the “Author’s links” sidebar section, and it should be noted that I have shared my prototype log in the thread so users could see how I have things set up. FYI, if you don’t want to use any sort of standalone desktop spreadsheet application, many of the concepts I go into in the thread will also work in Google Docs spreadsheets.
You may certainly post in the thread if you have questions.
Note: If you’re viewing this as a single post, just click the header to go to the front page, and the sidebar will load.
May 11 practice
May 11, 2013I’m usually not a morning person, admittedly, but I was feeling more chipper than usual this morning, and, combined with the fact that I wasn’t expecting my brother for shopping as well as Westgate Lanes offering the early-bird rate on Saturday mornings, I decided to get some practice in. If anything, I was expecting to get some games in with my clean Tropical Breeze before summer league starts next week.
As the session progressed, however, it became apparent that the lack of late movement I was experiencing in the Jimmy Fund fundraiser might have actually been “operator error.” I was standing 33 and looking around 11 a good part of the session, and the ball was making it back if my release was strong, and it definitely was most of the second game, which was a 233. All three games were at least 10 pins over my final winter league average for a 602 total, and I missed five spares in 30 frames: a 10, a 7, a 3-6-10, a pocket 7-10, and a washout (not necessarily in that order).
Saturday morning practice might become a regular thing.
Rai Doblmeier dominates deaf tournament in NJ
May 11, 2013Congrats to Rai Doblmeier of the Tuesday Scratch Sportsmen league, who, according to the Eastern Association of Deaf Bowlers, won scratch doubles and all-events, along with the scratch singles/doubles combo event and the Trimarchi Masters competition in their tournament held on May 4 & 5 at Brunswick Zone Carolier in North Brunswick, NJ. Rai averaged 236+ in his regular events, and Ray DiSanto informed me that it was around 250 counting his scores in the Trimarchi Masters.
I haven’t mentioned Rai’s deaf status before on this blog because I just considered him a good bowler, but I’ve been told he’s literally traveled the world competing in tournaments for the deaf, and this is the first big result from one of those that I’ve heard about. Note: The link is to the EADB’s main site; navigate the site for full results.
2013 Mass. state youth tournament results
May 10, 2013The Massachusetts USBC Youth Association has released the final results of this year’s state tournament, which were held at Ken’s Bowl in Pittsfield and can be viewed by following this link. Congrats to Westgate Lanes’ Nick Sauve, who is the state champion in 181+ scratch singles, and had the high game (289) and series (755) in that average classification.
Turning a profit
May 9, 2013I was disappointed that I didn’t bowl well enough last week to square up my average with last year, but something I learned about last night gave me great consolation. As the bracket results from the last week show (top 2 brackets), I defeated Barton Fink to win one bracket and came in second to Mike DiBenedetto in another, so I got back $7. As I usually put $5 in, I turned a $2 profit on the week, the first time that has happened.
Gerry Latremouille throws 299 in Westgate Mixed
May 8, 2013I was doing my live blog tonight, and wanted to catch a cab right home after my league’s roll-off ended, but I did hear about something that deserved its own post: Gerry Latremouille ran the first 11 before a 7 pin stood for a 299 game tonight in the Westgate Mixed league. Congrats Gerry!
Live blog: 2013 Brunswick Mixed roll-off
May 8, 2013I’ll be trying something new and doing this post as a live blog from my league’s roll-off on my smartphone. I’ll update what happened in each game.
There is another story I’ll be following tonight, though, and that’s the battle for the house record average. Jason Sherwood ended the Thursday Night Patriots regular season with a 236.79 average, which, if it stands, would be the new Westgate Lanes record. However, Sean Richard can overtake Jason for the record tonight in the Westgate Mixed league with an 824 series.
Game 1: “Dee’s Boys III” won the first game 1056-1028 (with handicap). Keith Kaestner paced his team with a 255.
Sean Richard threw a 235 first game, and so will have to be just about perfect the rest of the night.
Game 2: “The 5 G’s” won the second game 925-866 and lead by 31 pins. Dana Gomes had the high game with a 202.
Sean Richard only had a 206 possible in the 10th frame, so congrats to Jason Sherwood on the new house record average.
Game 3: “The 5 G’s” took the third game 1004-993 and won the match 2957-2915. Ed Godino III threw a 237 and led the champions with a 636 set.
Congrats!
EDIT: As I did when Sean Richard set the old record average, I added the “Honor Scores” category to this post to recognize Jason’s new record.
My 2012-13 season, by the numbers
May 5, 2013Per my end of winter season custom, I dedicate a post here to breaking down my league performance with the help of the BowlSK reports. First, the first-ball numbers (numbers before the pipe | character reflect last year’s performance):
Strike percentage: 36.4% | 37.2%
Pocket shots: 64.0% | 66.5%
Carry percentage: 53.7% (392/730) | 54% (410/759)
Double rate: 37.2% (149/400) | 37.6% (152/404)
Average first-ball count: 8.7 | 8.6
Average first-ball non-strike count: 7.9 | 7.8
There was slight improvement in my shotmaking, but I probably left more pins when I missed the pocket, as my average first ball counts were down slightly.
Now, breaking down my spare game:
Overall spare percentage: 55.9% (384/687) | 55.7% (383/687)
Single-pin spare percentage: 68.7% (184/268) | 66.1% (162/245)
Multi-pin spare percentage: 60.9% (179/294) | 62.6% (209/334)
Makeable (non-split) percentage: 64.6% (363/562) | 64.1% (371/579)
Split conversion percentage: 16.8% (21/125) | 11.1% (12/108)
Washout conversion percentage: 16.7% (5/30) | 25% (10/40)
Percentage on single 10 pin: 53.3% (49/92) | 62.1% (59/95)
Percentage on single 7 pin: 56.3% (27/48) | 63.6% (35/55)
My overall spare rate did go down slightly, but my multi-pin rate was up. My single pin rate was down two full percentage points, however, both of my corner pin rates were up, and I did improve on making my corner pins later in the season. I probably need to just concentrate more on the easier single pins; indeed, I was under 69% on my other single pins.
Alex Aguiar, Brian LeClair take doubles lead at USBC Open
May 5, 2013The USBC reported that Alex Aguiar, bowling with Brian LeClair of Albany, NY, took the Regular Doubles lead last night at the USBC Open Championships, currently in progress at the National Bowling Stadium in Reno, NV. Alex posted a 780 series in the event, while LeClair added 642 for a total of 1,422. Alex had a shot at the first 800 series of the tournament when he stepped up for his final frame of doubles, but a 9 pin on the first ball ended the run. With a 676 in team and 664 in singles, Aguiar is also now in 10th place in Regular All-Events with a total of 2,120, a career best.
A couple of months of bowling yet to go, but great bowling, Double A!
Having fun for a cause
May 3, 2013I like to think I can actually support the charitable things that go on at Westgate Lanes, to wit, I made my debut in the monthly Jimmy Fund fundraiser last night. The organizer of these things is Kelly Rich, and she lit up when I went to her table, which was set up to the left of the desk, and told her I’d actually be bowling.
We had a group of about twelve, which included a classmate of mine who was visiting from the Los Angeles area. Being probably the most avid bowler in the group, I got a chance to show what I could do in the first game (of two) by stringing together a four-bagger in the middle of the game. My 178 was the high of the first game, good for a scratch ticket prize, which turned out to be a $2 winner.
The second game was another story, however, as, late in the first game, my Tropical Breeze got stuck in the back and needed cleaning up in the pro shop when it returned. I used my Fast while I was waiting for the other ball to be cleaned, and probably should have stayed with it, as I was finding the Tropical Breeze wasn’t moving as much after the cleaning, and I left at least a couple of washouts in the process. The ball probably just needs a few games on it to get the reaction back, but I still threw a 141 with it, which was the high on my lane and good for another scratch ticket (which I found out “bricked” when I scratched it at home). My first game score was beaten by someone on the adjacent lane in the second game, the screen name of whom I couldn’t remember.
The final activity was a roll-off involving one ball by everyone, with the most pins winning the last scratch ticket. I was out after a couple of people, including my classmate, threw a 9 count with me only managing 8. The tiebreaker went a few rounds until my classmate threw a strike. After photos, I thanked Kelly for doing a good job as host and told her I might do it again. As a parting note for this post, about $200 was raised this month, with a total of over $1,000 having been raised since these started.
Melissa Peterson rolls first 300; Sandi Litchfield throws 279
May 1, 2013It was “Ladies’ Night” in the Westgate Mixed league tonight. First off, in the second game, Sandi Litchfield left a 10 pin standing (making the spare) with the rest strikes for a 279 game. However, the night belonged to Melissa Peterson, who, in the third game, rolled her first perfect game. This was a game I could have had video of, but I noticed the game too late to get set up with my phone.
Congrats to both Melissa and Sandi!
May 1 league night recap (with final second half standings)
May 1, 2013My Week 35 bowling, frame-by-frame (Linked to BowlSK sheet)
The skinny on tonight was the missed single pins, as I would probably have squared my average with last year had I made a couple of those. I did feel I was making most of the right adjustments tonight, however, so I’m making progress with my overall game.
Result: 167-174-190=531
Final average (105 games): 173
Average for last 9 games: 187
The team came back from losing the first game by 90+ by winning the other two by enough to take total by 21 pins. This definitely put us in a tie for 11th, and possibly 10th if “Bowling Stones” lost all four. Shawn told me “The 5 G’s” won the first two and had a 300+ pin lead after those games, so they won the second half, in all probability. As I’ll have my phone with me next week and the mobile app for posting to this blog installed on it, I may be trying a live blog, a first, for the roll-off next week.
Finally, I have now not missed a night my league has met in five full years since returning to league bowling.
Cross-training #212 (special)
May 1, 2013I haven’t made a post to this category in a while because of issues with Google News search returning irrelevant results, but thought I should mention, as I did on Facebook yesterday, that former NFL wide receiver Terrell Owens, whose team in the PBA League Norm Duke was bowling for this past season, will be making his USBC Open Championships debut tonight at the National Bowling Stadium in Reno, of which BowlTV will provide bonus coverage before their regularly scheduled coverage of the minors appearance of Matt McNiel, defending Regular Doubles and All-Events champion. T.O. will be bowling with the Bowlers Journal International team, which will also include Mike Jakubowski, whom some of you know as the PA announcer on the PBA Tour telecasts, as well as the lead announcer on Xtra Frame.
Ron Berkey posts 290 in TNBA
May 1, 2013Congrats to Ron Berkey with an 11 in a row 290 game last Friday in the TNBA league. This is the first honor score from Ron I’ve had the pleasure to report, since he and his son Chris are Westgate Lanes fixtures, and those who are in the place on the nights they are there will know why.
