The St. Petersburg Times did an interview with new Tampa Bay Rays designated hitter Cliff Floyd about his other love, bowling. He says he averages about 210, hopes to get into league bowling when his baseball days are over, and maybe even get good enough to go on the pro tour. He said Cubs second baseman Mark DeRosa gave him some competition as well, with DeRosa bowling a 240 against Floyd.
Archive for March, 2008
Cross-training #17
March 31, 2008Cross-training #16
March 31, 2008A note in today’s “Inside Track” on the Boston Herald’s site said that Boston Celtics stars Rajon Rondo, Kendrick Perkins, and P.J. Brown traded high-tops for bowling shoes at Kings in downtown Boston recently.
Having a bad day
March 31, 2008Today, I had my worst practice in a while, with no game even over 150. I noticed that I was dropping the ball a lot at the foul line, which gives me something more to ask Ray about when I see him next week. I tried a suggestion by “CoachJim”, a USBC-certified coach at the Silver level who’s part of the BowlingFans.com gang, and he suggested playing straight up the 10 board. I was still either coming in light or missing the head pin right if I missed my spot right, but I was also still crossing over a bit, which may be related to my dropped ball problem (as the ball doesn’t skid while rolling while it is in the oil like it should). My mood was also kind of down due to the weather (it was raining while I was out for practice), so I guess I’ll just chalk it up to having a bad day today.
Result: 147-143-124=414
Running average (72 games): 163 Last 9 average: 153
I saw that they had put out the summer league sign-up sheets when I got to the control desk, so my practice was delayed while I was filling the form out. As I’ve promised my cousins, I signed up for the Wednesday Summer Mixed league. The first night of that league will be May 28, with the league meeting at 6:30 PM and bowling starting at 7:00 PM (start time will be 7:00 PM throughout the summer, of course).
Ron Clifton’s site added to sidebar
March 30, 2008I will be beginning to see a bowling coach a week from Thursday, but I’ve seen Ron Clifton’s site at Bowl4Fun.com recommended for bowling tips by a number of bowlers online. Many of the tips he gives on the site are suitable for bowlers at every skill level, so I’ve added a link to the site to the sidebar. I’ll ask my own coach if he recommends the site when I have my first session (or the next time I see him, whichever comes first).
Addendum to US Open note (another local casher)
March 30, 2008I’ve been indecisive about noting his accomplishment because I wasn’t sure if I wanted to because he’s not in the Coke Classic League (or any league in the Brockton USBC Association’s jurisdiction, AFAIK), but since his listed hometown is close, I will…Alex Aguiar of North Dartmouth, MA was also one of the 122 cashers in the 65th US Open this week. Hope you will consider bowling Coke Classic next year, Alex. 
Cross-training #15
March 29, 2008This press release announced yet another celebrity bowling tournament hosted by a major professional athlete, this time Cleveland Browns defensive tackle Shaun Smith. It will take place April 12 @ Cleveland’s Corner Alley to benefit Smith’s 91 Ways Foundation.
Coke Classic League bowler cashes at US Open
March 27, 2008According to the qualifying standings available at press time, Jonathan Van Hees of Newport, RI, who is listed as having bowled this season for team “BLNT” in the Coke Classic League, will be one of the 122 bowlers that cash in this year’s US Open. Van Hees was in 70th position with Squad B, the last squad to complete their qualifying, bowling their final game of qualifying. Good luck the rest of the way, Jonathan!
First coaching session set
March 25, 2008I called Ray at the pro shop today (he was actually at the Boston location) and we arranged a one-hour coaching session for 3 PM on April 10. Since anything Ray brings up will be worked on in practice, anything I blog from these coaching sessions will appear in the “Practice” category. Also, Ray will be able to tape me bowling, then have the tape captured to his computer, so I hope to have video of my bowling posted here in the future.
“CMG’s Bowling Blog” added to blogroll
March 25, 2008One of my new friends from the BowlingFans.com group decided to start his own blog, also hosted on WordPress, so I’ve added that to the blogroll. I hope you’ll do the same with this blog, CG.
March 2008 Northeast Amateur Tournament @ Town Line Ten Pin
March 24, 2008The Northeast Amateur Tournament also held their March tournament at Town Line Ten Pin, and Craig McWilliams was reported as the winner (sorry, but since the NAT site doesn’t give cashers’ home centers, I don’t know where most of the cashers in the tournament bowl from). Christopher Corrigan was second. I did recognize Sean Richard as the 5th place finisher. Sean also won the first squad’s strike jackpot.
Practice summary, 3/24/08
March 24, 2008I fixed my crossover problem to a certain extent today, but ran into another one…coming in too light. It seemed that I left the 5 pin about 3 or 4 times, and I was still high-flushing at other times, but most of the time leaving the 6 pin instead of the 4. Spare misses didn’t help, and my scores were only in the 150s all day. It only goes to show you how fine your adjustments sometimes have to be.
Result: 151-156-158=465
Running average (69 games): 164 Last 9 average: 160
Cross-training #14
March 23, 2008This article from the San Jose Mercury News reports, via the Denver Post, that Denver Broncos head coach Mike Shanahan is putting lanes in the new home he is building in the San Jose area.
March 2008 “People’s Tournament” @ Town Line Ten Pin
March 23, 2008The People’s Tournament site has reported that Ryan Oreste, bowling at his home center and carrying a 174 average, was the winner of the March tournament at Town Line Ten Pin in Malden, MA. David Gordon (Brunswick Lowell Lanes, 210) was second. Greg Hudson (195 avg.) led the Westgate Lanes bowlers (12th), while Linwood Cowen, Jr. out of AMF Taunton Lanes (180 avg.) was 10th.
Youth bowling note: The annual Massachusetts state scholarship tournament will take place on April 5 & 6 (two weekends from now) at Westgate Lanes, so if you want to see the area’s best young bowlers in action, Westgate Lanes will be the place to go in two weeks.
Cross-training #13
March 18, 2008The Baltimore Sun reports that Orioles outfielder Nick Markakis has been bowling with several friends nearly every night since arriving at spring training. No word on what Markakis has been averaging, though.
New high game since return
March 17, 2008Only managed a 501 series today, but much of that was salvaged by a 224 middle game, which is now the best one I’ve had since my return. I worked mostly on getting my feet faster today, but after talking it over with my bowling chat friends, I’m also suspecting that I close my shoulders to the foul line as I’m in my delivery, so that will need to be watched. This will require a coach, but I want to make sure my equipment is squared away first (I’d still like to get a glove).
Result: 120-224-157=501
Running average (66 games): 165 Last 9 average: 166
I finally got a chance to talk to Rob Lawson, the guy that sets up the lane machine, and he told me he thought the inside-to-outside oil ratio for the Coke Classic shot was about 4:1 (which doesn’t make it a true sport shot), though he’d have to look at his notes on his laptop to be sure. As I also learned that, starting this week, they put the house shot down in the morning on Monday, then the Coke Classic shot on the Coke Classic lanes in the afternoon, I’ll likely be bowling on the true house shot from here on, so I’m expecting my average to go up a bit. Rob told me the house shot’s ratio was something on the order of 6:1, while we’re on the subject.
I also received the unofficial results of the Brockton USBC Association’s championship tournament in my email today, but I wrote Roy Garrigus, the tournament director, back, telling him I’d wait until the results were official before posting them here.
Quick-hitter in Taunton
March 15, 2008With the Brockton USBC Association’s championship tournament taking place this weekend at AMF Taunton Lanes, I swung by there on a “quick-hitter” to check out the Saturday action. The early squad was for the doubles and singles events, and Sean Richard, Bill & Shirley Major, and Steve Travers were the familiar faces I saw there. Mostly, though, I was there to give one of my email addresses to two people, Alex Pacheco, the manager at AMF Taunton Lanes (so he could send me honor scores and tournament news from that house) and the Brockton USBC Association’s tournament director (so he could email me the tournament results). I had hoped to also speak with Bob Young about the association’s web site (it has not been updated in three years), but he was bowling his events today, so was unavailable for other purposes.
EDIT: I have also emailed North Bowl Lanes in N. Attleboro (hoping to contact Fred Delfino, their manager) with the same offer I’ve given to Alex Pacheco.
Cross-training #12
March 13, 2008Dallas’s PegasusNews.com reports that Dallas Mavericks star Josh Howard hosted a celebrity bowling tournament at the 300 Dallas Bowling Center in Addison, TX. Many of the Mavericks, including Jason Kidd and coach Avery Johnson, participated.
Cross-training #11
March 13, 2008Major League Baseball issued a release reporting that their umpires held their inaugural BLUE for Kids World Series of Bowling charity event at AMF University Lanes in Tampa, FL. BLUE for Kids is a foundation started by umpires Marvin Hudson and Mike DiMuro which, among other things, provides tickets to major professional sporting events to underprivileged children.
Cross-training #10
March 13, 2008New York’s Newsday, via the Times-Herald-Record, noted that the New York Knicks are holding their annual “Knicks Bowl” charity event tonight at the 300 New York lanes on Chelsea Pier.
LeagueSecretary.com added to sidebar
March 12, 2008I found out that the Coke Classic league standings get uploaded weekly to the LeagueSecretary.com site, which is billed as the largest online database of bowling statistics, so that site has been added to the sidebar list.
Also, talking to my new online bowling friends, I got the sense that the Coke Classic shot is not a true “sport” shot, but rather a house shot with a more even distribution of oil, as they noted that there wouldn’t even be as many as 4 300 games in a season in a sanctioned Sport Bowling league, and the Coke Classic league is not sanctioned as Sport Bowling.
