The Tenth Board

As I did last year, I’m dedicating a post 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: 44.8% | 46.4%
Pocket shots: 73.1% | 78.2%
Carry percentage: 58.8% (475/808) | 58.6% (529/903)
Double rate: 43.3% (208/480) | 49.1% (250/509)
Average first-ball count: 8.9 | 8.9
Average first-ball non-strike count: 8.0 | 7.9

I continue to improve on finding the pocket, though my carry rate was slightly down from last year. However, when I had a strike working, I almost kept the string going as often as not. As the following second-ball numbers will show, this was what kept me afloat:

Overall spare percentage: 57.1% (332/581) | 51.4% (303/589)
Single-pin spare percentage: 73.5% (200/272) | 70.9% (183/258)
Multi-pin spare percentage: 56.3% (120/213) | 56.1% (110/196)
Makeable (non-split) percentage: 66.0% (320/485) | 64.5% (293/454)
Split conversion percentage: 12.5% (12/96) | 7.4% (10/135)
Washout conversion percentage: 6.5% (2/31) | 26.1% (6/23)
Percentage on single 10 pin: 68.6% (70/102) | 63.6% (68/107)
Percentage on single 7 pin: 56.4% (22/39) | 71.4% (20/28)

My overall numbers show I had more spare opportunites, but made fewer of them, and my single-pin rate went down a few percentage points, but I was shooting at single pins fewer times. I did leave many more splits, though, and converted them at a lesser rate, so this may have had a lot to do with why my overall numbers were down. I made 2 fewer of my single 10 pins in 5 more opportunities, but there was a stretch in the middle of the season where I was missing them as often as I made them; I did feel I made some improvement late in the season. Two parts of my spare game showed improvement over last year: I made the 7 pin a lot more often on a percentage basis when I had it, and got out of trouble more often on my washouts (though that latter number may fluctuate wildly from season to season).

After I get everything I want to save up for, I intend to go for lessons more often, and that will probably be when I can work on my spare game more. It’ll still be a matter of getting practice in, which may not always be easy.

With my brother in Brockton all weekend for Easter, we found time to hit the lanes today. I was mostly happy with how I bowled, as I had a 611 total and didn’t miss any easy ones until late in the third game. About that third game, I had the front six, but missed a couple of 10s late (7th and 10th frames), so what could’ve been a game in the 240s only finished as a 225. My brother was about normal for him.

A very slow start (4 open in 5 frames) cost me a good game in the first game (169), but I picked it up as the session went along, getting 193 w/ an open or two in the second game and a clean 191 (which my brother again wanted to dispute by his definition of clean) in which I just couldn’t string two together to end it. My brother opened with a 121, which was over what he usually averages, but couldn’t put a good (for him) game together after that. He did tell me he had a consistent (for him) session recently at Lanes and Games in Cambridge in which all three of his games were over 110.

I was in attendance at the Hall of Fame dinner tonight, with the night honoring Dan Robinson, only the second lefty to be inducted (Steve Travers was the first two years ago). Dan maybe had the most interesting story of all of the honorees I’ve seen so far, as he was known as being “wild” in his youth, but settled down with experience and is now one of our most respected bowlers, spending a lot of time with the youth program on Saturday mornings. Dan, for his part, kept us in stitches with some of his stories.

I usually just show the year’s honoree(s), but, this year, I got a group photo of all of the Hall of Famers in attendance, which is shown below. This photo will also be uploaded to the association’s Facebook page.

L to R: Bob Young, Steve Travers, Fred Delfino, Dan Robinson, Bill Major, Jim Ferguson, Rolly Savignano

Today, I was privileged to have as my guest at Westgate Lanes one of my out-of-state friends from the BowlingFans.com site, who usually uses the nick “MikeHL” in the chat. My other originally online-only friend, Al from Friday night, was to join us, but he emailed me this morning that his allergies were bad and he didn’t want to bowl.

Mike arrived with the marathon tournament in progress, so one of the first things I did after we got acquainted was escort him down to the high-numbered end of the center and pointed to him some of the notables that were involved in the tournament. We talked mostly bowling, but also the other reason for his visit, over pizza, after which we grabbed a free pair of lanes, which happened to have the shot the tournament was using (“Middle Road”).

I started the best of the two of us, with four in a row, before suffering a couple of open frames late for a 199. You’d think having the home alley advantage would have helped me, but, in the second game, Mike actually posted the best game of the session, a 205, using mostly his 2001-vintage Blue Hammer, his “go-to” ball on the usual wood lanes where he is. I had the better third game, but we both struggled; however, both of us ended with strikes, prompting me to say what I usually say when I strike on the last shot of a bad game: “All’s well that ends well.”

Mike told me afterward that he enjoyed this visit, which I agreed with, and we both hope to do this again, possibly in the summer. For the “pics or it didn’t happen” crowd, I did have my friend Si get the following photo after Mike and I bowled; it was taken with my pocket video camera, but a slight hand movement caused the photo to come out a bit blurry, so my apologies:

Richie with "MikeHL" (Mike is on the left)

My brother was over on a weekend where we didn’t have to do food shopping, so that made bowling more likely, and we did just that this morning. The youth leagues were wrapping up when we got there, but we got a lane closer to the desk. I was happy with my performance today, because, while I didn’t get my 600, I had no game under 190 and made all of my “easy” spares. I even made a couple of my splits, the first of which was a 3-6-7-10 which helped me stay for what ended up being a clean game, perhaps my first clean game under 200 (came up a pin short). My brother wanted to dispute the fact that it was a clean game, however: I had a spare in the 10th frame, but only filled that with 8 pins (left a 4-7). For his part, my brother had a major (for him) accomplishment…no first-ball gutter balls the whole day.

After the kids were done, Henry Webber took to the lanes on his own, and happened to throw a 300 game, which was worthy of being announced on the PA system. I don’t know if it was his first ever, or if he’s had some before, but it would’ve seemed to me that he’d have one in league play by now. Congrats just the same, Henry!

Wanting to become more involved in my local bowling association, I approached the Board of Directors at their meeting on Sunday morning with the idea of starting a Facebook page for the association. After some discussion, they agreed to give me the OK, and I set up the page on Monday before leaving for the lanes to let Bob Young (association manager) and Rob Young (association president) know that the page was up. Wanting others from the other association centers involved in this, I asked Mike Carter, the association’s second vice president, if he wanted to be the admin representing North Bowl, and added him as an admin after he agreed.

The URL right now is kind of complicated, as there’s a long number involved, but there is a link to the page up at the top of the association homepage (which was why I was waiting to post this). I will add the link to the sidebar when the page has reached one of its goals for “Likes.”

I had hoped to participate in a bowl-a-thon at Boston Bowl today for Autism Speaks, however, I was going to do so with my FanForce friends (whom I mentioned in my post about the outing at Pinz), and our chapter rep was having trouble registering the group for the event online, so he and his “silent partner” backed out. After a brief discussion, my best friend Ed and I decided to, as well, and we settled for bowling three games at Westgate Lanes.

The change turned out to be a good call, as I was throwing the ball well pretty much for the entire session, scoring 241-204-213 for a 658 set. I had an open frame or two in each game, but I ended the first game with five in a row, and repeated the five in a row feat in the middle of the last game. Talking about it over pizza afterward, I told Ed that, for me, it’s all just a matter of repeating shots.

So now two people close to me have seen me at my best…I hope my sister and her kids follow in that someday.

…my game needs work again.

I had Carl take some video of my bowling with my new flash memory HD camcorder last night, and when I reviewed the clips after I posted about my bowling, I found an old bugaboo had crept back into my game: I was not getting the ball over the foul line. If I was happy with the video, I definitely would’ve posted, but now I find I need to break the towel out again for towel drills when I return to practice (which has been tenuous with the bad weather recently). Finding the new, but old, flaw in my game and correcting it may prove worth my while for bringing the camcorder last night, even though I had intended to post the video and decided not to.

As an aside, I was happy with the overall quality of video the new camcorder produced, so that makes the tape camcorder I used to get my original videos obsolete. I may still be able to get something for the tape camcorder, and, if I can, that should go a long way towards the next item in my “technology makeover.”

I’d like to take this post to wish my readers the best in this holiday season. Because of a changed situation with my family, my brother and I may find time to go bowling on Christmas again, so I’ll keep everyone posted.

My brother took me bowling yet again today, but, as he didn’t think we had time to both bowl three games before we had to meet our sister, her sons, and a friend of the family for lunch, he let me go to work and just watched. Little did he know (nor did I at the time) what was in store; I don’t usually put my practice-type games on BowlSK, but today was one where I probably should have. As it is, I remembered to get a printout at the desk, and what follows are scans from the sheets.

Game 1:

It took me some time to figure out the lane, but I eventually found something standing 36 and going 11 or 12 and ended with the last four, setting the stage for what follows…

Game 2:

The first frame was a weak 10, but then I really got cranking and hit the last 11 for an unofficial-best 290 game. Tom Hedding, along with my brother, viewed my last shots and then offered to front me the entry for the NEBA tournament this weekend, which I had to refuse partly because my big nephew is in a school play this evening and I have to be there for that.

Game 3:

With the first strike in this game, I turned to look at Tom at the desk, who put his hands in the air in celebration, saying, “300!” Of course, it wasn’t a 300 game, but tenpin bowlers still have a term for it: a “Varipappa 300″ (after PBA great Andy Varipappa), meaning any 12 strikes in a row. I added two more before leaving a washout because I was bowling at such a quick pace. In that run, however, I had 14 in a row, and 18 out of 19, my best bowling ever. Ray came by my lane after I was finished, so I quickly showed him the second game on the scoring console and he congratulated me, adding, “You have to do that in league now.”

Needless to say, I showed the sheets to all of my lunch companions. I summed up what this meant to me with something I’ve always said, “If you can do something once in bowling, you can do it again,” so I now know that an honor score is no longer a question of “if,” but “when.”

My brother and I could’ve gone bowling late on Thanksgiving afternoon; however, with my feet sore from all of the standing around at my sister’s the day before, I told him I’d wait until Saturday (tonight). On my end, I had two good games to start, with the first one a 201 clean, which I was prouder of than the 225 second game. I did not have an open frame until leaving a swishing 7-10 fairly late in the second game, and my two missed makeables were both single pins (a 10 and a 4) in the third game. It should be said that cosmic bowling started in the middle of our session, so having the music going was good concentration practice, and I had a good look standing 38 when I had to move in the third game (the line I was practicing last time with my brother), so I’m showing progress on that.

For his part, my brother had a couple of games in the 120s and ended with something in the 360s, which is typically a good outing for him.