The Tenth Board

…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.

After my rough league outing last night, I turned around late this morning and bowled with my brother. It turned out we got the new “early bird” rate even though it was a holiday, so my brother may have been secretly happy about that. As for the outing, I used it mostly to work on playing in the middle oil, because I have a feeling I’ll need that skill at some point next week. My scores were pedestrian, mostly because I couldn’t get the ball to finish if I sent it out too much. For my brother’s part, he had a better day than usual, going about +30 for his three games (usually averaging in the low 100s, but averaging in the 110s today).

I alluded to the fact that I had a previous engagement in my last post, and that was a meeting of the Massachusetts Imperial Syndicate, a chapter of the international Star Wars fan club called FanForce, which was held at Pinz in Milford. The place was picked because it was close to a friend I’ll call Chris, who is one of the co-chapter representatives, but I knew the place wasn’t USBC-certified, so I didn’t want to risk bringing my “good” equipment. I did bring my shoes, though; Sean Richard told me I may not be able to use my own shoes, but brought them anyway, and was, happily for me, notified that I could. One of Chris’ friends, Jim, brought his own balls, but did admit that the last time he used them was the last time he was at this establishment, which was a year or more ago.

We rented a lane for an hour, and we managed to complete one game, with me throwing a game in the 160s with a 12 lb. house ball and a conventional grip. Even though I was trying to throw it like I normally throw my own balls, I couldn’t hook it much, and the best line for me was a more direct line. I had a double in that first game, but then lightened up and struggled (I even tried to throw thumbless at one point, which met with ill success.) My best friend Ed, who accompanied me, surprised me by getting a double in the incomplete second game. I knew Jim was a league bowler himself at one time, and it showed in his form, but he was actually hooking it too much and may have been experiencing some fit issues, as well.

Most of the time afterward was spent talking about an annual convention that is coming up, and our group usually does a collectibles raffle for some charity at the event, so I made sure to bring my donations with me. I don’t know if I’ll be able to attend this year’s event, but I wished the group well with this year’s effort, and told them I would join them if able. As a parting word, I suggested North Bowl in North Attleboro for the next bowling meet, as it’s pretty much between most of the people that made it to Pinz today.

I was recently contacted by one of the authors of the new “Dummies” book on bowling to give it a review, and, being one that likes anything that helps neophytes get into the game, I agreed and was sent a copy of the book a month or so ago.

Overall, the book does tell a lot of what a new bowler needs to know starting out. It goes into the many benefits of bowling (and I did like that they mention the social aspects), what to look for in equipment (both at the center and when you’re ready to get your own stuff), and the basics of bowling form (I especially liked how they illustrate the motion involved in a hook release). They even mention the fact that there is oil on the lane, something most casual bowlers don’t know about, and the basics of handicapping (explained in the chapter on league bowling), which I felt could make a newcomer to league bowling feel more comfortable. They also explain what to look for in a bowling coach, should the reader decide he/she would like to have one.

This book was not without its flaws, however. They said a right-hander’s hook ball curves to the right, when it’s actually a right-to-left motion at the end (it should be said that it was correctly shown in an illustration, however), and, while they correctly use a four-step delivery as the basis of explaining bowling timing, they fail to mention that other steps are possible in a delivery (remember, I use a six-step delivery myself). It was the chapter on spares that I had the most problems with, however, and a lot of that is technical in nature. For instance, they use the 4-7-8 leave as an illustration for a right-hander as a basis for explaining how to pick up clusters when a right-hander will actually leave the 2-4-5 cluster far more often; the book makes similar assumptions for other types of leaves. As I said, however, my problem is just a technical one, but using an illustration for the more common leave might have helped. Also, none of this paragraph should be taken as though I didn’t like the book; I did, and noting what I felt were flaws in this review is just done in the hope of improving future editions.

To reiterate, the book does a solid job of explaining most of the basics of the game to the beginner, and I would recommend it to someone who wants to go from being a casual bowler to a more frequent, serious one.

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.

As I write this, I’m giving a Coby HD pocket camcorder its first charge. I felt I needed another camcorder because my new computer didn’t have a Firewire card and I was skittish about opening my new computer’s case to put the card from my old computer in; the new camcorder should be easier to work with because it has a USB connection (actually how I’m charging it) and the fact that it can use SD/SDHC cards, which my new computer can read from a standard media card reader. I’m not sure if the video quality will be as good as my Canon, but I hope to test it out and have more video to post soon. If I didn’t have to bowl Wednesday nights, I’d even post video of other bowlers in the area doing their thing, especially stuff like the 10th frame of 300 games.

I also finished my “spending spree” by (finally) subscribing to Bowling This Month…hopefully, I can get some good tips, especially considering I now have access to the archives online.