Pre-tournament thoughts

I am looking at the prospect of bowling in tomorrow’s “People’s Tournament” at Westgate Lanes tomorrow with optimism, as it comes at a time when I’ve been bowling the best I ever have. The shot is going to be different, but not one I haven’t seen before…they put down the oil pattern used in the Coke Classic League, which I have bowled on in my winter practices, for all of the tournaments at Westgate Lanes also. In fact, I was averaging slightly higher for more games on the Coke Classic shot than I did on the house shot in that time, and keep in mind that those games also included my earlier practices when I was doing stuff like getting my timing back. Considering my recent improvement on the house shot, I think I can do well on the tournament shot now, as well.

To assess my chances, I looked at the cut score for the last two People’s Tournaments at Westgate Lanes, and it was in the 650-660 range both times. If I’m forced to use my current average (198 ) rather than the average I put on the entry form (the 194 of two weeks ago), and I’ll have to show Sherm Cowan the standings sheet from my league to bear this out, I will be getting 21 pins/game handicap (handicap is 80% of 225). Keeping in mind the recent cut scores, this means that if I have a series somewhere around 600 scratch, and I think I’m currently very capable of having that kind of series, I will either make the cut to 32 for match play, or be right on the bubble.

I am entered in the 12:30 PM (second) squad tomorrow, but the plan will be to arrive very early. The pro shop will also be reopening from vacation at 10 in the morning, so the plan includes having the oil bled out of my ball (which will take about an hour, from past experience), wait about a half an hour for the ball to cool, then try to get a game or two in on a lane with the tournament shot (which may be dicey because they’ll have the tournament and also the Sunday rent-a-lane special going on). I hope to take my noon medication before ordering lunch, then check in for the second squad while waiting for lunch. Hopefully, I’ll have time to eat before reporting to my assigned lane pair. The benefit of waiting for the oil to bleed out of my ball is that I’ll have an opportunity to talk to Ray and bring him up to speed on how well I’ve been doing in the Wednesday Summer Mixed League, which I’ve been waiting to do since he went on vacation.

Everyone wish me well! 😀

EDIT: I’ve been advised against having the oil bled out of my ball right before the tournament by one of my BowlingFans.com friends. I’m tending to agree with her (she runs a pro shop in northern California), as I’ve been very happy with the way my ball’s been reacting on the house shot recently, so maybe my ball doesn’t need to have that done yet.