“JaMMeRs” had a winning week last week by winning the first game, tying the second game, and winning total pins against “Wrecking Balls” for four total points. My virtual team is now tied for 9th in points with “Rocket 5,” 13 points behind a tie at the top between Teams 12 and 4.
The league has now reached the halfway point.
The other Wednesday night league, the bigger Westgate Mixed League, is usually good for several honor scores a season, but they had none this season until Wednesday night, when Harry Thibeault (I’m assuming) ran the last 11 strikes in a row for a 290 game, which was part of a 754 series. Congrats Harry! 😀
After taking only one point from “The Mustangs,” “Pinfall Wizards” became tied for 5th in points with “Bottoms Up!”, 9 points behind “The Mustangs,” who lead “Outta Da Guttah” by 2.5 points. My team’s first meeting with the defending champions, “The Incredibowls,” will be Wednesday night.
Individually, my 665 with handicap was the men’s high handicap series of the week. 😀
Inside Hoops, a basketball blog, notes that Dwight Howard of the Orlando Magic will host a bowling tournament in connection with his All-Star Celebrity Weekend at Boardwalk Bowl (typo in original article corrected in this post) on November 12. Proceeds will benefit Howard’s D12 Foundation.
Congrats to Jim Donaher on throwing a perfect 300 game Tuesday night in the Brockton Ten Pin Invitational league. When I was told about the game, Marcia wanted me to also note that this is Jim’s first perfect game in over 50 years as a league bowler at Westgate Lanes.
I’ll note the series when I see it in the updated league standings. Congrats again Jim! 😀
My Week 8 bowling, frame-by-frame (Linked to BowlSK sheet)
After my lesson with Ray, this may have been the breakthrough I was looking for. I just missed 600, but I only had one open frame in each game, two of those on splits. My spare game was there pretty much all night, as well, as I was close to 95% on “makeable” spares, and count the 10 pins: 7 of them I could shoot at, and 6 of them made. 😀
Result: 185-223-191=599
Average (24 games): 176
Average for last 9 games: 181
Next week’s AVG+1 score: 548
The team had three members over average in all three games, but our opponents bowled well, too, so we still lost two games and total pins. Oh well, at least I didn’t hurt my team by making big mistakes tonight. 🙂
The Royal Oak Patch notes that Detroit Lions safety Louis Delmas will pair up with Pistons forward Charlie Villanueva to host the “Bowling Spook-Tacular” on Halloween night at Royal Oak Star Lanes. Proceeds from the event will benefit the respective players’ charitable foundations.
Congratulations to Alex Aguiar, who finished second to PBA Tour exempt player Brad Angelo in the Miller High Life Scratch Challenge on Sunday at Strikers East in New Hampshire. Steve Hardy, the organizer of the tournament, told me via Facebook that Angelo won the title match by a score of 211-195. The official results also have Richie Fulton and Dave Chalifoux, both Westgate Lanes league bowlers, cashing in the tournament.
Admittedly, I’d been lax about getting practice time in recently, especially after they stopped the half-price rate during the day on Mondays. I needed to “bite the bullet” more, however, and Tuesdays are usually the time I can come down when they have the house shot out.
Today, the focus was mostly on getting my lift and projection on my shot, and that was, understandably, spotty. Ray was in the building, so I got some bonus time with him, watching me throw a few shots and providing me feedback where he could. There was no focus on score today, as it probably should be. Wanting that tip I got on making the 10 to stay with me, I made the one 10 I threw at, one I left as part of the “Woolworth” split (5-10).
“JaMMeRs” returned to losing last week, winning only the first game’s points against “Bipolar Rollers.” As a result, my virtual team fell to 10th place, 13 points behind Team 4, who are 3 points ahead of a logjam involving Team 12, “Wrecking Balls,” and the aforementioned “Bipolar Rollers.”
BowlersDeals.com is a new (to me) online store offering all kinds of deals on everything bowling-related. I happened to learn about them because they’re the sponsor of the “All-In Challenge” that will kick off the third annual World Series of Bowling next weekend. The link to the site is now in the sidebar, in the “Other equipment sites” category (as I do with all of the online “pro shops”).
Today was my first association event as a director, the Bowler of the Year tournament. There were a handful of entries (competition from Steve Hardy’s scratch tournament in New Hampshire may have hurt turnout), but it turned out to be a fun day, and I was assisting the association by helping set up the scorers and changing scores where I could see the scoring needed changing.
In the end, Chris Carter, seeded second in the stepladder, was our champion, defeating Tim Major in the title match by a score of 247-224. Chris missed a 10 pin in the first frame, but then seized control of the match by running the next four strikes while Tim was struggling to find carry. Sean Richard finished third in the stepladder, and Dan Robinson, the recently-inducted association Hall of Famer, was fourth. It should be said that the first match of the stepladder was very entertaining, with Dan being as animated as I’ve ever seen him.
A full recap of the event is coming soon on the association website, and a photo of Chris and Tim has been posted on the association Facebook page. Congrats again, Chris! 😀
The following are the results of the Adult/Junior doubles tournament that took place yesterday at Westgate Lanes:
Junior/Senior division
1. Adam Johndrow & Rose Hamilton 1,387
Bantam/Prep division
1. Cody & Mike Litchfield 1,420
2. Corey Major & Henry Webber 1,408
Congrats to Rob Roy, who threw Westgate Lanes’ second 300 game of the season Thursday night in the Patriots league. Jay Sherwood told me the series he had, but I’ll comment when I see it in the standings. Congrats again Rob! 😀
After being swept by “Bottoms Up!”, “Pinfall Wizards” fell to 5th place in the standings. We have a chance to close distance on the leaders (“The Mustangs”, by a point and a half over “Outta Da Guttah” and 7 points over my team) Wednesday night, as we’re scheduled to face them.
NEBA reported that Danny Khuu out of Westgate Lanes was the high qualifier for last weekend’s event at AMF Airway Lanes in Springfield, MA. As noted in the match play results, Khuu finished in the final eight. The event was won by Rob Greene, Jr., who defeated Chris Wood by a 258-211 score in the title match.
I became aware of a new ball company, Jet, on the forums, where a couple of members of the virtual league either had already become a staff member or were in the process of applying for staff. A quick Google search found their website, which has been added to the “Ball Sites” sidebar listing.
The Tri-City Women’s Bowling Association will hold their annual championship tournament, with singles and doubles events, at Westgate Lanes on November 19 and 20. Entry forms are available at the control desk, and entries close on November 10.
I was looking forward to my first lesson with Ray in over three years, hoping to get a baseline on what I can improve on.
During warm-ups, I noted to Ray about my problems making my single 10, and he gave me a hint I hadn’t thought of: He said that if I draw a line between the third arrow and the reflection of the 10 pin on the lane and throw to that line, I should be more consistent with it. Indeed, I made both 10s that I shot at during the session.
What mattered more was the video analysis of my game, and the first thing Ray noticed that was “off” was my drift of 10 boards to the right in my approach. Part of what we worked on after was walking straight down the approach, fine-tuning my line with how my ball was reacting. As a result, I will now be trying to stand on 30 to start and going over the third arrow.
Another thing we had to work on was a problem that has lingered: It seems I am thinking turn before the ball gets to my feet in my downswing, preventing my fingers from remaining in the 6 o’clock position and causing the all-too-familiar double-dribble. I also needed to try to keep my elbow tucked in, keeping my swing close to my feet at the end. We had more success correcting this latter problem than the former, but we did end with a shot that seemed close to what Ray wanted to see. More work will be required in practice, of course.
I have another lesson scheduled in about 4 weeks.
My Week 7 bowling, frame-by-frame (Linked to BowlSK sheet)
My night the other night was not great, but not terrible, either. I only missed a couple of spares in the “easy” category (one a 10, of course, but I made the other one I had an opportunity to shoot at), and also converted on a couple of the splits (a 4-5 and, later, a 4-7-9, which I don’t usually convert). In the end, I only missed my +1 by a single pin.
Result: 195-168-160=523
Average (21 games): 172
Average for last 9 games: 173
Next week’s AVG+1 score: 520
As for the team, it seemed Shawn swept us all by himself, as he posted a 765, a new personal best for him, he told me at the end of the night. Indeed, a missed single pin and a nose shot that left a 3-6-9-10 (which he made) were the only things that kept him from being an 800 threat. The latter leave was the only blemish on a 276 second game.
This is the first of a series of catch-up posts, as my connectivity issues appear to have now been resolved for the long term.
“JaMMeRs” had our first winning week of the season in Week 5, in fact taking all 7 points from Team 2. As a result, we’ve moved up two places to 9th, 13 points behind Team 4, who have assumed the league lead by 3 points over “Wrecking Balls.”
After losing the lion’s share of points to “Deadwood” last week, “Pinfall Wizards” remain in 3rd place, three points behind “The Mustangs” and a point and a half behind “Outta Da Guttah.” My team faces Shawn’s team, “Bottoms Up,” for the first time this season on Wednesday night.
Note: Virtual league results will be delayed until I get my desktop machine back and have done the week’s score entry and posted the results.
Congrats to Sean Richard, who threw the first 300 game of the season on Tuesday night in the His & Hers league. As I can also confirm, it is also the first 300 game in the association for the season. I think Sean told me his series was a 758, but don’t hold me to that.
This post is late due to continuing computer problems (which some of you know about)…
My Week 6 bowling, frame-by-frame (Linked to BowlSK sheet)
My night seemed to suffer from multiple personality disorder. I needed the second game for my psyche (I hadn’t had a game over 200 in the new season until that point), but that was quickly followed by my worst game of the season so far. The last game led Steve Geddes, who was bowling anchor for our opponents, to comment that that was the worst game he had ever seen me bowl.
While I mention Steve, there was a light moment in the 4th frame of Game 2. I sent it wide, and it looked like I was going to leave the 2-4-7-8, but the 2 and 4 fell late, causing him to comment that the extra pinfall might have actually hurt my spare chances. I calmly reset myself, picked up the spare (by no means easy), and then turned to say to Steve, “Who said it hurt my chances?” 😀
Result: 171-214-127=512
Average (18 games): 172
Average for last 9 games: 169
Next week’s AVG+1 score: 524
Carl and Pat were the stars the other night, as both had 2 games of at least their average. Still, we could only win just the second game.
Right now, I’m just hanging on until my lesson in the coming week.
“JaMMeRs” continued our negative trend of taking only two points a week, this time losing the lion’s share to “Trip 6s.” My virtual team continues to hold down the 11th position, 15 points behind “Wrecking Balls,” who lead Team 4 by two points.
The People’s Tournament reported that Paris Cook (Westgate Lanes, 188 avg.) was the winner of the event held on Sept. 25 at AMF Auburn Lanes. Cook defeated Herb Brown (Kingston Ten Pin, 180 avg.) in the championship match by a score (with handicaps) of 213-210. Besides Paris Cook, Westgate Lanes was well-represented in the top 8: April Raines (169 avg.) was a semifinalist, and Bill Kempton (185 avg.), Al Donato (195 avg.), and Mike Major (208 avg.) also picked up checks for making the round of 8.
After taking all four points agains “Warren’s Girls,” “Pinfall Wizards” now stand just a point in back of “The Mustangs” in first place and a half-point behind “Outta Da Guttah” for second place. “Deadwood” provide the opposition for my team Wednesday night.
My Week 5 bowling, frame-by-frame (Linked to BowlSK sheet)
Tonight was a bit of an improvement, although a spare game which held me in good stead in the first game betrayed me (with 3 missed 10s) in the third game. I did make my +1, however, so I will take it.
Result: 190-146-193=529
Average (15 games): 173
Average for last 9 games: 170
Next week’s AVG+1 score: 535
Team took all four, but I got the sense the other team lost it more than we won it. To be fair, one of the members of the other team was bowling her first night since being cleared to bowl after a broken leg and was not at her best.
I know the pro shop can sell you a customized spare ball with your picture or other design on it, but didn’t know where the company that does it is online until the topic came up in my bowling chat and I did a search. The link to “On The Ball Bowling” is now in the sidebar under “Ball sites,” but keep in mind that they can do custom bowling pins and other bowling gifts, as well.
The Brockton Bowling Association has set the annual Bowler of the Year tournament for October 23 at Westgate Lanes, starting at noon. A list of qualifiers is up on the association website at brocktonusbcba.com. This will be my first association event as a director, so I hope to see everyone. 😀
The Tenth Board 
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