Author: Rich

I started "The Tenth Board" to chronicle my experiences during the road back to league bowling after my heel fractures in 1999 (it took me 7 years before I started thinking seriously about it). I now use the blog as a combination of a personal bowling journal and a news site mostly about Westgate Lanes (Brockton, MA) and its bowlers.

Feb. 20 league standings update

Taking only one point out of last week, “Babe and Balls” settled into a three-way tie in points at the bottom of the standings with “In It To Win It” (the opposition for my team this week) and “Fire in the Hole.” At the top, “The Incredibowls” hold a single-point lead over “The 5 G’s.”

2011 Brockton Bowling Association Championships, Day 1

Unlike previous Brockton Bowling Association championship tournaments, I was able to make it for Day 1 of the tournament, and was able to stay for all of the doubles and singles squad and the beginning of team. The tournament is being contested on the Middle Road pattern, and, in contrast to the USBC Blue pattern used last year, scores were rather low, at least for doubles and singles, with no honor scores recorded during my time there.

I plan on returning for part of the team squad tomorrow, and should be able to post an update then.

Cross-training #175

The Canadian Press noted that New York Knicks center Ronny Turiaf, along with Maurice Evans and Etan Thomas of the Atlanta Hawks, participated in former Knicks star John Starks’ celebrity bowling tournament on Tuesday, the proceeds of which will be used to fund academic grants to disadvantaged students in the tri-state area and Starks’ hometown of Tulsa, OK.

Feb. 16 league night recap

My Week 23 bowling, frame-by-frame (Linked to BowlSK series sheet)

I was only average in score tonight, but I felt I bowled much better than that. My release work the last couple of weeks seemed to pay dividends, with me having a better spare game night than many this season until near the end, when I missed a couple of single pins because I didn’t get out of the ball cleanly. Now, if only my muscle memory can take hold with my release…

Result: 165-215-178=558
Average (69 games): 186
Average for last 9 games: 183
Next week’s AVG+1 score: 577

Eileen had a great night, being over her average in all three games, but we could only manage to take a single point (the second game).

Feb. 14 practice

I had another good practice today, not so much because I was stringing strikes, but because my confidence in my spare game seems to have returned. I had only one open in each game, a split, followed by a miss of the 7 pin in each of the other two games. The 7 pin miss in the third game was stinging, however: if I had made that spare, it would’ve been an all-spare game. I did learn (and probably should’ve kept in mind all along) that my release is my key for my spares…if I get out of the ball well and project down the lane (not dropping it behind the foul line), I can usually make what I’m shooting at. I also made everything my 10 pin was involved in except for the first-game split, which was the Big Four; I got my count on the right side, so I’ll still consider myself perfect on the day on my right side.

I mentioned in my previous post that I was saving my practice post for something special…that something special is a milestone: this is my 1,000th post to this blog. 😀

Feb. 13 league standings update

“Babe and Balls” fell into a tie for the bottom team other than the vacant with “In It To Win It” last week. At the top, “The Incredibowls” and “Bowling Stones” (last week’s opponents) are now tied for the league lead, a point ahead of “Dee’s Boys” (this week’s opposition) and “The 5 G’s.”

January 2011 People’s Tournament results

(Note: The following is a recap of an event in which the author was a participant.)

The People’s Tournament reported that Nicholas Power (American Lanes {Southbridge, MA}, 113 avg.) was the winner of the event held on January 22 & 23 at Westgate Lanes. Power defeated Dave Sargent (Brunswick Lowell Lanes, 186 avg.) by a score of 248-223 (with handicaps) in the title match. For Westgate Lanes bowlers, Sean Richard (203 avg.) was in the semifinals, while Brian Alleyne (165 avg.), Roland Sandefur (191 avg.), Paris Cook (183 avg.), and David Chalifoux (206 avg.) were also in the final eight.

Feb. 9 league night recap

My Week 22 bowling, frame-by-frame (Linked to BowlSK series sheet)

Mostly, I was trying to keep what I practiced on yesterday in mind, but that still didn’t keep me from getting splits and single-pin misses at inopportune times tonight.

Result: 172-180-185=537
Average (66 games): 186
Average for last 9 games: 186
Next week’s AVG+1 score: 574

To let you know how it was going for my team tonight, I’ll point to the 10th frame of the second game, where the lead-off bowler for our opponents had a slow-motion “backdoor” strike which led to a double, followed by the second bowler breaking up a 5-7 split for a strike. On the bright side for my team, John was a few marks shy of a 500 tonight.

Westgate Lanes to run two marathon tournaments in March

Westgate Lanes will be running two nine-game marathon tournaments in the month of March, with a handicap marathon on March 6 and a scratch marathon on March 20. Entry fee for both tournaments is $100, with a first place prize of $1,000 (second prize $500) based on 30 entries. Entries for the handicap tournament (and maybe the scratch one, as well) close on March 1, and forms are available at the control desk. Handicap for the March 6 tournament is 80% of 240, and bowlers must have an average verifiable on Bowl.com.

Feb. 8 practice

After not being able to get to the lanes yesterday (I just had too much stuff to do downtown.), I was bound and determined to get practice in today. Eileen was taking a mini-vacation off of work for her birthday (it was today) and had just wrapped up a lesson with Ray, so I said hello to her while she was practicing. She decided to get two more games in, and I got my gear out of my locker and set up near her as she was bowling the first of those.

The main thing I wanted to work on, as I’ve stated in recent posts, was staying behind the ball and getting my wrist positioner setting dialed in so I could do so. It definitely helped: the first game was a clean 245 with five in a row in the middle, after which I pointed the game out to Eileen, saying, “See? It’s a simple game when you’re doing it right.” Eileen wrapped up around the end of my second game, but couldn’t hang around because she had volleyball tonight, so I finished up alone. My easy spare misses involved the 10 pin, but I think I still got around 620 for the set, which is “more like it.” 😀

Feb. 4 league standings update

The four points “Babe and Balls” took Wednesday night proved to be valuable, as my team is no longer the bottom actual team in the second half, standing a point ahead of “In It To Win It.” “Dee’s Boys” hold a two point lead on three teams, “The Incredibowls,” “The 5 G’s,” and “Bowling Stones,” the latter team of which will be my team’s opponents next week.

Upon further review…

…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.”

Feb. 2 league night recap

My Week 21 bowling, frame-by-frame (Linked to BowlSK series sheet)

Quoting my BowlSK comment on tonight is once again in order:

This night had the potential to be ugly, but I had an overall better spare shooting night than some in the past, as I was 80% on my single pins (missed two 10s, but that was it) and near 80% on my makeable spares. My run of punching out in the 30th frame ended with a solid 9, but that was on the third ball of the frame after two strikes.

Result: 189-162-206=557
Average (63 games): 187
Average for last 9 games: 191
Next week’s AVG+1 score: 616

I was mostly backed up by John (who had a solid, for him, 458) bowling against the vacant team, but the last game wasn’t easy, as my team needed me to close out, and we wound up getting 5 pins over the scratch score we needed.

Jan. 30 league standings update

Despite taking only one point against “Mustangs,” “Babe and Balls” still has company at the bottom of the second half standings, as “Fire in the Hole” also only has one point so far in the second half. At the top of the Brunswick Mixed standings, “Dee’s Boys” have emerged as the early leaders, as they haven’t lost a point in the second half yet and have a two-point lead over “Pairs and Spares” and “Bowling Stones.”

My team should have an easy night this week: we’re up against the vacant team once again.

Winter 2011 Week 2 virtual league results

“Crazy Eights” came decently close to setting a new league-record five-man team series in the process of winning all seven points against “Four Splits and Giggles.” My team is the only team in the league that has yet to lose a point two weeks in, with “2 X 6 Pack” and “Wrecking Balls” sitting four points behind us.

Jan. 26 league night recap

My Week 20 bowling, frame-by-frame (Linked to BowlSK series sheet)

Tonight, in hopes of improving my spare shooting, I experimented with removing my wrist device for my spares. It has a chance to work, as I feel I can deaden the hook on my 10 much better now. The problem was, when I covered my 10 tonight, it was more often chopping it off of the 6, so it still wasn’t a great night for spares. I punched out in the 10th frame in the last game again tonight, so I feel my “endgame” is returning.

Result: 200-201-182=583
Average (60 games): 187
Average for last 9 games: 195
Next week’s AVG+1 score: 609

Except for Patrick, who was absent, the team put together decent games in the second game, but that would be the only point we took tonight. John and Eileen each had one game in the 150s and ended up over their respective averages for the night.

Errata on People’s Tournament BowlSK sheet

I made an error while inputting the data for the first game in the frames after I put my Reign of Fire away; I had forgotten I had to reset the ball to the Hy-Road in two frames, so it was still alternating with my Reign of Fire. I also made a similar error in the frames after I put away my Fast in the third game. Both errors have been corrected on the BowlSK sheet.

My day at the Jan. 2011 People’s Tournament

As an opening note, I was really hopeful after my warm-up game because I had a clean 213, which is my best single on a Sport Bowling-compliant oil pattern under any circumstances.

My qualification attempt, frame-by-frame (Linked to BowlSK series sheet)

The warm-up game was on fresh oil, but the lanes I was on for the 12:30 squad were used by the 10:00 squad, so they were much different. By the second game, I had looked lost, and even tried my Fast to start the third game. I did find my absolute best look late, however, but, even then, I ended up leaving 10s and missing most of them.

I normally stick around to find out the cut score, but my ride (Rob) had to leave early, so this post will be commented to and the BowlSK sheet will be updated when I get the February newsletter at the latest.

Jan. 22 league standings update

“Babe and Balls” weren’t the only team that failed to take points to start the second half, as “Warren’s Girls” and “Dee’s Boys” also took all four points Wednesday night to join “The 5 G’s” in the tie for high point total. “Warren’s Girls” had the high pinfall with handicap, so they occupy the top spot for now. “Mustangs” are up next to face my team.