Nov. 17 league night recap

My Week 11 bowling, frame-by-frame (Linked to series sheet on BowlSK)

I thought I was OK after 2 games, but I don’t quite know what to make of that third game. I could only execute well when I moved in to 38 once, and then fell apart. My two missed single pins were in that game, as well, so this was a game I hope I can forget.

Result: 174-198-137=509
Average (33 games): 185
Average for last 9 games: 179
Next week’s AVG+1 score: 562

With both John and Carl absent, I needed help from my other two teammates and got it with a 156 first game from Eileen, but that was it, but it was fairly close for total, and my team got the first game point, anyway. I’m also happy to report that Eileen’s at least trying to learn a hook release, which may be slow in developing, but I urged her to keep at it.

Nov. 15 league standings update

“Babe and Balls” did take a point out of last week, but we still fell into a tie in points for 7th with “Dee’s Boys,” who happen to be our opponents Wednesday night. At the top of the standings, “Fire in the Hole” lead “Vacanczz” by a point, with “Mustangs” a half-point behind “Vacanczz” in 3rd.

Fall 2010 Week 10 virtual league results

“5 Blind Squirrels” were swept once again last week, this time by “AAA,” but you could say we “helped” that team, as the seven points turned out to be enough to unseat “Five Fingers of Death” from the top perch in the league (“AAA” now leads the latter team and Team 7 by two points). The leaders now have double my team’s points (42 to 21), so it’ll take a hot run (take all points for three weeks) to get back into it, but I’m not happy about our prospects for doing so. The deficit to 7th place is also in double digits, so it’ll take a hot run to even climb out of last place.

Nov. 15 practice

I arranged with Rob Dickens to meet for a practice session together today, and I had hoped it would be practice with my new Reign of Fire on the Coke league shot. However, there was miscommunication between Bev, who thought Junior didn’t want the Coke league’s lanes given out until after 5 PM, and Junior, who told me after practice that he didn’t care if anyone got the Coke league lanes before those bowlers came in. As a result, the session was on the THS.

Rob could only stay for two games, so I concentrated on my total game with a quasi-competitive feel to it for those games. I won both games scratch, but it was far from easy in the second game, where I needed just 7 pins on 2 balls in the 10th to tie (I was working on a 9th frame strike), but left the “Big Four” with my first ball, meaning I had to get pins out of it. As I missed a single 4 pin earlier in the game, I used the opportunity to practice the left side and got the two on that side for a two-pin victory.

The third game was spent on my middle oil game, and I’m pleased to report that I made progress, as I threw a one-open 202 on the line I tried with my brother last week. As I feel I’m going to need my middle oil game at some point Wednesday night, this was encouraging.

Masochism on display

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).

Nov. 10 league night recap

My Week 10 bowling, frame-by-frame (Linked to series sheet on BowlSK)

I was bitten majorly by the split bug tonight: nine of them, with five in the last game alone. When they came, I was able to run the strikes for the most part, and all of my makeable spares were single pins, of which I only missed one, and that was how I was able to save 500 on the night.

Result: 176-201-160=537
Average (30 games): 187
Average for last 9 games: 177
Next week’s AVG+1 score: 579

My sub-par bookend games may have cost us points tonight, and, indeed I came up in the 10th in the third game with the possibility of saving the night, but that shot held to form for the night…you guessed it, a split.

Fall 2010 Week 9 virtual league results

In the virtual league, the same result as Week 1 occurred between “5 Blind Squirrels” and “Furious Five”: the latter team winning all of the points. The margin from the basement (my team) to 7th (“Cell 6”) is now six points. “Five Fingers of Death” had their league lead halved, with Team 7 now just three points behind them.

Nov. 8 league standings update

The four points “Babe and Balls” won against the vacant last week allowed us to move into a tie in points for 6th with “Pairs and Spares,” 6 points behind the pace set by “Fire in the Hole,” who hold just a half-point lead over “The Mustangs.”

Individually, Carl’s 447 was the high scratch series of the week in his average division. This week, we see “Bowling Stones,” the team I threw my 700 series against.

October 2010 People’s Tournament results

The People’s Tournament reported that Lisa Sousa (AMF Holiday Lanes [Westport, MA], 146 avg.) was the winner of the October event held at AMF Silver Lanes on October 23-24. Sousa defeated Mike Major (Westgate Lanes, 198 avg.) by a score of 197-168 (with handicaps) in the title match. John Hayes Jr. (205 avg.) was the other casher from Westgate Lanes, and Herbert Brown (Kingston Ten Pin, 175 avg.) and Harriet Glatky (North Bowl, 137 avg.) also represented the Brockton/Foxvale/Tri-City area in the roll-offs.

Just a note, the next People’s Tournament will be the Westgate Lanes event I mentioned in my previous post, with a $5,000 guaranteed first prize. The November tournament was canceled due to a conflict with a TNBA tournament.

Prep work

Going in reverse chronological order with the two items I want to post about, because being able to have the second item was dependent on having the first…

Today, FedEx delivered a Brunswick Competitor triple roller, which is the first roller bag I have ever bought. I actually ordered the roller on Monday night from bowling.com via the BowlingFans.com Amazon store, which helps support the latter site…something I’ve wanted to do and will try to do again as much as possible. I may not order balls from the BowlingFans.com “Pro Shop” because it would end up a wash after Ray charges me for drilling, but it should be fine for my other bowling needs.

It must now be noted that I intend to enter the December People’s Tournament at Westgate Lanes on the first weekend of that month. Knowing Sherm now likes to have “Dead Man’s Curve” out for his Westgate Lanes events, I felt I needed a ball for heavier oil, so, last night, I had Ray set aside Storm’s Reign of Fire in a 15 lb. weight for me to pick up on Monday night. Looking at the page I linked in the previous sentence, the ball appears stronger than my Hy-Road, and will be the first ball I’ve ever purchased that was dull out of the box. As for drilling, I told Ray to give me something that will help me in the oil but still save something for the back-end; I had thought this would be a pin-up type drilling, but Ray told me it would probably be closer to a stacked drilling, or at least something between the two types of layouts mentioned. I’ll be updating my arsenal page on BowlSK when I have the final specs.

Nov. 3 league night recap

My Week 9 bowling, frame-by-frame (Linked to series sheet on BowlSK)

My work on lofting paid of in the first two (and particularly the second) games, but I struggled when I had to make a move to a line I was unfamiliar with playing. I missed all but one of my 10s, but made both of my washouts…go figure.

Result: 192-222-154=568
Average (27 games): 188
Average for last 9 games: 176
Next week’s AVG+1 score: 582

Team took all four from the vacant, but it wasn’t easy in the last game, as we were only 4 over our target score. Carl had his best night of the year tonight, scoring in the 440s (when his average night is in the 370s).

Nov. 3 league standings update

Last week’s failure to win points caused “Babe and Balls” to fall into a tie with “In It To Win It” in points for the 8th position. At the top, “Fire In The Hole” leads “The 5 G’s” by a point. My team has the bye this week; we’ve had previous experience bowling in a forfeit situation this season, and the forfeit rules are used when bowling against the bye…I hope we’re ready.

Patriots league notes: Trent shoots 290; Rosenberg converts 7-9

A couple of messages from the Thursday night Patriots league greeted me when I came in to practice today:

  • This past Thursday, Mike Trent threw an 11-in-a-row 290 game, which I can only assume happened with a spare in the first frame and “running the table” the rest of the way. Congrats Mike! 😀
  • Also this past Thursday, David Rosenberg made good on a conversion of the 7-9 split (which is a lefty’s 8-10, though it’s possible for a right-hander to leave a 7-9, as well), which is believed to be the first 7-9 ever converted at Westgate Lanes. It is estimated that the odds of converting a 7-9 or an 8-10 are approximately 100,000:1, so congratulations to David, as well! 😀

Nov. 2 practice

I chose a Tuesday afternoon to practice this time instead of the usual Monday because of the greater availability of lanes with the house shot (which Rob told me has been modified a little from the “stock” Bourbon Street pattern). I used the greater part of the practice to work on my loft game, as that’s what the lanes seem to require of me right now. I’m not quite “there” yet, but with the last 2 games in the 180s, I think I’m getting better and more consistent at lofting the ball.

Fall 2010 Week 8 virtual league results

“5 Blind Squirrels” last week scored a nice reversal of the previous week’s result against “Cell 6,” and closed to within 4 points of a tie for the 6th position between the latter team and “4 + sk8 = #1.” At the halfway point of the season, “Five Fingers of Death” holds a 6 point lead on a three-way tie in points for 2nd between “AAA,” Team 7, and Team 4. “5 Blind Squirrels” ended up having the high scratch team game and series of the week.

Fall 2010 Week 7 virtual league results

This is late being posted…

“5 Blind Squirrels” only managed to take two points from “Cell 6” last week, meaning my virtual team fell further in back of the pack, sitting 7 points in back of the latter team for 7th place. The good news is we get an immediate rematch, as this week is the first position week for the virtual league. At the top of the standings, “Five Fingers of Death” lead “AAA” by 7 points.

Oct. 27 league night recap

My Week 8 bowling, frame-by-frame (Linked to series sheet on BowlSK)

I felt more “out of it” than I usually do tonight. It showed not only in my bowling, but in my entry of the data for BowlSK, as I made a few errors in the initial entry of frames that I could only reconcile by checking the scores with what was on the recap at the end of the night and going back over the games based on my memory. The highlights were 5 in a row bridging the second and third games, and a conversion of the 2-4-10 in the last frame of the night.

Result: 170-146-173=489
Average (24 games): 188
Average for last 9 games: 182
Next week’s AVG+1 score: 583

It wasn’t a good night for the team, either. Eileen was battling a volleyball injury all night, and only John and Patrick had at least one game over average (Carl matched his average last game.) The team lost all four points, which I’ll chalk up as a team loss.

Oct. 26 league standings update

Last week’s failure to take points forced “Babe and Balls” further toward the middle of the pack, and are now 5 points behind the leaders, “Vacanczz,” in a tie in points for 6th with “Pairs and Spares” (Shawn’s team this year). “The Mustangs,” who figure to be more dangerous this year with my buddy Eric in the fold, provide my team’s opposition tomorrow night.

Cross-training #164

A Chicago sports blog notes that fans of the defending Stanley Cup champion Blackhawks will have the opportunity to bowl with defenseman Brent Seabrook and some of his teammates when he hosts his third annual Celebrity ICE Bowl Sunday at the 10pin Bowling Lounge on N. State St. The event benefits the Inner City Education (ICE) Program, which provides educational opportunities for low-income youth hockey players.

Oct. 20 league night recap

My Week 7 bowling, frame-by-frame (Linked to series sheet on BowlSK)

All of the members of “The 5 G’s” can hook it, and the lanes broke down quicker than I’m used to. As a result, I couldn’t stay off the nose for a good deal of the night. I migrated in as much as I felt comfortable with and eventually found some success when I started trying to loft it a little. However, that is not really my game, and I eventually lost the left lane. I could take something away from tonight, however: I beat the younger Ed Godino scratch in the last game.

Result: 183-145-203=531
Average (21 games): 191
Average for last 9 games: 182
Next week’s AVG+1 score: 577

John had a steady night, and Carl got better than he’s been later in the night, but the other team didn’t make many big mistakes tonight and took all four points, with my team losing total by more than 300 pins.

Wednesday night note

I was informed today that there had been a death in the family over the weekend, and, since the wake may be Wednesday night, I may not be bowling. I’ll still update my league’s standings when they’re posted (as well as the virtual league results next Monday), but please don’t expect a post about my bowling night this week.

Sept. 2010 People’s Tournament results

After taking July and August off, the People’s Tournament returned to AMF Silver Lanes on September 25 and 26, and Reynard Epps (Westgate Lanes, 156 avg.) won the title, defeating Malcom Marius (AMF Silver Lanes, 181 average) by a score of 234-215 (with handicaps) in the championship match. Rosemarie Daniels (165 avg.), Gary Mahame (176 avg.), and Linwood Cowen, Jr. (190 avg.) were the other Westgate Lanes cashers, while North Bowl was represented in the roll-offs by Craig Glatky (178 avg.)