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.

Aug. 1 PBA East region update

Catching up on the happenings on the PBA regional tour…

On July 23-25, the PBA East regional tour was at Cedar Lanes in Lebanon, PA for the Cap Card Open, and Jon Van Hees (Charlestown, RI) cashed in 26th place, failing to qualify for match play. The tournament was contested on the Scorpion pattern, and was won by Terry Miller of York, PA.

In an East regional tournament that wound down today, Gary Erickson (N. Attleboro, MA) cashed in 21st place and Chris Monroy (Holden, MA) cashed in 24th place in the Mid-County Lanes Open in Middletown, DE, which was contested on the Chameleon pattern. Danny Wiseman of Baltimore was the champion.

Going “Fast” (includes July 28 league night recap)

I had hoped to have had it done so when I visited the pro shop on Tuesday, but I had to wait for Ray to do it tonight. Before league started, I had a Storm Fast drilled up. Normally, I’d link the manufacturer’s page about the ball, but since the Fast is being discontinued in favor of the 2Fast (to be released next month), Storm’s site took the page off. I’ll refer the reader to the BallReviews.com page on the ball if they want an idea of what the ball looks like (I couldn’t also find an image of the ball’s core).

This ball replaces the High Voltage in my bag, and with this ball, I told Ray I wanted length with decent back-end, as I thought my Hy-Road was burning up on the “new” house shot, especially when the shot became toast. We didn’t have time to measure the ball out after drilling it, but Ray told me he thought the drilling would end up 5″ X 4 3/4″, with the pin on the ball drilled out for the ring finger. I had had nothing but stacked drillings up until now, so I was nervous about trying something new. Because Ray was running late due to traffic, I warmed up and threw my first frame for score with the Hy-Road before putting the Fast into play for the very first time. The normal league night stuff follows:

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

As the reader can see on the BowlSK page, I threw a strike, and one that actually counted for something, on my very first shot with the Fast. I knew I’d spend most of the night moving until I could find an optimum line, but I ended up standing 33 and looking 12, much like I’ve been throwing my Hy-Road. The difference? The Fast holds its energy longer, so I have something left for the back-end. The bad second game I’ll chalk up to missing spares, but with a final game in the 230s (my high to date in this league) and a set over 580 (also my best this summer), I have to consider the night a resounding success.

Result: 190-158-234=582
Average (30 games): 174
Average for last 9 games: 179
Next week’s AVG+1 score: 539

As for the team, John supported my 190 with a 188 of his own to help us take the first game, but the third game was notable on a personal level because the 234 came opposite a 256 from Sean Richard, our opponents’ anchor, and, had I not had the good game opposite a quality opponent, we would not have won the third game’s points, let alone by enough to also take the points for total.

July 26 practice

I spent a good deal of my practice time today working on straightening out my spare ball shot. Before, I had thrown it with my normal release and, even with the ball drilled to go straight, it would hook a little. Where said hook hurts me on corner pins, I concentrated mostly (after my first ball) on shooting any corner pins I was left with by using a release where I’d hold it almost like I was throwing a back-up ball, and coming up the back of the ball in the release. While I missed a couple, I was improving to the point where I made a dead straight shot at the 7, standing on 9 and going over third arrow, toward the end of the session. Tomorrow’s plans include a visit to the pro shop, but only if something else falls into place.

July 25 league standings update

Although “Trip N Shred” finally won points this week, the team we were tied with, “Hocus Pocus,” won all 8 of theirs, so my team is now officially in last place. However, we remain within hailing distance (four points) of two other teams tied in points for 14th: “El Equipo” and “Awesome Sox.” At the top, Team 13 now leads by four points over “Phase 10 Pins.” Our opponents Wednesday night are “Zoots,” whose anchor bowler is my buddy, Sean Richard.

July 21 league night recap

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

There is one positive I’ll take from this: I felt I made a correct ball change in the middle of the night; I was just making inconsistent shots with it. My spare shooting was up and down, as I chopped the 3-6-10 twice as well as a 6-10, but I did make the 3-6-9-10 both times I had it, and any bowler will tell you that that latter leave is not an easy one.

Result: 157-177-184=518
Average (27 games): 172
Average for last 9 games: 175
Next week’s AVG+1 score: 536

The team highlights tonight: Rob recovered from three open frames in the first game with the last 8 in a row for a 222, and Eileen had a 157 second game to help us take our only points of the night (still welcome, though, as we went two weeks in a row without winning any).

George Tignor, Brendan Bierch cash in PBA Iroquois Lanes Senior Open

The PBA also runs regional tournaments for the senior crowd, and, at the recent PBA East regional Iroquois Lanes Senior Open held at Iroquois Lanes in Canajoharie, NY on July 9-11, George Tignor of Winchendon, MA was reported by the PBA as finishing 7th in the tournament. Tignor qualified in 6th position, but went 3-5-0 in match play. The tournament was won by Bob Caruso of Dayton, NJ. Senior tournaments at the regional level also guarantee four “super senior” cashers, and one of the final super senior cash spots went to Brendan Bierch of Grafton, MA.

Congrats to both of the New England cashers. 😀

Note: The tournament was contested on Regional Senior Pattern #3.

Link to “Let’s Talk Ten Pin” added to sidebar

A friend from the BowlingFans.com community today pointed me to a fairly new bowling podcast site, called “Let’s Talk Ten Pin.” It appears to be based out of southern California, and their archived podcasts recently included interviews with some ball manufacturer representatives about their new releases for the summer. They also round up the national bowling news for the week, and they appear to update every Monday, except for holidays, when they update on Tuesday. The link appears in the sidebar under the general “Bowling Sites” category.

As for additional maintenance to the list, the link to the “On Strike” podcast has been removed, as it’s been found that there’s been nothing new on the site in over two years. I was really hoping that one would take off, so hopefully, readers trying to find a bowling podcast will like the new site mentioned above.

July 19 practice

To sum up my practice today, I left the bowling center after it feeling better about my bowling than I have in some time. The first game was actually pretty bad, as I struggled to find my groove, but the other two games were 208 and 224, with one open in each, and I made a 7-8 and a 3-10 in the second game to keep that game clean until the 10th frame, when I left one wide to leave the bucket plus 7 pin. I concentrated on keeping the elbow in again, and I’m starting to see the work pay off with some good games. I’m very much looking forward to Wednesday night.

Link to “Bowl-Tech” added to sidebar list

Today, I decided to add a site that I’ve known about for a while, but struggled with the decision to include it in my links list until now. Bowl-Tech is a forum site that, although there is general bowling discussion on it, should be of interest to anyone interested in bowling center operations, particularly the technical and management aspects. There are even forums where bowling jobs (and posts by users seeking them) can be found, so I finally decided the link would be worthwhile as a service to the overall bowling community. The link appears in the general “Bowling Sites” category.

July 18 league standings update

The worst possible scenario for “Trip N Shred” happened this week: not only did we lose all of the points, but “Hocus Pocus” won all of theirs, meaning the two teams are now tied at the bottom of the standings (with my team having the pinfall edge). There was a partial shake-up at the top of the standings this week, with only a two-way tie for the lead in points now existing between Team 13 and “Phase 10 Pins.” This week’s opponents are “Those Guys.” Who are “Those Guys?” Two of them are Carl and Eric (one of the father and son pairs) from my winter league.

Ed Roberts finishes in top 7 in July High Roller; Alex Aguiar also cashes

The High Roller blog reported that Braintree’s Ed Roberts finished in the fifth-to-seventh place cashing group in the July High Roller at Sam’s Town in Las Vegas. Roberts lost in the eighth round of match play to Steve Calyore of Naples, FL by a score of 215-173, and “The Big Game” was eventually won by Dennis Killough of Indian Trail, NC. Alex Aguiar of Dartmouth also did well, cashing with the 21st-39th place group after losing in the fifth round to Casey Murphy of Nixa, MO by a score of 258-219. Congrats to both of the local bowlers. 😀

Cross-training #151

A Minneapolis Star-Tribune blog notes that Twins second baseman Orlando Hudson will host a “Twins & Pins” charity bowling event on July 29. A page linked in the above article stated that the event will take place at the Brooklyn Park Brunswick Zone and will benefit Hudson’s C.A.T.C.H. Foundation and the Autism Society of Minnesota. Centerfielder Denard Span is one of the other current and former Twins players who will participate.

A new toy (includes league night recap)

I have recently purchased a netbook for the purpose of entering my bowling on BowlSK at the lanes using the wireless network there, and I went to the lanes tonight at my usual winter league time in order to test the wireless setup out. I was worried that the signal would be weak as you get to the high end of the center (towards lane 62), so my first test was to see if I could connect to the wifi at the 61-62 pair, and found I could, as I was able to post on Facebook and one of my forum sites. A lot of the time before bowling was showing friends the data entry screen of the site, which I was only able to tell them that I did that at home after bowling until tonight. As a final note about this, there was a glitch with the site early in Game 2, but I had my pen and paper note sheet ready as a backup, and once the problem with the site cleared up, I was able to catch up while I was waiting to bowl. In the future, you might like to check my series on BowlSK.com as I’m bowling, as it’s now “almost live” scoring…just remember to refresh the page periodically. 😀

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

Tonight had a little bit of everything, and was “par for the course” for me lately. I missed the exact same number of single pins and multi-pin spares in the same number of chances in each category. I had a couple of doubles in Game 2, but I still find it difficult to get a good run going; it should be noted I’ve only had one game over 200 so far this summer: that in the first week.

Result: 173-180-166=519
Average (24 games): 172
Average for last 9 games: 178
Next week’s AVG+1 score: 535

No one on my team had either a really good or a really bad night, but Louis Larry on the other team had a good night, which helped carry his team to a sweep.

Tom Hedding shoots 300 game in Adult/Junior

With only two other leagues running at Westgate Lanes this summer, I’ve been able to keep a closer eye on the standings in those leagues, and, as a result, I have an honor score to report: a 300 game shot by Tom Hedding Thursday night in the Adult/Junior league. Tom has recently graduated from the youth ranks, and I believe this is his first honor score as an adult bowler. Nice shooting Tom! 😀

July 12 practice

There was nothing too special about practice today. I had one bad game to start, but threw better shots in the other two; however, I noticed in the third game that though my ball was making it to the pocket, it was having trouble revving up and, as a result, hit rather weakly, leaving a good number of flat 10s. I may need to develop more revs, so that’s something I should ask Ray about (and I’m close to resuming lessons with him again).

July 11 league standings update

Despite getting swept by the “Lounge Lizards” (my cousins’ team) last week, “Trip N Shred” still managed to avoid slipping to the very bottom of the standings, and are, in fact, four points ahead of “Hocus Pocus”. My cousins, on the other hand, used the sweep to climb into a four-way tie in points for the league lead with Team 13, “Shake and Bake,” and “Phase 10 Pins.” We face a middle-of-the-pack team, Team 6, this week.

July PBA East regional tour update

These posts may be sporadic b/c of my forgetfulness in checking the PBA’s site for East regional tournament results, so I’m going to combine the recent New England-based cashers into one post and hope I get back on track:

  • Jonathan Van Hees (Charlestown, RI; round of 16) and Gary Erickson (N. Attleboro, MA; 30th) cashed in the King Pin Lanes Open on April 30-May 2 in Rome, NY, contested on the Viper oil pattern. The tournament was won by Rick Graham (Lancaster, PA).
  • Jon Van Hees cashed again (round of 16) at the Burlington Bowl Open on June 11-13 at the Burlington Bowl and Recreation Center in Burlington, NJ, contested on the Shark oil pattern. This tournament was won by Ryan Ciminelli (Cheektowaga, NY).
  • Van Hees scored another round of 16 cash at the Howell Lanes Open on June 18-20 in Howell, NJ on the Cheetah oil pattern. This time, however, there was a New England-based bowler ahead of him, as Chris Monroy (Holden, MA) made it to the round of 8. The winner was Brian LeClair (Athens, NY).

July 7 league night recap

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

This was the first time in three meetings against my cousins that things weren’t entirely positive for me. I missed nearly as many single pins as I made, and, had I been perfect on single pins, my night would’ve been right around 600. The positives I did take out of it were the fact that I wasn’t leaving the ball out again (the result of reminding myself to keep my elbow in), and that I struck out in the 10th frame in two of the three games.

Result: 168-182-190=540
Average (21 games): 172
Average for last 9 games: 177
Next week’s AVG+1 score: 535

The team loss of all points resulted largely from Bob Fosdick, my cousins’ anchor bowler in the summer, being a steamroller, particularly in the first two games, after which he had a clear shot at a 700+ night.

June 2010 People’s Tournament results

The People’s Tournament reported that Ed Greene (Westgate Lanes, 193 avg.) was the winner of the June event held at Westgate Lanes. Greene defeated Dave Sloane (North Bowl Lanes, 154 avg.) by a score of 236-217 (with handicaps) in the title match. Roland Sandefur (191 avg.) was the only other Westgate Lanes bowler in the top 8, but I should recognize my buddy Rob Dickens (161 avg.), who made it to the round of 16.

Note: The TPT has decided to cancel the July and August tournaments, so the next TPT event will be held at AMF Silver Lanes on Sept. 25 and 26.

July 4 league standings update

The sweep of “J.E.M.S.” helped “Trip N Shred” climb back to the middle of the pack, as we now sit in a tie in a four-way tie in points for 10th place, with my team having the best of the pinfall. At the top, “Phase 10 Pins” now hold a four-point lead over “Team 13.” This week is one I have circled on my schedule, as my team faces the “Lounge Lizards,” which, as some of my readers know, is the team my cousins are on in the summer.

Link list cleanup

First, not really a “cleanup” item, but the link to the LeagueSecretary.com Wednesday Summer Mixed League standings is now up after a delay in getting the standings uploaded for the new season.

Second, I noticed that a couple of ball company sites no longer exist, so those have been removed from the links list. As always, if you know of a new ball company site, let me know (with a working link) so that I may add it to the “Equipment Sites” list.

June 30 league night recap

My Week 6 bowling, frame-by-frame (Link to series on BowlSK)

Things actually seemed to start to come back together tonight, and, while I still seem to be plagued by the “one bad game” problem, I recovered late in tonight’s bad game to get close to average, and, more importantly, secure the points for my team. I even seem to have gotten my swing shot mojo back a bit late in the night, and this can only be a good sign.

I also seem to have solved a problem I’ve been having with my Robbie’s Revs wrist device of having the strap securement pop out of the slot (it’s hard for me to describe exactly what’s been happening without knowing the proper names for the parts) when I noticed I may have been wearing the device too high on my hand. Bringing the hinge more in line with my wrist seems to have been the ticket.

Result: 195-165-191=551
Average (18 games): 170
Average for last 9 games: 174
Next week’s AVG+1 score: 514

I couldn’t have been happier that my team took all the points on the anniversary of my return to bowling, and, while everyone contributed in their own way, Eileen deserves special mention because she had a personal best game (176) and series (446) tonight, even getting a hambone in her 176 first game.

Anniversary post

Well, folks, it’s been three years today that I’ve been back to the game I love. The last year saw a couple of good things on a personal level: First was the 267 game, a single pin off my personal best, in winter league just after Christmas, when I had the nine strikes in a row to end it, prompting me to post about it on my BowlSpace blog rather than here. The second was being on the team that won the inaugural BowlingCommunity Mixed Virtual League, which I was also bowling for in my normal league play much of the second half of the season.

There won’t be many thanked in this post specifically, but a few people/groups deserved special mention:

  • Again, to everyone who participated in the virtual league, but also to my online friend Chris for volunteering to be the league’s secretary, without which the league might not have been possible.
  • My new bowling friends, John and Eileen Ruhl…your presence on my team last winter made the league even more fun for everyone in the league, and I’m glad that it has carried over into the summer. 😀
  • Lastly, Rob Dickens, who has come to be one of my best bowling friends for being around on some Mondays to practice together.

This happens to be the first anniversary I will have also bowled in league on, so I’m hoping for something big tonight (possibly my first 700 set? 😀 )

June 28 practice

“CoachJim” thought my splits in the last game Wednesday night could’ve been avoided by switching to a weaker ball, and, since I thought (or had thought, anyway) my High Voltage was the weaker of my two main balls, I used most of practice today to do some arsenal evaluation to see if that, indeed, was the case. In the first two games, I concentrated on throwing both of my balls, and I actually ended up pulling the High Voltage more, so it was hard to get a read on the relative strength of the two balls. There was a point in the second game, however, that I did what I wanted to: I threw both balls (one first, then the other) with the same shot to the same line…and crushed the pocket both times. I have to say there’s not really much difference between the two balls now, though my friend Tom (whom I’ve mentioned previously on this blog in connection to the local youth bowling scene) told me you notice the differences more on a tougher shot rather than a THS (typical house shot). Still, I may think of having the High Voltage redrilled weaker if I can.

In the game I bowled for score, I used the Hy-Road exclusively, and only missed a baby split en route to a 194.

June 27 league standings update

We went into last week unable to really afford getting swept; we were, and “Trip N Shred” now find ourselves at the bottom of the standings, tied in points with “El Equipo,” the only team we happen to have a net win against so far. “Phase 10 Pins” now hold a four point lead over “J.E.M.S.,” who are our opponents this week.