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.

December 2009 People’s Tournament results

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

The People’s Tournament reported Brian Gaskill (Westgate Lanes, 218 avg.) as the winner of the year-end event held on Dec. 12 & 13 at Westgate Lanes. Gaskill defeated Jayme Silva (Wonder Bowl, 200 avg.) in the title match by a score of 197-164 (with handicaps). Westgate Lanes bowlers dominated the top of the prize list, as Brian Egan (213 avg.) and Linwood Cowen, Jr. (180 avg.) also made the semifinals, while Maya Christie (120 avg.) was also in the final 8. Gaskill, in addition to collecting the $5,000 first place prize, won the tournament director’s strike jackpot in the Saturday squad (for $500), as did Bill Major in the first Sunday squad (for $1,000).

2009-10 half-season round-up

With most leagues at Westgate Lanes nearing the halfway point of the winter season, I will again use the new year as an unofficial halfway point and take a look at the best performances for both the men and the women to this point. Averages are based on a minimum of 36 games in the league.

Men

Average: 226 Harry Thibeault, Jr. (Westgate Mixed)
Series: 804 Danny Khuu (Westgate Mixed)
Game: 300 Derick Thibeault (2, Westgate Mixed), Jim Alfieri (Westgate Mixed), Danny Khuu (Westgate Mixed), Carl Nordstrom (Thursday Handicap Doubles), Troy Labrie (Coke Classic), Rich Fulton Jr. (Coke Classic)

Women

Average: 216 Sandi Litchfield (Westgate Mixed)
Series: 754 Tina Gannon (Coke Classic)
Game: 300 Tina Gannon (Coke Classic)

Contact information updated

Being that I’m on Facebook a lot more often than MySpace these days, I finally got around to updating the “About” page to point to my Facebook profile instead of my profile on MySpace, for people that want a contact option. I still would prefer BowlSpace for bowling-related messages, however, so the link to my BowlSpace profile remains on the page.

Christmas at Westgate Lanes

My Christmas took an unexpected turn today because my sister’s younger son took ill this morning, forcing a postponement of Christmas dinner at her sister-in-law’s new house. With nothing better to do, and Westgate Lanes advertising being open 365 days a year, my brother and I used the opportunity to see if the advertisement was true.

It was, albeit the place had a skeleton crew: Junior working the desk, and someone in the back; the snack bar wasn’t even open. I had gift certificates from a half-off radio station promotion during the summer, so I used one of those to pay for our bowling, and took the difference out of my pocket. You might think we had the place to ourselves, but there were a couple of other groups that were there during at least part of our visit. With plenty of spare lanes, however, I used the opportunity to introduce my brother to bowling on a pair of lanes instead of a single lane. Although I didn’t tell him until the first game was almost over, I also gave my brother 80 pins handicap each game: he’s usually around 100-105 when we bowl, so, taking my 186 league average into account, 80 pins represents roughly 100% handicap.

To sum up the results, I had all three games over my league average, but the handicap was enough to give my brother the first game. There were a couple of highlights for me…I picked up a 2-10 split in the first game, and started the second game with the front five. To end it, when I came up in the tenth frame of the third game, I needed a mark to ensure a tie, and got it with a strike, meaning I just had to keep it on the lane to win…I left a 10 on the second ball of the frame, and picked it up for a 188. Bowling on Christmas is not something I’d do every year, but it was nice to know the option was available when our plans for the day had to change.

Dec. 24 league standings update

With one week left before the first-half position round, my team now stands in a tie for 7th place with “Double D” (the renamed “4 MTD”) with my team having the pinfall advantage. We could conceivably catch “The Dynasty” (our opponents next week) and “The Wild Samoans” (who face “Double D” next week) before the position round.

This being the last post before the holiday, I’d like to wish my readers a wonderful and safe Christmas. 😀

Dec. 23 league night recap

My Week 16 bowling, frame-by-frame (Link to BowlSK)

I was fairly pleased with the way I bowled tonight, but especially because of the second game, which was a miss of a double-wood leave shy of being in the 250s. At the end of the night, I was kicking myself for missing two single pins in the first game; if I had made just one of those, this would’ve been my best set of the season. I will take my best game of the season as a Christmas gift to myself, however.

Result: 192-243-200=635
Average (48 games): 186
Average for last 9 games: 194
Next week’s AVG+1 score: 585

Eileen and John pre-bowled for tonight, as they were traveling for the holiday, and, learning that all three games were over average for both of them, I was confident of taking some points. However, as Sue Young had a good night, and her husband Warren had a stellar night (711, with the first 10 in the second game before leaving a split for a 262, followed by a 250), we could only manage a split, with my team taking first game and total.

Dec. 21 practice

This post is a bit late because I was meeting my brother at Westgate Lanes after practice to meet up with my sister and her family for my nephew’s birthday, but I contemplated not making this post at all because of a pedestrian performance. I did want to note, however, that the sister of one of my closer friends showed up with her kids, including a son that I guessed was around age 3. The son seemed to like bowling, so, when the opportunity arose, I plugged Westgate Lanes’ youth program to his mother for when he gets older, and also mentioned that there’s a pee-wee league where the emphasis is more on fun than developing bowling skill.

Dec. 18 league standings update

My team slipped to 8th place in the standings thanks to getting swept by “Foxy SRS,” but we can still improve before the position week, as we’re only a point behind “The Dynasty” for 7th with the first half’s position night coming in just a few weeks. “Butz-N-Gutz” currently holds a 5 point lead on “The Generations” and “The Mustangs” at the top. “Warren’s Girls” will be our opponents next week.

If you’ll look on the LeagueSecretary.com standings sheet, you’ll note that Eileen again won the holiday bonus in her division with a +74 differential. Nice going, Eileen! 😀

Blog linked on BowlSearch.com

I didn’t really notice it before, but BowlingFans.com, which is about my favorite bowling-related site, has a BowlSearch.com section that indexes bowling sites, similar to the listing on “The Bowling Zone.” As I sort of “know” the owner of BowlingFans.com, I was able to get quick approval of this blog’s submission, and it now appears on BowlSearch.com in the “Bowling Blogs” category. The reciprocal link requirement to BowlingFans.com was long taken care of, but I’m not going out of my way to include a separate link to BowlSearch.com; anyone wishing to find something on BowlSearch.com from here is hereby directed to use the BowlingFans.com sidebar link.

Dec. 16 league night recap

My Week 15 bowling, frame-by-frame (Link to BowlSK)

This was a pretty normal night, as my nights go, but three things stood out:

  1. I was finally able to get a “messenger” 10 (where {usually} the head pin comes off the side wall and takes out a standing 10 pin for a right-hander; also often called a “scout”) in the 3rd frame of the second game. That had yet to happen in my return.
  2. I went back to throwing my spare ball at my left corner pins (4 and 7), and, while I missed one each of the 4 and 7, I found that I could be effective with it as long as I don’t pull the shot (which happened on both misses).
  3. I left 4 single 10 pins and made them all…always a good thing.

Result: 161-202-191=554
Average (45 games): 184
Average for last 9 games: 183
Next week’s AVG+1 score: 563

My friend Bonnie asked for, and was granted by a vote of the team captains, a transfer to my team’s opponents this week, “Foxy SRS,” and the addition of Bonnie made them immediately better, as they took all 4 points from us last night. For my team, not much really stood out except for Eileen again, who posted up a 416 total (averaging 114 going in) and is likely in the running for the Christmas holiday bonus in her division, just as she was at Thanksgiving.

My day at the People’s Tournament, Dec. 13

Before I note how I did, it should be said that the People’s Tournament eliminated the average cap (which was 225) starting with this tournament, and it brought the sharks into the water. The top 5 in the Saturday squad (all of which were guaranteed spots in the roll-offs) were all bowlers I believe I’ve mentioned on this blog before and who bowl in NEBA tournaments on a regular basis. With the high number of entries, I was expecting the cut score to be high, so I needed to be my best.

My qualification attempt, frame-by-frame (Link to BowlSK)

I never really got it going until near the end, so I could only manage a 591 score with my handicap. However, as I said in my comment, I’ll take the three strikes in a row near the end as being as much of an accomplishment as I’ve had in these without cashing. I also had the best seat in the house for a 288 in the last game: the bowler following me had the first 10, but left it light on the 11th shot. For the record, the cut to the roll-offs was a 703, so I missed it by 112 pins.

Dec. 12 league standings update

A sweep of the points by my team allowed us to move into a three-way tie for 6th place in points, with my team holding down the 7th spot based on pinfall. “Butz-N-Gutz” maintained a three-point lead over “The Mustangs” despite a net loss this week. My team faces “Foxy SRS” in the coming week.

Dec. 9 league night recap

My Week 14 bowling, frame-by-frame (Link to BowlSK)

It was really just a typical “night at the office” until the end of the night, but all I’ll say about how it ended was that my team got a gift point for the third game, and the less said further about it, the better for everyone involved (though none of it had anything to do w/ my own team directly).

Result: 167-181-214=562
Average (42 games): 184
Average for last 9 games: 181
Next week’s AVG+1 score: 562

Wishing to note my teammates’ accomplishments the other night, Carl started off with a solid 183, Eileen had a 156 in the middle, and John was over his average in all three games for a 446 set.

On the “Beaten Path”

With something of an expectation that the Monday night shot (which changed to the Kegel “Beaten Path” pattern this week) should be out for the People’s Tournament this weekend, I met Rob today for practice. I struggled with the first two games in the 130s as I tried to make sense of my ball reaction on an unfamiliar pattern. I eventually got fairly good results standing around 30 and trying to go around third arrow (15 board) while coming up the back of the ball, and had a game in the 170s to end it.

However, I learned that what was out there tonight may not necessarily be what’s out for the tournament. Talking to Junior after bowling, he suggested that he might use what the Tuesday night scratch league is on, which, I believe, is currently “Boardwalk”. I’m attempting to confirm this with Sam Belton (who bowls in that league), but, in any case, those of you who are friends of mine on Facebook may want to check my status Sunday morning when I know for sure what’s out there.

Dec. 5 league standings update

My team kept hold of 8th place in the standings despite the net loss of points this week, while “Butz N Gutz” maintained their three-point lead over “The Mustangs,” as both teams won the same number of points. My team faces “4 MTD,” currenly in 3rd place, next week.

November 2009 People’s Tournament results

The People’s Tournament reported that Preston Cheeks (Whitestone Lanes [NY], 174 avg.) was the winner of the event held on Nov. 14 and 15 at AMF Silver Lanes in E. Hartford, CT. Cheeks defeated James O’Driscoll (AMF Town & Country, 185 avg.) by a score of 245-223 (with handicaps) in the title match. Rob Craven (AMF Taunton Lanes, 169 avg.), Danny Khuu (Westgate Lanes, 213 avg.), and William Cabral (Westgate Lanes, 179 avg.) were the Brockton area cashers.

Dec. 2 league night recap

My Week 13 bowling, frame-by-frame (Link to BowlSK)

I just had too many splits tonight, especially in the third game, when I had four of them. It would figure the bulk of the splits came in the third game because, with the guys on “Butz N Gutz” chewing up the lanes, this was one of the few times I see proper transition, and I made too little of a move inside, only arriving at the proper adjustment at the end of the night. Oh well!

Result: 213-174-149=536
Average (39 games): 184
Average for last 9 games: 185
Next week’s AVG+1 score: 569

On the bright side, my team took the second game point, and getting any points is an accomplishment for us against this set of opponents. John led the way in the second game with a 170 (37 pins over his average), while the true hook bowlers (including myself and most of “Butz N Gutz”) struggled to find anything on lane 36.