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.

A change of pace

Today, I had another bowling outing with my brother. However, this time, we were joined by my sister, her husband, and their two sons, and we went to the Ryan Family Amusement Center in Raynham for duckpin bowling, something I had never tried, even though I’ve had occasion to previously.

It was interesting to me to see how my tenpin skills transferred to duckpin. My main problem was that, although I had seen enough duckpin bowling on TV in my youth to know that the game plays similar to candlepin (where you have to try to keep the ball straight rather than try to hook it), my ball still wanted to move right to left. I tried to combat that tendency by starting on the left side of the lane and trying to go over somewhere around the third arrow walking toward that spot, but I had too varying degrees of success to really score well.

This is not to say I didn’t have my moments. In the fifth frame of the first game, I had something that would be considered an unusual spare leave in tenpin and picked it up, and I had a “Brooklyn” ball (to use the familiar tenpin term) that might have been a strike except that I missed on the first ball, so that was only scored a spare. Toward the end, I had what I thought was my best moment. I had a perfect ball that hit the 1-3 pocket and left just the 10 pin, and I did what I do for my tenpin 10 pin: moved left, went over the third arrow, and (this time) kept it straight to pick off the 10 for a spare. My brother-in-law only paid for an hour and a half, so we had to cut the second game short.

The occasion was my brother-in-law’s birthday, so my brother and I gave him our gifts before leaving the place, and I told my sister that, although the outing was fun, it was my desire to show my nephews what I can do on a tenpin lane sometime in the future. I hope she listens.

Cross-training #89

This press release by the NFL Player Charity Foundation notes that New Orleans Saints defensive back Mike McKenzie will host his fifth annual celebrity charity weekend, which will include a bowling tournament, to benefit his 34 Ways Foundation. More information is available on the foundation’s web site.

Cross-training #88

The PBA reported that PBA Tour stars Sean Rash and Dino Castillo teamed up with the New York Knicks (along with other New York celebrities) last night for Knicks Bowl 10 at 300 New York. The event benefited the Garden of Dreams Foundation, which supports kids in crisis by allowing access to exclusive events at Madison Square Garden.

Alex Aguiar cashes in US Open for second straight year

Alex Aguiar of Dartmouth, MA, who bowls in the Tuesday Scratch Sportsmen league at Westgate Lanes, cashed in the US Open, the final tournament (and major) of the PBA Tour season, for the second straight year this week. He ended the preliminary rounds of qualifying on Thursday with a -51 score after 18 games (197.17 average), good for 99th place (103 places cashed). Aguiar moved up to 89th place today in the Cashers Qualifying Round, finishing with a -64 score (197.33 average) after 24 games. Good job once again, Alex! 😀

As an aside, Mike Rose, Jr. of Rochester, NY, whom I also met last year at the April NEBA event at Westgate Lanes, just missed the cut to 24 for match play, falling 13 pins short with a score of +147 (206.13 average) and finishing in 28th place.

John Kunan and Craig McPherson fire (nearly) identical 811 sets in Westgate Mixed League

The Westgate Mixed League saw two bowlers post 811 scores tonight, by John Kunan and Craig McPherson. They were also very nearly identical, as both had 297 games in their last game. Kunan was the more consistent of the two in the first two games, starting with a 254 and a 260, while McPherson started strong with a 279 followed by a 245 second game.

Congrats again John and Craig! 😀

Hanging with the big dog

My Week 29 bowling (BowlSK)

Getting the oil removed from my ball yesterday turned out to be a good call: I had a fairly bad first game trying to figure out the line and speed I needed to play, but once I did, there was almost no stopping me, as I had a run of six straight in the second game and five straight in the third game en route to my best set of the season, a 654. As I noted in my own comment on BowlSK, a better first game and/or better spare shooting would’ve allowed me to threaten my first 700 series. The good games later proved to me that I could hang with one of the bigger dogs in the league, Bobby Geddes, and, indeed, I think I had him rattled a little bit in the third game.

Result: 173-247-234=654
Average (87 games): 184 Last 9 games average: 204
Next week’s AVG+1 score: 560

I think we won the last game by something like 80+ pins, but lost the first 2 games, so I didn’t know if we won the last game by enough to take total. If we did, it would be the best performance we’ve had against “The Badgers” this season. As another note from the league tonight, Rob Dickens continued his hot streak with a 256 second game, which I believe put him well over the “century” (100 pins over average).

It was a memorable night in the Westgate Mixed League tonight, as well, and I will deal with that in my next post.

Cross-training #87

The La Jolla Light notes that San Diego Padres first baseman (and San Diego native) Adrian Gonzalez will host a “Celebrity Bowling Bash” to benefit his foundation (which assists underprivileged youth in San Diego). The article doesn’t give an exact date or a venue, but I would assume it’s this week somewhere in the San Diego area.

Mar. 30 league standings update

I had hoped that the standings would be posted on LeagueSecretary.com by now, but they haven’t, so the only thing I have to go on is the sheet on BowlerExpress. According to that, my team remained in 8th place last week, 13.5 points off the pace, represented by “The Mustangs,” who are now 3 points ahead of “The Dynasty.” “The Badgers,” our opponents this week, sit in 6th place 2.5 points ahead of us, so I’d like to see my team at least take 3 of 4 from them this week.

Mar. 30 practice

I hadn’t had a full practice in a while, so I decided to brave the rainy weather today and get some in. The conclusion I came to in the aftermath is that my ball needs the usual maintenance, and the timing is good for it, as I should have a fresh ball Wednesday night to attempt to dry up the heads on the right-handed thumbless bowlers on the opposing team (it might not work because I can’t get help from my teammates, who are all using older equipment, but whatever). The pro shop visit required should take place tomorrow.

Cross-training #86

This motor sports site notes that some of drag racing’s best will take to the wood next Thursday as guests of the USBC to participate in the USBC Open Championships at the Cashman Center prior to the NHRA event at Las Vegas Speedway. Three teams, representing the Top Fuel, Funny Car, and Pro Stock divisions, will participate in the team event and get VIP treatment, including visits to the scale room and squad room, as well as the traditional walk down the center aisle.

A fun losing night

My Week 28 bowling (BowlSK)

We lost the night 2.5-1.5, but what made the night fun was my being able to stay with Eric, if not actually beating him (I’m not sure what he ended up with in the last game, but I should find out in the next couple of days). The three makeable spares I missed weren’t fun, but I still shot in the 620s, and, except for the first game, every game came right down to me and Eric. I actually screwed up in the 10th of the second game, one of the few times I haven’t been clutch in the 10th when my team needed me, but my team still ended up winning that point. To turn the tables a bit in the last game, I struck out in the 10th to force Eric into a strike to win situation on his last ball; Eric left a ringing 10, so that’s how we got the half-point each.

Result: 212-201-208=622
Average (84 games): 183 Last 9 games average: 202
Next week’s AVG+1 score: 572

Brockton USBC Bowling Association Hall of Fame Tournament note

The Brockton USBC Bowling Association recently announced that the upcoming Hall of Fame Tournament on April 5 at Westgate Lanes will be a plastic ball only event, and that all balls will be checked prior to the start of the event. It will also be an eliminator format, handicapped at 90% of 230.

As a more general item, the association has also posted a list of all honor scores earned in the association this season, including those from the other centers in the association. There is one from Westgate Lanes I’ve yet to announce on this blog, as I’m attempting to get further details on the score.

Mar. 20 league standings update

The sweep at the hands of “The Dynasty” meant that my team fell back to 8th place, now 11 points off the pace. “The Dynasty” could only keep pace with “The Mustangs,” as the latter team also executed a sweep of “8 Is Great,” whom, as I have mentioned, we face next week. The week after next could be important for position, as we go up against “The Badgers,” who are tied with “DNFTD” for 6th place, a point ahead of us.

BowlSK stats adjusted

Previously, when entering games in BowlSK, I used my own judgment when considering what shots were to be considered “pocket” hits. BowlSK itself, on the other hand, considers any hit where one or more of the 1, 3, 5, and 6 pins (for a right-hander) are standing missed (in relation to the pocket), and I have gone back and adjusted all of my games to take this into account in order to be consistent with other users of BowlSK. After the adjustment, I find that I am getting to the pocket 64% of the time.

Finding consistency

My Week 27 bowling (BowlSK)

Tonight, I had one of the most consistent spare game nights that I can recall having. Except for a chop of a 6-10 at the very end to leave the 10th frame of the third game open, I made every spare leave that wasn’t a split. I made all 7 of my single pins, and most everything else except the 4 splits, including a 2-4-8 partial bucket that I hit dead on. I mixed in enough strikes to get all but the second game over average, and I didn’t miss my average by much in the second game.

Result: 191-180-192=563
Average (81 games): 182 Last 9 games average: 198
Next week’s AVG+1 score: 558

We got swept by one of the more dangerous teams in the league tonight, so we will have to regroup next week, and “8 Is Great,” the team which Eric, the Sprisslers’ nephew, is on, will be our opponents. Patrick was the only member of the team to have a really good night, so it wasn’t a total loss.

Mar. 16 league standings update

This update is late because the standings had not been posted on LeagueSecretary.com until Sunday night.

Our winning night last week was good enough to improve our position one spot to 7th, 7 points behind “The Mustangs,” who are now in sole possession of first place by a point over “The Dynasty,” who we face this week.

Individually, my night was good enough to run the board last week, taking high scratch game and series as well as high handicap game and series. A member of “The Handicaps,” Rob Dickens, has been showing steady improvement of late, and he won a couple of USBC awards last week, a 500 series (he qualifies for the award w/ a 129 average) and a 180 game (also based on the fact that he had an average lower than the cutoff for the award).

Getting away with it

My Week 26 bowling (BowlSK)

I titled this “Getting away with it” because I wasn’t flushing very much tonight, but did get decent carry, especially on my five “Brooklyn” strikes. A strike is a strike is a strike is a strike, though, and they came in enough bunches to get good scores. Indeed, if my spare shooting was better in the second game, it would’ve been my best set of the season, and I would’ve at least had a shot at my first-ever “30 clean” performance.

Result: 243-172-226=641
Average (78 games): 182 Last 9 games average: 207
Next week’s AVG+1 score: 572

It did seem like the other team was off of their game tonight, and that helped us to a winning night. I pretty much carried my team in the first game, lost the second game, but then had Helen and Ted get a key turkey and a double (respectively) late in the third game to all but seal it. Helen told me afterward that she thought she could’ve had a 200 game herself if she could’ve closed it out.

People’s Tournament note: The People’s Tournament will be having events each of the next two weekends, starting this weekend (Mar. 14 & 15) at Strikers East in New Hampshire, then the following weekend (Mar. 21 & 22) at Town Line Ten Pin in Malden. Of course, I will post results for each event here (with links to the recap on the People’s Tournament site) when they become available.

Header graphic revamped

My blog has outgrown (in purpose) the original header graphic, so tizn (my friend from EFnet IRC’s #RedSox) redid the graphic to what you see above. I didn’t ask him for it, but he thought it would be a nice touch to include the blog’s URL in the header graphic so people would remember the URL. Also, some tweaking of the blog’s settings has enabled me to have the blog’s title appear in a web browser’s title bar without having it appear over the header graphic.

I hope you like the changes.

Mar. 9 practice

In practice today, I was concentrating on getting the ball over the foul line without the towel on the lane, and was largely succeeding in the first game in the process of getting a 213, which would turn out to be the best score of the three. Around the second game, I got into trouble when I tried coupling that with thinking about a free arm swing, losing a bit of my hook and carry, though I still stayed around my league average. I’m thinking I either do best with a semi-controlled arm swing, or need another pitch (and possibly span) adjustment to my ball so I can hang on to the ball with a free arm swing.

Lost opportunity: I didn’t learn until my chat with the crew after practice that bowling legend Johnny Petraglia had paid a visit to Westgate Lanes this weekend. If I had known about the visit sooner, I would’ve tried to visit while he was there, maybe bringing my digital camera for a photo opportunity. Oh well, maybe next time.

Brockton-Foxvale-Tri City mixed doubles results

Official results of the 21st annual Brockton, Foxvale, and Tri-City mixed doubles tournament, which was run primarily by the Tri-City USBC Women’s Bowling Association and held at Westgate Lanes on Feb. 21 and 22:

Handicap

Shirley & Bill Major 1437
Jeanette & Michael Carter 1409
Erica & Rich Hubert 1399
Ivonne Naranjo & Shawn Rodriguez 1384

Scratch

Eric Buckman & Mary Altemese 1204
Maureen Morrison & Ed Miller 1181

Congratulations to all that cashed.

A new tool

Today, I made a purchase that I hope will help my bowling future long-term:  there was a deal on woot.com on a refurbished Canon ZR950 camcorder that I couldn’t pass up.  Being in possession of my own camcorder will mean I’ll be able to post video of my bowling online in the future (my best friend Ed gifted a Firewire card for my computer for Christmas, and I also found a deal on a Firewire cable to connect the camcorder today) for analysis and critique by my bowling friends online.  I will likely be posting on YouTube, though I also have other hosting available, which will allow me to link or embed the source video so that people can do stop-motion analysis of the video in a media player (likely Windows Media Player, as I only have Windows Movie Maker to edit the video with).

Mar. 6 league standings update

Despite not getting the full sweep against us, “MT Bed” grabbed sole possession of the second-half lead this week.  My team slipped back down to 8th, 7 points off the pace.  None of our bowlers present (myself, Patrick, and Carl) had a performance worthy of a high for the week.  We face “Team 3,” the 4th place team, next week.