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.

Thought on Ultimate Scoring Championship

ESPN aired the tape of the finals of the Ultimate Scoring Championship today, which was meant to demonstrate the scoring potential of a typical league condition. However, this was not something we call a THS (Typical House Shot); a good-scoring house shot typically has an oil volume ratio inside boards to outside boards of 20:1. It was suggested by one of my chat mates that the ratio of the USC shot was on the order of 6:1, making it more like what the Coke Classic League bowlers are seeing on Monday nights here. Scores have been generally down in that league this year (I haven’t had an honor score to report from that league to date this season), so I wasn’t as surprised as others that the pros on today’s show didn’t score as well as one would have thought they would.

Nov. 22 league standings update

My team may have only taken 1.5 points this week, but “The Handicaps” can’t seem to buy a point, so we ended up increasing our margin to last place and are now 3.5 points out of the basement. This coming week has us going up against “DNFTD,” the league secretary’s team. The position round for the first half is in 4 weeks.

Edit to “Having a ball”: The post from last year, titled “Having a ball,” has been edited with the original link to a description of my Circle High-Voltage now pointing to the description of the ball that was on the old Circle Athletics site (thanks to Archive.org). The description on the new page is more technical than the old one, noting the specific coverstock formula, as well as a cross-section of the ball that shows the shape of the ball’s core. I hope this gives readers better information on what I’m throwing out there. 😀

Getting unraveled

My Week 12 bowling (BowlSK)

Tonight was just a serious case of my spare game largely deserting me after the first game. My one split was a makeable type and I had a couple of washouts, but it seemed every time I left more than one pin standing, I had trouble. I left my problem 2-4-5 five times and only made it twice, and also missed a 2-4-5-7 (my only open of the first game). It might be time to see Ray about my spare system, but with a class reunion (the 25th of the class before mine) and the holidays approaching, I don’t want to commit cash to a coaching session right now.

Result: 191-167-143=501
Average (36 games): 180 Last 9 games average: 182
Next week’s AVG+1 score: 550

My team had a rare point-and-a-half performance tonight, with the half-point coming as a result of a tie in the second game; I left one of my washouts in the 10th frame of that game, and if I had just hit the head pin on that, my team would’ve won, but I got left of the head pin and only took the 2 and 4.

As Brian pre-bowled tonight, Carl brought me home from bowling for the first time this season. Brian and I like to chat about our respective nights during my ride home, but the ride with Carl was still enjoyable.

Next week is a pre-Thanksgiving feast night, where bowlers in my league are encouraged to bring food to share with the other bowlers, and I have bought a couple of bags of Fritos for this. I am also debating bringing my camera for a team photo and other shots for the “scrapbook.”

Nov. 17 practice

I’d consider today’s practice productive, even though I didn’t score that well. In my first ball work, I was focusing on maintaining my balance at the foul line (something I tried to do on second ball, as well). I’m also starting to get my left side spares figured out, as I only missed the 2-4-5 once in three or four tries. I also left the 2-5-7 split a couple of times and made it the second time.

Unexpected outing

Today was the usual shopping day with my brother, but, as he was running late and we couldn’t hook up with our sister for lunch, we decided to have a late lunch without her and go bowling after shopping. My performance in the outing was pretty non-descript, with only one game over my league average, while my brother had 2 games 20 pins or more over 100, so he probably would’ve carried the day had I given him handicap. One thing I did get sorted out in the outing, however, was how to make my 2-4-5 leave, which has been giving me all sorts of problems. I missed one, but made an adjustment in my stance for two others, both of which I made.

Nov. 15 league standings update

This update is a day late in coming, mostly b/c I let it slip my mind. My team continues to hold 9th place, 2 points ahead of “The Handicaps.” With a 241 score with handicap, I had the second best handicap game for the men this week, and was only 5 pins off of the high scratch game. For the second week in the last three, we face the team in second place, “The Mustangs,” next week.

Breaking the mental barriers (slowly)

My Week 11 bowling (BowlSK)

I had a shot at breaking two mental barriers I had going into tonight and got one of them. The one I got was my first clean game in the league, that being a 225 second game. The one I missed was my first 600 in the league, largely on my missed spares (3 of them in the first game and another 3 in the last game). Night ended up being enough to raise my average a couple of pins instead of just one.

Result: 203-225-163=591
Average (33 games): 182 Last 9 games average: 187
Next week’s AVG+1 score: 580

The league was divided into average classes for both the men and the women after last week, and I ended up being in the men’s Class A. This will have a bearing on individual prizes at the end of the season, but they start to matter next week, as the bowler in each class with the most pins over average next week will win a $20 prize. I’m not sure how many times in the season they’ll do this, but I’m thankful for this opportunity.

As for the team, we only won the second game point, with our hopes mostly lying on a split of the points after getting creamed in the first game. The third game was close, but I’m kicking myself for not putting much pressure on the other team’s anchor bowler at the end.

Cross-training #68

How did World Series champion and first-time Gold Glove winner Shane Victorino of the Philadelphia Phillies celebrate his accomplishments? By bowling with family and friends at the Red Rock Casino (home of the PBA’s Tournament of Champions), according to the Las Vegas Sun. Victorino is a resident of the Las Vegas suburb of Summerlin, NV.

Cross-training #67

Call this one something that slipped through my daily Google News search…

The Chicago Blackhawks reported last Wednesday that defenseman Brent Seabrook would hold his first annual “ICE Bowl” on Saturday at 10pin Bowling Lounge in downtown Chicago, which involved several of Seabrook’s teammates. The event benefited the Inner City Education Program, which provides educational opportunites to area youth in low-income families who play organized hockey.

Thanks to “General Pounder” from the BowlingCommunity.com forums for this one.

Getting robbed

Today, I had a practice where I thought I was making good shots, but not getting rewarded for them in the form of pin carry. I must’ve left 3 ringing 10s, a stone 7, a few high 4s, and a couple of solid splits, as well, a 4-9 and an 8-10. I only had one double in the practice, and that came in the second game on a couple of “bucket buster” light hits. Oh well, can’t win ’em all.

Putting the pressure on

This post is more about my brother than myself. We went on another bowling outing today, and, in the second game, I got more than I bargained for when he shot a personal best 166 game, and at that point, I needed to mark in the 10th to beat him. Always up for a pressure situation, I flushed three in the 10th for a 194, but I was proud of my brother for making things interesting in that game. He may be starting to “get it” a little bit. 😀

Nov. 7 league standings update

Although my team failed to win a point, “The Handicaps,” the team 2 points behind us in the basement going in, also failed to win a point, so there is no change at the bottom of the standings. We face the team immediately ahead of us in the standings, “The Backyard Bowlers,” next week and, although we can’t catch them even with a sweep, we can cut into the deficit to 8th place with a sweep.

A benefit of having bowled with a 140 average early on (although my team took the 140 score for the first three weeks) is that, thanks to my first night 586 series, I currently hold the high series with handicap for the men with a 730 score, a full 40 pins better than the second high series with handicap (two are tied for that spot). If this holds up, that should mean some kind of individual award at the end-of-season banquet.

Worst of times, best of times

My Week 10 bowling (BowlSK)

This was a night where I had both my worst league game since coming back and my best game to date in this league. I had a couple of splits and missed a few more spares in the first game and held my own in the second game. It all came together in the third game when I finally got myself to slow down and relax, and really got locked in on the pair from the 6th frame of the last game on for a 235. I had realized I was tensing up late in the second game, so part of my focus in practice will be to get myself to relax, which I hope carries into my league nights. I’ll take tonight, as a night that could’ve been disastrous was saved by the last game for an over-average night. 😀

Result: 136-177-235=548
Average (30 games): 180 Last 9 games average: 179
Next week’s AVG+1: 556

Team failed to win a point, but my last game made things interesting in that game. Some real power players on the other team, so they’re tough to beat when they’re on.

Inside job

I was horrible in practice today. I concentrated on practicing playing deeper inside (standing about 23-25 and trying 10-12 at the arrows). Problem was, if I angled into the dry, either the ball wouldn’t make it or hit very light (I swear my ball doesn’t cross more than 3 or 4 boards on the back end if I play inside), and if I played straighter, it would go through the nose. I had maybe one shot I could feel good about today. Mechanical problems (the lane I originally took had trouble picking up the 7 pin if I left it, so I got moved to the other lane on the pair) were also rather distracting. All in all, a practice I’d like to forget soon.

October 2008 People’s Tournament results

The People’s Tournament site reported Jon Corda (197 avg., Westgate Lanes; yes, that Jon Corda) as the winner of the October tournament at Westgate Lanes, defeating James Ruscio (176 avg., Town Line Tenpin, Malden) 212-203 (with handicaps) in the title match. For the other Westgate Lanes bowlers, Edmond Chan (199 avg.) was also in the top 8. Note: the linked page has Jon’s pretty picture, so that saves me from having to take one of him for the scrapbook page (for now…hehehehehe!).

Van Hees finishes 12th at Pepsi Viper Championship

Jonathan Van Hees of Newport, RI had another good week on the PBA lanes, finishing 12th in the Pepsi Viper Championship, being held at Thunder Alley outside of Omaha, NE. Van Hees qualified for the field of 64 through the Tour Qualifying Round (TQR), then qualified in 4th for match play. He survived the cut to 16 after going 5-3-1, but could only manage a matching 5-3-1 in the round of 16, with a 241-159 loss to Chris Loschetter in the last game of round robin play in that round putting Van Hees in a big hole going into the position round. Van Hees averaged 213.69 for his 32 games in the tournament. Loschetter, Walter Ray Williams, Jr., Brad Angelo, and Wes Malott will be the 4 bowlers competing for the title on ESPN tomorrow, while Michelle Feldman and Stefanie Nation will also appear on the broadcast for the Women’s Series title.

Making progress

My Week 9 bowling (BowlSK)

I’m continuing to have problems making my spares on the left side, but I had a better read on the lanes and made better first ball shots overall tonight (thanks to my break point recognition work the other day), so the night didn’t get too far out of hand. I even managed to beat my AVG+1 score, bringing my average back up to 180. It’s only too bad I had my good game in a game my team lost, as we took the last two games but failed to win total, splitting the 4 points on the night.

Result: 207-165-178=550
Average (27 games): 180 Last 9 games average: 184
Next week’s AVG+1 score: 561

Developing lane sense

I devoted the best part of practice today to lane play, particularly keeping in mind a few pointers “CoachJim” gave me last night about developing a sense of the lane’s break point (the point where the ball begins its move into the pocket). The first game was easy, as I played the lane as I normally begin to play it, and I had a clean 200 (the clean game being saved at one point by a conversion of the 5-7 split). I began using the pointers when I determined I had to move, and though my scores didn’t necessarily show it (due to bad shots, not enough carry, and missed spares), I thought I was beginning to develop that sense of the break point, as at the end of the practice, I flushed my first two balls in the 10th frame on shots standing on the 18 board before I missed my last shot right and slid past the break point. I will continue to keep the pointers in mind in my next practices.

Just for fun

I had another bowling outing with my brother today, and, for the first game, anyway, it looked like it would be a repeat of my birthday outing, as I was clean with 5 in a row going into the 10th frame of the first game. However, I would leave the 4-6 split in the 10th frame for a 226 and I really wasn’t the same afterward, as I could only manage a pair of games in the 170s the rest of the way. My second game also only had one open, but it was a spare shooting show similar to what I had in league the other night. I would rather forget my last game, as I missed a single 4 and a 4-7; it seems my left side spares have been giving me more trouble than the right side lately. It was good fun, all the same, and my brother needed the outing after dealing with my father, who had been hospitalized, all week.

Brunswick Mixed League standings update

My league’s standings seem to update on Fridays, and will always be found at the link I posted in the sidebar, so readers are directed to check there for the update on Fridays.

As for this week, my team dropped into a tie for last place with “The Handicaps” and “Backyard Bowlers.” Keep in mind that it is a split season, and the first half will end with a position round the week before Christmas.

Another recent 300: I had forgotten to post earlier that Danny Khuu shot another 300 in the youth league earlier this month, so congratulations to him.