I’ve been struggling with the decision to post this one…
The Dallas Morning News reported that the ever-controversial Adam “Pacman” Jones began bonding with his new Dallas Cowboys teammates by participating in Jason Witten’s charity bowling event. This much can be said about Pacman, however…he’s a decent bowler, bringing his own ball and having the high game of the event (189).
Two bowlers in the Senior division of the Saturday morning Westgate Junior League, Danny Khuu and Tom Hedding, recently had 300 games approved by the USBC. Khuu posted his 300 on March 15, while Hedding shot his on March 29. Congrats to both bowlers. 😀
Today was another towel drill day, but I’m still not as consistent as I’d like to be, especially with my return to league play approaching (it will be one week from this Wednesday). I had maybe 3 shots I was happy with, with 2 of those actually coming when I was shooting the 1-2-9 leave. I was making spares for the most part, however, and those kept my scores around my average (not that I really cared about score today).
Holiday weekend: As next Monday is the Memorial Day holiday, I don’t plan to practice on that day. However, if my best friend, his wife, and her sister are interested in getting together on Sunday, we may be doing some open bowling together then. If that plan doesn’t come together, that will only mean I get some rest for the start of the Wednesday Summer Mixed League.
I went to the lanes today hoping that the Westgate Mixed League would be in session and that I’d be able to introduce myself to Brian Shea and Ralph Marple, but I learned that there would only be a rolloff for the league championship tonight, and that neither bowler was on either of the teams involved.
Stopping in to chat with Ray in the pro shop, I learned that he had set me up with my team, so I asked him about Joy Falese, figuring he might know something about her. I learned from him the reason why I had not seen Joy’s name on any of the winter league standings sheets: she’s a horsewoman and spends her winters in Florida. I also learned that when she’s up here, Joy works at a stable not far from where my sister lives in Bridgewater. Asking Ray if he knew anything about Joy’s bowling game, he told me that he took her from a 100 average to a 150 average in a year, so it looks like she has something of a clue, and that we have a fair team, at least on paper. I’m looking forward to meeting the gang in a couple of weeks. 😀
While I was there, I ran into Dick Damon, another old bowling friend, whom I had bowled in the His and Hers League with in my former bowling life. We didn’t chat long because he was involved in the rolloff, but I mentioned my return and how much the game had changed since we were last together.
According to this web report, Pittsburgh Steelers receiver Hines Ward’s Celebrity Charity Weekend, which includes a celebrity bowling tournament, is set to take place at the end of May in Atlanta. Several current and former NFL players are slated to participate. The event benefits Ward’s “Helping Hands Foundation.”
I was working on towel drills again today, but also had to remind myself to try to keep my left arm closer in today. I was pretty erratic through the first two games, getting the ball over the towel on some shots and not on others, but I was getting it together by the third game. I actually thought I was making decent quality shots toward the end, but was still leaving 5s and 5-8s. Whether or not this was an issue of not getting revs I’ll have to ask someone in the know about, but I was pretty satisfied with the practice for what I wanted to accomplish.
Summer league update: There are now 21 teams listed on the sign-up board, including the team that took me. In alphabetical order, my soon-to-be teammates, barring any unusual developments at the league meeting, are (sorry if I’m spelling any of these names wrong) Joy Falese, Ralph Marple, and Brian Shea. Looking through the current league standings sheets after practice, I learned that the latter two are established bowlers, currently bowling in the Wednesday night Westgate Mixed League. Both are also pretty decent: Ralph is carrying a 200 average in the league, while Brian is averaging 189, so this might be an opportunity to learn from better teammates. Joy is the complete unknown at this point, so we’ll see at the league meeting two weeks from Wednesday how our lineup shakes out. Ideally, I’d like to get to the lanes Wednesday night to meet Ralph and Brian in advance of the start of the league, so that will probably be the plan then.
As reported on The People’s Tournament site, William Tessier Jr., carrying a 208 average and bowling out of Walnut Hill Lanes in Rhode Island, was the winner of the April tournament, held on the 27th at Westgate Lanes. Tessier defeated April Raines (169 average out of Boston Bowl) in the final match 242-208 (scores with handicap). Rich Cornwall (178 average) finished third, representing the best finish by a Westgate Lanes bowler.
Bowling shoes: $50
Bowling ball: $125
Practice time: $150 in gift cards
Shooting 200 with a family member watching…priceless!
Something I’ve always wanted to do since I’ve been bowling seriously, even before my heel fractures, was to have a game of 200 or better with at least one member of my family present for it. Well, it finally happened today, when I had a 200 in my last game of another bowling outing with my brother. I started with a seven-spare, got a double, then left a 4 pin, which I missed. I didn’t panic, though, knowing I could make up the open frame with another double. I kept making spares until the 8th and 9th frames, when I put up the make-up double. I needed a mark and count in the 10th frame for the 200, and I got exactly that: I left the 6-9-10 with the first ball and calmly made the spare, meaning that a nine-fill would give me exactly 200, which I got by crossing over and only leaving the 3 pin. As we were going to a birthday party for David, my bowling cousin, after our outing, I was beaming at my accomplishment at the party (needless to say).
Summer league update: Checking the sign-up board, I noticed that I had been assigned to a team. However, since I’m not sure about a couple of the names of my soon-to-be teammates, I won’t post the full update until my post about practice on Monday, when I will jot down the names before leaving.
The main Brockton Public Library is on my usual walking route, but today, I made it a point to actually go into the library to take out John Jowdy’s book, Bowling Execution, which has been highly recommended, as part of my continuing bowling re-education. I searched for the book online before heading out so I would have the call number for the book with me when I got there, saving some time. I spent more time than I expected at the library, though, after learning my information was out of their system, as I had not used any of the library’s services in some time (indeed, this was the first book I had taken out of the library in ages). I was able to use the same card, it was just that my personal information had to be re-entered into the system. The book is due back into the library in two weeks.
Thought I’d share this…
A TV station report out of Iowa said that 78-year-old Dale Davis of Alta, IA, who is legally blind, rolled a perfect 300 game in one of his leagues at Century Lanes. It was not only his first 300 game, but also the first ever bowled at the center.
The scoring pace in the Coke Classic League seems to have picked up as the season winds down. Last week, Eric Johnson shot a perfect 300 game in the league, and Jim Yost followed that up with one of his own while I was watching the action tonight. I must admit that I missed seeing Jim bowl the last strike, but I had good reason: I was watching Dan Robinson threaten one of his own on another pair of lanes. Dan left a split in the tenth frame, however…better luck next time, Dan!
Today was another towel drill day, but unlike last week, I only had six shots in three games that moved the towel, and half of those came near the end, when I was getting a bit tired. I wasn’t really keeping score, but I noted that the three games were all over my average, with a 203 in the second game that was assisted by a scoring error (unusually, I left the 3-8 split on one shot in that game, which I converted, but the scorer gave me credit for a strike in that frame, which was the first strike of a double). Again, though, I was not worried about score today, so there’s no average update (as will likely be the case from here on, as I’m closing in on my return to league play).
Summer league update: There are four bowlers without a team now on the sign-up board for the Wednesday Summer Mixed League, including one female. However, a team has been posted with a vacancy, and I don’t know if that team has an unannounced fourth bowler already, so a team comprised of the four of us without a team is not a given yet.
Coke Classic League tonight: I plan to head back to the lanes later on to catch some of the Coke Classic League action. I won’t blog about the visit unless something important happens (one of them being finding out if the Brockton USBC Association has plans to update their homepage).
I saw the ad for this last night during the ESPN2 telecast of the USBC Queens…the most recent site added to the sidebar is the home of the National Mixed Championships, sponsored this year by Storm, which will be held through October and November at the National Bowling Stadium in Reno, NV. The tournament features mixed teams (of four, two men and two women) and mixed doubles, as well as singles and all-events competitions for both men and women in scratch and handicap divisions, and there are also divisions for youth and senior bowlers.
As per plan, I spent all of practice today going through the towel drill, and I think I got about half of my shots, maybe a couple more than that, over the towel. Although the difference is only slight, I think I can feel the strength coming back in my wrist, which should definitely be a good sign. As I wasn’t really worried about score today, I didn’t log my practice when I came home; as such, I am not posting an average update for this practice.
Summer league update: Bob Hamilton told me his daughter would be bowling on his team, and that she represents the vacancy on his team. However, a couple more bowlers without a team (but who want to bowl on the same team) have signed up, so if things hold, I will be on their team.
This West Virginia TV station site gives us a story about a charity bowling event hosted by New York Jets quarterback Chad Pennington in his Huntington, WV hometown, benefiting Pennington’s 1st and 10 Foundation. Former Dallas Cowboys running back Tony Dorsett and current Carolina Panthers wide receiver Steve Smith were participants.
This Ft. Myers, FL area newspaper site gives us yet another celebrity bowling fundraiser, hosted by Tampa Bay Buccaneers running back Earnest Graham. The event will benefit Big Brothers Big Sisters of Southwest Florida.
As reported on NEBA’s site, Derek Pontes won his third NEBA title this weekend at Westgate Lanes, defeating Chris Joliceour 225-202 in the championship match. As I was there for much of yesterday’s action, I can report that Mike Rose Jr., sticking around for the tournament after Saturday’s exhibition match, edged out Alex Aguiar, his opponent in the match, by one pin for the top spot in qualifying, but both of their tournaments were finished after the second round of match play. Brian Gaskill, Bill Major, and Jason Sherwood were the other local qualifiers.
The tournament note in the “Unplanned visit” post has been edited to reflect the full name of the tournament (the Hall of Fame Classic).
The USBC posted this feature on Washington Wizards star Gilbert Arenas, who is apparently also among the growing number of professional athletes who enjoy bowling in their leisure time.
I remembered to have a scoresheet printed up after the match this time, so this recap will be a bit more detailed than the one I gave for the match between Sean Richard and Mark Roth back in December. 😀
In the first game, Rose stayed clean, but wasn’t putting together strikes like he could, getting doubles in the third and fourth frames, and again in the sixth and seventh before closing out the game with three strikes in the tenth for a 223. Aguiar opened the game with a turkey before chopping the 3 pin off of the 3-6-10 leave. He recovered, however, putting together a hambone in the fifth through eighth frames en route to a 236.
Rose started the second game with a five-bagger, and Aguiar was keeping contact with him until he left the 2-8-10 in the eighth frame. Aguiar did close the game out with a hambone for a 227, however, while Rose finished up with a 245 for the second game win.
After going strike-spare to start the third game, Rose racked up a four-bagger and it appeared that he would get through thirty frames clean. However, similar to Aguiar in the second game, Rose left the 2-8-10 split in the eighth frame, which ruined the bid. The third game was close in the tenth frame, at which point Rose struck out while Aguiar could only manage nine-spare-nine, giving Rose the final game 225-216. Three game totals: 693 for Mike Rose Jr., 679 for Alex Aguiar.
I got a couple of photos with both bowlers after the match…first, me with Mike Rose Jr. (I’m in the t-shirt…look familiar? 😀 )
And with Alex Aguiar…photo came out a bit dark, but fortunately, I could increase the brightness in my favorite photo editor. 🙂
Thanks to both Mike and Alex for putting on another good exhibition match at Westgate Lanes. 😀
Tommorow’s plan: As the meeting of the Mass Imperial Syndicate (my FanForce chapter, which is a Star Wars fan group) has been postponed until next Sunday, this frees me up to hit the lanes tomorrow to catch some of the action in the NEBA tournament. If I stay until the end, I should have results from that then, otherwise, I’ll wait until they’re posted on NEBA’s site.
The USBC announced that a promotional spot featuring New Orleans Hornets star Chris Paul will air tomorrow night during an NBA playoff game between Paul’s New Orleans Hornets and the Dallas Mavericks, which is being aired nationally by ESPN.
While his team, the New England Patriots, builds its future at the NFL Draft, nose tackle Vince Wilfork will be at his fifth annual bowling party and fundraiser, which will benefit diabetes research.
I forgot to mention in the “First coaching session” entry that since the wrist brace Ray had me try on was worn and a little bit too big (size XL), I purchased a large-size wrist brace from the pro shop at the end of the coaching session. A wrist liner to be worn under the brace was also purchased.
Two more bowling sites have been added to the sidebar list…
“Joe Slowinski’s Tips” at bowlingknowledge.info is the site of this Top 100 coach. Be warned however: this site is for the more advanced bowler.
“Bowling’s Bookstore” is an online bookstore, offering a wide variety of bowling-related books and videos, including specialized material for the bowling proprietor and pro shop operator (including a video series on bowling ball fitting and drilling).
As reported in the Northeast Amateur Tournament’s April newsletter, Andy Colliton won his second NAT title, defeating David Chalifoux in the final at Westgate Lanes 236-223 (with handicaps). Brian Gaskill, who had the 289 scratch game in the first squad as noted here earlier, finished in 9th place.
I spent pretty much all of practice today working on keeping my left arm in, so I wasn’t really focusing on score today, but 2 games ended up being under my practice average, so I kind of regressed, but I’m OK with that…sometimes you have to take a step back in order to get better, and with my return to league bowling approaching, I want to use the remaining time in the winter season to work on my game. I already have enough of an idea of where I stand after having 78 games of “official” practice under my belt, so I’m not so concerned about practice score now. In my next practice (not next week, as per note below), I will probably work on the towel drill.
Result: 136-148-173=457
Running average (78 games): 163 Last 9 average: 153
Holiday note: Next Monday is the Patriots’ Day holiday in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. As schools in the state also take a vacation that week, Westgate Lanes is likely to treat Monday as a holiday and charge the holiday rate (meaning no half-price special). Being ever mindful of my budget, I will therefore take the week off.
Edit to NAT post: As I alerted in my last post, I have edited that post with the name of the bowler who shot the 289 game in the NAT tournament yesterday.
Exhibition match Saturday: In connection with this coming weekend’s NEBA tournament at Westgate Lanes, USA Bowling Pro Shops will hold an exhibition match on Saturday between Alex Aguiar of North Dartmouth, who recently cashed in the US Open and was also the winner of the 2004 Storm Las Vegas Challenge, and Mike Rose Jr., the 2007 USBC Open All-Events champion. Both bowlers will hang around after the match for autographs and to answer bowling questions. The match will begin at 3:30 PM EDT.
As planned, I got an early start to my day and went to the lanes to meet with Jay Mantere, the tournament director for the Northeast Amateur Tournament. I mostly let him know about this blog’s existence and that I had the NAT’s site linked. I told him I may be bowling in the NAT in the future, but after learning that they will not accept summer averages for entry, I had to admit it would be a while before I did so.
I hung around a bit to watch the first game of the 10:30 AM qualifying squad, mostly at the pair to which Chris Mark was assigned. Before I left, Bob Hamilton alerted me that someone had shot a 289 with the first 10 in a row. I told Bob that I mostly reported the “real” honor scores (300, 299, 800 series), so I didn’t really ask for a name, but where I’m seeing Bob tomorrow at practice, I will probably relent (especially where I was in the building when it was shot) and get the name; expect an edit to this post tomorrow.
EDIT: It was Brian Gaskill who shot the 289 in the first squad.
I edited the note about Matt O’Connor’s perfect game to properly reflect the league it was bowled in. The slug for the post has also been edited.
The Tenth Board 
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