I’m back!

Well, not back in a league yet, but I took a major step forward today. I had thought from the start of my return that I’d be fully back to form when I had a game over 200. It has happened, and sooner than I expected. In my third game of practice today, I started out with a double, left a 1-2-9 leave that I picked up, shot another double, picked up another spare (this time the 2-4), then had a turkey before leaving the 6-9-10. I had a brain cramp and only knocked down the 9 pin from that leave, but that was really my only big mistake of the game. 218!!! 😀

An earlier sign that I was back to form came in the 6th frame of the second game. In that frame, I left the 5-7 split, but I converted it, my first split conversion since coming back. Summary of the practice: 157-168-218=543

From this point on, with 9 games under my belt since I started practicing regularly, I’ll also be tracking my practice average, both running average for the league season and the last 9 games:

Running average: 150 Last 9 average: 150

Talking shop: The pro shop is usually closed when I am practicing, but the pro shop owner, Ray DiSanto, was in to do some things when I arrived, so I stopped before practice to chat him up a bit while the shop was open. I had told him that I was using my old U-Dot, and he said that ball wouldn’t really cut it on today’s lanes, which he told me were now a synthetic surface instead of the wood I had been used to bowling on. He said a reactive resin ball would be good on the lanes now, and that one can be had for around $100, but that he would have to watch me bowl and look at the track on my current ball before recommending one. I also priced bowling gloves, which are running around $30.

League update: I found the standings sheet for the Friday night TNBA league, but I was dismayed to learn that all of the current teams have a full compliment of 4 persons. My search for a league to bowl in after the holidays continues, but I will definitely join the TNBA league next season.

Final note: Looking at the score sheet I took home, I calculated that if I took it off the sheet in that third game instead of having the open frame in the 10th, it would’ve been a 255, which would’ve been my second-best game ever.

Relatively speaking

I had forgotten to post about this, but I was told by my favorite aunt and uncle at my sister’s 40th birthday party a couple of months ago that one of my cousins, David Randall, bowls in a league at Westgate Lanes with his wife, Debbie. I finally contacted the wife today and found out that they bowl in the Friday night league. She had forgotten the name of the league, but I was able to deduce from the league schedule as posted on the lanes’ web site that it was the TNBA mixed league. I am now leaning toward joining that league after the holidays (provided I can replace a dummy on one of the teams), as I’m used to the format (4-person teams…the league I spent the most time in, the Tuesday night His & Hers mixed league, is now a doubles league) and I’d be sure of getting a ride home from my cousins. My only question is if the TNBA league is also sanctioned by the USBC, as I’d like my average in the league to count as an entry average for tournaments down the road.

Turkey shoot

I had what I thought was my best overall practice session since my return to bowling today, posting a 135-142-173=450, which was only 6 pins off my best series since my return, and the 173 represents my best game in that time. My spare shooting continues to improve slowly, but the highlight of this practice session was closing out the last game with a turkey (three strikes in a row), my longest string of strikes in quite a while. That’s what I call finishing with a flourish! 😀

After practice, I caught up with an old bowling friend, Ron Lawson, who had been my doubles partner in the city championship tournament many years ago, who was practicing on another pair of lanes. I told him it was my intent to return to leagues, about the adjustments I had to make due to my heel fractures, and that I was blogging all of my bowling stuff. I hope to see him again frequently in the near future.

Other notes:

I have been set up with a locker at the lanes, which means I won’t have to lug my gear around on the bus, and also that I can take my bicycle to the lanes when the weather is good, thus getting in my aerobic exercise.
Next Monday is the Columbus Day holiday, and Westgate Lanes does not offer half-price bowling on holiday Mondays; therefore, I will not practice next Monday.

Getting serious

With a goal of returning to a league after the holidays, I began practicing in earnest today. The first 2 games saw me taking a few steps back (a layoff of a few weeks was what did it), staying around 100 (and actually failing to break 100 in the second game), but in the third game, I made an adjustment. I decided to line up normally, but instead of keeping my eyes on the spot I want to roll it on, I focused on another spot well to the left of the second arrow and kept my eyes on that as I went through my approach. I figured that the more I concentrated on keeping to the left, the better my chance of hitting my spot, figuring if all went well in my approach, hitting my spot should be automatic. While I didn’t necessarily get more strikes, it did result in more reasonable leaves, most of which I made, and I ended up with a 164. Another thing that I got sorted out was how to make my left-hand corner pins, which was a good sign.

Locker inquiry: After I was done with my bowling, I inquired with the management about renting a locker on the premises, as I used to have one when I was in leagues. As they know I wish to return, they will see if they have any available, and I’ll know if I’ll be able to rent one next week.

Birthday gift

My birthday was on Wednesday, and we celebrated last night (my sister was too busy to have guests over for dinner on Wednesday night). My sister and her family gave me a $50 Westgate Lanes gift card. There’s a good chance that I’ll know what to do with that. 😉

Doubling up

I went with the changed plan to bowl at Westgate Lanes with my best friend yesterday, joined by his wife and her sister. Overall, it was an excellent effort for just coming back to bowling, as I posted a 132-160-164=456 series.

I did not roll a single first ball in the gutter, but the problem of missing my spot right still popped up, leading to many leaves where the head pin was still standing. I made some of them, however, with the misses coming when I tried to repeat my first ball and missed my spot again. I also only missed one single pin leave out of three. That miss was the 7 pin, however, so I’ll still need to learn how to make that single pin.

Joyously, in the 8th and 9th frames of the second game, I posted consecutive strikes, repeating the double to start the third game. I was hoping I’d stay consistent enough have a clean game and shoot 200 in that third game, but it was not to be. The fact that the doubles helped lead to a pair of games in the 160s (around the average I had when I left league bowling, BTW 🙂 ) was good in my mind, though. It meant that it was less a matter of learning how to bowl again now, and more a matter of regaining consistency.

Five-game average for the weekend: 140…about where I want to be before joining a league again. I still will wait out the winter league season, though, only doing open bowling for practice in that time.

Baby steps (aka Breaking 100)

I went bowling again with my brother today, and the title above is actually a bit of a misnomer, as I actually made quite a bit of progress from last time. I really only threw one first ball in the channel in the 2 games we rolled, and I was consistently in the 120s, posting a 121 first game and following that up with a 126.

I tried the line I used the last time at first, but was finding my ball was not making it to the pocket, so I fiddled around with my spot on the approach and the spot on the lane. I found that, for me, lining up around the 9th board on the approach, walking toward the middle arrow (my right foot points out at an angle after my heel fractures, and since my brother said that, subliminally, we aim with our feet, I had to walk toward the left in my delivery to compensate), and trying to roll it over the second arrow (the 10th board on the lane that I reference in this blog’s title). It worked well when I didn’t miss my spot, and I got a few more strikes. When I missed, it was usually to the right, and that ended up with me getting a few more washout leaves. I was more consistent in the second game, however, and in the last frame in that game, I actually hit a shot that might’ve left the 4-9 split, but another pin tripped the 9. Since I was now lining up more left on the approach, it was an easy matter to move right the customary 6 boards for the single 4 pin.

Unlike last time, I went first, so my mental game around the 10th frame focused on locking my brother out, something I did with a first-ball strike in the 10th frame of the first game. I also had a situation where I could strike on my fill ball in the 10th frame of the second game to lock him out, but left a single pin, meaning my brother had to take it off the sheet to tie…he’s no serious bowler, so he didn’t do it, though his first ball strike in that frame made things interesting.

Change of plan: The FanForce meet at Pinz fell through, so that means my hookup with the league bowler in the Mass. Imperial Syndicate will have to wait for another time. My best friend Ed did say he’d change plans to go to Westgate Lanes with me tomorrow, so I’ll blog about how that went when I come home.

Linked!

I would like to thank BowlingZone.com for adding this blog to the “Bowling Blogs” section of the site. 🙂

The shoes have arrived!

UPS delivered my new Etonic Strike shoes today. I knew the size I ordered would fit me, but I still had to try them on to be sure. I was comfortable in the shoes, so there will be no need for a return. I may even order regular shoes from OnlineShoes.com, but, knowing my shopping habits, I might still go to a brick-and-mortar store for regular shoes.

As for the week ahead, there may be two bowling outings this coming weekend, one with my brother at Westgate Lanes on Saturday, and Pinz in Milford, MA with the Mass. Imperial Syndicate (visit the “Star Wars” link on my homepage, which is linked in this blog’s “About” page, for more information, but keep in mind the page still refers to the Boston Rebels at press time) on Sunday, so there should be plenty for me to blog about then. I’m especially looking forward to Sunday, as one of the other MIS members happens to be a very good bowler, so we’ll see if I can match up with him (I noted in my post on the MIS board on TheForce.net that I’ll probably need about 80 pins handicap…hehehehehe!).

Visit with old league

I paid a visit to the lanes last night to see if anyone I knew was still in the Tuesday night His & Hers Mixed League, which I once bowled in. There were not many familiar faces, but the man I knew as the league secretary when I bowled in the league, Dave Townson, was still there. He told me that there were not many of the “old faces” in the summer league (which was going on), but that I’d still know a few of the people in the winter version of the league. He told me league dues for the league were $17/week, so my first league back from my long layoff may be in my old league.

We also talked some about current lane conditions, and he told me that the line I ended up using in my bowling outing with my brother (about 5th board on the approach to first arrow on the lane) was actually a good shot for the lane conditions I’ll see. If I stick with my old ball and use that shot full-time, I’ll need to practice making my left spares, as I can’t move much more to the right on the approach. I may end up moving my spot left instead of my starting position on the approach right when shooting those spares.

Bowling balls: More choices

I did some reading on bowling balls on Wikipedia, and learned that there are such things as “particle” and epoxy balls now. As reactive resins were the most recent development that I knew about, this meant to me that there are now more choices. Therefore, my consultation with the pro shop at Westgate Lanes about a bowling ball purchase will be even more important.

Shoes ordered

The Etonic Strike shoes linked in the first post have been ordered. Once the order is verified and shipped, it’ll take between 2 and 7 days to arrive via UPS.

League fee inquiry

I called Westgate Lanes’ chief operator, Harry Minassian Jr., who everyone calls “Junior” (I saw his father a couple of times when I was league bowling, but don’t know if the father is still alive, so I’ll just assume “Junior” is the owner for now), today, because I forgot to ask him about current league fees when I was there last week. He told me most leagues at Westgate Lanes are charging about $15/week these days, which is not out of line with what I had imagined league fees to be.

EDIT: Harry Minassian Sr. is still alive, as it turns out, so this entry has been edited to reflect that.

New header

As you can see, there is now a header graphic for the blog, done by my friend tzn from #RedSox on EFnet IRC. Thanks man!

In other administravia, I added links to Westgate Lanes and the $55 pair of Etonic Strike shoes to the previous post, and updated the “About” page to include a link to my homepage.

First post: Bowling outing with brother, June 30, 2007

Hi everyone. Today is a Wednesday, but I wanted my first post to this blog to deal with my bowling outing with my brother at Westgate Lanes in Brockton, MA (which has always been my home center) last Saturday. This was my first time ten-pin bowling in 7 years, and the time previous to that, I had more or less just come home from my heel fractures. That time, my strike shots were going into the left channel, and I suspect that this was because my legs were still pretty weak from being more or less off of my feet for 5 months.

Last Saturday, things were different: instead of rolling it into the left gutter, my shots were having trouble staying out of the right channel. To me, this was good news, as it indicated to me that my leg strength had come back to a certain extent. I was trying to play my old line, but the ball would skid into that channel. That led to a lot of zero frames in the first game, and, embarrassingly, I only scored in the 20s.

The second game, I got things more or less sorted out. The first ball in that game went for a 7 count, and I stayed pace with my brother all the way through the game. My one strike on the outing came in the 9th frame on a “Brooklyn” (crossover) shot. My brother posted a 101 after the 10th frame, and I was close enough that I could beat him with a spare and 9 count. I had a good shot with my first ball in the frame, but left a ringing 10-pin, which I made rather easily. However, I had a bad shot with my fill ball and only knocked down 5 pins, which meant that I had lost by 3. We only had time for 2 lines, as we had to meet our sister and her family for lunch at the nearby Texas Roadhouse, but I told everyone that I thought I did well enough to think about taking the game up seriously again.

TAKING INVENTORY

My approach was such that I had to start well to the right side of the lane, meaning I would be in trouble if I had a spare leave on the left side (particularly the 7-pin) . I used the ball I last used in league play, but this was a “vintage” Columbia 300 U-Dot (circa 1990), and I suspect they use more oil on the lanes now than they did when I was in leagues, so the ball now hooks less than it did then. As a result, a new ball, particularly a reactive resin ball, may be in order. Although I could get a good deal on one online, I may want to at least consult with the pro shop operator at the lanes for guidance on choosing a suitable model.

Another equipment-related item was that my old size 9.5 bowling shoes no longer fit, so I had to wear rental shoes for this outing. Having proper bowling shoes that fit will allow me to augment whatever leg strength I have. I have been pricing shoes online, as well, and found a pair of Etonic Strike shoes for under $60, so that should be added to my shopping list.

As my heel fractures have changed my delivery to a large extent (I used to have a classic four-step, but now I find I need a preliminary step or two), I may also want to get some coaching to see if I can make the proper corrections comfortably. I’ve been on a walking program for weight reduction, and it should continue to help me build leg strength.

For future reference, it should be noted that I had an average in the 160s at my peak, a high game of 268, and a high series of 634 (both of the latter for which I still have score sheets from), so if I do commit to a comeback, it will be interesting to see how closely I can approach these marks.