Category: Administrivia

Files news about blog itself and changes to posts of older than the current day

May 19 league standings update

As administrivia, please be advised that the link to the Wednesday Summer Mixed League standings, as posted on Bowler Express, is now up in the sidebar under “Author’s Links.”

As I pretty much figured, we took 2 points from “Phoenix Kings” on opening night (keep in mind that it’s an 8 point league, 2 for each game and 2 for series total). Six teams failed to win a point, but it should be noted that Team 12, which has two members of the Thibeault family, will be allowed to have a make-up, as their father’s wake was on opening night. Four teams took all 8 points on opening night, with “Amelia” having the high pinfall with handicap.

The second week has my team bowling against “Hocus Pocus,” which has the “Dream Team” women from last summer (Debbie Dion and Sally Toppan) along with Judy and Ed Godino, who did not bowl last summer.

Off on the right foot

If you were waiting for the league post last night, I didn’t get to it last night because I got in late (as is usually the case on the first night of a league).

The bowling-related part of the day began, as I probably alluded to, with my attendance at the wake of Harry Thibeault, Sr. I only stayed long enough to pay my respects to the family, however, after Jim Yost offered me a ride back from the funeral home. This allowed me to relax a bit before I had to get ready for opening night of summer league.

When I got to the lanes and met up with Bonnie, I was informed that Bill Macomber would, indeed, be joining us. I then discussed lineup strategy with her, with the idea that there is not much separating Bill from Bonnie as second-best bowler on the team. She had wanted to go lowest average to highest average, but I suggested that the most consistent bowler who is not the anchor should lead off. With the above in mind, I asked Bonnie if she felt up to leading off, and she said she wouldn’t feel comfortable in that spot. When Bill arrived just before the meeting, I asked him how he felt about leading off, and he said he didn’t care, so that made the lineup Bill, Rob, Bonnie, and myself.

After the league meeting (in which I was told it would be a 15-week season, rather than last year’s 13) and getting lane assignments, we named Bonnie team captain (as she basically put the team together) and gave the team the name “TNT” (because she thought we would be “dynamite”). I entered the team into the scorer, and the process went smoother this time because I had more experience with it. After the ten-minute warmup period, we wished each other well for the summer season.

My opening night bowling (BowlSK)

I got off to a better start this year than I did last year, overall, though I was a few pins per game under my 197 entering average. Only a missed spare or two kept me from 600. Despite what the online score sheet says (at this time), I had 3 splits (the 1-2-9 in the 10th of Game 3 was counted as a split when it shouldn’t have) and made 2 of them, so I’ll still consider last night’s spare game pretty decent. I saved my best game for last, though, with the hambone about midway through the game and stayed clean after the first frame for a 212. One of my old bowling buddies, Tim Major, was on our opposing team, and he was mildly surprised with what I was able to do (I’ve also told him about the heel fractures).

Result: 184-188-212=584
Average (3 games): 194
Next week’s AVG+1 score: 586

I’m not going to be sure about how many points we won last night until later on, but I get the feeling we won the third game, anyway, because Bill and Rob were also both cooking around the same point in the game I was, and we only lost by 30+ scratch against some pretty good bowlers (including the aforementioned Tim Major).

Administrivia: After posting this, I’ll get the link to the new stat sheet on BowlingTracker.com up in the “Author’s Links” sidebar section. The links to the winter league stuff will remain up for 3 weeks until everything from the summer league is available.

EDIT: Summer league also means bowling on the same night as my cousins again, and it was a memorable first night for Debbie, as she threw a 225 in her last game, which was her first game of 200 or better. Indeed, she only missed a 500 set by a single pin. Congrats Debbie! 😀

My first bowling videos

A couple of items of administrivia before we get to the meat of this post: first, I have created a “Videos” category for use when I post my own bowling video to the blog; second, the “Author’s Links” sidebar section now has a link to my videos on YouTube.

Now, for what I’ve been wanting to do since I started bowling again: get video of myself online. I’ve come up with two short videos, one with a side view (useful for illustrating my timing) and one with a back view (useful for showing swing plane and release). The side view first…videos will be embedded in posts from YouTube, but there will also be a link for downloading for those who wish to analyze them frame by frame:

Download video above (WMV format)

Now the back view:

Download video above (WMV format)

Thanks go out to my best friend, Ed, who was involved with the filming and editing, and to “saito`” on EFnet IRC for hosting the downloads. 😀

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.

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.

BowlingBoards.com and “Let’s Go Bowling!” added to sidebar

Two new (to me) sites have gone up in the sidebar under the “Bowling Sites” category:

BowlingBoards.com is another bowling forum site brought to my attention by a commenter to last night’s league post. While my reply to the comment made it clear that I intend to continue to call BowlingCommunity.com my bowling forum “home,” I did find the site active and polished enough to give it a sidebar link, and I may even pop in there from time to time in the future.

While scouting out the above site, I found the homepage of “Let’s Go Bowling!”, a radio talk show airing primarily on 1340 AM WTAN in Tampa, FL. Past shows have featured some big-name guests, including Jeff Bojé, president of the USBC, top coach Ron Clifton, and bowling legends Walter Ray Williams, Jr., Norm Duke, and Liz Johnson. You can listen to archived shows on the site.

Brockton USBC Bowling Association Hall of Fame Weekend

The Brockton USBC Bowling Association will hold its annual Hall of Fame Weekend on April 4 and 5. The festivities begin with the Hall of Fame induction dinner, which will be held on the 4th at the Holiday Inn in Brockton starting at 7:00 PM. Tickets are $35/person, and you may see Ray DiSanto Jr., Bob Young, or Roy Garrigus if you’re interested in attending. This year’s honorees are North Bowl Lanes manager Fred Delfino, along with bowlers John Ellis, Jim Ferguson, and Steve Travers.

The accompanying Hall of Fame Tournament, which will be an Eliminator-style handicap tournament, will take place on the 5th at Westgate Lanes starting at 12:30 PM. Entry fee is $35, and only walk-in entries will be accepted.

New association web site launched: I am also proud to announce that the Brockton USBC Bowling Association’s new web site is now online, and the link has been added to the sidebar under “Bowling Sites.” The home page is functional, though the individual pages needed to be uploaded and the links to those pages on the home page fixed at press time.

Jan. 31 league standings update

“The Pin Pals” fell to 5th place this week as a result of taking only one point from “The Badgers.” “MT Bed” is the hot team right now, having only lost one point so far in the second half. My team faces “Backyard Bowlers” this week, about the only team we have a disadvantage in handicap against.

On a related note, the Brunswick Mixed League is now a LeagueSecretary.com league, as the league voted to purchase the CDE league secretary software earlier in the season to comply with coming USBC standards. I will continue to link the standings as found on Bowler Express on the sidebar (“Author’s links”), however, for the sake of continuity.

EDIT: After seeing how detailed the standings sheet on LeagueSecretary.com was (it’ll give everyone’s scores for each week, and shows the highs in each average class, among other things), I decided to link both, and the sheet on LeagueSecretary.com has been added to the sidebar under “Author’s links.”

Link to Kinetic Bowling added to “Equipment Sites”

I learned of Kinetic from my “friend” Glenn Cox, the blogger at Everything Bowling, via the blog, and have been keeping an eye on Kinetic’s site for the official launch. Since it has happened, the link has been added to the sidebar under “Equipment Sites.” Featured is the Solaris, the company’s maiden offering, and the site also has the de rigeur pro shop search.

Link to IBPSIA added to “Bowling Sites”

I’ve been meaning to add this link for a while, but the International Bowling Pro Shop and Instructors Association has been added to the sidebar under “Bowling Sites” (as they certify coaches as well as pro shop proprietors). I know USA Pro Shops is not certified by this organization, but the IBPSIA site is a good place to start your search for a qualified pro shop, as you can search geographically.

Shaking the rust off

My brother did some stock-up shopping for me today at an area Walmart, and offered the opportunity to go bowling when he delivered the goods. I hesitated, as I normally eat around the time we went, then accepted, figuring I could have dinner later. I used the session as a general “shake the rust off” one, as I had not bowled in over 2 weeks. I’m glad that was what it was, too, as my first two games were well under my average, with me needing a mark and 8 pins in the 10th frame to beat my brother in the first game (getting it). I had a third game near my average, so I could say I accomplished my task for the session. My practice on Monday should be another tune-up for the resumption of league play on Wednesday night.

“The BM Report” added to blogroll: “The BM Report” is a blog that started as a newsletter for a team of self-described bad bowlers in Laramie, WY. Judging from their recent post of “tips,” these guys don’t take themselves too seriously, so this blog should be an entertaining read. The link has been added to the blogroll…welcome aboard guys. 😀

“Bonnies Bowling” and “Brian Halstrom” added to sidebar

I visited a site called BlogCatalog.com today, which is supposed to be a social network for bloggers, and I found a couple of good bowling blogs to add to the blogroll…

“Bonnies Bowling” is a blog with equipment reviews and news, general bowling news, and instructional articles. In addition, since the site offers a bowling store (where even trophies can be purchased), the site has also been added to the “Equipment Sites” sidebar category.

“Brian Halstrom” is named for the author, an employee of BowlingBall.com, and this blog also offers bowling news and ball reviews, including reaction videos. I will be in touch with Brian through MySpace.

Edit to “About” page: Wishing to give readers an option to contact me, I will be including links to my BowlSpace profile, as well as my MySpace profile, on the “About” page, figuring many readers will be on MySpace if they aren’t on BowlSpace.

Two new bowling ball sites added to “Equipment Links”

Two new bowling ball companies, Banger and Motiv, have recently launched their web sites. Both feature only a couple of models of balls, but, as I like to be exhaustive with my equipment links, their sites have been added to the sidebar under “Equipment Links.” Both sites have a pro shop search feature if you’re interested in finding a pro shop near you that stocks the companies’ balls.

Holiday wishes: As this is likely my last post before Christmas, I’d like to take the opportunity to wish my readers a wonderful and safe holiday season.

New tenpin lanes on South Shore a possibility

According to this Patriot Ledger article, the company that operates Boston Bowl in Dorchester has acquired the Hanover Bowladrome, and are renaming it Boston Bowl Hanover. Renovations will be completed by next fall, and the company is considering converting half of the center’s 24 candlepin lanes to tenpin. If these are to be USBC-certified lanes, this could mean that Boston Bowl Hanover will be the newest bowling center in the Brockton USBC Bowling Association.

Errata: In calculating the possibility of “The Mustangs” taking 3.5 points to tie “The Badgers” for first place, I failed to account for the half-point given to “The Badgers” in that scenario. If that happens, that would give “The Badgers” 42.5 points, and, thus, maintain the lead over “The Mustangs.” Any hope for “The Mustangs” winning the first-half title, therefore, lies in a sweep of “The Badgers.” Hey, I’m human!

Lost and found

My Week 13 bowling (BowlSK)

Not much can be said about my second game, as I just completely lost it, doing everything I could to get untracked, but largely failing. About the best that can be said is that I woke up enough in the third game to threaten 200, but I needed to bowl one of my best games to save 500 by that point. The team lost all of the points, and in the third game, JoAnn, Shawn’s wife, had a game in the 180s where she never had better than a 120 before, to help the other team put a hurting on us.

Result: 150-134-195=479
Average (39 games): 179 Last 9 games average: 174
Next week’s AVG+1 score: 572

As a holiday bonus, I decided tonight would be the night I continue the tradition I started in my summer league: posting a team photo here sometime during the season. So without further ado…

(L to R) Patrick Padula, Carl Benson, Helen Sprissler, Ted Sprissler, me
The Pin Pals: (L to R) Patrick Padula, Carl Benson, Helen Sprissler, Ted Sprissler, me

I took some other shots as well, and those will be added to the “scrapbook” after I post about tonight on the forums.

I’d like to take this opportunity to wish my readers (my American ones, anyway) a happy and safe Thanksgiving holiday. 😀

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. 😀

An introduction

Learning over the weekend that he (as “slap”) had posted on the BowlingCommunity.com forums, I took a more-or-less unplanned trip to the lanes tonight to introduce myself to Sammy Belton, a local USBC Bronze-level coach, who was bowling in the Tuesday Scratch Sportsmen league. When I met him, he struck me as very personable, and we got to talking about our current status in our leagues. I mentioned his struggles in the Coke Classic League (I’ve been following his bowling in that league, as well as the Tuesday Scratch Sportsmen, on BowlSK), and also my own struggles on the house shot on Wednesday nights (though I also mentioned my rebound last week). I suggested to him that he note his stance and target on BowlSK to give those of us on the forums an idea of how he’s playing the lanes, and also that a few of us on the forums chat during the day and that we hoped to see him.

I was wishing to see Alex Aguiar tonight, as well, but during the day, I learned that he would be bowling in the PBA World Championship, the opening tournament of the PBA Tour proper as well as the first major of the season. I also took the opportunity to greet some of my friends in the other leagues, including Ray Fischer’s wife Sarah, whom I had not seen since I stopped bowling in the His & Hers league during my previous bowling life.

Brunswick Mixed League standings found online: I had thought my league’s standings would not be posted online, but looking at a note near the standings for the Coke Classic League gave me another URL I thought I’d fish around, and that one, on a site named Bowler Express, actually contains links to the standings for most of the leagues running at Westgate Lanes, including the candlepin and youth leagues. Two links have been added to the sidebar, one for the league listing (in the “Bowling Sites” category), and one to the PDF file with the current standings for the Brunswick Mixed league (in the “Author’s Links” category). I do not yet know on what day the standings are updated there, and I also don’t know if the URL for the PDF file with my league’s standings is specific to that week’s standings, so I may have to update the sidebar link manually week to week.

BowlingTracker.com back up

After experiencing some down-time and database problems in the last couple of weeks, the BowlingTracker.com site is once again fully functional and the sidebar link to my Brunswick Mixed League stat sheet now works as it should. The stat sheet has also, of course, been updated with the last couple of weeks’ scores.

Work release

I spent most of practice today working on my release, focusing on swinging through the ball rather than turning it, and it largely worked, as I felt I flushed a few, especially later in the practice. I missed a couple of spares using the spare ball, but I’m slowly getting used to it, and I had two split pickups in the practice, both on the “baby split” (3-10), using the spare ball. I was told after practice that the Coke shot (Monday night shot) was down on the lane today, so having a game in the 180s and a game in the 190s on the shot was something of a bonus, making it maybe the best practice I’ve had recently.

Correction to demo day note: The Hammer and Columbia 300 demo day this month at Westgate Lanes is actually going to be run on two days, Oct. 18 and 19, with Hammer products being demo’ed on that Saturday, and Columbia 300 going on that Sunday.

Two sites added to sidebar

I’ve been meaning to add the sites I describe below to the sidebar, but never got around to them until today…

“Bowler’s Paradise” is another online pro shop (and, thus, goes in the sidebar under “Equipment Sites”), but, unlike most others, they do offer a drilling service if you upload your hand measurements to them. I can’t say they’ll be able to drill any ball for a desired reaction, however, so I still recommend getting balls drilled at a brick-and-mortar pro shop.

“My Bowling Coach” is a site run by USBC Gold coaches Fred Borden, Jeri Edwards, and Ron Hatfield on behalf of USBC Coaching that offers lessons (in video, audio, and text format) on all phases of bowling, including physical and mental game, lane play, and equipment. A neat extra feature of the site lets you upload video of yourself bowling and get a customized lesson. I don’t know if the custom lesson feature is extra, but the standard lessons are available for about $60/year, so some of you may consider this a bargain. The link is in the sidebar in the general “Bowling Sites” category.

World Men’s Championships wrap-up

I felt I should devote a post to the just-completed WTBA World Men’s Championships, which was held in Thailand, and marked the first time that PBA professionals have been allowed to compete in the event. The decision to allow PBA participation really benefited Team USA, as they’re coming home with the lion’s share of the medals. Americans medaled in every event, which I’ll list here:

  • Doubles: Patrick Allen and Rhino Page (gold)
  • Trios: Bill Hoffman, Patrick Allen, and Rhino Page (bronze); Walter Ray Williams Jr., Chris Barnes, and Tommy Jones (bronze)
  • Five-man team: Bill Hoffman, Chris Barnes, Tommy Jones, Patrick Allen, and Rhino Page (gold)*
  • Singles: Walter Ray Williams Jr. (gold)
  • All-Events: Rhino Page (silver)
  • Masters: Walter Ray Williams Jr. (gold)

* Denotes team for knockout round. Walter Ray Williams Jr. and Rhino Page split duties during team qualifying, with one bowling with the national team for a three-game block while the other paced on a make-up team for All-Events score.

Complete coverage of the tournament, including full results, can be found on the tournament’s official web site. As an additional note about international bowling, the World Women’s Championships is scheduled for next year at the Cashman Center in Las Vegas, NV, and will be contested on the USBC Open Championships lanes.

Sidebar link to World Tenpin Bowling Association site added: As the World Tenpin Bowling Association, along with the member zone organizations, governs the major international tournaments (including, perhaps one day, the Olympic Games), I’ve included the link to their site in the sidebar. Links to future major international tournaments can be found from that site.

The last night

Tonight was the position round night for the Wednesday Summer Mixed League, and I told my teammates that, since my birthday will be on Friday, doing well tonight would be an early birthday gift for me, and they all said they hoped they could accommodate my wish. I had all strikes in the warm-up session before scoring started, so I was really hopeful I could do my part.

Things started well, with a double in the 2nd and 3rd frames after leaving a 6-10, and my first mistake came in the 5th frame, where I chopped the 3 off of the 3-6-10. There was a miss of a 10 pin in the 7th frame, but I got back on with a double in the 9th and first ball in the 10th before leaving a 4 pin, taking the spare for a 191. Ron Haynes, the lead bowler for “Shake ‘N Bake”, had a nice game for his team, and they needed it, as the first game wound up being close, taken by “Shake ‘N Bake.”

My only major mistake in the second game was missing another 10 pin in the 8th frame, but an earlier double (in the 5th and 6th frames) countered that miss, so I was able to save a 193 out of that game. Brian really was clicking in this game, going in the 230s, and we won the second game by something like 30 pins, so we had a slight edge for total going into the last game.

I had my worst shot of the night to start the third game, hitting the nose to leave a 4-6-7-9 split, and I decided not to try to be a hero and just got my count for that. The highlight for me of the night came as a result of another split in the 5th frame, this time the 3-6-7-10, which I converted, giving myself a lift, as I was able to piece together a turkey from that point before leaving a 6 pin in the 9th. I had a strike in the 10th, but left another split, the 4-6-7, in the 11th frame. I went for count again, but pulled the shot, which ended up in the left channel, giving me a 204 last game of the season…not a bad way to end after the way I started out the league.

“Shake ‘N Bake” took the third game, but it was again a close one, and they did not win by enough to take total. Getting total would prove to be important, as Team 12, the 7th place team going into tonight, won 6 points from “Fun and Games” and, being 3 points behind us going into the night, fell a point shy of tying us for 5th place, which would’ve meant 5th place for them if they had 107 more pins than us on the night. If Team Amelia, the 4th place team going in, got swept, we actually still catch them for 4th place, but I did not think to ask them how they did…I guess we may see on Friday, when the final standings should be posted online.

Result: 191-193-204=588
Final average (39 games): 197 Last 9 average: 204

All-in-all, I have to be very pleased with the summer overall. Personally, I exceeded all of my expectations, finishing with the highest league average I’ve ever posted (albeit not as “official” as a winter league average would be). I was only under my average on 4 of the 13 nights. As I’ve noted earlier, my best-ever series going into this league was a 634, and I beat that score four times this summer, including a new best-ever 694 series a couple of weeks ago, and I also came within 3 pins of matching my best-ever game on that night. I really found a line I could be comfortable with, and stuck with that most of the time. As a team, we finished in the top third of the league, so I had to be pleased with that, as well. At this point, I’d like to extend thanks to Brian, Joy, and Ralph for a great summer league season. I know I won’t be bowling with Joy again (unless I move where she is), but I hope to bowl with Brian and Ralph again down the road (maybe next summer? 😀 ).

How do I build on that? The shot in the Westgate Mixed League is also the house shot, so I know I can keep playing the same line, but my spare game will have to improve if I want to continue the momentum. I am setting a modest (now) goal for that league of averaging 200 or better, meaning I will need to improve on my summer league average by 3 pins, but I believe it’s an easily reachable goal if I continue to improve steadily.

Payout night for the league is next week, and it looks like we’ll take home some extra cash, as our early 958 game with handicap as a team looked likely to stand up as high on the season. As a final note about the league, Sean Richard nearly had a 300 game in his last game of the season, leaving a solid 8 in the 1st frame (which he made), but getting the last 11 in a row for a 290. Good bowling Sean! 😀

Photo to be added to “scrapbook”: Before bowling tonight, I grabbed a candid of Ray helping a customer in the pro shop, so I will be uploading that to the “scrapbook” page after posting this. 😀

BowlingBall.com added to “Equipment Sites” list

BowlingBall.com is another e-pro-shop, one I found advertised on LeagueSecretary.com. Though the name of the site is BowlingBall.com, you can find other equipment there, as well. I thought I’d add this one to the list as another place to try to find a deal on equipment online, but keep in mind that none of the e-pro-shops actually drill balls, so your driller will charge a fee for drilling a ball bought online (with grips and/or slugs, if you want them, additional, of course).

AZO Bowling added to “Equipment Sites” list

I found AZO Bowling while checking the price of a ball I’m looking at on the Buddies Pro Shop site. AZO’s site looks pretty basic, having only one distributor with sales territories covering much of the US (there is more than one distributor, but the sales territories of the others are quite limited), so you may want to do some searching and price-checking online if you’re interested in purchasing an AZO ball.