In a fit of insomnia, I decided to get the links (spreadsheet log, BowlSK index, and Bowler Express standing sheet) for my new league into the sidebar (under the customary “Author’s links” category that is mostly for stuff about my personal bowling). Readers can use the new links to follow my bowling just like any league I’ve already been in.

Also, my winter league recaps and standings updates will be differentiated in the subject line with the name of the league now.

The International Bowling Media Association has been working on a redesigned website, and that’s mostly done, but there’s one feature of it that I wanted to get a link to on the sidebar, and that’s their master TV and streaming schedule, which currently has all of the scheduled PBA events (both on ESPN and Xtra Frame), as well as BowlTV’s schedule, and upcoming events on InsideBowling.com and MichiganBowler.TV. Jackie Wyckoff told me a list of European events will be added to the schedule, as well, so if you’re ever wondering what bowling is being shown at a given moment, this will be the page to visit. The link to the page is in the “Bowling Streaming/Videos” category.

I have very little to do with the business side of bowling, but, for the sake of completeness, I have added a link to the Bowling Proprietors Association of America’s website to the “National/International Organizations” sidebar list. The addition is made with the intent of helping those who are on the business side of bowling. 🙂

The IBMA’s group has yielded another useful link, that to the site of USBC Gold coach Bill Spigner, who writes “The Pro Approach” column for Bowlers Journal International, with the site archiving the columns as well as earlier pieces for Bowler’s Digest. Being that the columns are instructional in nature, I thought the “Coaching/Tips” category the appropriate one for the link.

I’ve been alerted to another useful mobile bowling app called BowlerSource. Available from the app are tech specifications on over 1,100 balls from the leading brands, an oil pattern library with over 300 patterns, ball demo and coaching videos, and more. I’ve added the Google Play (Android) listing to the “Bowling Software/Apps” sidebar list, but the app is also available for iOS on iTunes.

Call this serendipity: During a check on whether the pro shop’s site still exists (it does not, sadly, so I had to remove the link), I happened to find a page on a competition that I thought had not existed for a long time, the Bay State Games tournament. This year’s Bay State Games competition took place at Greylock Bowl & Golf in North Adams in February, so, hoping the tournament is closer next year, I put a link to the info page in the sidebar under the “Local/New England” category. I also hope I can report on the Bay State Games in the future.

Wanting to further reduce the clutter in the “catch-all” sidebar list for general bowling sites, I created three new categories: Bowling Media (devoted to bowling media websites of a print nature; I placed the IBMA’s link there, as well), Bowling Software/Apps (devoted to bowling software and mobile apps, though some websites, like BowlSK and LeagueSecretary.com, are in there, qualifying as utility sites), and National/International organizations (devoted to bowling organizations of a national or international scope). This has probably been long overdue, but I finally convinced myself it would be useful.

One new link will be added to the “Bowling Software/Apps” list, the Google Play listing for PinPal, a popular tracking app for Android (which is what I use, but the app is also available for iOS on iTunes). If I hear of more useful (and safe) mobile apps for bowlers, I will certainly add them.

I’ve been contemplating doing this for some time, and can now announce that this blog has a Facebook page (check linked page in post), and, in the near future, everything I post to the blog will appear on the Facebook page. I had hoped to have posts appear both on my own timeline and the new page during a transition period, but I apparently can’t. Therefore, I’ll announce that the upcoming anniversary post on the 30th will be the first blog post to appear on the new page, and I’ll promote the page during the next couple of weeks.

I’m hoping that a page for the blog will not only allow for less “clutter” on my own Facebook, but also allow me to have discussion on what I post, as comments on the blog are currently not used enough. I’ll also be sharing bowling stuff that I see on Facebook on the blog’s page on occasion, so that’ll be another reason to be on the page.

Hope everyone “likes” the page. 🙂

For those interested in following my own bowling, I’ve begun the usual winter-to-summer transition in the “Author’s links” list by putting up links to my spreadsheet log (viewable via Google) and my BowlSK index for the league. Eventually, the league standings link(s) will also be up there. The winter links have been removed from the list, and the spreadsheet logs for that league season (including my brackets profit/loss worksheet) will be archived. Note: The spreadsheet log is less detailed (lacking such things as pair averages) for my summer league than my winter one.

It may or may not be a secret that I admire and respect Jeff Richgels as a bowling writer, and, seeing that one was available, I’ve added the RSS feed for his blog, “The 11th Frame”, to the sidebar. I hope it adds some opinion and possibly national bowling news not covered elsewhere. 🙂

Alerting my readers that, because I had one available, yesterday’s live blog for the roll-off has been updated with a photo of the winning team, “Bowling Stones”.

I came across “Lane Side Reviews” in one of my Facebook bowling groups, and saw that they have a wealth of recent ball demo videos on their YouTube channel, from not only Storm and Roto Grip, but the other major companies, so I thought it worthy of a link in the sidebar; they do have other videos, so I thought the video/streaming list the best fit.

I previously reported that Stephen Major’s recent 300 game in the Saturday youth league was his second in the league and third of his career. However, that was in error: It was still his third 300, but his second one, which I erroneously thought was in the Saturday youth league, was actually thrown in Westport for travel league.

I’ve recently made the decision to broaden the scope of the “Bowling Streaming/Videos” sidebar list to include audio, so a couple of links to Internet radio shows and podcasts were moved from the general “Bowling Sites” list to the streaming list, but I did want to add a couple of other interview shows and/or podcasts. One is David Waswo’s “The Bowlers Show”, which recently had “Mr. 900” Hakim Emmanuel on, and there are links to both the homepage (with the live stream link) and the interview podcasts (searchable). The other is Kegel.net’s “Phantom Radio”, and while the most recent show is on Kegel’s page, I am going to link the archives, which are on a separate site.

If you’re interested in college bowling, CollegeBowling.com is a site to have in your bookmarks/favorites, and, while I’ve known about the site for a while, I’ve only now added it to my blog’s sidebar in the “Bowling Sites” catch-all list. I’ve been hesitant to add the site because of the paucity of college bowling in New England (Stonehill College and the Sacred Heart University women’s program are the only ones I know about), but a couple of recent signings of high-profile New England youth bowlers to high-profile national bowling programs have motivated me to make the addition: Tyler Perry with Wichita St., and Bryan Bourget with Robert Morris-Illinois. Congrats you two, and represent our region well at the college level! 😀

Many of you have already heard of the relaunch of the Professional Women’s Bowling Association (PWBA), and, with the launch of their new website, that link has been added to the sidebar in the general “Bowling Sites” list. Tournaments will be streamed on the USBC’s YouTube channel, BowlTV.

For my newest readers, my “Administrivia” posts serve as a log of changes and additions I make to this blog, and, today, I’ve added the link to BowlersMart.com website to the sidebar, mostly because of the connection to Hakim Emmanuel’s 900 series (Jeff Ussery of BowlersMart is a friend of Hakim’s). Being a pro shop that does business online, their link is in the “Other Equipment Sites” list.

A fairly new video podcast, “Bowling Evolved”, came to my attention on Facebook, and some digging came up with the fact that the podcast is hosted by PBA Tour champion Eric Forkel. The podcast’s YouTube channel will have some ball reviews, but will mostly be home for the podcasts, the most recent one being Part 1 of a two-part interview with PBA Tour champion Ryan Shafer. The link is in the sidebar in the “Bowling Streaming/Videos” list, but, if you find you like the podcast, you should subscribe to the channel to be alerted to new episodes.

I have not made an addition to my blogroll in a while, but after I posted the article on the RI Ladies Classic, Fran Varin pointed me to his blog, mostly focused on Rhode Island bowling news. My initial thought was to pick up the blog’s RSS feed, but where he hasn’t been posting very much recently, I thought an RSS feed less useful; however, I still have put a link to the blog up in the blogroll (in the sidebar).

A female bowler who competed in the Tuesday Scratch Sportsmen league last year, Joanne Herman, came to bowling very late in life and found she liked the game enough to want to learn to bowl better, and I’m pleased that she has launched a website, “Bowling. Seriously?”, on which she offers advice and guidance to those making the transition from being a casual bowler to being a serious competitive one. The site has been added to the sidebar (under the “Bowling Sites” list, but also linked in this post for easy reference), and, for those bowlers making use of her site who found this site via a search, keep in mind that I have a lot of links to bowling resources on the Internet in my sidebar, too, so I’d hope you make use of those. 🙂

Bowlers Journal International is maybe the oldest sports periodical in the United States, and I’ve long wondered whether they had a website. The good news here is that I’ve finally found it, and of course, it has its digital edition; however, they also have an RSS feed, so I did two things with the discovery: Throw a link to the site in the sidebar (under the “Bowling Sites” category) as well as the RSS feed, which will display 10 stories. Some of the news in the RSS feed duplicates news in other feeds, of course, but I’m hoping different stories will be in the mix, too, and one story different at press time is the signing of Chris and Lynda Barnes to staff contracts by 900 Global, so I’m hoping BJI will be a source of those types of bowling stories.

I think most of my readers know by now that, while I consider myself mostly loyal to Storm, I do try to keep an exhaustive list of ball manufacturer sites on my sidebar to allow readers to make informed equipment choices. With that in mind, a fairly new company, Pyramid, came to my attention on Facebook today, and, getting their website from their Facebook page, the website link is now in the sidebar in the “Ball sites” links list category.

The directors of the BBIS marathon tournament on New Year’s Day made some changes to the rules and have updated the entry form they have at the desk, so I needed to update it in my post about the tournament and on the calendar. The PDF available on both the post and the calendar is the correct one now.

In the streaming/videos sidebar list, I have added the link to Joe Slowinski’s YouTube channel, which I hope he will add more things to in the future. Two of his existing ones may be of particular interest however: His video on tiered taping (for your thumbhole) and a demo of his new lane play alignment calculator.