Before bowling, I checked in with Jon at the pro shop and brought up the suggestions my online friends had about the pro shop’s new web site, foremost of them the fact that since most of the information is in images, search engines (including Google) can’t index the site (and can’t find it, therefore). I thought the online friend would know a trick about search engine optimization for those kind of pages, and I told Jon I’d email him if he did, but I found what I was looking for online after I came home, so I emailed Jon with that when I did.

My Week 3 bowling (BowlSK)

It was a down night. After not hooking much last week, the lanes had returned to pretty much what I was seeing during the summer, and it took me a long while to figure that out (I thought I had just made good shots in the first game), and it took me until the 6th frame of the last game to finally get the line down. I also learned after the second game that my team was taking a 140 score for me during the first three weeks while I established my average (I thought just my handicap would be based on the 140 score), so I was kind of dismayed that I had little or no say in my team’s success (or lack thereof) in the first three weeks. My scores will count for the team next week, so, hopefully, I can recognize that and be energized then.

Result: 182-144-188=514
Average (9 games): 184 Last 9 games average: 184
Next week’s AVG+1 score: 558

I had to wait for Brian to get done in the pro shop before he could give me a ride home tonight, as I learned he had developed something like tendinitis in his right (bowling) wrist and was doing stuff to make the transition to left-handed bowling. Brian told me he does everything else lefty, so I agreed with Tony, Brian’s team captain in the Westgate Mixed League, that he’d probably do better bowling left-handed than right-handed. Good luck in the transition, Brian. 😀

My league night tonight started with a surprise: Carl, one of my new teammates, was driving the bus I took to get to the lanes. When he told me who he was (I wasn’t expecting him, so I didn’t recognize him), I became worried that he wouldn’t show up for tonight’s session on time. Carl said he’d be there, however, though he did tell me during bowling that he was going back to the morning shift so he wouldn’t have to rush to get to the lanes on Wednesday nights.

The main business before bowling tonight was finding the league’s treasurer and asking how many weeks’ league dues I was responsible for. Getting the answer from her, I was then able to write the league a check for the proper amount, taking into account that I paid the first two weeks last week.

Stopping in the pro shop, I was introduced to the new person working there, Brian Frank. I also learned something I’m going to devote my next post to, which was something I’ve been waiting for.

My bowling for Week #2

I was a bit lost in the first two games when I found I actually had to slow down my ball speed, but I managed to finish every game strong, and, even though I only had a 160 in the second game, I’m a bit proud of my finish to that game, as my team needed the big finish to take the point for that game (this league only gives a single point per game and for total). After being swept last week, my team (which got renamed to simply Team 10) took all 4 points this week.

Result: 177-160-225=562
Average (6 games): 191

In the first game, on one of the adjacent pairs, Eric Nordstrom threatened a 300 game in the first game in my league tonight, but left the 2-10 split in the 10th frame. Great game anyway, Eric! 😀

There were a couple of mild, but nice surprises, in payouts: each bowler received an extra $6, but the bigger surprise (which I should’ve actually known would happen) was that my team, because of the 4th place tie with Team Amelia, split the 4th and 5th place money with Team Amelia (the pinfall tiebreaker only applies to determining positions for the position round). Therefore, the bowlers on my team ended up with $87.50 each (4th place was $90/bowler, while 5th place paid $85/bowler), other than what one of my old leagues called “point money.” The league was also taking up a collection for the Brockton association’s scholarship fund, and I felt I could spare $1.50 for it. The league also had a no-tap (9 pins on first ball counts as a strike) tournament for their bowlers, but, as I wanted to be present at the Westgate Mixed League meeting, I had to sit the tournament out.

There were a couple of discussions of interest at the meeting. First, the question of what constitutes “ready to bowl” came up, and the part of the by-laws dealing with that was clarified to saying basically that a bowler must be ready to bowl when it’s his/her turn, but that a delay for something like bathroom runs could be granted by agreement of the captains. Second, the issue of substitutes came up, and some of the people at the meeting felt the substitutes were being abused (by being constantly switched in and out of team lineups). A suggestion was made to limit each team to one substitute, while I suggested that floating substitutes, which could be used by any team that needs them, could be used. The league eventually voted not to allow substitutes at all, however. A last minor detail is that the snow committee (league officers) would decide whether to postpone bowling because of inclement weather by a half-hour earlier (now by 4:00 PM) than they used to.

The handicap basis is basically the same as for the summer league, with the basis being team handicap of 90% of 1000 (add another 200 for the 5th bowler) with full negative handicaps (for teams averaging greater than the 1000 scratch score). Because Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve fall on a Wednesday this year, the league schedule is a 34 week split season (rather than the normal 36 weeks), with position rounds coming in weeks 8, 17, 26, and 34. The winners of each half will have a 3 game roll-off for the league championship following the last week, and there will also be a roll-off if two teams are tied for first place at the end of each half.

The matter of my team placement is still not entirely clear, but it is clearer than it was before the meeting. There are three of us currently waiting for a team, the other two being Debbie Candora (from the “Shake ‘N Bake” summer team), and Tyler Prescott (a displaced sub in the league). I was told by Donna that if two other bowlers that she’s expecting show up next week for the start of bowling, then that would constitute the full team.

I ended the night at the lanes watching Brian bowl with his female winter league teammate, who I only know as Candy at this time. Noticing her dropping the ball, I made the suggestion of changing her thumb pitch (like what I did), but they really didn’t have the time to have her fit checked last night, so Candy and Brian decided that they would have it done next week.

Just a few things I forgot to mention in the “A good recovery” post…

• Before bowling, Ralph told me he had won a golf tournament that day. I told him I hoped he didn’t leave his energy on the golf course, and I wish he didn’t, now.
• Also before bowling, Joy mentioned that she had bought a house in South Carolina. She will still spend her winters in Florida, but will make South Carolina her summer home, as her business partner lives there. Therefore, there’s now no chance of my team returning intact next summer.
• Lastly, I had forgotten to mention that my team had a chance to win the third game if Ralph could string together strikes in the 10th frame, but left a weak 10 (and he’s been leaving a lot of those this summer) with the first ball, giving our opponents the 8 point sweep.

To my mind, the less said about the first game, the better, but I’ll say it anyway…I had a horrible spare shooting game. There was one split (the 4-6-10), but, in order after that, I slid by the 2 on the 2-4-5, chopped the 3 off of the 3-6-10, chopped the 2 off of the 1-2-8, and missed a single 10 pin. I did manage to record a double in the 9th and 10th, but could only fill the strike in the 10th with a single-pin spare for a 144. The anchor bowler for the other team had a chance at a 300, but had an open in the 10th frame, and Ralph was also in the 140s, so we got croaked the first game.

The second game saw me open by missing a single 7 pin, but I was clean after that, recording a double in the 7th and 8th frames before leaving the 5-6 split. I did strike out in the 10th for a 194, but my team again lost the game; as a team, we did fairly well, but couldn’t overcome the handicap difference.

The last game saw me open only once (a 4-6-7 split in the 4th), but I had a double in the 2nd and 3rd frames, and finished with the last 5 for a 220. This was the closest game of the night, but Ralph couldn’t capitalize on a strike in the 9th by getting more in the 10th, so we ended up getting swept. However, I did recover a decent night, only missing my average by a total of 12 pins. My average dropped to 189, but I can recover the pin I lost with an over-average series next week.

Result: 144-194-220=558
Average (24 games): 189 Last 9 average: 190
Next week’s AVG+1: 579

The higher-rev release I had been learning wasn’t doing the job in the first game, so it was good that I could go back to the old “urethane” release with more speed, and that helped me save the night.

My brother said we might be doing my sister’s birthday stuff this weekend, so it definitely looks like I’ll be able to bowl with my cousins next week, something I’ve been looking forward to all season. 🙂

I had been feeling a twinge of pain in my right ankle for the last day or so, so I wasn’t sure I would aggravate it bowling. With this in mind, I went to the lanes at my usual time, but then told Brian and Ralph when they came in that I wanted to warm up with them to test the ankle out. When I found out that the ankle would not bother me while bowling, I pronounced myself ready to go and finished up the warm-up game.

As I’ve mentioned previously, we faced the league champions from last year, the team paced by Bob Hamilton and Sean Richard. The pair we were on wasn’t hooking as much as the previous weeks’ pairs, but it was only a board difference in my stance, so I felt good about my chances of doing well. Joy once again pre-bowled (this league only allows two pre-bowls per bowler), and when I saw her scores, I knew the three of us would have to do well in the first two games, because only her third game was over her average.

As this was the first time Sean Richard had seen me bowl, I made a point of flashing a wink at him after I had my first strike, which came in the 2nd frame of the first game, a 201 that was marred by a washout (the 1-2-10 leave), which I missed, and a sleeper 2-8 where, again, I only managed to pick up the front pin. I missed a few easy spares in the second game, including a single 7 pin, but because I had started off with a double and had a strike in the “foundation” 9th frame, I had a chance to save average, and nearly did with two strikes and an 8 fill in the 12th for a 184. I started the last game with a hambone, and was nearly clean, but I missed the single 10 pin in the 8th frame and left the 2-10 split in the tenth, picking up only the 2 pin, for another 201. Brian, as he would later tell me in his car taking me home, felt out of sync all night and wasn’t up to par, and also told me then that he felt bad about having a bad night, as he really wanted to bowl with me last night knowing the hot streak I’ve been on. Bob and Sean had their usual good nights, and their female teammates did enough to have their team take 6 of the 8 points.

Bob and Sean both complimented me on my night when it was all over. Also, I had met some of my teammates’ family, Brian’s and Ralph’s wives and Ralph’s son, and I was generally praised by them, as well as by another bowler in the league whom I didn’t really know. So, I guess I’ll call it a good night, even though my team didn’t do well. Bob and Sean are both good men, however, so I didn’t mind losing to friends.

Result: 201-184-201=586
Average (12 games): 188 Last 9 average: 199

As an aside, I also learned that the pub at Westgate Lanes is running a karaoke contest on Wednesday nights now, so, one of these nights, I’ll have to bring the cab fare to get home with me rather than getting a ride home one of these nights so I can enter the karaoke contest. If there’s a finals type competition after a few weeks, it might offer the opportunity to win some of my winter league money.

The first thing about last night that I learned when arriving at the lanes was that Joy wouldn’t be bowling, but that she did pre-bowl. This was told to me by Jon when I stopped into the pro shop. I had also left the towel I wipe my ball with on the ball return last week, so I had to purchase a new one. Ralph and Brian arrived between 6:15 PM and 6:30 PM, with Ralph practicing with Tony Attardo when Brian arrived, and Brian joining Tony for one game after Ralph finished his.

The league standings from last week were posted after Brian and Ralph finished warming up, and we learned that we had split the points (4 and 4) with our opponents and were sitting in 10th place. I took my warmups when the lanes were turned on for league, but after Brian threw his first shot in actual bowling, we had to wait for Donna, the league secretary, to give us Joy’s pre-bowl scores: first two games in the 150s and a 199 in the third game. The first game, a 155, was then entered for Joy as an absentee score, and each game’s scores for Joy would be entered in the same fashion at the start of that game.

To sum up my first game, I was very close to having a clean game, with a double in the 4th and 5th frames, until I chopped the 6 off of the 3-6 in the 10th, ending with a 192. The second game was looking very good, as well, with a turkey in the 3rd through 5th frames, until I left the 6-7-10 split in the 7th and the 4-7-10 split in the 10th, holding my score down to a 179. I thought the last game would start off the way the last game did last week, with my spare game deserting me, as I missed a couple of makable spares, including throwing it in the ditch on an attempt at the single 10 pin. Unlike last week, however, I recovered my game quicker, and threw my best shots of the night in collecting a hambone in the 5th through 8th frames, missing a five-bagger by stoning the 7 pin in the 9th. I left the 6-7-10 again in the 10th, but came close to converting it, ending with a 193. Brian and Ralph also both had good nights, and we ended up taking all 8 points from our opponents.

All-in-all, I was very happy with my performance. As Joy’s first two games were quite a bit under her first night average, my team sort of needed me to step up, and that I thought I did. The 564 set was better than anything I had in my winter practices (my best previous was the 554 set on Dec. 10), and, except for going “Brooklyn” on one of my strikes in the second game, all of my strikes were on good quality shots. I was playing an outside line again, and I seemed to be making all of the right adjustments. Brian, taking me home afterwards, said he really liked me on that line, and thinks I will be more consistent on it with time. Donna, who was bowling on the adjacent pair, also complimented me during the night…she asked me if this was my first league or just my first league in years, and dished out the compliment after I replied with the latter.

Result: 192-179-193=564 Average (6 games): 172

As a final aside, a couple of my other cousins, related to my bowling cousins through a sibling relationship, were up from Texas and were watching the bowling cousins during the night. I stopped to say a quick hello to them before I left for the night.