My brother took me bowling yet again today, but, as he didn’t think we had time to both bowl three games before we had to meet our sister, her sons, and a friend of the family for lunch, he let me go to work and just watched. Little did he know (nor did I at the time) what was in store; I don’t usually put my practice-type games on BowlSK, but today was one where I probably should have. As it is, I remembered to get a printout at the desk, and what follows are scans from the sheets.

Game 1:

It took me some time to figure out the lane, but I eventually found something standing 36 and going 11 or 12 and ended with the last four, setting the stage for what follows…

Game 2:

The first frame was a weak 10, but then I really got cranking and hit the last 11 for an unofficial-best 290 game. Tom Hedding, along with my brother, viewed my last shots and then offered to front me the entry for the NEBA tournament this weekend, which I had to refuse partly because my big nephew is in a school play this evening and I have to be there for that.

Game 3:

With the first strike in this game, I turned to look at Tom at the desk, who put his hands in the air in celebration, saying, “300!” Of course, it wasn’t a 300 game, but tenpin bowlers still have a term for it: a “Varipappa 300” (after PBA great Andy Varipappa), meaning any 12 strikes in a row. I added two more before leaving a washout because I was bowling at such a quick pace. In that run, however, I had 14 in a row, and 18 out of 19, my best bowling ever. Ray came by my lane after I was finished, so I quickly showed him the second game on the scoring console and he congratulated me, adding, “You have to do that in league now.”

Needless to say, I showed the sheets to all of my lunch companions. I summed up what this meant to me with something I’ve always said, “If you can do something once in bowling, you can do it again,” so I now know that an honor score is no longer a question of “if,” but “when.” 😀

My brother and I could’ve gone bowling late on Thanksgiving afternoon; however, with my feet sore from all of the standing around at my sister’s the day before, I told him I’d wait until Saturday (tonight). On my end, I had two good games to start, with the first one a 201 clean, which I was prouder of than the 225 second game. I did not have an open frame until leaving a swishing 7-10 fairly late in the second game, and my two missed makeables were both single pins (a 10 and a 4) in the third game. It should be said that cosmic bowling started in the middle of our session, so having the music going was good concentration practice, and I had a good look standing 38 when I had to move in the third game (the line I was practicing last time with my brother), so I’m showing progress on that.

For his part, my brother had a couple of games in the 120s and ended with something in the 360s, which is typically a good outing for him. 🙂

After my rough league outing last night, I turned around late this morning and bowled with my brother. It turned out we got the new “early bird” rate even though it was a holiday, so my brother may have been secretly happy about that. As for the outing, I used it mostly to work on playing in the middle oil, because I have a feeling I’ll need that skill at some point next week. My scores were pedestrian, mostly because I couldn’t get the ball to finish if I sent it out too much. For my brother’s part, he had a better day than usual, going about +30 for his three games (usually averaging in the low 100s, but averaging in the 110s today).

I alluded to the fact that I had a previous engagement in my last post, and that was a meeting of the Massachusetts Imperial Syndicate, a chapter of the international Star Wars fan club called FanForce, which was held at Pinz in Milford. The place was picked because it was close to a friend I’ll call Chris, who is one of the co-chapter representatives, but I knew the place wasn’t USBC-certified, so I didn’t want to risk bringing my “good” equipment. I did bring my shoes, though; Sean Richard told me I may not be able to use my own shoes, but brought them anyway, and was, happily for me, notified that I could. One of Chris’ friends, Jim, brought his own balls, but did admit that the last time he used them was the last time he was at this establishment, which was a year or more ago.

We rented a lane for an hour, and we managed to complete one game, with me throwing a game in the 160s with a 12 lb. house ball and a conventional grip. Even though I was trying to throw it like I normally throw my own balls, I couldn’t hook it much, and the best line for me was a more direct line. I had a double in that first game, but then lightened up and struggled (I even tried to throw thumbless at one point, which met with ill success.) My best friend Ed, who accompanied me, surprised me by getting a double in the incomplete second game. I knew Jim was a league bowler himself at one time, and it showed in his form, but he was actually hooking it too much and may have been experiencing some fit issues, as well.

Most of the time afterward was spent talking about an annual convention that is coming up, and our group usually does a collectibles raffle for some charity at the event, so I made sure to bring my donations with me. I don’t know if I’ll be able to attend this year’s event, but I wished the group well with this year’s effort, and told them I would join them if able. As a parting word, I suggested North Bowl in North Attleboro for the next bowling meet, as it’s pretty much between most of the people that made it to Pinz today.

I was recently contacted by one of the authors of the new “Dummies” book on bowling to give it a review, and, being one that likes anything that helps neophytes get into the game, I agreed and was sent a copy of the book a month or so ago.

Overall, the book does tell a lot of what a new bowler needs to know starting out. It goes into the many benefits of bowling (and I did like that they mention the social aspects), what to look for in equipment (both at the center and when you’re ready to get your own stuff), and the basics of bowling form (I especially liked how they illustrate the motion involved in a hook release). They even mention the fact that there is oil on the lane, something most casual bowlers don’t know about, and the basics of handicapping (explained in the chapter on league bowling), which I felt could make a newcomer to league bowling feel more comfortable. They also explain what to look for in a bowling coach, should the reader decide he/she would like to have one.

This book was not without its flaws, however. They said a right-hander’s hook ball curves to the right, when it’s actually a right-to-left motion at the end (it should be said that it was correctly shown in an illustration, however), and, while they correctly use a four-step delivery as the basis of explaining bowling timing, they fail to mention that other steps are possible in a delivery (remember, I use a six-step delivery myself). It was the chapter on spares that I had the most problems with, however, and a lot of that is technical in nature. For instance, they use the 4-7-8 leave as an illustration for a right-hander as a basis for explaining how to pick up clusters when a right-hander will actually leave the 2-4-5 cluster far more often; the book makes similar assumptions for other types of leaves. As I said, however, my problem is just a technical one, but using an illustration for the more common leave might have helped. Also, none of this paragraph should be taken as though I didn’t like the book; I did, and noting what I felt were flaws in this review is just done in the hope of improving future editions.

To reiterate, the book does a solid job of explaining most of the basics of the game to the beginner, and I would recommend it to someone who wants to go from being a casual bowler to a more frequent, serious one.

Just to make things clear, the note about my ball damage problem was not meant to negatively reflect on the management and staff of Westgate Lanes; the problem was relatively small, and they were aware of it and were working to resolve it. My apologies go to the Minassian family.

As I write this, I’m giving a Coby HD pocket camcorder its first charge. I felt I needed another camcorder because my new computer didn’t have a Firewire card and I was skittish about opening my new computer’s case to put the card from my old computer in; the new camcorder should be easier to work with because it has a USB connection (actually how I’m charging it) and the fact that it can use SD/SDHC cards, which my new computer can read from a standard media card reader. I’m not sure if the video quality will be as good as my Canon, but I hope to test it out and have more video to post soon. If I didn’t have to bowl Wednesday nights, I’d even post video of other bowlers in the area doing their thing, especially stuff like the 10th frame of 300 games.

I also finished my “spending spree” by (finally) subscribing to Bowling This Month…hopefully, I can get some good tips, especially considering I now have access to the archives online.

Well, folks, it’s been three years today that I’ve been back to the game I love. The last year saw a couple of good things on a personal level: First was the 267 game, a single pin off my personal best, in winter league just after Christmas, when I had the nine strikes in a row to end it, prompting me to post about it on my BowlSpace blog rather than here. The second was being on the team that won the inaugural BowlingCommunity Mixed Virtual League, which I was also bowling for in my normal league play much of the second half of the season.

There won’t be many thanked in this post specifically, but a few people/groups deserved special mention:

• Again, to everyone who participated in the virtual league, but also to my online friend Chris for volunteering to be the league’s secretary, without which the league might not have been possible.
• My new bowling friends, John and Eileen Ruhl…your presence on my team last winter made the league even more fun for everyone in the league, and I’m glad that it has carried over into the summer. 😀
• Lastly, Rob Dickens, who has come to be one of my best bowling friends for being around on some Mondays to practice together.

This happens to be the first anniversary I will have also bowled in league on, so I’m hoping for something big tonight (possibly my first 700 set? 😀 )

This post is not about my actual league bowling, even though it has to do with my league performance, so I decided to categorize this as “General” rather than “League”.

I said I’d analyze my league performance more fully, and I’m using this post to do it. Thanks to BowlSK, I can get all sorts of stats, so I can make some comparisons on stuff between this year and last. First, some first-ball numbers (first set of numbers before the pipe | character will be last year’s, after the pipe this year’s):

Strike percentage: 42.4% | 44.8%
Pocket shots: 63.4% | 73.1%
Carry percentage: 64.8% (443/684) | 58.8% (475/808)
Double rate: 45.7% (205/449) | 43.3% (208/480)
Average first-ball count: 8.8 | 8.9
Average first-ball non-strike count: 7.9 | 8.0

Clearly, I was finding the pocket more often this year, and, while I didn’t carry at the same rate as last year and didn’t string them as well (as reflected by the double rate), my counts were higher (as reflected by the last two sets of numbers), meaning not only that I filled frames with more pins, but my leaves were more manageable in general, as well.

On to the second-ball numbers:

Overall spare percentage: 55.1% (323/586) | 57.1% (332/581)
Single-pin spare percentage: 69.2% (164/237) | 73.5% (200/272)
Multi-pin spare percentage: 58.3% (151/259) | 56.3% (120/213)
Makeable (non-split) percentage: 63.5% (315/496) | 66.0% (320/485)
Split conversion percentage: 8.9% (8/90) | 12.5% (12/96)
Washout conversion percentage: 24.1% (7/29) | 6.5% (2/31)
Percentage on single 10 pin: 64.6% (51/79) | 68.6% (70/102)
Percentage on single 7 pin: 50.0% (19/38) | 56.4% (22/39)

One of the best ways for a novice to intermediate bowler (I consider myself to be on the high side of the intermediate level) to improve his average is to become a better spare shooter, and I improved a bit this year, with most of the improvement coming on single pins, where I not only made more, but had more opportunities. My percentages on multi-pin spares were down, but I also left fewer of them. The ultimate test of a spare shooter is if you can make the makeable ones more often than not, and I made more of my makeable spare opportunites this year. I was also a bit better on splits, but suffered when I left a washout-type leave, as I made them less often in more opportunities than last year. The last thing to note are the last two sets of numbers, which reflect my single corner pins. I had thought the 7 pin was my nemesis all year, but I actually made it more often in about the same number of opportunities. I improved noticeably on my single 10 pin as well, something I take some pride in working on.

I hope to continue this track of improvement next year, but I hope this doesn’t become “paralysis by analysis.” 😆

The Brockton Bowling Association held their third annual Hall of Fame dinner last night, and the theme that seemed to run through the event was friendship, especially with Mike Litchfield speaking of his on, off, and back on friendship with Bill Major, the honoree this year. Another part of that theme was put together when Bill’s first youth league team was reunited for the dinner. All-in-all, it was a good night.

I got one photo of Bill, and I’ll post it below, but the BBA has promised more photos of the event, taken by Mike Litchfield, on their website later.

My brother was going to be in Brockton all Easter weekend, so, having time after grocery shopping, we got a few lines in today. There were a couple of highlights: in the first game, I picked up a split that I don’t even remember making in my former bowling life, the 4-9, and my second game was clean w/ a 4-bagger going into the 10th frame, but a 4-10 split bit me and I had to settle for a 215. I lost it quite a bit in the third game, but bounced back to finish with a game in the mid-160s.

The fourth edition of the Chris Barnes Challenge took place in Norwich tonight with Alex Aguiar as Barnes’ opponent, and Aguiar continued his domination of Barnes from their earlier encounter in the Match Play Championship. I never got the final score on Xtra Frame, but an early sign of how the night was going to go for Barnes was when he whiffed on a 10 pin in the second frame, and Aguiar remained clean throughout to win the first game 224-192. Aguiar converted a couple of splits early in the second game, but suffered a 2-8-10 near the end of the game. Aguiar still won that game 178-166 to take a 44 pin lead into the third game (402-358), and then sealed the win by running off the first five in the final game while Barnes had no answer.

The match should soon be archived on Xtra Frame for those who missed it.

Today was another outing with my brother, and I used the opportunity to practice playing the deep inside line on the house shot. By the third game, playing in around 31, I took a 270 possibility into the 10th frame. I got overconfident, however, and left a “fast 8” (the 4-7). I picked up the spare, and the game should’ve still been in the 240s, but I threw the fill ball in the ditch for a 238. OUCH!

USA Pro Shops will present a “Learn To Bowl” class at Westgate Lanes on Sunday, Feb. 14, which will run for 4 hours, be conducted by USBC-certified coaches, and include video analysis. The cost is $40/person, but is limited to 20 bowlers. Visit the pro shop for more details or to register for the class.

This is one of those inspirational bowling stories I like to post to this blog…

From the Cleveland Plain Dealer

Mike Sirna, 51, of Bedford, OH, lost two fingers and much of his bowling hand in a work accident involving a five-ton steel drum roller, but rolled a perfect game at Pawnee Lanes on December 27, which was only the second 300 at the center since Labor Day. He used a ball fitted to his thumb and his two remaining fingers.

As noted in this article in the Metro West Daily News, Westgate Lanes will donate 25 cents from every open bowling game from tomorrow through Jan. 28 to the Red Cross relief effort in Haiti.

Knowing we might get out early tonight, I decided to bring my camera for the now-tradtional team photo, so, without further ado…

My readers will be familiar with Carl and Patrick, but you may now put faces to John and Eileen. The photo will be copied to the scrapbook page, as always.

Thanks to the new reports feature of BowlSK, I was able to run an analysis of my spares left and made both all of last season and through the first half of this season, and a trend caught my eye:

Single 10 pin in 2008-09: 51/79 (64.6%)
Single 10 pin through first half of 2009-10: 44/59 (74.6%)

I’m on pace to leave the single 10 pin 118 times by the end of this season, well more than last season, but I am also picking up the pin a greater percentage of the time. Combine this with the fact that I’m getting strikes at a slightly greater rate (46.6% through first half compared to 42.4% last season), and it’s little wonder that my average is 9 pins higher through the first half compared to the same point of the season last year.

My Christmas took an unexpected turn today because my sister’s younger son took ill this morning, forcing a postponement of Christmas dinner at her sister-in-law’s new house. With nothing better to do, and Westgate Lanes advertising being open 365 days a year, my brother and I used the opportunity to see if the advertisement was true.

It was, albeit the place had a skeleton crew: Junior working the desk, and someone in the back; the snack bar wasn’t even open. I had gift certificates from a half-off radio station promotion during the summer, so I used one of those to pay for our bowling, and took the difference out of my pocket. You might think we had the place to ourselves, but there were a couple of other groups that were there during at least part of our visit. With plenty of spare lanes, however, I used the opportunity to introduce my brother to bowling on a pair of lanes instead of a single lane. Although I didn’t tell him until the first game was almost over, I also gave my brother 80 pins handicap each game: he’s usually around 100-105 when we bowl, so, taking my 186 league average into account, 80 pins represents roughly 100% handicap.

To sum up the results, I had all three games over my league average, but the handicap was enough to give my brother the first game. There were a couple of highlights for me…I picked up a 2-10 split in the first game, and started the second game with the front five. To end it, when I came up in the tenth frame of the third game, I needed a mark to ensure a tie, and got it with a strike, meaning I just had to keep it on the lane to win…I left a 10 on the second ball of the frame, and picked it up for a 188. Bowling on Christmas is not something I’d do every year, but it was nice to know the option was available when our plans for the day had to change.