Category: Leagues

League recaps

Still on a roll

We finally had some semblance of a normal league night tonight, as all four members of my team were present. My ankle was feeling better than it did last week, so I didn’t feel a need to take a warm-up game to test it. I’ve gotten into the habit of getting my medication stuff out of the way before the lanes were turned on for league, so all I had to tell my sister was that league was about to start, and she knew I had taken my evening medication early.

The only blemish of the first game was a 3-10 baby split where I hit the 3 pin too full and failed to convert the split. I had a turkey in the middle of the game, and had a double plus 9 in the 10th for a 211…a nice start. I opened the second game with a double, but then only picked up the 7 pin on a 4-7 leave after getting distracted by a scoring error and having to make the appropriate change. I was leaving an awful lot of corner pins in the middle of the game, including the 6-10 twice. I had a double in the 9th and 10th frames, but needed the second strike in the 10th for another 200+ game and left a 3 pin with the first fill ball; I converted the spare for a 199. There was a scary moment to start the third game where the lead bowler for our opponents left her shoe covers on and slipped, falling over onto the lane, when she threw her first shot in the game; she was OK, but the score had to be changed to reflect the obvious foul. I left the 6-7 split to start the third game, had a strike in the second game, but then missed the first of two single 10 pin leaves I would miss in the game left. I had a double in the 4th and 5th frames to make up one of the open frames, but then missed another 10 pin left in the 8th frame. My personal highlight of the night came in the next frame, not because I had a strike, but because I left the 4-5 split, one of the more difficult “fit” splits, but converted that, which Ray managed to catch and told me he liked seeing me pick that up. I ended with a 169, the first time I had been under 170 since the opening week. However, the 579 total was 6 pins better than what I needed for the average-plus-1 (total needed to raise average by one pin…I’ll start including that information in the wrap-up with this post), so I still had a good night. Brian was still a bit untracked (after having practiced Sunday on the slicker tournament shot), but Joy and Ralph had decent nights for them. The opponent that slipped on the lane recovered to have a decent third game, along with the other female on the team, so, although it was close, we lost the third game, which prevented an eight-point sweep for the night.

Result: 211-199-169=579
Average (15 games): 189 Last 9 average: 200
Next week’s Average-Plus-One score: 579

Errata: The Bowler’s Ledger, a bowling newspaper published in the area, reported Rosemarie Daniels as a member of the Tri-City USBC WBA in the results of the women’s state tournament, but Ray informed me that she actually bowls out of Boston Bowl, so she calls the women’s association for Boston her home association.

Tuesday note

Took a trip to the lanes again today to have oil removal done on my ball before the pro shop closes for vacation this weekend. I found the full league schedule and got some good news and bad news. The good news? With the redone schedule, my team is scheduled to face my cousins’ team, the “Lounge Lizards,” later this season. The bad news? We are scheduled to do so on July 23, which happens to be my sister’s birthday, so if my family has something planned for her that night, I may have to either be absent or pre-bowl (if I get enough advance notice).

Monday notes

  • I had kind of a “blah” practice session today, but I did save the best for last…a clean 205 that found me having to make the 5-7 split in the middle of the game to keep it clean. Again, the work focused mostly on keeping my bowling arm close to my body in the swing.
  • I saw a reorganized standings sheet posted at the lanes, and we are now Team #15. This means we will not bowl against my cousins’ team this week (though they may be on the schedule later). The bad news was that I found out that we have to bowl “Fun and Games” (Bob Hamilton and Sean Richard’s team) again next week. Here’s hoping a second go-around proves better.

Standings update for June 20, 2008

According to the updated standings, my team fell out of first place, as expected, but we didn’t fall far, as we’re only 4 points out of first place (now held by “Shihoots” with 24 points), sitting in third place by virtue of having the best handicap pinfall among the teams with 20 points. There has been a consolidation of two teams with less than 3 actual bowlers, so there are now two vacant teams, which will be deleted with next week’s standings. Looking ahead, my team faces my cousins’ team, the “Lounge Lizards,” next week, making it another night for me to look forward to.

A mixed bag

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.

First place!

The standings sheet after this week has been posted on LeagueSecretary.com (see sidebar link under “Author’s links”), and it shows that my team is currently in first place. 😀 It’s still early, however, so it’s not time for us to relax just yet. Judging from this week, it looks like you can expect the standings to be updated on the site by Friday, so Friday will probably be the best day to check the standings.

It’s official!

As per plan, I went to the lanes early yesterday because I was scheduled to have another lesson with Ray. It had turned out that Ray was running a half-hour late, so I didn’t start warming up for my lesson until about 4:30. After a while, Ray got his camcorder out and started to film a “before” session.

The “before” showed that my timing was still good, and that my release and follow-through were getting better. I was still having trouble staying under the ball, however. The “before” this time included a series to show axis tilt and revolutions. For good pin action, a bowling ball must have at least 12 revolutions before hitting the pins, but I was only getting 9 or 10 revolutions by that time. The problem staying under the ball and not getting revolutions are related, because, as Ray showed me, my elbow was going away from my body. Another problem related to leverage was that I was not bending my left knee enough in my downswing, so in my drill work during the session, the elbow and the knee were the two points of emphasis. When we filmed the “after”, Ray said I had 8 good shots in a row, and my revolutions picked up to the point where I was getting 11 of them on the ball. Ray said I would get that last revolution with practice. Foreshadowing the league night I would have later, he said he had a feeling I would bowl well.

I was prepared to have to hang around after the lesson, so I had all of my medication with me, including my cholesterol medication, which, on Wednesdays since starting the league, I would take before eating at home prior to leaving for the lanes, and I took the cholesterol pill shortly after my lesson. I later ordered a cheeseburger and a Sprite from the snack bar, and I had dinner while watching Ralph warm up. Ralph said that Brian had pre-bowled because of a school awards function that his daughter was involved in. Joy was also back after missing the regular league session last week.

My work in my lesson carried over to my league bowling immediately; I started the first game with a turkey, picked up a single 2 pin, then had a double, and the only open frame I would have that game was in the 9th frame, in which I only picked up the front pin of the sleeper 2-8. I ended the game with a spare and 8-fill for a 214. My second game was not quite as good, but I sandwiched a lone open frame, throwing an attempt at the single 10 pin in the ditch, between a couple of doubles. I made all of my other spares during the game, and I ended up with a 201. I was worried about running out of gas during the night, but my last game would turn out to be my best of the night…a clean 227 in which I tossed a hambone starting in the 6th frame. The resulting 642 series was my best ever in actual competition. Brian’s pre-bowl scores were around his average for the most part, but he did have a 235 in the first game. Except for the second game, Joy and Ralph were also around their norm, and we ended up taking 6 of the 8 points from our opponents, the team known as “G Force.”

Result: 214-201-227=642
Average (9 games): 186 Last 9 average: 186

My team faces last year’s league champions next week, so I’m really looking forward to that. If we have a good night against them, I feel that it would be a statement of sorts.

The administravia of this post is the fact that I have edited the “About” page of this blog, linked in the sidebar, to reflect last night’s accomplishment. Here’s hoping I make more edits like that in the future. 😀

BEST…THREE…EVAR!!!

After the first game of my practice today, I was going to title this post “Mr. Clean” in honor of having my first clean game since my return to bowling. I started with a double, sandwiched another strike between a couple of single-pin spares, then finished with the last seven in a row for a 259, my second best game ever in any setting. Little did I know I would follow it up with my third best game ever, a 247. I had a chance for my first (albeit unofficial) 700 series, but left a couple of splits and missed a single pin in the 9th frame for a 183, giving me a 689 series…my best ever! 😀

And I wasn’t even worried about score…all I wanted was to get my ball over the foul line and have clean releases. I was playing the “wall” (the line between the oil and the dry, which is a characteristic of many house shots), and had good angle to the pocket most of the day. I was largely building on my league performance of last week, so having a good series like this, even in practice, has to give me a ton of confidence. I see Ray for coaching on Wednesday afternoon, so I’ll be sure to tell him about this practice.

EDIT: Forgot to mention that the 689 series is better than any series I’ve had on two good feet, so this is indeed special. 😀

League update: My team is in fourth place in the league after last week. A separate post may be coming if I can find the league on bowl.com (I was going to wait for LeagueSecretary.com to have the league standings posted for something special, but if the USBC site has them, I may be able to do it soon.).

Making progress

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.

Coming home

Last night was the night I’ve been waiting for since I decided to take bowling up seriously again: my first league night. There had been a development on the visit I wrote about in the “11th hour” post that I forgot to mention…that the snack bar is looking for help, and I wanted to catch Junior to ask him about what hours they were looking for (I’m hoping I can fill in part-time). However, that plan was scotched when I found out that they locked the gate I usually go out of when I catch the bus to the lanes. I had wanted to take the route that got me to the lanes earlier, but was delayed when I had to go out of the other gate, so I was pretty much forced to wait for the bus on the other route to the Westgate Mall, meaning I got to the lanes just after Junior left for the day.

Stopping in the pro shop, I finally met the first of my teammates, Ralph Marple. I learned that he had bowled on tour in his youth (he appeared well past 60 in age), but, like me, hadn’t bowled in years until he joined the Wednesday night Westgate Mixed League toward the end of the winter season. I brought up my background with him chatting in the shop, and also discussed possible lineup strategy (I’ll give the lineup we arrived at later in this post).

Brian Shea was the next teammate I was introduced to. He appeared to be in his 40s, but older than me, and we hashed through the lineup strategy we were discussing. Brian wanted to warm up, so I let him begin soon after his lane was turned on. Once he found a line, he was getting a number of strikes, so Ralph and I were kind of joshing him about it, with me saying not to leave those on the practice lane.

Ray introduced the three of us to our female teammate, Joy Falese, shortly before the league meeting was due to begin. With Joy mentioning that she had bowled second in her unsanctioned winter league in Florida, that solidified our initial lineup: Brian would lead off, Joy second, I would follow Joy, and Ralph would be our anchor bowler.

The league meeting was pretty standard. The league would last 13 weeks, with pay-out night being the 14th week, and we had 22 teams, meaning nobody would see every team during the league’s run. The format was different than what I had been hoping for…the league would play strictly for team points (meaning no individual match points), with 2 points being awarded to the winner of each game, with an additional 2 points going to the team with the better total each night. Handicap was also team-based, being 90% of 800 (for those non-bowlers reading this, that means each game’s handicap would be 90% of the difference between the team average and an 800 scratch score). One thing that was different than last season, apparently, was that pre-bowls would now be allowed for those who would not be able to bowl on any given week (because of travel plans and such).

After the meeting, we had to wait awhile for the lanes to be turned on, so I used the opportunity to take my medication early and call my sister on my cellphone to check in (I actually got her husband on the phone and reminded him I was starting league bowling that night). When I returned from that, we had a quick election of Ralph as our team’s captain, and, based on my suggestion, named the team the “Mad Bloggers,” a play on “Mad Bombers” based on the fact that I was on the team. When the scoring screens were turned on (a touch-screen system), I entered our agreed-upon lineup, as I was the only one with any extended experience using them. It took awhile, though, because I kept missing the “Next” button and returning it to “ready to score” status, so I kept having to go back and add (though I finally found the “Next” button before entering Ralph’s name).

When the lanes were finally turned on for practice, there was a problem: the lane we would start on didn’t turn on, and we had to wait several minutes for the problem to be fixed. As a result, both of the teams on that pair only got one practice frame on each lane before they blanked the scoring screen for the start of actual bowling, at which point I went over to my cousins’ pair to wish them luck for the summer.

I had the first mark of the summer for our team after a couple of open frames by Brian and Joy; I left the 5-9 after going “Brooklyn” and made the spare fairly easily. I’m not sure if it was the second or third frame, but Brian had the first strike for us. To sum up my own performance in my first league game in 15 years, I was only “treading water”, missing a couple of spares in the middle of the game, followed by a 4-6 split and a washout, before getting my first strike of the night in the ninth frame, which I followed up with another strike, filled with a single 9 pin which I made pretty easily for a 148. My teammates had decent games, so we were off to a good start.

I was clean through 4 frames in the middle game before missing the 2-4. I pulled my next shot severely, however, leaving an unusual 1-2-3-6-8-10, which I almost made by going “Brooklyn” on it, narrowly leaving the 10 on the deck. That was followed by the 2-4-10 split, which I completely missed after not getting the ball to hook enough. I was playing my practice line up until that point, but wasn’t really happy with the kind of shots I was getting, so I made a change to playing an outside line. I left the 6-10 in the 8th frame (which I made) playing the new line, and that was followed by a turkey with an 8 fill in the 12th frame to end with a 179, so I was hopeful that I could follow well on the heels of that. As for my teammates, Brian had a bad game (for him, but still in the 150s), but Joy had a game in the 180s and Ralph had the high game for us on the night, a 225.

My spare game really deserted me in the last game, however, missing 4 very makable spares early, including a single 7 pin in the 6th frame. I salvaged a 143 by being clean late, but the fair game horse had left the barn by then. If I remember correctly, Brian and Ralph both shot in the 200s, and Joy had another good game for her, so we were expecting to have won this game, as well as take total.

Even though I didn’t do as well as I would have liked to, it did feel good to be back, and, with good teammates around me, I’m hoping that we do well this summer. Before bowling started, I asked Donna Bickel, the league secretary, if the standings would be posted online on LeagueSecretary.com again, and she indicated that they would be. I’m planning something for when the first week’s standings get posted there, so keep looking here during the next week. As I had been doing with practice, I’ll recap my night’s scores at the end of the post (or the portion of the post about the night), and also give my average after that night.

Result: 148-179-143=470 Average (3 games): 156

Scouting visit

I went to the lanes today hoping that the Westgate Mixed League would be in session and that I’d be able to introduce myself to Brian Shea and Ralph Marple, but I learned that there would only be a rolloff for the league championship tonight, and that neither bowler was on either of the teams involved.

Stopping in to chat with Ray in the pro shop, I learned that he had set me up with my team, so I asked him about Joy Falese, figuring he might know something about her. I learned from him the reason why I had not seen Joy’s name on any of the winter league standings sheets: she’s a horsewoman and spends her winters in Florida. I also learned that when she’s up here, Joy works at a stable not far from where my sister lives in Bridgewater. Asking Ray if he knew anything about Joy’s bowling game, he told me that he took her from a 100 average to a 150 average in a year, so it looks like she has something of a clue, and that we have a fair team, at least on paper. I’m looking forward to meeting the gang in a couple of weeks. 😀

While I was there, I ran into Dick Damon, another old bowling friend, whom I had bowled in the His and Hers League with in my former bowling life. We didn’t chat long because he was involved in the rolloff, but I mentioned my return and how much the game had changed since we were last together.

Practice summary, 5/12/08

I was working on towel drills again today, but also had to remind myself to try to keep my left arm closer in today. I was pretty erratic through the first two games, getting the ball over the towel on some shots and not on others, but I was getting it together by the third game. I actually thought I was making decent quality shots toward the end, but was still leaving 5s and 5-8s. Whether or not this was an issue of not getting revs I’ll have to ask someone in the know about, but I was pretty satisfied with the practice for what I wanted to accomplish.

Summer league update: There are now 21 teams listed on the sign-up board, including the team that took me. In alphabetical order, my soon-to-be teammates, barring any unusual developments at the league meeting, are (sorry if I’m spelling any of these names wrong) Joy Falese, Ralph Marple, and Brian Shea. Looking through the current league standings sheets after practice, I learned that the latter two are established bowlers, currently bowling in the Wednesday night Westgate Mixed League. Both are also pretty decent: Ralph is carrying a 200 average in the league, while Brian is averaging 189, so this might be an opportunity to learn from better teammates. Joy is the complete unknown at this point, so we’ll see at the league meeting two weeks from Wednesday how our lineup shakes out. Ideally, I’d like to get to the lanes Wednesday night to meet Ralph and Brian in advance of the start of the league, so that will probably be the plan then.

Priceless!

Bowling shoes: $50
Bowling ball: $125
Practice time: $150 in gift cards
Shooting 200 with a family member watching…priceless!

Something I’ve always wanted to do since I’ve been bowling seriously, even before my heel fractures, was to have a game of 200 or better with at least one member of my family present for it. Well, it finally happened today, when I had a 200 in my last game of another bowling outing with my brother. I started with a seven-spare, got a double, then left a 4 pin, which I missed. I didn’t panic, though, knowing I could make up the open frame with another double. I kept making spares until the 8th and 9th frames, when I put up the make-up double. I needed a mark and count in the 10th frame for the 200, and I got exactly that: I left the 6-9-10 with the first ball and calmly made the spare, meaning that a nine-fill would give me exactly 200, which I got by crossing over and only leaving the 3 pin. As we were going to a birthday party for David, my bowling cousin, after our outing, I was beaming at my accomplishment at the party (needless to say).

Summer league update: Checking the sign-up board, I noticed that I had been assigned to a team. However, since I’m not sure about a couple of the names of my soon-to-be teammates, I won’t post the full update until my post about practice on Monday, when I will jot down the names before leaving.

Eric Johnson and Jim Yost shoot 300s in Coke Classic League

The scoring pace in the Coke Classic League seems to have picked up as the season winds down.  Last week, Eric Johnson shot a perfect 300 game in the league, and Jim Yost followed that up with one of his own while I was watching the action tonight.  I must admit that I missed seeing Jim bowl the last strike, but I had good reason:  I was watching Dan Robinson threaten one of his own on another pair of lanes.  Dan left a split in the tenth frame, however…better luck next time, Dan!

Getting better

Today was another towel drill day, but unlike last week, I only had six shots in three games that moved the towel, and half of those came near the end, when I was getting a bit tired. I wasn’t really keeping score, but I noted that the three games were all over my average, with a 203 in the second game that was assisted by a scoring error (unusually, I left the 3-8 split on one shot in that game, which I converted, but the scorer gave me credit for a strike in that frame, which was the first strike of a double). Again, though, I was not worried about score today, so there’s no average update (as will likely be the case from here on, as I’m closing in on my return to league play).

Summer league update: There are four bowlers without a team now on the sign-up board for the Wednesday Summer Mixed League, including one female. However, a team has been posted with a vacancy, and I don’t know if that team has an unannounced fourth bowler already, so a team comprised of the four of us without a team is not a given yet.

Coke Classic League tonight: I plan to head back to the lanes later on to catch some of the Coke Classic League action. I won’t blog about the visit unless something important happens (one of them being finding out if the Brockton USBC Association has plans to update their homepage).

Running drills

As per plan, I spent all of practice today going through the towel drill, and I think I got about half of my shots, maybe a couple more than that, over the towel.  Although the difference is only slight, I think I can feel the strength coming back in my wrist, which should definitely be a good sign.  As I wasn’t really worried about score today, I didn’t log my practice when I came home; as such, I am not posting an average update for this practice.

Summer league update:  Bob Hamilton told me his daughter would be bowling on his team, and that she represents the vacancy on his team.  However, a couple more bowlers without a team (but who want to bowl on the same team) have signed up, so if things hold, I will be on their team.

Wednesday notes

  • To update the start of the Wednesday Summer Mixed League, Bob Hamilton has put together a team which currently has a vacancy. There had been one other bowler without a team on the sign-up board for the league, but he is now assigned to a team. With that in mind, I asked Marcia to give Bob the message that if he wants, I’d be more than happy to join his team. On a related note, my cousins’ team had a surprise when they registered: their younger daughter, Melissa, will be joining them.
  • I learned that Bev Bialecki, the lady who works at the control desk when I am usually practicing, has had recent surgery to remove a lump on her head. I have sent her a get-well card.
  • I was prepared to purchase a dumbbell set for wrist curls at the local Dick’s Sporting Goods today, but I thought to check the Sears web site and found out that they sold single hand weights. Needless to say, I swung by Sears and bought a 5 lb. hand weight, which was an $8 item.

Having a bad day

Today, I had my worst practice in a while, with no game even over 150.  I noticed that I was dropping the ball a lot at the foul line, which gives me something more to ask Ray about when I see him next week.  I tried a suggestion by “CoachJim”, a USBC-certified coach at the Silver level who’s part of the BowlingFans.com gang, and he suggested playing straight up the 10 board.  I was still either coming in light or missing the head pin right if I missed my spot right, but I was also still crossing over a bit, which may be related to my dropped ball problem (as the ball doesn’t skid while rolling while it is in the oil like it should).  My mood was also kind of down due to the weather (it was raining while I was out for practice), so I guess I’ll just chalk it up to having a bad day today.

Result:  147-143-124=414

Running average (72 games):  163  Last 9 average:  153

I saw that they had put out the summer league sign-up sheets when I got to the control desk, so my practice was delayed while I was filling the form out.  As I’ve promised my cousins, I signed up for the Wednesday Summer Mixed league.  The first night of that league will be May 28, with the league meeting at 6:30 PM and bowling starting at 7:00 PM (start time will be 7:00 PM throughout the summer, of course).

Coke Classic League bowler cashes at US Open

According to the qualifying standings available at press time, Jonathan Van Hees of Newport, RI, who is listed as having bowled this season for team “BLNT” in the Coke Classic League, will be one of the 122 bowlers that cash in this year’s US Open. Van Hees was in 70th position with Squad B, the last squad to complete their qualifying, bowling their final game of qualifying. Good luck the rest of the way, Jonathan! 😀

Sticking around

I was vacillating most of the day yesterday between going to practice at my usual time or going late and hanging around for the Coke Classic league, which is the big league at Westgate Lanes and where I have many old friends bowling. I eventually did decide to go late, so I left my house to catch the bus at around 5:00 PM so I wouldn’t have to be bored for too long while I wait for the Coke Classic bowlers to show up (and dinner would fill some of the time, as well).

My practice was pretty pedestrian, as I was mucking around with a first arrow shot some more (which turned out to not be a wise decision, as I’ll touch on later in this post). I did manage a first in my last frame of the day, however: converting the 2-10 split. The times I’ve had to face this split (not many), I was either hitting the 2 pin too full or too light, but I somehow found the right shot for this split yesterday.

Result: 176-146-160=482

Running average (63 games): 165 Last 9 average: 169

Talking with Junior immediately after practice, I found out that they also put down the Coke Classic shot, a sport shot, on all of the tenpin lanes (there are also a dozen candlepin lanes there) in the morning on Mondays, which surprised me, as I had been used to seeing Bob Hamilton put the shot down on the lanes to the right of where I usually practice. As the Coke Classic shot is a tougher shot, as should be expected for a league that attracts the best bowlers in the area, I figure being close to my old league average in practice on a sport shot means, in a lot of ways, that I’m actually ahead of where I was when I quit the game. In the long run, practicing on a sport shot can only help me, and as the shot is also put down for stuff like “The People’s Tournament,” I would like to be able to eventually do well on the shot.

Noting the shot I’m seeing, I chatted a bit with another pro shop employee, Tony Attardo, who is a Coke Classic bowler. I had been in the pro shop briefly before practice to see if they had the Ebonite Reactor/R Palm Pad glove in stock, but having time to kill before the league bowlers filtered in, I asked him about how bowlers were playing the shot. Asked about playing outside, he said it’s tough to play outside on the shot unless you can hit the 1 to 3 board consistently and have a lot of hand in the shot. As I’m more of a stroker with not a whole lot of hand action, he recommended second arrow for me, which I had been playing most of the time.

I caught up with my old friends who were bowling in the Coke Classic league between dinner and the start of bowling for the night. Particularly, I wanted to see two people: Steve Travers, who had been the best bowler in the house during the time I was in leagues and is still very good, and Jim Yost, who is also part of my tournament story, but who was also my opponent for individual points in the league I was bowling in the night I shot my 268. I stayed past the start of actual bowling and ran into another old friend I had asked people about: George Hamilton. As I also knew George from hanging around the local slow-pitch softball scene years ago, I made it a point to ask him if he was still playing that in the summer, and he indicated that he was. I told George that I would let a mutual friend know I saw him. I was hoping to be able to also stick around to do a karaoke song in the pub, but decided against it and called a cab home. It has indeed been good to reconnect with my old friends the last couple of weeks. 😀

Tournament notes:

  • The Northeast Amateur Tournament has scheduled a stop at Westgate Lanes for April 13.
  • The originally-reported winner of the February “People’s Tournament” at E. Providence Lanes has been disqualified for reporting an invalid entry average, and Brian “Hawk” Earle was declared the official winner of the tournament. Congrats again Hawk! 😀

Summer league plans set

I made a phone call to my cousin Debbie today to tell her I was agreeable to bowling on Wednesday nights in the Westgate Mixed league this summer. Although she told me she and her husband already had a team lined up, she told me there would be room for more bowlers in that league, and I’d be welcome in the league. With my own league plans now set, I emailed Si to inform him about this and told him that I hoped to see him there this summer, as well.

Social call

I wanted to show off the bowling t-shirt I received for Christmas to the management at the lanes, so I took it with me, and Junior and Bev (the control desk person when I practice) got a kick out of it (a picture of it is coming, folks…just waiting for it to be emailed to me). I did not start using my gift cards today, and I knew I would be charged the full rate today, with this being a school vacation period. My next-door neighbor did give me a free bowling coupon that was on a Banquet frozen dinner box that he bought, so one of my games was free.

As I walked toward my locker to get my equipment out, I ran into Si, and it turned out he was going to give practicing a try, so, with his OK, I had Bev move me to his pair of lanes. Before I go into my own performance, I should note that he said this was the first time he picked up a bowling ball since a year ago in May, so his performance was a bit off. He told me he thought it was more of a footwork issue, though, especially early in his outing. He did get his legs under him somewhat, though, toward the last game, and had a few nice shots in the third game to recover a 142. If he’s reading this, I’d like to say I wish I could do that well after a long layoff. 😀

I pretty much stayed around my average today, but I was missing too many easy spares for comfort. I did make a nice ball speed adjustment at the end of the last game, though, and strung together three in a row before leaving the 6-7 split with the first fill ball in the 10th frame. The turkey before that was enough to recover a 156, though.

Result: 152-169-156=477

Running average (39 games): 163 Last 9 average: 167

After we finished bowling, Si and I discussed what we may be doing for leagues in the future, and I mentioned that my cousins were thinking of bowling the Wednesday night Westgate Mixed league (which Junior told me was 4-person teams) this summer and that I wanted to join them. Si then pretty much said he’d be agreeable to joining that league too, so there may be more than two familiar faces in the league I make my return to. Si also offered a ride home, which I accepted, saving me the return bus trip.

Update on league search

I took a trip to the lanes last night to meet with the secretary of the Brockton Ten-Pin League and was dismayed to learn that the two openings that I had noticed on that league’s standings sheet a few weeks ago were filled. I’m really hoping I don’t have to join the Tuesday night Scratch Sportsmen singles league, but it may be the only option left, depending on if they have an odd number of bowlers in the league currently. It is an option, however, as the only thing I care about at this point is establishing a book average for the beginning of the 2008-09 season (as well as for tournaments in the later part of this season).

Having a ball

After checking the bank balance and doing a little mental anticipation of possible future spending on other things, I decided that now was the time to make my next major equipment purchase: a new ball!

After consultation with Chris Mark at the USA Bowling Pro Shop on the premises (they are also located at Boston Bowl), I went with a blue 15 lb. Circle High-Voltage, which was on closeout because the ball is no longer being manufactured, but which I was told was still an awesome ball for these lanes. My fit was checked using the U-Dot with modifications (Chris wanted the thumb all the way in the ball), the ball was drilled, and the grips glued into place.

A trial fit of the ball revealed a problem with the thumb…the thumb release was resisting in the back of the thumb. A vent hole was first drilled to see if that would correct the problem, and when it was found that that was only a partial answer, Chris used a sanding bit that attaches a standard hand drill to make the thumb hole larger at the back. We eventually got the problem corrected and I was ready to try out the ball (which was my first brand-new ball, BTW…I had been used to buying all of my balls used).

The nice thing about this pro shop compared with the guys I knew when I was last bowling seriously is that the new guys give you a complimentary game of bowling with any ball purchase, so I was able to try out the new ball without breaking out my sister’s gift card. A lane was turned on, I put on my shoes, got my other equipment ready, and I prepared for my first shot with the new High-Voltage.

I fell in love with this ball from the first shot…a solid strike. As the game progressed, I noticed that the ball had more back-end action than the U-Dot, and I ended up adjusting by moving my feet 2 boards left to the 12 board on the approach. I ended up shooting a 167, with a double in the 6th and 7th frames. I intend to retain the U-Dot for my right-hand spares and on unfamiliar lane conditions, and use the High-Voltage for all other shots. My thanks to Ray, the pro shop owner, and Chris for doing an excellent job on the ball…I hope to be working with you guys in the future. (Note: the 167 will not count toward my “official” practice average, as the only purpose of the game was to try out the ball.)

League found: Checking the other standings sheets, I noticed the Brockton Ten-Pin league, a 4-man league running on Tuesday nights, had a couple of openings, so I intend to join this league after the holidays.

Tournament scene: Along with the monthly “King of the Hill” tournament at Westgate Lanes, an operation called “The People’s Tournament” runs occasional handicap tournaments at Westgate Lanes, as well as the Northeast Amateur Tournament (EDIT: I originally couldn’t find a site on their flyer, but found a full one from them that had their site listed on the back) and the TNBA’s Boston Bowling Senate. Thus, it appears I’ll have as many opportunities to compete in tournaments as I did when I was last active (I used to bowl occasionally with the Amateur Bowlers Tour and National Amateur Bowlers, Inc., but neither tournament club operates in New England currently.)

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.

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.