Bowling Science YouTube channel added to sidebar

I rejoined one of my bowling groups on Facebook and saw a first post by Mikey Pinel, son of noted Radical ball designer Mo Pinel, of one of his YouTube videos on hand positions. It’s part of his new channel, Bowling Science, and, if anyone can explain the science of bowling, you’d figure it would be a member of the Pinel family, so I put a link to the channel in the video sidebar list. Enjoy! 🙂

Feb. 6 Patriots league note

I’ve been hanging around the Patriots league more because you never know what will happen. To wit, last night, Samantha Gustin, carrying a 134 average, threw off a century (100 over average) 235 last game, her very first game over 200, closing a 545 effort, also her first series over 500. And she even beat her fiance and teammate, Alex Major, by a couple of sticks in that last game. To be fair, Samantha has been taking lessons from one of Alex’s cousins, Stephen.

Nice bowling Sammi! 🙂

Feb. 5 Brunswick Mixed recap

My Week 21 bowling, frame-by-frame

This was a hard-won 500 because of my spare game, which may have been my best spare game night ever. I was definitely struggling first ball, but something John Zawalick told my table at the NEBA awards dinner last month (to take as much care on spares as you do first ball) clicked. Pretty much every spare I made felt good off my hand, and I made most of what I was supposed to. I suppose if I get my spare game back first, the strikes should follow soon enough. 🙂

Result: 162-167-176=505
Average (9 games): 162
Next week’s AVG+1 score: 495

Team won three of four, largely on Ed Godino Jr.’s first two games.

2019-20 Brunswick Mixed Week 20 standings update

Current league standings (after Week 3 of 2nd half)

Team 6 is tied for 12th with 10th Frame Magic and Team 14. The tie is 7 points behind Creedens Mustangs, who lead Sweet Rolls (Team 6’s opponents tonight) by three points and Last Empire by four points.

Weekly high scores

Ed Godino III and Dana Gomes, both teammates of mine, swept the weekly high scores in their average class.

RSS feed for Bowlage.com added to sidebar

Where I wish to cooperate with Bowlage.com in bringing the Northeast bowlers news from around the region, I have added an RSS feed from that website to this one, and set it to show the 15 most recent articles rather than the usual 10. It also appears above my national RSS feeds in the sidebar, so I hope the bowlers like the addition. 🙂

Ricky LaRouche wins inaugural BPUSBC Masters

As reported by the Bristol-Plymouth USBC above, Ricky LaRouche became their first ever Masters tournament champion today at Westgate Lanes by defeating Kevin Thibeault, 246-202, in the championship match.

I hadn’t planned on it, but, at the suggestion of some of the bowlers, Danny Khuu and AJ Voisine in particular, I decided to make this tournament the association’s first live stream event for the match play portion. Three matches appear in the Facebook event discussion, but I also transferred the title match to the main page, and it appears below:

For the record, Kevin did win our first live stream match, over Mike Griffin. Rob Young, our president, has always wanted me to live stream something for us, so I was happy I was able to make it happen for him in a way that made our first Masters tournament even more special. I hope we’ll get better at this as we gain experience.

Kevin also had the tournament’s first 300 game this morning to open the round of 16, so congratulations to him, as well as Ricky for winning the tournament.

I have one more trick up my sleeve for tonight, which I’ll also give a heads-up for on Facebook before I do it.

Jan. 29 Brunswick Mixed recap

My Week 20 bowling, frame-by-frame

I felt better than I did last week, although my scores didn’t necessarily show it. My last game was better when I focused on being better at the foul line, something I need to concentrate more on overall. The couple of times I actually made the 10 were just better executed shots, something I need to keep consistent with my first-ball shots.

Result: 167-124-173=464
Average (6 games): 159
Next week’s AVG+1 score: 484

Team won the first game, but the other two were both cases of too little, too late, also losing the point for total in the process.

The bonus note here is that Shawn Coles, after leaving it many times in his years of bowling, finally converted a 7-10 split in the 3rd frame of the first game. WTG! 🙂

2019-20 Brunswick Mixed Week 19 standings update

The improved LeagueSecretary.com allows me to do different things with the standings presentation, so I’ll get to it:

Current standings (after Week 2 of 2nd half)

Team 6 is in a three-way tie for 9th, five points behind Creeeden’s Mustangs. Spare Us is two off the lead in 2nd place, with three teams each three and four points behind the lead.

Weekly high scores

Ed Godino III swept the high scores in his division last week.

Move to Strike will oppose Team 6 tomorrow night.

Jan. 22 Brunswick Mixed recap

Before making my decision to start the league, I bowled a practice game first to remove any doubt in my mind that I could bowl and stay on my feet, which became two when it was clear I only needed to get my timing and release back.

My Week 19 bowling, frame-by-frame

It’s going to be a process, but at least my 195 second game showed some promise for the near future. I wasn’t expecting much last night, but I was bowling, and that was, indeed, the important thing.

Result: 142-195-155=492
Average (3 games): 164
Next week’s AVG+1 score: 498

My only job for my new team will be to make things easier for Dana Gomes and Ed Godino III, the 4th and 5th spots in our lineup, respectively, and I did do that in the last two games to allow them to finish out for those points and total.

Stan Lewis wins NAT “Old School” singles at East Providence Lanes

Jan 2020 NAT EP
Finalists of Jan. 19 NAT “Old School” singles at East Providence Lanes: Champion Stan Lewis, runner-up Sean Richard (Photo courtesy of NAT)

Per their post on Facebook (must be logged in to view), the Northeast Amateur Tournament reported Stan Lewis as the winner of the “Old School” singles event on Jan. 19 at East Providence Lanes, prevailing over Sean Richard, 257-239 (with handicap), in the final match for his first NAT singles title. The “Old School” format meant that all qualifiers bowled two new games (no pins from qualifying carried over), with the top four reaching the stepladder finals.

Additionally, the NAT reported that Sean Richard had an 825 series in qualifying, and a 300 game in the semifinals.

Good bowling guys! 🙂

My return (I hope)

I promised a post in the fall that I thought then that I wasn’t ready to make, but it’s a good time for it now.

As the Westgate bowlers know, and some of the other bowlers in New England also know, I’ve been dealing with a tremor in my right hand that is likely a long-term side effect of some of the medication I’ve been taking. I’d been bowling through it last season, and, indeed, into the video recording session that I had last Memorial Day weekend. It also had been affecting my typing, making long posts time-consuming. With this and some other issues on my mind, I decided not to start the fall bowling season in order to address my health. I was still around fulfilling my media role, of course, just not bowling myself.

With different medication, I’ve improved to the point where I can touch-type again, and I am now seeing a specialist in Boston, who has put me on another medication. After consulting with my brother, I’ve decided to at least give it a go for the second half of the season starting this coming Wednesday night, and I’ll be joining Team 6 in the Brunswick Mixed league, one of the members of whom is Ed Godino Jr., my old Sunday night teammate. I may miss some Wednesday nights because of other things I’ll be involved with, but I intend to finish out the season.

Looking forward to shoeing up again, and wish me well. 🙂