Well, after 3 tries I finally placed in the 6 gamer scratch tournament that I've been bowling. Felt really good after my first try back in October and scheduling of other tourneys made me miss a couple months. Went back on Superbowl Sunday and fared well, then finally this Saturday...the breakthrough.

Didn't even think I was going to make it...traffic was a monster on the freeway, so I called the center to find out if I could still bowl. Tournament director told me as long as I got there before practice was over, I was good. Got there with about 4 min. of practice left, threw three balls and lined up from there.

268 first game...wow! 268-221-203/692 first block, 223-226-226/675 second block. 1367 total...only 11 pins out of 2nd and about 70 out of first. Left a lot of tap in the last two games...easily could have gone the other way. I left three 7 pins, and 8 pin and two 6 pins in the last game. It was pretty much the same in the 5th game, except a 4-7 in the first frame.

Anyway, very proud the I was able to set a performance goal (follow-through, timing, staying in shots, making adjustments) and allow it to lead to a competition outcome goal (cashing in a scratch tournament), from my readings (Focused for Bowling).

Also, talked to SoCalJeff briefly (don't know if he remembered me). Jeff, I was the brother with the black Storm mock on. I think he watched me throw a couple of balls, maybe he could offer some critique, since I still haven't gotten to get that video done...LOL.

Congratulations on your fine showing. Thats some mighty fine bowling. It must be a great feeling to set a goal and accomplish it. I am going to get my feet wet so to speak in a month or so in my first tourny. I don't expect to do well ( you never know though )since its my first, but the experience should be valuable. I need to challenge myself in a tournament setting, as opposed to just being a league bowler. Although I love bowlinging in a league, I feel the added pressure of going solo in a tourney can only make me a better bowler.

Once again Great Job!!

Great job Show!!! That has always been a goal of mine also, to at least make a great showing if not winning a tournament. Have not bowled a lot of them for financial reasons(4 children nuff said), but have not even made respectable showings. Anyways its looking like maybe this summer I will give it another run to gain some more experience.

Good job Show, hopefully I can do well in my tourny this weekend. I was thinkin about heading up to PA for a scratch Hammer tournament in the up and coming months, but I'll start here first and see what happens. This will be my second trip to this house on Sat., last time I was the only person of color in there..lol. I'm gettin used to it now that I've moved to MD from Fl 2 years ago, but every once and a while I giggle when I feel all alone.

Show, congrats on the, uh, "showing". Making it there in the nick of time, normally you'd be hurrying and all out of sorts, but you seemed to collect yourself good enough. I'm sure if you had more time to prepare yourself before bowling, you'd have been fighting for first.

mkee, to be honest, I never bowled with "a person of color" until I moved to the South and went to school at North Carolina A&T (if you don't know about that college, it's an HBCU). I was the only white guy on the team. Whenever someone looked at me with my teammates around, I told them, "My momma told me one day she'd knock the black off me, and she did!" My teammates would be in hysterics after that. I don't care who you are, as long as you are a good person and can put up with my "odd sense of humor" (to put it nicely) and bring a little bite to the game, you can be on my team anytime.

In fact, I haven't met a "brother" yet who I didn't like bowling with (the guys I bowled with at NC A&T were a blast!). You all seem to have much more fun that us "white folk" do. In Wilmington, North Carolina, I bowled with a guy who had Christopher "Kid" Reid's haircut (though not as tall), who was a self-proclaimed "black redneck". Yep, his nickname was "eraserhead" too. Funny guy, great bowler, and a great guy to hang around with. When I get back to Wilmington, I'm going to see if I can team up with him again.

Thats a good story Brian, I know somewhat about NC A&T. I like to see mixes of crouds, but as you know, when ur in the minority of any crowd, sometimes peoples ignorances will show.

Sorry about the off-topic reply but....

Yes I do, mkee, yes I do. I work in a town of ignoramuses who ran a night club out of town 2 years ago because they "catered to blacks". Just last week, one of the commissioners made a motion to prohibit legal aliens from holding a liquor/wine/beer license, that only "U.S. Citizens, born or naturalized" can hold such a license. My wife and I used to get "hate calls" from some people because we catered to and supported the Boys and Girls Club at our bowling center, calling us all sorts of names (none of which will be repeated, but I'm sure you get the gist). Some people would walk out the door if black people were in there, but not before I got their money and got my "see ya later, racist! Next time don't forget your white hood!" sendoff.

But....this is "backwoods Georgia". As a matter of fact, where I work, "Deliverance" was filmed only 25 minutes away. Sadly, attitudes, and some of the people, haven't changed in those 30+ years. I'm looking forward to leaving as soon as I can find a job in North Carolina.

Nice, move to the northern part of Carolina, closer to MD..we could hook up for some games!

I have family in Wilmington, as does my wife. That's "home". But, hey, nothing says a drive to Maryland is ever out of the question sometime in the future. I'll drive anywhere to bowl.

Brian, I was going to ask where you were located, but I see Homer, GA. I lived in 'backwoods' Alabama for about 5 years...Covington County, City of Opp. Wow, it's crazy to imagine that sort of thing still being so prevalent in these times. When we have so many other areas of concern (war, inflation, etc.), we have time to hate others based on nothing more than the color of their skin.

It is far from being exclusive to your region though, Brian. I was totally shocked that in a 'liberal' state like California it is just as prevalent. Sometimes, when I go to tournaments in certain areas, it rears its ugly head. I see it every day working in corporate America as a black male.

I too, am of the motto, that if you're cool to hang with and you can deal with my goofy, off-beat humor and you can bowl, then you can bowl with me. Ethnicity aside, I like to be around good people, because trust and believe that there are some people wearing the same skin that I'm in that I'd just as well not deal with.

But hey, let's look at the important matter of this thread...I placed 3rd in a scratch tournament this weekend...LOL.

I know, and that's great. Your hard work is paying off (literally this time) and I'm sure that's only the tip of the iceberg for you. I only wish you success in further tournaments, and, if your buddy ain't around for a "tounge-lashing pep talk", let me know and I'll send you one through email. It's great to watch hard work pay off for anyone.

Congrats :-)

Funny you would mention that...he called me while I was on the freeway stressing about trying to get the tournament. I'm sure Angel can attest to how crazy SoCal traffic can get (especially on a Saturday on the 5 freeway). I was so upset because I was going to take the 405, with the bowling alley being at the intersection of the two.

So here's our conversation (made for TV)...

Buddy: 'If you're going to b**** and moan about traffic and be all wound up before you even get there, just turn around and go home. Go buy your wife a pair of jeans or something with the entry fee. It's not even worth it.'

Me: 'You're right, I can't control it'

Buddy: 'That's my m*****f****** man...now if you get there on time, and you can bowl, then what you got to stress about?

Me: 'Nothing, I guess'

Buddy: 'That's right, not a f****** thing...now get there and bowl your a** off and run my cheddar!! (money for the slang impaired). (laughing)

Me: 'Aight, peace' (laughing)

Hilarious and honest, gotta have friends like that to keep you grounded. So that's what I did. I got there, got my bags out the trunk and went to sign up...realized I had a few minutes to practice and calmly put on my shoes and threw three different balls. They all reacted well, but I figured my Fired Up would create the best reaction over the 6 games.

But it worked again...I instantly forgot about the traffic, how I was stressed to get there and promptly opened with a 268...great stuff.

But if I ever need a little extra boost, I'll have you shoot me an email...thanks for the love.

Good job Show. You owe one to your buddy for the pep talk.

That's funny Show and congrats!

And I know traffic can just be a bear and you don't know when its going to be unreasonably bad either. So its not like you can allow for crashes, fires along the road (this happens a lot in the Sac area) or even debris scrattered all over the place. At any given moment in that area as well as my area and many others, any strange thing like a jumper on the over pass can add 60 minutes to your drive. A truck carrying tomatoes can flip, couch fall out of the back of someone's truck and you are backed up for miles and it could take over an hour and more gasoline then you have in your tank to wait it out. And all this stuff could have happened hours before you hit the road. There's just no way to plan for that.

Erin