Bunch of things to say tonight.

Tried my Terminator. I polished it last week, had trouble, so I knocked the polish off with an abralon pad. I still didn't roll right. I was hi then off. 2 splits and another open in 7 frames. Then I switched to my Conqueror. Finished with 5 X's for a 190.
Second game saw a missed 7 pin, but still finished with 228. Third game 247 for a 665 Series. Hail to the Conqueror. We lost all 3 games.

There was another smoking dilema tonight. 2 weeks ago, there was a fight when one bowler became impatient over a smoker leaving between games to go outside. Tonight, a bowler was riding another because he was a smoker. And, actually laughing because we had this snow Storm, and the smoker had to go outside. Well, the smoker went out between games 2 and 3. The non-smoker followed him and yelled that he had to be 15 feet from the door, which is the law. That made the smoker stand in the driving lane of the parking lot, in 40 mph wind and driving snow. I watched as he came in. He was white from the snow. his clothes, hair were white from snow. He did have shoe covers on, and removed them at the door. Took his jacket off and shook it, again by the door. And, to the best of his ability, shook any snow off by the door. That took a while, and the non-smoker was becoming impatient waiting. Unfortunately, the smoker had to walk on the carpet in front of the desk to his lanes. He wiped his feet again on the rug, and stepped up to bowl. He stuck on his release. Came back and wiped his shoe, which was covered outside, but obviously got wet from the wet carpet. His second shot saw no stick. Another bowler stuck on the approach, and blamed the smoker.
It was getting loud. The desk man came out on the lane and sprayed some cleaner and wiped the approach. Next was the complainer, who promptly stood up and said, If I stick, I quit. Well, he stuck, and fell across the foul line on the cleaned approach. He got up yelled at the smoker, took his stuff and walked out. It was all very uncomfortable. To me, it was poetic justice.

And, Thursday, I go to a funeral service for the wife of a friend of mine who died today from lung cancer. She never smoked a day in her life, and no one in her family smoked. But, she was a Russian immigrant who lived 20 miles from Chernoble.

You know Dennis, sometimes I wonder why people say people in their 20's are so immature, yet some of the most immature acts I've ever seen are committed by people in their 40's and 50's. Regardless, the league will probably be better off without the guy who quit.

Anyway as for my league last night, 243-218-190 for 645. I was working real well the first two games. Though I missed my mark a few times and my release wasn't entirely consistant the pins were still falling. Opened up with a 4-bagger in the first game, and a 5-bagger in the second. Third game I lost it a bit and wasn't hitting the mark I was trying for so I kept trying to hit it instead making an adjustment. Finally did in the 10th and closed out with a XX9.

Got my serious league tonight so hopefully I can carry that over, and I'm probably going to try and walk-in to the Master's tournament that's this weekend.

Our smoking ban goes into effect in a couple days so it will be interesting to see what happens. I know there are several bowlers on my Saturday league, including two of my teammates that smoke, and we are on the high end of the house, the closest door being in the middle of the center over 100 feet from our first pair of lanes, by the time you walk to the middle and then actually out both sets that are probably 30 feet or better apart. The other doors are all the way down on the low end. We do have an emergency door on our end though. Monday nights its the same house, and I know it has a couple of smokers, but this is a serious league so we will see. My Tuesday night league is in a split sided house, 1-24 on one side of the concourse and 25-48 on the other with lanes 1 and 48 closest to the front. There are three sets of doors, one main set in the front and then two on either side at the back. We are on the low side at the front.

As for bowlers walking outside, if its wet out there the shoe covers don't do very much, I know this from experience. Its better off you change into your normal shoes. I won't even walk out if its dry with them anymore. Thats just me.

Had the front 6 in my first game last night - was rolling the ball real well. Something happened in my approach on that 7th ball - I don't know what it was, but when I got the moment of truth, I was off. Ball brushed my ankle, ended up going out into the dry early, and came up heavy for a big 4. And thus was the end of my carry. Of my 16 strikes on the night, 8 were in the first game, probably 5 in the second game, and 3 in the third. I have the 2 balls I usually use for this league in front seat of my car waiting to go to the Pro Shop to get redrilled to my new specs. The ball I have to use now just can't handle the carrydown that happens at this place.

Sorry to hear about your friends wife passing Dennis, my condolences.

The smoking issues is non existant here in my area of PA as of yet. Smoking is still allowed but I can see where it can and will lead to trouble. Like most problems in my life I'll worry about that bridge when it's time to cross. I'm a non smoker but don't mind smoke as long as it's not in my face or the odor of some cigars rips through the bowlers area.

As for my Tuesday Night scratch league I went in with a 225+ average over my last 15 or so games. I came in with confidence and promptly struggled. The newer guy laid the oil down and I guess he does it different? I saw lots of corner pins, lots of 2-10 splits and all kinds of other ugliness. I went up against one of the better bowlers in the league and thankfully he had an off night at the same time. I went 195-156(split city)-235 to his 181-216-184. This is what I cant explain about bowling. This guy has taken all 4 points from me twice in the past on nights where I bowled good. Last night I didn't have it and still managed to take 3 of 4 points. I may not be able to explain it but I'm not going to question it. As a team we got slapped by the 1st place team so it was just a difficult night.

Smoking has been banned in the NY bowling alleys for a few years now. It's a non issue unless your near the door. Then the smoke blows in and you get a lung full. You also have to wait for the smokers when its their turn. I don't like it, but I rarely complain. I have a bigger issue with my teammate, the smoker, who refuses to move his feet as he throws ball after ball high or Jersey. Just plain stubborn. My other teammate might have talked him into coming out to join me for practice. We'll see.

Anyway, I have good news and bad news. I bowled a 469 series tonight. The good news is that I only bowled 2 games. I had to drive my Judge to a seminar in Manhattan today. No big deal. The problem began when we didn't leave for the city until 3pm. You have to understand that the city is about 70 miles away and coming home I would be in the heart of rush hour. We didn't reach the Hotel until 4:30pm. Traffic coming out of the city was a nightmare and the traffic on the Queens side was even worse. I then had to go to the courthouse to get my car. Court was closed, so I couldn't go inside to get my stuff. I didn't want to leave my car there all night long, so I had to go and pick it up. I then had to go home and change and get my bowling balls before I went bowling.

All in all, it was a small miracle that I even made it there for the second game. Without me, we lost. Not that I would've made that much of a difference, but you never know.

I started the second game with no practice. I missed an easy spare in the third frame because I hadn't warmed up enough yet. But I then went on a tear and struck until my second shot in the 10th frame. I finished with a 246. I was told I should come late all the time. Who needs practice. Second game I doubled and then my line dried up. I moved a whole arrow over to 3rd arrow. Finished with a 5 bagger for a 223. I only had one 10 pin tonight. That was on a shot that I missed right. With my new ball speed, I see very few ten pins. I love it.

I'm still trying to coordinate the accuracy, but I get better every week.

What is your secret to a new ball speed? Did you increase your speed? By raising the ball at addresss, or something else?

How does it effect your entry to the pocket so that you leave fewer ten pins?

I had to increase my ball speed. I always had the revs. My problem was my ball was always rolling out before it reached the pocket. I would end up with weak ten pins. I would excel in heavy oil conditions because the extra oil would give my ball extra length to retain energy for the pin deck. I would struggle on anything else. Fresh oil I was fine. As the oil would break down, I would suffer.

Now, da da da! There is a new Smooth Stroker! Every bowler has their formula for a perfect shot.
ball speed - revolutions - axis rotation - accuracy.
I always had to much revolutions for the ball speed on our conditions in NYC. What I did was to focus on smoothing out my armswing, keeping my hand more behind the ball, keeping my wrists firm. If I just focus on those three things, the difference at the pin deck is amazing. I mean there is an explosion at the pin deck that I never had before. When I over rotate my wrist, I lose velosity and I gain more backend reaction.

I left more 9 pins than 10 pins last night. I will take that any day. So I stay behind the ball, keep my wrist firm, and smooth out my armswing so that I have no hitches or delays in it. Especially at the bottom. When I say stay behind the ball, most bowlers come around the ball too much. I'm looking for a certain axis rotation. It depends on the oil condition and the line I'm playing, but for the most part its either 45/50 degrees or 20/30 degrees axis rotation.

I've been looking forward to this Friday all week, and now it looks like leagues may not happen. Definately not tonight. We're under a Winter Storm Warning, and they're calling for 5-8" of the white stuff tonight.

Pfft that's a dusting! =D

I sucked last night, so badly I don't even remember my scores. I know it was 180-something, 160-something, 220-something for like a 560ish series. First two games I was completely off, even when I threw the ball right everything just felt wrong, and I missed a couple easy spares and a split. One of those days I guess. Third game I finally got myself to calm down, moved my feet a couple boards left and threw a slightly wider swing out and came up much better. I still felt off but I at least had better control.