Good job Brandon,

I really missed bowling last night but Sweeps is tomorrow in Laughlin. Hope I do better than last year.

Also found out the Summer league starts next week not in June. I am glad because I have been hot and want to keep it going.

Thanks Scott. Good Luck on sweepers. We start week after this thursday for summer so no brake from bowling this year.

The season ended and we got our money on Wednesday. Our team didn't do too well. We finished in 11th place the first half and next to last the second half. The second half, my buddy left the team and we had a sub. The problem wasn't the sub, it was the other two members. They lost more match points than they won. Anyway, we had the Sweeper in-league Tourny. I bowled 249-237-227=703. I won first place and took home $240. That made up for the lousy season I had. I told the captain that I probably wouldn't be back with them next season. Me and my buddy will form a new team and get back into the winners circle.

Way to go Smooth, I hope you have better luck with your new team next year.

Good Shooting Smooth. THat way to do it in sweepers - Nice way to finish the season.

Well the league is completed. I really struggled on sweepers in Laughlin but a lot of us did. If you can believe it I opened the first 5 frames and stood at 40 in the 5th frame of the first game. I also opened the first 2 frames of the second game.

I never gave up though and somehow managed a 511 (140, 181, 190). Next time I am going to shoot a game to get used to the lanes. Those first 5 frames I had a couple splits and was way off on my spares. I finally adjusted and wound up over my average for the series

I think I am gaining confidence and am hoping to continue to improve in the summer league and come back even stronger in the fall. The last 4 weeks including sweepers on strange lanes I averaged just short of 185, about 20 pins over my average.

We wrapped up Monday mens tonight. Well the roll off is on Wednesday but since the team I was subbing on isn't in it its over. We forfeited all 7 points. Only me and the first bowler showed up and the only reason he was there is a friend told him he better be there because he bought him a brand new White Dot for spares. If he didn't show up I wasn't going to stick around and hopefully be able to pick up my re-fitted Liberator. One bowler got called into work, my brother who is suppose to be bowling in his father-in-laws spot who had surgery on his rotator cup a few months ago, had to go pick his wife up when her truck broke down and take his boys to their baseball game, and the fifth well lets just say his sanctioned bowling career is over for a while as he owes over 75% of the years league dues and hasn't showed up in a few months, well maybe once. How the league would let someone go for so long is beyond me. The paper work to USBC has already been started. The father-in-law showed up to show some team support but it wouldn't be worth it for him to try to bowl. He also offered me a spot on his team for next season, and I'd probably be the only carry over from the rooster this season other than him. I'd like to do this league but need to make sure its economically viable.

Now on to the bowling. I rolled a 570 set, which doesn't seem too bad, until one sees I only had two spares the WHOLE night, and only two were splits that if I executed right I could have made, the 3-9-10 and the 5-7. I completely missed the 3-9-10 and I think it was just because I line up too far left and I just missed the pins to the left and the 5-7 I got the 5 and it almost bounced out of the back to get the 7.

My first game was a two open 217. I only missed pocket once that game. I think I let my wrist go slack too early and came straight up the back of the ball never hitting pocket and leaving the 1-2-8. I had 7 strikes that game, left the 10 once and the 4 pin twice, both times in the tenth, which means I converted the one I had to shot at.

The third game was a 6 strike 187. All of them as parts of a turkey. I had 4 opens, a 10 pin in the first frame, a 5 pin half way through, the 3-6-10, my second missed pocket of the night and I forget the tenth frame leave possibly a 5-9 when I crossed over.

The third game was a 5 strike 166, with one made spare a 7 pin. I had two sets of doubles early in the game, and one later in the game. I believe both splits were this game, as well as a missed 7 pin that fell off the gutter inches before the 7, and a 6 pin. Had I converted the spares, as all were really makable, or even missing the splits I would have been sitting at 650. I would have been at over 450 for the first two games. With some properly fitted balls maybe even better since a few shots I didn't get completely out of cleanly, but carried well with pin action.

Nice work Smooth. That's nearly as much money in one week as I earned over the entire season.


Cal, what problems did you have with the Liberator? Mine seems to overreact to small differences in speed and loft, making it the worst of both worlds--it scores well during practice and gives me good feedback during league. I've been thinking of changing the surface...

It was all grip issues. Like all my other equipment the span is in the neighborhood of half inch long, and then the same size inserts I used in other balls were big in this ball. I think this was a matter of drill bits as the driller that drilled most of my other equipment either had tapered shank bits, or just had a drill bit that had been sharpened so much that it was smaller and made those inserts tighter. The Liberator was drilled up by someone else with a newer or straight shank bit. The few times I was able to use it though I liked the reaction, and will be glad to get more use from it as it has maybe a total of 2 games on it, possibly 3 and I've owned it since the week they hit the shelves. After I'm sure its right all of my other equipment will be getting the same treatment.

Thanks Cal. I hope all those fittings work out for you!

I waxed the Liberator to keep it on the lane, so that might be my problem. Maybe getting it sanded up to 2000 or so would give me a more consistent shot.