I leave tomorrow morning. After all of the stuff that I have gone through in the last 6 months, I am really looking forward to this trip. My game may not be where I would like it to be because of my layoff from the sport but I still think that I should do okay. We have 4 teams going so it should be a blast. I fly from Chicago to St. Louis where I have a 2 hour layover. I meet up with 6 people there and then we get on the plane for the 3+ hour flight. The flight attendants won't know what hit them

I mentioned this in the chat room yesterday. We had a guy tear his rotator cuff on Wednesday night. I spent a good part of yesterday on the sub-boards and on the phone. I think that we may have someone though.

If anyone is in Albuquerque, I am bowling team at 8:30pm on Sunday on either 21/22 or 23/24 and D/S at 11:30pm on Monday (worst squad time ever). I am hoping that my hotel has free internet. If so, I will post updates. If not, I will report on Tuesday or Wednesday. I have a feeling when I get home on Tuesday I may just need to pass out.

Good Luck GP, I wish I could go with you. Let me know how you do.

Really wish I could have made it down there for competition it would have been a cheap trip for me, at least the "having a place to sleep" part of it. Best of luck to you GP, bowl good!

Good luck GP. Thats a bad break on the bowler tearing his Rotator cuff so close to the time you bowl. Let's hope you get someone to be able to fill in. I'd like to make at least one trip to nationals in my career.

On a side note, thanks for not open posting this site over on the USBC Championships Forum on bowl .com.

I like to bowl nationals one time too. Never been but i heard so much about it for you all. I love to go once in my life. Maybe next time there in reno or even vegas i take a trip down there and bowl it.

VEGAS NEXT YEAR!!!

They expect twice the normal applicants. First allowed in will be the ones who bowled in Albuquerque, and prepaid this year. Then it will be opened for others.

Missed you in the chat room, GP. Hope you have better luck than I. Don't strain the leg.

Well next year I doubt I would be able to do it. I would have to try to put together a team or two, or find a team that needed a bowler. I'd like for it to be a little closer to me as I'm not a flier, I hate being in a vehicle and not be in control of it. I know this years bowlers have first dibs for Vegas. Maybe in 2011 when its in Orlando, since thats where it looks like it will be then.

We are still looking for a person. PM me if you can go. WE NEED SOMEONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hope you find someone

Good luck ....

Well, there are usually subs waiting to be called. Tough way to go.

There was a sub on the next pair when we bowled teams. He stood out as the only one without a team shirt.

We found someone. I am also on the bowl.com message boards. There is a lady on there from ABQ who has helped a few people find subs as well as give advice on things to do locally. She got me the number of a guy from ABQ. He averages 179 and has only been bowling league for a year. I haven't met him yet but he seemed pretty nice over the phone. He is going to be bowling with a guy who is a Regional Pro from the St. Louis area and on staff for Ebonite.

Flight out of Chicago was at 10am yesterday and got into St. Louis around 11. There was 8 of us on the flight from there to ABQ. Needless to say the flight attendants didn't know what hit them. By the end of the flight, we were making all of the rows around us laugh.

After we got our rental cars, we checked into the S Doubletree. Nice rooms and close to the convention center. We went for dinner and drinks at a place called The Library. Since we had 20 people, they gave us the back room. I had a HUGE headache so I went back to the room for an advil and a little rest. Well, when my friends called me I don't remember answering the phone. I woke up at 12:30 wondering what happened. Oh well. At least my headache is gone.

Today we are heading over to the convention center and we are going to probably hit the casino. More updates to come.

The Library, Huh??? Nice waitress outfits, huh???

Did you meet a waitress named Kelly, local college girl? She is off on Sunday. Actually, her Mother is cuter than she. Anyway.

Sandia Casino is really busy. Had a good buffet there. All the king crab legs you could eat. Live entertainment. Got a Players card, and they gave me a t-shirt. Just got a thank you from them, for my contribution to their building fund, I guess.

Make reservations at the Brazilian Steak House. Couple of blocks from the Library.

We loved the outfits Don't remember a Kelly. I didn't get any of the names. My buddy Scott was busy hitting on every waitress that walked by. He didn't let many people get a word in.

I think that we are going go to the steakhouse either tonight or tomorrow night. We bowl team at 8:30 tonight. I don't know if we want to eat that much and then go bowl though. Then again, it could help slow me down on the approach.

I have no idea what casino that we are heading to. My roommate is the one who really wants to go. I am not as excited. Just another way for me to blow my money.

Sandia is the largest, and runs a shuttle through the downtown, and stops at the hotels. Have desk call for the shuttle, and you don't have to drive. It's worth it.

Sunday brunch at the Hyatt was just under spectacular. Carved Prime Rib, mmmm.
I get free meals at the Hyatt, but in their restaurant. That was good too.

We went to the Sandia. Played Pai Gow. Lost a few bucks. Not bad. Nice to get out and sit at the tables. Got back and had dinner at the Library again. They offered us 20% off if we came back. Most of my crew is into bar food so we figured why not. Bowled team. On my pair, there was 6 cells on the rack. On the other rack for our other 2 teams, there were 4. Well, the Cell didn't do much. The highest set was thrown by our Ebonite staffer who was throwing a Gamebreaker. First 2 games, he was throwing a 1000 abralon Gamebreaker outside then threw inside the last game using a 2000 polished Gamebreaker.

Now to my disaster. I started using my Special Agent at 500 abralon up 8. During practice, I was a little off but I had a line. First 6 frames I had 5 opens and 1 strike. If I was off a little inside, I went threw the beak. If I was a little outside, I was missing the headpin. In the 6th frame, I left a big split. I needed to make a move and one of my teammates came up and said: Forget about getting count, make an adjustment and find a new line. I had been having problems getting the ball to have enough to finish at the back end so I moved to my Paradigm and moved 7 boards left. I was started pitching over 15 out to 10 and using the dark brown board as my breakpoint. I finished with a 149. Next game, I missed a couple of easy spares and shot a 180something. Last game, I was clean until 10 and then left a 4-7-10 for a 221. 550ish. Not bad. I was 4th for our 4 teams. I could/should have been a lot higher.

Today, we went to the Santa Anna casino. I played a little blackjack. Lost another few dollars and then came back to the hotel to sit by the pool and have a few cocktails. We went to dinner at Tucanos. It is a Brazilian steakhouse. GREAT FOOD!!!! I got back to the hotel about 3 hours ago and I am still full. If you have never been to a Brazilian steakhouse, basically it is all you can eat and they keep bringing skewers of meat to the table. It's hard to say no when it looks so good. Oh well.

We bowl Doubles and Singles at 11:30 tonight. It is quite possibly the worst squad but that is what happens when everyone doesn't pay the captain on time. Everyone should have their money in by the end of the trip for Vegas so we should be better for next year. I think that he is going to stop taking care of 4 teams and go down to 2. It is too hard keeping Track of everyone.

Off to take a nap. The plane leaves tomorrow at 10:45am local time and I land in Chicago around 4:30. I will probably post an update on Wednesday. Talk to you all later.

Wow!! that sure sounds like Nationals to me. Nice finish game though, good that you found something.

Sounds like you are having a great time!!!

I went to the SP tournament this past weekend. 38,000 bowlers over about 3 to 4 months. Had to drive a winding mountain road for 2.5 hours at 5am and at the top hit a snow Storm in the Sierras (yep almost June and there's a snow Storm) which made driving trecherous and slow. Made it to my 8:30 am squad on time but hungrey. Tried to eat by the casino/hotel/bowling alley cafe was not very timely. Even with a 1/2 full restaurant, it took over 45 minutes to get some eggs and breakfast. Rushed through not finishing it and started bowling. Didn't do well. Too rushed, too much stress with the dangerous driving. Just could not get settled in. Doubles/Singles was a disaster.

But I had fun in the area of Carson City NV and the folks we bowled with. Sunday was team. And the two local (co ordinated by the same person) teams bowled on the same pair. We had a 288 and 299 bowled by our respective anchors the first game. The anchor on the opposiing team shot 826 scratch and our anchor shot 781 scatch. Their team will be in the money (but not top) and we may make the cut. I helped with a meager 629 series (two opens).

Erin

Erin,
Just being in a tournament adds some element of stress. What you went through to get there is unthinkable. And, then to wait that long for eggs??? Cheesh.

My regular low blood pressure would be up to normal.

I couldn't get anything together during the first game of any block during the tournament. Doubles was bad. I couldn't hit the broad side of a barn. When I did, I left spares that I couldn't pick-up. Singles was a little better but again, my first game killed me. If it wasn't for my first games, I would have at least tripled my money from brackets. Oh well, there is always Vegas.

Mark Williams (the red headed ex-pro) bowled on my team squad. He cleaned up in brackets. He is over 50 so he won all of the senior brackets too. In the team squad before my D/S, I saw Team Tilt bowl. They are the new team leaders, team AE leaders, and have the bowler who is in the AE lead. Mike Aulby was bowling on that squad as well. Lucy Sandelin was on his team. I didn't get a chance to see where they finished. Overall, I had a blast. I always do with this group. We have 4 teams ready for Vegas. The group was talking about renting a huge house for all of us. That should be fun.

It sounds like you had some heavy hitters there when you bowl, we have a senior guy that won a team eagle back a few years ago and Bob who is on my team who won the senior division c title last year, but other than that, no name pros and should have some easy bracket wins, one of us always wins money in the brackets with not very good scores either, never me I always break even, even if I am high in our group.

I put in $100 for team and got back $50 and $200 for D/S and got back $70. If I would have shot 180 for my first games, I would have made money. We had one guy who shot 620 for team, put in $400 and got back $675. For D/S, a different guy put in $300 and won $950. The reverse brackets are a good idea but not a lot of people got into them. I think that next year that they will be a bigger hit.