First night of 5-man teams league last night for me as well, and I had a good night sandwiched between some bad. 40' house shot on System 300 synthetic that plays fairly tight but is very smooth. I've practiced in this house alot but this was the first time in league. I got stuck at work late, and missed almost all of practice, so was very much out of sorts in the first game.

Decided to experiment with the Break Solid in the first game, but it was too much ball. Combine that with being flustered from late arrival and I started out with a "smooth" 166 . Second game I get the Street Rod Pearl out, standing on 23 to 11 at the arrows and 8 at the break point. Solid 9 on the first ball (picked up), then flushed 10 in a row until getting a touch slow on the fill ball to leave a 4-7 for 288. Game 3 I missed the move in a couple times which led to some high hits but still managed a 232 with an open in the 10th (left 4-7-10).

686 after a nightmare first game, so I was pleased with how I handled the poor start mentally. The only disappointing thing is that I missed out on qualifying for our association's upcoming 700 shooter's scratch tournament at the end of the month. You have to have a 700 series on record in the association to bowl in it, and last night was a great chance to get that done but I missed it. Oh well, I might have to be out of town that weekend anyway.

So, what I learned last night:

1. Get there on time! I'm such a creature of habit that if I'm rushed at all in preparation to play, it's going to be rough.

2. Save the dull covered balls for tougher, higher volume conditions. The Cell and Break Solid will stay in the tote out in the car, while the shiny stuff will be in the roller with the Break Pearl batting lead-off.

3. Small adjustments will work just fine as this pattern breaks down. Even moving just my feet only 1 board made the difference between high flush and dead flush.

4. 5 man team leagues are brutally slow. Practice started at 5:30 and I didn't leave the center until almost 9:00. This might be the last time I roll in anything bigger than trios.

5. There are a couple other guys in the league who can really roll. Guy two pairs down from us went 290-255-280. Yikes!
As the Dude would say, "That creep can roll, man."

be thankful you start at 5:30. My 5-man league starts at 8:30, practice at 8:15. I got home around Midnight last week.

Fridays at work will be fun for the next several months.

Way to go everyone on the start of your season.

As always I am looking forward to tomorrow night and hope I can keep up what I started last week.

Went to practice on Monday night with a ball that I haven't been using due to a grip issue and wanted to see how it felt after being corrected. It felt different than my other one and I thought as though I was going to drop it but I managed to do pretty well once I got a feel for it - I ended up rolling a 167, 168, 180 for a 515. Now all i have to do is keep the 500's going so that I can get my 600 this year :-)

CG: My practice starts at 6:15 and I get home at Midnight

Wow - you sound like me LOL!!! Mine starts at 6:45 and I get home anywhere from 12:30 a.m. (on a not fun night) to ???? (on a fun night).

I know the league CG is in - I have many friends and an Uncle that bowl on it. Depending on how everyone bowls is usually the indicator on what time I get home - ha ha. The way I figure it, I only have to manage to get through 1 more day until the weekend - usually not too bad. Last week (the 1st night) I only got 1 hour of sleep. OOPS!

When bowling is done, Go Home! You don't have to close the bar too.

The alley closes their bar at 11'ish. There have been nights where I have closed 3 bars. I haven't had one of those nights in a while. When you only get out every so often, you have to take advantage.

nice 288 game in there Chubbs!!! Sounds like you weren't the only one swinging that night. I love it when they lay down a good shot on the opening night. Give no excuses for people to sandbag if the lanes are spot on.

Thanks J! The shot was definitely wide open last night if you had the right ball in your hand. Now that I've got my 15 lb. Break Pearl drilled up I'm pumped to see how it will handle the shot when it's fresher.

I really, REALLY hate sandbaggers!

Nice series and a great game Chubbs.