Thanks for the words of encouragement! Dennis, I absolutely plan to pick my teammate's brain as much as I can. This week was simply not a good week to do it...he was too busy running around getting sanction dues collected and making sure everything got done. Hopefully, next week he'll be able to just relax and bowl, and I can get some constructive criticism.

Sheesh I take the summer off (not really, bowled in a PBAX league) and come back two weeks into the season and already the drama llama has reared its ugly head. That really sucks Dennis. There's almost always a problem when the new faces show up and try to muscle their way into the ranks. My Wednesday league has a few new faces this year, but since this is a private league the only way to get in is to know people, so there's not really any problems with it.

Anyway, second week and I'm doing alright. Had a bad bad first game the first week and later discovered I was trying to force a line that didn't exist, so I moved closer to the edge and have been able to keep my ball speed up instead of having to try and control it every shot. Everything's much smoother and I'm hitting much better. Next up is just working on keeping a consistant score level for all three games.

Strange thing happened last night. This house is privately owned, and the owner totally relies on a couple of older pros to run the place. Both are in their late 70's, and actually do a great job. This is strickly a BOWLERS House. No gimmicks, no video games. They actually are present, and often bowl in the leagues every night, alternating between them. When they bowl, they are the Secy and Treas of each league. I am guessing this is part of their compensation (free bowling and Treas/Secy fees, but paid by the leagues). Strange, but works.

The league I bowl in, and this is my 4th in this House, one of these fellows actually walks the lanes, starting at lane 1, and collects the envelopes. He counts the money, then signals to turn the lights on the lanes. This takes a few minutes before we start, but has become a routine.

Well, last night, this fellow had to go out of town, and was absent. This is the strange part. Because he wasn't there, no one collected the weekly fees. There was an announcement that we all should hold our money and pay double next week when he returns. (??????)

The owner also bowls in this league, and when asked why, he just shrugged his shoulders, and said, "that's the way he wants it".

Never saw another night of league where we didn't have to pay.

I'm sure he knows everyone will pay next week so he's not worried. Some owners are laid back like that and it's cool.

Hey everyone...it's been a while since I've hit the board, but it's good to see all the old names and some new ones. Welcome to all of those that are fairly new or new to the board. Now onto the good, bad and ugly of the first two weeks of my winter leagues.

THE GOOD - After bowling summer league (my first in the 8 yrs I've bowled) I finally got my game on Track because of the time I had taken off. Got rid of some of the bad habits that were killing me when I came back mid-winter last season and incorporated a couple of new facets into my game. My timing is much better, my release is back to being monster and I'm just basically working on getting CARRY in this place. I've thrown the ball well, but haven't been able to put up the big numbers. I had one open frame last week and one this week, yet I'm only averaging a 206 through the first two weeks including a 614 last night, due to not being able to carry. But in a house that was a perennial average killer for me, I guess that's pretty good, so I shouldn't complain. And now onto...

THE BAD - My Sunday night league is killing me...it's in one of the tougher houses in the area and the shot is terribly inconsistent. After shooting a 542 and 519 the first two weeks, I'm going back in there this week after having an epiphany. The shot (for lefties) is a sort of reverse block with a heavy concentration of oil from the 6/7 board out to the rail, so getting the ball out in that area is certain death, but if you pull it inside of 10 board it's going to flatten out and go straight through the nose...there's no friction in the center of the lane either. So I figured next week, I'm going to play it like the 'shark' pattern. Just give it a shot and see what happens. Stand on 35/36, hit around 19/20 and flare it out to about 9/10 board and see what happens. When you're throwing a Dimension into the oil and it still doesn't come back, that's a lot of oil. I'm going to have to use all of my versatility if I plan to get to my goal of a 200 average in this house. With that being said...

The UGLY - I've noticed that in both houses, they have become increasingly more brazen about totally screwing off (can I say that moderators?) the left sides of the lanes in the house. I mean, when no lefties even cash in a side pot or doubles for the first two weeks (I did manage to come in 2nd in a couple of brackets Sunday), that says something. As a matter of fact, I bowled my summer league in the same Tuesday league I'm in now and no lefties cashed in the side pots for the last 6-8 weeks and no lefties made any money in sweepers. The two high series for lefties were one of my teammates and myself (637 and 629, respectively) out of at least 15 lefties and at least 10 of them I'd consider at least capable bowlers. There are some good lefties in both my leagues. The consensus is the same from all the lefties I've talked to...they say they can't get any consistency...a one board miss left or right is certain death, while the right handers (in the same house that's completely flooded from 7 out to the rail on the left side), can swing the ball to the gutter and get it back to the pocket. A right hander on the pair next to me was standing about 35 hitting 16 out to 4/5 board and was killing the pocket. And I've known this guy for the entire 8 yrs I've bowled and he's never been known to have that much hand. It's utterly frustrating to watch more and more houses (especially in the L.A. area) do this to lefties. I'm not sure if this practice goes on in houses in other areas, but it certainly is becoming more commomplace here and as I said the owners (or whoever is calling for the oil machines to lay down the oil like it is being laid) are becoming increasingly less caring about everybody knowing it.

But I'm not a quitter...they'll have to keep changing the shot, because I plan to keep figuring it out.

By the way, good luck to everyone this season and what goals you've set...

God bless...

Show,
Glad to see you checking in with us once in a while. Glad to see you got your timming back and game. Hope you figure out that other house and get some consistency back.

Third week is in the history books,
Establishing a slightly higher avg than my book 192,

Played on 3-4 tonight, went 200, 160 , 234.

Spares, and trying to force the shot. killed the 2nd game.
Had a 54 in the 5th frame second game, Until I accepted
The fact , that I needed to play an inside shot,
And shot well the third game, and pulled it back.

* Moral * -

Sometimes, you have to take the shot given, And not
the line you normally shoot.

All in all, This could have been a lot better.
But I am satisfied, and look for better games to come.


First week 1/36 (2008-09-03): 575 for 3 games
2nd week (2008-09-10): 603 for 3 games
3rd week (2008-09-17): 594 for 3 games

Overall Stats
Games 9
Average 196.9

http://www.bowlsk.com/games/view-league.html?league=11176

Good luck and good bowling.

My Week 3 bowling (BowlSK)

A down night...lanes returned to what I was seeing in the summer, and I didn't really recognize it until about midway through the third game (though I had some good shots in the first game bowling like last week), so my scores suffered (182-144-188=514). On top of that, I felt down after the second game because I learned that, because my team was taking a 140 for me each game during the first three weeks while I established my average, I've had little or no say in my team's success (or lack thereof) these weeks. Hopefully, knowing my scores will count for my team next week will help energize me. BTW, I've established a 184 average, quite a bit under what I had in the summer.

Blog: http://tenthboard.net/2008/09/17/a-downer-2

Well, I had to work late, and missed the first game. then it took almost the entire second game to find a line on these lanes. Glad my spare game came with, cause I sure couldn't find a strike ball. I only had a 180 and 188 for two games. The team won 5 of 7 for our first wins in 3 weeks.

All of us are having trouble with the pattern in this House which has changed from previous years. The former top bowlers are all down in average. And, people are getting upset.