What a milestone day it was today at Nutmeg! First of all, we set a record for attendance with 15 bowlers. WOW! Next, for the second week in a row we welcomed a new bowler to the group: Steve Gruppo. I’ve known Steve for years as a fellow member of The Country Club of Darien. He’s thrashed me on the paddle courts more than a few times and is an avid golfer, especially now that he’s retired. Now we hope he’ll become an avid bowler Emoji. Third we had a lot of excellent bowling, including some individual milestones.
Our Bowler of the Day had both high game and high series, and he wasn’t even supposed to be with us. When I strolled into Nutmeg, who did I see but none other than Frank DeLeo. Frank told us he’d be in Florida until late February, but he was needed up north this week, and we were glad he could be a surprise show. As is always the case with Frank, a little absence seems to help his game, and so it was in spades today. His first game looked like it was headed for a 200+ until a slight hiccup made it “only” a 197. Game two saw him get even better, as he had a 234 even with an open frame! In game three, he continued to have a few strikes but did miss a few spares. That said, he came through with a clutch 10th frame spare and nine fill to get his first-ever DMA 600 series at 602. As if high game and high series weren’t enough, his +77 was best plus of the day. Way to go Frank!!
Another milestone today was John B’s personal best game of 140, helping him to a series that was +56. Ed Smith was “Mr. Consistency” with games of 183/182/179 for 544 (+49). Ben had his sixth 400 series in his last seven outings. His 441 was +33. Of note, Ben’s Last 21 average is up to 140! On November 1, his Last 21 was 123talk about HOT. George G started out strong with a 186 and finished at +6. Ted had two strong games in the 170s for a +23. Dave had a game three 122 and ended at +12. Bill’s 181 middle game helped overcome a slow start and get him to +3. We should report that again the “new kid”, this time Steve, improved game to game during his series, finishing with a game of 153 and a three-game average of 129 (+36). He even had a Ben Briggs Spare (BBS)! Steve’s ball speed of 15 mph and his smooth delivery have us all expecting a bright future as a DMA bowler. Finally, the Commish had two more 200 games (203/215) after the two he had last week. His 591 series was only 11 behind Frank’s.
Lots of split conversions to report today. Let’s start with The Professor, who converted three 3-10 splits in one game! John, Bill and Tom also made 3-10s. Frank and Tom each made a 5-7 within 60 seconds of one another. Also, Alex also had a BBS today Emoji.
I don’t know about you readers, but I’m exhausted after writing this Emoji. That said, let’s hope we have similar excitement next week.
I also want to include a couple of health updates. One is that Linc joined us this morning for the first time since his hip surgery last fall. While he was shaking off the cobwebs of his bowling much of the session, Linc seemed none the worse for wear after three games and we are delighted to have him back! The other is to say that I spoke with Woody last evening. He reports that he is making progress in his recuperation from a bout of pneumonia at Christmastime. He sounded in great spirits (as he always does!) and looks forward to being back with us soon.