Category: Bowling (Page 1 of 2)

Everything evens out in the end. That’s the theme of the report for today’s 10 bowlers.

We had a very spirited team competition, so let’s focus on that first. Team Marty (MM, BT, AG, JB, WS) went up against Team Tom (TL, TH, GG, MR, DS), and right off the bat Marty’s team got off to a fast (and noisy) start. But things evened out for them in the end, as Tom’s team got hot after a slow start. George G finished at 198, while Ted had a four-bagger on his way to a 177, pacing their team to a comfortable game one win. In game two it was Dave who came out of nowhere to record a double and a triple in the last five frames (see photo) to post his best ever DMA game of 157. Combined with Tom’s 203, that helped their team win that game by a mere 14 pins. Marty’s squad unanimously issued the double-or-nothing challenge, and “everything evened out in the end!” All five of Team Tom’s bowlers finished the game below average, while Alex’s 182 paced Team Marty to a 75-pin victory.

Above average series were bowled today by Ted (+4), Alex and Bill (+11), George (+24) and by our BoD Dave (+41). Tom posted the high series at 543. Woody recorded the day’s only BBS.

Let’s see what sort of roller coaster ride we get next week.

Nine bowlers braved the roads and cold to get to Nutmeg this morning, with five bowling above their recent average.

Woody was a +5, including a 120 in his middle game. Mike also had a 120 in his last game to finish with a +16. Linc got off to a fast start with a 140 and finished +17. Ted had a second 500 series in a row with a steady 503 for +53. But BoD was none other than Mr. Up & Down, Alex. He started with a nice 178 and finished with 200 on the button, his first 200 game of the season. His 539 series was his best of the season as well, and he was +98. Let me hear a “Yeah Baby!”

Most improved bowler over the three games was clearly the Commish. His opening game of 137 was his lowest of the season and left him muttering to himself all game. Things got better in game two as he rolled a 195, including going strike/spare in the 10th to tie the team game. Game three really put a smile on his face as he opened up with a five-bagger on his way to a 223. His 86-pin differential start to finish was quite the turnaround and helped him get high series of 555. Because Alex and Ted were teammates, their team won the two other games with ease.

While Ben was absent with his driveway yet to be plowed, we did have many BBS opportunities, with one that was completed by Gehr. Tom converted a 3-6-7 split, as well as a 2-7 and a washout (space between pins with head pin still standing), while Ed Sc converted a 3-10.

So, I think our little experiment worked out quite nicely today. Even with a morning cancellation, we got balls rolling at 9:05. To simplify things, the suggestion has been made that it should only be necessary to notify me on Mondays if you are one of our regulars and expect to be absent. That makes perfect sense.

It seems that the Commish has had the good fortune of being on the same team as the BoD these past weeks, and so it was again today. Ben and Ed Sc were slightly in the plus, but it wasn’t them. Alex started strong and ended up +29 — but it wasn’t him. Thanks to a first game 150, Linc was +45 (and he was on Tom’s team). Ian Webb finished with a 153 to end up +60 for the day; John had three good games to finish +66 — but not them, either.

Today’s BoD was my teammate Ted. After a very good game one of 185, Ted had the high game of the day of 214 in the second. His 535 series, though 12 below Tom, was +97! And we’ll note that Ted was on the same pair of lanes on which he met disaster a couple of weeks ago (535 vs 346 ). Even in game three when Ted came back to earth, there was a happy ending for him. In his game three head-to-head against Ben, Ted fell behind early. When Ben opened in the 10th, Ted still needed a strike/spare to win or a spare/strike to tie. On his first ball he left a 5-10 split, which put a slight smile on Ben’s face.  BUT Ted converted the split and followed that with a strike to gain the draw. And wouldn’t you know that Ted also turned his hole card on the third game poker hand and revealed a third 10, giving him the winning hand. Just like last week, when Ben filled his pockets with quarters, so it was today for Ted. In addition to Ted’s split conversion, kudos also go to Woody for making a 9-10.

Let’s see who gets hot next week!

The highlight of this day was simply who showed up! We were delighted to see one fellow who’d been absent for six months because of a balky back, none other than the group Vice Commish, Gehr Brown. And we were equally delighted to see the return of Woody Spurgeon after a tough last six weeks recovering from pneumonia. We are happy to report that both bowled well with each improving game to game throughout the morning. We hope that we’ll see soon the return of some other members of the IL: Frank G, John K and George H.

Before we report on today’s action, we must comment on Gehr’s practice round last Friday. Without even so much as one warm-up frame, he came out of the gates with seven strikes in his first game, scoring a 221. In his second game, he started with a four-bagger, then a spare, and then six more strikes in a row, ending up with a 274. Even after crashing in game three, Gehr’s series was 652. You can see the details attached. No wonder he wanted to make his return today!

Gehr Bowl Scoresheet 2-6-26

Gehr had another good day today with a 539 (+38), including a 188 and a 192 in the second and third games. Woody finished with a 112 to end the morning right on his average. Linc started the day with his best game of the season of 151 and finished +6. George G started out hot with a 171 and finished +14. Bill improved game to game and ended up with a 188 for a 498 (+45). Thanks to a 205 high game in the third, Tom also had high series at 545.

Now let’s talk about our BoD, Ben Briggs. After starting out in split city in game one, Ben caught fire. He rolled his season high game in the second at 174 and did even better in game three. He started that game with three open frames but then had three strikes in a row and finished with a 182. His 471 series (+63) was his highest in three years. Even more importantly (), Ben filled his pockets with quarters as his team won two of the three games and he beat George like a drum in their head-to-head. Good thing Ted didn’t make it today, right Ted? And Ben even won a couple of poker hands.

Other fun highlights included two Ben Briggs spares, by George and Ed Sc, and a “Tamme” (recall that is two gutter balls in one frame) by Linc. We saw our first Yezzi in a long time by Bill, who made a strike without hitting the headpin. And we had a terrific split conversion by Ben, making a 3-6-7-10.

Okay, I’m exhausted. I need to rest up till next week.

Last week’s speculation turned out to be true, as Frank D did, in fact, show up to bowl today. While he didn’t roll another 600 series, he kept alive his streak of series of 500 or better with number 13 in a row today, with a 505.

Alex was not able to match his BoD performance of last week, but he did win the BDBoD award today — Best Dressed Bowler of the Day. He showed up in a personally monogrammed bowling shirt (see photo) given to him a couple of years ago, which we hadn’t seen all season. He must have been inspired to wear it after last week.

There were some good performances today, including Ed Sc at +4, Dave at +12 and Linc at +22. Ted bounced back with a +10 and Bill with a +43. But nobody bounced back like Marty, whose 529 series was +58 — a full 183 pins better than last week! Thank goodness for the Commish, who stepped in and saved Marty from almost being assigned to the Graveyard pair for the third week in a row. You’re welcome.

Today’s BoD goes to one of our “newbies,” Ian Webb. Ian came into the morning with an average of 95 and beat that in all three games, including a 119, and finished with +43. Well done, mate. Keep it up!

Just because we bowlers took the week off doesn’t mean your intrepid reporter took the week off! As we are sort of at the halfway point of our season, this might be a fun time to take a look back at our first four months and review some highlights (and lowlights?).

I commented to Frank D at our last session that on any given Tuesday any one of us can get hot and bowl a great series, and any one of us can get stone cold, too. For example, take me with a season average of 179 — a high series of 627 and a low series of 471. That’s a difference of 159! Or take Dave Smith, whose season average is 95 — with a high series of 361 and a low series of 206. That’s a difference of 155. The biggest spread, though, goes to the Professor, Ed Schechter. His average is 148, with a high series of 508 and a low series of 317, for a spread of 191. Next was Ed Smith, who had a high series of 598 and a low of 411. Our most consistent bowler has been Mike Ryan, with a spread of “only” 65.

Even game to game within any given day, we have highs and lows. The good news is that eight of us have bowled at least one 200 game this season, and another had a game in the 190s. That’s great! That includes both Tom and Ted bowling games in the 250s on the same day. We’ve had nine bowlers roll a 500 series, one who crossed the 600 mark, and one who missed that mark by just two pins. At our session next week, the weekly updated list of averages will show all of this data.

And finally, we’ve had 14 different Bowlers of the Day, which means that the wealth has been spread around very nicely and allows hope to indeed spring eternal for all of us week to week.

What gives me the greatest pleasure is how our group has grown! We now consistently need three pairs of lanes because we have at least 11 bowlers join us just about every week. And that’s happening even as five of us have been absent nursing injuries and ailments of various kinds. Let’s hope you guys will be back soon. Wouldn’t it be something if I had to go to Ben at the front desk to ask if he can give us a fourth pair of lanes! In addition, the address list on the weekly reports includes a few bowling “alumni,” who are welcome back anytime even if just to say “hi.” Moreover, there are a few guys on the email list who have expressed interest in coming to bowl at some point, to whom I say: “the future is NOW!” Right, Doug? Right, Steve? I’m sure that the second half of our season will every bit as enjoyable as the first.

Happy new year to all.

Tuesday, December 23

Some days are headlined by individual performance. Today, however, the day was all about the team competition, as eight of us divided up into pretty evenly matched teams of four. Team Frank (FD, E Sm, BB, MR) gave eight pins to Team Tom (TL, MM, TH, DS) with all three games decided in the final frame.

In game one, strong performances by Marty and Ted helped overcome a clunker by Tom and pace their team to a 15-pin victory. In game two, Ben and Ed Sm helped their team eke out a one-pin win, even as Tom rolled a 206. So, it all came down to game three. Team Frank seemed in control for much of the game, and after Frank’s final frame, Tom needed a double in the tenth to get the win. His first ball was high in the pocket and looked like it would leave a split but somehow all 10 pins fell. His second ball was a light pocket hit, but again all 10 pins fell. His third ball legitimately finished the triple and secured the win. Frank good naturedly rolled his eyes and put his quarter down on the table.

In addition to Tom’ having the only 200 game of the morning, Marty had five strikes in game two on his way to a 191, and Ed Sm overcame three splits in the first three frames of that game to record a 185. Four bowlers had 500 series: Frank at 507; Ed at 508; Marty at 520 (whose +67 earns him BoD); and Tom at 538.

We’re off next week, and we resume on Jan uary 6. I hope that the new year will bring sightings of some of our absent and recuperating bowlers (Gehr, Frank G, John Kam, George H and Linc). Here’s hoping you all are on the mend. We miss you!

And finally, I wish everyone a joyous Christmas with family and friends and a new year of good cheer, good health and good bowling.

Tuesday, December 16

Due to travel, illness (get better soon, Woody) and injuries, we were back to two sets of lanes, with only nine bowlers. Still, we had great fun and competition.

Five bowlers were plus for the morning, led by BoD Marty, who was +82 with a 200 game and a high series of 529. Close behind was Dave who had his best day ever at +64, including his all-time high game of 133 after throwing three strikes in the 10th frame! George G., Ed Sch and Ben were also on the positive side.

Ted was mister consistency (145-145-146), with a 3-7 split conversion. Frank also had a 200 game and a 500 series (521), despite six splits; although he converted a 5-7 split, he was  negative for the day.

The team of Ben, Ted, Marty and Frank D squeaked out a 10-pin win in game one and a big win in game two, thanks to Marty and Frank each posting 200 games. The team of Mike, Dave, George G, Bill and Ed took the double-or-nothing challenge in game three and won big to get their money back, thanks to Dave’s big game combined with George and Ed rolling 192 and 193, respectively.

We also coined a new term for a frame — a Tamme, for two gutter balls. After achieving that unfortunate result, Bill good-naturedly insisted the result be named in his “honor”!