Monday November 6th

Today was pretty uneventful. Rash and I met CJ at the bowl to grab some lunch before we headed to Buffalo. We took the Canadian route over, so that was kind of cool. Other than that, it was a pretty boring five hour drive. We got in around 5:00 tonight, checked into the hotel, unloaded all of our stuff, and then headed over to TGI Friday’s to meet CJ and Devaney for dinner. We headed back to the hotel after a quick dinner so Rash could watch Prison Break. No biggie though, because Raw was on right after that. After the shows were over we watched X-Men 3 on DVD, then went to bed. Travel day is usually pretty boring and tiring.

Tuesday November 7th

Today I got up and met CJ and Mike Devaney to go do laundry. That’s one of the many perks of being on the road for more than 1 week at a time. We hit the closed coin-op laundry for a couple of hours, and that also gave me some time to catch up on some website stuff. After we got everything done, I headed straight to the bowl to get some practice in. I met Schlem at the bowl, unloaded my truck and headed down to practice. They ran the pattern again for us, and it was evident that they would be pretty tight this week. We’re bowling on the “new” Shark pattern, which is now 44’. I experimented with several different balls, but never got comfortable. Then I went to my 7-step delivery and things started to feel better. The more we talked, the more we realized that my timing and tempo are smoother and cleaner with 7-steps. At that point we decided that it may be a good option to go to 7-steps full time. I guess time will tell on that, but I plan on doing it this week. I practiced for a couple of hours, then headed back to the hotel to unpack my laundry and put everything away. I went to pick CJ up, and then we headed to the mall to walk around and waste time for a while. We grabbed some dinner in the food court ( Taco Bell ), then decided to head over to the other bowling center, Transit Lanes ( home of Jack Jurek’s pro-shop ). We stopped in and had a quick beer with Jack, then headed to TGI Friday’s to meet Rash and Mike Wolfe for a little while. We decided to go to a movie so we met Schlem and Devaney at the theatre to see “Borat”. That movie has to be the most disgusting, raunchy, disturbing, offensive, rude, tasteless movie ever and we laughed so hard our sides were hurting. If you have a warped sense of humor and aren’t easily offended, you will love it !!! After that, I headed back to the room so I can get some sleep. Rash is sick this week so I’m trying to stay away from him.

Wednesday November 8th

I got up fairly early today to go watch the TQR. Scores weren’t very high and it looked like the lanes were about as tight as they were yesterday. While the TQR was going on Schlem and I decided to drill some balls. We drilled a new Special Agent, a new T-Road Pearl and another Agent. After the TQR was over I worked out the new balls, put grips in and adjusted surfaces on some balls to get ready for the practice session. I used several balls in practice, including: Special Agent, Agent, Fire Diablo, Paradigm, Spitfire, and T-Road Pearl. It was obvious that track area was going to be in play on the fresh. Most guys were playing around 8-12 with moderate surface. The lanes blew up pretty fast, and most guys migrated left. Tomorrow should be interesting to say the least. After practice we CJ, Couch and I sat in the bar and had some dinner before the pro-am. Buffalo usually draws pretty good crowds and this year we got to bowl with a few of the Buffalo Bills ( including Lee Evans ) and Buffalo Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff. That was pretty cool to say the least. I got to bowl with the juniors for my first two a games, including the 2006 Teen Masters girls champion, Britney Hamilton. I even had her autograph a piece of paper for me. I think I embarrassed her a little though. We had a great time with the pro-am bowlers and the crowd was pretty enthusiastic. After the pro-am Schlem and I headed to TGI Fridays to grab a snack and have a couple of beers. I just got back to the hotel and now it’s off to bed.

Thursday November 9th

Today’s report will be similar to last weeks. Due to the lack of space in the bowlers’ area, I really didn’t have much room to make notes. Things looked fairly decent in practice. I was crossing with Parker, Mika and Patrick Girard ( 3 Brunswick staffers, so I felt left out ! ). Most of the guys started out around 7-8 then slowly started moving left as the pattern started to break down. By the time we started, I had already moved in to around 12-13. I decided to start with a Special Agent and go from there.

Game 1 ( 225 ) – I got off to a decent start, having a few early doubles but a split in the middle stopped the momentum. Overall I was happy with a 225 start.

Game 2 ( 176 ) – Seven 10-pins and two 2-8-10s didn’t do much for my score. I bailed a double in the 10th to salvage 176.

Game 3 ( 186 ) – Didn’t miss the pocked, had a blower 7-10 in the 7th and never doubled.

Game 4 ( 221 ) – I was bowling a very solid game until a 4-9 in the 9th turned 250 into 220. I swear I could write a book on how to turn a good game into a mediocre game !!!

Game 5 ( 279 ) – By far the best pair that we had hit yet. I went front 7, solid 8, sheet for 279. That helped get me going in the right direction.

Game 6 ( 161 ) – Total disaster ! Whoever started on this pair must have totally wrecked it because it was not fun at all. The right lane hooked at your toe and the left lane went 100 feet. I never doubled and had 3 splits

Game 7 ( 208 ) – I got lined up again, and was going along making good shots with a  couple of doubles and then a big-4 popped up in the 9th. I went strike, solid 9 in the 10th to finish with 208

I finished the block at +57 and in 24th place. I felt pretty good about the way I bowled physically, but I wasn’t real happy with my ball reaction. I was close, but not close enough. The good news was that I was in the top 32, which is what really matters I guess. After we were done, Sean and I ran back to the hotel so I could get my truck. I needed my grip bag, and another ball that was in my truck. I ran back to the bowl to drop off some stuff and lay-out another Special Agent for the night block. Then Schlem and I ran to Olive Garden to run them out of soup and salad. Luckily we made it just in time before the lunch special was over. I don’t like to have a big meal before I bowl, so soup and salad was perfect. Then it was back to the bowl for the night block.

Thursday November 9th

I decided right away that the newer Special Agent was going to be the ball of choice, and I had a pretty good look around 10-12.

Game 1 ( 221 ) – I started out with the front five, but then made a couple of bad shots in the 6th and 7th, one resulting in yet another split. I managed a double, but got caught by another bowler on the pair to my right in the 10th. I stepped off, but my concentration was broken and I split again. I hate blaming other people for my mistakes, but this particular person was very loud and disturbing all day / night. Some people act like they are the only ones bowling, and have no respect for those around them.

Game 2 ( 198 ) – Greek Chuch in the 10th. Enough said !

Game 3 ( 227 ) – My look kept getting better and better. The lanes were starting to open up a little and my swing was feeling much looser. I bowled a pretty solid, clean game for 227.

Game 4 ( 245 ) – I started with the front 5 again, then left a solid 8 and solid 9 back to back. I struck to the 10th, and then rang a 10 for 245.

Game 5 ( 236 ) – Another solid clean game, with a few bad breaks mixed in. For some reason, everybody’s strike percentage was down. I must have had something to do with the volume of oil we were using I guess. At this point I had moved up to 13th I believe.

Game 6 ( 156 ) – This is where the wheels fell off. We hit another pair similar to Game 6 of the early round ( actually this pair was right next door ). I started off solid 9, solid 8, 4-pin, ring 10, and then a 3-9-10 spare. Then I fell apart. I flagged a 4-pin ( my first miss in over 2 weeks ) then chopped a bucket. A big-4 in the 10th dropped me down to +139 over and put me much to close to the cut line

Game 7 ( 188 ) – Big-4 start, another missed spare and another split mixed in had me in danger of missing the cut. I got up in the 9th knowing that I needed all of them, and somehow I did it. I went high flush in the 9th and the 10th, and then a light mixer in the 11th appeared to save my day.

I waited around until they announced the cut number. I made it, but I fell to 31st. I drew Mike Fagan for match play tomorrow, so I certainly have my work cut out for me. I just got back to the room, and now we’re watching the Island. Our 7:00 AM wake up call is going to come early so I’m about out of it.

Friday November 10th

Well today I made my first match play appearance of the young season. I didn’t get much sleep last night for the second night in a row and it was tough getting out of bed. I got to the bowl early and Schlem and I freshened up the surfaces on both of my Special Agents. I bowled Michael Fagan today and I was pretty sure he would be playing the same part of the lane as me, if not further left. My only concern was that if we both jumped in too quick, we might burn the pair up pretty fast and the scores could get ugly. We only got 5 minutes of practice on our starting pair, so the pattern was somewhat untouched by the time we started. I chose to start with the stronger Special Agent and I was playing around 12-13 at the beginning. My plan was to just migrate left as the day went along. Michael was using a Spitfire and had a pretty good look to start with. Here is the game by game breakdown :

Game 1 ( 211 / 238 – loss ) – I started off the first game by missing another 7 pin. No excuse, just flagged it. I rebounded with a 5 bagger, but a split in the 8th left the door wide open for Mike to throw the back 7 to win Game 1.

Game 2 ( 279 / 214 – win ) – This was by far by best bowled game of the week. I went double, ring 10, sheet for 279 and the win. The pair was starting to open up a little bit and it was a matter of who was going to strike more now.

Game 3 ( 233 / 236 – loss ) – I stepped up in the 10th with a chance to shut Michael out with a  strike, but I threw it 100 mph and flagged the headpin for a 6 count. That enabled Michael to strikeout for the game win.

Game 4 ( 227 / 225 – win ) – I wasn’t about to let myself give up after throwing the previous game away, and I threw a crucial double in the 10th to tie the match up at 2 games a piece.

Game 5 ( 215 / 268 – loss ) – I started losing the left lane midway through game 5. I could still get to the pocket, but I couldn’t get the ball to hit like it was earlier. Michael bowled a great game with two ring 10s. I threw an Agent on my fill ball and decided I had no choice but to make the ball change

Game 6 ( 222 / 248 – loss ) – I started off with a triple, but rang a 10 in the 4th and left a 2-10 in the 5th. That pretty much sealed the deal because Michael didn’t miss much that game

All in all I bowled a pretty good match and threw it about as well as I have in a while. I used the 7-step delivery all week and I’m already starting to get comfortable with it. It’s still a work in progress and who knows what could happen next week, but I walked out of this week with a much better feeling than last week. Congrats and good luck to Michael, he bowled a great match. After I got done I packed up my stuff, loaded up some balls that I’m going to bring home and put the rest of my stuff on the transport truck. I’m going to go home for a few days before Hammond. My plan is to drive about half way tonight and the rest in the morning. I’ve got a ton of stuff to get caught up on, as well as a full schedule of lessons on Monday. I will probably leave for Hammond on Tuesday morning and practice for a while. Well I guess I’m going to pack my stuff up and hit the road. Talk to you next week from Hammond. Until then as always, Bowl up a Storm !!!