Game 1 ( 214 ) – Two blower 7s, ring 10’s and a 4 pin. I made a bad shot in the 7th, getting a little slow. I moved 2 and 1 left anyway and bailed out 214.

Game 2 ( 171 ) – We followed Jim Pratt and he was using a plastic ball, playing the same part of the lane as we were. Instantly we had hang at our breakpoint. I started with a 2-7, followed by a 2-8 and a 2-pin. I kept fudging right and finally found something but I left a blower 7-10 in the 7th. After a strike in the 8th I left a Greek Church in the 9th. Lane 54 was one of the bad lanes in the building ( along with 55 ). In my opinion these pairs should’ve been taken out of play.

Game 3 ( 228 ) – My first shot hooked at my toe. I checked and sure enough, Eugene started on this pair. Usually Eug likes to use surface so he can throw it 100 mph up the gutter. That’s great for him, but not the guys that follow him. I moved 3-2 left and then two-pinned. I tripled after that, but I was still lost. After a split in the 6th and some mediocre bowling to finish up the game, my momentum had been temporarily stopped.

Game 4 ( 269 ) – I left a 2-pin in the first frame, then I watched the other 3 guys go light on that lane. The right lane was the same as the last pair, but switched to a T-Struck Pearl on the left lane and bowled a solid game. I left another ring-10 in the fourth.

Game 5 ( 237 ) – This pair was similar to Lane 64, but I still had to bump left 2 and 1. I left a 4-pin in the second and a ring-10 in the 3rd and 5th

Game 7 ( 245 ) – This was probably my best bowled game of the round. The pattern opened up on this pair and I was able to switch to a T-Road and jump in. I left a blower 7 in the 6th ( which I missed ), then I rang two 10-pins in the 10th.  Overall I felt pretty good about how I bowled in Round 1, especially for being as sick as I was. I went through several bottles of water, just trying to keep fluids in me. I finished the block at +169 in 12th place. The cut for the top 32 was +98. After we were done, we headed over to Damon’s to grab some lunch. Again, I didn’t eat very much and I still wasn’t feeling well.

Game 1 ( 216 ) – I started 4-pin, 4-bagger before I left a 4-pin in the 6th and a 10-pin in the 7th. I got the shot in the 9th going right in the wrong part of the lane and it never hooked., leaving a 1-2-4. I guess I didn’t win the stuffed animal on that lane because my spare shot hooked at my toe ( leaving the head pin ).

Game 2 ( 172 ) – Total disaster of a game in every way. I started with a 3-10 and made it. Then I went light a few times, then through the face a few times. I missed a 3-10 in the 6th and left a solid 9 in the 8th. I left a missed messenger 10 in the 10th and thought I had converted it, but the ball faded at the last second going into the gutter. I jumped back and forth between a Thunderstruck, a Thunderstruck Pearl and a T-Road trying to find something.

Game 3 ( 236 ) – Back on track with this game. I made 11 very good shots, but didn’t get rewarded like I would’ve wanted to. I went back to my T-Struck and played this pair like I did the first one, but left a solid 9 in the 2nd, a blower 7 in the 8th and another solid 9 in the 10th. The fill ball was pretty interesting though because I somehow left a blower 7-8-10. Don’t ask me how but you should’ve seen the look on Tony Reyes’ face when he saw it !!!

Game 4 ( 212 ) – Another disheartening game in a critical situation. I needed to continue the momentum that I had regained, but the strike gods weren’t with me here. Solid 9’s in the 3rd and 7th, coupled with a solid 7 ( which I inexcusably missed ) in the 6th really hurt.

Game 5 ( 181 ) – This game was the beginning of the downward spiral. The lanes were breaking down much faster than this morning and my ball ( no matter what I threw ) was coming out of the pattern sideways. I chopped a 3-6-9-10 and left a couple more solid 9’s this game. I was literally moving on every shot at this point.

Game 7 ( 178 ) – By this time I was in danger of falling out of the top 32. The cut number was going up, but I was falling drastically. This pair was totally on fire. We were moving left in big jumps after every shot, but the ball was still hooking in the heads. I couldn’t find any push whatsoever. I started with a 3-6, then a 3-6-10. After a strike in the 3rd, I left a 4-6-7 in the 4th. I overthrew the shot in the 5th, leaving a 2-pin, then back through the face in the 6th leaving another 3-6-9-10 ( which I chopped again ). At that point I decided to just go with my gut instinct and I moved all the way back right to about where I had started. I threw a clutch double in the 7th and 8th to stop the bleeding, but rang yet another 10-pin in the 9th. I finished up with a clean 10th and salvaged the block, holding onto a spot in the top 32. After that disaster I was totally spent. I was drained mentally as well as physically, so I went straight to bed.

Game 1 ( 188 - 203 Loss) – I actually got off to a good start, but a solid 9 in the 5th broke my momentum. The left lane was hooking a lot more, and I kept fudging left on every shot. It finally caught up to me because I left a 3-4-6-10 in the 7th and a Big-4 in the 9th.

Game 2 ( 204 - 225 Loss) – Heartbreaking loss. I started with a 4-6 on the left lane. I moved again off of that and left a solid 9. No matter what I did, the left lane wasn’t allowing me to get anything going. I managed a 4-bagger, but left a blower 7-10 in the 8th. As it turns out, that cost me the game.

Game 3 ( 189 - 229 Loss) – I moved right on the left lane and went to a Thunderstruck. At this point I was playing both lanes totally different ( straight on the left lane and curving it on the right ) with two different balls. I felt like I had nothing to lose and this was the only way I could climb back into the match. I bowled a solid game, leaving four ring-10’s, a solid 9 and a solid 7, but the 3-6-7-10 ( I wrapped the 3 around the 7 on the spare ) did me in.

Game 4 ( 211 - 194 Win) – I continued on with what I had done the previous game, and lucky for me Bill’s carry percentage went down this game. I still didn’t strike a lot, but enough to get a game win. I left a blower 7 in the 1st, solid 8’s in the 5th and 7th and a 6-7-10 in the 10th. The game was already over, so I decided to try and move out on the right lane. I didn’t look very good so I scrapped that plan.

Game 5 ( 200 - 207 Loss) – Back to back blower 7’s in the 7th and 8th coupled with two 10-pins in the 10th pretty much sealed my fate. Since I didn’t strike in the 10th, that gave Billy the opportunity to step up and finish the match, which he did.

Bill bowled a great match. I know my carry percentage was extremely low, but his wasn’t exactly high either. He bowled a much better match that his scores indicate. Even if I struck at a higher clip, he would’ve had to continue with his rough carry for me to win. That wasn’t going to happen on this day. Afterwards, I loaded all of my equipment up on the truck ( except for the lone triple bag that I kept in the building for my pro-am ) and headed to grab some lunch. After a quick lunch it was back to bed ! I watched Superman Returns and some TV for a while before I was out. By the way, my review on Superman is : OK for the most part, I guess I expected more out of it. I pretty much laid around relaxing all day and finally got up and got moving around later that night. I was bored so I ran over to Toys R Us to look for some Christmas ideas for the kids and I stopped by Fridays on the way back to grab some dinner. After that I came back to the room and I’m going to bed early. Not much planned for the weekend, just a 3:00 pm pro-am tomorrow. I’m hoping that a lot of rest will get me feeling better for next week