Game 1 ( 226 ) – I started with a T-Road Pearl, standing around 28 going through 16-17 at the arrows. The lanes were still fairly tight, so I worked very hard at keeping my hand behind the ball and letting it have more forward roll through the midlane. I rang a 10 in the 4th, and left 4-pins in the 8th and 10th ( missing the one in the 10th ). We didn’t sleeve my spare ball and it felt horrible. I went to the locker room twice during this game working on the thumb.

Game 2 ( 258 ) – Three ring 10’s for the game. Best overall game I’ve bowled in weeks. I can finally see the difference on the way the ball goes through the pins.

Game 3 ( 244 ) – Another solid game. Left a 4-7-10 in the 4th on a decent shot and rang another 10 in the 9th. Overall I’m very happy at this point, except for the fact that I’m coughing up a storm (editor’s note:  what else would he be coughing up?) and I’m probably annoying all the other guys.

Game 4 ( 217 ) – Blower 7’s in the 1st and 10th paired with ring 10’s in the 4th, 5th and 8th. Score could have been a lot higher, but with this being a transition game I’m still pretty happy. I had to make some minor tweaks this game in the midlane, but everything still looked pretty good.

Game 5 ( 238 ) – Similar game to last game. 4 pins in the 2nd and 5th and a ring 10 in the 10th. At this point I’m just plugging along making good shots and catching some good breaks here and there. I’ve made it through a couple rounds of transitions so far.

Game 7 ( 170 ) – Another bad game ! I missed 2 makeable spares ( 2-4 chop / 4-7 wrap ) and left a couple more 10-pins. When we made the turn to go down to the low end we noticed that this end was hooking A LOT more. We all took a big step left, but I created a lot of over-under for myself. I really didn’t bowl very smart this game. I ended up going to an Agent on the left lane, but it didn’t look that great either.

Well that was pretty much a roller coaster round. I got as high as 4th after 5 games, but two bad games to finish put me at +121 which was good for 14th. The top 32 number was +59, but we’ve seen that number more than double before so I needed another solid round in the night block. I grabbed a quick bite to eat ( still no appetite and nothing sounded good ) and headed back to the bowl. I sleeved a few more balls, just to give me a couple more options for later. I stayed between two T-Roads during the first round and I knew I would need to gamble a little more later.

Game 1 ( 215 ) – My decision to start with the T-Road was a bad one. I chose to be careful and it backfired. I thought the Special Agent was a little too strong, but when I switched to it in the 5th things just clicked. I had a couple of trip 4’s, but the ball was going through the pins much better.

Game 2 ( 228 ) – Blower 7 in the first ( which I missed ), ring 10’s in the 3rd, 5th and 6th. I moved a little left off of the first game, since the high end had been hooking more all day, and the move paid off.

Game 3 ( 245 ) – Ring 10’s in the 1st and 4th and a solid 9 in the 3rd. Bad shot in the 11th, leaving a 3-9-10. Just got careless a little bit and let up. This cold was really wearing me down and I was running out of breath very easily.

Game 4 ( 213  ) – Better game than what my score indicated. Ring 10’s in the 3rd, 5th, 9th and 10th, but a 2-4-10 in the 2nd really cost me. I tried the T-Road in the fill to see if it was time for a ball change. The angle looked good so I figured it was time for a change.

Game 5 ( 181  ) – Back down to the low end…big step left to start the game. It didn’t do much good because everything was hooking in the heads. I left back to back 4-7’s to start the game, then back to back 3-4-6-7’s in the 4th and 5th. The 4-pin in the 9th was the costly shot though. I could’ve bailed 212 out of the game, but had to settle for 181.

Game 7 ( 205 ) – By this point I was out of gas. I was pretty safely in the number, but since pins carry over for tomorrow I still wanted to get as much as possible. The problem was my body wouldn’t cooperate. I was still close, but my legs were giving out on me. I left a couple of flat 10’s and a couple of 4 pins. The 3-9-10 in the 9th was another careless shot that I got extremely slow on.

I finished the block at +95 and +216 for the day. That put me in 16th place, which was the next cut number. After I got done I headed straight back to the room. This cold is killing me !!!

Game 1 ( 170 ) – Opponent:  John May.  Win, 170-153.  Match Play Record 1-0-0.  Bonus Pins:  30.  This pair was brutal for both of us. John got off to a terrible start and I went blower 7-10 in the first, solid 7 in the 2nd, solid 8 in the 3rd, 2-4-8-10 in the 6th, solid 9 in the 9th and finally a 2-10 in the 10th. Luckily for me, John struggled more than I did.

Game 2 ( 206 ) – Opponent:  Mika Koivuniemi.  Loss, 206-215.  Match Play Record 1-1-0.  Bonus Pins:  0.  I started with a 3-4-6-10 and immediately switched to my T-Road from there. I left a blower 7 in the 3rd and a ring 10 in the 5th, then a disastrous 2-10 in the 7th. Meanwhile Mika mixed in a “Brooklyn” triple for the game win. On the bright side I was the only person to shoot a 200+ game at Mika all day, unfortunately I could’ve used the 30 bonus pins.

Game 3 ( 212 ) – Opponent:  Chris Collins.  Loss, 212-243.  Match Play Record 1-2-0.  Bonus Pins:  0.  I continued on with the T-Road and though that I had a pretty good look, but it started to go away pretty fast. I started with a 4-9, then made four really good shots. Then things went south in a hurry. I went 6-10, ring 10, flat 10, 3-6-10 and 3-6-10 to finish the game. Chris bowled a much better game than I did and deserved the win.

Game 4 ( 169 ) – Opponent:  Brian Kretzer.  Loss, 169-180.  Match Play Record 1-3-0.  Bonus Pins:  0.  This was by far my ugliest game of the day. Neither one of us wanted the game very badly. The right lane was a train wreck and we were both clueless on it. BK just happened to pull a double out late to win.

Game 5 ( 258  ) – Opponent:  Wes Malott.  Win, 258-160.  Match Play Record 2-3-0.  Bonus Pins:  30.  This just goes to show the difference between good pairs and bad pairs for different people. Wes was bowling very well, but was lost on this pair. I’d been struggling and came off a pair that I couldn’t have hit with a GPS and I shoot 258. Sometimes this sport makes no sense to me. I left a 2-8 in the 6th and a solid 9 in the 8th. This was the first pair today that I could get comfortable on.

Game 7 ( 266 ) – Opponent:  Brian Himmler.  Win, 266-191.  Match Play Record 3-4-0.  Bonus Pins:  30.  Another huge momentum game for me. Chief was sort of lost on this pair and I got dialed in pretty quickly. Other than the 3-6-10 on a careless shot in the 4th, this game was pretty flawless.