Game 1 ( 244 ) – 2-10 conversion in the 4th, ring 10s in the 5th and 6th.

Game 2 ( 200 ) – 2-10 in the 1st, 1-2-6-10 in the 2nd, blower 7 in the 5th, 2-6-10 in the 10th. This pair played much tighter than the first pair. I kept fudging back right, but I don’t think I ever got far enough right with my feet.

Game 3 ( 246 ) – 2-8 in the 4th ( hooked by it ), 3-6-10 in the 6th. The 3-6-10 in the 6th frame was a direct result of an adjustment on a bad shot in the 4th. This pair had a little more friction downlane, which enabled me to open the lane back up a little more.

Game 4 ( 159 ) – 4-pin in the 1st, 3-6 in the second, 3-9 in the 3rd, ring 10 in the 4th, 2-8-10 in the 5th, I FINALLY struck in the 6th, solid 8 in the 7th, another ring 10 in the 8th, and I finished it off with a 6-7-10 in the 10th. This pair was very confusing for all of us. We kept getting forced farther left than any one of us wanted to go. I used a Special, a T-Road and an Agent during this game…moving all over the place. I finally got lined up, but caught a couple of bad breaks before a bad shot in the 10th.

Game 5 ( 198 ) – 3-6-10 in the 1st, ring 10 in the 3rd, 2-10 in the 8th, 2-4-10 ( spare ) in the 9th and a 2-8-10 in the 10th. This pair kept getting tighter and tighter downlane as we bowled. I thought I had some momentum coming back, but a bad finish shot that down.

Game 7 ( 218 ) – Jeff lost his notes for this game.

I finished the first round at +88 and in 34th place, after I’d been as high as 7th at one point. The good news is that I’m pretty close to the number and I felt like I physically bowled horribly. I just couldn’t seem to do anything that I wanted to during Round 1.  All of the physical changes that we’ve made totally lost me. After we finished up I headed over to the Eldorado to have lunch with Rash and Mika. [Editor’s note:  Now there’s a conversation that I would have loved to listen to.] There wasn’t enough time to go back to the hotel and relax, so I just went back to the Stadium and practiced for a while. My game plan for the night round was to just throw it better. Simple, huh ?

Game 1 ( 225 ) – 2-10 in the 1st, ring 10s in the 4th, 9th, 10th and 11th. Very frustrating game since this pair was pretty wide open. My physical game was feeling much stronger though.

Game 2 ( 213 ) – 2-10 in the 4th, solid 7 in the 8th and a blower 7-10 in the 10th. This pair was a pinch tighter and after a minor adjustment I got going pretty strong. A horrible break in the 10th cost me making a good jump in the standings.

Game 3 ( 241 ) – Solid 9 in the 2nd, Greek Church in the 6th.  An errant shot in the 6th cost me a lot of “bonus” pins. When I play out I have a tendency to get my swing going to fast, which throws my timing off terribly.

Game 4 ( 236 ) – 2-8-10 in the 1st, 4 pin in the 8th and a ring 10 in the 10th. Pair to pair in the Stadium is about as difficult to predict as who Paris Hilton’s next boyfriend is going to be. All I know is that I wanted to stay out, even if that meant I had to keep moving right and standing on top of it even more. This pair was tighter than the previous one, but opened up at the end of the game.

Game 5 ( 192 ) – 4-pin in the 3rd, 10-pin in the 4th, 4-9 in the 5th, 2-10 in the 7th, and 10-pins in the 8th and 9th. This was the worst pair in the Stadium, from what everybody had told us. 54 didn’t want to hook, and 53 hooked more than the previous two pair. Under the circumstances, I felt like I bowled a great game on a tough pair.

Game 7 ( 211 ) – 3-6-10 in the 1st, 10-pin in the 4th, 4-9 in the 7th and a solid 9 in the 10th. I figured I needed a solid game and I would be in the cut soft. The scores weren’t jumping very much and I stopped looking at the board a couple of games ago, just focusing on making shots. I made a bad shot in the first, but caught a huge break with a Brooklyn for a double in the 7th. I gave the break right back with a 4-9 in the 8th. The solid 9 in the 10th really hurt though ( my best shot of the game ).

I finished the block at +147, never getting left of 7 all night long. I felt pretty comfortable with my physical game and the decisions that I made. I could’ve made a ball change a couple of times ( and probably should have ), but I worked my way through it. Much to my surprise though, the number jumped almost 50 pins the last game and I was shocked to hear that I was the number at + 235. That meant I got to bowl Jason Couch Friday morning, after he qualified 1st at +671. Talk about David vs. Golitath !!!

Now I need to comment on the Left / Right issue this week. I have my opinions, and they are just that. I have a ton of respect for Jason, PA, Parker, etc…. and I have no problem with the lefties bowling well. To me, great bowlers are great bowlers no matter what. What I do have a problem with is the fact that you can watch one side have free hook and the other not have any ( I feel the same way about the lefties being “shut-out” on the Shark pattern by the way ). Now with that being said, we had 11 lefthanders bowling this week. Ten of them qualified for match play. That is 90.9 % of the left handed players in the field making the cut, while 41.5 of the right handed players making it. That’s less than 18% of the field making up over 30 % of the match play competitors. The problem that we’re faced with is how do you balance out too many or not enough ???? I wish I had a solution to the problem.

Game 1 ( 131 ) – 2-4-10 in the 2nd, 3-4-6 in the 3rd, 3-6 in the 5th, 2-8-10 in the 7th, 3-4-6-7 in the 8th, 3-9-10 in the 9th and a 2-4-6-10 in the 10th. I used 4 or 5 balls and 4 or 5 different angles this game, with none of them working. I had hang right and hook left, which isn’t a good combination when your opponent throws the front 5 at you.

Game 2 ( 216 ) – 1-2-8-10 in the 1st, super washout in the 3rd, ring 10 in the 10th and a 3-6-10 in the 10th. The left lane continued to be my undoing. My shots in the 1st and 3rd never picked up and missed the headpin. I finally shimmed left off of that spot ( I’d been left and right of that spot in the first game ), and pulled out a 5-bagger but it was too little too late

Game 3 ( 202 ) – 2-pin in the 2nd, 3-6-10 in the 6th, 2-8-10 in the 8th, 10-pin in the 9th and a 7-pin in the 10th. I had my chances with this game, but couldn’t capitalize. The 2-8-10 was just a bad shot in a bad spot. I had some momentum going, but let it slip away.

Game 4 ( 226 ) – Ring 10 in the 2nd, solid 9 in the 7th, 2-pin in the 8th and 4-pins in the 9th and 10th. This game was pretty much over in the 2nd frame for me. I needed to bowl a flawless game and I couldn’t put that “great” game together. Jason bowled a great match and deserved to move on. The most frustrating part of all of this is the fact that I really thought that I bowled well on Thursday. My reward for that was bowling somebody that was totally on a mission and had a great look. I qualified 32nd and finished 32nd. That’s 5 match plays in the last 7 weeks, but I haven’t moved up in the point standings at all. It’s getting pretty frustrating to be honest. All I can do is continue to work, and hope that things are about to turn around soon.

Jeff's Match Play Record Against Jason Couch

After my match, I had the unenviable task of loading my equipment on the PBA trucks, which were parked waaaaaaay down on the street. That took quite a few trips and a lot of time. Afterwards, I headed over to the Eldorado to eat with Hurd, CJ and Devaney. I headed back to the hotel for a while after lunch to chill out and relax, before heading back over to the Eldorado to watch the Mavs-Spurs game. We had a few beers before Kretzer and I grabbed some dinner. As it turned out, he was Couch’s last victim en route to the show. After dinner, I headed back to the hotel to watch Snakes on a Plane. I really don’t know what to say about this movie. I hate snakes, but this movie just begged me to watch it. I actually thought it was pretty funny, and had some cool parts to it. At least it held my attention for a few hours !

Saturday January 6th

We only had one pro-am this week and it was at noon. They had a very good turnout, with 7-8 ams per pair across the entire center ( except for where the show set was ). I was fortunate enough to be on the low end with a few pairs of kids. We had a great time and I got to bowl with some very talented kids. It’s always good to be able to interact with kids that genuinely enjoy the sport and seem to take an interest in it. After the pro-am the start of Team USA week kicked off with their first sweeper. I had a few friends bowling the sweeper, so I hung around to give them a hand. When the sweeper was finished, it was time to party !!! Since I wasn’t leaving until Tuesday, it was nice to be able to go out without having to worry about travel plans or other responsibilities. A large group of us got together to watch the Cowboys-Seahawks game, then headed down to the bar in the Silver Legacy for the rest of the night.

Sunday January 7th

I went over to the Stadium while the show was going on and caught Pete’s match with PA, then the championship match. After the show was over, Schlem and the Storm Staff held a seminar for Team USA in the theatre area upstairs. We spent about an hour or so talking about the patterns that Team USA was going to be qualifying on. We had about 80-100 people in the seminar and it turned out pretty well. After we wrapped that up, I headed downstairs and spent time talking to Dr. Dean Hinitz about my mental approach to several things out on Tour. I’ve spent a lot of time over the last several years talking to Dr. Dean, and I always take something new out of our conversations. This time, we focused on making this fun for me again. That’s my goal for this week now, to work hard but still enjoy what’s going on. No matter how well or how bad I’m bowling, I’d still rather do this than anything else. This is the best sport in the world and I love what I do, but sometimes I push myself too hard to succeed.

Team USA qualifiers hit the lanes for another sweeper, then after another strip and re-oil they had their practice sessions. My main focus was helping Jake Peters, the 2006 Teen Masters Champion. I’ve know Jake for several years and he lives in nearby Decatur, Il ( hometown of Jason Queen ). Jake has a tremendous amount of talent and potential, it’s just a matter of getting some more experience. I worked with Jake during the practice session on all four of the patterns he was going to be bowling on. We found some options on all four patterns and I felt pretty good about how things looked for him. By the time they were down, I’d already spent about 14 hours at the Stadium and I was wiped. I went back to the room and didn’t move !!! I felt bad because at midnight it was Sara’s ( Sean’s girlfriend ) 21st birthday and I’d promised her I’d go out, but I was already down for the count.

Monday January 8th

Monday turned out to be yet another long day in a very long week. I went over to the Stadium to watch the Team USA girls bowl, and I have to say it’s been a long time since I’ve seen that many ladies with that much talent. It was nice to see, making me really wish the ladies tour was still going. I think they could have a great product if somebody could put it all together. I spent time watching several of the girls bowl, including : Diandra Asbaty, Stephanie Nation, Marcia Kloempken, Amanda Beck, Lindsay Baker, Amanda Burgoyne and others. I have to say that Amanda Burgoyne is very fun to watch. I’ve known Amanda since she was about 13-14 and I could tell then that she was going to be a great player, but she far surpassed what I imagined. She’s a senior at the University of Nebraska and she’s very talented. She not only is a great bowler, but she carries herself on and of the lanes as well as anybody that I’ve seen. Like I said, she’s fun to watch. After the ladies were done, the men hit the lanes. I helped Jake and Vince Biondo a little during their practice, then I headed over to “Lane 81” to get some practice in and work with Mike Jasnau. Mike is a tremendous coach who runs the C.A.T.S system in the pro-shop. If you get a chance while in Reno during the USBC, don’t pass up the opportunity to work with Mike ! I worked with Schlem and Mike for about an hour, focusing on my timing and freeing up my armswing. We had a productive session and did a little video work also. Several players were over there with Mike throughout the week, including : Rick Steelsmith, Paul Fleming, Kelly Kulick, Liz Johnson and others. I walked out of there feeling even better about where my physical game is heading. Now it’s just up to me to execute it.

I watched the guys bowl about half of their block, then I headed over to the “Couch Suite” at the Eldorado where the epic battle between Jason’s Florida Gators and Kretzer’s Ohio State Buckeyes. Now just for a little background, I’m a huge University of Illinois fan ( no matter how bad we are in football ). I’m not one of those guys that says “well I’ll root for the Big Ten schools in the bowl games”. Hell with that !!! I hate, and I mean hate 10 teams in the Big Ten ( especially Ohio State, Iowa and Michigan ). Ironically, growing up I always rooted for the Gators. I used to think Steve Spurrier was the greatest coach ever, but I’ve lost interest in the Gators since he left. Anyway, I really had no rooting interest in this game except that I wanted to see Ohio State lose. To be honest, I would’ve like to have seen Boise State play since the Boise State / Oklahoma game the other night was probably the most entertaining college football game I’ve ever seen. There were about 25 people up in the room and since the Gators were up big at the half, Couch was pretty loud and BK wasn’t heard from very much. All in all it wasn’t a very good game, but it was cool to get all of us together to party all night.

Well that pretty much concludes this weeks report, thank god ! I’m pretty happy to get out of Reno with a match play appearance under my belt, and I’ll move on to Medford looking to build on that. Next weeks report will be coming to you from Lava Lanes in Medford. Until then, Bowl up a Storm !!!