Monday January 29th

I woke up Monday morning still very sick, but I had no other option than to get in the truck and start driving. It was 750 miles from Vegas to El Paso, plus I lost an hour in the time change. It ended up taking around 12 hours because there was a lot of two-lane driving and I hit some really bad traffic around Phoenix. I did get to go over the Hoover Dam, which is always cool. The funniest part of the drive was the gas prices. In one day I saw gas prices as high as $3.38 ( right by the Hoover Dam ) and as low as $1.92 ( just outside El Paso ). The drive itself was pretty rough. I was still coughing pretty bad and running a high fever, plus my ears kept popping. I couldn’t wait to get out of the truck !!! I finally got to the LaQuinta ( Priceline.com ) around 10:00 pm and Sean was already there. He had flown, because he had a pro shop appearance to do, so he had checked in already. Once I got there, I unloaded my truck and went straight to bed.

Tuesday January 30th

I slept in until around noon on Tuesday because my fever kept breaking all night and I couldn’t get comfortable, due to the fact that I was freezing and still sweating. I got virtually no sleep, so I stayed in bed until I couldn’t stand it any more. I got up, showered and headed up to the bowl. I dropped off my equipment and headed over to grab some lunch at Chick-fil-A. We don’t have any Chick-fil-A’s around us anymore, so I love to eat there when I get a chance. After lunch I went back to the bowl, changed clothes and started practicing. My physical game was still suffering, partly because I really hadn’t bowled much in the last week. Nothing felt right and we were searching for some things to get me going again. My legs felt pretty much useless, so we went to a 4-step delivery for a while. It was awkward, but I could feel some of my timing problems correct themselves. Eventually I went back to six steps and worked on ball reaction and what equipment was going to match up this week. The Shift looked good, as well as my Agents. I ended up practicing for around three hours and by then I was totally exhausted. Being sick like that really drains your stamina and I felt like I’d been bowling for 24 straight hours. After I was done, I headed over to Best Buy to pick up a few new movies ( The Marine ). Then it was off to the mall to get a haircut and then back to the hotel. Since I was still feeling terrible, I decided to put doing my laundry off until tomorrow. Plus, the Illini / Michigan State game was on. The U of I pulled out a hard fought win and it was nice to get to watch them for a change. That’s a downside to being on the road so much, I don’t get to watch as much as I’d like to. We decided to stay in for the night, ordered Pizza Hut and watched Firewall ( with Harrison Ford……excellent movie !!! ).

Wednesday January 31st

Once again I slept in, trying to get rid of what I’ve got. My Z-Pak already ran out, so I’ve been relying on the other medications that they gave me ( which weren’t really helping ).  I got up and went to the bowl to watch the end of the TQR, then I went and had lunch with Schlem at …….you guessed it, Chick-fil-A ( call me a creature of habit ). Once we got back it was time to practice. I continued on with what we had worked on Tuesday, using mainly Shifts and Agents. After practice was over, I went back to the room and laid in bed watching TV ( blowing laundry off for another day ). I ended up falling asleep without even having any dinner.

Thursday February 1st

This week we were bowling on the Scorpion pattern, the same pattern that I almost made the show on in Medford. The difference was the lane surface. We bowled on Pro-Anvilane in Medford and we bowled on a Qubica synthetic surface in El Paso. There was a ton more friction this week, with most of it being up front. The problem was all of the sand in the building. It was everywhere, due to the makeup of the landscape outstide. Once it gets in the building, it can get everywhere and really wreak havoc on the lane surface. With that being said, the pattern this week hooked more than normal. My cross was Joe Ciccone, Jack Jurek and Ronnie Russell. I was hoping that everybody would start out and then migrate left, but I was one of the only people that started right of the track. I started with a Thunderstruck, standing around 16 and crossing 6-7 at the arrows ( playing pretty straight ).

Thursday, February 1 -- Round of 64 Block 1

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 17-18 + 53                 253
Game 1 ( 253 ) – 2-pin in the 9th, 3-4-6-7 in the 10th. I got off to a very good start, until the lanes started to transition in the 7th. I was a little light in the 7th, but struck and I was a little heavy in the 8th, but struck. Both of those shots were warning signs to what was coming.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 19-20 + 59                 206
Game 2 ( 206 ) – 10-pins in the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 6th and 10th. I left a mix of five different 10-pins this game, some ring-10s, some flat and some messengers that didn’t hit anything. This pair actually played a little better than the first pair, just couldn’t get the angles right to strike.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 23-24 + 107                 248
Game 3 ( 248 ) – Washout in the 1st, 10-pins in the 4th and 10th. The first shot on this pair never hooked. I made a big jump right, squared up and finished the game pretty strong.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 29-30 + 111                 204
Game 4 ( 204 ) – Big-4 in the 1st, 4-pin in the 2nd, 2-8-10 in the 4th, solid 9 in the 7th and a ring 10 in the 11th. This pair hooked a bunch more than the first two pairs. I went to the Shift in the 3rd frame and moved into around 15, fishing for the rest of the game.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 31-32 + 153                 242
Game 5 ( 242 ) – 7-10 in the 4th, solid 8 in the 10th.  I switched to an Agent for this game, creating a little more angle downlane. I stayed in the same part of the lane as the last game, just tried a different angle. It turned out to be a good ball change.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 35-36 + 196                 243
Game 6 ( 243 ) – 3-6-10 in the 1st, solid 7 in the 2nd, 4-7 in the 9th ( which I totally flagged !!! ). After making an adjustment left after the first frame, my next 7 shots were all high flush. I got the 9th one in a pinch and left a 4-7. Then I stepped up and missed it to the right ( just a lack of focus ).
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 5-6 + 228 10th                 232
Game 7 ( 232 ) – 3-10 in the 1st, ring 10 in the 5th, 3-4-6-10 in the 9th. Again, after another adjustment after the first I got going strong again until an errant shot in the 9th stopped the momentum. It was just another case of overhitting a shot when I’m bowling well. That’s a bad habit that I have. I finished the round at +228 and in 10th place. I still wasn’t feeling well, having some pretty bad coughing spells, but my fever was pretty much gone and my dizziness was gone. My Palm Treo phone crashed before I started bowling, so I headed to the nearest Cingular store, where they couldn’t help me. Luckily I had my old phone with me. I grabbed a sub at Subway and went back to the room to take a nap. When I started headed back, the traffic got really bad and I was almost late for the start of the second round. I hate having that rushed feeling before I bowl and I never bowl well when that happens. Unfortunately for me I was much sicker after my nap than before.

Round 2 wasn’t much fun overall for me. The lanes hooked a lot more than they did in the morning and the out didn’t play at all, even from the start. I tried to start in the same spot as earlier with the Thunderstruck, but it was quickly evident that I made the wrong choice.

Thursday, February 1 -- Round of 64 Block 2

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 21-22 + 212                 184
Game 1 (  ) – Big 4 in the 1st, 3-4-6-7-10 in the 6th, 3-10 in the 8th, 2-10 in the 10th. The ball was checking early on every shot. I managed to get close enough to throw a 4-bagger, but if I didn’t quite get it through the mid-lane, it hooked early and I was in trouble.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 25-26 + 198                 186
Game 2 (   ) – 2-8 in the 1st ( hooked by it on the spare ), 4-pin in the 2nd,  10-pin in the 4th, 3-6 in the 5th, 4-pin in the 6th, ring 10 in the 8th and 10th. I jumped in with the same Agent that I had used earlier, but my angles were now too steep due to the fact that the middle of the lane was hooking so much more than earlier.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 27-28 + 190                 192
Game 3 (   ) – 10-pins in the 3rd, 5th, 8th and 10th. Big-4 in the 6th. One bad shot this game and some bad breaks cost me a chance at keeping up with the number. I kept debating a ball change, but my stubborn nature told me to be patient and things would come around.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 33-34 + 196                 206
Game 4 (   ) – 3-4-6-7-9-10 in the 1st, solid 9 in the 2nd, 4-pin in the 5th, 2-pin in the 6th, 4-pin in the 7th, ring 10 in the 11th. More of the same. One bad shot and bad angles meant a lot of work for 206. It was time to change balls and I waited way too long.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 37-38 + 228                 232
Game 5 (   ) – Ring 10 in the 1st, 3-4 in the 7th, 6-9 in the 10th. After another ring 10 in the first, I finally switched to a T-Road Pearl and moved left. I overhit the shots in the 7th and 10th, but at least I finally had a reaction I could count on.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 3-4 + 228                 200
Game 6 (   ) – 4-pin in the 1st, solid 9 in the 2nd and 3rd, 2-4-10 in the 4th, 4-pin in the 6th, 3-6 in the 9th. This pair hooked a ton. I moved 8-10 boards left on the approach during this game and still couldn’t keep the ball from going sideways off the back of the pattern. The bad thing was all of the momentum that I’d built up in Game 5 was wasted by taking a step back during this game.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 9-10 + 273 40th                 245
Game 7 (   ) – Ring 10s in the 2nd and 4th kept me from being able to make a run at the number. This pair was pretty well blended and played much better than 3 & 4. Unfortunately out here, you are at the mercy of the pair that you are on sometimes. If you catch good pairs at the right time, you can build great blocks. But if you catch a bad pair and a bad time, it can sink you in a hurry. I finished the night at +45, which left me at +273 for the day and in 40th place overall. I’ve been in the top 40 in just about every event this season, but I cant put anything together ( other than Medford ). The differences between rounds lately have been staggering. I just need to make faster decisions I guess. By the time I got done bowling, my fever was back and I was coughing up a storm again. I headed back and went straight to bed as usual.

Friday, February 2nd

Friday was pretty much a “catch-all” day. I ran a few errands in the morning, picking up phone chargers for my old phone, washing my truck and finally getting my laundry done. After lunch I went to the bowl to practice for a few hours. I worked on some mechanical issues and felt much better when I got done. I hung around for a few hours, watching the Round of 8 before Schlem and I headed to Logan’s Steakhouse for dinner. This was the first real meal that I’d had since I had gotten sick. I still didn’t have much of an appetite ( and only ate half of my steak ), but at least it was a start.

Saturday February 3rd

Saturday was pro-am day and I was scheduled for the 1:00 squad, but since I owed Steve Jaros a pro-am from Hammond, I took his 4:00 pro-am off of his hands to re-pay him. I bowled the 1:00 pro-am ( I got to bowl with the manager Bobby Stives family and they were a lot of fun and enjoyed themselves ), and then was pleasantly surprised when Kirk von Krueger let me out of the 4:00 pro-am, since he didn’t need all of the pros that had been scheduled. That put me on the road to Dallas a little earlier than expected. I hit the highway after loading up my equipment and started heading east. I stopped for the night in Abilene, had dinner at Denny’s ( official PBA sponsor ) and got a room at Motel 6 ( another official PBA sponsor ). See, I actually do support our sponsors when possible !!! I drink Pepsi, buy Bayer aspirin, wear Etonic shoes, use my Discover card for most of my purchases, and I’m a member of the USBC.

Well that pretty much wraps up another week on the road. Being sick has gotten really old and my body feels like its really breaking down. All of the injuries that I’d been fighting over the summer are slowly creeping back in, due to the fact that I haven’t seen my chiropractor ( Dr. John Foelkerts / Sherman Chiropractic ) in about 2 months. Hopefully I can start feeling better next week and get back on track. Until then, Bowl up a Storm !!!