Friday

We got off to a very early start due to the fact that i had a PBA Regional Clinic that i was hosting before practice, and the fact that since rooms in the area were over $100 a night we didn't want to drive up a day early this weekend. We hit the road around 6:30 and headed to the Chicago area. Traffic wasn't bad, so we breezed our way up to Oak Forest and got set up for the Clinic. It was a small clinic this weekend, so it went very smoothly with no hangups whatsoever. We covered a lot of information about lane play on Scorpion, Equipment and rules concerning PBA competition...as well as some on-lane training. After the clinic it was practice time. I had a ton of bowling balls in the building, mainly because i wanted to try the new balls ( Rapid Fire Pearls and Dimensions ) on Scorpion. In practice the gutter didnt look like it was in play, which was unusual based on recent weeks. I played pretty much the middle part of the lane with just about every ball that i had with me. The pattern played pretty easy and we figured the scores would be high this weekend. The Rapid Fire Pearls and Dimensions looked great, as did the Rapid Fires and some of the older balls. I really didnt throw many Gravity Shifts, but i'm sure they would've played in practice as well.

Since our hotel was over 30 miles away ( in Merrillville, IN ) we decided to eat an early dinner and hang around to wait for the 7:00 Pro-Am. Allen, Derek Sapp and I headed over to Portillo's to eat, then it was back to the bowl for the Pro-Am. This was the first year for Oak Forest Bowl hosting a regional and i thought they did a great job with the Pro-Am. After it was over, Allen and I made the long drive to the hotel, checked-in and got some sleep.

Saturday

For some reason i was scheduled for B squad ( 1:30 ) again this weekend, so we slept in a little then headed to the bowl. When we got there i noticed that the scores were pretty high. It was estimated that it would take about +165 to cash and move on to Sunday. I dont care how easy the pattern plays, when you know you have to strike a lot to make the cut it affects you mentally.

Qualifying

I noticed immediatley that the pattern wasn't even remotely close to practice on Friday. The middle of the lane had a lot less hold and there was less recovery downlane. I tried numerous balls from numerous angles with little or no success. Also, Oak Forest Bowl is a split center and i didn't practice on this side so who knows how it played in practice. At the end of practice i tried something that i didnt try i practice and i figured wouldn't work anyway. I grabbed my trusty Spitfire and jumped to the gutter. I started with my fee around 15 and i was looking at 6 at the arrows. The ball didnt quite bounce off the gutter, so i basically tried to just roll it off my hand and not hit it. The key was to get the ball to pick up before the hang spot, but not change direction sharply.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 13 - 14 +22                   222 7-10 7 2-4-8-10
I can usually tell how the day is going to go by the first frame of the first game. A blower 7-10 wasn't what i was hoping for. Luckily i struck enough to make up for it....although i got away with a few shots that i missed in. Twice Jeff Richgels came down to see where i was playing and both times i missed an arrow left. He just shook his head and said "I dont have that shot in my bag !!!" Balls used : Spitfire
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 15 - 16 +100                   278 9     10
Not much to say here...this pair was pretty close to the pair i started with, and since i found where my mistake room was i took full advantage of it. My physical game has been coming around lately so when i find a pair i like, i've had more success in capitalizing on it. Balls used : Spitfire
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 19 - 20 +140                   240 4-9     4-6-7
We jumped to the other side of the building for game 3 and i noticed immediatley that this side hooked more. That's when i realized that this side was closer to practice day, but my look on the gutter was still good so i stayed out there. I caught the one in the 10th a little too strong and paid maximum penalty. Balls used : Spitfire
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 25 - 26 +148                   208 10 10 4-6-7   7  10 / 4-6-7-10
I started off Game 4 with a couple of flat 10s, so i moved in towards the track area and went to a Rapid Fire. They were pretty wet-dry and i wasn't very comfortable with my angles. My misses this game were right, which explains the splits. Scores were high, but not quite at high as i thought they would be. I figured at this poing that i would need to grind the rest of the day if the lanes were going to play like this. I threw the Rapid Fire Pearl on the fill ball, but it went dead sideways and went straight back in the bag ! Balls used : Spitfire, Rapid Fire, Rapid Fire Pearl
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 27 - 28 +179                   231 10    2-8-10 4 / 4
This pair was a little cleaner than the last one, but still looked pretty wet-dry. The shot in the 9th proved my point because i missed left and the ball never read the lane. It basically laughed at me all the way ! Balls used : Rapid Fire
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 31 - 32 +242                   263   4-6-7
This was probably my best bowled game physically in a very long time. The first 8 shots were pretty much mirror images of each other. The problem was the 9th one was the exact opposite. Other than the 1 "hiccup", i picked up some bonus pins and kept plugging away. At this point i was trying to keep my foot on the gas and not get complacent. The leader was +327 after the first round, and now that was within reach. Balls used : Rapid Fire
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7 - 8 +289                   247 10 10   10
This was another good pair. I just kept grinding away, trying to make good shots. Other than a few ring 10s this was another solid game. i tried a different Rapid Fire Pearl on the fill ball...it was close, but still was a little too strong for what i needed. Also, we moved back to the low side for the last 2 games and it was still tighter than the other side. Balls used : Rapid Fire, Rapid Fire Pearl
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 9 - 10 +298                   209 7 2-8-10     2-4-10
This paid was much tighter downlane than the last pair. I was thinking only about the lead and amped a couple of shots up. I needed a double in the 10th to take the lead and basically threw it 100 mph. Balls used : Rapid Fire, Fired Up

This was by far the best i had bowled physically in a long, long time. I know the scores were high and you had plenty of mistake room, but you can usually tell when you're making good shots and you're matched up correctly. It's a good feeling to have the right ball in your hands and be in the right part of the lane. Most of the field was left of me, but i saw something on the gutter that was too good to pass up so i stayed there for as long as possible.

As soon as i was done we bolted out of there and headed back towards Merrillville. We were both starving so we headed straight to Hooters for dinner. It was pretty funny watching the Cub and White Sox fans yelling at each other and having absolutley no rooting interest in the game whatsoever. After dinner we went to see "Get Smart"....and it was a very, very good movie. I'm just old enough to remember the TV Show and even the "Nude Bomb" movie and they had just enough of a mix of old and new to make it a pretty good movie. By the time the movie was over i was wiped out and went straight to bed, especially since we had a 9 am start and a 45 minute drive to get to the bowl.

Sunday

6:00 am came awfully early, so we hit the road and stopped to grab some breakfast. We got to the bowl earlier than planned, so we had a little time to sit and wait. I think i just about fell back to sleep !

Semi-Finals

I started on the low side of the bowl again for Round 2, so i figured they would play tighter on this side again. I thought they played pretty close to qualifying, so i started in the same spot with the same Spitfire.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 5 - 6 +398                   300
Well after going 16 months without a 300, i've now had 3 PBA 300s in the last 6 weeks ( all of them playing out even ). Balls used : Spitfire
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7 - 8 +395                   197 10 7 10 10 10    4 / 4-7
This game was close, but not close enough. Everything was flat and weak....the ball wouldnt go through the pins like the last pair did. I fished around both left and right but nothing looked very good. Balls used :
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 - 12 +422                   227 10 10   10  4
Pretty much more of the same, but with an extra double or two thrown in. I figured since i was going to the other side next i would move in and try the Rapid Fire on the fill ball, just to see. Balls used : Spitfire, Rapid Fire
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 23 - 24 +414                   191 4 3-4-6-7 10 6-10    7 4
I figured i would like the high side of the building more today...boy was i wrong. This pair hooked a least an arrow more than the last pair and i just didn't move fast enough. I went to the Fired Up in the 4th, but it was still too much ball. I couldn't wait to get off this pair. After the first game i was in the lead...now i was in danger of missing match play. Balls used : Spitfire, Rapid Fire, Fired Up
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 25 - 26 +417                   203 3-6-10 10 8   3 - 10  3-6-9-10 / 10
More of the same....blah, blah, blah. As good as i threw it in qualifying i threw it equally bad in the semi's. I was crossing with Jason Wojnar for this round and he was crushing them from in with a Resurgenge, so i jumped in with him and went to a Dimension. It looked good when i threw good, but when i didnt........I considered myself lucky to hang on to 12th for Match Play. Balls used : Spitfire, Dimension

Round of 16

I drew Chad Maas for the first round of Match Play, and i knew i would be on the gutter by myself. Chad hooked it all weekend and had a very good look in practice. I figured it would take some big numbers to get by this round. I basically started in the same spot as the last 2 rounds with the Spitfire. I had my phone with me in the pits so i could keep myself occupied watching baseball scores online, but what happened next was unexpected. During the first game i got a text from my ex-wife saying that my son Trey had to be rushed to the hospital and to call immediatley. She said that he was complaining of pains in his side and he collapsed on the floor. So obviously i was freaking out not knowing what was going on. She told me to keep bowling unless something went wrong and i needed to head home. So trying to bowl a match not knowing what was going on with Trey was pretty tough. My focus was obviously somewhere else. Basically i told myself to just make the best shots that i could and get home as soon as possible.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 229 -244 LOSS                   229 10 7 4 7
I bowled a pretty decent game but Chad just flat outstruck me. I was already thinking about packing up and heading home. Balls used : Spitfire
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 239 - 223 WIN                   239 10 6 10 10
Other than the bad shot in the 2nd, this was another decent game.....i struck out in the 9th / 10th to force Chad to double. He made a pretty good shot, but left a 9 pin...giving me a win and a match tie. Balls used : Spitfire
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 268 - 278 WIN                   268 10     4
This was probably a great game to watch, but a tough one to bowl. I needed a double in the 10th to win the game and take a 2-1 lead in the match, but i got it in a little bit and left a 4 pin. Meanwhile Trey was sitting in the hospital bed waiting to see a doctor. Balls used : Spitfire
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 269 - 236 WIN                   269 3-6-10     10
I thought i threw the first shot pretty good, but it really picked up hard in the midlane. I made a 3 - 2 board adjusment and went off after that. Chad had a few bad shots allowing me to tie the match back up at 2
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 276 - 177                   276