This week’s report comes to you from Redbird Lanes ( formerly Knittig’s Bowl ) in Cahokia, IL. Over the last several years I had gotten pretty close to Tony and Anne Knittig, so when I found out back in July that they had decided to sell the bowling center I was shocked and disappointed. Tony and Anne are great people that did a lot for bowling in the St Louis area, as well as being tremendous hosts for the PBA. With that being said it was time to “issue in a new era” and welcome the new owners into the PBA family.

Friday October 6th

I made the short drive down to Cahokia and arrived shortly before the practice session began. As usual, I grabbed the normal assortment out of my truck and practiced for a while. With Redbird Lanes having pretty old, worn wood lanes I was pretty sure that the pattern would be hooking. We were bowling on PBA Regional Pattern #3, which I normally play in on. Pair that up with the fact that the track area is pretty dished at Redbird, and you get a very high scoring regional tournament. I bowled for about an hour and a half, using pretty much everything I had. I started out in the practice, trying to see if the gutter would play. I used a Trifecta and had a pretty good look for a fairly long period. After a while I jumped in with a Thunderstruck Solid and camped out. After practice, I bowled the Junior Pro-Am then headed to Hooters to grab some dinner. The Yankees and Tigers were playing, so we hung out there for a while, before I headed back to the room to watch the rest of the game. With having only 55 entries, we were on one squad starting at noon, so I was hoping to get a little extra rest. I haven’t been feeling well for about a month and I also haven’t slept well in quite a while. Hopefully that comes to an end really soon !!!

Saturday October 7th

I was really hoping to get off to a good start in qualifying, mainly because I haven’t bowled that great on this patter this year and I really haven’t performed well on bad surfaces in quite a while. I was crossing with Jeff Richgels, Paul Nicholas and Barry Hubbard. That was a good cross for me, with 2 guys playing right of me and Paul and I sharing the same part of the lane. I was able to get good reads off of all 3 guys all day long. I tried the Trifecta from out during practice, but I was the only one out there. With about 2 minutes left I grabbed my T-Struck and jumped in with the other guys. I was standing at 38, crossing around 20 at the arrows. There was quite a bit of friction on the lane so ball speed was critical. I started Game 1 with a 3-6-9, which I chopped. I then regrouped with a 6-bagger, 4-pin and a double for a 246 start. I could certainly live with that for a start. Game 2 was a very rough pair for me. The left lane was snot tight and I never really got adjusted to it. I went 2-8, 3-6-10 ( adjusted when I didn’t need to ), 2-pin, strike, 2-4, strike, 2-10, solid 9, double, blower 7-10 for 191. As you can see, I didn’t hit the pocket on that lane until the 10th and by then it was too late.

Game 3 was much better, just not in the score department. I didn’t miss the pocket, but four 10-pins and 1 double only added up to 201, leaving me at +38 after 3 games ( the cut number was +62 already ). We made the turn and went down to 1 & 2 for Game 4. Lucky for us we got 1 & 2 out of the way early, because we were already in around 25 and there isn’t much approach on Lane 1 ( more about that later on !!! ).  I actually moved way up on Lane 1 and cut my steps down, allowing me to start further left. This really helped because I went blower 7-10, 10-bagger, 7-pin for 278. We had about a 20-30 minute wait for Game 5, just enough to stiffen my hand up ( and Paul’s back ). These breaks can be really hard on the body, especially when you don’t get any practice shots before you have to start. I bowled a decent game with a couple of triples and one split for 226, putting me at +142 after 5 games ( the cut number was now at +129 and rising ! ).

Game 6 was the key game because I wanted to try and get some separation on the cut number, now that I was finally above it. I got lucky and hit a very good pair, starting with the front 10, before a 2-8 stopped the string. I finished with 288, putting me at +230 after six. Game 7 was on another wet/dry pair, which was pretty common. I went double, 2-8, triple, 2-8, double, ring 10, ring 10 for 234. By now we were inside of 30 just wheeling it. The only problem was there was still a huge puddle of oil in the middle, and if you didn’t get it far enough right downlane you were staring at some sort of 2 pin leave. Luckily for me, the cut number dropped from 165 to 155 after Game 7, so I was pretty comfortable in for Sunday. Game 8 was a total train wreck for me ( for the second week in a row ). I started solid 9, ring 10, strike. But a 2-4-10, chopped 3-6-10 and a blower 7-10 only left me with 175 and +239 for the block. The cut number ended being Tommy Jones at +199.

Speaking of TJ, I saw him do something on Lane 1 that was more impressive than his over the chair trick shots. He was walking on the tile, along side of the approach on Lane 1, and lofting it up a good 4-5 feet in the air onto the lane ( and even struck a few times !!! ). Pretty impressive if you ask me. I ended up qualifying 12th in what ended up being yet another scorefest in our region. It seems like its becoming a theme that our numbers are skyrocketing out of control. After qualifying, I headed to Blimpies to grab a sandwich and just went back to the room. I stayed in and watched baseball all night because I felt absolutely horrible. I ended up falling asleep halfway through the Mets-Dodgers game ( not much drama in that series anyway ).

Sunday October 8th

I crossed with Pete and Dave Beres during the semis, again giving me two great players to help me read the lanes. Dave was right of me, and Pete and I were in the same part of the lane. Since there were only 3 bowlers to a pair, the lanes didn’t carry down nearly as fast. I forced myself a little farther left earlier than I wanted, but it was working. I started 4-bagger, 2-8, double, ring 10, blower 7 in Game 1, finishing with 235. I started with an Agent because it blended the lane out, but by the time Game 1 was finished I could tell that there was just too much friction for that ball. I switched to the T-Struck for Game 2, going double, split, ring 10, strike, ring 10, sheet for 234. That put me at +308 after 10 games and only 2 pins out of the match play number.

Game 3 was pretty disheartening for me. I started with a strike, ring 10, triple. Then I thought I made a pretty good shot, but left a 4-7-10. Then I doubled before a blower 7 popped up. I struck out for 222, putting me at 8th place ( the cut number ), but I really felt like that was at least a 250+ game. Game 5 was even worse for me, going strike, 4 pin, blower 10, 4-9 spare, strike, 4-10, ring 10, strike, and a 4 pin in the ninth. I struck out again to bail 195, but the damage was clearly done. I was at +325 and the cut number was +366. It was going to take a miracle to pull this one out. That miracle just about came true. I started Game 5 with the front 7 before a solid 9 totally took the wind out of my sails. I figured I need all of them to make it. I struck in the 9th, then I though I made a great shot in the 10th. I must have gotten it in downlane, because it didn’t read the lane enough and I left a 2-pin. I was so frustrated with myself that I promptly flagged it, finishing with 247 and leaving me 27 pins on the outside looking in. So I packed up my stuff and headed home.

I would like to thank our newest PBA host, Marc Brevard for his hospitality and I hope that he has us back again next year. Congrats to one of my heroes, Pete Weber for winning yet another title ( yawn, ho hum !!! ). My next report will be coming next weekend from Springfield, Mo. Until then, as always, Bowl up a Storm !!!

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