What's Next

So, this last week we were all able to take a trip to Disney Land! It was my first time there and obviously the little ones first time too. We went with Sheri's mom and step-father, as well as her half sister and her husband. We left last Monday and came back on Friday (I couldn't miss bowling)! That isn't the real reason we came back on Friday, it was just time to come back is all. We visited Disney Land that first night and the next day, then drove to Sea World on Wednesday and then back to Disney Land on Thursday. It was way fun, busy and it wore Triton out each night. Quinn would get in a little nap around 1:00 or 2:00 while in the stroller and then she would outlast Triton through the night.

Quinn was able to go on more rides than I thought she was going to be able to and Triton was just barely tall enough to go on Splash Mountain. That was probably the scariest ride that he went on. There was one other roller coaster that he was able to go on that was fast, but no big drop like Splash Mountain. Every time he would get off a ride, he would say "What's Next"? It was pretty cute how he just wanted to go and go. The lines were pretty long, but him and Quinn did pretty good while waiting in lines.

So many thanks to Crystal and Trevor as well as Darrell and Laura for watching the little munchkins while Sheri and I jumped on some bigger rides that the little ones weren't tall enough to ride on. Here are just a few pictures to share of the trip.

Not too sure what Triton is trying to do with his face?

This is Sheri and myself after riding the Atlantis ride at Sea World. You can't really tell but my shorts are soaked as could be. I actually did scream on this ride, but it wasn't because it was scary or cold. I was sitting in front and you can see the big drop just behind us there? That isn't where one gets most wet! There is another drop in the back where nobody can see and that part is where I got about 75% of the soakage that I have in the picture. I screamed because I was in front and I knew before it happened that there was going to be no escaping the wall of water that was coming! I screamed in frustration of not being able to escape the water. So again it wasn't because the water was cold or because I was scared! It was simply the fact that I had no change of clothes and I knew I was going to be wet as can be!!

Nothing Big

Just as the title of this blog is nothing big. I really don't have anything to say that is important, just going to give a quick update on how I bowled last week and maybe other stuff who knows. Last week we bowled on lanes 11 and 12. I have always hated these lanes because it seems that no matter what I don't get the carry I deserve on those lanes. I think I have had maybe one 700 series on those lanes and a high game 290 on those lanes. They must have had the flu on those nights. This night seemed classic 11 and 12 though. I started out practice striking like 4 or 5 times and was throwing a good ball.
The league started and scoring began and I was bowling pretty dang good. I was hitting the pocket and nothing wanted to fall. I threw a couple of bad balls, but was happy with the way that my ball was reacting I just wasn't getting the carry. I hit a whopping 155 or something? I didn't get a strike that whole game? I finally got my first strike in the second game first frame. I was using my Trauma Recovery (which is the ball that I have basically thrown 90% this year) and I think I might have gotten one more strike with it toward the end of that second game. I switched bowling balls to my Track in the tenth frame of the second game. I think I threw 8 out of 12 strikes with that ball. Guess I should have switched earlier? Kind of weird that I was throwing a better ball with the Trauma, but the Track carried better with a worse pocket entry? Some nights are like that I guess. I got an open in the tenth frame of the third game for a whopping 215. Shot a 550 series the worse that I have had in probably 4 months and I blame it on the lanes! Sure it sounds as if I should have just switched bowling balls sooner and maybe that is true, but it still doesn't change the fact that I didn't get the carry that I deserved. I had my average up to a 203 before that night and I imagine it might drop a pin after that 550? So, I need to work to maintain my 200 average in time for the yearbook numbers to be taken (which is the first couple of weeks in April).

Did I Blow It?

Last night we were in first place by 5.5 points bowling against my friend Mike who has thrown 8 three hundred games and three 800 series in just about 3 years. He has been one of the city's best bowlers for the past two years. I have been friends with Mikey ever since 6th grade. He and I have bowled tournaments and leagues together for so many years now. I am glad that he is a great bowler now. He was always pretty decent like me, but I was just a bit better than him and of course my funk slump came into play and even then he wasn't that much better than me until these past few years. He went to college for a while and really wasn't bowling much so that is why he never really got great.
With the way that Josh has been bowling I figured if we were to take first place for the quarter and earn a spot in the finals we would have to rely on the girls (Aunt Barbara and my wife Sheri to win the most of the points). Why did I not include myself in the list of earnable points for the night? Because I was in fact paired to bowl against Mike, and did you not read his resume above. Oh yeah I forgot to mention that he basically averages 220! There is a total of 30 points possible on the night and we simply needed to win 12.5 or something like that to hold off Mike's team.
The first game started out great we won 4 of the total 6 points available on that game. I won my point and Barbara won her point and we had the higher team score which was 2 points. I bowled a 227 against a struggling Mike who finished strong with a 202. The next game wasn't that great! Sheri was the only one to take a point out of 6 available. Mikey started the 2nd game with the first 9 strikes in a row against me so I didn't have a chance to beat him. At this point I am even rooting for him to shoot a 300. It wasn't meant to be and he tugged the 10th ball just a bit and shot a 277 against my 237. Yeah most nights when you shoot a 237 you are most likely to win that point. Not against Mike like I said! So out of 12 points available after game 2 we only had 5 of them.
The last game started out pretty good and everybody was winning on our team except Josh. I was only ahead of Mike by ten pins but I was throwing a pretty decent ball and just figured if I kept striking I would at least take 2 points out of the possible 5 against Mike. Sheri ended up tying her last game against her opponent and she won 3.5 points out of her possible 5. Barbara won her last game and took totals as well thus she won 4 out of her 5 points. Mikey shot a 246 his last game. I shot a 266 and beat Mike not only that game but series as well. He shot a 723 and I hit a 730! Pretty weird to shoot exactly the same series as the week before, but I was dang happy. I had beaten one of the city's best bowlers on one of 5 of the most important nights of a league! There are 4 positional rounds that earn a spot into the final (last night being one of them) and then you have finals! Without this win we wouldn't be in the finals unless we were to win the last quarter. It always loosens up a swing knowing that you have already stamped a place in the finals. Mikey's team had already won a quarter and thus they were already in the finals. Was what we bowled enough to win the 12.5 points that we needed? We lost the last games final score which I thought we absolutely needed. So we had Sheri's 3.5 points Barbara's 4 points and my 4 points which gave us 11.5 points! We did win that first game as a team and that gave us 2 points and gave us our victory 13.5 points! We took the 3rd quarter and earner ourselves a spot in the finals! Wahoo I didn't blow my good bowling either!
Another 730! I have now averaged just over 232 for the past 4 weeks and am feeling better and better. I beat one of the best bowlers around here last night when he shot a 723! I honestly think that is probably my first back to back 700 series since I started bowling! My average was up to 202 before last night and I imagine that it will probably move up another 2! I had two goals this year and they were to beat Josh (which I thought was going to be a lot easier that it was) and to get my average up to a 200. I am sure that I have the Josh goal in the bag, but there is still 10 more weeks of bowling to go. Anything can happen, but I am hoping to keep it going.
On January 20th Sheri had a chance to get her first 600 series. She has been bowling really good this year and I had hoped that she would get her first 600. She bowled a 220 her first game and fell slightly the second game hitting a 184. Thus she needed to get a 196 her last game. She knows that in order to get up in the high 190s to low 200s you will need to double up (that is getting two strikes in a row) and leaving no opens. Thus she needs to get a double and shoot all spares to get her 196. Well, it was the ninth frame and she hadn't doubled yet. She hadn't opened which was great, but she need to get them two strikes in a row yet. She asked for my advice. I knew she was throwing a good ball she just wasn't getting any breaks. I noticed one thing that might give her a bit more carry so I told her my advice. She stepped up in the 9 frame and missed! She got her spare and had one last shot to get a 600. She needed the first two strikes in the tenth frame to have a shot. She stepped up with the first ball in the tenth frame and smashed the pocket! Strike! The next ball was a bit light in the pocket but there was still some pins moving around and at last that final pin fell giving her that much needed double! She would however still need to get like 6 pins or something like that. I think she might have struck, but the fact was that she got her last 5 or 6 pins that she needed and hit a 604 series! I was so pound of her! With that 600 by Sheri and my 700 series last week we have all our team on the honor roll board! Pretty cool. We are probably the only team in that bowling establishment that have a mixed team (2 guys and 2 girls) on the honor roll board.
In order to get on the honor roll board you have to either shoot a 225 or higher as a woman or hit a 600 series. Barbara has not shot a 600, but she did get a 234 one week. Sheri obviously got her 604. Josh has been on the board for most of the year. As a man you have to shoot a 700 or have a score in one game higher than a 275. Josh did both of those things in the first 5 weeks of bowling. I finally hit my 730 and it is pretty cool having all of our team on the board! I am happy for us all, but hope that Josh doesn't get to down on himself for not bowling good. He did hit a 226 his first game and I thought he might be making a comeback from his last month of bowling, but his next two games sucked. I still think he is trying too hard and expects too much from himself. Keep up the desire to bowl good Josh and just have fun.

Better Blog Before I Blow It

So as many of you know I have been struggling with bowling for about a decade. I was a decent bowler averaging around 215 and was confident that I was going to get even better. I woke up one day and was unable to roll the ball properly and my average dropped down to like a 175. I have averaged around 190 for the past 7 years, but that is just luck because there was no confidence in my release.
Josh my cousin bowls with us this year and he started out the year on fire. He was basically averaging anywhere from 198-207 all year. I was just basically sticking around that 190-193 area that I have been in limbo with for years. I knew that I needed to do something to get my game back. I decided the first step was to have my bowling balls re-drilled and see if that was the issue (it was about 90% of the issue). The way all my bowling balls were drilled kept me from holding and releasing the ball properly and consistently. I had two bowling balls redone and from then on it was up to me. Was I going to be able to learn how to bowl again? It was about the beginning of December that this was done. I informed Josh he had 5 weeks and I was going to surpass his average. I know that he wanted to kick my butt at my own game since the year started and he was so great out of the gate. Well it only took two weeks to overtake him. However, he decided to bowl great the next week and passed me again. This happened again. I would work my butt off and then he would have a great week and pass me again.
Three weeks ago he bowled pretty bad not even averaging a 170 on the night and I bowled good and passed him with a 199-198 that following week. Two weeks ago I bowled pretty good again and he didn't bowl bad just not as good as me, and I was at 200 and he was down to a 197. That was my biggest lead on him for the year. This last week was pretty cool. During the ten minutes of practice before league started I could find the pocket for anything. I was completely lost. I thought it might be a good sign because usually if you do nothing but strike in practice you are going to suck the rest of the night. I was a little worried, but my first ball of the night I was instantly sure that I was going to release the ball properly and score good. I was correct. My first game was a 234, second game 230 and my last game was a 266 for a 730! I had the last ten strikes in a row in that last game and Josh once again didn't even hit a 170 average on the night. I averaged just over 243 for the night and my average will jump more while Josh's falls. I have averaged 227 for the last three weeks and hope to maintain whatever overall average I have tonight throughout the year. Just figured that I had to blog before I do in fact bowl horrible. I know that there is going to be a night where I feel lost again and I won't score worth crap, but the last 3 months have given me hope that I can someday be the bowler I once was. These last three weeks I have actually felt better than when I was bowling great as a young man. I have just seen too many people scoring perfect games and 800 series without me! I dream to one day have an 800 ring and to have Josh (my cousin who hasn't bowled a league since he was in high school) bowl his first league in forever and come so close to it shooting an 800 with his 787 just kind of woke me up. I could have cared less in fact I wish he would have shot the 800 that night, but it for sure has awakened my passion for the game again. I am happy with the way I have been bowling. I have hated bowling for the past ten years and didn't ever think that I would be one of the city's elite ever again. I never imagined that I would want to bowl. Sure Sheri and I have bowled a league every year that we have been married, but it was basically just something to do and get out of the house in the winter months. I haven't enjoyed the game and was pretty close to quitting a couple of times. The past month I have actually thought about bowling a ton. I have thought about bowling tournaments, I have thought that I want to have a Steve Stricker like comeback. I have no aspirations of being on TV, but I do want to go to some bigger tournaments this next year if I am bowling like I am now and still have the confidence that I have right now.
I thanked Josh for giving up on trying to beat me this year as far as average is concerned. He didn't really like that remark and said that the year wasn't over. I hope that he does not only try to beat me, but I hope that he does in fact bowl great. I don't think that he will be able to pass me though. I have a ton of confidence that he is lacking. He expects a bit too much especially since like I said he hasn't really bowled since juniors. He gets down on himself way too much too. Once a person is able to stop beating their selves up over little mistakes in any sport and focus on the next shot or task at hand is the day that they start excelling exponentially.
I now have no doubt that Josh isn't going to be able to beat me this year and I will still be known as the best bowler in the family, but that is hopefully just the tip of the iceberg. I expressed to Josh a sincere thanks as for bowling with us this year and pushing me to get out of the pit. I have been a big let down to my fellow bowlers for years. This is the first year that I haven't been asked to bowl city or state tournament by someone! Nobody! Not even fellow bowlers who aren't that good that have idolized me back in the day and would love to have me on their team in the past didn't even ask me this year. It really doesn't hurt my feelings. I wouldn't not want to have asked me either if I were them. Heck I don't know why I was asked for the past 9 of these 10 years. I literally sucked but I hope to have those multiple invites again next year when I prove to everyone that I am back!

Josh moved ahead

With Josh's 787 two weeks ago he moved ahead of me for highest average on our team. He has a 199 which could drop a pin after this last week, but that will still keep him ahead of me for this upcoming week. I only beat him by 7 pins this last week and my average will probably remain the same 197.
Josh has never been a big bowler. I mean he bowled as a junior and subbed on our team here and there throughout the past years, but this is the first year that I found out that he really wants to do good. He only has two bowling balls. Many of you probably think that is one too many and for sure enough as many as you would need to be a good bowler? Well, I have thrown away a few bowling balls over the years and gave away a few as well and I still own 7 bowling balls. That is probably the lowest amount owned by someone who might be considered a decent bowler. If I were to finally get my average up to a 220 then for sure 7 bowling balls would be considered a low number. I have a friend that I have bowled with since 6 grade and he probably has over 50 bowling balls easily. He is one of the best bowlers in the city. That is not saying that having more bowling balls is going to make you a better bowler. There are a lot of balls that react differently since there are many types of oil patterns on a few types of surfaces as well.
Anyway after seeing Josh own them lanes that night he bowled that 787 I suggested that when he gets a new bowling ball someday he should get one that is more aggressive. The lanes that night were dry and tough. His equipment is old and I figured something new might help as well. Plus technology is always changing and a new aggressive bowling ball could give him more confidence as well if he could be more aggressive himself. Confidence is everything and if a ball can help him gain more of that then I am sure that he would bowl a 300 within two years.
I wasn't thinking that he would get a new bowling ball at least not until the new year. He sent me a link of a brand new bowling ball. He has three kids and I didn't want him to spend any money on a bowling ball. I told him to let me ask Mike (the friend with the 50 + bowling balls) and see if he had a bowling ball that he never uses anymore that might be good for Josh. Turns out that he did have something that wasn't too old at all and he ended up just giving this bowling ball to Josh and I paid for the ball to be plugged and re drilled to fit Josh. I wasn't impressed with the way that the bowling ball looked when I had to be the middle man in getting it from Mike and delivered to Josh. Josh got it back yesterday from my friend that plugged and re drilled it and Josh texted me informing me that the ball was pretty. I guess that Kevin (guy that drilled it) also resurfaced it and made it look all shiny and new. Josh now has a bowling ball that is newer than 8 years old and he likes it so far. He hasn't had a chance to throw it yet, but he thanked me for helping him save $180 since a new bowling ball is like $160 online and at least another $25 to drill. So that was my good deed for the season and maybe the year!

Josh Fights Back

As you may have read in the last few blogs Josh hasn't been bowling good. I have been bowling pretty decent but nothing great. I overtook Josh the week before last as high average on the team and reclaiming my throne as best bowler in our family.
I have been losing a bit of confidence over the last couple weeks and have only averaged 198. I keep reverting back to the old crap that brings down confidence and scores. The new release is keeping me close to the 200 average though. So I figured I can get my average up to 200 before the yearbook deadline in the first part of April. I also figured that if I average just around a 600 series for the night that Josh will not be able to catch back up because his confidence is lacking and maybe his focus too?
Friday we walk into bowl and this kid on the opposing team informs Josh and I that he didn't want to see any of our crap. He was partly joking but he was indicating that he didn't want us throwing any big games. Josh hasn't always been used to other teams/bowlers fearing him so when someone says something like that and he hears it he is like a shark that can smell blood.
I still intimidate a lot of bowlers just because of my history when I was a great bowler. I don't know if they just don't know how to pay attention that I haven't and still am not even close to being the bowler that I once was, but I know that I still have that intimidation factor. It is a new thing for Josh though and I am glad when someone says something like that to him because it is going to be a good night of bowling. A shark can smell a drop of blood a mile away. This kid had just severed an artery right in front of Josh. This kid was Josh's opponent and had just shot himself in the leg. The last time someone indicated in passing that Josh was an elite bowler he tied his best series. Like a 727 or something? A record that wasn't going to last!!???
The first game Josh and I were both bowling pretty good. He was ahead of me for the first half of the game and I figured the pressure might get to him and I would eventually win that game. I opened the ninth or tenth frame for a 214 but it didn't matter the pressure wasn't getting to him that night. He finished his first game with a 266! Good job Josh I just hope that I can beat you the next game. He and I were doing pretty equal for the first half of game 2 when our lane broke down! I had two strikes going into the next frame which I threw a half hour or so later, it was a horrible ball and I split leaving an open frame. My next frame was an open and that game I fell apart. I think I got like a 166? Josh wasn't phased by the fact that our lane broke and we had to bowl on one lane for a bit until we could move to another pair. His second game was a 254.
If you know anything about bowling you know that Josh's first two games put him over 500, therefor he had a chance to bowl an 800 series which is the Mecca for any good bowler. There was one bad thing though with his first two games. If he would have gotten one more pin he would have been at a 521, however he was only at a 520. Why was that one pin such a bad thing? Well if he would have gotten a 521 he would need a 279 for an 800. A 279 can be scored in numerous ways, but there doesn't have to be a string of all strikes all the way to the end of the game to get there. Since he only had that 520 this meant that he needed to shoot a 280, now in order to shoot a 280 you can spare the first frame and strike the rest or you have to shoot the first ten strikes and then you can miss. I was already pumped up for Josh because I knew that he was lined up and I knew that as long as he stayed focused he could easily shoot ten more strikes in a row. He was in a zone and I just wanted him to stay there.
We ended up moving a few frames later in the second game to a pair of lanes that worked. We got moved to a nightmare pair of lanes. I thought that they were way dry. I was doing all I could to get the ball to the packet but Josh didn't seem to be laboring at all to finish that second game. So, like I said, I knew that ten in a row wasn't going to be that hard for him. He got the first 4 strikes and I kept telling him just one frame at a time, just one ball at a time, just nice and easy. I didn't want him to get all pumped up and throw a bad ball. He got the first 7 strikes and I was pumped up. I was screaming each time he threw a strike and I knew that he only needed 3 more strikes and he would have the ring (pictured a few blogs below) I have always wanted on his finger.
In the 8th frame he stuck again. I knew that his line was getting a bit tight but it was working for him. I didn't know how his ball was staying in the pocket but it was. Strike number 9 fell and I was about to come unglued. I was screaming louder and louder. I wanted him to get the 800. I figured he was more focused on the 300 and didn't have a clue about the 800. So one more strike was all he needed. If he gets this one more strike he has a chance to still shoot a 300, plus he earns $100 for shooting an 800. He gets a ring for an 800, plus a plaque next year at the hall of fame banquet. If he gets three more strikes he gets two rings one for the 800 and another for the 300, plus an extra $100 for his 300.
As he was stepping up to the lane I wanted to tell him to throw this last strike a little farther out to the right. There was no way that I was going to interrupt him though. For some reason something was telling me that he needed to throw this next ball out a little more so that it would drive through the head pin a bit more because like I said I thought his line was a bit tight. I said nothing and Josh began his approach. He let go of the ball and it made its way down the lane just as the same 16 balls before that. He had gotten 16 strikes in a row dating back to the last game! The ball hit the pocket and the pins began to fall. I saw two standing when I fell on the ground. I knew that he had thrown a pretty good ball, but I knew that there was no way that both of the pins that I saw standing were going to fall. I belted out at the top of my lungs "Nooooooooooooooo". I looked up and he had gotten 9 of the ten pins, one of the pins that I thought were standing had fallen but not both. I knew at that moment he was going to walk away with nothing on the night. When a mere seconds before he still had a chance to have two rings $200 a plaque and a head as big as the world for the next (rest of his life). I only want one thing in bowling and that is an 800 ring. He was one strike away. He threw a good ball the pins just didn't want to fall. I sat on a step with my head on my knees for a minute or two and I could have cried. If there wasn't a bunch of people in the bowling alley I would have cried. I just couldn't believe that that all that was taken away from him in an instant. I wish that I would have told him to move his line a bit more to the right with that last ball, but I didn't. At least then if he missed he could have had me to blame and not just bad luck. He ended up with a 267 that game and a 787 series. Averaging 262 for three games and shooting the best series between us. I think my high series is 762 or something like that I can't remember. I shot a 587 averaging just over 195, but I wish I could have given Josh that last strike. In my mind before he threw that last ball I was saying "Please just let him have one more strike". I guess it wasn't meant to be. Maybe I am supposed to get an 800 before him? I am glad that he has bowled with us this year. He has awoke my desire to bowl better. I am figuring out the game little by little again and it is because of him. Sure I have tried and tried to come out of my slump for the past 9 years, but it wasn't until I was (and still might be) in jeopardy of losing the title of best bowler in our family. It will be a race for the next couple of months on who has this best year, but he knows that he needs to get a ring on his finger before he thinks he is the best in our family. I hate that he is moving in a couple of months. He is taking a job up north in February or therabouts. This has been the most fun bowling I have had since bowling my last 300 game. I have the desire to bowl again. I will miss you Josh and if I figure out how to bowl completely again I will owe a lot of it to you. So maybe when I get my 800 (since you can't) I can just dedicate it to you? Hahaha....

Pulls in the Lead

I had told Josh that I was going to give him 5 weeks until I was high average on our team. It only took 2 weeks! My average jumped form a 191 to 197 in two weeks and he dropped from his 200 like I mentioned to a 195. I really feel bad that he is not doing so good. I felt good going into Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, but I was a little tired. I played basketball that morning after working all night. Took a short nap before bowling. Started out practice really good. I had 7 strikes in a row. The last ball or two that I threw felt like I was slipping back to the old style though. So any confidence I had vanished. I scraped through the night averaging just over 200 bowling a 602 series. I was in between the old style of bowling and the new. Again, once I figure it out all had better watch out because I am going to be on a terror of high scores.

My friend Mike started out his first game with 11 strikes in a row and missed his last ball for his possible 8th 300 game by throwing a 7 count finishing with a 297. I love watching him bowl good and hope that I can be up there with him before too long. I guess the next day in a local tournament he did the same thing! Except this time he only threw a 6! finishing with probably his worst after the front 11 strikes, he obviously got a 296. I can say that is sad, but it is more sad that I can't even come close.