QUALIFYING - Day 1

I got down to Stadium first thing this morning to watch the 9:00 and 12:00 squads. See if I could learn something. The "A" squad scores were really low with only 11 bowlers over. Then "B" squad hit the lanes and had to wait 1 hour and 20 minutes before they could begin their practice due to a computer malfunction. The tournament director then made a decision to start tournament play, but each pair had to be hand scored. Talk about a total nightmare. I thought the train derailment that I went through in Baton Rouge was bad. We finally got our squad started at 4:30. It took about 20 minutes to get the computers up and running. Well worth the wait, as I did not want to have to do hand scoring. One of the best things about the whole day was being able to watch Kevin Croucher bowl. He was totally awesome, and his game is incredible right now. He is throwing the orb so well and his confidence level raises his game to the next level. Kevin started on lanes 37-38 and I started on lanes 41-42. Kevin was a great help to me today, I just wish I could have bowled better in game 3 and I would be right in the mix. I have a lot of work to do over the next couple of days. Here is a recap of my games today.

GAME 1:
I bowled a 214 right out of the gate. I was bowling really well, just taking my time making good shots. I left two 7 pins, two 6 pins, a 10 pin, a 4-6 split and had six strikes. I was playing the gutter and my timing was really good. The change in my mechanics allowed me to stay down at the line and not rare up causing the ball to go high or brooklyn. Good start.

GAME 2:
I bowled a 194. Started off the game making a bad shot. Had to wait on the next pair of bowlers. We had three to our pair and the pair we went to had four bowlers. I just hate that. So, I just had to make sure to slow down even more so the wait would not have to be so long between games. I had four strikes, left two 7 pins, one 10 pin, two 4-7's, and two 2-4-7's. This pair was a little tricky. I was fighting high-light the entire game. After shopping the 2-4-7 I stayed clean. So after two games I am plus 8 and have only one open. Really good start.

GAME 3:
I bowled a 149. OUCH. This pair sucked. I could not get comfortable. I washed out in the first frame. I had a hard time today starting off my games as you can see from my scoresheet. I left one 7 pin, had three strikes, two 6 pins, a 2-7 split, 2-4-7 and a 3-6-7. This is the worst I would bowl all day. Just did not match up to the pair very well. All three of us on the pair did not do well.

GAME 4:
I bowled a 202. Started off with the 3-6-7 split and picked it up. I then threw three strikes and a bunch of 9 pin spares. I had one 3 pin, one 2 pin, one 4 pin, two 7 pins and I had three strikes. I feel really good how I did this game after coming off a horrible game 3.

GAME 5:
I bowled a 183. Started off the game missing my first single pin spare. It was a 7 pin that I missed to the right after sticking on the approach. I then left another one in the next frame but was able to shake it off and pick up my spare. This lane was a lot different then the other 3 pairs I bowled on today. Did not have a good reaction at all. So I changed balls to The One that I had sanded with 2000 abralon. That seemed to do the trick as I struck on the next four shots. Now I am back on track. I then left a 1-3-7 washout that I picked up. That led me to the tenth frame where I went high and left the 2-7 split again. I never picked this up all day. I either went high into the 2 pin or the ball would not hook up and all I would get would be the seven pin. This combination hurt me all day. If I could have picked this up I would have had at least 50 more pins. That would have put me even for the day. So, after day 1 I am a little disappointed, yet feel good about the number of quality shots that I made. It was a good learning experience and I am hoping I can make better shots over the next couple of days. The lanes are going to get tougher as I bowl "B' squad tomorrow and then "A" on Wednesday. Realistically, this should have been the easiest of the 3 squads. So, you see, I have some work to do to get myself back in contention. It can be done as you can see from the standings, it is very tight, top to bottom.

My total score for the day is 942 (-58). I am currently 146th out of 296 bowlers. Real close to the cut score. I am 83 spots out of the cut and but only 56 pins shy. This is why every spare and every mark is so important. I had eight opens on the day. Five of the eight opens were in the first and tenth frames. I now know where my concentration needs to be today. I need to get off to a good start and finish stronger. Not too bad, but I did not get enough doubles to make up for them. So, if I stay clean for the entire day, I would have been in the TOP 30. No small task on this very demanding lane condition. Mark Roth is currently at 62nd with a 999 score. They will be taking the top 63 into Match Play on Wednesday night.

Lesson, Sweeper, Practice

I got up early today. Could not sleep very well last night. I was too excited about all of the bowling that was going on today. I got to the Stadium at 11:30 to give me plenty of time to get settled in before my lesson with Mike Jasnau. I hadn't picked up a ball in a couple of weeks and it showed. The lesson turned out great. There were not a lot changes that were made in my game. Two of my biggest problems - muscling the ball and raising up at the foul line have been corrected. The first correction was made in my first two steps. I was basically pushing away on my first step and then carrying the ball in my second step which caused me to muscle the ball in my third step to get me in time. All of this caused me to rare up at the foul line at the time of my delivery. That has all gone away. Mike now has me holding the ball a higher when I start and on my first step I hold the ball until my second step where I am now pushing off and letting the weight of the ball carry me into steps 3,4 and 5. I am now posting the shot at the foul line. The coolest thing is that the video analysis that was done shows the difference in both deliveries and I can now practice this and check back to the video to see how I am doing. It feels a little awkward, but I like the changes that were made in my game.

So, it was now off to the sweeper. The sweeper started at 2:30, only 1 hour after my lesson. The sweeper did not start out so well. First ball was a 4-6-7 split. OUCH. Way to take those lessons and apply them. For the next couple of shots I was trying to get comfortable on the lanes and use the adjustments in my game that were made by Jasnau. I ended up shooting a 168 with a couple of other splits. The scoring was very low, so I knew that I had a chance if I could bring it back it games 2 and 3. We then moved 10 pairs. Yes, that is correct. I started out on lanes 35-36 and had to move to lanes 55-56 for game 2. Needed oxygen to get to the next pair. What a jaunt. I started off with the front 4 and then went back to back splits. The lanes are really dry in the heads and if you pull it just a board or two, the ball goes through the nose. Of course, there is also out of bounds outside of the five board. Not an easy condition at all. I then struck on my next three balls and finished with a very respectable 223. I then had to move to the other end of the house on lanes 7-8. MORE OXYGEN PLEASE> I started out really good again with a spare and a double. I am looking really good until I lost ball reaction for a couple of frames where I left the big four on one shot and then had a washout in the tenth and ended with a 185 game. I ended up shooting 576 with the cash cut score being 588. I finished 32nd out of 97 bowlers. All in all not a bad start, just wish I would have thrown a couple of better shots when I needed them. Especially in the tenth the last game when I washed out. All I had to do was stay clean and I would have cashed. I don't feel to bad considering I just went through a pretty major change in my game.

Kristi and I then went to dinner and got something to eat before my practice session at 8:00. This went very well. I could really start concentrating on my new delivery and I am really anxious to get started tomorrow. I was throwing the ball really good in practice. I just relaxed more and told myself that I can make good shots and it showed. I hope I can stay that relaxed tomorrow in qualifying. If so, I feel I have a decent shot at shooting some good scores. It is really cool to hang out with Croucher. He knows all of the touring pros and it was fun to be around him just talking bowling. Mark Roth, Tom Baker, Bob Handley, David Ozio and Dave Soutar are just a few of the pros that I was able to talk with today. What an experience.

Sorry, there are no pictures today. Just my boring blog. I will try and get some pictures posted tomorrow with my qualifying scores.

07-07-07

For the most superstitious, the luckiest day ever has arrived. The wedding chapels are packed as well as the casinos in Reno. The Blues Festival is going on right down Virginia Street. Blues, Barbeque and Beer. What a combination. It is literally a can of sardines. There are beer and food booths galore. You buy tokens to try out the many different microbrews that are on tap. You buy the mug and 16 tokens for $20, and you get a 4 ounce sample of any beer that you want. The lines were long, so I skipped that and just purchased a 16 ounce cold one instead.
We started out the morning going to the movies. We went to Evan Almighty. We both liked it and it helped us stay out of the heat until we walked over to the Blues Festival. We grabbed a couple of cold ones and purchased a rib dinner with bar-b-que beans. The meal was awesome. The ribs were really tender and the beans were very spicy. After we ate, we hung around one of the stages to catch the Elvin Bishop concert. For those that are not familiar with him, he is famous for the song "Fooled around and fell in love." If you can't remember how the tune goes click on the link and it will take you to a short clip of the song. Just click on the play button and the song will start playing. Enjoy!! By the way, Rod Stewart did a remake of this song as well. I still like the original version.
http://www.last.fm/music/Elvin+Bishop/_/Fooled+Around+and+Fell+in+Love

We found some shade for awhile, but that soon disappeared. So we decided to head into Silver Legacy and sit down where it was cool and play some slots and of course have another beverage.

After a lot of walking we decided to head back to the trailer to kick back for the evening. The sun gets you really tired and I would like to rest before tomorrow. It is going to be a long day of bowling. Can't wait to get started.

Reno Rumblings

Well it's official. It was HOT yesterday. Set an all-time high. This reminds me so much of the trip we took to Disneyland when the kids were little. The day we went to the park, Los Angeles set an all-time heat record as well. Not sure what this is telling us, but if anyone needs their city to heat up any, just give us a call and we can make a visit.

We went into Reno this morning and checked out the casinos a little. Parked at the Silver Legacy and walked down the strip to the new casino Siena. Not before a quick stop to the Bowling Stadium. It sure looks different than when we were here in April for Nationals. After all of the walking around we stopped for lunch and then made it back to the truck where we drove around the block and checked things out. There is a lot of stuff going on this weekend. First, the Eldorado BBQ and Blues festival is tomorrow on Virginia Street. There will be plenty of Bar-b-ques, beer and blues. Should be a fun day if the weather cools off a little. Tonight, there is a boxing event being held outside at the Eldorado. One of the fighters was a contestant on the Contender series.


We started heading home to the RV Park when we noticed a lot of people in a park. They were carrying inner tubes. So we found a place to park the truck and walk down to the water. Here are a couple of pictures of what was going on.



Just when I thought I had seen everything, you have got to check this car out that was parked on the side of the street where we parked the truck to go check out the water. I cannot believe how much "stuff" is on this car. The picture doesn't do it justice.

Happy Birthday from Melissa

Melissa. Thank you for the card and presents. It was a great surprise to wake up this morning and find the presents you left for me. I now have a new favorite "Tequilla Sunrise" glass. I will put it to great use. The coasters are very funny as well.


BEFORE



AFTER

We made it to Reno

We left Eagle Lake around 11:00 and took it really slow. We only had one adventure along the way. We were cruising down the road and a truck met us with his flag out the window. All of a sudden a log cabin on wheels turned the corner and we just missed it. It took up most of the road and I had time to move to the side of the road. We stopped at Bordertown to have lunch. We made some turkey sandwiches, had some chips and drank some water before we pushed forward into Reno. The RV park was real easy to get to and our space is right next to the pool. The pool will be a popular hangout as it was 109 degrees today. OMG I cannot imagine what it must have been like in Vegas where it was 121. I remember my first Mini-Eliminator that I bowled in Vegas and it was only 110. LOL

We are just kicking back now after a swim and a cold shower.
Here are some pics of us at Shamrock RV. We will be here for 10 days. Now the bowling begins.

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY

Wishing everyone a fun day on the 4th. Be safe out there. Reno is having a bunch of fires and the authorities are nervous about more fires that may result due to the fireworks tonight.

I don't think Eagle Lake is doing a fireworks show. Too dangerous. I am sure Susanville will be doing something but we do not want to drive back there today. So, this will be the first 4th in a very, very long time that we have not been at a fireworks show.