Well we're into week 14 already this season. Been busy and haven't had a chance to update the blog till now.

 Started out right around where I left off last year, low 200's. Being the President and running the league always takes a toll the first month of bowling for me. Running around answering questions and trying to get the league off are big distractions. In addition to the normal beginning of the year stuff we lost 4 teams this year and several others were short bowlers so trying to get additional bowlers and to call the teams that quit took up a lot of time and energy. My son also started playing highschool football this year which caused me to miss a couple of weeks and be late for a couple others so I really couldn't get into the swing of things until the last month.

November started with a bang. I haven't had a 700 yet (usually good for 3 or 4 a year) but I haven't been under 200 for 4 consecutive weeks. Raised the average to 210 with a 696 last week. Needed a strike in the 10th of the last game and left a ringing ten pin, converted the spare and left another ringing 10 in the fill ball for a 204. Just could not carry that game. Started with a 257 and 235 for the second game. Also won the clean game pot two weeks in a row.

I bowled in the house's annual 9 pin no tap tournament on Thanksgiving morning. Haven't bowled this in a couple of years as I normally do pretty bad. Bowl 34and take the best 3 games, they pay out the top 8 spots. I started with a natural turkey then left a ten pin in the fourth, then had the next 8 (natural) for a 300. Got 5 bucks for that. Second game I started with an 8 count, fast 8 I call it, the 47. converted the spare and ended up with a 225. I had 2 9 counts that game the rest were strikes or 8 counts. We were having problems with the lanes not scoring properly (give me paper and pencil any day over these electronic things!) so we ended up moving half way through the game so it took a couple of shots to get used to the new lanes.  The third game started out like the first game. I had 1 ten pin and the rest natural through 9 frames, looking for a second 300 I left it out to far to the right and it never came back and left the 1 2 10, of course I couldn't make the spare for a 266.

Started the fourth game out back in the zone and had the first 9 again, with only 2 9 counts the rest natural. Why can't I bowl like this in league I thought to myself!?!  Again the 10th frame bit me in the as*. Same as the previous game, threw it out and didn't come back. Left the 1 3 9 and couldn't convert for 265.

 That gave me 300 266 265 for an 831, 5 pins handicap = 836. Ended in in 6th place. 911 won the tourny. Even though I was close with 3 300s I couldn't have won even if I had shot 900. Damn handicap!

 Oh well hopefully I can continue the hot bowling when we get back out there on Thursday night.

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Well last night was our final night of bowling. We were in the middle of the pack so we basically were bowling for nothing. Same team that won last year won this year for our leagues first repeat champion.

 Ended with 208 average, 728 was high series. Only had 4 700's this year.

 Time to start drafting changes for the 07-08 by-laws.

How do get a new photo to show up - nothing I try seems to change that stupid fake picture!

I'd have to say without a doubt my bowling career highlight is bowling back to back 300 games in 2004.

In 2003 I had been experiencing some pain in the base of my thumb, it only hurt when I bowled. I had a hard lump of something in there that pressed against the weight of the ball.  In 2004 the pain was more intense and more frequent so I decided I would get it checked out. Doctor said it was a cyst and actually this is a common ailment with bowlers. He said it was called Bowlers Thumb and surgery would take care of it but in order to prevent it coming back I would either have to change the way I bowled or quit. Well quitting wasn't an option so I'd have to change. Back to that in a moment.

I decided to have the surgey in January right in the middle of the bowling season, our team was doing badly and we were close to last place. The surgey went fine and then it was off to physical therapy for 2 months. I was not allowed to bowl during the entire time.

During the rehad I met with the pro shop owner at my local bowling alley and told him what the doctors suggested we do to reduce the stress and possibility of this re-occuring. We decided that the pitch of my thumb had to be changed as well as beveling it at a more severe angle and drop the weight to 15 pounds. He didn't want to mess up my ball with these changes until we tried it and it felt comfortable so he plugged and drilled a Columbia ball he had sitting in the pro shop. If I could bowl with this and it felt ok then he would redo my ball.

In February I got the ok from the therapist to bowl a few games here or there, not a lot though. Well that was all I needed. I bowled 3 practice games on a Sunday with my new Columbia ball, it felt ok so I dropped off my ball with the proshop and told them to change my ball.

That Thursday was league night and I was anxious to get bowling even though the therapist said "not to much" I was more than ready to get out there. However, when I went to the proshop to get my ball it wasn't ready. They ran into a problem when they plugged and redrilled my thumb so they had to start over. It was plugged but it wasn't redrilled yet and the guy doing it wouldn't be in till later. So I took the Columbia and decided to use that.

I started with a 190 game I think and halfway through the second game my ball was redrilled and the proshop owner stopped down by my lanes to drop it off. I was bowling pretty good with the Columbia so I decided to finish the game with it. I don't remember the score of that second game but it was in the 200's so I figured I use it for the last game, 'why change now?' I thought to myself.

Best decision I ever made. I put the first 9 balls in the pocket and struck on everyone. By this time the crowd had started to congregate behind my pair of lanes. The proshop guy was there tellilng everyone the story about the ball I was using - the lighter weight, the new pitch, a different type of ball altogether.

Now at this point I had thrown 9 strikes before but never 10 so I calmed myself down thinking of my barber who would always ask me when I came in for a haircut if I had a 300 yet. (we always talk bowling or biking when I get my hair cut).  I remember laughing to myself as I set up for my tenth shot, here I was trying to throw a strike and all I can think about is him asking again and this time answering YES. That laugh calmed me down and I threw another one flush. The eleventh was a lot easier than the 10th but I do recall that I was shaking just a bit. I tried to relax and not throw the ball to hard, the adreline was really flowing. The 12th ball was probably the worst ball of the game, I threw it hard and the last two pins to fall were the 8-10 I got lucky with it but they went down.

I don't recall much right after that but standing on the lanes screaming and pumping my fists. My teammates didn't come up for a few seconds till I had calmed down. Then the high fives started.

I had been so close many times 8 or 9 in a row. I even had 11 in a row (missing in the first) twice before. FINALLY!!

The next week guys were still congratulating me. A couple who were not there said that they couldn't believe I finally got one and they missed it. I said well, then I better get another one.

Who would have thought it would be the very next game! Obviously we were on a different pair of lanes, this pair we dubbed "the pie alleys" as they were nutorious for high scores - an easy pair. We had 2 guys bowl 300 against us on the same night one year on this pair. I remember starting with the first 6 strikes before I started thinking about another 300, not serious thoughts as it was next to impossible to do. I got a couple of Brooklyn strikes too, 1 in the 7 and one in 11th. The last ball was flush. This game was not a pretty as the first I had a big margin for error and the ball was getting to the pocket no matter what board I hit and I was really all over the alley, not like the first one where I was hitting my target shot after shot. I was very happy that this was not my first 300 especially on the easy pair. The next game I started with the first 3 before leaving a ten pin. I got a lot of ribbing and joking from my team and friends on the next pair of lanes stuff like "can't you throw a strike" and stuff like that. I figured out that in the span of 4 games I had bowled 30 consecutive strikes (I struck out in game 2 of the previous week, the 300 game in game 3, the 300 game in game 1 the following week and then the first 3 in the second game).

I was truly in the zone.

What the heck is a blog?