The FOFC Bowling Thread

[PackerFanatic]

That would be a ridiculously cool logo on a bowling shirt.

[Alan T]

Originally Posted by JediKooter

After the way I bowled last night, good thing they didn't use me in that study.

I had 5 splits in my first 7 frames last night. Maybe this study means after I had one split, I was bound to keep getting more splits after?

[JediKooter]

Originally Posted by Alan T

I had 5 splits in my first 7 frames last night. Maybe this study means after I had one split, I was bound to keep getting more splits after?

You know, that's a good point. I didn't think of it from that angle. My second to last game was, I kid you not: 9, 9, 9, 9, 9, 9, 9, /, 9, 9. How I managed to pick up that one spare, I have no idea. So yes, I had the hot 'bad' hand.

[PackerFanatic]

I definitely believe that...after a couple bad frames in a row, I am certainly in my own head and starting to feel like even the small adjustments I make are doing no good. I hate games like that. The headgames are terrible

[Alan T]

Well since I throw a straight ball, the difference between a strike and a split for me is sometimes pretty small. So when I get certain splits, i try to not let it bug me too much and I just try to throw what I feel should be the same ball again. When I start moving around my spot too much after a split, I usually end up getting a whole bunch of worse results. I just never have quite had that streak of splits before like that. Probably didn't help that we ended up with the bad lane last night that the ball kept getting stuck on the return. So we would have to wait a good 2-3 minutes between our first and second ball. Finally they ended up just having a guy down there the rest of the night manually returning balls for our lane.

[PackerFanatic]

Originally Posted by Alan T

Well since I throw a straight ball, the difference between a strike and a split for me is sometimes pretty small. So when I get certain splits, i try to not let it bug me too much and I just try to throw what I feel should be the same ball again. When I start moving around my spot too much after a split, I usually end up getting a whole bunch of worse results. I just never have quite had that streak of splits before like that. Probably didn't help that we ended up with the bad lane last night that the ball kept getting stuck on the return. So we would have to wait a good 2-3 minutes between our first and second ball. Finally they ended up just having a guy down there the rest of the night manually returning balls for our lane.

Dude - thank you for reminding me, lol. A couple weeks ago, during practice, one of the lanes we were on stopped returning balls. I think 3 different people (including myself) got balls stuck before we stopped and called the front desk...took them about 5 minutes to fix it and send all the balls back..and they were absolutely covered in oil and grime. I wiped the ball down pretty well, but it really needs a good cleaning and I didn't have time before starting to put it in the machine. Totally forgot to go early and do it last week and I was going to do it this week. So thanks for the reminder

[Pumpy Tudors]

I am about to miss my first league session ever. I woke up sick this morning, and I am not in any condition to bowl. What a bummer.

Also, I love the pins on fire image.

[lungs]

[Pumpy Tudors]

Quick recap of my bowling season:

My team finished second for the third year in a row.
I won an $800 strike pot.
I had to give half of the strike pot money away because I had made a deal with one of the other league members. We split a strip of tickets, and if one of those tickets got chosen, I would throw the shot and split the money with him if I made it. He made $400 sitting on his ass.
My final average was 210. I made one of my goals for the season (200+ average). I just missed my other goal of achieving a 750 series. Two months ago, I bowled a 746.

Final week-by-week stats are linked in my sig.

I am bowling three leagues in the summer. They kick off in about three weeks.

[spleen1015]

Haven't bowled since this little Fall league ended last year right before Thanksgiving. First night last night.

666.

I'm bowling with the devil. Bow before my greatness!

[Grover]

Originally Posted by spleen1015

Haven't bowled since this little Fall league ended last year right before Thanksgiving. First night last night.

666.

I'm bowling with the devil. Bow before my greatness!

Nice! My first of two fall candlepin leagues kicked off on Tuesday night.

322 (92-113-117), third highest series on the night.

[MCK]

Down here in Maryland, we have our 3rd DUCKPIN Tour stop of the season coming up at College Park, Maryland. The 1st stop of the year I picked up my first star (win) and I'm currently averaging 150 on tour.

Last year at College Park I was top qualifier on Saturday and lost the final match on Sunday to come in 2nd place. Hope to perform as well as I did then.

Our website is www.pwpt.net if anyone is interested.

[Grover]

Awesome. We've got all three major forms of bowling covered here.

[Grover]

Monday night men's league started tonight. Anchored my team with a 101, 122, 108. 653 in six total league games, 108.83 average. I think it's only going to climb. Starting to find myself again.

[wahoomac]

2nd week of the season (my average is 166), tonight I rolled a 198, 246, 172 for my first 600-series (616) and the 246 is my personal high. I rolled a 242 about 15 years ago. The bad thing: we lost all three games, one of the opponents had a 695 and another had a 639. Lost the last game by one pin.

[MCK]

Our 3rd Duckpin tour stop of the season concluded this past weekend, I bowled well but not good enough to qualify for Sunday.
126-189-120-148-139-142 = 864 Ended up missing the cut by 17 pins.

Last night was Week 2 of Monday league play, 142-176-153 = 471 we were able to win 3 points but lost the last game by 5 pins.

[Grover]

MCK, what is considered a good duckpin average?

[Ron Mexico]

Just looked up a little on duckpins. 150 is considered a top average, so it looks like MCK had a solid night out.

As for me, just started bowling again this past summer after taking a couple years off (used to do 2-3 nights a week from the time I was a senior in HS, then lost the joy). Average peaked at 212, usually 195-205 range.

Anyway, at 32, just shot my personal best series-- 254-234-255 for a 743 set. Only problem is this was the first week of the fall season, so my handicap will be based off a 247 :\

[MCK]

Originally Posted by Grover

MCK, what is considered a good duckpin average?

There is a learning curve. If you've never bowled duckpins before, if you can average 100-110, that would be great. The league I run on Monday's, we have 48 bowlers and the league average is 120. The pro league I bowl in on Wednesday's, the league average is 138.

The top averages now are usually around 150-152. The record for 1 season is 164, but the lanes are not the same now. Duckpin alleys are closing, 2 just closed in the last 3 months. Parts are hard to get and youth leagues are getting smaller and smaller each season.

Over the last 10 years, I've been consistently in the low 140's. Last season I had 141 and 143 in 2 leagues and 146 tournament average.

It's not any easy game and takes years to be consistent. You need to be able to make spares. It's not as hard as candlepins, but there is a lot of skill involved. You're not going to just pick up a little ball and chuck it down the lane and think you are going to do well.

Nice set Ron Mexico!

[TCY Junkie]

Originally Posted by Ron Mexico

Just looked up a little on duckpins. 150 is considered a top average, so it looks like MCK had a solid night out.

As for me, just started bowling again this past summer after taking a couple years off (used to do 2-3 nights a week from the time I was a senior in HS, then lost the joy). Average peaked at 212, usually 195-205 range.

Anyway, at 32, just shot my personal best series-- 254-234-255 for a 743 set. Only problem is this was the first week of the fall season, so my handicap will be based off a 247 :\

I've bowled with the same team 3 years now. This guy bowled a 737 last Wednesday. The first year we bowled, he had a 231 average after 12 games. Ended the season with a 209 average and we went from 2nd place in a 20 team league to 17. Hard to win when you bowl great at the start, seem like some don't try as hard early in the season which is pretty sad.

[PackerFanatic]

Glad to see this thread kicking again We had our first week of the new season this past Friday, but due to my brother's wedding rehearsal, we had actually pre-bowled a few weeks back. I rolled a 480 series, which is pretty good for me...hoping I didn't kill my handicap to start the year and that it is actually a sign of good things this year!

[Ron Mexico]

Originally Posted by TCY Junkie

I've bowled with the same team 3 years now. This guy bowled a 737 last Wednesday. The first year we bowled, he had a 231 average after 12 games. Ended the season with a 209 average and we went from 2nd place in a 20 team league to 17. Hard to win when you bowl great at the start, seem like some don't try as hard early in the season which is pretty sad.

Held a 231 for 4 weeks? Yeah, that'll hurt for a while.

Agree with you about the effort though-- I don't bowl in the higher money leagues anymore, just got tired of the the antics, but watching guys deliberately sandbag was nauseating. Stuff like the anchor for a winning team intentionally throw back-to-back 10th frame gutters, missing easy spares etc. I look at it this way-- if my team wins, it's because we gave it 100%. If we lose, I want your 100%-- whether that means losing by 1 or 100.

In other news, I want to try duckpin bowling. Mechanics-wise, do you still take a 5-step approach and slide, etc? Or is it a shorter delivery? From the looks of it, I'm about 100 miles away from the closest center, but it certainly looks interesting.

[Grover]

Through 9 games in 2 of my 3 Candlepin leagues.

[Pumpy Tudors]

If I caught somebody deliberately sandbagging (and a double-gutter in the 10th frame is most certainly sandbagging), I'd have that person's sanction card revoked.

[Ron Mexico]

Originally Posted by Pumpy Tudors

If I caught somebody deliberately sandbagging (and a double-gutter in the 10th frame is most certainly sandbagging), I'd have that person's sanction card revoked.

Best part? It was a league officer.

[MCK]

Originally Posted by Ron Mexico

In other news, I want to try duckpin bowling. Mechanics-wise, do you still take a 5-step approach and slide, etc? Or is it a shorter delivery? From the looks of it, I'm about 100 miles away from the closest center, but it certainly looks interesting.

I personally take a 5 step approach, but my steps are short. I see more 4 steps than 5 but it just doesn't feel right to me. I've also seen plenty of 3 steps.

[spleen1015]

Sandbagging is a hard thing to prove even if the guy is a 220 bowler throw 2 gutterballs in the 10th.

[Grover]

I've never understood sandbagging. I've always bowled one way: to do the best I can. I know we've got guys who sandbag in the Monday night league, but it's absolutely very difficult to prove.

[scorp]

only way to not worry about sandbagging is scratch leagues.
Unfortunately any handicap league with good prize money attracts baggers.

[TCY Junkie]

Originally Posted by Ron Mexico

Held a 231 for 4 weeks? Yeah, that'll hurt for a while.

Agree with you about the effort though-- I don't bowl in the higher money leagues anymore, just got tired of the the antics, but watching guys deliberately sandbag was nauseating. Stuff like the anchor for a winning team intentionally throw back-to-back 10th frame gutters, missing easy spares etc. I look at it this way-- if my team wins, it's because we gave it 100%. If we lose, I want your 100%-- whether that means losing by 1 or 100.

In other news, I want to try duckpin bowling. Mechanics-wise, do you still take a 5-step approach and slide, etc? Or is it a shorter delivery? From the looks of it, I'm about 100 miles away from the closest center, but it certainly looks interesting.

Guess I have a selective memory because I looked up my post about it. Probably didn't want to talk crap about him since he was such a better bowler than I. He averaged 236 through 15 games. Pretty sure his average dipped below 200 by end of season now that I think about it more. He had shoulder surgery..... Said before we bowled last week that he was going to go into this season with a more determined mindset. Bowled like he did before the surgery for about the 4 th time in 80 times...... maybe he'll keep bowling like that because it's pretty impressive and fun to watch.

[TCY Junkie]

Originally Posted by scorp

only way to not worry about sandbagging is scratch leagues.
Unfortunately any handicap league with good prize money attracts baggers.

We have 32 teams and 8 dollars a week goes to the pool for 36 weeks so it pays pretty good for the top 5 who get additional money on top of the money the get for points won. Be cool of they went away with money for top places and just paid points as it just ruins the fun seeing someone sandbag.

[Grover]

112+115+96+96=419 disappointing tonight. This is a double leagues and I'm currently with a vacant, only took four points. Last two strings hurt me, lost the first by 3, won the second by 3, lost the third by 16 and won the fourth by 11, missed grand total by six pins.

My average through 13 games in all leagues is a 110, down from 112.33. 110 was my personal goal for the end of the season, so I'm hoping I can sustain.

[Ron Mexico]

Originally Posted by MCK

I personally take a 5 step approach, but my steps are short. I see more 4 steps than 5 but it just doesn't feel right to me. I've also seen plenty of 3 steps.

I'll have to take a ride to see it in action. Definitely couldn't do 4-- would mean either starting or ending on the wrong foot for me. Thinking I'd try to do 5 so as its foundation is the same as my 10-pin style, then adjust from there.

I know I'd need a ball, but I'm assuming I could use the same shoes (i.e. the approaches are the same material)?

[Pumpy Tudors]

Originally Posted by spleen1015

Sandbagging is a hard thing to prove even if the guy is a 220 bowler throw 2 gutterballs in the 10th.

Hard to prove, yes. Hard to spot, however, not at all. Of course, I'm a league president, and even if I couldn't really get a sanction card revoked, I sure as hell could convince the other officers and the captains to kick the person out.

[TCY Junkie]

I picked up bowling to get closer to my dad 3 years ago. He finally started enjoying life a little again, when bowling it used to bring me down being around him because he was always so negative. This year I bowled 502 which is pretty decent for using a 35 year old ball. I had a pretty good mind set going into tonight and thought I'd do well. In the first game about the 6 frame I hit the brooklyn side of the head pin. I'm not sure if it was the 1 pin or the 3 pin, but I was watching it closely and I saw the 6 10 standing. A pin came out of the gutter and I was hoping it would knock them both over. It taped the 6 pin over and then somehow stood up in front of the 10 pin but was even way more forward than the 6 pin. The rest of the night I couldn't get my mind focused. Pins I knock over are standing back up, you have to be @@@@@@@ kidding me.

[MCK]

Originally Posted by Ron Mexico

I know I'd need a ball, but I'm assuming I could use the same shoes (i.e. the approaches are the same material)?

All lanes have alley balls that you could use.

Shoes are the same. I just bought a new pair of Linds this weekend.

Pro League was last night, 108-163-158 = 429 Lost the 1st, then we won the rest. 1st game I kept dropping my shoulder and the bowl went straight to the 2 pin. Figured out what I was doing the last 2 games. 4 weeks in we sit in 1st place (22-6 record).

[Ron Mexico]

Originally Posted by MCK

All lanes have alley balls that you could use.

How much difference is there between the house balls and custom stuff? As bad as 10-pin?

Also, good call on the Linds-- been using nothing but them since I was a teenager. A little more expensive, but well worth it imo.

[mtolson]

Originally Posted by Pumpy Tudors

Hard to prove, yes. Hard to spot, however, not at all. Of course, I'm a league president, and even if I couldn't really get a sanction card revoked, I sure as hell could convince the other officers and the captains to kick the person out.

Man that pisses me off to no end. We have some really good bowlers in our area and there is no need to do it at all but it still happens. In one league I was in we had to institute a 10 pin drop rule and it all but killed my team last year as 80% of the team honestly dropped 15+ pins due to harder lane conditions. Last week I was bowling in the anchor position and we had the game and set locked up and I stepped up and threw 3 strikes in the 10th to finish with a 679. A bowler on the other team looked at me like I was crazy and said I was to honest. I just shook my head. I love to bowl and any chance I have to put up a decent score I am going try my hardest. Law of averages will kick in anyway, can't afford to give away a 650+ set when I know there is a 450+ right around the corner.

[Pumpy Tudors]

Tonight, I am granting a bowler's request to change teams due to personality clashes. What I'm ultimately dreading, however, is his old team protesting the transfer because they want to piss him off. Hoo boy, being a league president is fun.

[Grover]

Back to weekly league action. 101+111+132 = 344. The team took all 8 points. Feels good, man.

Overall through 16 leagues games I'm bowling at a 111.1 clip.

[MCK]

I was on fire last night. Monday league

1st game - 169 double header in the 10th to win by 13.
2nd game - 167, start off spare, 4 bagger, then proceed to open the last 5 frames
3rd game - double, spare, open, double, miss single, make single, double 201 game

537 set

Since this is a handicap league, our averages don't change from last season until after 9 games so next week, instead of using a 141 average, I get to use a 159.

Grover - nice last game

[Grover]

Originally Posted by MCK

Since this is a handicap league, our averages don't change from last season until after 9 games so next week, instead of using a 141 average, I get to use a 159.

Grover - nice last game

Thanks!

So your league uses a cushioned average too. We use one for the first 10 weeks and then it moves to what you're actually bowling in the league. So I'm at a 99 or 100 from last year, but working at a center and bowling after work everyday I've fined tuned myself, should be able to pull the 111 all the way through.

[Grover]

Threw a 107, 133, 99 for a 339. We lost the last game by 7, completely my fault. My teammates bowled above their averages, I was way under. Tied going into the 10th frame, I punch through the head pin and my opposite spares. No chance from there. But we took 6, so that's good.

My average has nudged up .1 and is at 111.21

[PackerFanatic]

We got spanked in our second week. My buddy, who typically averages 150 or so, threw a 114 and a 124 in his first two games...the proceeded to throw a 236 in his third game. Not sure what happened there - but it helped keep his average up

[Grover]

Originally Posted by PackerFanatic

We got spanked in our second week. My buddy, who typically averages 150 or so, threw a 114 and a 124 in his first two games...the proceeded to throw a 236 in his third game. Not sure what happened there - but it helped keep his average up

Oh man, that 114 is absolutely brutal.

[Grover]

I've got to do a compare/contrast essay for English Comp, I am considering doing it on ten pin / candlepin / duckpin

[PackerFanatic]

Originally Posted by Grover

Oh man, that 114 is absolutely brutal.

It was a rough night in general for us, so that was pretty par for the course unfortunately. That's why the 236 was so ridiculous, lol.

[Grover]

TuesNite.png

I'm looking like the top male/bowler on Tuesday nights.

My issue here is, I actually have 2/3 of the top series and top single game highs. My 339 last night and 130 last week are left off, since they will only show a person once in each category.

Dominating.

[The Jackal]

That creep can roll, man.

[Grover]

Rough night tonight. 99, 101, 129, 99 = 428. 9 pins better than last Weds though. Only took 2 points. It's tough with a vacant.

My overall average stands at 110.48 through 23 total games.