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WEEK 12 RESULTS

We entered the night in a three-way tie for first place with Team 5

Blockheads 4 - Team 5 0

and Rock On. We were matched up with Team 5 this week so we had an excellent opportunity to jump ahead of them.

We bowled without Olivia who had a personal matter that required her urgent attention. We started slowly and struggled through most of the first game. We were behind entering the tenth frame but at that point, we came to life. Sharon buried three shots in the pocket for strikes to close the gap. I added a strike and a spare to even it. Coach, working on a strike in the ninth frame, struck for a double and added nine more which carried us to an eight-pin victory.

Jeff always gets The Coach fired up.

We won the second game by 43 before exploding with our highest ever team score of 846 to win the third game by 131 pins. Sharon fired a salvo of strikes for a score of 259 and her first 600 series at Diablo Valley Bowl. The 259 game also gave her the women's high scratch game in our league. To put an exclamation point on our series sweep, Sharon, myself and then The Coach struck out in the tenth frame. Our series score of 2186 topped our previous high of 2170 which was also the league's high score.

At worst, we remain in a first place tie with Rock On if they swept the Newbies. If Rock On lost any of their games, we will have sole possession of first place entering next week's position round. We know we'll have to bring it again next week if we want to win this thing.

WEEK 12  01  02  03  SER   G  PINS   AVG  HG   HS 200 500 600 700
Sharon  182 162 259  603  36  5989 166.4 259  603   4   6   1   0
Olivia* 155 155 155  465  30  4672 155.7 224  509   3   4   0   0
Mark    168 221 256  645  36  7095 197.1 256  706  15   7   4   1
Gary    168 129 176  473  35  5427 155.1 211  530   1   3   0   0
Total   673 667 846 2186 137 23183 169.2 849 2195  23  20   5   1
* Absent - averaged used

Our highest team score to date - the actual scratch score
was 846 with 5 pins handicap making our total score 851.
The scoring errors are explained in the comments below.

APRIL COULD BE A BUSY MONTH

We have several tournament and Monte Carlo options in April and there's a fair amount of overlapping. Sharon and I will be bowling in the senior doubles tournament at Paddock Bowl but we haven't decided on the date and time. The rest of the schedule should become clearer once we make that decision.

April 6th (Saturday)
11:00 AM - Paddock Bowl - Senior Doubles
 3:00 PM - Paddock Bowl - Senior Doubles
 6:00 PM - Bel Mateo Bowl - Monte Carlo
 6:30 PM - Dublin Bowl - Pot 'O' Gold
 7:00 PM - Paddock Bowl - Monte Carlo
 7:30 PM - Clayton Valley Bowl - Monte Carlo

April 7th (Sunday)
11:00 AM - Paddock Bowl - Senior Doubles
12:00 PM - Pinole Valley Lanes - County USBC Mixed Teams of 4
 3:00 PM - Paddock Bowl - Senior Doubles
 7:00 PM - Danville Bowl - Monte Carlo


April 13th (Saturday)
11:00 AM - Paddock Bowl - Senior Doubles
 3:00 PM - Paddock Bowl - Senior Doubles
 6:30 PM - Dublin Bowl - Pot 'O' Gold
 7:00 PM - Paddock Bowl - Monte Carlo

April 14th (Sunday)
11:00 AM - Paddock Bowl - Senior Doubles
 3:00 PM - Paddock Bowl - Senior Doubles
 7:00 PM - Danville Bowl - Monte Carlo


April 20th (Saturday)
 6:30 PM - Dublin Bowl - Pot 'O' Gold
 7:00 PM - Paddock Bowl - Monte Carlo

April 21st (Sunday)
 7:00 PM - Danville Bowl - Monte Carlo


April 27th (Saturday)
10:00 AM - Granada Bowl - Doubles, 4-Gamer
10:00 AM - Dublin Bowl - USBC Warm-up (Team)
 6:30 PM - Dublin Bowl - Pot 'O' Gold
 7:00 PM - Paddock Bowl - Monte Carlo

April 28th (Sunday)
10:00 AM - Dublin Bowl - USBC Warm-up - Singles & Doubles
 7:00 PM - Danville Bowl - Monte Carlo

MONTE CARLO AT BEL MATEO THIS WEEKEND

There's Monte Carlo bowling in San Mateo this Saturday night. Count me in.

WEEK 11 RESULTS

Blockheads 4 - Don't Matter 0

After our disasterous performance in Week #10 that knocked us from a first place tie to third place, we bounced back in Week #11 to sweep Don't Matter. We were just a spare short of topping our (and the league's) high series of 2170. The sweep moved us into a three-way tie for first place with Team 5 and Rock On. Team 5 is our opponent next week, as Jeff was quick to remind us last night.

All of us bowled well and raised our averages at least a little bit. Did the tough tournament conditions we bowled in Sunday help us?

LEAGUE STAT SHEET

WEEK 11 01  02  03  SER   G  PINS   AVG  HG   HS 200 500 600 700
Sharon 162 175 178  515  33  5386 163.2 215  559   3   6   0   0
Olivia 168 161 145  474  30  4672 155.7 224  509   3   4   0   0
Mark   226 254 195  675  33  6450 195.5 254  706  13   6   3   1
Gary   176 125 199  500  32  4954 154.8 211  530   1   3   0   0
Total  732 715 717 2164 128 21462 167.7 794 2170  20  20   3   1

MORE SUMMER LEAGUES

The CBT Trios Summer League Jubilee looks like fun. If Coach follows through on his retirement plans, this would be an option for us. Or if Coach decides to stay, we could rotate turns. I will be out of town and miss June 24, July 1, and July 8. I believe Olivia will miss two or three weeks in July.

PBA LEAGUE GEAR

You might have heard Olivia mention how much she likes the Pittsburgh Jack Rabbits' jersey and logo from the new PBA League. Here's a sampling of the team Olivia likes. The jersey can be purchased from Gemini and the ball can be purchased through On The Ball. This team is owned by LaMarr Woodley of the Pittsburgh Steelers so that would explain the colors and football-styling of the logo.

The PBA is now selling PBA League merchandise

GOING BACK TO DIABLO VALLEY BOWL

It's rare that we go for over a week without bowling at Diablo Valley Bowl but that's where we stand now. We last bowled there March 9th (except for The Coach who bowled there on the 11th). Since then, I have bowled on slightly heavier oil at Castro Village, Olivia and I have bowled on light oil at Bel Mateo, and Sharon has bowled twice at Stars (I don't know the conditions there). Of course, all of us bowled in the oil slick at Paddock Bowl yesterday.

The pattern on the right resembles the house shot at Diablo Valley Bowl.
I suspect we played the pattern on the left (or something like it) yesterday.

I highly recommend that we reacquaint ourselves with the conditions at Diablo before we start bowling games that count. A small number of warm-up shots during our shadow bowling tonight may not be enough to shake yesterday from our heads. It took a Herculean effort to hook the ball just a few boards in the CBT Doubles yesterday. If we don't readjust to Diablo's house shot, we'll be on the left side of the lane all night. I plan to arrive by 5:45 and I'll get a lane to roll some extra shots. I hope to see you there.

DIABLO SUMMER LEAGUES

The flier for summer leagues is out. I want to bowl in the Sport Doubles league on Monday nights again. If Coach decides to follow through on his retirement plans, there are some summer leagues for trios on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday nights.

MAN SHOT AT AMF SOUTHSHORE LANES

The Oakland Tribune is reporting that a man was shot three times upon leaving AMF Southshore Lanes (Mel's Bowl) last Friday night. You can read the news report here.

I suggest they lower their penalty for missing single-pin spares. Something like our 25 cent contribution to the pinny bank should suffice. Shooting seems rather harsh.

CBT DOUBLES TOURNAMENT AT PADDOCK BOWL

Are we up for a tournament this weekend? California Bowlers Tour (CBT) is holding another handicap doubles tournament with crossover. This one will be at Paddock Bowl in Pacheco.

The entry fee is $25.00 for the first entry and $17.00 for each crossover because the lineage is paid only once. If all four of us double up in every combination, it will cost us $59.00 each. For instance, if Coach and I enter it's $25.00. Sharon and Olivia also enter for $25.00. Beyond the $25.00 I pay to bowl with Coach, I pay $17.00 to have my series cross over to Sharon's series and another $17.00 for crossing over to Olivia's series. It works the same way for each of us.

If we choose to enter, the next question is, when do we want to bowl? Olivia and I are bowling in the Luck O' The Irish doubles tournament at Bel Mateo Bowl Saturday night. We have to be there by 5:30 PM. If we bowl at Paddock Bowl on Saturday, it would have to be at noon. That would allow us to reach Bel Mateo on time. If we have overtime, we'd be at the office until 1:00. That would eliminate bowling at Paddock Bowl on Saturday. If there's no OT, do we want to bowl Saturday at noon? If we bowl on Sunday, do we bowl at noon or 2:00?

 

WIN A NEW BALL FROM MOTIV

Motiv's latest release - March 20th

Motiv has a new ball, the Venom Toxin, coming out next week. It's a hybrid ball for light-medium oil. They're giving one away for free. You can enter the drawing here. The deadline to enter is March 19th.

GIGANTIC 5 RESULTS

It was a rough day for us in the Gigantic 5 Team Tournament at Granada Bowl. We drew lane 16 which left us in a cramped area below the wheelchair ramp with a pinsetter that malfunctioned throughout our series. On top of numerous re-racks for missing 7, 9, and 10 pins each game, play was stopped entirely at times for repairs. The results of the repairs were spotty at best. That's not to say we would have bowled well in a comfortable location with fully functional equipment but the conditions certainly didn't help us. It was very frustrating.

Olivia and Peter bowled well but we needed more than that to finish in the money.


GIGANTIC 5   01  02  03  SER AVG
Sharon      146 139 175  460 153
Olivia      209 148 150  507 169
Peter       161 185 213  559 186
Mark        184 156 203  543 181
Gary        126 126 151  403 134
Total       826 754 892 2472 164

The Coach insisted he is retiring from bowling at the end of the current season. Was this just his disappointment speaking? Or do we need to start looking for a trios league for next season?

PRE-BOWLING FOR WEEK 10

We bowl Saturday at 2:00 PM

As we discussed yesterday, Sharon's league at Stars on Wednesday nights had to suspend play for half of the league this week. They rescheduled the missed games for Monday, March 11th which would be fine except Sharon can't be in two places at once.

The only reasonable solution we could find to this conflict is for us to pre-bowl Monday night's games this Saturday afternoon. This will alow Sharon to make up the games her other league rescheduled for Monday night while also preventing us from bowling without her.

I made the arrangements with Gina at Diablo Valley Bowl last night. We bowl at 2:00 PM on Saturday. DVB has an afternoon cosmic bowling session beginning at 4:00 so we can't afford to be late or goofing around with other activities while we're supposed to be bowling.

NOTE: Coach won't be able to bowl with us Saturday afternoon. He will bowl Monday night on the regular schedule. Sharon, Olivia, and I will pre-bowl on Saturday.

SCORES:

WEEK 10 01  02  03  SER   G  PINS   AVG  HG   HS 200 500 600 700
Sharon 178 137 112  427  30  4871 162.4 215  559   3   5   0   0
Olivia 138 128 136  402  27  4198 155.5 224  509   3   4   0   0
Mark   176 169 196  541  30  5775 192.5 247  706  11   7   2   1
Gary   191 188 148  527  29  4454 153.6 211  530   1   2   0   0
Total  683 622 592 1897 116 19298 166.4 794 2170  18  18   2   1

LUCK O' THE IRISH TOURNAMENT

I'm not particularly fond of no-tap but I know Olivia morphs into Cheryl Daniels when she walks into Bel Mateo Bowl (a.k.a. Olivia's Bowl). I will sacrifice my personal preferences for a solid shot at winning a tournament.

WEEK 9 RESULTS

Won 0, Lost 4

We took a pretty severe beating at the hands of That's How We Roll. It was a 0-4 sweep that dropped our record to 22-14. Team 5 split their series with Don't Matter which moved them back into a tie with us for first place. After going 1-7 the past two weeks, we're rather fortunate to still have a piece of first place.

On the postive side, Sharon bowled a 559 series which topped her previous high of 526. That was 76 over her average and it gives her a decent shot at the $100.00 prize for Most Pins Over Average in the Bowler Appreciation Week promotion.

WEEK 9  01  02  03  SER   G  PINS   AVG  HG   HS 200 500 600 700

Sharon 162 210 187  559  27  4444 164.6 215  559   3   5   0   0

Olivia 145 144 132  421  24  3796 158.2 224  509   3   4   0   0

Mark   182 151 231  564  27  5234 193.9 247  706  11   6   2   1

Gary   103 132 140  375  26  3927 151.0 211  530   1   1   0   0

Total  592 637 690 1919 104 17401 167.3 794 2170  18  16   2   1



Comeback Kids are on the schedule for next week. We'll have to bowl much better than this or risk being swept again. We know Chris is nearly automatic for 600+ and Jada keeps getting better every week. (Chris told me she's just beginning. Judging by her smooth delivery and sharp hook, I would have guessed she's been bowling for years.) Leslie and Marcus are capable of dropping a big score on us at any time, too.

Remember, league bowlers can practice for $1.00 per game through Friday as part of Diablo Valley Bowl's Bowler Appreciation Week. Let's take advantage of it.

GIGANTIC FIVE TEAM TOURNAMENT

I hope you haven't forgotten that we have a tournament in Livermore next Sunday morning. We're bowling at 9:00 AM at Granada Bowl in the Gigantic Five Team Tournament.

The back of the flier with the tournament rules can be viewed on our TOURNAMENTS page

While on the subject of Granada Bowl, the official results for the Livermore Valley Tournament have been posted. Peter and I finished 4th in the men's doubles which was good for $350.00. I finished 14th in men's singles which was worth $150.00. Peter finished 44th in the men's all-events category which was worth $21.00. Tom Crane will be distributing prize money for the LVT on the day of the Gigantic Five so Peter and I will have some money waiting there for us.

BOWLER APPRECIATION WEEK

This week we some chances to win prizes and bowl for next to nothing thanks to a special promotion at Diablo Valley Bowl. Here is the flier.