PRACTICE ON SUPER BOWL SUNDAY

All we can bowl for $10

We'll be practicing at AMF Pinole Valley Lanes at 11:00 AM on Sunday. This will be the first time in awhile that all of us have gotten together to work on skills. Please put together a list of things you'd like to work on. I'm sure there will be a fair amount of overlapping between us. (Did I hear someone say "10-pin?") Since this is a bowling buffet with all we can bowl for $10, we might as well exploit it for all we can.  

At 1:00, which may be right around the time we finish, ESPN will be broadcasting the PBA Super Clash between Jason Belmonte and Sean Rash. They're bowling a head-to-head three game series with a $2,000.00 prize for each game and $10,000.00 for the winner of the series. You can read the details about the match here. I'll stick around to watch it if anyone else feels like it.



That's 1 PM Pacific Time



RENO INVITATIONAL - WEEK #21

Blockheads: 3 - Newbies: 1

It was a good night for us Blockheads. Sharon had some concerns that The Coach and I might be troubled by a pair of mountainous distractions but her fears were unfounded. We came close to topping our previous high game and high series and we won a very close match by a score of 3-1. The Newbies didn't make it easy for us as each game went down to the wire. The final score in the second game may give the impression it wasn't close but the outcome was very much in doubt as we entered the 10th frame. Fortunately, we fired a salvo of strikes just as the Newbies encountered a string of splits. This allowed us to boost the gap at the end. We had a shot at a sweep and once again, the outcome came down to the final shots. This time it was Jerry of the Newbies who came up with the strikes to put them just beyond our reach.

Our second half record improved to 9-7 and we moved up to 10th place. We'll have a huge challenge next week as we take on Matt Kish and Jeff Van Bowling (Team 20).

     Blockheads       Newbies
  PINS HCP TOTAL   PINS HCP TOTAL
1  675   0   675    604  55   659
2  742   0   742    628  55   683
3  652   0   652    610  55   665
T 2069   0  2069   1842 165  2007

WEEK 21    01  02  03  SER   G  PINS   AVG  HG   HS 200 500 600
Olivia    176 161 184  521  47  7285 155.0 201  521   1   3   0
Sharon    169 166 154  489  63 10521 167.0 233  580   3   9   0
Mark      204 204 190  598  63 11879 188.6 279  656  24  15   4
Gary      126 211 124  461  60  9295 154.9 220  515   2   5   0
Stephanie                    9  1040 115.6 166  366   0   0   0
Total     675 742 652 2069 242 40470 167.2 757 2074  30  32   4

RENO INVITATIONAL - WEEK #20

Blockheads: 1 - Rolling Thunder: 3

Rolling Thunder certainly rolled plenty of thunder and we were beaten 3-1. Michael Shankar came out striking and finished with an excellent 705 series as Rolling Thunder won the first two games by 69 and 114. We fought back to claim the final game and narrowly avoid a sweep. 

Our second half record of 6-6 puts us in ninth place. We'll have to bowl better than this is we're going to wrestle the title away from this very competitive league. There's plenty of time left and there's no doubt we can improve our scores. We averaged 169.9 in Over The Wall last season. We're at 167 so far in this league. Let's push it up to 170 and grab the brass ring.

  Blockheads       Rolling Thunder
  PINS HCP TOTAL   PINS HCP TOTAL
1  634   2   636    705   0   705
2  631   2   633    747   0   747
3  726   2   728    698   0   698
T 1991   6  1997   2150   0  2150

WEEK 20    01  02  03  SER   G  PINS   AVG  HG   HS 200 500 600
Olivia    133 142 188  463  44  6764 153.7 201  511   1   2   0
Sharon    177 174 165  516  60 10032 167.2 233  580   3   9   0
Mark      188 206 216  610  60 11281 188.0 279  656  22  14   4
Gary      136 109 157  402  57  8834 155.0 220  515   1   5   0
Stephanie                    9  1040 115.6 166  366   0   0   0
Total     634 631 726 1991 230 38401 167.0 757 2074  27  30   4

PAUL REED'S AMAZING OCTOBER

Paul Reed

You've seen Paul Reed around and you might be inclined to think of him as that nice guy who works at Albany Bowl. If you've bowled against him in tournaments or read the December 2013 issue of Bowling World, you probably think of him as that guy who bowls a lot of 300 games and 800 series. Here's a link to the December 2013 issue of Bowling World in case you missed their report on Paul's stretch of amazing games and series in October. (I see it was written by Weldon Miles. Is that the Weldon Miles who works at our office?)

Bowling World - December 2013, Page 20

BOWLING ON THE MLK JR. HOLIDAY

Our league is not taking the night off for the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. Since we're not working that day, The Coach and I decided to go in early at 4:00 for a little spare shooting practice. Sharon says she will be there, too. We won't overdo it and wear ourselves out for our league games. We'll shoot spares for about an hour then take a break and get something to eat before our league bowling starts.

RENO INVITATIONAL - WEEK #19



Blockheads:         4

Belles of the Bowl: 0

 The Coach was back in action this week and we leaned on him like he was Bill Withers. Our opponents were Belles of the Bowl to whom we had to spot a handicap of 270 pins per game. That's right, 270!

The first two games went down to the wire with each requiring the Coach to mark in the 10th frame to pull out a win. Thankfully, he was up to the task and we pulled out wins by 2 and 8 pins. The third game was pretty tight also but we gave The Coach a little cushion in a 20-pin victory. It was our first sweep in a long, long time. Well, on the winning side anyway.

Our record in the second half of the season is 5-3. Let's keep it going! 

  Blockheads       Belles of the Bowl      
  PINS HCP TOTAL   PINS HCP TOTAL
1  709   0   709    437 270   707
2  661   0   661    383 270   653
3  711   0   711    421 270   691
T 2081   0  2081   1241 810  2051

WEEK 19    01  02  03  SER   G  PINS   AVG  HG   HS 200 500 600
Olivia    170 129 169  469  41  6301 153.7 201  511   1   2   0
Sharon    186 161 160  507  57  9516 166.9 233  584   3   8   0
Mark      209 204 201  614  57 10671 187.2 279  656  20  14   3
Gary      144 167 181  492  54  8432 156.1 220  515   1   5   0
Stephanie                    9  1040 115.6 166  366   0   0   0
Total     709 661 711 2081 218 36410 167.0 757 2096  25  29   3

RENO INVITATIONAL - WEEK #18

Blockheads: 1 - Ball Breakers: 3

The Coach was home with the flu but Stephanie came out to sub in his place. Our opponents were the Ball Breakers and we received a handicap of 23 pins. 

We had a good shot at taking this series 3-1 but I was buried in a deep funk through most of the first game. It was enough to cost us the game and the point for total pinfall. Sharon came very close to popping a 600 series while Stephanie was a spare shooting mahcine in the final game. We could have fared much better if I didn't wait six frames to start bowling.

  Blockheads       Ball Breakers      
  PINS HCP TOTAL   PINS HCP TOTAL
1  585  23   608    659   0   659
2  679  23   702    629   0   629
3  695  23   718    764   0   764
T 1959  69  2028   2052   0  2052

WEEK 18    01  02  03  SER   G  PINS   AVG  HG   HS 200 500 600
Olivia    154 182 139  475  38  5833 153.5 201  511   1   2   0
Sharon    199 187 198  584  54  9009 166.8 233  584   3   7   0
Mark      139 203 192  534  54 10057 186.2 279  656  17  14   2
Gary                        51  7940 155.7 220  515   1   5   0
Stephanie  93 107 166  366   9  1040 115.6 166  366   0   0   0
Total     585 679 695 1959 206 14329 166.6 757 2096  22  28   2