POT 'O' GOLD IN DUBLIN COMPLETES AN OUTSTANDING DAY OF BOWLING

Earl Anthony's Dublin Bowl

We had a scintillating day of bowling on Saturday. It started with the Livermore Valley Tournament (LVT) at Granada Bowl. After we wrapped up the LVT, we drove westward for some dinner at the Outback Steakhouse in Dublin. The Outback Steakhouse is a minute away from Earl Anthony's Dublin Bowl which would be our next stop for their Pot 'O' Gold (Monte Carlo) game. My salad and grilled chicken with vegetables were quite good and the meal energized me for a few more hours of bowling.

Outback Steakhouse near Dublin Bowl

The highlight of the night was when Peter's ticket was drawn for the strike pot in the second game. The pot was worth $708.00 if Peter could bowl three strikes. A single strike would win 10% of the pot ($71.00) while a second strike would earn 40% of the post ($283.00). Peter was able to shoot two strikes for $283.00 but his third shot hung up on his thumb and he came up light, leaving the 4 and 5 pins. Still, $283.00 is a nice prize.

In a contest requiring the participants to turn their backs to the pins and bowl the ball through their legs (like a center in football snapping the ball back to the punter), The Coach won a prize that I believe included a free entry in a future Pot 'O' Gold night. Olivia finished second in that one for a prize of $5.00. All of us hit multiple money shots for prizes ranging from 50 cents to $4.00.  This video will show you some of the highlights.



By the time we reached the third game, I think we were pretty tired. It was a long day starting in Livermore at 1:00 and finishing in Dublin around 10:00. I was certainly ready to go home and get some sleep. Even though I was tired and feeling worn out, I must say the past few days with the Holiday Cash Doubles Tournament at Bel Mateo Bowl followed by LVT and Pot 'O' Gold on Saturday were the most fun I've had in quite awhile.

TEAM EVENT IN THE LVT

We made our way out to Granada Bowl in Livermore on Saturday afternoon to bowl in the 48th annual Livermore Valley Tournament (LVT). We arrived early to take care of our paperwork and get ourselves prepared to bowl. We have yet to submit our entries in the singles and doubles part of the tournament. We were informed that we can do this at a later date. We were given the squad times to assist us in our decisions.

Gene's Pro Shop and the west side entry

We were assigned to lane 7 and it didn't take us long to get set up. With some time to spare, we stepped into Gene's Pro Shop for a few supplies. Each of us entered in Gene's bowling ball raffle. The drawing will be in February and the winner gets the bowling ball of his/her choice plus, fitting, drilling, etc., at no cost beyond the price of the raffle ticket(s).

The control desk at Granada Bowl

The tournament was extremely well organized. We were able to check in without any waiting or difficulties. This is a credit to Tom Crane, the gentleman who runs the tournament. There was also a patient, helpful lady who handled our entry and I'm drawing a blank on her name at the moment. Everything went smooth as silk except for two things and one of them couldn't be helped.

First, we didn't get nearly enough warm-up time. I usually need about ten to twelve shots before I feel loose and ready to go. That includes a couple of shots each at the seven and ten pins. I had only six warm-up shots before we got underway and that's not enough. With ten people bowling per pair, I think they need to allow us a little more time to practice. The second thing was a scoreboard malfunction that caused us to sit for about ten minutes and go cold. There isn't anything the tournament director could do about that one. Call it a bit of bad luck.

Lanes at the east end of Granada Bowl

Despite the inconveniences, all of us bowled well. Olivia, Peter, and I each had a game we'd like to throw out but we shot over our averages for the three game series. The Coach and Sharon shot over their averages in all three games. In order to beat the sum of our individual averages, we had to shoot a team scratch series of 2,367 and we shot 2597. We beat it by 230 pins which isn't bad at all.




LVT     BOOK BOOK  01  02  03  SER  AVG  HDCP HDCP  PINS
         AVG  SER                              SER  >AVG
Sharon  162  486 206 174 176  556 185.3  156  712    70
Olivia  136  408 179 148 117  444 148.0  226  670    36
Peter  153  459 149 225 138  512 170.7  180  692    53
Mark  184  552 156 199 240  595 198.3   97  692    43
Gary  154  462 156 168 166  490 163.3  178  668    28
Total  789 2367 846 914 837 2597 173.1  839 3436   230

The BOOK SERIES column shows the three-game series total each of us needed to bowl to hit our averages. The PINS > AVG shows how many pins we bowled above our averages. As you can see, all of us were over. I call that a pretty fair day.

Thanks to everyone for making this an enjoyable experience. And a special thanks to Peter for joining us and making our entry in the tournament possible.

The LVT wasn't the only action we had going this day. We decided that once we finished, we would head over to Dublin for some dinner and then bowl in the Pot 'O' Gold event at Earl Anthony's Dublin Bowl.

HOLIDAY CASH DOUBLES

Prepping the lanes for play

Olivia and I had an exceptional time bowling in Bel Mateo Bowl's Holiday Cash Doubles Tournament tonight. Earlier in the year, we finished second and third in a Monte Carlo tournament there so we figured the Holiday Cash Doubles would be worth another trek across the bay. Our hunch turned out to be quite correct as this time we finished in first place!

Things started off well in the first game which had red and gold pins in the mix. Striking with a red head pin was worth $2.00 while the gold head pin was worth $4.00. I drew two red head pins and struck both times to win $4.00. Olivia struck with a red head pin to win $2.00 but missed her only shot with a gold headpin. Olivia's game score was 168 while I started with a 205. We were a respectable 53 pins above our averages at the conclusion of the first game. It could have been better but I opened in the tenth frame by missing a 7-pin.

Bel Mateo Bowl's gift wrapped lanes

In the second game, the women could earn $5.00 by striking in the third and ninth frames while the men needed strikes in the third, sixth, and ninth frames. Olivia got off to a slow start with open frames in the second through fifth frames. This put her out of the running for the $5.00 prize and left her wondering if she would even reach 100. A few adjustments and a ball change turned her game around and she rebounded to shoot a respectable 146 despite the slow start. I had strikes in the third, sixth, and ninth frames as well as a few others on my way to a 229 game. I earned $5.00 and we found ourselves 108 pins over our average. At this point, we started to believe we had a good chance to cash.

Craig Gabriel handed over the $250 prize for first place

The third game was a nine pin no-tap. Olivia has bowled no-tap before but this was first for me. We started with a salvo of proper strikes which made us regret it was a no-tap game. Leaving a 10-pin in the fourth frame changed my mind about that.

Olivia continued to bowl well and scored a 193 for an excellent 507 series. My 232 game gave me a 666 series. We bowled 213 pins over our average and by then we were wondering if we had a shot at finishing first. With our handicap, our total series score was 1443. As I turned in our scoresheet to Craig Gabriel, Bel Mateo Bowl's manager and the tournament director, he looked at it and said, "Don't go anywhere." At that point we were nearly certain we finished somewhere in the top three. (It was announced at the outset that prize money would be paid to the top three duos.)



Olivia flashes the cash

When Craig announced the third place team won $100.00 with a score of 1400, we started to get a little giddy. Next he announced the second place team won $150.00 with a score of 1417. That meant first place was ours. Even though we already knew the outcome, it was still quite exciting to hear our names announced as the winners and to receive congratulations from the other bowlers.

By the way, we met some very good bowlers tonight. It wasn't easy for us to finish on top. They were good sports and it was fun to bowl with them. As always, the lanes at Bel Mateo Bowl were in splendid condition and the staff were fine hosts. I've known Craig Gabriel for a long time as he ran Manor Bowl in San Leandro where I learned the game. (It was within walking distance of my parents' house.) Though I have been in contact with Craig through email, tonight was the first time I saw him in person since 1992.

          01  02  03  SER   AVG
Olivia   168 146 193  507 169.0
Mark     205 229 232  666 222.0
Subtotal 373 375 425 1173 391.0
HDCP      90  90  90  270
Total    463 465 515 1443 240.5

UPCOMING EVENTS FOR THE BLOCKHEADS

Olivia and I are bowling tonight in the Holiday Cash Doubles Tournament at Bel Mateo Bowl in San Mateo.

Saturday we're bowling in the team event of the Livermore Valley Tournament (LVT) at Granada Bowl in Livermore. We start at 1:00 PM. I strongly suggest that everyone arrive by noon at the latest.

Peter suggested that we might play Pot 'O' Gold at Dublin Bowl after the LVT. I figure we'll finish at the LVT by 4:00. Check in for Pot 'O' Gold is 6:00. We could stop somewhere nearby for a bite to eat between events.

Our league meeting and opening night for Over The Wall II is on Monday, January 7th at Diablo Valley Bowl. The meeting will be held at 6:00 with bowling to commence after the meeting at 6:30. I hear they have found four additional teams for the league and they're still working to add more. If true, that's great news.

Finally, we have several options for bowling on New Year's Eve. I'm leaning towards the New Year's Eve Monte Carlo at Clayton Valley Bowl. Is anyone else interested? Or do you have something else you'd like to try?

SUNDAY MORNING PRACTICE

Olivia and I bowled for a couple of hours at Diablo Valley Bowl this morning. Ray stopped by to offer some tips which we did our best to employ. (In case anyone forgot, league bowlers in good standing at Diablo Valley Bowl can bowl for free Sunday mornings from 9:00-11:00.) Here's a video from today's bowling:

SPOTTED OUTSIDE DIABLO VALLEY BOWL



There was a heavy rainstorm in the East Bay on Saturday afternoon. But the sun broke through the clouds shortly after 4:00 as I was leaving Diablo Valley Bowl.

There was a break in the storm as I stepped outside

FOR YOUR AMUSEMENT

Pat Beck posted this on my wall in Facebook.

BOWLING FOR DOLLARS IN DANVILLE & DUBLIN

Monte Carlo pins at Danville Bowl

The Coach and I participated in Danville Bowl's Monte Carlo event Thursday night with moderate success. The price to play is only $12.00 there so you needn't hit too many money shots to earn it back.

Pot 'O' Gold pins at Dublin Bowl

Earl Anthony's Dublin Bowl is hosting their Pot 'O' Gold game tonight. A couple of the jackpots are getting pretty high. Peter and I bowled in it last Saturday and we'll be back for more. When I asked a few days ago, nobody responded so I assume there won't be anybody else will be joining us.

48TH ANNUAL LIVERMORE VALLEY TOURNAMENT

I've mentioned the Livermore Valley Tournament (LVT) a few times and it sounded like this is an event we want to bowl in. It takes place at Granada Bowl in Livermore and they have singles, doubles, and team events in which we can participate. The LVT started last week and it's running on weekends through February 3rd. Besides the link above, the tournament flier has been posted on our own TOURNAMENTS page.

I'd like to bowl in all of the events and we shouldn't wait too much longer to start working out a schedule. I can't bowl in it this weekend but I should be available on just about any of the following weekends through the end of the tournament.

There's one hitch I just noticed and that is the team event is for teams with five bowlers. If we're going to participate in the team event, we need to recruit a fifth Blockhead. Any suggestions? Peter Vanderbout might be willing to do it if we choose a date he's available. His book average is 153 but he's been bowling better than that this season.

Please take a look at the tournament schedule and let us know ASAP any dates you are not available to bowl. Perhaps we can sit down after our league sweeper on Monday night to pick our dates to bowl.

HOW THE BLOCKHEADS HAVE IMPROVED

If you doubt we're getting any better at this game, check our averages over the past three seasons:

        OTW-I  OTW-II   OTW-I
      SEP-DEC JAN-MAY SEP-DEC 
         2011    2012    2012

Sharon    158     162     166
Olivia    123     136     145
Mark      175     184     195
Gary      149     154     160

PBA50 TOUR TO VISIT HARVEST PARK BOWL



2013 Schedule



The new PBA50 logo

PBA50 (formerly known as the PBA Senior Tour) will have a tour stop in Brentwood this spring. As the name implies, PBA50 is open to PBA members who are least age 50.

The Northern California Classic will be held at Harvest Park Bowl June 16-19. I'd like to go.

WEEK 14 (FINAL) RESULTS

1 win was enough to grab the title

We entered the final week of the season with a four game lead over IFRANCENE VANDERHOPPER (Team 5) so they needed to sweep us to earn a tie for first place. This would have forced a best-of-three bowl off to decide the title.

In the course of our three-game series, IFRANCENE VANDERHOPPER gave us just about all we could handle. They crushed us in the first game, which caused us to squirm a bit. The second game went to the tenth frame dead even. By that time, we were in a full sweat. A strong tenth frame propelled us to the win we needed but just barely. They went on to hammer us again in the third game and earn the point for total pinfall. In the end, our 1-3 record for the night gave us a record of 39.5-16.5. It was just enough to stay ahead of IFRANCENE VANDERHOPPER whose 3-1 evening left them two games behind us with a record of 37.5-18.5.

We were fortunate to escape with the win in the second game. It was the only game of the night in which we reached our average (670) and it was exceeded by only 21 pins. In the other two games, we fell well short. So we should consider ourselves fortunate and tip our caps to our opponents who gave us one heck of a battle down the stretch.

WEEK 14 01  02  03  SER   AVG   G  PINS   AVG  HG   HS
Sharon 189 163 137  489 163.0  42  6996 166.6 234  551
Olivia 115 136 140  391 130.3  39  5660 145.1 207  512
Mark   198 213 204  615 205.0  42  8190 195.0 248  632
Gary   113 179 154  446 148.7  42  6725 160.1 206  540
TEAM   615 691 635 1941 161.8 165 27571 167.1 805 2138


LEAGUE STAT SHEET

BOWLING FOR THE TITLE





Tonight we have the opportunity to sew up first place. Our lead that was 9.5 games a month ago has been shaved down to 4 games. It's not because we haven't bowled well. We've had a pretty good month. The reason we can't just coast to a championship tonight is that Team 5 has been on fire, winning 16 in a row. We took 3 of 4 from them on November 5th and they haven't lost a point since. With a 4-game lead and 4 points on the line tonight, we need to win a single game to wrap up first place.

The important thing for us to do is relax. If we clench up and put extra pressure on ourselves, it will be more difficult to bowl well. All we have to do is win one game but I'm not going to think about it that way. My approach will be that I'm going to focus on making a good shot in every frame. If we bowl the way we normally do, the winning will take care of itself.

MONTE CARLO

Pot 'O' Gold at Dublin Bowl

Last Saturday night's Monte Carlo event at Clayton Valley Bowl was a lot of fun. I'd like to do it again but Clayton Valley hosts it only on the first Saturday of each month (except for their special New Year's Eve Monte Carlo).

Monte Carlo at Paddock Bowl

Our choices for this weekend are Paddock Bowl and Earl Anthony's Dublin Bowl. Both places have their strong and weak points. Paddock Bowl is a shorter trip for most of us and Kate livens things up with extra contests and prizes. But on some nights the game has almost been called off for lack of bowlers.

Dublin is a longer trip (for everyone but me) but there are lots of bowlers and lots of action with higher prize money. But with a lot of extra contests, it takes longer to play. If one doesn't want to be out too late, Paddock's game is probably the better option. If one seeks a bigger prize potential and doesn't mind a longer ride, Dublin is probably the better choice.

Monte Carlo at Danville Bowl

Peter, Brett, and I have decided to try Pot 'O' Gold in Dublin Saturday night. Who else is in?

WEEK 13 RESULTS

3 wins, 1 loss

It was one of our better nights as we scored our second highest series of the season. It was good enough to win three out of four points and hold a four point lead in the standings. Our nearly customary slow start allowed One Pin Standing to slip by us by five pins in the first game. That was our low point of the evening as we rallied to win the second game by 59 and the third by 171.

While we were winning three of four, Team 5 earned a four-game sweep against The Phantoms. Thus, we match up with Team 5 next week holding a lead of four games. All we have to do is win one game next week and the league title is ours. If they sweep us to earn a tie, I believe we'll have to bowl a fourth game to decide the championship. I'll look that up in the USBC rules we will decide the championship with a best of three series per league rule #10.

The highlights of the evening were Olivia's first ever 500 series and our team score of 781 in the third game (an average of 195.25 per bowler). The game score of 781 and the series score of 2124 were just short of our team highs for the season (805 - 2138).

WEEK 13 01  02  03  SER   AVG   G  PINS   AVG  HG   HS
Sharon 152 174 184  510 170.0  39  6507 166.8 234  551
Olivia 161 167 184  512 170.7  36  5269 146.4 207  512
Mark   204 195 233  632 210.7  39  7575 194.2 248  632
Gary   141 149 180  470 156.7  39  6279 161.0 206  540
TEAM   658 685 781 2124 177.0 153 25630 167.5 805 2138

The current league stat sheet including last night's games can be seen here.

HOLDING ONTO OUR LEAD

We enter tonight's games with a lead of 5 points over Team 5 and 6.5 points over One Pin Standing. One Pin Standing is our opponent tonight. December 10th is the position round followed by the sweeper on December 17th.

If we can maintain our five-point lead tonight, we will be out of reach for the rest of the league and we can coast through the position round without a worry. Team 5 is playing Team 2 (The Phantoms) tonight so they're most likely going to earn a sweep or three points. We will have to match them to maintin our five-point lead. If they gain a point on us tonight, they would be able to tie us by sweeping us in the postion round next week. If they gain two points on us tonight and sweep us in the postion round, they would take first place.

Let's be focused and ready to bowl so we can wrap this thing up tonight.

HOLIDAY CASH DOUBLES TOURNAMENT

Check the Tournaments page for a larger image

Bel Mateo Bowl is hosting another tournament that combines elements of a Monte Carlo bowling with a regular handicap tournament. This one is called Holiday Cash Doubles. It will be held on Thursday, December 27th at 7:00. Ordinarily, a Thursday night tournament in San Mateo would be out of the question but this is a week when a lot of people are off work. I can bowl in this one and Olivia is checking into it. Is anyone else interested?

SATURDAY'S PRACTICE + MONTE CARLO

I met Sharon and The Coach at Diablo Valley Bowl for some practice Saturday morning. It was a typical practice session except for some notable split conversions.

9-10 Split

Sharon left a 9-10 split which is rare enough in itself. The remarkable thing was that she didn't convert it by bisecting the gap between the 9 and 10 pins. Instead, Sharon's shot barely skimmed the left side of the 9 pin which tipped it toward the 10 pin. The top of the 9 pin tapped the 10 pin ever so lightly but enough to knock it off balance.