Last night signaled our first night back bowling in a league setting, and really, for most of the team, the first time bowling in any semi-serious capacity since the end of the 2009 Fall PSL session. I know for me, I’ve gone bowling 3 times since the end of the Fall session – two of which were Bowl For Kids’ Sake events – so expectations weren’t exactly high coming in. Add to that the fact that while PSL planned on carrying our averages from our last session over, they actually pulled our much higher team and individual averages from the 2009 Summer session over instead, and you’ve got a recipe for a complete letdown on the lanes in week 1.

Of course, it’s bowling, so anything can happen.

Our team average coming in was 696, which for a group out of practice seems difficult to match, but we ended up bowling really well and actually improved our average with games of 708, 726, and 666 while also taking all three games in week 1.

For me, you have to go back to week 7 of the ’09 Summer session to find a game where I bowled three 200’s, but I felt really strong on the lanes. I was able to keep my ball from hitting brooklyn across all three games, and I only messed up my release on three first throws all night. Of course, I couldn’t hit spares consistently, but I strung together enough strikes to keep my scores up.

Meg and Sam both bowled really well, too, improving on their averages by picking up a lot of spares and even putting some doubles together. Meg’s 179 in game 1 was her best game since week 6 of the ’09 Summer session and Sam’s 169 was her best since she rolled a 192 in week 2 of the Fall session.

Meadows started slower than we expected, but he improved as the night went on, which helped lift our third game and keep our team average up, and once we get back into our groove I have to think we’re going to put up strong scores again.

As a team, we only had 37 open frames with a combined 50 strikes! Across 120 possible frames, that’s not awful for the first week. I don’t feel like going back, but I would say those are probably our best team stats in a very long time. If we can maintain this level, our 44-pin lead over Jay’s second-place team should be enough to get us into the playoffs again!

Hopefully my roll off this week shows some consistency…

It’s pretty obvious that I skipped blogging about bowling this session, but frankly, this session sucked. Everyone on our team saw significant drops in average compared to the summer session, and we all sort of mailed it in the minute we knew we couldn’t participate in the playoffs or Kingpin/Queenpin competition due to PSL rescheduling our playoffs for the weekend 3/4 of our team was out of town. Don’t get me wrong…we all tried to bowl well, but you could just tell that no one really cared like our previous sessions.

Megan finished 6th on the Queenpin list, and I finished 7th on the Kingpin list, but that’s not exactly impressive when everyone on our team finished top-10 last session and Megan won the whole thing. Our 10-11 record gave us a 5th place finish on Thursday, but our 640, which was 56 pins higher than any other Thursday team average, got us into the hypothetical playoffs. Sense the bitterness? Maybe a little…

While we like playing with a lot of the teams in our Thursday night league, we’re going to be taking the winter session off and explore our other options…aka, the search for a new league is on. Hopefully some change will reinvigorate our drive to be the biggest handicapped fish in this small Western PA pond. Tap. Tap. Tap.

After our second week of the PSL fall bowling league, I can safely say that after a month off the Nine-Dash Heroes need to practice up…or not.

First, our bowling has been pretty bad compared to previous sessions. Week one saw our team start well enough, setting our starting average at 644…which isn’t bad considering the next closest team had a 555 average. Individually, only Meadows started with a better average than he finished with last session (198).

Unfortunately, our second week didn’t show much team improvement. While Megan, Sam, and myself saw slight pin increases that would get us closer to our last session averages, Meadows dropped 17 pins, which basically offset any improvement the rest of us tried to make. Our team average still went up 2 pins to a 646, but for a team that nearly finished with a 700 average last session we’re way off track.

Of course, this session is basically a throwaway session anyway. Why? Well, because PSL decided to change the schedule because of the G20 Summit. With protests supposed to go down on our first night, the league start dates got pushed back a week, which means the new playoff date occurs when Megan, Meadows, and I are all out of town. Without any hope of participating in the playoffs and kingpin/queenpin competition, the competitive spirit is lost, and it’s showing in our form.

This could very well spell the end of my time with PSL. I’m sick of the poor management, poor scheduling, and the poor rules and officiating. Hell, we don’t even get PSL t-shirts for bowling league anymore.

Another PSL season came to a close Sunday. Only this time, we got to taste a little bit of glory. Not as a team, necessarily, but Megan bowled her highest game ever to earn her the Queenpin title in her first ever shot at it. She almost had her first clean game, too, if not for an open 9th frame, but her 196 was nearly 40 pins higher than any other girls in the competition. It also happened to be her highest game ever. It was an awesome achievement and showed a marked improvement over her 107 average from the Spring season.

The team struggled in the first round – bowling a 640 to miss our chance at another top 10 finish (647 was the cutoff). With our team eliminated, our only chance at any victory celebration was in the Kingpin and Queenpin competitions. This was the first time that all four members of our team were able to compete in the competition, so we had to represent our team well.

Megan obviously bowled out of her mind to win the whole thing and restore some pride into the Nine-Dash Heroes, but the dream 1-2 finish for both competitions wasn’t to be. Sam bowled a 135, which she was bummed about, but wasn’t really a horrible game since she was the only person to not go practice on Friday after our awful Thursday performance.

Meadows and I were bowling with a group of 5 bowlers…of which 4 were in the top 5 of the Kingpin standings. Overall, we both bowled strong games. For the first half of the game, I thought Meadows was going to pull it off as he had a 165 in the 7th frame after a 4 bagger, but failed to hit another strike, finishing 5th overall with a 206.

I ended up bowling a 219, which was a solid effort, but an effort only worthy of a 3rd place finish. I figured that I needed at least a 230 to even challenge for the top spot, which still wouldn’t have been enough. I finished behind a 243 & 240…bowled by two bowlers with a 180 & 181 average, respectively. It marked the 2nd straight season where I finished at the top of the Kingpin standings after 8 weeks, but got crushed in the only game that matters. Oh well…maybe next time.

My goal for next season is to finish in first again, so I’ll aim for a 215 in hopes that it’s the magic number to stay above the returning talent that skipped the summer session. I’m setting Meadows’ goal at 200 – which I know he can do since he had a 200 until the final couple of weeks. I think Megan and Sam should aim to break 160, but I won’t be surprised to see averages closer to 170 in their second season throwing the hook. That sets our team average goal at 735, but I’m thinking that a 710 average would be awesome. We’ve improved every session, so I see no reason to expect a plateau yet…even with me basically flattening out. It’s going to be a struggle to finish with a high team average and win the whole thing, as evidenced by this session, but our goal should be to take highest average in all leagues again.

I can’t wait until the next session!

Last night was one of most comically bad nights that our team has had on the lanes in a long time. Our scores for the night: 566, 694, 585. We got close to our average in game two, but everyone except Meadows bowled under average guaranteeing that our team would go winless in the final week. In fact, Meadows’ game two score of 215 was the only game of the night above average. Period.

Meadows bowled better than the rest of us, but his 549 series was 101 pins shy of the 650 I was hoping he’d roll. His 2-pin drop in average still gave him a marked improvement over last session, a top-5 finish (5th), and his first chance to compete in the Kingpin competition. If anyone from our team has a shot, it’s Meadows. He’s typically bowled really well in the playoffs!

Megan and Sam were both off, too, but they managed to stay ranked 1 & 2 in the final Queenpin standings. The only difference is that Megan dropped to number 2 and Sam overtook the top spot. Everyone was missing easy spares, but throwing good first balls – unlike myself, who couldn’t throw a good first ball to save my life – so they just have to pick up spares Sunday to see an increase.

For me…I should’ve known it would be a long night after failing to find any rhythm in warm-ups. I threw 5 warm-up frames, failing to strike in any of them. I then failed to strike in the first 9 frames of game 1. 14 consecutive first balls without a strike would seem inconceivable in my mind if I hadn’t watched it happen. Adding insult to injury, I finished the night with 10 opens…5 in game one. Considering that only 3 were splits, it’s an accurate assumption that I choked on 7 easy spares to end with more opens in one week than I had in the nearly the last 3 weeks combined. I finished the night with a 498 series. Awesome! At least I was able to keep my 200 average for the season despite an awful night. I needed 488…got 498. Success-ish.

Unfortunately, our collapse this week cost us our team goal of a 700 average…dropping us to a 698. A solid 11-pin drop in one week. The one benefit is that since we’re going to be setting the handicap for the playoffs, we’ve dropped every other team’s handicap by 11, too. That could honestly be the difference Sunday. We still would’ve preferred to stay at our 709, but some weeks just don’t work out. I just hope we bring a better game than last night. After a 4th place finish last time around, we need to improve…especially with the smaller pool of players/teams in the Summer session.

Last night was another so-so week in league for our team…well, at least as far as our win/loss record goes. We were bowling against the dummy team, so we only had to better our average of 710 by 1 pin to take each game.

Easier said than done…

After a solid team effort in game one where Me, Megan, and Meadows bowled above our average for a 723, we slipped up in games 2 and 3 to drop both. Sam bowled 20 pins over in game 2, but it wasn’t enough as our 697 kept us 14 pins away from a victory. I guess that simple 3-6-10 spare that I missed cost us the game. Game 3 saw Megan and I bowl over average, but we still dropped that game by 8 pins (703). Our failure to pick up an extra 22 pins over those two games leaves us with a 9-9 record going into the final week of the summer PSL session.

With two teams sitting above us with an unreachable 13 wins, we’re going to be coasting into the playoffs on average alone (top 2 averages and top 2 records get in)…which is totally fine with us. Right now, our 709 team average is 114 pins higher than the closest team, so we could technically bowl nothing but gutters, finish our season with a 622 average, and STILL finish with the highest average. Gotta love PSL bowling league. Ha ha.

Individually, Megan and Sam’s in-team competition is still close despite Dimar picking up pins this week. She’s has 37 more pins than Sam, but both are still 1 & 2 in the Queenpin standings! Barring an crazy charge from the 3rd place girl – who has a 141 average – and an insane collapse from both Megan and Sam, our two girls will finish in the top two spots!

With the guy who was #1 a few weeks ago with a 211 average dropping 10 pins over the last two weeks, I’m back to the #1 spot with my 205. For all of the struggles with the dry lanes and not having my spare ball for two weeks this session, I’m somehow still bowling consistently enough to keep my head above the 200 mark. I just need 488 pins next week to finish my 2nd straight 200 session. We shall see. This past week was only the second week that I bowled 3 200’s…a rarity this session, where I’ve only bowled 12 200 games out of 21 so far (57%). Last session I bowled 18 200’s (75%).

Meads has tailed off a bit the last two weeks, but he’s still only 6 pins away from 2nd place in the Kingpin standings. I’d love to see him have a sick final week and finish above 200 for the season…even if that means he bowls a 700 series before I do to get there (he needs 695 pins)! He’s bowled 11 200’s this session, so if he can roll 3 in a row anything is possible!

I’m seriously looking forward to next week. Thursday is our last match before Sunday’s playoffs and I’d love to see us keep our team average goal of 700!

Oh…and it was hilarious that Sara requested The Right Stuff by NKOTB, and about 1 minute into the song, someone paid the DJ $5 to stop it…he then played Weird Al’s The White Stuff… Gotta love 80’s night at Arsenal!

Tonight was a pretty good night for our team despite some average bowling. Megan was the only person to gain pins on her average after opening the night with two games in the 170’s. Her and Sam are both sitting pretty with 155 averages now. Meg has a 1-pin lead over Sam, which should make for a friendly little in-team competition with 2 weeks remaining.

Meadows and I struggled a bit, though. He struggled to start the night when the lanes had some heavy oil, but he was clutch at the end of game 1 when we came back to win by 8 pins. By game 3, the conditions were prime for him (aka, dry) and Meads dug out a strong effort to help minimize the damage to his average. I’m confident that he’ll get his average back up to 200 with two weeks to go.

I started pretty strong, but didn’t have my spare ball for the second straight week (I can’t believe I forgot to get new tips or super glue for the old ones). I missed a few right side spares in games one and two as I tried to get used to Meads’ plastic ball. Game three was solid considering the conditions drying up quickly, but a split in the 9th killed my clean game and guaranteed another failed shot at a 600 series.

Regardless, the team we played struggled just as much, helping us pick up two much-needed wins. We’re a lock for playoffs with our team average, but the wins are always good to pile up. Two weeks to go…hopefully Sam and Meg stay at the top of the Queenpin standings and Meads and I finish with 200+ averages.

I have to say this past week was probably the worst week that I’ve had bowling in quite some time…well, at least two weeks.

First, there was the issue of bowling against a team that completely didn’t give a damn about bowling, which always makes for a boring night. We’re not looking for the most competitive bowlers ever or anything, but it would be nice if the team we’re bowling against actually tried. Of course, they didn’t need to try with the amount of pins were handing them (374 pins/game).

Naturally, we lost all three games, but the real frustrations for our team were the dry lanes…AGAIN. It’s seriously getting to point – at least for me – where I’m not sure if the $10/week we spend is really that much better than a $15/week league where they actually put down decent conditions. I’d like to think that I can just adjust and bowl within the conditions, but I just don’t have a solution for lanes this dry. You know it’s bad when Sam, Megan, AND Meadows are struggling on the lanes.

Meadows is the king of the dry lanes, but even he was getting irritated by the conditions. Megan had the best week, by far, with her average going up a pin, but the combination of a lame opponent and no oil just made for a terrible week. Our team average dropped a bit, we lost all three games, and only one person on our team showed any improvement week-to-week.

I managed to dig out a 600 series despite not having a functional spare ball, so I guess I shouldn’t complain…it was my best series on dry conditions ever, but whatever…still annoyed. Especially after I opened the third game with 7 straight effortless strikes followed by 3 straight opens. It was just one of those weeks.

We’re fortunate to have such a high average in our league, but if they don’t start oiling the lanes, I don’t expect to see any gains in my average. Fortunately, everyone else on the team has improved their averages a lot since last session, so hopefully Meadows, Sam, and Megan can carry me through the dry nights. For now, I’m going to be happy if I can hold a 200 average.

On Saturday, Meadows, Megan, MJ, and I took part in first Pittsburgh Amazing Bowling Race. Sam – from our bowling team – who was the person rallying hardest for us to get teams together, had to back out at the last moment for a family emergency, which forced us to find one other person. Fortunately, Megan’s mom was able to fill in for Sam. Otherwise, the outcome of the day might’ve been completely different.

Meadows and I made up the one team, while Megan and her mom were on a team. The event was based on that TV show, “The Amazing Race”, and forced us to drive all around Pittsburgh taking part in 8 random bowling-based challenges.

All of my reservations about taking part in the event were gone after the first event, where Meadows and I took the lead and held onto that lead for the entire day. Our adventure:

1. First, we had to drive to the South Side from the Strip District. The challenge was to fill the holes of a bowling ball with water from the South Side Works fountains, and transfer it to a cup. Once the cup was full you could move on. Meadows volunteered…got drenched…and we finished first.
2. Head over to Games ‘n’ At and bowl a whole game of duckpin. Don’t get too excited, though. It wasn’t real duckpin. The lanes were probably a third of the length of a real lane, and the pins were attached to strings. Still fun, but kind of lame for those of us from Baltimore. We finished first here. I think I had a 145 and Meadows had a 143. Far from impressive, but we were bowling for speed, and not score. Upon sprinting out of the arcade, Meadows blew out his AE flip flop (more on that later).
3. Go to Legacy Lanes and play bowling yahtzee. We had to bowl two spares, leave two 7’s, two 8’s, and two 9’s…we got out there before everyone else. Megan and her mom were right behind us, though.
4. Next was a trip to Noble Manor Lanes, where we had to bowl a 1, 2, or leave a split. Again, we were out of there before anyone. We threw about 3 balls.
5. We hustled over to Arsenal after that, only to be slowed down to a halt because we were there before anyone expected us. We got there around 10:45, but Arsenal wasn’t supposed to open until 11. Thus, none of the lanes were turned on. That allowed another team to catch up, but it didn’t matter. Meadows and I crushed the challenge – bowl left-handed with a house ball and knock down at least 7 pins a piece. Check. Next. (It’s a good thing we practice lefty for fun)
6. We had to go out to Highland Park Reservoir for the most physically demanding challenge of the day after the Arsenal debacle. Poor navigation by me, led us to run up to the first person we saw in the yellow volunteer shirt. Unfortunately, we were at the last stop of the challenge. We had to run around the entire reservoir path…first to get the challenge card…then the find the bowling pins with random letters attached to the top…then figure out what the letters spelled out (“Stanley Cup”)…then run our answer to the lady who was sitting at the place where we had initially arrived. All-in-all, Meadows and I ran .88 miles at record pace. I was in Adidas Superstars that usually never actually get laced up, and Meadows was without any shoes thanks to the flip flop disaster after the second challenge. Regardless, we made it out without serious injury…
7. The next challenge was the easiest for Meadows and I. We arrived well ahead of everyone, and the people at Forward Lanes were surprised to see a team from the blue group show up so early. The task was simple…on lane 1, you had to knock the 1 pin down. Lane 2, knock the 2 pin down, and so on until you got to the 10. Meadows wasted his first ball because he thought we only had to knock 1 pin down. After that, we only had to throw one extra ball – I left the 6 pin standing despite knocking the rest down. Again, we rushed out of that challenge way ahead of the other teams in the blue group.
8. Unfortunately, the final challenge is where we lost our shot at the $1,000 grand prize. The challenge seemed simple enough – both team members had to pick the same house ball, bowl at the same time, and leave the same exact spare (gutter balls didn’t count). Despite a 5 minute lead over every other team to the last challenge, we just couldn’t get it done. Meadows and I were aiming for the 10 pin. One of us would hit it, and the other would throw their ball in the gutter. It was really difficult with a house ball. The team who ended up winning, arrived about 10 minutes after we started, and literally only threw about 5 times before getting lucky and leaving a pair of 7’s. It was absurd. One guy hit Brooklyn, the other guy hit pocket…and both left the same thing. Meadows and I were blown away.After a day of driving like maniacs around Pittsburgh, bowling our asses off, getting drenched, and running nearly a mile at a sprint pace, we lost to the luck of another team.

Regardless, the event was a blast. Meadows and I ended up finishing the final challenge a few minutes after the first place finishers, giving us a second place finish and $100 in gift cards to Dick’s and Atria’s. Not bad at all. Megan and MJ ended up finishing 11th, which was really respectable considering that there were 45 teams competing.

It was the first year that the event took place, and it looks like the success of the whole thing is going to motivate them to hold the event on an annual basis. I really hope they do, because Meadows and I are coming back with a vengeance next year, and Sam needs a chance to participate.

Until then…witness the second-place finishers:

I’m so far behind in updating the blog, that I’ve failed to stay on top of our PSL summer bowling session updates (I know…I know…you couldn’t wait). After 4 weeks, we’re in pretty good shape as a team. Everyone is bowling really well…especially Megan and Sam.

Before the season started, Sam and Megan both picked up entry level hook balls (Storm Topical Storms), and the improvement has been drastic. It took a short time, but they’re both doing better than ever…especially in the picking up spares department. After the fourth week, both Sam and Megan are the top two girls in PSL bowling. Meadows and I are the the #3, and #2, respectively.

Meadows is bowling really well right now, while I’ve dropped off quite a bit. We’ve only had oil on the lanes for 2 of the 4 weeks, and my scores have dried up with the lanes. In fact, coming into week 3, I had a 217 average and was bowling really well. Then…week 3…no oil…two sub-150 games…hello, 202 average – a 15-pin drop off in one week. Luckily, this past week had some reasonable conditions and I returned the 600 series club, but it’s been rough. I’m just not able to adjust when there’s literally no oil on the lanes. I have to flatten out, throw faster, and pray. It’s just so unpredictable for me, then I start missing easy spares because my spare ball hooks. Ha ha. Just another sign that I’m not really that good of a bowler. Confirmed.

Meadows, on the other hand, has the perfect ball in dry conditions. He started the first two weeks throwing my old ball, then finally picked up his new one, and has rolled steady throughout the first 4 weeks. If the conditions stay dry, my vote is that Meadows might possible end up the top bowler in PSL this session.

With our team average over 700 this session, we’re probably going to lose most of our games, but we’re already a lock for the playoffs…barring a major meltdown, that is. Most of the good bowlers and high rolling teams from the other seasons don’t bowl in the summer, so it’s up to us to set the bar for playoffs this session. Should be interesting. Here’s the weekly breakdown up to this point: