Hey everyone,


For those of you who couldn't make it down to Kankakee for the Old School Open this time around, here is how everything played out:

Total Field: 53 (out of a max of 64)
A-Squad 21, B-Squad 32
High Qualifier: Lance Murray +2
Avg needed to make Top 16: 176.8
High game of tournament: Lance Murray 257
Winner: Ward Rauch (Wally) $500
Runner up: Kyle Carlie (non ball reviewer, to my knowledge) $250

Prize fund: I have to recheck to find out the exact numbers, but we were able to generate enough $$ through bowling ball raffles and local sponsorship to not only pay out the full amount that was advertised originally, but to also pay 4 additional spots that did not make the cut. Places 17 & 18 each took home $35 while 19 & 20 each got back their $30 entry fees. In addition to that, we were also able to provide other cash bonuses (High qualifier, High game, High game not in the money) and to bump up several of the original payout amounts by $5-$10 here and there.

Bowling ball issues: Well, the people who were worried about the fact that we allowed dynamic plastic balls like the XXXL, clear wolf, etc, will be interested to know that, of the 16 bowlers to make the cut, 3 were using such balls, and none advanced past the second round of match play. The title match was a battle between Wally's Spare Storm and Kyle's Ebonite Moo Cow print ball. As advertised, the shot we put down was a challenge, so we had anything but a carry contest going on. The bowlers who made the cut did so because they were able to make their spares and to take advantage of the occasional double or turkey. The qualifying scores ranged from Murray's +2 all the way down to a -463, with many scores falling in between. I will try to look at the numbers again later to see what the tournament average was overall, but I would guess that it was somewhere in the 160s to right around 170 at the highest.

I welcome anyone who bowled to offer their feedback on this event. From my knowledge, everything ran smoothly and everyone seemed to have a very good time. All of the feedback that I have gotten has been positive. I would like to thank everyone who helped to make this event possible, all of the bowlers for traveling so far, the staff of Victory Lanes for providing a venue, Visionary, Lane 1 and Herb Boquin (owner of Dominos Pizza in Kankakee) for their generous donations, SrKegler for helping to spread the word and for helping to obtain the Lane 1 donation, and everyone else who had a hand in helping this idea come to fruition. I hope that everyone had a great time, as I know that I did while running it. I hope that we'll see you all back again the next time, and I also hope to see some of you who were not able to make it this time around. Thanks again!

Gene J. Kanak
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Bowling is without a doubt the dumbest, most pointless, most idiotic excuse for a game that has ever been invented. So, what time are we bowling tomorrow?
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Bowling is without a doubt the dumbest, most pointless, most idiotic excuse for a game that has ever been invented. So, what time are we bowling tomorrow?

As far as honors, there are a lot of 210-220 avg. bowlers that came out, though I'm not sure of everyone. I can tell you that I averaged around 159, and I carry a solid 200 just about everywhere. Lance Murray, the only guy to go + at +2, is a senior regional pro with 3-4 300s and 1-2 800s to his credit. He won his first regional title last year. Al Hardesty, a regular tour regional pro, was also there, but he didn't make the cut. The condition was tough, but fair. The people who did well were the ones who made their spares. The reason for such low numbers was the fact that it was so difficult to string any strikes together. If you only throw two or three strikes in a game, which was no easy task anyway, and you couldn't throw a double, one open is an absolute killer. Most tournaments that we go to these days are carry contests. This event was about who could make their spares and get enough strikes to stay ahead of the game.  Even with the scores being low, I didn't hear anyone complain about the conditions. I think that the people who signed up knew what the concept was all about. If we threw a cake shot out there and it took +125 to make the cut, what would have been the point? All in all, I think we had a total success.
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Bowling is without a doubt the dumbest, most pointless, most idiotic excuse for a game that has ever been invented. So, what time are we bowling tomorrow?

Gene,

That was the case with my tournament despite the field being bigger (156 bowlers we had only 21 people averaging 200+).  Few people were putting strings together.  I would have to say everybody (with only a few exceptions) had 220+ average somewhere.

Not striking and making spares was only the beginning of my problems.  Avoiding splits was a challenge.  Overall, I won't complain because I could have averaged in the low 180's if I didn't have that last game of 152 which pulled my average down to 177.8 overall.  There were 220 average bowlers that averaged in the 150's.  

As far as the lane conditions, I'll complain about bone dry lanes on the league.  However, with this I knew up front what I was getting into and I knew the scores would be low.  Besides, I never get too many chances to bowl on a sport shot.  It's not like my local houses are laying them down all the time.
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I want to have a 220+ average like everybody else around here, so give me fresh oil.  


Edited on 2/9/2004 1:32 PM

Let me add my thanks.  This was a great well run tournament.  Just goes to show that if you put out a challenging shot, bowlers will come from everywhere to bowl it.  We had BR members from 4 states there, Il, Mi, In & Mo.

A group of us were watching the 1st squad bowl.  Twister made the comment, “interesting” when we watched one of the better bowlers try and adjust to the shot.  The tournament was best described by his comment.

“Interesting is a word I haven’t used yet,” he said.

Myself, I waiting for the one next year.  I got to meet about 10 new BR members, tripled my money, got a day off from work.  What more can anyone ask for.

Congrats to Wally, great steady shooting all day.
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~~~SrK - Have balls, will travel

Old bowlers never die, we just don't score as often

Hello everyone. I think this was a great tourney and hope there will be another next year or some time soon.

It was a great experience for me and I learned alot about my game and like everyone else has said spares were a must. I missed a dozen or more easy spares luckly I was able to come back with doubles and some turkeys to make up for my mistakes. Anyone who can get a chance to bowl in in a tournment similar to this one my advice would be to do it. You wont beleave how much stuff you can learn to improve your game. Even though I came out in 1st I noticed alot of my week points and now know where I need improvment. Thanks to everyone who ran this great event I give you all an A+++++.

Like Sr I met 10 or so guys from the site.It was nice meeting all of you and hope bowl with you all again next year or mabye see you at another tournment before then.
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HOOTERS RULES!!!!!! Anyone AGREE??

Edited on 2/9/2004 11:55 PM