Scott,
I was rather ill on Friday, and wouldn't have gone at all had it not been for the fact that I was to accompany my son to his first ever ABT event. Yes, he could have gone by himself, but I wanted to be there, both for moral support and to see how he would do. I also intended to bowl with him, which I felt would make him more comfortable in his first tournament. I can still remember being nervous at my first one, over seven years ago, so I figured I'd try to give him as much of an advantage as I possibly could.
After my first two or three practice shots, I considered withdrawing, because I was not sure I was well enough to bowl. I felt like I was in a fog and could barely get the ball down the lane. I managed to pull it together enough to continue.
I expected to find what Gene described - an extremely tight condition. I had my more aggressive stuff out for practice, but I finally settled on my Ultimate Inferno, which, for me, does nothing on higher volumes of oil - it needs dry boards to do anything. I found myself playing a fairly tight shot, standing about 20, going out to about 12, and having a nice reaction, as long as I didn't leak it right.
After about two thirds of the first game, I was telling myself, "Self, you are going to be shut out today." I had struck on every shot on the right lane, but couldn't find anything on the left lane on our starting pair. My spare shooting was non-existent, so I was in trouble. I somehow managed to strike in the ninth on the left lane, striking out on the right for a five-bagger, salvaging a 190-something. My son shot two-teen, putting him at +20-something with his handicap. I was at +4 or thereabouts.
After that, I seemed to go on autopilot, shooting two-teen and two-thirty, going to +64 after three games. My son, after faltering in game two, managed to bring himself up to +45 after three.
In the fourth game, my first game woes came back to haunt me, except I didn't have a "good" lane to help me out, so I ended up coming back down to +33. My son, however, came through and put himself up to +68. We are both in the Classic Division, and the cut for Classic after the one squad had been +60. I figured, based on the scoring and how the lanes played for me, that the cut score would be high, and I would have to re-enter if I wanted to make the cut. I told my son that he would be in good shape, so he left. I had other things I had to do later, so I had to stay, but I didn't feel up to re-entering. After my son left, I found out that the cut had gone up to +65, and I started to worry a bit. My gut still told me that he would be safe, based on the fact that there were still seven squads of qualifying remaining, and he would have the sheer number of entries (and re-entries) working in his favor. The good news for me was that I managed to win nine of the ten brackets that I had entered, so I was already up for the tournament. At the end of the day Friday, the Classic cut had settled back down to +53, a little more comforting.
I felt worse Saturday, and I was able to stay home, having no commitments, other than working in the shop. I actually went to the shop Saturday morning, but my boss was good enough to send me home when he found out how bad off I was. There was no way I was going to go back and re-enter. I was just going to have to take my $225 from brackets and play another week.
I got a call later in the day from one of my ABT friends, telling me that the cut had come down to me, going in to the last squad. There was to be a league and then one more squad. The prognosis was that the cut would probably drop more after the last squad. Sure enough, it dropped to +31, and I was in.
Fortunately I had started feeling better later on Saturday, so I figured I'd be OK by Sunday. Since I have drawn this out so much already, I'll spare you further details, but I ended up making top seed going into the finals, assuring me a mininum of a tie for third. I couldn't get on track during my match. Three rails on the right lane were my undoing, so I finished tied for third. I did manage another $250 in brackets in the semifinals, so it was a good $1200+ weekend for me.
My son started off the semis like he was going to kick everybody's butts - 247 plus his 11 sticks for +58. He then faded, finishing at +17, which was good for 21st place - not bad for his first time out, IMO, especially since had only bowled three times since going off to college in August.
Regarding the lane conditions, I was told that they played tighter on Saturday than they did on Friday. Actually, they (supposedly) put out the same pattern they did for a summer event, at which they were very tight. However, they apparently store their lane conditioner in a place that is not very well temperature controlled, so the oil was running a bit more slowly than it was last summer (BTW, I'm pretty sure they use a pad machine). I guess on Saturday, the oil was a bit warmer than it had been on Friday when they oiled, so they were tighter on Saturday. On Sunday, I found pretty much the same reaction that I had on Friday. Players who had played Saturday said that they played differently on Sunday.
I won't be at Sunset next week - too many other commitments. I plan to be at Woodridge. That will be it for me for the year - I'll miss the YEA, because my daughter's college graduation is Dec. 19. I wish I could donate some of the 19 events I have to my credit so far this year to someone who won't have enough, but that's the way it goes.
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RW (THB)
