After bowling the ABC/USBC Nationals for 5 years i would say my personal view is mixed.  I love the tournament,the professionalism, prestige of the event and all that jazz.  The score pace is low and that leads to more competition.  Brackets can be won with 200 games or even lower.  It usually runs on time and you know what to expect.  It is not some shoot out where it will take 880 to win because some hdcp bowler comes in with a 160 avg and shoots 2100 scratch like it seems most local tournamnets are now days.

I have bowled OK and that is where the mixed feeling comes in.  I miss to many spares at USBC and usually i am really good on spares.  I hate the approaches and most do.  The host cites have been mixed feelings.  I hated Baton Rouge and Reno was not so great either but that is my own personal view only.  I liked the ease of getting around Corpus and Billings.  It would also be nice if the USBC would/could get in good with an Airline and work out some aggreement.  Several of my guys got bumped and had to drive from San Antonio, very unxpected for sure.

But like most I will keep going back because of all the stuff i bowl that is my favorite for sure.  Below I have included my stats after 5 years.  My goal is to get to 200 avg and shoot an honor score their for sure(had front 9 last year).  An eagle would be the ultimate for sure.

      USBC SCORES      
   Team   Doubles   Singles   A/E
2002   569   600   665   1834
2003   554   571   618   1743
2004   509   639   555   1703
2005   597   526   660   1783
2006   603   534   535   1672
Total   2832   2870   3033   8735
Srs Avg   566   574   606   
Gme Avg   188.80   191.33   202.20   
         
Overall Average   194.11


Feel free to add comments and share your experiences as well. - Nod
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LTBOCSFM

Edited on 6/28/2006 3:19 PM

Edited on 6/28/2006 3:20 PM

BUB,

Like i stated I do not take advantage of the situation either being the lone lefty on my former team. As to your ball I would have asked for another person to weigh it. Our team has never had a problem guess we are just lucky. Not including you by the sounds, I don't understand why any bowler wouldn't go into a shop just before they leave to have all statics checked. Travel sounds like you hit a good deal. Thats around the deal ($188) I got for a few of the guys i knew who went. For the airfare we go in late may to June. Usually in April or May a lot of the carriers will run specials or fare breaks. We usually book a good price much earlier and then just try to beat it when the sales come up. Then cancel the first as you will receive full credit as you cancelled early. (timeline depends on carrier) Besides working the sites put in a call to your largest area travel agent. Sometimes they are privy to great deals for like a day or two. Pay attention to air carriers sites who highlight specific cities to travel to. They usually will do this for about a week and occasionally you will get a sweet deal. Last bit for travel is using biddingfortravel.com. It is a site that tells you what prices are accepted or rejected by some of the bidding sites. As far as the warm-up yes maybe two shots per lane. Again i just hate all the complaining. I too try to warm up for at least 20 minutes before getting there to bowl. Had better luck with shifts later in the day as my body has done its norm and I'm not as amped up. Every tournament could always be better and with the amount of people who go to this you will not satisfy everyone. With regard to host cities yes i would love more east of the mississippi but i believe from what we heard they get more in attendance from the western ones. I believe they also do better $$$. I don't mind the travel as its cool to see different places. Never had a problem shipping equipment but take special care of packing. Also checking with hotels and shipping to them has been a good route for us. Again good post Nod glad to hear some of the responses and learn what everyone else views.

LH-T,

Thanks for the airline advice. When you cancel they don't hit you with the $100 rebooking fee? I do use biddingfortravel.com frequently, it is a great site for anyone who travels and uses priceline.

I also agree that I need to bowl later in the day. If that situation does occur in the future where I need to help someone out and I do go to Nationals, I would say no if the D/S are at 7AM. I can't handle that, just like some people wouldn't handle the 11:30PM very well.

Likewise, if I ever bowl in Reno again, I will definitely use the bowlers express on the return trip as I know from experience how asinine the Reno airport is about bowling balls. Have the balls shipped back to a business address, if possible, to save some on the shipping. I do like seeing different cities (even places like Tulsa and Huntsville), unfortunately for me I missed Salt Lake City which I heard was great.

wow Blaine, what line were you playing?