Well, the biggest disappointment about my trip to Knoxville was that we didn't have more time to see some of the sights of Tennessee. We were only going for the weekend, and since we stayed at the Holiday Inn across the street from the Convention Center, we didn't bother to rent a car. That was too bad as some of my teammates went to Dollywood, and one even drove to the other side of the Smokies into North Carolina, just to find a casino. The only thing we really considered doing was catching the Kenny Chesney and Brooks and Dunn concert at Neyland Stadium on the 7th, but it had been raining all day, and so we decided against that as well.
On to the tounrament: Bowled team at 2:30 on Saturday, lanes were a little difficult to find a line with, but playing outside with my Monster SmashR held up for a while. Was disappointed with how I bowled on Saturday, as I just didn't feel I was putting enough focus into my shots as I should have been, shooting 175, 191, 163 for a sorry 529. We shoot 2789 for team, and should have been better but oh well.
Doubles: 11:40 a.m. squad. Lanes were very dry, even tried my Buzzsaw XXXL up the outside but the lane took it past the pocket every time. After only 2 balls of practice, needed another 7 or 8 frames to find out where I should be playing, and after that things started looking up. Struggled through a 136 first game, but then after I moved in to playing 4th arrow from deep inside with my SmashR shoot 191, 212 for an almost respectable 539, partner puts up 550 for a 1089, probably just below the cut to cash.
Singles: This was my last chance for the 600 that I have yet to shoot at Nationals in my 3rd year of going. Knowing that I had a little bit of a line, even though it wasn't what I normally play made me feel pretty good. The inside line held up pretty well, and I shoot 180, 237, 188, for the 605 thanks to a 1, 2, 4, 10 conversion late in the last game.
All in all I was pleased with how I bowled (Sunday at least), the only downer was for some reason my Optyx Formula 1 was acting very strangely, and one of my teammates as well as my wife commented that the ball just wasn't rolling well, and was doing something different almost on every shot, which wasn't true for my other equipment. Hopefully nothing happened to it on the flight. Maybe just a bad case of jet lag for the Formula 1. Anyway, it was a great trip, and everyone was right the shot was definitely inside for the most part. Put the notes in the book, and start getting ready for Reno now.
