Well, I am finally back at school, so its time for my ABC report.
Flight- Flew Northwest and I brough 2 2-ball totes with 1 suitcase. I had no problem checking my 2 totes and nothing got damaged on either flight
. Flying out was great, used the Easy checkin system and got everything set without a problem. On the way back, huge wait with only 1 person working the desk and an entire plane trying to check in at once. When we finally got bags checked and thru security, everything was fine.
Hotel/Food/Gambling- We stayed at out at the Sands, which wasn't that bad. The rooms were clean and much bigger than I expected. My parents like to eat at rather inconvenient times for the happy eater I am, but I made it through. We ate at Mel's in the Sands a few times and I didn't have any bad experiences with it. One problem with the trip was that I am not 21, so each time I went somewhere with the parents I would play the "How long until I get carded?" game. The first day out there we went to the El Dorado and I made a quick 50 on nickel slots and I quit. Shortly after, I was shown the door. During the day, I managed to last a few hours of watching the parents play before being asked to leave, but at night I had about 30 seconds on the floor before being ousted. For the most part, the slots were extremely tight, getting a decent payout on one usually meant losing it later on another. The blackjack dealers had a knack at getting 4 or 5 card 21s and hitting on 16, drawing the ace for 17, and cleaning out the table.
Bowling-
Team- The team event was quite the adventure, and I never really got lined up. For the most part, I only found soup on 53-54 and had trouble hitting the pocket without throwing the PERFECT ball. I used my El Nino starting at 23 hitting 3rd arrow and letting the ball roll back. I was consistently inconsistent at hitting my mark and shot a solid 181-148-170 for 499
. I really had a hard time getting the ball to move outside, but when I moved in and slowed the ball down a bit the shot opened up. Like previous ABC's, consistency was needed and there was a definate OB. I left more 1-2-4's in Reno than I have all year.
Singles/Doubles- This shot was a little bit lighter, but still needed accuracy to score. I started doubles in the same spot as I finished team with the El Nino and shot 173 with opens in the 2nd and 3rd frame. The next game I was on fire and didn't miss much, shot 243(My first 200 at ABCs). Third game the bonehead opens acame back in the 1st and 5th for 187. 173-243-187=603.
In singles, the shot was the same so I came out firing a CLEAN 224. The next game I was fine until I missed a 2 pin
in the fifth. I tried to come back, struck in the 6th, smash 9 pin
in the 7th, strike in the 8th, smash 10 pin
in the 9th, 8-spare/strike in the 10th for 186. I carry those 2 frames and its 226. 3rd game I had 2 stupid opens, but had the first 2 in the 10th for 204. 224-186-204= 614.
Altogether, spares were a huge part of the bowling. I had more opens in team than in doubles and singles combined. Consistency was needed, miss outside and say bye-bye, miss inside and hope to carry brooklyn. I didn't see as many problems with the twister pins as I expected, but there were times that the carry was questionable (Singles game 2). I still bowled decent enough in doubles/singles to make me feel better about team. 499-603-614= 1716 all events. Last year I had 1591, so this year was much better.
-Edited w/gambling notes-
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Dan Chambers
Winona State University Bowling
Edited on 4/11/2004 7:37 PM
