Team event was a bit of a surprise. The shot was not what I expected. I just read Wilbert’s report
http://www.ballreviews.com/Forum/Replies.asp?TopicID=52325&ForumID=79&CategoryID=5, and what he describe is exactly what I saw. Anyway, I started off strong in the Team event. I was a bit lost during warmups, and threw 5 shots, not getting close on any of them. I threw 3 shots with the Inferno, and 2 with the Raging, and I wasn’t close on any of them, missing the head pin to the right on three shots, and going nose and brooklyn on two others. I went to the Fuze Eliminator to start game 1, and came up light on both shots (2-4-5 & bucket). Spared both, and went back to the Inferno,
http://www.pipeline.com/~randyo/arsenal/15inferno2.jpg playing the same shot (around 22 laydown to 18 at the arrow, out to around 13 or 14 at the breakpoint. I executed well, and shot 231 the first game. Second game I started with a spare (7 pin), then left the dreaded ABC 4-9. Damn near picked it up. I moved in a board on the next shot, and came up light. Spared, went back to where I was, and hit the nose. Anyway, I struggled with execution and ball reaction. Spares kept me from a total disaster, until the 10th frame. Left a 3-6-10, and I was probably thinking more about throwing my Fire Quantum
http://www.pipeline.com/~randyo/arsenal/15firequantum.jpg on the fill ball than the spare I was shooting, and took the 3-6 off the 10 for an open 10th and a whopping 169 (I was high on my team this game too!!!).
Last game I started off with the Fire Quantum, left a mixer 7, spared it – but I liked the reaction. It was getting through the heads better than the Inferno, and there was enough back end to play with. Unfortunately, I opened the next two frames – sliding by a seven pin and a 4-7. I fought my way back, and had a shot at a decent game, but just didn’t carry when I needed to. Shot 192 the last game. Total 592 for my first ever ABC. The second game killed me in the brackets though. Too bad, because the first and third were enough to make it a big day. I dropped a lot of brackets in the 2nd game to scores in the 170 to 185 range.
Doubles was a disaster. I am a slow starter and always take a while to get into a rhythm. I made an arsenal change, dropping the Warp Zone off and brought in my 15# Spirit. With only 1 shot per lane warmup allowed, I decided to play it like the end of team. I threw one shot with the Fire Quantum, and one with the Spirit. I decided to play the Spirit,
http://www.pipeline.com/~randyo/15spirit1.jpg attempting to lay down around 21 to 22 and hit 17/18 at the arrows. When I executed well (which wasn’t that often, I struck, but I was just throwing the ball poorly. Either forcing the downswing, or turning the ball early. I pulled far too many shots. Spare shooting kept it from being a total disaster, but even so, nothing to be proud of. I ball-fished for a while, and just never got untracked. Ended up with an entirely forgettable 180-179-177-536.
Singles started off right where I left off on doubles. I ball fished for most of the game, threw the ball mostly poorly, and ended up with a 178. I then decide just to move in deeper and pull out the Inferno. The ball reaction was surprisingly good, and I even had a couple of boards to play with. I was playing I ended up throwing the last 2 games swinging the ball from a laydown of around 25 to 27 swing over 19 and 20. I was also executing better, and finished up 224-215 for a 617 total, and an all events total of 1745. Nothing spectacular, but it could have been worse. Had I had to do it all over again, I would have stuck with the Inferno the entire 9 games, moving deeper as required, and adjusting loft and speed. The lanes were very playable, and only poor execution, bad ball choices, and 5 poor spare shots during the 9 games kept me from shooting in the 1850 to 1900 range. The only downer was that once again I didn't do that well in brackets. I did enjoy my first ABC experience and the Stadium, and will definitely go back next time it is in Reno.
Edited on 4/21/2004 0:33 AM
