Hey everyone....just got back last night from bowling Natls and wanted to share some observations.

 

For those that did not know we were honored to be featured on USBC's live streaming service with commentary for our team event.  Unfortunately we bowled horribly, so the audience was treated to what appeared to be a group of league bowlers whiffing spares.  Either way we had a blast and have some cool memories from the weekend.

 

The pattern is what it appears, a good bid softer than the past few years.  It won't seem the way when you throw the first few shots, as on the surface it appears to be similar to years past.  The best look on the fresh is near the track or playing the "track zone" between 13 and 8.  Our plan was to throw balls with surface up 8 in practice and try to start carving a hole to throw to later.  After a couple of shots we got some mixed thoughts on ball reaction.  One guy on my team said they were hooking more than last year...and I was thinking the exact opposite.  I remembered that the pattern was longer, with a lot more volume up front, but the overall volume was close to the same.  I started thinking that maybe the taper was very long and that the stronger balls were burning up in the last couple of feet.  I had been throwing a Pure Physics at 1000 and a Taboo at 2000 in practice, and neither one looked very good.  For my last shot before the lights came on I grabbed my Hyroad (5" 45* shiny) and throw it up 9 and it read the pattern beautifully...so I decided to start with that.

 

I wanted to be sure of what I was seeing before I got my teammates to change everything, and after a couple of good shots (NOT my first frame...lol), I started trying to get some of my teammates to gear down to some weaker cores and shells.  Now I'm not saying that you need to throw a Tropical Heat on the fresh, but some of the balls being used were Hyroads, Reign of Fire, Virtual Energy, Gamebreaker, World Beater (by our straightest player), and even a Blue Vibe.  I missed a single pin in the 9th, but threw some good shots overall the first game to shoot 185.

 

Game 2 was when we saw the transition really start happening.  I moved about an arrow between the end of game 1 and game 2 and started tilting it more off my hand.  The lane REALLY opened up and I shoot 230 with 3 REALLY bad shots towards the end of the game.  I really left some pins out there that game.

 

Game 3 we just continued to chase the pattern in.  I was looking 19/20 and still using my Hyroad, and threw it pretty poorly to shoot 193.

 

I really don't have any other details, as the pattern seemed to be pretty straightforward.  If you threw too much ball it would wiggle, and if you played too far in it would give you some over/under.  There is definitely a good shot in the track, but with the lighter volume downlane it won't hold up too terribly long, but there is enough hold to simply chase the oil line in and you can have a quasi-league shot by the time the scoring really gets going in game 2.

 

In singles and doubles it will really depend on how the pair is broken down before you get there (as usual).  We had an amazing pair in doubles, and I threw it terrible (I mean....HORRIBLE).....and still shot 640.  I played close to 5th arrow and had almost unlimited hook right.  I was still throwing my Hyroad at this point.  Our singles pair wasn't as friendly, as there was some hang to the right which made us at least remotely get the ball on line.   I threw it much better on this pair but couldn't get away with as much and shot 626.

 

Overall a good trip...for not having bowled much in the past couple of years, and how uncomfortable I am with my swing....shooting 1881 for all events definitely makes me pleased.  I threw my Hyroad all 9 games, and never questioned the look or thought I needed more ball than that.  Most of my teammates threw stuff that wasn't overly aggressive the whole time as well.  One exception as one guy that throws it hard threw a Taboo up 7/8 during singles and doubles after struggling in team.  He shot about 40 over on the second day doing that.

 

Some thoughts about Reno...

 

- If you like good food and good beer....check out Silver Peak Brewhouse near the stadium in downtown.  The microbrews and food were awesome...and not overly pricey like everything in the casinos.

 

- If you like sushi check out Ichiban in Harrah's.  It's a little upscale, but for a sushi fan it's a must try.  They have an all you can eat bar for $28 per person, and it is well worth it...best sushi I've ever had (beware the Cajun roll though).

 

- The city is still a dump, and the level of douchebags wearing Tapout was through the roof.  We saw a huge fight in Silver Legacy Saturday night, and about 3 others almost happen between guys that will end up managing fast food restaurants in a few years.

 

Hope I didn't leave anything important out.  If anyone has any questions let me know....and if you want to see us bowl here is a video of it in it's entirety:

 

(I'm the red head bowling leadoff for the "orange" team)

 

It is tough to say, but I would think if the layout were weaker and had some flare backed out it could work.  You can throw the more aggressive stuff, but it just seems to labor a little down the lane.

Good report and seems spot on from what i seen of your team bowling sat evening....first thing that struck me was how much your team was playing pretty much up the boards(10-9-8 board) that 1st game with recovery to get it to the pocket and not as many so called out of bounds as seen in yrs past...did seem almost like a league shot but not being there i;m sure as you say if you had aggresive stuff it could of wiggled some or the very least leave 10pins...

When I was watching your group it seemed like your lefty had a decent ball reaction. How did he end up fairing for the tournament?

Also did they correct last years lighting issue?

Seemed very dark in there last year on the lanes. 

iceman - Yeah it's just odd how the taper is at the end of the pattern.  The stronger balls we brought (Taboo's, Pure Physics, World Beaters) were REALLY lazy at the end of the pattern.  The symmetrical stuff and balls with weaker covers rolled MUCH better.  It really caught us off guard and probably cost us a good bit of pins the first game.

 

Mike - There is a good look on the fresh in the track, but don't let the fact that all of my misses are left right now fool you on the OB...it is definitely there   Once we dug a trough in the track the miss area was much smaller.

 

bass - He did have a good look with the Reign of Fire...but I think he dug too deep of a hole too far in, as when he switched he had over/under for the rest of the time.  Billy is a really good player (tons of 300s and 800s and tourney wins...will be at WSOB this next year).  He struggled a little with breaks as he left about 5 pocket 6/8s in 9 games and only managed to shoot about 1800 for AE.  In hindsight I wish we had got him to move further out in the beginning and then move in.

 

mrfish - Thanks, I have not done well the past couple of years either, so I am tickled with the scores I shot this year.  I had just plugged and redrilled that Hyroad and can't remember exactly what surface I took it to.  I want to say that I left it at Storm 1.  I literally threw it about one game after changing it and threw it in a box to ship

 

Thanks for the questions

 

 

I wouldn't worry too much about backend hook.  There is plenty of oil to keep the ball on line.  The only thing I noticed was the stronger cores and covers seemed to "wiggle" downlane and burn up.  I hadn't seen that in years past.

Thanks Jorge...last year was also poor for me.  I shot 127 to open team event and never recovered.  When I found out we were being streamed live the memories of that game came flooding back.  I would be lying if I told you that the streaming didn't add some extra anxiety to the event.  What was kinda funny is we just thought that they were going to video us.  I was watching the 2:30 squad bowl that afternoon and Matt Canizzaro came up and talked to me.  He said that he had researched us a little to have some stuff to fill the 3 hours with...I kinda looked at him puzzled thinking..."what would he fill".  Then he told me there would be commentary...needless to say that ratcheted up the nerves a little more...lol  Noone on our teams had ever been put under a spotlight like that and it may have showed in our scores.  My team was much stronger than years past and should have had problem shooting well over 3000.