One thing I’ve come to learn while bowling is consistency. Up at West-Port Lanes in Westbrook, Maine this past weekend the Pro Series had it’s fourth event – third counting for points. This time it was the singles knockout. Everyone throws their five strings and the top thirty two faces off in the knockout. In this event there are no byes, so it’s 1 vs. 32, 2 vs, 31 and so on.
The best part of my day as you can see on the right was Pam’s “Ball Scoopah”. During the first string one of my balls came off the ball return and was off the alley. Pam had to use the ball scoopah to grab it for me before the start of the second string.
So back to consistency. In practice I was smooth as silk. Pins were FLYING compared to the week earlier when I practiced with Frank and my darling, loving WIFE Anna (see, there it is, in black and white, I said my wife!). The big thing with West-Port Lanes is that you have to take what it gives you. You have to be consistent – which I clearly wasn’t. I started out well throwing a 114 and a 111.
There were these people back in US History, they had these little carts pulled by horses to go out west toward California – yeah, that’s it, wagons! Right! My wagon could have had steel wheels soldered with titanium and they still would have fallen off with how I poorly bowled in the third and fourth. I became in one word – erratic. I started moving around, thinking I was too far back, I tried mixing speeds, or even changing the angle of my arm. I should have stayed in the SAME spot, and kept the SAME angle, and maybe the same speed depending on the shot. I was just a mess. I finished 60th in the qualifying round with a 519, and that nets me five Pro Series points which is better than getting zero points all together. I know what I did wrong, and I need to keep that in mind for future events. If you’re in a place where your hitting the 2-pin or the 3-pin instead of the head pin, learn quickly how to crush it until you find that headpin. The key is not doinking just the 2-pin or the 3-pin which I did – only once so not bad in 50 boxes. It was a tough house and I loved it. I had a lot of fun bowling, and it was great hanging out with those guys up there.
Now onto the cut.
I’m going to leave out scores and such. I am sure that Everything Candlepin’s Pro Series writer Dave Barber will cover many of those scores for you. You’ll also be able to find everything at the Pro Series site once it’s posted.
The knockout for this event is cool because of the scoring system. Since it’s the one that projects and you write the scores, the bowlers in the knockout don’t score themselves. So even though I was eliminated I was still part of it (sort of). I managed to score two first round matches – the first being Craig Holbrook vs. Jeff Surette and the second being Jonathan Bourdreau vs. Steve Walker. Two great matches out of the gate. I can write it cause it’s true. Jeff struggled most of the day, and his highlight, and mine for that matter was when I got him a beer after a particularly tough half and he said “I love you”. I think he said I love you one time more than my darling, loving wife Anna did while in the bowling alley on this day! Back to the knockout. Craig Holbrook caught the breaks, and carried the pins and bowled well. I watched as Jeff doinked the 2-pin just as I did, and I think that summed up his day pretty well. Any chance that he had to claw back West-Port lanes said “no”. Such is life.
The second match was just as entertaining as the first. Jonathan and Steve battled back and forth and the lead changed hand a few times as marks just kept happening on opposite boxes. It was close until the very end of the match as Steve pulled out two quick spares, and managed to edge Jonathan moving onward to the round of sixteen. Watching Craig, Jeff, Jon, and Steve bowl on those lanes I can’t imagine what it was like qualifying on those lanes – they just looked tough.
During the round of sixteen I watched Jay Shiner square off with Pro Series vet Chris Boisvert. Chris is simply Chris. It’s not the New England Patriots philosophy on defense of “bend don’t break” because Chris doesn’t bend – ever. He’s one of the steadiest bowlers on tour and when it comes to the knockout rounds he’s even tougher. That’s not to say his opponent didn’t have a shot. Jay Shiner stepped in fresh off a 391 the night before at Central Park Lanes in East Boston – helping an upstart Candlewood squad take eight points off of Central I, a tough team in any building. I’ve seen people throw perfect games before, but Jay threw TWO IN A ROW in the second and third string Friday night. Not only that, but he also dispatched Scott Lapierre in the first round as well, certainly no joke in the Pro Series. If there was a bowler that could come in and do something silly it could be Jay. Unfortunately for both bowlers, West-Port once again said “no!” and the game was a battle of attrition as tens and nines were going to win this match, not marks since pins were left all over the deck no matter where they both hit. Chris showed his veteran presence and capitalized when he could to advance to the next round. Jay summed up the match by saying blankly “I lost the head pin and I don’t know where it went”. Winning the first match is tough enough, carrying the momentum forward is no easy task. We’ll get ’em at the next event Jay when we’re at Lucky Strike.
I don’t want to detail everything, so will leave some of that to Frank De Luca and Dave Barber as they will also post about this event. Since Windell Middlebrooks couldn’t make it Maine, Miller High Life hired a new delivery guy. Here is Mike MacIntosh paying for the bar bill at the event directly to Miller High Life.
Can you see how full that envelope is? I know that we can drink, and I was part of it, but did we drink that much? Okay, so really we know that this isn’t the delivery guy, but Jimbo Ayotte, one of New Hampshire’s finest. He was our eventual champion on the day defeating foe after foe in the early rounds and finishing off Dean Sullivan in the final. There will be coverage of the finals coming up shortly.
Needless to say, Windell Middlebrooks is the Miller High Life delivery guy from the TV commercials.
Way to go Jimbo!
Thank you to West-Port Lanes for a fun filled day. You made it extra special for us and we wouldn’t change it for the world. Thanks again! We hope to see you soon.