This weekend was the PBA East Region Forrest Hill Lanes Open.  I entered as I usually do - last minute, and bowled C squad.  This is typically not good for the right handed variety, but it didn;t seem to matter this year.  The Regional tours have adopted the new versions of the animal patterns and we bowled on the chameleon.

I stared slow - a couple of 15o’s in the first five games.  I was -39 after 4 games, and that was low to cash.  I somehow found a couple of decent games, got to +6 and made a run for the number.  I chased it down by game 7,  and shot 220 in game 8 to secure a spot in the finals.

Sunday was more of the same.  I had a few good games, and a few doozies.  You can see the full results at the PBA website here -  pba.com

As I arrived at home I noticed I was losing air in one of my tires.  I promptly spent most of my profit at NTB on 4 new tires.  I was overdue. 

Both of my leagues finished up this week.  I don’t officially bowl league again until May 29.  Looking ahead to a month of not bowling is depressing.

If anyone has any ideas of what normal people do in their spare time, please drop me a line.  I can only do so much cutting the grass, pulling weeds, painting, etc…  Save me.

I will also mention that this week I will begin learning how to use a dry suit in SCUBA class.  I’m not very good at maintaining bouyancy as it is.  This dry suit thing could get crazy.  I can only imagine getting a big air bubble in the suit near my feet and floating to the surface upside down. It’s a scary thought.  Sorry, no upside down pictures of me.

We traveled to Albuquerque, New Mexico this weekend for the USBC Open Championships. “WE” is Durbin Fisher, Skip Rutherford, Dave Graham, Eddie Given, Jr, and me! Below is a photo of the team.

Skip and his partner Steve Levering, as usual, made a top 10 finish in the doubles event, while Eddie and I squeaked out what may be finish around 75th place. Skip and Steve shot 1428, while we shot 1352. Dave filled in for our hero Stan Cramer in bowling, while Durbin filled in as the team elder.

Here is a link to track our current standings. 2007 Leisure Lanes I

The highlight of the tournament for me was hitting the 1-5-9 jackpot!!! $$$$

From left to right: KP, DG, SR, DF, EG. Doesn’t Skip look tough?

Today we made a trip to New Brunswick, NJ to watch some qualifying rounds at the U.S. Open. The highlight at the Open was a guy who picked off the 7 pin and followed it up with picking the 6-9 clean out of what was left. Yes, he got 3.

On the way home we made a pit stop at Rutgers Cook Campus to view the 6 lane center in the basement of the Loree building. We opened the door, and the lights were off, so naturally we found the electrical panel and started flipping breakers.

Viola, the lights are on.

Under the lights we saw a beautiful 6 lane center, complete with manual pinsetters and ball returns. Ahhh, the good old days. The lanes have not been oiled in years.

After setting a few racks and getting lined up, we decided to have a 9th and 10th frame roll-off. Henry took lanes 1-2. Watson took lanes 3-4. KP took lanes 5-6.

HF: 6- 8/5

KP: 6- 7/X

GW: 8- 9/9

Yes. In the clutch, Watson won by a stick. Just another second place finish for me. That’s not the first time I have been snapped of by a lefty, and it certainly won’t be the last.

…aka the Chris Johnson Open.

This past weekend was the 30th Annual Bill Rhodman Memorial Classic at Bowlerama Lanes in New Castle, DE.  It is the biggest event the state sees all year.   The Champions are: Chris Johnson (Men’s Division), Nicole Spratford (Ladies Division), and John Gualtieri (Senior Division).

Some Local Standouts:

Don Pyle finished 2nd, KP (yours truly) finished 6th, Tom Smith finished 5th, Sue Turchen finished 5th.  My ball of choice was the 15lb RXS300.  Chris still thinks I owe him something whenever I use that ball and cash in a tournament.

Here is the TNBA link - they might post the results sometime this year: www.tnbainc.org