bluey

Day 3, Morning. I picked up from where l left off and shot 258 straight off. The 2nd game had a few nerves and some errant shots came with it. Some reassurance from the wife and a general slap around the face and l settled into a nice rythum and reeled off 266, 223, 300, 268. By far the most impressive session l have ever had and a 232ave hoisting me up to 5th. Amazingly l was still over 130 pins off Jimmy's lead.

The AO has come and gone for another year, another tourny of mixed emotions.
Day 1 was ok with 92 over for 8 games but at the end of the day l was sitting in 34th, exactly halfway in the feild. Averaged 211 and thought l had done well till l looked at the standings. I had a call from George with a "please explain?" and a follow up call at the end of his squad. Realising where l could improve l was more confident leading into the next stage.
Day 2. I made some changes for this next 8 games and it paid off, 308 over for a combined total of 400 over for the 16. This put me in 8th with a 225 ave, quite a shock to see my name so high.

How's your groin you old bastard, hope the missus is giving it some treatment. You bowling this week or have you pulled another heart muscle?

hey paul i thought the reason you bowled the two 150 games was because it was against a better bowler - the legendary - me hahaha

Well heaps has happened since last time l wrote, went out to Epping for the VSS final in December and after 7 games was -140, moved lines and shot 260 to scrape into the cut. Next day tried the same line and finished 11th, 15 pins out of the second stage top 8 and 5th best pinfall for the day.
Went back to Canberra and made the cut again but dropped off to much in matchplay, need to work on my second day results.
Made the trip to Cairns this month and bombed out big time, what a waste of $900.
Wodonga had a skins event on last weekend, $800 per skin and only $180 entry, l left at 4.20am to arrive at 7.19am for a 7.30 checkin. Picked up 2 skins, $1600 thankyou very much and home by 8.30pm. Best payout since returning, actually best payout ever.
Starting a scratch singles league on Monday, looking forward to that, and Wednesday average after 2 weeks is 240.
Hoping to make Rachuig again this year, had a blast in 09.
Skins tomorrow at Mentone.
See ya.

Dunn Sheild last weekend was good fun, Stevie went off as usual like a nutter but he had the scores to back it up, l did my usual thing of no high game no low game which l'm sure is good but sometimes l wish l could throw something over 250. My plan on Saturday was to play through 15 board which netted me a 205 ave, Sunday l decided to play through 10 board and averaged 227, wish l tried that line on Saturday. We finished 4th in the mens and 2nd combined, the best result Boronia has ever had.Roll on 2010!

Is it just me that gets pissed off when the back row just won't ****ing fall over? And the straight bowlers touch the head pin and they all go down time after time, there is sometimes no reward for bowling great shots. Have to bowl at Dandy tonight for Mac, his ankle is a little sore from a minor roll so l get to bowl with Mick. Hopefully l get better carry than l did last night.

Well Rachuig has come and gone, what an awesome experience that was! The normally calm Paul Trotter dances and prances after each strike and generally goes nuts, it really pumps you up. The oil pattern was perfect, enough to last most of the day and not so much as to turn the outside into a massive reverse block. Not alot of area to hit so spares were important. I had a problem with the humidity which caused me to loose the ball off the thumb, l put more tape in which helped but the feel came and went and that showed by my scores.In the final game against Tassie there was a real chance to win, then in the 7th frame we opened a few and they doubled up and from then on it was all over. We finished in 3rd and even though that's a great result l can't help thinking that a better result got away. Had a really enjoyable time and will definatly try out again next year.

:bullrider:

The Challenger series at Dandenong was fun and l managed to get up from my 9th spot qualifying position to 4th after knocking out Jenny by only 4 pins after our 3 game match and Ricki in the next match up. Hugh took me out easily in the next match up with a huge starting game of around 280, l battled on but didn't have the carry that he did. Can't wait for the next one.

League at Dandy is a whole different story entirely, my average is 189 on the sports patterns but it is coming up a little each week. The pattern at the end of the season is a flat pattern so l'm sure it will drop a little when l get to it. In the mean time l am really enjoying the challenge, l only wish we had bowlers that didn't pull out cause they can't average what they do in the house pattern leagues they bowl.

League at Boronia has seen my average drop off a little getting down to 223 but last week l had a 771 series consisting of a 258, 255, 258, so it has come back up to 226. I still think it is ridiculous to be scoring that high but l suppose if it is easy for me then it's easy for everyone else too.

A couple of guys in squad 6 knocked me out of the cut so l had to get a better result in the last. Well after 24 games the last attempt was doomed before it started, finished a little under the card again and a bicep muscle you could have wrapped iron bars around! Next time l will take the first squad as if it is my only squad.

Well l went off to SPC and what a battle that was. After 3 games in the first squad l was 20 under and thought the cut would be 100 over so l started to experiment a little, what a dumb thing to do! Finished 130 or so under and thought l had a good shot for squad 3, my next entry. Squad 3 didn't play the same as squad 1 and after 3 games l was worse off than before. The next morning and squad 4 was different again but l knuckled down and shot close to the card for 6 but still not in the cut. Entered squad 5 and decided to use my old urethane purple Hammer and after the first 3 games l was 20 under again however l didn't go looking this time and managed a +37 for 6. This put me in the cut with 2 squads to go so l went and had a meal down at the Tavern around the corner and freshened up for one last go in squad 7.

Dandenong's first pattern "The Las Vegas bowlers Journal" has been bloody hard. It took me 3 weeks to bowl a 200 and my ave was still only 179 after the 4 weeks. The pattern changed last week to "Dead Mans Curve" and l shot my first 800 for 4. Still pretty tough condition but there is a small area if you can match the equipment to the lane.

A final block of around 470 and l thought l was safe, I missed out by 7 pins finishing 17th, arrived Sunday hoping someone didn't make it (like all first reserves) but that wasn't going to happen, 8am and all present and accounted for. Had some laughs, met nice people, **** stirred George a heap for finishing below me, and generally about anything else we could think of. (what's with those white linen pants) Hope l can make it next year, cheers, Paul.

Went to Mackay on the weekend, what a blast. Never seen so many strikes, for 12 games l shot 276 over (223 ave) and didn't make the top 16! The condition was exactly as it was explained, not difficult to line up and hit the pocket, just a matter of if everything fell over or not. The shot got bigger as the day went on and speed was becoming more important, even with the big ditch you could still go through the nose if you slowed down. The 2nd Dimension and Virtual Energy were awesome all day but in the end l had to change to the Hot Sauce for the last 2 games to keep it on the lane.

Dandenong has proven to be very difficult, a 694 (4 games)series last week and a 712 last night. Well it's clear that l'm not a bowlers asshole but l'll keep at it until l either improve or get the ****s and leave. Tough conditions or not l wasn't happy about all the deep gouges in my new Virtual Energy, and if this is how all my gear ends up then l won't stay.

Started the final with a washout and then a split, Brett lined up nicely and pounded the pocket all the way, My sparing would never be enough and 2nd place was where l stayed, a 185 was par for the day. Well done Brett, thanks Clemmo for the organising of such a Great series. Cheers, Paul.

Challenge series had its first tourny at Keon Park yesterday, 22 names went down and only 14 turned up, a disgraceful effort. There were a few that we knew would never turn up but there were a few that surprised us by not coming. The event was run spot on by John Clemmo, no doubt the rest will be run just as well. The oil pattern was Highway to Hell, it lived up to its name. Keeping the ball in play was very important and sparing was the difference between making the stepladder and watching it. I qualified 2nd behind Brett Smith, him and l the only ones to ave in the 190's. Ian, Andrew and Narelle made up the top 5 and all played in the first match with Ian shooting in the 220's to win, sparing a 7 pin to clinch it. I had no hope of stringing on the stepladder pair but l spared everything to notch up a 190 which was enough to get through to the final.