Lane oil

Gary

Active Member
MIKE J. LANESIDE: A Gulf of Mexico Oil Pattern
by MIke Jakubowski May 10, 2010 08:30

Lane oil is a frequent topic of conversation in bowling; its application determines the way the sport of bowling is played. Butch Cooper is a subscriber of PBA.com’s Xtra Frame – the official streaming video service of the Professional Bowlers Association. Cooper keeps track of oil conditions in more ways than one; he also works on an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico.

Butch has been bowling since he was eight years old, sparking a lifelong interest in the sport and business of bowling. At the age of 16, he started working in a bowling center as a lane attendant. That led to a job as the Assistant Manager at Don Carter’s All Star Lanes in Kenner, La. Currently, Cooper is an Ebonite Staff Member with six years under his belt. He also has quite an interesting day job.

On this day, Cooper is sending an update to his friends via Facebook while waiting for a helicopter to take him to work. Very few people fill up their cars with gasoline and think about how crude oil gets from around the world from deep underground deposits, then collected, shipped, refined and distributed. Many more are thinking about it now after British Petroleum’s Deepwater Horizon rig went down in the Gulf of Mexico on April 20.

Along with Jeff Mark “The Bowling Doctor” and me as Mike J. “Laneside”, we call early round action on the Lumber Liquidators PBA Tour for Xtra Frame’s subscribers. Xtra Frame action continues with exclusive Spring coverage of the PBA Senior Tour and PBA Regional Tour.

When Cooper has downtime he does not miss any pro bowling action, Xtra Frame helps him keep up with friends of his that are out competing on Tour. Over the last two weeks, Cooper didn’t miss Walter Ray Williams Jr. following up on his seventh PBA Player of the Year award with his first victory on the PBA Senior Tour in his very first senior tournament.

Neither did Cooper miss Xtra Frame’s first-ever coverage of the PBA Regional Tour as Walter Ray continued his hot run with a win in the PBA South Region Canton, Georgia Open. That event featured the incredible story of 12-year old Kamron Doyle, who advanced past the first round of competition into the Top 31 among the 96 entries becoming the youngest to ever cash in a PBA Tournament.

For over 11 years, Cooper has worked as a Petroleum Surveyor for a company called Saybolt Corelabs. Cooper does cargo surveys on VLCC’s which are Very Large Crude Carriers, also known as Super Tankers that come into the Gulf of Mexico and discharge crude oil from around the world including Saudi Arabia, West Africa, Iraq, Egypt, Mexico and the North Sea.

Xtra Frame fans from around the world including Mexico, Norway, Germany, England, Spain and many others connect via the PBA fan page on Facebook to post fan questions during live streaming professional bowling competitions. The Bowling Doctor and I answer those questions from around the world and we became intrigued by questions coming, literally, from the Gulf of Mexico. Xtra Frame and the sport of pro bowling are truly reaching the four corners of the world as does the flow of foreign and domestic oil.

We were concerned upon hearing of the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico and the resulting oil spill which still threatens the coasts of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida. Was that the rig that our Xtra Frame friend Butch Cooper works on?

Thankfully, Cooper’s rig is about 100 miles West of where the Deepwater Horizon was located. Cooper’s rig was not directly affected by the accident but if the seas and winds change directions from the East for a long period of time they could start seeing the effects of the spill. According to Cooper, favorable weather conditions could greatly assist cleanup efforts.

Xtra Frame gets around, as does Butch Cooper. Cooper hopes they get the leak contained quickly, so do we. Following the action on the PBA Tours is interesting along with following the great competitors on Tour. Following the followers via Facebook and Twitter can be just as interesting as The Bowling Doctor and I found out. You can have it both ways by subscribing to PBA.com’s Xtra Frame.


Lifted from xtraframe
 
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