Let's Go Bowling!
I like to bowl--a lot. A man, a ball, and 10 pins 60 feet away. What could be finer! Of course, it helps to have friends to bowl with, and I have some of the best. The Bowling Team is made up of (bowling names in quotes) Lance "Laurencio" Grange, Jeremy "Aoxomoxoa" Lau, Alex "FUBAR" Robinson, Mark "The Schwartz" Schwartzman, and, of course, Ron "Big Ron One" Scrofano (that's me!). The group really came together the summer following high school. We've been bowling ever since. We haven't all bowled together as a team in quite some time. But once a member, always a member. When time permits--and even sometimes when it doesn't--it's always good to get out to the bowling alley, preferably if they're running a special.
So am I any good? Well, using my unorthodox "no thumb" technique, I finally passed my high game of 246 (twice) by bowling a 279! See the scoresheet here. You can also see the first game in which I broke 200 and my first 246 game. The 279 finally brought the regular game record back into my posession after years in Lance's hands. It also came about two months after Lance upped the ante with a 272 game. However, Lance holds the records for opposite-hand bowling and in-between-the-legs bowling, and those records seem safe. I think the best multiplayer effort we had was when Lance, Mark, and I combined for over 600. In that game, I was bringing up the rear with a measly 191.
In June 2004, Lance and I, with our friend Alex (not FUBAR Alex, a different Alex; this one's a girl) joined a bowling league. And, unlike the previous time we tried to join a league, this one actually survived, sort of. For twenty weeks worth of Thursday nights, we bowled. And, we won! By the end of the league, though, we were the only team that showed up anymore. So, that helped us win a little more. But it also helped us earn the respect of the staff at the alley. By the last couple of weeks, they wouldn't take our money anymore. I kept thinking of the "Godfather, your money is no good here" quote from "Old School." And, they gave us extra pizza at the pizza party in the last week.
Naturally, we signed up again for the new incarnation of this league. Really, we had to. We're defending champions. We must protect this house! This time, there were three other teams, all of which showed up regularly. It's more fun playing live competition. Then again, I was supposed to get Orlando Bloom to bowl with us to make up for the fact that we were keeping Alex from the "The O.C." on Thursday nights. Whatever. Anyway, we claim that we won this league because we were in the lead on the last day. One of the other teams claimed that they won after a "make-up game," as if that counted.
We joined one more Thursday league but were unable to pull out the victory. Every other team seemed to bring their A-game when it came time to play us. We did break 860 in our second-to-last game as a team, so that was nice. After taking the summer off, we may try our luck with a Tuesday night league. We may also have to make some changes in the make-up of the team as Alex seems a little burned out. We'll see!
Recently, I bought a Storm Diablo bowling ball and I am now trying to convert to a finger-tips grip, putting my thumb in the ball. It's been a rough transition, but I think I'm slowly getting better. That 279's going to be hard to top, though.
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