| Bardstown Results (in progress) |
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| Click here for a few pictures Click here for complete results Tourney Winner PBA Exempt Pro Brian "Chief" Himmler Score: 1428 for 8 games, avg. 178.5 Place 46 out of 51 |
Hello dear readers. I hope to have the time and health in a few days to post all
of my scores and my analysis of what I did wrong. For now, I will give a brief
summary.
Where I think I went wrong was in going into the tourney with a plan. I had been
to Bardstown on Wednesday and practiced on the same oil pattern. On that
Wednesday, it was my favorite shot, up the 4th board, and I was hitting it
easily...bang bang bang. I thought, rather wrongly, that I could go into the
tourney on Saturday and throw the same line. I was sadly mistaken.
While this time I came "out of the box" stronger than usual, I still didn't post a
200 my first game. I was hitting my line, the same one that worked on
Wednesday, but I couldn't get the same reaction. I thought that perhaps it was
because I wasn't feeling all that great, so my delivery might be off. So I kept my
ball in the same place trying to make the right shot. I even increased my ball
speed about 3 mph trying to force my line. I was failing miserably.
In the sixth game I looked and I was dead last. I was so far behind that I had
no hope of cashing. I was NOT going to finish there. So I stepped back and
watched where those that were scoring were throwing the ball, and how they
were doing it.
I moved in deep (for me) and started turning my hand in the ball again, trying to
generate a bit more skid than the end-over-end roll style allows for. It felt
awkward and un-natural, but I still managed my best game of the day, a 223, I
think. I missed the 7th game max score by only six pins. My 8th game was a bit
worse, but those two games were enough to pull me out of the cellar.
I could make excuses about my poor performance, but I won't. Instead I will
come away from this having learned a few more things. The main thing I know
is that I have to learn to read the lanes a bit better. I have to be smart enough
and versatile enough to make the big change and have it feel natural. Perhaps
if I had made that change in the second game I would have cashed. This time it
wasn't my health that let me down, it was a lack of skill in reading the lanes. I
will be back, trust me.
I want to thank the tournament host, Larry Luvisi for the great tournament.
Larry gave us steaks and the trimmings and showed us all a great time. I hope
you will have us back again Larry, great event!
Also, I very much want to thank many of my fellow pros for the way they treated
me with class. So many of you treated me the way you would any other pro, not
as a disabled guy who bowls. Same thing for Corey, the tournament director.
While I can't list all of you on here, I want to list a few who may not know they
got me choked up with their kind words and fair treatment.
Matt Stutzman (nice show rookie)
Larry Verble
Riga Kalfas
James Stanley
Dave D' Entremont
Brian "Chief" Himmler
Smoke Dogg Menges
Steve Lunsford
Mark Woods (thanks rookie)
Ken Abner
Wiss, Marshall, Schmidt (great crossing with you)
Dayton Epperson
and
Jim Hall (you didn't bowl, but were cool as always)
There are others, sorry I didn't list you all. Thank all of you for your support
and kindness. I know my skills have a long way to go, but thank you for treating
me with respect and class and not like a "gimp." I don't know when I will get to
bowl again, but you guys are the best.
of my scores and my analysis of what I did wrong. For now, I will give a brief
summary.
Where I think I went wrong was in going into the tourney with a plan. I had been
to Bardstown on Wednesday and practiced on the same oil pattern. On that
Wednesday, it was my favorite shot, up the 4th board, and I was hitting it
easily...bang bang bang. I thought, rather wrongly, that I could go into the
tourney on Saturday and throw the same line. I was sadly mistaken.
While this time I came "out of the box" stronger than usual, I still didn't post a
200 my first game. I was hitting my line, the same one that worked on
Wednesday, but I couldn't get the same reaction. I thought that perhaps it was
because I wasn't feeling all that great, so my delivery might be off. So I kept my
ball in the same place trying to make the right shot. I even increased my ball
speed about 3 mph trying to force my line. I was failing miserably.
In the sixth game I looked and I was dead last. I was so far behind that I had
no hope of cashing. I was NOT going to finish there. So I stepped back and
watched where those that were scoring were throwing the ball, and how they
were doing it.
I moved in deep (for me) and started turning my hand in the ball again, trying to
generate a bit more skid than the end-over-end roll style allows for. It felt
awkward and un-natural, but I still managed my best game of the day, a 223, I
think. I missed the 7th game max score by only six pins. My 8th game was a bit
worse, but those two games were enough to pull me out of the cellar.
I could make excuses about my poor performance, but I won't. Instead I will
come away from this having learned a few more things. The main thing I know
is that I have to learn to read the lanes a bit better. I have to be smart enough
and versatile enough to make the big change and have it feel natural. Perhaps
if I had made that change in the second game I would have cashed. This time it
wasn't my health that let me down, it was a lack of skill in reading the lanes. I
will be back, trust me.
I want to thank the tournament host, Larry Luvisi for the great tournament.
Larry gave us steaks and the trimmings and showed us all a great time. I hope
you will have us back again Larry, great event!
Also, I very much want to thank many of my fellow pros for the way they treated
me with class. So many of you treated me the way you would any other pro, not
as a disabled guy who bowls. Same thing for Corey, the tournament director.
While I can't list all of you on here, I want to list a few who may not know they
got me choked up with their kind words and fair treatment.
Matt Stutzman (nice show rookie)
Larry Verble
Riga Kalfas
James Stanley
Dave D' Entremont
Brian "Chief" Himmler
Smoke Dogg Menges
Steve Lunsford
Mark Woods (thanks rookie)
Ken Abner
Wiss, Marshall, Schmidt (great crossing with you)
Dayton Epperson
and
Jim Hall (you didn't bowl, but were cool as always)
There are others, sorry I didn't list you all. Thank all of you for your support
and kindness. I know my skills have a long way to go, but thank you for treating
me with respect and class and not like a "gimp." I don't know when I will get to
bowl again, but you guys are the best.