Vegas Schedule & Info

Info: First and foremost, I hope and pray everything will go accordingly to plan, but when does anything do. Russ will be arriving at the hotel before the carpool (rest of the team). The carpool should be arriving at Southpoint around 4 pm. We will go check in and then head off to dinner asap so that we will not have to face the tremendous crowd at Wicked Spoon (thank you Tim for recommendation).

Sweeps will start at 12pm so that will force us to eat early (brunch) at Southpoint or around if anything. 
  
Side Note: ALL cell phones will be turned off EXCEPT for Russ's blackberry (work reasons). That is final.


Schedule:

Friday
12-4:00 PM: Leave from work, eat light lunch and head to Southpoint *w00t w00t*
     Southpoint Addy:
     9777 Las Vegas Blvd S
     Las Vegas, NV 89183
4:00-5:00 PM: Check in and drop off luggage.
5-8 PM: Head over and dine @ Wicked Spoon
     Wicked Spoon Addy:
     3708 Las Vegas Blvd S
     Las Vegas, NV 89109
     Yelp Page: http://www.yelp.com/biz/wicked-spoon-buffet-las-vegas
8-11 PM: Head back to Southpoint and practice bowling 3 games. Website shows $3.25/game.
11- PM/AM: Free to do whatevers but remember to take time to rest up as well. I will plan to play a little bit at the tables til supposedly no later than 1 AM.

Saturday
8-9 AM:  Wake up and get ready for brunch.
9-12 PM: Brunch at 9 so that it will give us enough time to eat and get ready for sweeps.
12-3 PM: SWEEPS!!!!
3-5 PM:   Rest
5-8 PM:   Head to and dine at Rio Buffet (this is also including us waiting)
                    Rio Buffet Addy:
                    3700 W Flamingo Rd
                    Las Vegas, NV 89103
10- PM/AM: Fun/gambling

Sunday
9-11 AM: Hash House (I highly recommend getting here as early as possible, gets packed REAL easily) and drop off Russ.
11 - 12 PM: I know this sounds stupid to do right after a big meal at Hash House, but just to appease Jiyoon's request we will head on over to Duncan Donuts.
12 - 2 PM: Jiyoon said she would like to go visit the outlet before we leave.
2 - God knows when: Head home

4/24/2013

"OLD SCHOOL" Team Preview

Season Summany: I, first want to say how proud I am of the team. There were quite a bit of ups and downs (and yes, as of right now, we are at a down), but overall, we still ended up being 2nd place. Not bad for being our first time playing in this league, AND might I add in a longer season than a summer league season. Today I will mainly be talking about what each player needs to work on before this upcoming weekend. Also, I will be announcing awards for those who deserves it the most. So if your name was not called, please, and I do mean "PLEASE" do not complain about it since your efforts throughout the season are what got you those awards. Again, one more time, congrats on a very good season...now it's time to get ready for the sweeps a.k.a post-season. w00t w00t!! (yes, I am a geek)

  
Side Note: I understand some of you were wondering why I did not write the past couple of weeks. Well, quite honestly, I was too tired and just wanted to focus on key things we can really work while getting ready for the sweeps.

June Wei (Avg: 109)
Overall Grade: B
Review: In the beginning, it was really rough for June to be consistent, but once she started to learn how to throw the ball, it became a little more clear for her on how to become consistent. Her avg in the beginning of the season was a nasty 90 pins; not only did she bump that up +29 pins, but she also bowled her career high scratch total of 164 pins. Congrats on that, but still, she really is inconsistent, and if there was one word to describe her overall game, inconsistency (and any other antonym) would be it. So I looked over the previous weeks as well as analyzing her performances, which leads me to give her a solid B. Nice job!

The one thing she really needs to work on (mentally speaking) is to choose where she wants to throw the ball and stick with it, permanently. Too many times I see her change spots with her scores going down all because she doesn't feel confident throwing the ball from where she stands.

Russ Overton (Avg: 162)
Overall Grade: A+
Review: Russ did a fantastic job throughout the year. Russ went on a hot run that helped us win a lot of games especially late into the season, which really helped propel us to 2nd place. I wouldn't be surprised at all if he winds up winning the MVP of the season. He hit his lanes quick and quite often. He had a knack on hitting them strikes and when he hit strikes on a consistent basis, you'll tend to win games.

The one thing I ask Russ to really work on and he and I both know he will is to focus in on the games. Russ is a playoffs type of player and could care less about the regular season, which is quite understandable so I'm more than anxious to see the real Russ at the sweeps this weekend. Can't wait...

Henry Wei (Avg: 159)
Overall Grade: A-/B+
Review: I'm a little torn on what exact grade I want to give myself. It's really between an A- and a B+. In the beginning of the season, I was placed last on the team to be the "buffer", to be "Mr. Clutch" and to be the guy to help the team to either keep the lead or help win the games. Interestingly enough, we did win quite a bit of games during the 1st half of the season. In fact, one would argue, I had an early lead in the MVP standings (for whatever it's worth). Once, Roum took my place, I decided to be more aggressive. During the 2nd half though, I have been mighty inconsistent, and I can honestly say I have dropped out of the MVP race.

One thing I need to work on is find the lanes and don't (for the love of God) let go. There's been too many games when I find the lanes early and I eventually lose it or it takes me 1-2 games in order for me to find any part of the lanes.

Roum Evangelista (Avg: 169)

Overall Grade: A-
Review:Roum's been tricky. Although, in the beginning he was bowling poor, but once he got switched to the last spot to be our buffer, Roum finished the season real strong like Superman on steroids strong. I'll admit I wasn't too sure on whether Roum would be able to make a comeback, but he really toughened up and showed some grit. Encore for his performance; still though, he did not beat his career high.

One thing Roum can really work on, "don't think, just bowlllllll." (if you know the reference to that quote then you deserve a drink from loose tea on me - first one to tell me via person, txt or call gets wins) So, stop thinking, Roum.

Team's Awards
MVP: Russ - Was this even a surprise. The guy was our SOW, SOM and SOY. Nothing less. And no, I'm not giving this award to him all because he's my manager so don't get any ideas. Russ earned it, period.

Dr. Clutch: Henry - There were quite a bit of games when it came down to me to either help tie or win those games. Let's just say I helped win those games when I had those opportunities.

Most Improved Player: Roum & June - Both improved in different ways. June improved from the start of the year, while Roum started to improve during the 2nd half. So I decided to give it to both.

Highest Scoring Champ: Obviously, I do not have the 1st half of the season stats, but I do know that this award does goes to Russ.

Post Notes: I will have a finalized schedule for Vegas by Wednesday.

Vegas trip schedule so far. The '?' are things I'm not sure what to do so please comment on suggestions.
Friday
1-4:30 PM: Leave from work, eat light lunch and head to Vegas Airport *w00t w00t*
4:30-5:30 PM: Pick up Russ from Airport and head to Posh Burger Bistro. Should take roughly 20 min from the airport depending on traffic.
9921 W Charleston Blvd
Ste 6
Las Vegas, NV 89117
5:30-7 PM: Dinner @ Posh Burger Bistro. Great reviews at Yelp and Russ wants this. Your welcome Russ.
7-8 PM: Head to South Point Hotel and check in.
8-10 PM: Practice Bowling 3 games. Website shows $3.25/game.
10- PM/AM: Free to do whatevers but remember to take time to rest up as well. Roum and I will go ahead and visit Mandalay Bay to check out any new info on the blackjack tourney.

Saturday
9-10 AM: Wake up and get ready for brunch.
10-12 PM: Brunch at 10 so that way person like Russ can go take a nap or rest up before the sweeps. There are not a lot of restaurants around here that are really worth it for brunch. Other than a Sushi restaurant and Sub Sandwich shop, there's not a lot of places with good ratings.
12-3 PM: I'm going to take this time to spend it with June and Lily. Russ can go rest up if he wants and based on what time the Black Jack tourney is at we'll play it by ear.
3-7 PM: Sweeps (based on the timings we bowled in Laughlin, I'm going to assume we'll follow the same schedule otherwise these timing are subject to change)
7-10 PM: Rio Buffet (this is also including us waiting)
10- PM/AM: Fun/gambling

Sunday:
9-11 AM: Hash House (I highly recommend getting here as early as possible, gets packed REAL easily)
12 PM: Check out and head back

4/03/2013

"OLD SCHOOL" Team Review

Preview: With the 29th week here and with sweeps approaching, and we're 5 games behind Team #6 (Bowlin' Hard). Today we will be going up against a daunting task of closing the remaining gap of games we have to have a fighting chance to take the regular season prize of being #1. It is only fitting for these two teams to finally go against each other to fight for first place. Destiny anyone?

Summary: 3-1. Nough said.
  
Side Note: Before I go on with the whole review, I, first, want to personally congratulate the team for beating the number one team and bowling extremely well for most of the games. Almighty Joe was right on us being the scariest team going into sweeps. Second, I want to apologize to the team for basically tanking the 3rd game. I did it out of selfish reasons and they were my reasons alone. I did explain it to all of you and whether they are good enough reasons or not, overall, it doesn't matter. There is no excuse for what I did and I take full responsibility for it. Also, as your captain, I hope you can take the time to understand why I did what I did and know that I'm owning up to it.

June Wei (Avg: 109)
Scores: 130, 119, 120
Overall Grade: Solid A
Review: Not just any A, solid A. That means June bowled really well and really effective. She did everything we asked her to do, which is basically bowling consistent and hitting her marks when she could. There were times when some people in the group felt skeptical on her getting at least 120, but there are times when June can bowl really well when she puts her mind into it. So for the most part, I congratulate her on being one the SOW for actually bowling the target we told her to get. Now, for the sweeps, June will need to bowl at least a 150 in order for her to make any noise against the stiff competition.

1. Some key misses early on. Missed frames 3, 5, and 8 that were all 1 pin spares (5th, 7th and 10th). Strong finish to give her 130.
2. Needs to stop pulling the ball far left too much. 1 pin away from 120, Russ looked the other way and said good enough.
3. Throughout the entire game, kept on pulling the ball far left. Will need to work on release and had an interesting finish to land her 120.

Russ is probably right to call June lucky to even make it past 100, but I'm glad June did because if June had anything to learn from all of this, it's experience to know when the s**t hits the fan, can June pull it off. I think today's scores answers some of that question. Again, good job.

Russ Overton (Avg: 162)
Scores: 225, 237, 158
Overall Grade: A+
Review: Anytime you can get back to back scores of 200, you're going to get an A+, enough said. And that's really the bottom line because Russ was the main guy to offset anything Poutty Mike was trying to do, and that's no easy task. Anything else I'll add on would just be too redundant. 

1. Imagine Russ getting the 7th pin spare on the 1st frame, and hitting the 4,7 pin on the 5th frame, would his scores be any higher than what it is? After all, Russ did hit 7 spares in a row. Mike hit 10 strikes in a row and when he got to his 11th frame, he bowled a 9. Not Russ's fault in any shape or form.
2. 8th frame, 5pin spare. Now, again, if Russ hit that spare, his score would have been at least 10 pins higher. HIGHER!!!! for crying out loud.
3. Sloppy, but can't blame too much on Russ

I did say enough said already, right? Just get ready for sweeps, one more game to go SOW.

Henry Wei (Avg: 159)Scores: 145, 178, 122
Overall Grade: D-
Review: I don't really need to go explain why I'm getting a D-. I for one do not deserve the SOW near my name. Originally I was going to give myself a F for the reasons listed above, but I did after all help beat Team #6 in whooping fashion today, which is why I gave myself a D- and not a F.

1. Non existent all throughout, strong finish at the end.
2. Horrible start. 1st 3 frames, total scratch score of only 26 pins. Strong after that.
3. Practice-bowled. Because of this, made it difficult finding the lanes when trying towards the end.

I need to really practice on finishing off the spares. Once I do that, I should be fine for sweeps.

Roum Evangelista (Avg: 169)
Scores: 191, 170, 200
Overall Grade: A+
Review: Overall, Roum did exactly what we needed from him. SOWs bowl consistent and get strikes, that's exactly what Roum did today. He'll need more at upcoming sweeps, but that discussion is for another day. We'll focus more on today's triumphant bowling. Obviously, there are some hiccups that he'll need to work on like the 10pin spare or even dealing with splits, but just like my faith in June, I strongly believe Roum will get it down when sweeps roll along.

1. 4th frame: 10th pin. 12th frame: 6th pin.
2. Terrible start. Great finish.
3. 5 strikes in a row. 7th frame: split (no conversion). 1st, 7th and 9th frames, first ball thrown: 7 pins. Need to start getting at least 8 or 9 or strikes, nothing less.

Keep practicing and stop being nervous when after throwing the ball.

Team's Overall Performance: B
If you exclude my scores, the grade for sure will be an A+, but because we're including everyones' scores it turned out to be a B. Again, sorry for that; it is what it is. Russ was absolutely right when he said if I bowled my avg on the 3rd game we would have won. Well, I'm sorry to say, would have, could have, and should have, but I didn't so let's move on to the next game. And after this week, we will be 3 games back from Team #6. So the new task for next week is to sweep the next team, which we should be able to do if we continue to bowl well. The next thing we can hope for is to have Team #6 win only 1 game. If things go well for us, we'll be tied for first place with Team #6 unless they lose all of their games then we'll be in first place. I honestly don't really care about winning this league or not. Like I said after the game, they can have the first place prize for all I care. The real prize is at the sweeps and if we can get that then that will be far more satisfying than winning the league. Savvy? Remember, next week is our last week bowling. Following week is our dinner and then off we go to Vegas. I'm thinking of us bowling on the 17th after dinner just so that we can get a practice in before the weekend and for Russ to get some practice as well or at least get one practice during the week. Let me know what you guys think.

Post Notes: Some key things: Russ will be flying out of Ontario and arriving around 4pm. We'll be leaving here right after lunch so we can go pick up Russ at the Vegas Airport around 4:30pm.

Practice is on for sure this Saturday for Roum, June and myself.

Vegas trip schedule so far. The '?' are things I'm not sure what to do so please comment on suggestions.
Friday
1-4:30 PM: Leave from work, eat light lunch and head to Vegas Airport *w00t w00t*
4:30-5:30 PM: Pick up Russ from Airport and head to Posh Burger Bistro. Should take roughly 20 min from the airport depending on traffic.
9921 W Charleston Blvd
Ste 6
Las Vegas, NV 89117
5:30-7 PM: Dinner @ Posh Burger Bistro. Great reviews at Yelp and Russ wants this. Your welcome Russ.
7-8 PM: Head to South Point Hotel and check in.
8-10 PM: Practice Bowling 3 games. Website shows $3.25/game.
10- PM/AM: Free to do whatevers but remember to take time to rest up as well. Roum and I will go ahead and visit Mandalay Bay to check out any new info on the blackjack tourney.

Saturday
9-10 AM: Wake up and get ready for brunch.
10-12 PM: Brunch at 10 so that way person like Russ can go take a nap or rest up before the sweeps. There are not a lot of restaurants around here that are really worth it for brunch. Other than a Sushi restaurant and Sub Sandwich shop, there's not a lot of places with good ratings.
12-3 PM: I'm going to take this time to spend it with June and Lily. Russ can go rest up if he wants and based on what time the Black Jack tourney is at we'll play it by ear.
3-7 PM: Sweeps (based on the timings we bowled in Laughlin, I'm going to assume we'll follow the same schedule otherwise these timing are subject to change)
7-10 PM: Rio Buffet (this is also including us waiting)
10- PM/AM: Fun/gambling

Sunday:
9-11 AM: Hash House (I highly recommend getting here as early as possible, gets packed REAL easily)
12 PM: Check out and head back

3/27/2013

"OLD SCHOOL" Team Review

Preview: With a few more weeks remaining, we are in our 28th week, and we're 5 games behind Team #6 (Bowlin' Hard). This week we will be going against Team #9 (w/handicap of 198) as they are coming off of a 3 game win from last week. As time is against us, two questions still remain: Can we as a team stay consistent? And, can we start pulling off wins to help close the gap against Team #6?

Summary: 3-1. Another day in the office...
  
Side Note: I want to give a big shot out to Russ on thanking him for helping me take scores down.

June Wei (Avg: 110)
Scores: 95, 84, 118
Overall Grade: C-
Review: After "careful" consideration, I decided to give the *cough*fake*cough* SOW, or what should have been, a C-. Normally, when I look at these kind of scores, they would be F's, without a doubt in my mind. But, before you go off with the conclusion I'm going easy on my wife, allow me to explain myself. June did get at least one game above her avg (8pins over to be exact). She's also still trying to adjust her throw to the way Almighty Joe has taught her (or at least tried). AND, she was gone last weekend, which did not give her the chance to bowl making her miss a grand opportunity to practice her "supposed new" throw. So given all of that, and noticing she missed quite a few gettable, easy shots, I gave her the "BIGGEST" benefit of the doubt, which compelled me to give her a C- instead of a D or the daunting F.

1. While noticing she missed quite a few shots, I decided not to comment on her 1st game early on.
2. Letting go too early or too late. More on the too late side. Frame 3-6 scores: 9, 9, 8 and 8. Need to finish those spares. That would have bumped scores up to at least 100.
3. Kept on pulling ball towards the left. At end started to bowl better. O btw, DID NOT GET 120. *shaking head*

One more thing may I add, June did cook for us so until someone else does the cooking. So..."Never bite the hand that feeds you." 

Russ Overton (Avg: 162)
Scores: 177, 157,170
Overall Grade: B+
Review: Not bad but Not good. One game Russ did not bowl at least his avg really hurt his score. The part that made him not score well this week is those nasty splits. Kept on getting splits all throughout the games. Had a tough time finding his lane, but I can't complain on luck. Really,...if skill doesn't help you out then all there is left is lady luck and why not? I'm not complaining, but the rebuttal to all of that is we can't rely on luck every time, but it's definitely a nice backup to have.

1. I'm not going to mention all the frames Russ had splits, but lets just say a good total of 4. Ball change on the 5th frame. Converted one of the splits on the 8th frame.
2. Dealt with splits, again, which messed up his score. Started off well until a split on the 4th frame. Made a decent comeback until back-to-back splits (with no conversion) on the 7th and 8th frames.
3. Guttered on the 4th <-- we all saw this one. Strong finish.

One thing Russ will need to work on is "muffin top". Work on it Russ.

Henry Wei (Avg: 159)Scores: 155, 211, 176
Overall Grade: B+
Review: One game did not get my avg. Kept on missing the right side spares, namely the 6,10 spare. Congrats on getting a 211, but still need to work on getting an avg of at least 180, which will help out in the sweeps.

1. Missed 3 spares that would have let me have a score well above a 155. Missed 4 easy spares all throughout the game including the 10th frame. Really poor finish.
2. Much better game. 5th frame: 4,6,9,10 split. Did not miss all throughout. 7 total strikes.
3. 4th frame missed wide right and noticed lane conditions changing/breaking down. 5th frame: split. 8th frame: lucky strike.

Overall, still need to work on getting those spares, but feel good moving forward especially limiting missed spares down to no more than 4 rather than 5 or above like before.

Roum Evangelista (Avg: 168)
Scores: 184, 197, 198
Overall Grade: A
Review: If real estate is all about location, location, location then bowling is all about consistent, consistent, consistent. And that was what Roum was all about. Some key misses here and there, but once, Roum conquers that, game over for a lot of folks out there. As long as he continues to practice on Sat, I don't see him falling behind, again.

1. 3rd frame: 1,3,6,10 pin. 4th frame: 10 pin. 8th frame: 10 pin spare. Strong finish.
2. 7th frame: easy spare. 9th frame: 10 pin. Only missed one spare on the 9th.
3. Did not miss until the 12th frame with a 9.

Only one thing to say, keep it up SOW.

Team's Overall Performance: B-
June's score did not help, otherwise, the grade would have been much higher. Anyways, I don't want to sound like I'm complaining, but we did not get the sweep. FYI: Team #6 also won 3 games. So we'll still be behind 5 games as after this week, we did not gain any ground whatsoever. MIGHT I ALSO NOTE: next week we will be going against THEM!!!! So please, pretty please, pretty hardcore none of that soft s**t please, can we bowl well enough that we win at least 3 games. That would be nice. Let me put it this way, if there was a time to gain some ground against these guys, next week is it. I'll just leave it at that.

Post Notes: I already said what needs to be said. Also, Russ mentioned about going to someplace to eat. Please comment it; otherwise, I will not put it in the calendar. Another thing, Russ will not join us for the ride since he will be going to the IBM Impact Conference (yay! goodies, yeah right! haha) So, what will happen is Roum, June and I will be going to Vegas in one car CARRYING Russ's bowling bag. While Russ will fly to Vegas and we will go pick him up at the Vegas Airport. Russ, you will need to let us know when your flight will land so we can make sure we can get there on time. Some people from work are planning to join us at Vegas, but before we have fun with them, we WILL BOWL ON FRIDAY NIGHT TO PRACTICE. NO PRACTICE, NO FUN! I'm dead serious about this. I will share this schedule amongst those whom are planning to go to Vegas so that way they have an understanding of what we're doing throughout the weekend.

Practice is on for sure this Saturday for Roum, June and myself; afterwards, Honda-Ya.

Vegas trip schedule so far. The '?' are things I'm not sure what to do so please comment on suggestions.
Friday
12-4 PM: Leave from work, eat light lunch and head to Vegas *w00t w00t*
4-5 PM: Check-in and rest up
5-7 PM: Dinner
8-10 PM: Practice Bowling 3 games
10- PM/AM: Free to do whatevers but remember to take time to rest up as well. Roum and I will go ahead and visit Mandalay Bay to check out the Black Jack tournament times.

Saturday
9-10 AM: Wake up and get ready for brunch.
10-12 PM: Brunch at 10 so that way person like Russ can go take a nap or rest up before the sweeps.
12-3 PM: I'm going to take this time to spend it with June and Lily. Russ can go rest up if he wants and based on what time the Black Jack tourney is at we'll play it by ear.
3-7 PM: Sweeps (based on the timings we bowled in Laughlin, I'm going assuming we'll follow the same schedule otherwise these timing are subject to change)
7-10 PM: Rio Buffet (this is also including us waiting)
10- PM/AM: Fun/gambling

Sunday:
9-11 AM: Hash House (I highly recommend getting here as early as possible, gets packed REAL easily)
12 PM: Head back

3/20/2013

"OLD SCHOOL" Team Review

Preview: Right in the middle of March, we are in our 27th week, and currently 3 games behind the 1st place team. This week we will be going against Team #2 (Shanangains w/handicap of 161) as they are coming off of a 1 win game from last week. The last time these two teams went against each other, we were able to pull off a win of 3-1. With the season near its end, can we pull off the win, again? After all, it's Joe Cantu's team.

Summary: 2-2. Ugly. Messy. But somehow not a loss.

Side Note: I'm afraid to say, but I somehow lost the score sheet. I strongly believed I had it with me, but I guess not. Since I do not have the sheet, the reviews will be a lot shorter than what they would have been. I, apologize for this mishap and will make sure something like this does not happen, again.

June Wei (Avg: 110)
Scores: 89, 100, 136
Overall Grade: C
Review: Would have been a D if it wasn't for her incredible run at the end of game 3. From what I remember, June kept on pulling the ball more towards the left. This caused her to miss numerous spares hence the low scores. Towards the end, she was able to realize to throw from the right so the ball will move towards the pocket. June will need to practice more and more ever since Joe Almighty was able to assist her with her throwing motion, but she will be gone with weekend further delaying her practice time. If I was June, I would try to go bowling at least once during the trip. Key word: go.

Russ Overton (Avg: 161)
Scores: 172, 134, 219
Overall Grade: B+
Review: There's a lot to say about Russ's game that could have made his scores much better than what they actually are. But...since I don't have that blasted sheet, I can not show without proof on which particular frames Russ should have spared (but didn't). Lucky break for Russ, I guess. Other than that, Russ performed rather well and got hot during the 3rd game. He helped keep us alive in the 3rd game with a whopping score of 219. In fact, he bested his season high with a 219, because of this I got no other choice but to give him the SOW.

Henry Wei (Avg: 158)
Scores: 203, 131, 167
Overall Grade: B-
Review: If I had to sum up my performance in one word, it would have to be "inconsistent". There's no excuse bowling a 203 in the 1st game and then a 131 in the 2nd. On top of that missing 5 frames in a row in the 3rd game totaling up a score of 40. But, the key word that needs to be mentioned is persistence. I did not give up at the end and was able to pull off a good comeback getting a total of 167 at the end of the 3rd game. Because of the score of 200 and overall bowling an avg score of 9 pins better than my avg, I decided to give myself a B- instead of a C+ even though I was incredibly inconsistent. I really need to work on getting the 3,6,10 spares. They doomed me all throughout the 2nd game, and we will practice this Saturday even if its only Roum and me.

Roum Evangelista (Avg: 168)
Scores: 155, 166, 173
Overall Grade: B-
Review: Speaking of Roum, he did not do too well, but he didn't do too bad. Yes, the two first games he was not able to hit his avg, but he was able to bowl consistent, which we have not quite witnessed for awhile especially when Roum is having lots of trouble finding his lanes. Roum tried to follow the advice Joe gave him. We'll need to work more on this through practice. 10-pin spares also doomed Roum on getting higher scores. Roum needs to learn to give a little more rotation when he slows down the ball. He missed quite a bit of spares because of this reason alone. I'll definitely be looking forward to this Saturday when we do get to practice.

Team's Overall Performance: C

June did not show up at all this week when all eyes were on her to grab the SOW. I'm hoping some time off and some relaxation will help her get it back together this weekend. I'll admit I'm more than happy to get a 2-2 tie and not a 1-3 loss against a decent team in Team #2. We must give them credit where credit is definitely due because all throughout the match both Joe and Larry not only bowled consistently, but when they got on fire, it was really, really tough to put the fire out. And the only way to do that is to bowl strikes consistently, which for us was quite sporadic. I know Team #1 either got a 3-1 or 4-0 win; if that's the case then we'll be either behind by 7 games or 6 games. Either way, we will need to start getting sweeps if we want to get a shot at winning this league. We need to do better and I'm counting on everyone, myself included, to really pick it up and not digress. Start aiming for your goals. In about a month, we will be bowling at sweeps, time is not on our side.

Post Notes: Next week we will be on lanes 31-32 going against team 9 (no name). Their handicap is 200, which means we won't be hiding behind our handicap scores. We'll need to not only bowl well, but better than well. This team is no joke, and I'm sure they're going to come at us guns blazing. Out of the 4 players, 3 of their own can score at least 202, the 2nd highest is 226 and the other bowler's highest is 235. Get mentally ready for this one. From here on out, it's only going to get tougher both mentally and physically.

In case if you missed it, June will be out of town this weekend.

Practice is still on for Roum and me this Saturday.

Vegas trip schedule so far. The '?' are things I'm not sure what to do so please comment on suggestions.
Friday
12-4 PM: Leave from work, eat light lunch and head to Vegas *w00t w00t*
4-5 PM: Check-in and rest up
5-7 PM: Dinner
8-10 PM: Practice Bowling 3 games
10- PM/AM: Free to do whatevers but remember to take time to rest up as well. Roum and I will go ahead and visit Mandalay Bay to check out the Black Jack tournament times.

Saturday
9-10 AM: Wake up and get ready for brunch.
10-12 PM: Brunch at 10 so that way person like Russ can go take a nap or rest up before the sweeps.
12-3 PM: I'm going to take this time to spend it with June and Lily. Russ can go rest up if he wants and based on what time the Black Jack tourney is at we'll play it by ear.
3-7 PM: Sweeps (based on the timings we bowled in Laughlin, I'm going assuming we'll follow the same schedule otherwise these timing are subject to change)
7-10 PM: Rio Buffet (this is also including us waiting)
10- PM/AM: Fun/gambling

Sunday:
9-11 AM: Hash House (I highly recommend getting here as early as possible, gets packed REAL easily)
12 PM: Head back

3/13/2013

"OLD SCHOOL" Team Review

Preview: Right in the middle of March, we are in our 26th week in, and we're 7 games behind the 1st place team. This week we will be going against Team #15 (w/handicap of 178) as they are coming off of a 1 win game from last week. With the season getting closer to the end, will we as a team be able to make noise and climb closer to first place or will we stumble and fail to reach the top? Moment of truth...

Summary: 4-0. Not only did we answer, we dominated that question.

June Wei (Avg: 110)
Scores: 117, 113, 102
Overall Grade: B
Review: Not to sound too picky, but this week is obviously a major down week for Jiyoon. Not one game did she even get close to 150. I'll give the fact two games she bowled above her avg, but let's face it, with those kind of scores, it won't make any noise at sweeps.

1. Hit a convincing strike on the 5th frame with spin. 7th frame, she guttered the first attempt by releasing crossbody, in other words, she let the ball go too late with her arm already crossing her body.
2. Again, on the 7th frame, she threw crossbody. 
3. 5th frame, June missed the 6-pin spare. That's a no-no right there. Barely got 100.

Based on what we can see the highlights of her missed attempts, June needs to stop letting the ball go too late. One piece of advice, the opponent gave me is to have her stop gripping the ball with her thumb, which is the sole reason why the ball is thrown too far towards the left. Another advice given is to have her thumb pointed up while gripping the ball, and the install finger tips. We'll take a look into this for this weekend.

Russ Overton (Avg: 160)
Scores: 178, 165, 217
Overall Grade: A+
Review: All in all, great game. Russ really got it going today when at first, I'll admit, the first game would have been his best game of the match. Instead, Russ rose to the occasion and even got a season high, 217. Well done, and let's hope we can continue to get at least 200 all throughout the match. Russ is in more than mid-season form, I would dare say he's ready for the sweeps. This is all based on what I have witnessed over the past two to three months.

1. 7th frame strike was pretty lucky.
2. Got a terrible split on the 2nd frame, which Russ did not convert.
3. First 4 frames were strikes; total of 7 strikes. Very impressive. No obvious miss.

Russ did great, nothing to be picky about. Although, this raises the level of expectations I will have for Russ when it comes to sweeps.

Henry Wei (Avg: 157)
Scores: 192, 201, 143
Overall Grade: A-
Review: The first two games definitely earns me the A, but I'll go ahead and admit that I slacked off at the end. I figured someone should in the team and give the opponent some sort of fighting chance so that we don't make them think all we want to do is armagaedonically (don't care if this is not a word but you get the picture) destroy them. Because I did not bowl my avg I gave myself a "-" instead of an A like Russ.

1. First 3 frames were strikes. 4th frame missed the 9,10 spare. 10th frame, missed the 7-pin spare.
2. Missed the 10-pin spare on the 1st frame. Hit 5 strikes in a row; two were lucky --> anytime I get a brooklyn-strike, it's out of luck. 
3. 3rd frame, missed the 10-pin spare. 6th frame, got a 7,10 split. Got another 4,7,6,10 split.

Definitely will need to work on my spares especially the 10-pin spares. Found my lanes and continually stick to the lanes even when the lane conditions were starting to wear down. Will look into getting a new ball this weekend.

Roum Evangelista (Avg: 167)
Scores: 160, 182, 210
Overall Grade: A
Review: Some of you are wondering why the heck am I giving Roum an A and not an A+. Well, to be honest, I gave it some thought, and originally I was going to give Roum a strong A+. But, when I looked at the scores more carefully, it hit me that Roum bowled 7 pins below his avg on his 1st game. Yes, he was not given time to practice, but I want to note he did come in late. Well, there was quite a bit of traffic on his way back. But I can make the point he forgot his ball, which should not have happened in the first place. Also, Roum should not have had bowled below his avg. And to be consistent and fair with Russ all his games above his avg, I decided to give Roum an A.

1. Horrible 1st frame. Hit the 10-pin spare on the 8th frame. Lucky strike on the 9th. Converted a 1,2,7,10 spare on the 10th to help give us another shot to win it. Clutch.
2. 2nd frame, missed the 8,10 spare. 3rd frame missed the 10-pin spare. 4th frame missed the 3,6 spare. 6th frame, missed the 10-pin spare. Not good missing back to back, but back to back to back?
3. Nothing. Purposely missed the 10th frame. 

Awesome job. Bowled extremely well. After all, Roum helped us close all 3 games, starting with the toughest shot to convert a split on last frame of the 1st game. I'll gladly relinquish and hand over the closer status to Roum especially with sweeps coming up.

Team's Overall Performance: A-

Wow!! A sweep against a strong team in Team #15. I loved how they were complaining and clueless on how they were going to catch up and beat us. I've seen them bowl against other teams and trust me when I say I'm sure as hell they would have done the same thing to us if we were in their shoes. But, one of the opponent was right, this is the type of game we need to have if we want any chance on getting something back at sweeps. There are obviously things we need to work on. I feel that we will have a much better chance reaching first place with a convincing win such as today's. This game showcases us on how we can beat the stronger teams out there in the league. Beating two guys hitting above 200's is not an easy task. Today was probably the very first time we bowled as a team to win the games. Normally you would have someone go off and bowl crazy hot to help us win the games. For example, the 1st game, June helped us get closer by bowling consistent towards the end. Russ bowled consistent all throughout even with some bad breaks. I helped us stay in the game by bowling strikes and spares. Roum closed out the win. This right here is awesome teamwork and I hope we will keep doing this throughout the season and at sweeps. May the Bowl be with us...

Post Notes: Next week we will be on lanes 29-30 going against team 2 (Shanangains). This is Joe Cantu's team so might I note (Roum) that this is your time to shine. Their handicap is 161 to our 208. but this isn't an obvious win for us since we all know how well Joe can bowl and pretty much carry this team all by himself if he has to. This obviously gives us a 47 pin advantage so I highly suggest to not let this match slip even with a decent lead. Also, due to me not trusting any of Joe's scores, I'm not going to even look at what their scores were the previous week. All I know is, don't F-up, get the spares when asked and if we can bowl the same we did today minus June (sorry, but you really need to improve, all eyes on June next week) we'll be fine.

Russ told me that he will not be joining us for the bowling practice Joe's hosting at Yorba Linda on Mar 16th. Info for the Yorba Linda practice:
Location: Yorba Linda Bowl (18171 Imperial Hwy Yorba Linda, CA 92885). 
Date: Mar 16th
Time: 4:00 pm
Cost: $15 / 1.5 hrs (NOT including food)
Yelp rating: 2.5 stars but who cares since Joe will be there

Practice is still on, and Roum, June and I will be attending Joe's practice session on Saturday.

Vegas trip schedule so far. The '?' are things I'm not sure what to do so please comment on suggestions.
Friday
12-4 PM: Leave from work, eat light lunch and head to Vegas *w00t w00t*
4-5 PM: Check-in and rest up
5-7 PM: Dinner
8-10 PM: Practice Bowling 3 games
10- PM/AM: Free to do whatevers but remember to take time to rest up as well. Roum and I will go ahead and visit Mandalay Bay to check out the Black Jack tournament times.

Saturday
9-10 AM: Wake up and get ready for brunch.
10-12 PM: Brunch at 10 so that way person like Russ can go take a nap or rest up before the sweeps.
12-3 PM: I'm going to take this time to spend it with June and Lily. Russ can go rest up if he wants and based on what time the Black Jack tourney is at we'll play it by ear.
3-7 PM: Sweeps (based on the timings we bowled in Laughlin, I'm going assuming we'll follow the same schedule otherwise these timing are subject to change)
7-10 PM: Rio Buffet (this is also including us waiting)
10- PM/AM: Fun/gambling

Sunday:
9-11 AM: Hash House (I highly recommend getting here as early as possible, gets packed REAL easily)
12 PM: Head back

3/06/2013

"OLD SCHOOL" Team Review

Preview: Welcome to the month of March as we are in our 25th week in, and we're now 8 games behind the 1st place team, but we're also in 3rd place. Team #6 (Bowlin' hard - 1st place team) is bowling stellar games by sweeping everyone in their path. This week we will be going against Team #10 (Something Wrong w/handicap of 217) as they are coming off of a 1 win game from last week. I'm sure they are not as determined to win these games since they are second to last in the league. We should be able to crush them...right??

Summary: 3-1. Not the kind of crush/domination we all want, but a win is still a win.

June Wei (Avg: 108)
Scores: 117, 138, 164
Overall Grade: A+
Review: First off, let's all give Jiyoon a round of applause bowling for bowling a new career high, 164. Yay!! Encore, encore!! Now let's get back to bee-ji-nae-suh. Jiyoon definitely bowled really well all throughout. She tends to position herself more towards the middle when she really needs to start from the very right and have the ball thrown towards the pocket. When she finally got it down, then you can definitely see the difference as she bowled a very good score of at least 150. As a matter of fact, I strongly think we'll be bowling this weekend even though we'll be without Roum so that Jiyoon can continue and get in the habit of bowling an avg of 150 (*crossing fingers*). The goal for her is to bowl at least to have one score of 180 at the sweeps and bowl a consistent avg of 150. If she can accomplish this, she should be able to blow everyone including both men and women away. Although, she will have to compete against the likes of Joe "Mr. 300" Jimenez, Mike "I'm gonna beat Joe" Diaz, and of course Joe "IfeelconfidentonbeatingtheseguyscuzI'mJoe" Cantu. Major respect to them because they all have potential in bowling 300's anytime, who knows...=P

Russ Overton (Avg: 160)
Scores: 188, 145, 156
Overall Grade: B+
Review: Not his best, but definitely not his worst. Bowled an avg of 163, and eventually lost his lane towards the end. Not a whole lot to say about Russ at this point in the season other than stop missing those spares. Funny thing is in the 1st game, Russ was able to find his lanes and got decent amount of strikes that lead him to score 188, but in both the 2nd and 3rd games, either he got robbed (even when hitting the pocket - DEAD-ON) with splits or missing the spares by I-I that much. Russ will need to bowl closer to 200 if he wants a chance to win something at the sweeps, but other than that good to see him back from the previous two weeks.

Henry Wei (Avg: 157)
Scores: 174, 154, 158
Overall Grade: B
Review: Definitely not the SOW, and played just plain ok. Missed a lot of strikes, missed a lot of spares, lot of coulda, woulda and shoulda but just didn't bowl the way I have been bowling the past couple of weeks. One can say I got over-confident and definitely too anxious (sorry Russ), but I feel like I just lost it somewhere in the middle of the 2nd game. Definitely need to continue to work on my 6,10 and 9,10 spares. I missed quite a bit and in fact went 1 for a good 6 or 7 chances on those spares. Imagine if I actually got them, but no such thing as what-ifs. If anything I deserve to have the worst score out of everyone in the team.

Roum Evangelista (Avg: 167)
Scores: 152, 201, 180
Overall Grade: A+
Review: Other than the 1st game, I must say Roum did a bang of a job and he deserves the A+ without a doubt in my mind. I just feel bad on how we could not win the 2nd game for him as he finally got a score of at least 200 in like who knows how many weeks. But this is good news and I'm being very hopeful for Roum to continue this since he'll need to avg somewhere in the upper echelon of 230 if he wants a shot at winning something at sweeps. Roum will be MIA this weekend for practice, but I feel confident Roum will keep it up for next week's match. Also, congrats on getting the 9,10 and 10 pin spares, but I also did notice you missed some, too. No more Jekyll and Hyde right??

Team's Overall Performance: A-

Congrats team on getting a win. I want to add we lost to this team before (1-3), but this time we came back for a well-needed win. As for who is the SOW, and after careful consideration for both accounts, I have concluded it's a tie between June and Roum, after all, both deserves the prestigious award. June bowled a career high and showed us what she's capable of doing and she has the potential of reaching 200s periodically in the distant future. Also, June bowled well all throughout the games since she's prone to bowl terribly in the 3rd game. As for Roum's case, he was the most consistent in the team, bowled a 200 and was the only bowler to bowl at least a scratch total of 500 (Russ's was 489, mine was 486 and June's was 419). So based on all of that, I came to the decision of both June and Roum getting the SOW. Congrats to both of you for not only helping us win today's match, but proving to not only the team but also to yourselves that you can bowl well and better than others. Starting next week I will be keeping track of everyone's stats and going to do my best and helping us reach our goals. 

Post Notes: Next week we will be on lanes 25-26 going against team 15 (they don't have a name) or as I like to call them the Doyle family. Their handicaps are a decent 178 to our 208. This obviously gives us a 30 pin advantage so I highly suggest to not let this match slip. This team #15 can and most likely will bowl really well.  We need to bowl really well to beat this team because their scores from last week are759, 906 and 726, besides 906, I understand those scores are not going to really scare us, but they can still bowl at least in the 800s so please do not underestimate this team. Their best bowlers are the Doyle brothers (Jerry and Rod). I'll be honest, I do not like Rod. The guy gives the vibe of a jerk to me and every time he looks at us or at me, he's looking down on us. I don't know if he's racist or if he just doesn't like us or whatever, but I just wanna beat this guy and his team. Rod's highest scratch total is 259, but it's nothing compared to Jerry's 289. So as you can see we'll need to bowl really well if we want a chance.

Roum pointed out we'll need to start sweeping teams if we want a chance at the end to challenge the 1st place team. With a little luck I believe we will catch up to those guys and win this league.

Russ told me that he will not be joining us for the bowling practice Joe's hosting at Yorba Linda on Mar 16th. Info for the Yorba Linda practice:
Location: Yorba Linda Bowl (18171 Imperial Hwy Yorba Linda, CA 92885). 
Date: Mar 16th
Time: 4:00 pm
Cost: $15 / 1.5 hrs (NOT including food)
Yelp rating: 2.5 stars but who cares since Joe will be there

As I mentioned last week, this upcoming weekend, both Roum and Russ will be gone, but I'll make sure June and I get to practice.

Vegas trip schedule so far. The '?' are things I'm not sure what to do so please comment on suggestions.
Friday
12-4 PM: Leave from work, eat light lunch and head to Vegas *w00t w00t*
4-5 PM: Check-in and rest up
5-7 PM: Dinner
8-10 PM: Practice Bowling 3 games
10- PM/AM: Free to do whatevers but remember to take time to rest up as well. Roum and I will go ahead and visit Mandalay Bay to check out the Black Jack tournament times.

Saturday
9-10 AM: Wake up and get ready for brunch.
10-12 PM: Brunch at 10 so that way person like Russ can go take a nap or rest up before the sweeps.
12-3 PM: I'm going to take this time to spend it with June and Lily. Russ can go rest up if he wants and based on what time the Black Jack tourney is at we'll play it by ear.
3-7 PM: Sweeps (based on the timings we bowled in Laughlin, I'm going assuming we'll follow the same schedule otherwise these timing are subject to change)
7-10 PM: Rio Buffet (this is also including us waiting)
10- PM/AM: Fun/gambling

Sunday:
9-11 AM: Hash House (I highly recommend getting here as early as possible, gets packed REAL easily)
12 PM: Head back

2/27/2013

"OLD SCHOOL" Team Review

Preview: We are in our 24th week in, and we're now 6 games behind the 1st place team. It's starting to become a close race as the season comes to a close (entering coming sweeps). This week we will be going against a daunting task of winning against team 18 (At The Huenta). With their lead off bowler being absent, we are still behind 1 pin based on our handicaps (their 208 to our 207). Last season when we went against them, we got swept. Will we find a way to solve our mistakes, and provide an answer?

Summary: 2-2. Not pretty...

June Wei (Avg: 109)
Scores: 88, 127, 102
Overall Grade: C
Review: I don't know what to say other than stating this week was a huge dropoff for June. Considering how June should be reaching to avg at least 150, getting a score of 88 is definitely not going to help the cause. I can not say how many times she would get a 9 on her first shot and then miss her spare. It's shocking to see her miss those spares that could have gotten her a higher score and I'm still appalled by it. Now, before I go on, I want to add that she did get her ball back today from a piss poor job of fixing a gash that happened two weeks ago. But...still, it does not give her the excuse of bowling poorly especially how she has been complaining on not having her ball, which caused her to have lower scores the previous week. Not acceptable and we will be practicing this Saturday or at some point this weekend.

Russ Overton (Avg: 161)
Scores: 126, 162, 156
Overall Grade: C-
Review: Truly a disappointing week. Last week, Russ was able to better his avg score once in the 2nd game with a score of 173; his other games, 11 pins below his avg and the other was 17 pins below avg so based on those two games, Russ had a total of 28 pins below his avg. This week, 40 pins below his avg. I, honestly, had a hard time deciding what grade to give Russ for this week's performance. We all know how well Russ can bowl. Russ has been bowling on the level of genius during the course of several weeks and starting last week, he has hit a huge slump. I took in account how he was able to get a 1 pin over avg on his 2nd game and how he has bowled throughout the season, which lead me to give him a score of C- and not a D. I'll go as far as saying, Russ was having a very hard time figuring out the lanes. I believe his hammer ball would have been great for him in this week's lane conditions, but still, there is no excuse for that especially how Russ should be able to figure it out (level-wise). Russ is not a pro, yes, I agree with that, but considering how much experience and knowledge Russ has, I have every bit of confidence he can figure the lanes out, at least by the 2nd game if anything. I'm not going to suggest what Russ could, should have done or even work on because Russ knows what he needs to do to get his scores back up. Better luck next week.

Henry Wei (Avg: 156)
Scores: 188, 190, 159
Overall Grade: B+
Review: Now, just by looking at my scores, I should without a doubt in most peoples' minds, deserve an A. The way I bowled today, was strong, I figure out the lanes, I hit numerous amount of strikes and not one game did I fall below my avg. However, there were spares I should of hit like the 9,10 spare and how much trouble I am having with the 3,6,10 spare. God awful!! I missed 3 that I remember real well that could have helped me get the 200 score I was looking for today; I'm sure there were more. Also, another thing I want to point out is how I could not hit a strike or even a spare on the 1st frame of each game. That alone right there could have boosted my score to at least 200. Need to really work on that, but other than that, I was the SOW this time around. Still though, not a happy-trooper.

Roum Evangelista (Avg: 167)
Scores: 181, 170, 196 (last week)
Scores: 166, 137, 148 (this week)
Overall Grade: D+
Review: Deciding Roum's grade was the hardest for me and it really hurts for me to hand a D+, but I'm afraid it's necessary. Last week Roum bowled out of his mind and did what we all know he is capable of, but this week, the complete opposite. Not once did he hit his avg and he kept on missing his spares and couldn't answer back with strikes that he was able to do last week. If you ever watched Angels in the Outfield, starring Danny Glover, Tony Danza, Christopher Lloyd, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Mathew McConaughey even Adrien Brody? Yes, Adrien Brody. The Angels team in that movie were not only inconsistent, but also, incredibly horrible. They would get smashed and beaten on until one day a boy prayed for them to win the pennant. Right now, I'm praying for you to get back to the old Roum we all used to know and maybe by sweeps time, you'll bowl a 250 game or something. I really don't want Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde moments anymore, and just want to see Roum bowl Roum's game. Roum needs to get rid of that blue ball (Storm Prestige) and get another ball. Unless, he feels like he can work it in, I highly suggest to get a new ball like how I did and I really believe it'll work wonders for him and his game. Maybe, get a plastic ball so he can get those 9,10 and 10 spares down with ease. Just a suggestion...

Team's Overall Performance: C

As a team, we did not bowl well at all. Scores were 776, 823 and 772. Two scores in the 700's in not acceptable and if we even want a good chance to get the 1st place prize, we'll need to bowl at least 820 as a team; this way we'll be ready for upcoming sweeps. I know, it's a lot to ask for, but if we can get even close to that, I feel like we have a very good shot at winning something at sweeps. I'm hoping next week we'll bowl better collectively and I feel confident we will. I really wanted to beat these guys, but a 2-2 is a lot better than a loss and way better than getting swept. However, after the first game, they hardly tried to beat us and we were actually trying ourselves to beat this team. We need to do a better job on staying consistent and scoring better than what we scored today. I'm really hoping practice this weekend will do at least Roum and Jiyoon some good.

Post Notes: Next week we will be on lanes 33-34 going against team 10 (Something Wrong). They have 3 bowlers with one being vacant. Their handicaps are at a mountain size of 250, and while I'm not sure if they are sandbagging or not their avg are 134, 128 and 148. Their scores from last week were 808, 826 and 821; our scores were 782, 833 and 842. If we take scores from last week and compare them together, we beat them by 2 pins. 2. That right there is awfully close. So, I'm hoping we'll get it together and beat this team. Not an easy task.

Next weekend, both Roum and Russ will be gone. That does not help Roum since he will not have the opportunity to practice. So please be aware of that. Also, Joe Jimenez mentioned on Mar 16th, his Yorba Linda shop will be hosting a try-it bowling ball practice day at the Yorba Linda Bowl (18171 Imperial Hwy Yorba Linda, CA 92885). This place got a 2.5 stars on Yelp, but since it's Joe, I would definitely suggest ALL of us to go and get every bit of advice we can from the main man himself. From what I know, the times are 1pm, 2:30pm and 4pm. I'm planning for the 4pm session and if I heard correctly, it's $15 for 1.5 hrs of trial bowling. Please pencil this in your schedule, this will obviously a great opportunity to get some advice from Joe himself; but I'm also figuring he'll be busy that day.

Vegas trip schedule so far. The '?' are things I'm not sure what to do so please comment on suggestions.
Friday
12-4 PM: Leave from work, eat light lunch and head to Vegas *w00t w00t*
4-5 PM: Check-in and rest up
5-7 PM: Dinner
8-10 PM: Practice Bowling 3 games
10- PM/AM: Free to do whatevers but remember to take time to rest up as well

Saturday
9-10 AM: Light Breakfast
10-11 AM: ?I'm hearing sleep, but one thing I am considering is to skip breakfast and have a brunch at 10 so that way person like Russ can go take a nap or rest up before the sweeps.
11-1 PM: Lunch
1-3 PM: ?
3-7 PM: Sweeps (based on the timings we bowled in Laughlin, I'm going assuming we'll follow the same schedule otherwise these timing are subject to change)
7-10 PM: Rio Buffet (this is also including us waiting)
10- PM/AM: Fun

Sunday:
9-11 AM: Hash House (I highly recommend getting here as early as possible, gets packed REAL easily)
12 PM: Head back

2/20/2013

"OLD SCHOOL" Team Review

Preview: We are in our 23rd week in, and we are in a close race for 1st, being at 4th place with 51.5 wins and 36.5 loss record. This week we will be going against the 9th place team (Team 12) who can potentially hit a 925 game if they hit their mark. This team is really hit or miss, either they bowl really well, which can be a sign of danger or they can really stink up the place. Ultimately, we just need to bowl well and consistent.

Summary: 4-0. Great sweep and what a job we did to not only keep us in the game, but as a team collectively backed each other up, which really helped us win some games.

June Wei (Avg: 108)
Scores: 106, 125, 115
Overall Grade: B-
Review: Not good but also not bad. Good to see June get out of her slump in the beginning and YES, she did not have her ball, which is why I did not give her a C and credited her on rising up to the challenge on using a house ball. BUT, this also shows that she does not use spin effectively enough on her own ball. While I would like her to apply more spin, seeing her throw the ball the way she has been is good enough for me going into sweeps. Needs to just work on staying consistent, hitting spares (especially when it's something she can get); goal: avg 150.

Russ Overton (Avg: 161)
Scores: 150, 173, 144
Overall Grade: B
Review: 16 pins below his total avg will not help you win the SOW award. Russ was on track to do some real damage by having a decent 1st game and a phenomenal 2nd game, but somehow he just lost it and was never able to recover; not to mention the sporadic play all throughout the match. Russ just needs to find his lanes and stick to it. Also, I noticed in the beginning he did find his mark; however, as the lane conditions started to ware down, Russ was not able to adjust accordingly. This is something he'll definitely need to work on, IF this becomes a lingering issue. But for now, I'm going to give him the benefit of the doubt that this week was just an off week.

Henry Wei (Avg: 156)
Scores: 137, 157,179
Overall Grade: B
Review: Scratch total, both Russ and I have 473, but unlike Russ, I was not able to find my mark until the 3rd game. Granted I am using a new ball (Enter: Storm Natural Pearl a.k.a. "Belmo" --> Mr. Belmo to some of you out there) and how little practice I was able to get with it, which lead me to bowl a disgusting 1st game score of 137. After the 1st game, I was able to collect myself and hold it together by helping the team win the 2nd and 3rd games. One thing I will definitely be doing is practice, practice and of course, good ol' practice. I'll admit I was stubborn in the beginning of the match by now adjusting more towards the right side. The ball was hoping to throw down as far right as I can, hoping for a late strong hook to get me strikes. This obviously did not happen as I started to realize as the games went by that I had to release the ball more towards the right than the left as I have been doing with the other strike ball. Again, need more practice.

Roum Evangelista (Avg: 167)
Scores: 181, 170, 196
Overall Grade: A+
Review: Ah! Dr. Jones, well done on getting the SOW. I can't say enough on how happy I am to see the old Roum back. *knock on wood* Still though, he has lots of trouble getting either the 9,10 pin spare or just the plain nemesis himself, the 10-pin spare. Need to start working on those as I strongly feel confident during the sweeps, Roum will face those and he'll need to be able to hit those in order for him to get an avg of 200. Overall, good job and thank you for getting it together. Continue to stay hot.

Team's Overall Performance: B+

Some of you may be wondering why a B+. After all, we did sweep our opponent, we bowled an impressive back-to-back games of at least 840, but the opponent was without their two star bowlers in Amazon and her husband, Danny. If they were bowling tonight, they could have easily beaten us, and we definitely can make the case they don't bowl high numbers all the time, but never say never. If I recall, we thought we had a good chance on beating Jim's Angels after the 1st game that we won, and look where that gotten us. We need to really stay consistent, adapt when needed, and really muster up the effort to help each other out. We'll get there, I'm sure of it.

Post Notes: Next week we will be on lanes 23-24 going against team 18 (At the Huenta). This is Albert Ramos's (Valerie Rivas) team whom we lost to before; I remember losing to them really well. I normally don't hold grudges, but that loss really stung and next week I want pay back. So please, bring more than an A+ effort, superior would be nice.

Vegas trip schedule so far. The '?' are things I'm not sure what to do so please comment on suggestions.
Friday
12-4 PM: Leave from work, eat light lunch and head to Vegas *w00t w00t*
4-5 PM: Check-in and rest up
5-7 PM: Dinner
8-10 PM: Practice Bowling 3 games
10- PM/AM: Free to do whatevers but remember to take time to rest up as well

Saturday
9-10 AM: Light Breakfast
10-11 AM: ?I'm hearing sleep, but one thing I am considering is to skip breakfast and have a brunch at 10 so that way person like Russ can go take a nap or rest up before the sweeps.
11-1 PM: Lunch
1-3 PM: ?
3-7 PM: Sweeps (based on the timings we bowled in Laughlin, I'm going assuming we'll follow the same schedule otherwise these timing are subject to change)
7-10 PM: Rio Buffet (this is also including us waiting)
10- PM/AM: Fun

Sunday:
9-11 AM: Hash House (I highly recommend getting here as early as possible, gets packed REAL easily)
12 PM: Head back

2/13/2013

"OLD SCHOOL" Team Review

Preview: We are in our 22st week in, and I can finally announce us climbing up a grueling and hard-earned 4th place with 48.5 wins and 35.5 loss record. Instead of being behind 6 games, we are currently behind 7 games from 1st place (Bowlin' hard). This week we will be going against the 8th place team (It Don't Matter) whose team average is a whoppin 690 with a handicap of 110. 'It Don't Matter' is obviously not shy about keeping their handicaps low (no sandbaggers here), and they all can bowl in the upper echelon of 200's. The big question is "will we matter?"

Summary: 3-1.I must say after a devastating first game loss, we as a team came back and kicked some major *beep*. Very impressed by how Roum came back and decided to bowl really well all throughout the match. Also, I'm proud of the way we responded today by finishing strong.

June Wei (Avg: 108)
Scores: 141, 146, 101 (last week)
Scores: 114, 145, 101 (this week)
Overall Grade: B
Review: Considering how June has been bowling lately, she deserves a lot of the credit for not only helping us win games, but also, being able to improve along the way. Not so much this week though; minus the first game, her scores very identical (2nd and 3rd games). Two things we can take out from all of this: 1. We know she can bowl close to 150 (real close) and 2. June's 3rd games tend to take a huge dive. As far as technique goes, based on what I'm seeing June is throwing the best that she can. And whether it is 100% correct or wrong, it doesn't matter right now (meaning she still doesn't know how to spin the ball or apply a great amount of spin to notice hooking) since she's totally new to the bowling scene therefore we can't blame her on that. Instead, June is applying a reverse spin and we might need to get a new ball with reverse spin holes drilled into it. May or may not happen, but definitely something to consider in the upcoming off-season.

Russ Overton (Avg: 161)
Scores: 151, 183, 173
Overall Grade: Strong A
Review: Not SOW, but still deserves an A for a strong effort in a good win. Can't complain, but there are times when Russ really needs to work on getting spares. That's what really killed him throughout the entire match; who knows, he might have scored in the 200's in all 3 games. Nothing to really fix other than staying consistent and reaching an average of 180 so we can be ready for Vegas. O, congrats Russ on winning last weeks 3rd mystery number. Round of plause...

Henry Wei (Avg: 156)
Scores: 138, 177, 204
Overall Grade: A
Review: Some of you may or may not disagree with me giving myself an A instead of A+. The reason is because of my first game score being 138. I know that I bowled without my strike ball and how I borrowed Russ's 'Hook' ball (still thinking about getting it or not). Ultimately, that score did hurt us and because of how I was 28 pins off my avg, it helped us lose the 1st game. As for the 2nd and 3rd games, I was able to clean it up, hit my strikes and my spares and the rest is history. I really need to work on the 3,6,10 spares or even the 6,10 spares. They are really hurting me as I could have gotten a better score if not for missing those spares. Also, do note some of the strikes I was able to obtain were quite lucky. But as my dad told me growing up, "Son, in order for you to win, not only must you be skillful, but you also need to be lucky."

Roum Evangelista (Avg: 166)
Scores: 200, 173, 175
Overall Grade: A+
Review: I, personally, want to add that my total score beat Roum's total score (scratch + handicap) by one pin so I was on paper the better bowler. But let's face it, Roum deserves the A+ way more than I do. Welcome back Roum with a capital W. This is the Roum we have been expecting and waiting for. There were times when we noticed Roum being nervous, but he stayed calm, cool and very collect. These are the 3 C's we should all exemplify and engrave into our games. I can't be any more happier than to see Roum really being able to contribute and again, let's all give a nice, warm encore on Roum's very first A review and not just any A, A 'freakin' + SOW kind of A. Still though, work on your 6,10 and 10 spares. That's all. =)

Team's Overall Performance: A

It's no sweep, but it sure does feel like one. Again, congratulations on getting your first A review, Roum. June was the only bowler not getting an A. As a team, we, now, know we can hang with a really good team whose players not only had a very consistent bowler in Rich (scratch total: 635 = 202+189+244), but also, the luckiest bowler I have ever seen and if not the top then at least one of the luckiest in Sara. I swear, there were 1, 2,...4 strikes where she would NOT hit the pocket, like OFF, really OFF, and ALL the pins would collectively, decide to fall down. WTF is up with that!?!?! @#$*&^* No, seriously, what is up with that??? So not fair, but it's definitely going to be something we will have to deal with in the future and it's a great lesson for all of us to not underestimate the team and sit idle. Might I add Sara's HGS is 222 so luck is definitely a part of her skill (don't you just hate that?). Our 2nd game we bowled a nice score of 887, I want our goal to be 950 from now on (our HGH is 909). I believe it's reachable and let's just hope we do it during sweeps.

Post Notes: Next week we will be on lanes 39-40 going against team 12. In case if you don't remember who that is, just know that Amazon is part of that team. So get ready...*shrug* Sandbag alert!! This team's handicap is 186 compared to our 209 (not including this week). Each of their bowlers can reach at least 214 so that should tell you the type of team we will be facing next week.

Vegas trip schedule so far. The '?' are things I'm not sure what to do so please comment on suggestions.
Friday
12-4 PM: Leave from work, eat light lunch and head to Vegas *w00t w00t*
4-5 PM: Check-in and rest up
5-7 PM: Dinner
8-10 PM: Practice Bowling 3 games
10- PM/AM: Free to do whatevers but remember to take time to rest up as well

Saturday
9-10 AM: Light Breakfast
10-11 AM: ?
11-1 PM: Lunch
1-3 PM: ?
3-7 PM: Sweeps (based on the timings we bowled in Laughlin, I'm going assuming we'll follow the same schedule otherwise these timing are subject to change)
7-10 PM: Rio Buffet (this is also including us waiting)
10- PM/AM: Fun

Sunday:
9-11 AM: Hash House (I highly recommend getting here as early as possible, gets packed REAL easily)
12 PM: Head back

2/06/2013

"OLD SCHOOL" Team Review

Preview: We are in our 21st week in, and somehow we are still in 5th place with 46.5 wins and 33.5 loss record.We're now exactly 6 games back from the current leader (minus today's scores, of course). Today's match is against an interesting group called "Rusty Rollers". One of their players was absent so they had a sub today with a handicap of 13. <-- That right there really helped us out because I believe if their own player (we won't name names now) was present today, we might have been swept. Who knows...

Summary: 2-2. One word: Phew...

June Wei (Avg: 107)
Scores: 141, 146, 101
Overall Grade: Solid A+
Review: Wow! Excluding the third game, the first two were quite impressive. I can definitely tell she's starting to get it, but at the same time, it's quite obvious June will not bowl a good third game due to tiredness. June is throwing the ball the way we're asking her to and there are moments when she's applying the spin. Also, June is starting to understand where to throw the ball, and I can't express enough the "how" part, too. On the other hand (yes, I know), June needs to start hitting the 7pin spare as well as the 10pin spare, but the one spare she really has trouble with is the 2,4,5 spare. Once, June has mastered this, she'll be a definite force to be reckoned with, coming sweeps. Good job and keep it going.

Russ Overton (Avg: 159)
Scores: 181, 212, 164 (last week)
Scores: 189, 166, 212 (this week)
Overall Grade: Strong A+
Review: Like what Russ said, if Jiyoon is the star then that would make Russ the star of the week. I hate to say it, but it's o' so true. I want to take a moment to compare last weeks score with this weeks. I don't really need to say much, as you can see, it's obviously identical. I can vouch for Russ that the lanes were inconsistent and it got tough as the games went on and trying to figure out the lanes. Because of that reason and that reason alone is what made Russ get the SOW (star of the week <-- gonna acronym it = laziness). I made a mistake on telling Russ after the game, "better scores than last week." What I meant to say is "better scores than two weeks ago" when he bowled a 116 for the 2nd game. Would you look at that! Roum bowled a 116 in his first game this week.

Henry Wei (Avg: 156)
Scores: 156, 134, 160
Overall Grade: B-
Review: I did not bowl well today. In the first game, I hit my average on the dot, but in the 2nd game, I just completely lost it. I'm still shocked on how I got a 134. I was not able to find my lanes and when I did hit the pocket I would get robbed, raped and murdered. At times I felt like it wasn't fair on how lucky the opponent was getting their strikes and how unlucky I was. Because of this it got to my head and for 2 and a half games, I was not able to: number 1. focus and number 2. bowl consistent. And what I mean by consistent is getting my spares when I should and must be. I did not even register a single strike in the 2nd game = shame, pure, fresh, right out of the box, new car smell, utter shame. By the time it got to the 6th frame of the 3rd game was when I was able to hit my strikes, and interestingly enough that helped propel us to get a whooping score of 839 to 715, which definitely helped us not only get the win for the 3rd game, but also, get us the win for the entire score. Still though, I really need to work on being able to not only find the lanes, but being versatile on bowling two different lane conditions.

Roum Evangelista (Avg: 167)
Scores: 116, 178, 155
Overall Grade: B-
Review: I thought long and hard on what exact grade to give Roum. Trust me, I really wanted to give him a B for being able to bowl a 178 and a 155 at the end of the game to help close it out. Especially (I'm really stressing this adjective) on how he was able to correct himself throughout the match. I'm proud and hopeful you will be able to keep it up. However, the reason why I gave a minus after the B is the sole reason of inconsistency. Roum bowled really well during the practices we have on Saturdays; however, he is not able to carry that over to the matches. The first game really showed how much trouble he was having and how early Roum was mentally shocked. As an anchor, Roum needs to bowl Russ-type numbers if not better (it shrugs me saying that--Russ-type numbers). I really hate to say it, but we all know how well Roum can bowl. He knows how well he can bowl. We (including Roum) needs to help Roum get back his confidence and I'm sure he'll have a great chance to bowl everyone away when he does get it back. I'm sorry to do this, but Roum, if you don't start turning things around, I won't allow you to do your black jack tournament at sweeps. Sorry buddy.

Team's Overall Performance: A-

No thanks to both me and Roum, we only get a mere A-. Pretty darn sad if you ask me. But the highlights are Jiyoon getting closer to averaging 150 and Russ bowling his heart out. Right when I was accepting a 1-3 loss or even getting swept, we pulled off a great comeback. I'm extremely proud on how hard we fought back. Normally, we would get down on ourselves and bowl crummy the rest of the match, but we climbed out of the hole and not only did we get at least a win, but we tied it. This is the type of experience we'll definitely need moving on forward. O! and before I forget, Congrats to both Russ and June for winning the mystery number. Someone owes us tea tomorrow, Ru*cough*cough*.

Post Notes: I don't have the right to take black jack away from you, Roum, so I was just kidding about that. But, please, try your best to be the anchor we know you can be. I leave it up to you whether you wanna play black jack or not if you don't start bowling well. I know you can do it, and we all know you can. As for Vegas, so far we have, Friday night bowling practice, Saturday night Rio buffet and Sunday morning Hash House. That's all I'm gonna plan. The rest I will leave it up to you. I'm only making sure we are good on food as well as being ready to bowl on the day of sweeps. One thing I'm told to do is be with the fam throughout the day on Saturday including dinner and after Lily is put to sleep then I can go off and have fun (gambling). Please, comment if there is anything else you would like to do because I will be very sad if we don't take this time to plan and when we get to Vegas we end up not knowing what to do. Thanks again for any input you got. Word of the week: "badwords". Russ knows why.

1/30/2013

"OLD SCHOOL" Team Review

Preview: We are in our 20th week in, and still holding onto 5th place with 42.5 wins and 33.5 loss record. This week we'll be put to the test yet, again, going against the 3rd place team. They have the 2nd highest game scratch of 851 (SCRATCH!!!). All of their bowlers can easily hit 200's while we still have a hard time getting anywhere close to that number. Will we be able to go toe-to-toe against them? Or will we choke?

Summary: 4-0. Not bad...not bad at all. As a team, I am proud of the way we bowled today. Even though there's quite a bit of improvement to strive for, a win is a win.

June Wei (Avg: 106)
Scores: 122, 125, 100
Overall Grade: B
Review: I honestly would give June a higher grade, but since she scored a 100 in the 3rd game, that's totally unacceptable especially how she was able to score in the 120's for both games 1 and 2. June definitely got her spares when needed and might I add, strikes, too. She's starting to get the hang of where to throw the ball and add spin to have the ball hook (just barely) to the pocket. Impressive first two games..., but as for the 3rd game, she took her eyes of the prize. Jiyoon needs to start understanding where to stand depending on what pins she needs to hit in order to get those spares. She could have gotten a higher score if it wasn't for her missing her spares.

Russ Overton (Avg: 158)
Scores: 181, 212, 164
Overall Grade: A "freak'n" +
Review: Anytime you score 200 or more you deserve an A+, but...anytime you score 200 and help get a sweep, you dam better believe you're going to get not just good grades, but awesome grades. Russ flipped on the switch this week. Considering on how dead he looked when he first arrived, I would never have guessed Russ was going to bowl this well. Russ sure did redeem himself this week from the poor utter performance of last week's dreadful tie. Russ was able to focus and stay consistent all throughout the 3 games. Still is having slight trouble of the 10pin spares, but other than that, thumbs up. The star is back.

Henry Wei (Avg: 155)
Scores: 196, 163, 179
Overall Grade: A
Review: If Russ got an A+ then I for sure got an A. I didn't score high numbers as Russ, but I was close and consistent all throughout the match. I was able to capitalize on getting strikes when the opponent would miss their spares. This helped a lot on either keeping/holding the lead or helping us come back and win the games. I missed some really easy spares, which hurt my scores, but it did not cost the team any wins. The opponent was able to get in my head, but giving me tips, but overall I was able to overcome it and bowl the way I wanna bowl. Glad to see myself being able to average above 160; getting closer to the goal.

Roum Evangelista (Avg: 168)
Scores: 134, 147, 232 (last 2x week)
Scores: 134, 141, 223 (last week)
Scores: 167, 132, 135 (this week
Overall Grade: B-
Review: I won't lie, I wish I had last weeks scores than this weeks, which is why I kept the scores from 2 weeks ago and last weeks to show how Roum flipped his scores. None of this weeks scores were able to hit his average. NOT GOOD!!! Roum really needs to focus and start remembering his basics. Two things Roum really needs to do: 1. STOP dropping the ball and of course 2. STOP doubting himself. Confidence is key here and it'll go a long way once Roum regains his mojo. The team needs Roum's invisible swag otherwise we won't have any chance of winning games and he'll be wasting his time at Vegas. Originally I wanted to give Roum a C, but because I'm in a good mood and he did help close the 3rd game off I gave him a B- instead. And yes I am in a good mood. Still pissed on how Lakers though. <-- *shaking head* You can wipe that smile off your face, Russ.

Team's Overall Performance: A

Good job team. I mean, really, GOOD JOB!! This is for reals reals. I'm not joking, I am really happy that we beat a really good team today. If you did not notice, they really tried hard to catch up. But...don't think this sweep is something we can easily do, again, to a team like them. We bowled a total of 879, 845 and 791 to their 695, 838 and 762. On average our scratch total is 587, guess what theirs is. 718; on average. My goodness, gracious. If you haven't noticed it by now, our handicap is what helped our bee-hinds during this match. We need to do a better job on holding leads meaning we gotta increase the lead so that the opponent won't have a chance on coming back. And we need to do a better job on getting our average scratch total to at least 650. It's really not that hard. If Russ, Roum and Henry can average 180 (easily) that'll make it 540 and all you need left is a average score of 110 from June just to get it at 110.

Post Notes: So far the only plans I have for Vegas is practicing on Friday evening after dinner or something so we can get a feel for the lanes. And, Rio buffet. June also mentioned she would love to go to Hash House for either breakfast or lunch. I'm suggesting breakfast because the lines get CRAZY long if you don't get there early enough. So the quicker we get there, the less time you'll have to wait. Please visit the website if you never have been there or no idea what Hash House is http://www.hashhouseagogo.com/. Also, please post up comments if there are any other suggestions or comments you would like to say. Thanks.

1/23/2013

"OLD SCHOOL" Team Review

Preview: We are in our 19th week in, and surprisingly still placed 5th with 40.5 wins and 31.5 loss record. Going up against a good team whose bowlers can reach the upper echelon of 200's. Can we pull off the win?

Summary: After the game, I took a great deal of time to review and analyze our performance and still I'm not sure exactly what to say other than we did not perform the way we should be up to this point in the season. We won two and we loss two. That right there speaks for itself on how today's games went.

June Wei (Avg: 106)

Scores: 117, 100, 132
Overall Grade: B-
Review: A major improvement over last week's scores. I can not begin to tell you how proud I am to witness June starting to show effort on spinning the ball or more like throwing the ball along the correct arrows. Still though it goes without me saying how little the spin is applied to the ball when she releases it. Really needs to work on not being afraid to flick the ball. Experiment is key when practicing. Other than the 2nd game, good job and hopefully she'll be able to hit at least 120 on a consistent basis by the end of February.

Russ Overton (Avg: 158)
Scores: 188, 116, 141
Overall Grade: B?
Review: I'm having the hardest time giving Russ his grade and still I'm not sure, which is why I gave a question mark at the end (talk about being confused this week). I did Russ's review last hoping I would have a final grade by the time I got his review, but for some reason it's too difficult for me with Russ being sick and all. Great first game, hit his mark, bowled fabulous, got his strikes and hit his spares with exception to some easy ones that helped him get a score of 188. Then...the drop off happened and a big one, too; like Angel's Falls drop off. From 188 to 116, that right there is 72 points and comparing it to his average, that's a minus 46 points. *shaking head* Third game was a little bit better, but it took Russ til the 4th/5th frame to really start turning it up, again. I understand he's still little bit under the weather, but can't miss those easy spares down the line. I wouldn't say focus was his problem today, the lanes were a little bit different as each game went on, and Russ did some experimentation during those games so judging from all of that the best thing Russ can work on for next week is adaptation.

Henry Wei (Avg: 153)
Scores: 216, 162, 155
Overall Grade: B+
Review: For someone who did not feel it today, I think overall I deserve an A, but...because how competitive I am and how last weeks performance was uber (German/Deutsche) krap, I gave myself a B+ instead. Had a marvelous score of 216; can't complain. But I wasn't able to keep it up and eventually lost my strike lane. Please do take notice on me mentioning strike lane and not the lane completely. I did get my spares when I had to and eventually came back strong towards the end of the 2nd and 3rd game (minus the gutter frame at the end). Still though no excuse on several of the other frames I muffed up on. Still need to work on staying focused and not letting other things bother me.

Roum Evangelista (Avg: 168)
Scores: 134, 147, 232 (last week)
Scores: 134, 141, 223 (this week)
Overall Grade: Roum's Choice
Review: Is it me or does this look really familiar to you? In fact, last week's performance was better than this week. Yes I will give Roum lots of credit of helping us staying in the game against the opponent and allowing us to even get the chance to win the 3rd game (we did). BUT, what happened in the first two games leaves me clueless and pretty much speechless. It's like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Strikes Back, which leads me to allow Roum to grade himself so he can get a good visibility on how similar the scores are from last week and this week. Anyways, Roum really really and I mean REALLY needs to work on finding his lanes quick. I'm tempted to allow him to use most of the practice time so that way he can start feeling the lanes. It's all in the head!!! Haha, thats what she said.

Team's Overall Performance: B

In a big way, I can't complain with a 2-2. Obviously getting a 3-1 would be far more enjoyable than a 2-2, but it's still way better than getting 1-3 or the God-awful sweep. Everyone is to be blamed for the 2 wins and 2 loss, we all have a hand in it. Sorry guys, no star this week. I want to bring up something really important. Our opponent's total scratch scores were 525, 536, 545 and 553. June's were 349, Russ 445, Henry 553 and Roum 498. As you can see, our opponent is very consistent and yes they do know how to bowl and they have far more experience than we do, but the way I look at it is if we wanna do any damage coming sweeps then we need to be more like our opponent and find our consistency. I'm not asking for scratch totals like our opponents, I'm asking for better like 600. Just kidding. I actually decided to give each of you total scratch goals so it will give you some indication on what to aim for. June 450. Russ 550. Henry 550. Roum 600 cause you know you can. I think this sounds very reasonable and hopefully when we're at Vegas bowling, we'll be the team that blows everyone away even that dreadful Team 6 (you know who I'm talking about).

Post Notes: I want to say thanks everyone for getting the rooms on time at South Point. I'm starting to plan out what we can do at Vegas. So far I have practice bowling on Friday evening so we can get a feel for the lanes. AND, a dam good buffet; don't ask (it pains me explaining it every single time). If you have any suggestions on where to go and what o do, please post them on comments and we can all talk about it. Thanks.

1/16/2013

"OLD SCHOOL" Team Review

Preview: We are in our 18th week in, and placed 3rd with 39.5 wins and 28.5 loss record. I'm totally ecstatic to find out that we have a good chance to get 1st with 12 weeks (matches) remaining. This puts us in a good position to really take the lead as we're 4 games behind 1st place. With us coming in with a good victory last week, can we keep it up and have a streak of 2 wins at the end of the day?

Summary: To answer the question above, "HELL NO!!" (our streak ends at 1 game *sad face*) Let's put it this way, imagine your going up against a team who is basically dead last, down by 31 pins and your star player is out for this game. What does this entail? Simple..., two players need to bowl above average and we'll have a good shot on winning the games. Which two? Not going to say. Easy said than done? Hell yes! But no excuses. Can it be done? Hell *Beeping* yes! But o wells cause we f-ed up; simply put. The scores speak for themselves.

June Wei (Avg: 106)
Scores: 105, 118, 73
Overall Grade: C-
Review: Based on June's scores last week, this week can be summarized as hideous. First two games were decent, but that last game, it was like she just completely gave up and wanted to go home. In the beginning, June was applying spin to the ball; not a whole lot, but it was noticeable. There were a couple instances when the ball got stuck on her thumb. June admitted that she does want to dry her hands because she's afraid it'll slip out too easily. For everyone out there who is reading this, it's exactly what you want when drying your hands so that the bowling ball does not get stuck not only your hands, but also, your fingers therefore preventing severe (not dire) injuries. Trust. June really needs to start working on flicking the ball right when she releases it. It does not have to be a strong flick, but a flick that can spin the ball when applied.


Russ Overton (Avg: 158)
Scores: Absent
Overall Grade: Does not apply
Review: Just because Russ was absent does not mean I'm not going to write a review. Just kidding. Take a break, Russ, you deserve it. Just be glad your "In-Laws" were not in town. =P


Henry Wei (Avg: 153)
Scores: 185, 172, 112
Overall Grade: C+
Review: Started off great. First two games were quite consistent. Did what I wanted to work on; found the lanes quick. How ironic when I find the lanes, I eventually lose them, which the third game score shows on how poorly I played. We'll focus more on the last game for obvious reasons. In the last game, I could not hit the spares. Kept getting numerous splits; four, I believe (don't hold me to it). Instead of going back to basics and leveling my already frustrated head, I kept getting more and more aggressive and threw the ball far to the right, which helped me get some gutters. Not only did I destroy the team's chances on catching up, but as the team lead, I was not able to keep it cool and under control forcing me to throw with pride and not throwing for the team. I don't know if I just got tired, or the lack of focus, but there's just no excuse to losing the lanes when you found it in the first place. Disappointed in myself as the captain.

Roum Evangelista (Avg: 168)

Scores: 134, 147, 232
Overall Grade: C-
Review: Kobe "Bean" Bryant. Today reminded of Kobe when he plays really krappy in the first 3 quarters and then all of a sudden turns it up in the fourth, but by then it's too late and there's no hope of winning the game even with the heroics of Kobe nailing down shots like no other. So that's pretty much what happened. First two games were an average of 140.5. By the tenth frame of the second game, Roum decided to find his lanes (Kobe's strokes) and get his turkey (gobble gobble). In the third game, Roum started to get his strikes (Kobe knocking down his shots), 6 in a row in fact; this lead to him getting a whopping score of 232. I wouldn't be surprised if he got the mystery number based off of that score. Anyways, it took Roum nearly 1.9 games to find his lanes and be consistent. Tenth frame to be precise. Tenth. Let's think that one over and hopefully the next game we'll improve on that. Oh, and one more thing, STOP DROPPING THE BALL. You're ruining the rev on the ball and how you want the ball to react. Here's a good find on dropping balls: http://www.bowl4fun.com/ron/tip39.htm. Read it (you too, June).


Team's Overall Performance: C
Some of you might think I'm being too harsh in my review. Well, originally I was a whole lot more rigid; for instance, I was going to give Roum a D+, but to give him credit for the amazing 3rd game that he had, I gave him a C- instead. I was going to give all of us D's because let's face it, we bowled as if there was something stuck in our behinds. Sure I bowled 3 pins above my average, but all of that doesn't mean anything if we don't win or at least, be close to winning. Unacceptable. I'm sorry to say all of this, but it is what it is, and it helped me shed some light on, on how much we depend on Russ's scores. This should not be the case whatsoever. This week we were down 31 pins, but it's not like it was the end of the world. If each player bowled ten pins above their avg, we would have had a great shot at winning all 4 games. But based Russ's scores as of recent, if anything, we should make Russ our anchor, but I have full and complete faith that Roum will turn it around and he'll be the bowler that we all know he can be. I also strongly believe June will be able to spin the ball the way we want her to (more like envision). And, rest assured, I feel good about our chances on winning this dam league. So let's go and stay consistent and we'll be fine.

Post Notes: In case if you haven't noticed, Roum bowled 9 strikes in a row (previous record (officially) is 6 consecutive strikes). Take the turkey he bowled at the end of the 2nd game and add that to the 6 strikes in a row he bowled in the 3rd and there you have it, 9 consecutive strikes (unofficially). But who cares?! Congratulations Roum!!

Next week we will be going against the O'Hagans. We need to be careful, just because they have far less HC than we do doesn't translate to us not finding our lanes quick and staying consistent. If we do that, I see either a sweep or a 3-1 victory.

Update*: I almost forgot to mention about the hotel fees. I was told that South Point Casino is offering a room sale for $85 a night plus tax, which comes out to a total of $190.40 PER room. That makes it $95 per person for 2 rooms. Not bad for Vegas, but Jiyoon is asking for something cheaper. Mr Vegas (Roum) is there any other place you would know around South Point that we can go for; otherwise we have til Friday noon to purchase these rooms with this deal. So we need to make a decision no later than Thursday (evening). The quicker we decide on this, the better. Please comment below to give your inputs, thanks.