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