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