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Post by Clipper on Feb 13, 2021 12:28:12 GMT -5
My birthday present that Kathy ordered on the 28th of January finally arrived. She ordered me a new bowling ball to add to my arsenal. I have probably in excess of 6 bowling balls hanging around. I always bowled with a ball that really snapped and hooked sharply into the pocket at the very backend of the lane. As I have aged I can't throw a ball as hard so Kathy ordered me a ball that hooks more gently so I won't have to throw the ball so hard or so far out on the lane. Old age is catching up with me. I used to throw a 16lb ball and threw it at 20-22mph. In recent years I have had to go down to a 14lb ball and I am lucky to toss it at about 15 or 16mph.
Rainy, gloomy, in the high 30's and overall miserable today. We are going to meet another couple from our Thursday night league and bowl a few games so I can get a feel for my new ball, then we will most likely go to dinner somewhere.
I can check out my new jeans at the same time. This time last year I weighed over 325lbs and wore a size 50x29 jeans. Kathy won't be able to call me satchel ass with my baggy jeans anymore, haha. This morning I weighed 254lbs and I bought two pairs of jeans with a 42 waist. My goal is to get back to 240lbs and a 38in waist or smaller. I look forward to spring so I can get back to walking the trails at the local park.
Stay warm up there in CNY. It looks like the latest freezing rain, and nastiness is staying to the South and East of you for a change.
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Post by Clipper on Feb 14, 2021 11:06:40 GMT -5
Woohoo! Loving the new "Ebonite Stinger bowling ball." I shot a 184 game with it, first game , right out of the box. Lanes had zero oil on them. Can't wait until Thursday night to see how it performs under normal oil conditions. Another gloomy day in the 40's here today.
A bit chilly for working in my shop. Probably a day of vegging out in front of the tube, watching the Daytona 500.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 14, 2021 12:47:40 GMT -5
Why oil on the lanes? Wouldn't the ball get greasy?
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Post by Clipper on Feb 14, 2021 15:03:39 GMT -5
They put down different patterns of oil vs dry to make the game more challenging. If the lanes were bone dry all the time a person would just need to throw the ball straight down the lane and hope for the best. With oil on the lane it brings a little more skill into the equation. Bowling over the years has become a bit more technical in nature. In my father's bowling days a ball was hard rubber with a cork center. Now balls are more varied in composition. There are urethane cover stock balls and reactive resin cover stock balls. There are different shaped weight blocks molded into the balls to make them react differently on the lane. Where the finger holes are located in relation to the weight block also comes onto play when it comes to how your hand comes out of the ball at delivery, how much rotation is put onto the ball and how the ball will react as it goes down the lane.
They use a machine that is programmable that can be programmed to lay down the oil in varied patterns as it goes down the alley. It can lay the oil the entire width of the lane or i can apply it either more toward the edges or more in the center, drier on the outside or drier in the center, straight across or in a pattern that narrows to a wedge shaped point at the back of the lane. When you throw the ball it will hit the lane with a counter clockwise rotation for a right hander, and clockwise for a left hand bowler and slides in the oil for a bit, then as it slows a little it starts to gain traction as it comes the drier portion of the lane There is always a friction point at some point where there is little to no oil and that allows the ball to gain traction. That is when the rotation on the ball allows the ball to hook into the pocket.
Ball speed, the amount of rotation put on the ball, where the bowler stands on the approach, where the bowler lays the ball onto the lane and at what angle determines how the ball will react and the angle at which it will enter the pocket.
With this new ball I have changed to a higher backswing, put more rotation on the ball and that puts more momentum and speed on the ball. Yesterday I was averaging 18 mph.
Some evening when the pandemic is over stop by Pin O Rama on a league night and watch for a little while. Grab a beverage and a slice of pizza and watch.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 14, 2021 17:44:42 GMT -5
Hey that was very interesting and educational. Thanks. I never knew that
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Post by Clipper on Feb 14, 2021 18:10:05 GMT -5
Bowling has lost some of the popularity that the sport once enjoyed but is still quite popular with our generation. Our bowling center has leagues every night of the week, and two senior leagues, that are comprised of 96 bowlers each, with teams of 4 occupying all 24 lanes.
It is just a a sport that I have loved and participated in since I was a teen ager. At one time after we moved here I bowled 4 or 5 nights a week and Kathy bowled 4 nights. I was the president of the 300 member Bristol USBC Men's Bowling Association for 6 yrs. I could never bowl that much anymore. My lifetime bowling goal would be to bowl the perfect game of 12 strikes in a row for a score of 300. The closest I have ever come was a few years ago when I bowled 11 strikes for total score of 279. My ragged old self would be too crippled to walk if I were to go back to bowling 4 nights a week. Hunting, fishing, and bowling have always been my favorite activites. Hunting is just a memory now, and fishing is not something I do very often any more, but bowling is my way to exercise, along with walking.
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Post by BHU on Feb 14, 2021 18:43:23 GMT -5
I never bowled in any leauges or anything but I always enjoyed the game when I would occasionaly go to Pin O Rama or wherever. I've been thinking of hitting the lanes but I'm wondering if the balls available to the public are sanitized after use.
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Post by Clipper on Feb 15, 2021 0:35:04 GMT -5
They are at our lanes. There is signs telling bowlers to just leave the alley balls on the ball return and someone wipes them down with sanitizing spray and puts them back on racks for the next bowler. Every lane has a table and each table has a bottle of hand sanitizer on it. They spray the rental shoes with sanitizer and antifungal spray after each use also.
Some kid asked my buddy Terry that works behind the counter if they sanitized the balls. Terry told him " I guarantee that OUR balls are more sanitary than YOURS." The kid just grabbed his rental shoes and walked away.
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Post by BHU on Feb 16, 2021 9:04:18 GMT -5
They are at out lanes. There is signs telling bowlers to just leave the alley balls on the ball return and someone wipes them down with sanitizing spray and puts them back on racks for the next bowler. Every lane has a table and each table has a bottle of hand sanitizer on it. They spray the rental shoes with sanitizer and antifungal spray after each use also. Some kid asked my buddy Terry that works behind the counter if they sanitized the balls. Terry told him " I guarantee that OUR balls are more sanitary than YOURS." The kid just grabbed his rental shoes and walked away.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 16, 2021 19:31:05 GMT -5
Your lucky I never get anything for my birthday, not even a damn card. Oh well I don't give on either so to be expected.
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