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Post by Clipper on Apr 6, 2023 10:46:30 GMT -5
We are supposed to have a thunderstorm early this afternoon so I am not planning on working outside today. Kathy has a doctor's appointment and the new bowling ball I ordered has come in so. I am excited to pick it up and see if I can get it fitted and drilled today or if I have to wait until tomorrow.
Old age has hit my ability to throw the ball as hard as I am used to. With the ball I use now I have to stand way to the left and throw the ball way out almost the the edge of the gutter where it snaps quickly and hooks sharply into the pocket. The new ball I bought doesn't hook as radically, rolls farther down the lane before it hooks, and has a more gentle hook. I can roll it slower and don't have to roll it right along the edge of the gutter to get it down lane and into the pocket.
I used to throw the ball 23mph and had a real high backswing. Now my old shoulders don't allow the high backswing and I am only throwing the ball about 15-16mph. I used to carry a much higher average. My high was a 230 average when I was in my early 50s. Now I am lucky to maintain a 160 or 170. The realization has hit me that next fall I better sign up for the senior league rather than trying to compete with the younger consistently high rolling bowlers.
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Post by Atticus Pizzaballa on Apr 6, 2023 11:28:05 GMT -5
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Post by BHU on Apr 6, 2023 11:28:22 GMT -5
I use to bowl occasionaly in my younger days but it's been a while. I always enjoyed the game, & there's only a few alleys left around here , Pin O Rama will be the next one to go. They demo'd the one in Ilion a few days ago to put up one of the chain drug stores. My faves were Thurston's & the one in Marcy near the canal clock. Both closed.
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Post by Clipper on Apr 7, 2023 12:55:09 GMT -5
Riverside Lanes in Marcy. Steve Lewandowski was a friend of ours. I bowled in some tournaments there. Loved Thurstons. They had the best pizza in the valley, and frequent open tournaments. Ilion is gone now and so is Herkimer. We loved Adirondack Lanes in Barneveld and bowled there twice a week. Our friend Fitz Hardiman ran it. His son is a chef and owns The Taylor and the Cook with a partner. Fitz closed the bowling alley several months ago. He wanted to retire and had it sold when the pandemic hit, but the buyer backed out. Now it just sits empty and for sale. Kathy and I have bowled in sweeper tournaments at just about every bowling alley from Lowville in the North to Binghamton in the South, and from Rochester in the west to Albany in the east. It is just something that we both love. It will be a sad day when we get too old or crippled up to bowl. Up until a couple of years ago we bowled in State tournaments in both Virginia and Tennessee. When we were younger a great weekend getaway was to enter a two day tournament somewhere.
Pretty sad for the Utica Area. When Pin O Rama is torn down the only bowling alleys left with be Vista in Yorkville and King Pin in Rome. The pandemic must have caused the closure of Pin O Rama. That place had leagues every night of the week with just about all 48 lanes filled.
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Post by BHU on Apr 7, 2023 16:33:14 GMT -5
Pin O Rama is still open but that entire parcel including POR, McD's, Bagel Grove & the whole shebang is up for sale. There was talk of putting a car wash in there but I've heard no more about it. Just what the city needs up there.
We used to bowl at Riverside on occasion & they had one of the best fish fry's around. We were sad to see it go.
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Post by clarencebunsen on Apr 7, 2023 18:49:21 GMT -5
My hands started to get arthritic while we were still in a league. It always made a good date night for us, a night when we got a babysitter and spent the evening conversing with adults. It got to be very hard to reshape the thumb hole so I could control and release the ball while preserving my thumb joint.
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Post by Clipper on Apr 7, 2023 19:15:39 GMT -5
The guy that drills my bowling balls is a bowling alley proprietor and also travels with the PBA and drills balls for the pros during PBA tournaments. He has been doing it for over 25 yrs. I always have any new ball I buy drilled for a fingertip grip and this guy is one of the only ones over the years, other than Craig Vogel who owns Kingpin Lanes in Rome that can get the pitches correct on my finger grips so that the ball comes off my hand smoothly for a smooth delivery. We bowled 4 games and my scores ranged from 10 pins over my present average to 27 pins over. The new ball is going to serve me well.  The place was packed. The NASCAR super modified race was rained out and it rained all day with no breaks so everyone from the campgrounds and hotels were looking for other activities to occupy the day. We went to eat with our friends afterward and the restaurant was slammed and running slow. We usually either leave town or stay on our own side of town away from the race fans and traffic, but I couldn't resist going to try out my new ball. This spring night race is always a big seller. Usually over 100,000 fans. The grandstands will hold 162,000. Traffic was horrendous. aviewfrommyseat.com/wallpaper/anonymous-20160909214251.jpg |
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