Everything Candlepin

A big congratulations should be sent Joe Smith’s way!  Joe took part in the Pro Series’ 10-stringer this past weekend up at Lakeside Lanes in Manchester, New Hampshire.  Joe torched the lanes to the tune of a 209 string!

Joe opened up with hammer followed quickly by a spare.  How does Joe top that?  He throws four more hammers!  Joe finishes up the first half at 127 after the 9 box in the seventh.

Smith followed the open box with two spares and another hammer in the 10th! The hammer gave him 200 on the nose, and the fill was the difference in going over 200!  The 209 was high for the tournament with some HUGE scores all day long.

Congratulations Joe, I’m certainly glad we aren’t bowling you this Friday night!

I hadn’t checked my email in a few days, but I should do it more often!  I got an email from Tom Bishop recently telling me of his exploits shooting his new high single – 203!

It’s always nice to have a string that you start with a triple strike, but to then throw a second one, that’s just great.  Let’s not discount the nine drop in the eighth box, looking at the sheet it could have been a four bagger.

It’s also great that he managed to hit his 200 game with the fill in the 10th.  When you get that close, and need either a big fill in the 10th, or have to pin out for the 200, those can be the most difficult pins in the world to hit!  Tom got it out of the way with the six fill, and the three pins were just icing on the cake!

Way to go Tom on your accomplishment.  Keep throwing them, and we’ll keep posting them!

Spare.  Strike!  Spare.  Strike!  Spare.  Five boxes – Eight balls thrown.  Now sit.  And wait.  That word – wait.  Oh how we hate it.

That’s a great way to start out ANY string.  Jeff Walsh (affectionately known as Carrot in the Candlepin bowling world) accomplished that this past Tuesday in the speed league at Academy; opening up with five marks sitting on a spare in the 5th.

Now what comes with the sitting?  That eerie feeling of having to wait while your teammates bowl their five boxes.  Can I keep it going?  Why can’t I just finish the string? You swear the machine takes longer to reset for your teammates.  Minutes seem like hours.  We all  love starting out that way just as much as the next guy, but the AGONY of waiting is awful sometimes.  Time doesn’t go any faster when you’re waiting to close out an awesome start.

So I asked Jeff what was going through his mind after the 5th.  “I wasn’t thinking much, I’ve screwed up strings with those type of halves too many times to get too excited.  After the strike in the 8th is when I started getting nervous.”

Well Jeff did what many of us have trouble doing – kept it going after sitting down.  And he did it like clockwork.  Strike! 100 half! Spare.  Strike! Sitting pretty at 150 before filling the strike in the 8th.  Jeff finished up strong in the last two managing back to back spares with seven fills for a 194 total!  Love those ten mark games.  Congrats Carrot on the new high single!  Jeff absolutely destroyed his old total of 167.

Hope to see that May 5th in Holyoke!

Editor’s Note: Feel free to make fun of my Candlewood teammate Justin Scali for the photo.  He sent it along, and just apologized to the team for the glare, instead of sending along another with the flash off.  He must have been trying to hide all times he got hung in the second half of that string!

As I, (or we) promised more content, content, content!

This image comes from the second King Of The Palace from New Palace lanes in Fitchburg.  I think anyone would be happy opening with a 153 – and then to follow it with a 134 – outstanding.  Brian Pilesky was off to an amazing start!

Those two scores were nice enough to witness, but Brian wasn’t done on this day.  Opening his third string with four spares and sitting with a hammer is great in itself.  But then, follow that up in the second half that included a DOUBLE is just phenomenal.  Brian finished with a 180 (that I believe to his credit is now his high single) and a superb total of 467.  That’s a great day by anyone’s standards.

Brian qualified first for ladder with his accomplishment.  I won’t give away how the ladder went, but it was fun to hear about and watch during qualifying.

Way to go Brian.  Hopefully you throw more scores like that!

Well, it was a great day for a tournament – a little snow, and an awesome football game that interrupts even better commercials.  I know that Nick Zuffelato is thankful, that’s for sure.  Metro bowl in Peabody had their annual Superbowl tournament.  Nick started out a with a great half.  It’s always nice sitting down with 75 and a ball.  Little did he know what was going to follow for a second half…

A series of nine fills and spares he was sitting 132 in the eighth with a fill ball.  A triple in the ninth pushed him to 172, meaning he was at 192 with one ball remaining in the 10th frame.

It was a great day for Nick, as he didn’t even realize he was on pace for the 200 game.  He said to me “[I] actually had no idea I was pace for 200.  I missed the head pin, left up the 1,3,6 and a piece of wood came runnin along and took it out.  I knew I hit it when everoyne started to cheer when it fell haha”

Good for you man.  You’ve done what we all hope to do one time, throw that elusive 200 game.  Good job, and good luck on a 201!

Dear New Palace Lanes,

You’re doing it right.

Right before I threw my first ball for the King Of The Palace tournament, you gave me a tap on the shoulder and said the handicap was based on MY AVERAGE.  Correct!  That’s how you’re supposed to do it. I applaud you.  After registering my 118 average, it turned out I had high average for the tournament, so I get zero.  I like the idea of bowling scratch.  Add to that point, the number of tournaments I do on a yearly basis might actually equal all the other competitors total tournaments combined.  I don’t even want to talk about Friday night.  I don’t understand making an arbitrary number like 80% to 130?  Why should everyone get pins, makes little to no sense to me.  Top average gets zero.  Done.

It just made SENSE.  Again, New Palace – you’re doing it right.

So what is the King Of The Palace you say?  It’s your run of the mill King of the hill (KOTH) but it comes with a twist – you’ll learn about it shortly.  This tournament was the first of a series of tournaments at this house.  The next one is tentatively scheduled for February 23rd.  This KOTH, like others, is a three string qualifier, handicapped at 80% in this case to my 118.  So if you had a 112 average walking in the door, you’d get 80% of six pins, or 4.8, rounded down to the lowest whole number – 4.

Once you bowl your three strings, the top five in total pinfall form a ladder.  The 5th place bowler faces the 4th place bowler.  The winner faces the 3rd place bowler, and so on until a “King” of the hill or ladder is crowned.

I can say honestly it was interesting to be what you’d call a “pro” bowler at this event.  I was by no means the best bowler for 30 boxes, but I was the most seasoned.  By seasoned, I mean facing competition in tournament settings and otherwise.  I’m just saying, I bring a different veteran presence to the building.  I think it also showed how little I got flustered when things didn’t go my way, and how I was able to make adjustments on the fly based on lane conditions.  It was what it was.  I’m not taking anything from the other bowlers there, just that I stick out.

Honestly, that’s neither here nor there. I finished in sixth only because I bowled poorly in the second string.  I figured 360 (with handicap) to be the cut, and it ended up being 356.  At one point I was the cut, at 345, but one of the bowlers handicaps wasn’t figured in, so that 326 quickly went to 356, and I was out.  It was a great experience, and I’m going to be there next month to get into the ladder matches.

The interesting thing with this KOTH is that once you become king, at the next one you are automatically included in the ladder.  So Billy Palumbo (who absolutely CRUSHED in the finals) will be the 5th seed and have to march up the ladder to defend.  I think that’s awesome. Be different.

Again, New Palace Lanes – you’re doing it right.

Added to that, New Palace has worked out a deal with FATV in the area and the ladder matches are going to be on local TV as well as YouTube.  Here we see the set up New Palace had going on before the ladder began.  They had four cameras set up. One each on lane 3 and 4 over the pins, and one to the bowlers right on lane six, and a camera on lane 5 facing the bowlers.  It was a great setup and looking in the camera near the ball return, it was CRISP, and it captured them throwing perfectly.

I didn’t get a chance to see the other camera in action, and I didn’t want to disrupt the action, so I sat tight and watched some great two string matches.  Every now and then I grumbled about a “math error” to the owner, but I was just being a pain.  Had I bowled well it wouldn’t have been an issue.  I enjoyed it, and I can’t wait to go back.

Good job Billy in racing up the ladder as the 3 seed and congrats on the 180.  Oh wait is that a big game?  Yep.

Good job New Palace Lanes – You’re doing it right.

I was going to make it a separate post, but it didn’t really make sense.  It happened at this tournament, and it’s now a high single for Billy Palumbo.   His opponent stepped up and BANG, back door strike.  What does Billy do?  He calmly CRUSHES the 2-6 pocket and comes up the ladder from the 7 pin to the head pin for a back door strike.  His next two were “Baker strikes” – no doubters.  As soon as they left his hand, you didn’t need to say “double!” hoping it would happen, it just DID.

I think the thing that shocked me the most is after the three hammers, Billy threw his BEST ball of the first four boxes and left the 7-8-10 with a vertical piece of wood in front of the 7-pin with front part closest to us angled more toward the gutter than the back of the pin.  What does Billy do?  In a Surette-esque throw, he drilled the wood straight back into the 7- and it shot across to the 8-10, and he picked it up CLEAN.  No prayer, no lean, no fist pump.  Just a spare, like all in a day’s work.

It was awesome to watch, and seeing a 112 first half is just great.  He got totally screwed in the 9th for a spare, and it’s a good thing it was being recorded live because I caught myself.  There is a good chance you’re going to hear it on YouTube.

Good job Billy – you’re doing it right.

Last night, my Candlewood teammates and I had the honor of bowling against some of the game’s absolute finest. Not only in terms of talent, but in terms class, the guys of 20th Century Lanes’ Friday Night Pro League team are top notch. Their captain, John Zappi and I were discussing the content of the blog and he busted my chops by saying “When the hell are you gonna put the 500 up, dude?”. Of course, bowling would not be bowling without busting a little chops here and there, and John had every right to do so because I promised him a couple months back that I was going to post this. Not only that, but he was part of an absolutely amazing feat that took place on April 24, 2012.

It was position night of the third round at the Woburn Tuesday Night Triples league, meaning it was money night. Teammates John Zappi, Stu “Hammer” Bergman, and John Nugent were battling Brian Crowell’s team on Lane 30. Sadly, this was the last night of league bowling for the “Nuge” that we have all come to know and love. Nobly, Nuge decided to relocate to Florida shortly after to be with his daughter. We all know that they don’t have Candlepin bowling in Florida, which is sinful living. Needless to say, he went out with a bang. The entire house was roaring as Hammer threw five marks in a row for an impressive 180 game. Next up was Zap, who ALSO threw five marks in a row – including a triple strike – for an incredible 191 string. If I remember correctly, this was NOT his only 190 string of the year since I remember him hitting the four bagger earlier on in the year.

If you look closely, you’ll notice what kind of opportunity Nuge was facing. Hammer and Zap set him up with a chance for a 500 team triple….a VERY rare occurrence. After a 9-box and a 10-box, Nuge started to turn up the heat. He drops a hammer in the 8th box with a 6-fill. A 9-box in the ninth was JUST enough to give Nuge a chance to clinch the 500 string provided he marked in the final box and filled it with a 10. Easy, right? What does he do? He drops a HAMMER and fills it with a spare to give his team a 500 team single! Woburn bowladrome – in it’s entirety – was going nuts!! I think it’s fair to say that the majority of people who were there had never seen anything like this before, including me. Truly awesome.

Congratulations guys….Nuge/Hammer/Zap, this one’s for you!

Awesome bowling at Fun Time Lanes last night by Brian Mayer.  A 182 third game to cap off a 487 series, which ties his highest career triple!  Working on a double strike with a chance at 500 in the last box, Brian ripped out the 1-5-9-10 on the first ball, and then took just the 2 pin on the second ball.  Tough way to finish an otherwise incredible night!

As time marches on, we get more and more emails about big games.  We want to hear about all of them!  I am going to post the images and reach out to Jerry Martin to get more of his take of historic night on April 6th, 2012.

Seems like Fairlanes keeps seeing big game after big game!  You can see here that Jerry starting out with a four-bagger and that is a great way to get you toward a 200 game.  Jerry managed to finish with a great total of 202!  Way to go Jerry, and good luck on your next one!

On the right we can see the scoresheet for his entire team included with their handicaps.  I bet Jerry’s handicap wasn’t 9 the following week!

Fellow Candlewood teammate Justin Scali passed along a note to me that the Bent’s Contracting string was caught on film by John “Urbie” Kafalas.

Here is the video – in the flesh!

Big game after big game, this is great!  I got another email from Kenj a few minutes ago so I will share it with you here and now.  I don’t even want to ruin it by saying the total, but I will say this much, it’s the new Canadian Team world record – and 36 marks in 50 boxes will do it for you.

Submitted by Kenj, fellow fan of bowling up in Nova Scotia, Canada to everythingcandlepin.com

Here at everything candlepin we love hearing about big games – even if they aren’t recent like Nick Norcross or Josh Lowell.  I got an email this morning from Canadian bowler Adam Melanson.  He sent along some images of his house record breaking string from January 30th, 2009.

Adam busted out with a five bagger, and followed by sparing four of the final five boxes with some great fills on the spares.  The five bagger was important to the string no doubt, but the 35 pins of fills on the spares where just as important.  Big games take a little luck, a lot of skill, and capitalizing whenever possible.  It’s clear that Adam had it all working on this day.

Here is a clearer shot of the scoresheet from Adam’s historic day.  Adam accomplished the feat at Fairlanes in Montcon, New Brunswick.

I think my favorite part is knowing that he played hooky in order to go to the bowling alley.  He is an email from Adam proving the crime of skipping school!

I was sixteen when I threw the it and I left my class early that day to get to the three day tournament earlier.  The tournament was a 560 team cap tournament.  The previous house record [was established in 1992].  I will remember that string ball by ball for the rest of my life.

I think one thing to note on top of Adam’s huge day is the bowling by the rest of team.  Not to be out done, the other four members of his team went 499.  Throwing scores of 95, 149, 132, and 123 they certainly chipped in toward their total of 722.  That’s a hell of a total for a five man team.  Hopefully that total was enough for you to win the tournament outright.

Here are two more photos depicting Adam’s big day.  I think the pin is fantastic.  Congratulations Adam on your achievement and thanks for sharing – we appreciate it.

Keep those big games coming folks!

Hello,

We got an email a few days back from one of the best ladies bowlers around – Lynne Thomsen.  She let us know about NEW state record up in Maine for Mona Lemar.  Here is an excerpt from 1-7-10’s Facebook page:

New State of Maine Ladies High 5 Game Series Record Set! Congratulations goes to Mona Lemar for setting a new high five game series State Record with a 696. The record was officially accepted from the ICBA October 7th, 2012.  Mona bowled these string at the 1-7-10 Bowling & Entertainment Center in Augusta in our once a month Sunday morning league.  Her scores were 138, 143, 146, 130, 139.  All of us at the 1-7-10 and the MSCBA would like to say congratulations to you Mona for bowling a great series.

Thank you Lynne for the information, thanks Frank for forwarding it off, and congratulations Mona!  That’s a great total anywhere, not just in Maine!

Keep the big games coming folks.  Feel free to email us at biggame@everythingcandlepin.com

Thanks everyone!

It appears that the site is doing what it’s supposed to do!  I just got a submission for a big game from Eddie Dunn.  I just want to preface this post that Eddie absolutely crushed one Mr. Skip Easterbrooks by 59 pins -just saying.  A perfect song just came on the radio for this – as Skip has been “Thunderstruck”!

Eddie must have thought this was another night in the alley after opening with a 100 first string (if I have the order of the images right).  Little did he, or Skip know what was to come.  Eddie threw a game for the ages with five spares, four strikes (including a triple!), and a ten box – a “perfect game” by most candlepin standards.  Frank’s glossary mentions it in there – check it out.  Second string he blew the doors off the place to the tune of a 194!  He followed that dominance with a 131 last string pushing his total to 435 for the night!  Way to go Eddie!

I have some background about Eddie and it was nice to learn about another bowler in the area.  I grew up in Stoneham at the Sunlite alleys with the likes of Bob Kelly, Rich Lotti, Ed Cotter and others. [I] then coached at Brunswick with Sal Cognata and Wally Bazilinski.  [I] also did a pro-am with Joe Ashline, Jack Sanick and Gary Carrington.  Later [I went on] to Lanes n’ Games for ten years winning the highest strike/spare jackpot at the time of $8,000 on the last possible night of the season.
I’ve never made TV or joined the Pro Series, but I will eventually.  I’ve moved all over the north shore and south shore as well.  I’m currently in Providence married with two infants.

That’s a great story Eddie and I (we) truly appreciate it.  From the sounds of it, you’ve had your share of battles with some outstanding bowlers.  I know you told me that you had Urbie Kafalas on your other side Tuesday so as you put it you were “sandwiched between greatness in the sport.”  I think they’d both like to hear that.

Thank you again for the story, the information, and the photos.  Great job on the 435 against Mr. Easterbrooks (sorry I need to remind him ONE more time of the loss – he beat us badly the first week Friday night so I can’t forgive him just yet).

Good job and good luck on your next big game.  Everything Candlepin can’t wait to hear about it!

This is so cool!  We got our first submission from our friends up north!  Chris Cooper threw an amazing 202 last week on September 11th, 2012!  I have a link to his scoresheet.  He threw his 202 up at Fairlanes in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and finished up with five strikes!

You can find the scoresheet here.

Way to go Chris!

Everything Candlepin wants to congratulate Pro Series member Nick Norcross!  Nick threw a 210 game at the Woburn Bowlardrome!  Nick finished with a 76 half, and that’s where the fun began.  He threw a spare in the sixth, and then caught fire as he threw a five bagger and finished with a 210!

Here is a pic of the scoreboard!  Congratulations Nick!

I’ve just been informed by Pro Series member Frank De Luca that this is a new house record at the Woburn Bowladrome!  Double way to go Nick!