World Series of Bowling Recap - Part 1

My original goal when starting this blog was to update it after every single event of the World Series of Bowling (WSOB). Unfortunately, when you have only 1 day away from the bowling center every other week, the last thing you want to do is write about bowling. Especially when it is going as poorly as the WSOB was going for me. It was important to get away, if only for a day, to clear my head and get my mind right before the next tournament. Six events in a matter of 25 days doesn't leave much time for reflection. Once a tournament was finished there was nothing to do but look forward to the next oil pattern. I am home now and have had plenty of time, including an 11-hour drive home, to reflect about my month in Detroit.

The first event held at Thunderbowl Lanes was the Cheetah Championship. A revolutionary event where there would be no "Made for TV" finals. The event played out like any other single elimination match play event but instead the best 4 out of 7 format remained all the way to the title match. The event was filmed from ball 1 on a series of hand-held and mounted cameras. The event will play out with more of a reality show feel and try to show the event in a whole new light. I personally can not wait to see the finished product of this event. If done properly, I believe this could be the future production of our events. This event airs on November 8th at 1pm on ESPN.

Personally, I bowled well in the Cheetah Championship. I was able to play near the gutter the entire qualifying. I have been working hard on my straight game and it felt good to use it and bowl well. I was lucky to advance in my match against Jeffery Roche in the Round of 32, but I wasn't as lucky in the round of 16. Brian Voss had 4 games over 270 and added a 266 just for good measure. I was holding my own with him early but he made it very difficult to keep up. I learned a lot from the match but It would feel like an eternity before I could use any of it.

The next couple weeks were some of the most trying times I have had since the beginning of my career with the PBA. When things start to go bad it can be a very slippery slope. Many questions were going through my head. Is it me? Is it the equipment? What am I doing wrong? What do I need to do differently? How can I think about winning when I can't even make the cut?

How bad was it? 46th, 58th, & 51st in the Viper, Chameleon, & Scorpion respectively. I really had no chance of making the cut in any off the tournaments going into the last couple games. In fact after a +27 block in the morning of the Viper, I had 5 consecutive blocks under par. Needless to say I realized I needed to get to work if I was going to turn it around.

Check back soon for Part 2 and how the final two events went down.

Thanks for reading!