The Pro/Am

Posted By: Peter DavidPosted On:

Ariel and I shot in the PBA Pro/Am yesterday at AMF Babylon Lanes. It’s not really a cutthroat tournament, but more for fun. You bowl with six pros over three games and it’s a pretty relaxed atmosphere.

I started off well with a 263 and a 256. However my strike line seemed to wander away to nearby Bay Shore Lanes midway through the third game, never to return, and a couple of late-frame crappy splits left me with a 171 for the third game. Ariel, meantime, started slow with a 174, but then rebounded with a 193 and finished with a resounding 210. Several of the pros commented to me about the quality of her technique, including top-ranked female bowler Kelly Kulick, who is Ariel’s bowling idol. Overall Team David was more than satisfied with the outing.

Kathleen and I will be attending the ESPN finals today at 1:00 PM EST. We’ll be seated somewhere behind the bowlers (as opposed to the sides). I’ll be wearing a red PBA shirt. Don’t look for a guy with a full beard since I shaved most of it recently and just have a long mustache now. Or just look for someone seated next to Kathleen. Odds are 50/50 that’s me.

PAD

11 comments on “The Pro/Am”

  1. Say! Can I ask a bowling question?

    The other day, I went bowling with some friends for the first time in years. Did OK in the first game and lousy in the next as fatigue set in. And now I’m incredibly achy from all the bending of knees and swinging of arms and all that. When you bowl, do you do warmups or stretches or any of that stuff athletes do before a game? Do they help?

    (Of course, I seem to have a touch of a cold, too, which might be contributing to the muscle aches…)

  4. Pro-Ams are always fun, the nearest one to me is in Killeen, Texas and I try to get there every year(finished 7th last year),anyhoo I wonder who is in the finals today….

  5. Grr. The line at Wendy’s took 45 minutes and by the time I got home the game was over. Now there’s PBA (pool ball association?) on. Do you know if it will rerun during the day? If not, could you post a picture of yourself with the beard?

  6. “Why’d you shave the beard???????”

    I got tired of being mistaken for the first coming of Keith DeCandido.

    PAD

  7. “The other day, I went bowling with some friends for the first time in years. Did OK in the first game and lousy in the next as fatigue set in. And now I’m incredibly achy from all the bending of knees and swinging of arms and all that. When you bowl, do you do warmups or stretches or any of that stuff athletes do before a game? Do they help?”

    Generally I do some mild stretching, yes. If you haven’t bowled in years and you go and shoot a few games, you’re going to have some aches and pains because you’re stretching muscles you haven’t used in awhile. Two Aleve usually helps.

    PAD

  8. I had to stop looking for you in the background, PAD, as it was distracting me too much from the bowling! I wish I had read this first, though, so I knew now to look for the beard and knew which color shirt to look for. I’ll have to try again tonight. Thankfully, I saved it on the TiVo. . .

    Count me in for some mild stretching exercises before bowling, too. The first couple of throws will never be any good, but at least it’ll keep the muscles limber enough to not make me feel too much pain.

  9. Was this a standard No-Tap Pro/AM?

    If not, wow! Great scores (at least the first two).

    Even No-Tap, you hit the pocket very consistently.

    By the way, a couple of years ago you mentioned that you had not been to the National Tournament. Have you by now? Or are you going to Reno this coming year? Highly recommend it!

  10. Standard No-Tap. But yeah, I was pretty much in the pocket the entire time. Both of the first two games would have been over 200 anyway, since the spares I was leaving were pretty easy. Just not as much over 200.

    Nope, still haven’t been to a National Tournament. No immediate plans to do so.

    PAD

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