With Week 5 of Law School Bowling looming tonight, it occurs to me that I never got around to blogging about last week’s bowling milestone: I set a new career high!
My score was a 141, breaking my previous high of 138. As you can see above, I got strikes on the eighth and ninth frames — then failed to fully take advantage of them, by getting just a 7 on the tenth frame. D’oh! As Chris observed, I “left so many pins out there!” Suppose, for example, that I had gotten a strike on the tenth frame (for my first-ever turkey) followed by a 9-1 spare: I would have gotten a 170. Even picking up the spare (6-4) on the tenth frame, and following it by, say, an 8, would have resulted in a 155.
But maybe it’s just as well. By managing “only” a 141, I made it easier to break my record again. :) I’ll be aiming for a 142 tonight (and also continuing by quixotic quest for a turkey).
More on my 141 in a moment, but first, a cute-girl-related anecdote, with photo illustration:
That’s birthday-girl Toni in the center of the photo, with Sophia at left and behind her. Both are on the all-girls “Knockouts” bowling team, and after I’d bowled my 141 and a subsequent 102 (ugh), I was drafted as a ringer for the Knockouts. I just happened to be walking by their lane (actually, I think I had gone over to wish Toni a happy birthday), and one of the ladies asked if I wanted to bowl for her. I said sure… and proceeded to bowl a strike. They went nuts (and even for a happily married man, there’s something uniquely ego-boosting about a bunch of cute girls cheering for you) and asked me to go again. I did, and got a 9-1 spare. I think I ended up bowling six consecutive frames on their lane — and getting two strikes, three spares and a 9. Without a doubt, the best six frames of my bowling “career.” I was declared an “Honorary Knockout” and invited to bowl on their lane anytime. Heh.
On a marginally related note, here’s a photo of me and Toni the next day, at her Friday birthday party:
The party happened in the middle of an ice storm, which made it more fun, somehow. :) Incidentally, as some might recall from an earlier post, Toni, in addition to being one of my favorite people at the law school, is part of the mock-trial team that won the regional championship and is headed to Houston later this month for the national championship. Toni is awesome. :)
Anyway, back to bowling, and the 141…
Much like the night last April when I got my 138, I wasn’t bowling with my regular team on Thursday. Back in April, the problem was that we had too many people to fit on the lane, so I bowled with Patrick on a different lane. Last week, the problem was exactly the opposite: we didn’t have enough people. In fact, the entire team was either sick, out of town, too busy to bowl, or absent for some other reason. I dragged Dmytro out (it was his first free Thursday night of the semester, post-Bengal Bouts), and instead of bowling alone on my team’s lane, we joined up with Lisa, her boyfriend and two other 2Ls. And it was with them that I bowled the 141. So yeah, apparently I bowl better when I’m not with my regular team. :)
Heading into the tenth frame, I knew I was close to my career high, but because the computer doesn’t post scores when you get strikes or spares until the relevant subsequent frames are complete, and I had just gotten two straight strikes, I had a hell of a time figuring out what I needed to break my career high. I eventually calculated that I needed a 6 to clinch it on my first roll — which was exactly right — but then one of my temporary teammates convinced me that I actually needed a spare. I really wasn’t sure, so when I failed to pick up my spare after the 6, I was disappointed and thought I’d blown it. Then, a second later, the score posted, and I realized that I’d been right all along: the 6 had clinched it. (If I’d gotten a zero on the second roll, my final score would have been a 139.)
P.S. If anyone thinks it’s incredibly pretentious for me, as a mediocre amateur bowler, to talk about my personal-best score as a “career high” … you’re right. That’s why I do it. I think it’s funny.
Also, a caveat about my reference to the lovely ladies of Team Knockouts as “girls.” I realize some feminist types might object to that, given that we’re all postgraduate students in our mid-20s or older, and thus the females of the class are really “women,” not “girls” (just as the males are really “men,” not “boys”). However, I pretty much universally refer to females my age as “girls” and males my age as “guys.” This is not intended as a show of disrespect; it comes more from the fact that I can’t yet wrap my head around the concept that I am an adult — a “man” — and thus I feel equally weird calling my peers “men” and “women.” (I’m not alone in this mental hangup: according to an article in Becky’s Glamour which I read in the bathroom last night, the average Glamour reader doesn’t consider him/herself an “adult” until age 26. So I’ve got eight months left! Hehe.) Anyway, if there were a good, non-antiquated “in-between” word for young women, neither “girls” nor “women” — the equivalent of “guys” for young men — I’d use it. But “gals” just sounds silly, and talking about “cute women” or a “birthday-woman” sounds equally silly, so I generally say “girls.” Sorry in advance if that offends anyone.
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Categories: Law School
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March 1st, 2007 at 9:40:32 am
I would like to claim the title of Worst Bowler Ever.
I bowled 3 games over Christmas with my girlfriend.
78,82,66. (82 was my career high)
Each of her games was over 100.
She is 5-4 and 108 lbs. I am 6-2 and 185 lbs and I played D1 lacrosse no less that 2 years ago.
My form is so bad. It looks like I am getting stabbed in the side with a knife everytime I try to bowl. And don’t even get me started on kicking out my leg. What does that do anyway? Something with balance?
March 1st, 2007 at 9:49:01 am
Heh. Well, I bowled an 83 and a 46 on the first night of Law School Bowling our 1L year… so maybe you just need practice. :)
As for the leg-kick thing, I don’t know what to tell you. I personally find the ability to “persuade” errant balls, Carlton Fisk-style, to curve toward the pin(s) when trying to pick up spares, to be much more important to my bowling game. :)
March 1st, 2007 at 9:51:40 am
Brendan… I just wanted to let you know that I’m involved in an online war that might interest you… the battle, NJ or CT, the stakes ultimate supremacy, the location http://www.filmspotting.net/boards/index.php?topic=779.1140
be there or be square…
*by the way, I’m vmsoze (if you couldn’t figure that out from the posts)
:)
March 1st, 2007 at 9:59:43 am
You forgot to mention the wonderful cake made by Tara Stuckey
March 1st, 2007 at 10:08:14 am
I may not have mentioned it, but there’s a photo of it. Unfortunately I didn’t get to have a piece because I wanted to be careful due to my nut allergy, but I’m sure it was delicious. :)
March 1st, 2007 at 11:43:11 am
those babies were nut-free, brendan! next time i make them (i.e., 6 years or so), you will have to try one!
March 1st, 2007 at 12:53:11 pm
You know, thinking back, I think some of the best parties we had in school were in the middle of blizzards. Everyone was bundled in about six layers of clothes, didn’t care what they looked like, and just got around and hung out all day having a real blast. Maybe it’s a South Bend thing…
March 1st, 2007 at 12:59:57 pm
Tara, it’s a date… at our five-year class reunion (do law-school classes have reunions?), I will totally try your cake. :)
Actually, I sorta knew it was nut-free — somebody told me that — but I didn’t know who made them, and thus couldn’t be 100% sure, and since I didn’t have my EpiPen with me, I didn’t want to risk it. (Funny story about that, not blog material, but if anybody feels like asking me…) Now I’m bummed, as I apparently missed out on quite the culinary experience… if Mike T is to be believed, anyway.
PenguinSix, I must say that at this party, many of the attendees were noticably dressed to the nines (myself not included, as you can see), in preparation for going out later (which many did, though I went home — braving the Backer in an icestorm is so not my bag, baby), so the “six layers of clothes, didn’t care what they looked like” aspect of your comment doesn’t really apply… but still, I think there is something about bad weather outside that makes hanging out inside with friends more fun.
March 1st, 2007 at 1:19:44 pm
Ah nut allergies, our room freshman year was a nut free zone between the two of us, me being allergic to peanuts but not real nuts, and you being allergic to the real thing.
Funny story, a few years back towards the end of college i was kissing a girl i had recently started dating and started to feel the telltale signs of a peanut reaction (burning on my lips, etc). I asked her, non-chalantly what she had had for dinner. Now this girl was notorious for forgetting to eat because she would get so busy with school work or distracted or what not and i was always giving her a hard time about it because well eating food is kinda important. So she replied, proud of herself for having remembered to eat, that she had had some peanut butter and saltines (might have had more too, but its not really important). As she was saying this it slowly dawned on her and her look of pride slowly shifted to a look of horror as she realized that she had JUST POISONED ME! She was mortified, worried, and apologetic all at the same time. Fortunately my allergy is mild enough that it wasn’t an issue and i just took a couple benadryl, I thought the whole thing was hilarious. Gave her a hard time about that one for awhile :)
March 1st, 2007 at 1:52:53 pm
I believe “The Knockouts” wins the title for the most appropriate team name in your league, if not all of amateur bowling.
If they need a full-time teammate, while I haven’t been to a bowling alley in a couple years, I routinely smoke my stepbrothers in bowling on the Nintendo Wii.
March 1st, 2007 at 2:07:15 pm
Brendan, please feel free to swing by tonight and roll a few more frames. Your frames were BY FAR the best we had last week.
Also, in my humble opinion, your outfit for Toni’s bday was perfect.
March 1st, 2007 at 2:15:31 pm
Heh. Thanks. Can’t hide that Connecticut pride, baby. :)