BallReviews
General Category => Miscellaneous => Topic started by: HamPster on May 04, 2003, 09:11:04 AM
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Got to hear most of the story tonight. First of all, and probably the coolest thing is the ring he is going to get. The honor score ring for nationals is a different ring from the normal ones for sanctioned competition, but his 800 ring he will be getting is going to be one of two rings that have never been, and will never again be made. This is because of the 100th anniversary of the ABC nationals competition, the ring will have a special design, and being that Ron and only one other person so far have shot 800 in the tournament, they will be receiving these special rings. He received two plaques for his 300's, and a clear glass one for bowling 30 clean frames also. He also has an 800 plaque being custom made. He was given a shoe cover with his name, score, and the ABC Eagle on it, and was told as well that it would be the last shoe cover ever to be made with the Eagle on it. Plus, being that it is the 100th anniversary, they will be tearing out the lanes, and are selling pieces of it. However, Ron will be receiving a piece of either lane he bowled the record setting score on for free. He has yet to see if he gets a special award or ring for being the only person in ABC history to shoot back-to-backs at the national tournament. He's also been told that his historical score gives him an automatic entry into the Hall of Fame. The only sad part in all this is that there's this guy he bowls with that makes it his mission in life to beat Ron. This guy was the first to leave the bowling center after they were all done bowling, and wanted nothing to do with the attention being given to Ron. He didn't even congratulate Ron or shake his hand. This is a guy that Ron has bowled with every week for the last year. I mentioned this site to him, and he says he's been here a few times, but is really interested in posting now. Might hear from him soon!
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This post is A+ Hamster certified!
Kung Fu Hamster X, Jujitsu Guinea Pig, or Legend of Drunken Ferret? New names still being pondered . . .
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Yep, I'm not really surprised that Ron will be receiving some perks from the ABC in recognition of this previously unaccomplished event. To bowl a 300 game in the ABC Nationals is an extreme rarity, and to bowl consecutive 300 games in the ABC Nats has previously been unheard of. And, bowling an 800 series in the ABC Nats is a rare occurrence that happens for only a lucky few individuals.
I guess that this feat raises the bar a notch to the unthinkable....a 900 series in the ABC Nats. Given the tough lane conditions at the ABC, I would have to speculate that this feat will not likely occur, but consecutive 300 games does give rise to conversation about a 900 series. I'd bet that the ABC has never even thought about what type of award that they would present to someone who rolled a Perfect Triplicate Series in the ABC Nats.
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I'm glad that he is getting some perks from the ABC. They are well deserved for shooting the back to back 300's. It will be interesting to hear what Columbia tosses out to him for shooting it with a Pulse???
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Wow - that is an amazing feat - congrats to Ron.
I hope he does check in here and give us the scoop.
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Pork Fat Rules!
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Congrats Ron if you are out there.
Now I have something to shoot for 9Like i'm going to shoot that )
So will they have pictures of what the rings look like?
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He sent an email to Columbia asking where he could find another 1997 Red Pulse (yes, it was the old one, not the remake), because he'd like to retire this one now. He hasn't gotten anything back, however. Still, he can't help thinking that if he'd have shot the score with a Brunswick ball, they would have been far more interested in helping him out. Rick Benoit (Brunswick rep) comes around Topeka every once and a while (Bob Benoit lives here, just for those that haven't heard me say it a million times), and he really pushes Brunswick stuff. Great guy. Ron's still pretty shellshocked. He's one of those guys that's just ecstatic about it, but isn't going around bragging. His attitude is like, "Well, I didn't shoot too great in team, and saw this old guy that shot 742 with a sanded Inferno, then the same guy gets up in the first game of singles and shoots 239 to my 237, and I'm thinking, 'My God, I finally bowled a decent game and still am getting beat, then of course the rest is history." Couldn't happen to a nicer guy!
I don't know if they'll have pictures of the rings or not, but I'm sure when they're made that Bowler's Journal, or BTM will add something about it when they interview him. What I think would be really cool is if Ron gets interviewed at one of the first two PBA stops in September. Wichita and KC are pretty close here, and given the magnitude of that accomplishment, they just might want to talk to him. How many millions of people have competed in ABC nats, and he's the FIRST ONE to shoot back to back 300's? Can you believe that? Even thinking about holding a record like that makes my head spin, he'll be in the record books forever.
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This post is A+ Hamster certified!
Kung Fu Hamster X, Jujitsu Guinea Pig, or Legend of Drunken Ferret? New names still being pondered . . .
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Hmm, I caught some of the conversation that I didn't really understand, someone asked him if he could still get another 300 ring because he'd already gotten one this year, and he said that he was told he would because of the tournament. But yes, the design will be different this time, commemorating the 100th anniversary on the 800 ring. Only two (so far) will ever be made.
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This post is A+ Hamster certified!
Kung Fu Hamster X, Jujitsu Guinea Pig, or Legend of Drunken Ferret? New names still being pondered . . .
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quote:
The ABC shot is not hard at all. Its finding a spot to carry that is the hard part. On the ABC shot I would have had higher than a 694 if I would have stayed in one spot. But I wanted practice and moved around. I was also throughing the ball bad but putting it into the pocket. I guess I am use to harder shots in the GMJBT.
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Zack Pelton
Bowl to Win!
Zack, did you bowl in Knoxville, or did someone program the shot into the oil machine at your house? If it's the latter, your experiment might be meaningless. Different lanes (wood or synthetic, not to mention Guardian overlays, manufacturer - AMF, Brunswick..., condition, age...), type of oil, exactness of the pattern all make a huge difference. Also if you were by yourself, the pattern won't break down the same as if a bunch of other people are trying to score. It never hurts trying to get a feel for the shot, but it's hard to say how real the experience was.
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Strider
Penn State Proud
Teamwork is a lot of people doing what I say.
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Yeah, the GMJBT's are pretty tough. Very rarely if ever is the high qualifier over 205 for the 8 games, and very few even make it over 200. You missed a fun one last time, Zack. 28 ft pattern. It played like a 40 ft pattern oiled pretty well. It was one of the easier patterns they've had, but only for about 4 games, when they started breaking down it got wet/dry pretty bad.
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This post is A+ Hamster certified!
Kung Fu Hamster X, Jujitsu Guinea Pig, or Legend of Drunken Ferret? New names still being pondered . . .
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Another thing about bowling at the ABC is the condition of the pins. The pins there are fresh (and regularly rotated out), and you don't see many slow falling pins or scouts taking out pins. You've pretty much got to get the pins on the carry lines, because rolling pins just don't trip out the standing ones very well.
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Lol, I'll agree to that. I bowl at a house with fairly new pins, and it takes hitting them pretty solidly to get them to go down. Lots of mixer 7's and pocket back rows that wobble.
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This post is A+ Hamster certified!
Kung Fu Hamster X, Jujitsu Guinea Pig, or Legend of Drunken Ferret? New names still being pondered . . .
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Congratulations Ron that is an amazing accomplishment.
Just for curiosity sake, what line were you playing? Laydown point, arrow and breakpoint? The reason I ask is I have heard of every board being the shot, from straight up the twig to 5th arrow and deeper.
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Lol, don't mean to speak for him, but I don't think he ever got deeper than 4th arrow. He doesn't have high revs or high speed, he just hits shots. Perfect blend of speed and revs, just gets it done. I don't know laydown area, but he said that anything outside 14 or 15 was OB if you were playing inside.
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I know Kung Fu!
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Thanks Kristi, that is the shot I have been working on all week, I hope I am able to execute it half as well as Ron, that would be nice.
One other question how well did the shot hold up, did he change speed or hand positions much?
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Yes, the shot at the ABC Nationals is very notorious about an out of bounds building up.....if you move in deep and swing the ball out just one board too far, you will completely miss the pocket light. 18 out to 14-15 is a good line at the ABC, but I'd bet there was a huge penalty to pay for sending the ball just one or two more boards outside.
The three years that I bowled the ABC Nats, the best line that I found was playing a 15 to 13 mild swing line.....and if I touched the 10 board, the ball just sailed away and never came back to the headpin. And, as play progresses, the inside will dry up some, but the out of bounds looms even larger as you steepen the angle on the lane. It really becomes a finesse shot to catch the edge of the dry, make the mild swing, and not hit the OB. Obviously Ron found a very good attack angle during the Singles, because his scores sure indicated that the shot was working for him! I would also be curious as to what his consecutive strike string was during the Singles set......we know that he had 24 in a row, and there could have been even more during the late part of the first game....his consecutive strike string might have also set an ABC Nats record as well.
Any way you look at it, the ABC shot is TOUGH. One can speculate about it in other houses, but when you get to that shot on the ABC lanes, with the fresh condition pins that ABC uses, you've most definitely got to HIT 'em to GET 'em....forget about lucky trips and late scouts.....if the initial impact didn't get the pins down, then they will still be standing for a spare shot. Once you actually bowl the ABC for real, you find out that it is much tougher than people give it credit for. Bowling on a similar lane condition in a different house just doesn't give you all of the same parameters that you run into with the ABC tournament. When you walk in for the team event for the first time, you realize that this is not your run of the mill local tournament. Even the ball inspection line can be unnerving for those poor souls who happen to send a ball through that doesn't meet the specs....I can attest to that one first hand from Salt Lake City in '96, where I had a Cuda/C break out on gross weight at 16.02 pounds (the extra weight had come from oil absorption, because the ball was some 15.90 after initial drilling). The ABC rep took the ball to the drill press, drilled a 1/2" diameter hole down in the middle of the thumbhole, then he drilled a 3/8" diameter hole down in the middle of the ring finger and middle finger holes, put the ball back on the scales, and the ball passed at 15.99 pounds.
Speaking of balls flunking inspection line, I know of several individuals who I bowl with that have had balls flunk at the ABC inspection line. Sometimes the answer is a quick balance hole.....the guys running the drill press are pretty good at guesstimating exactly how much and where to remove excess weight from the ball to bring it back into specifications. Also, the balls that tended to break out on total gross weight back in the mid-90's were the Columbia reactive resin balls.....one of the inspectors clued me in that the Columbia coverstocks were the most notorious about drinking in a ton of lane oil, and enough oil can tip the total weight over the edge of 16.00 pounds. It is amazing at how fast the ball inspectors do their work on the two inspection lines....they don't waste any effort when handling the balls, and they are very quick to pick up on problems that make a ball flunk inspection.
Once a ball flunks inspection, you have three choices. You can leave the DQ'd ball in the inspection room, or you can take it back to one of the ball rep booths for correction, or you can sign the form to allow the ABC to correct the problem on the spot.....no DQ'd balls are allowed to be carried out on the lanes when you go out for your squad time. And, you would be hard pressed to get to one of the ball rep booths and get the correction done in the amount of time that you have in the squad room, unless it would be an easy fix. So, needless to say, a DQ'd ball puts a lot of stress on the unlucky individual who owns the ball in question. What I recommend is to take any ball that might be questionable to the manufacturer's booth before heading to the squad room, so that you might can head off an unexpected SNAFU before it happens. In Reno during the '95 Nats, I decided to get my Piranha/C checked at the Columbia booth....and of course, the ball was over the fingerweight limit by some 1/4 ounce. The Columbia driller pulled out both inserts, drilled the fingerholes deeper, and glued the inserts back in place, so I didn't get caught on the ABC inspection line with it. Had the ABC reps corrected the ball, they would have likely just punched a weight hole above the finger bridge, rather than taking the time to remove the inserts and do the work in the fingerholes.
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Thanks for the advice I use 15lb equipment and I have nothing close to the leagle limit for any weight, I don't use more than 1/2 oz of static weight other than top weight. I have seen some of the ABC booths handy work, like you said putting a weight hole above the fingers, and ofcourse the ball flared over the hole. I would rather not use the ball if that happened, but the guy this happend to had only that ball and a spare ball.
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It was "just" the 24 in a row, lol. And yeah, it's a record also.
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I know Kung Fu!
I am the one, the one that will bring balance. All the pins shall be destroyed!
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Thanks for the info Kristi. I was just wondering if he made any adjustments during the set is all. The reason I ask is many years ago I saw Mike Aulby throw the first 6 strikes in a row and change balls and lines and finish out the 300. I wasn't sure if Ron made a move to keep striking, but not as drastic.
Congrats again to Ron.