General Category => USBC Tournament => Topic started by: Arone24 on March 05, 2012, 12:09:30 PM
Title: Just got back
Post by: Arone24 on March 05, 2012, 12:09:30 PM
We just got back from nationals :/ lessons learned:
Don't stay at the belle Don't go to the "40 frame" side tournament
Title: Re: Just got back
Post by: HAMBONE on March 05, 2012, 12:16:20 PM
Why not?
And what did you see on the lanes?
Drop and give me 10
Title: Re: Just got back
Post by: Jorge300 on March 05, 2012, 01:05:48 PM
Details please?!?
Jorge300
Title: Re: Just got back
Post by: RLandreneau on March 05, 2012, 01:48:20 PM
The weather causes circle bowl to have VERY tacky approaches. I'm assuming that's what he is refering too with the 40 frame game. It's perfectly fine to bowl on, just have to be prepared for it. I've seen a lot of bowlers for tournaments come here and get thrown off by it.
Title: Re: Just got back
Post by: Arone24 on March 05, 2012, 03:30:12 PM
The Belle is just WAY overpriced. Toilet didnt half work. No fridge in the room. etc etc.
This was my first trip to nationals. First, I am no professional. I average about 200 even two nights a week. The team event Saturday at 8:30 I probably wouldve bowled 700 (540) if I could have picked up a spare. I have been fighting buying a spare ball for ten years but I will have one with in the week. I had a pretty good luck playing straight up 13 with a pin down C300 Action Packed and a Pin down storm frantic game 3 moving towards 10.
Sunday we decided to go bowl the "40 frame". First of all the scoring was constantly fouled up because they are taken manually by one person (who was in charge of taking score on 8 lanes). $60 per person is just to me outrageous. The pattern is a house shot. The other reason is by the time we got to boubles and singles Sunday night at 11:30, we were so tired that all of our releases were horribly inconsistent. I was lost. I don't know if I threw two balls all night with the same release. Gives you a new respect for the pros who bowl 50+ games a week.
I also learned that I need to shorten my spans. My thumb and fingers are so sore.
We all average 200 or better on a house pattern and out of the 50+ games the 6 of us bowled on the nationals pattern there were 3 200 games haha. Was a fun experience though. Would do it all over again with the exception of the 40 frame.
Title: Re: Just got back
Post by: DrBob806 on March 05, 2012, 04:25:08 PM
The 40 Frame Game isn't computerized scoring? I've never seen that before, in Toledo, or the USBC site. Was the system down that day?
Title: Re: Just got back
Post by: Jorge300 on March 05, 2012, 04:52:19 PM
Arone,
I'm sorry if this sounds rude, but did it ever occur to you what a 40 frame game means? That's 4 games of bowling, just scored as 1 game. Then you wanted to bowl 6 games of D/S later that night, that's 10 games in one day, that's a lot if you aren't used to it. You should have done the 40 frame game either before/after team or on a day you didn't bowl the USBC Open. And yes, the 40 frame game is always on the house shot, and usually not reoiled during the day. So if you bowl later at night, it can be quite dry. If you want to bowl on a more challenging condition, or even the same condition the USBC Open is using, look into the BTM and 1-2-3 tournaments. The 1-2-3 uses the same shot as the USBC Open for that year, and the BTM uses a Kegel Challenge Pattern usually.
As far as the Belle at Baton Rouge goes, can't argue there. Thought it was overpriced just looking at the prices they were quoting. Got a nice room at the DoubleTree about 3 miles I-10 for about $100/night booked online.
Jorge300
Title: Re: Just got back
Post by: Arone24 on March 05, 2012, 05:58:11 PM
Jorge yes I would say that was kind of rude since that's exactly what I meant but thanks for explaining. Anyway, the only reason we got in it was because the other two alleys told us they didnt have theirs going on (keep in mind Sunday was the only day we had free and something was already going on at metro when we got there at 12. All star said all they had was open bowling and didn't tell us they had the open pattern.
Forgive me. I was just trying to give my opinion in case any other newbies went down without knowing Not knowing. And yes I can count. I know 40 frames would technically mean 4 games. But you add in the score keeper coming over to stop you and ask you how many pins you knocked down or going over to ask them whos turn it is because the print on the screen is so small that noone can read it and your talking about 5 hours long.
No wonder noone wants to post any helpful information on here.
Title: Re: Just got back
Post by: Arone24 on March 05, 2012, 06:17:58 PM
It could have been down that day Dr Bob. All that I know is I wish I had kept the $120 bucks I paid for my girlfriend and I to bowl in it, but hey hindsight is 20/20.
Title: Re: Just got back
Post by: DrBob806 on March 05, 2012, 08:11:09 PM
Thanks....I will call there, or even stop in to check it out.. My group always does the 40 Framer after we're done with the Nationals. I hope whatever problems you guys experienced was just an aberration- that sucks.
Title: Re: Just got back
Post by: Arone24 on March 05, 2012, 08:50:33 PM
Yeah it would probably be something to do afterwards.
Title: Re: Just got back
Post by: Hoselrockets on March 05, 2012, 10:05:46 PM
Had a bad experience a long time ago with the 40 frame game and haven't bowled it since. We always bowl the BJ and sometimes the 123. Last year we were able to ship our bowling balls to the 123 as they didn't charge a handling fee. So we bowled that one.
THB
Title: Re: Just got back
Post by: LotsaBalls on March 06, 2012, 12:56:02 AM
The last time I bowled it in 2010 the lanes were so dry it was nearly un playable the ball hooked instantly when it hit the lane. I will never bowl it again.
Title: Re: Just got back
Post by: CHawk15 on April 02, 2012, 04:49:51 PM
The approaches at Circle Bowl (at least when I bowled) were very tacky and there I think they weren't able to load the 40 frame game program into the scoring machine, so they have a separate computer where someone enters the scores. It was only for 4 lanes on our squad, but it could've been 8 if we had more people. One of my team mates was sticking to the point were he had to pull out due to knee pain. Unfortuantely, we had the 7 AM squad for minors and bowled this aferwards and it just was a continued exercise in frustration.
I struggled because I just couldn't get a good feel for the release point due to finger thumb swelling from bowling more games than I have in a shorter span than I have all year. There was definitely more oil than Starlite lanes in Reno, but it transistioned quickly (mostly due to the power players on our pair).
Title: Re: Just got back
Post by: Dave81644 on April 02, 2012, 06:37:50 PM
The Crowne Plaze booked through the USBC was 83/nite and close.
free breakfast while you stayed there (not great, but OK for free)
Traffic is horrible around the convention center
if there is any kind of event going on while you are there, then traffic is stopped
took me 90 minutes to go 3 miles on a sat a few weeks ago
almost missed my team squad
Title: Re: Just got back
Post by: Oldschool on April 05, 2012, 08:00:18 PM
Circle Bowl and the Forty Framer. The fixed scoring system used by the house Qubica does not support the regular 40 Frame Game Software, so they have developed new software supported by laptops hooked into the monitors and scores are entered manually. There are no Bowling Alleys in Baton Rouge they could have used that would have supported the normal 40 Frame game software.
As for the costs, the $60.00 is fairly consistent with recent years. Everyone needs to consider they pay out cash on the spot for paydays and the Bingo Bango Bongo. You can cut the cost of your entry while bowling and this does not include the prize fund you may received for hitting the prize list. I bowled and received $30.00 back on the same day. I struck in all the paydays and had the last three strikes. I do have to agree with any comments that highlight the very tacky approaches. They were! We, a group of us were using the fastest pads we had and it was not enough. The weather was hot and humid the entire week. 85 degrees and 70 plus percent humidity. I do have to say this was the most difficult approaches of the three houses you will bowl in. With the convention center approaches being the best! Hope this helps.
Title: Re: Just got back
Post by: jdhaus on May 07, 2012, 12:12:58 AM
yes this yr the scoring on the machines was not hooked up...so they had computers hooked up it was very hard to see your score and you really had to pay attention to make sure the scorekeepers got it right (which i always forgot to check but the guys on the lane next to us caught a couple of errors) ....they assured everyone that this was a one yr deal....other than that the lanes were nice ..i didnt have the approach problems you spoke of..
but i agree the belle was WAY overpriced and it had to have one the worst breakfast buffets ive ever eaten in my life...i saw alot of people with the same reaction when they were eating...location of it was great though right across from the national tourney and a walkway all indoors to the casino