Ok,so we'll start with the fun side.  

We ate at Tucano's the first nite.  Good Brazilian steakhouse.  Is it on par with places like Fogo De Chao, Sal E Carveo or Texas de Brazil?  Not quite, but the food was good, lots of it, and it was affordable (I'm used to paying twice as much at the other places I mentioned).  Thursday nite we went out to The Cooperage.  Nice steaks, good salad bar, friendly staff and overall good place.  On to the drinking.  Do you want to get waited on by strippers but want to be truthful when your wife asks if you went to the strip club?  Go to the Library.  It's across the street from the strip club, and honestly  I've seen strippers wear more clothes.  Hot girls, but I want service, if I want strippers I'll go to the strip club.  McNallys was probably the best atmosphere.  (all the bars are on Central, just blocks from the convention center).  

On to the pain.  My best look was between 2nd and 3rd arrow (13 out to 10).  I had a Terminator at 1000, which I think was too much ball.  I used my Special Agent at 2000 for 8 of 9 games.  Overall, I did not see a lot of guys throwing charcoal this year like I have in years past.  My brother, who has a little less speed and WAY more revs was using a T-road pearl, a little deeper than me.  Guys that were playing deep (left of 4th arrow) were leaving LOTS of 10 pins.  I saw no one scoring off the ditch.  I gave up a lot of pins to either stupid mistakes or missed spares...I had 198 clean the 2nd game of doubles, those 7 counts will kill you.  I actually did too much bowling the week before the tournament and hurt my hand.  I think this year is more playable than last year, but when you can barely get your ring finger in the ball it hurts your scores.  We bowled 2nd shift for D/S, as the lanes started to break down, I learned that loft helped.  If I got the ball out 4-5 feet I was able to get the ball to my breakpoint a lot easier and more consistently.  

Something I noticed more this year than in years past is the lack of carry.  I saw a LOT of shots where one pin would really lean and not fall.  Now, I thought that usually carry was better with new pins because the bottoms were sharper, as they get more play, the edges round out causing more wobble and less fall.  I understand that if a shot is not great, you might not carry, but I don't care who you are, everybody needs some good breaks now and again, and I didn't see a lot of breaks.    

Also, because I'm a bit of a dork, I track my scores by event.  This was my 7th consecutive tournament, and looking at things today, I average 12-13 pins higher in doubles/singles than I do in team.  For D/S I have bowled every shift, so it's not a matter of bowling on fresh vs. broken down.  Just an odd little tidbit I noticed about my own scoring patterns.

So take it for what it's worth.  It was painful (literally), it was a grind, but it was a good time, see you all in Vegas.
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It IS next year!

Shot the team last night and grineded a 589, with a 236 in the middle, did get my bracket money back. Our sister team shot 3050 from Veron Hills Il.
We did try to burn out a track around 8, but that became unplayable and everyons started moving inside between 11 - 13. One thing that is critical, this is a speed sensitive shot. I dont car ehow much hand you have, the ball will not recover on team if you send it right of target. Another note, I saw more guys flagging single pin spares (3 pins, 6 pins, and 10 pins) to the right. Go right at them, dont belly them.
We are bowling singles and double on 5:30 today. I am reporting from the Doubletree downtown. Super convenient, right across from street from convention center. I usually have one really good set in singles and doubles, so wish me luck. Albuquerque, a little deserted downtown on weekends, but still a good time. We had the desk call fro a shuttle from the Sandia, and my brother and I won over $500 each at the casino. They brought us back to our hotel, we just tipped the girl in the shuttle. Booths are really nice, Frank May is very helpful, a couple of my guys in my squad said the guys in the storm booth gave them attitude, so we did not give them any business. Good time so far ! Will report later tonight, since Doubletree has free internet in the lobby. Talk to everyone later !

Dan K. from Albuquerque !
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Thirtyclean (Well maybe 29, or 28, most of
the times !)

Well,
Singles and Doubles, bowled on 3/16 at 5:30. Following a team event, the breakdown was quite drastic. There was pretty much nothing outside of 12. We all ended up on the guutercap over 5th arrow out to 13-15 area. The team that was bowling their doubles, were som high rev guys that we knew, and we knew what we were up against. Grinded out 606 and 636 , for a 1828 all events. These were definetly tougher than last year. Team event played much tighter.
I met a friend down here, who is a 220 avg bowler, with his friends. Out of 10 teams, one guy broke 600. They were wet. Anybody thinking they are going to play the outside, is going to have to be preety direct. It was definetly inside like other years. There is no way you can set this shot up at home, because you cant duplicate the breakdown of the bowlers in front of you.
Good time over all, the town pretty much shuts down early ( I am from Chicago and you can find stuff open preety late, but not in this town). We did take a shuttle, to the Sandia Casino. If you are staying at a major hotel, the desk will call them to pick you up. I did go home with more money this trip than I brought out, counting brackets and Casino winnings. There are a few mor Casinos in the area, the lady at the information desk at the USBC in the convention center was very helpful. Downtown pretty dead though, on the weekends. Vegas 2009, Here we come !
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Thirtyclean (Well maybe 29, or 28, most of
the times !)