Let’s call it my awesome overlap.
Golf season ended Wednesday night.
Bowling season started Thursday night.
The squad was rolling in Bowling Green. For some reason, my week one brain always tells me that 6:30 p.m. gives me plenty of time to get to North Syracuse to lace up my shoes for those precious minutes of shadow bowling practice. Especially in week one, when I haven’t picked up my bowling ball since last season’s finale, and all the bowling muscles are oh-so-stiff.
But, no. Traffic lights in front of me are all red. The Teachers’ League ahead of us has yet to settle into its slow-down routine. I can’t find a spot in the lot and must park in front of the ice cream joint next door. I realize I always leave at 6:20, not 6:30, duh!
Tiny at our well-lived-in team table.
There’s still five minutes left to get shots in before the real deal after I stick my money in the envelopes, accept the razz for being late and join the practice session. Randy and Steve and Tiny are at the top table. The young guys get warm fast and early. Veteran Tiny tosses a few at the end. The shorter line allow, oh, three throws on each lane. On the first, my sliding foot instead sticks, and my body involuntarily jerks the ball to the left three pins. Ha! I wipe my feet on the top carpet. Second is somewhat smoother. I feel like I never left in mind. In body, not so much. But it will have to do.
We’re facing Stella’s Diner. These guys are nice, all five. These guys are good, all five. We’re in for a tough opening week.
Click on any gallery photo for a description. Click on the bottom right photo in any gallery for an enlarged slide show.
They whomped us but good in the first game as the lack of summer bowling was evident for Steve, Randy and I. I rolled a 129. Last season I finished with an average of 163. Not happy, I.
In the second game, we rebounded and held the lead that our handicap pins gave us through nine frames. But Stella’s overtook us in the 10th and won by 23 pins. I was happier personally with my 168, but the team defeat was another good excuse for a walk down to the men’s room.
We rallied each other during game three. No seven-point sweep in the opener, we said.
Our squad, you bet, Steve.
Steve and I took the torrid play of our New York Mets as an inspiration. Yes, he bought that cool shirt on the June trip to Citi Field we took with our dear wives Karen and Kristen.
It worked. Stella’s still took the point for total pins, but we won the last game to take two points. We’re 2-5 going into week two. I finished with a 461 series. I’ll pull the average up tomorrow night when I arrive on time and am totally warmed up. Right.
Do you require a lot of warm-up time for sports and activities? Do you seem to hit all the red lights when you’re in a hurry? How fast did your summer seem to go this year?
Mark Bialczak 
I always stretch thoroughly before and after a run.
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Smart man, Austin. I stretched well before my league play tonight and rolled 30 pins total worse than last week.
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Maybe stretch different muscles next time… 🙂
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Good plan!
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After traveling with my better half most of the summer, everything takes time to warm up. At least twenty minutes. Even if you did not win, you finished well. Or as the saying goes, “We didn’t loose, we just ran out of time.” 🙂
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Yes, we shall see with more time rolling out for us tonight, Tracy!
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That mural is nifty. I really want to bowl again now. It’s been years so it will take a hell of a lot of warming up. In fact the whole evening will be warming up for the next time I bowl.
I was on a league around 1985. I had a low average so I was the one, there is always one you know, the one who has a huge handicap then suddenly has an amazing night? The sleeper I think you call it. I had this night when I almost got 200. I got 199. Soaked myself in wine for not getting one more point but my team was very happy.
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That was a great night, Rose! Big game, team praise, and wine. Yay, Rose. Get the ball rolling again, I say. Sounds like fun to me.
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Bowling Green! What a great name:). That’s my alma mater. So I say all hail Bowling Green. Hope you had a night full of turkeys . . .
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Oh, Kay, you hook me with your easy use of bowling lingo! A must for all Bowling Green students, perhaps? You all have a great football team this year. Fantastic offense. Against my Terps last Saturday, at least. I think you’ll bowl over the MAC!
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you guys came, you saw, you kinda’ conquered. an excellent sports story. and yes to the red lights )
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We tried, and we’ll try some more. All the pretty little red lights in a row. Oy.
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The bowling will no doubt improve, Mark, and those lanes are lovely. I like the wall mural and it doesn’t look smoky in there. All positives ! ☺
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I like the New York City to Niagara Falls mural, yes, Van. And I really like the No Smoking law.
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I have a little shuffle I do when bowling that is sure to strike ’em all down Terp- and make the crowd laugh! Yes, really… The Gatorette. Kentucky during the summer is as green a State as I have ever seen. Outside Lexington is Scott County absolutely gorgeous country-get yourself to the Commonwealth of Kentucky! Really, Terp you need to get out of the itty bitty more often, LOL
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I guess I need to visit there and there and there, too, Gatorette! And watch you bowl. 🙂
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Oh Terp it is hilarious! Gatorette
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I’ve heard of batting the pitcher 8th, but having them lead off? Oh wait, that’s not really Jacob deGrom in that picture!
Three or four throws is enough to get my arm loosened up, and as long as I’m not throwing the ball all over the place, that’s all I take. A good practice usually leads to a bad night, and vice versa, so I do always hope to be a little errant before it counts…
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The older I get, the more warm up I need, Bill. Either by actually throwing the ball or streching my legs and windmilling my arms and shoulders. I think it’s because my style features a pretty big backswing and leg drive.
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I am assuming a higher score is desired in bowling, which is the opposite of golf, where a lower score is what everyone is shooting for. Right? I warm up for gardening, by sitting at the patio table and staring at the garden while I drink coffee.
I hates hitting a series of red lights. One of the main drags in our town has undergone some repairs and when they did that, they must have messed with the timing of the lights, so now the traffic backs up for miles at this one intersection. Problem is, if I go down a side street, I have to pass by two elementary schools, with car riders being dropped off and crazy women in SUVs with mugs of coffee, cell phones, and the typical Californian “I haven’t flat-ironed my hair or done my make-up” uniform (baseball caps with ponytails sticking out through that little hole in the back of the cap and huge insect-eye looking sunglasses). So I was hitting all the red lights, and it was making me a few minutes late for work. But I have figured a way out of this sticky situation I think. We will see how it goes today!!!!
Have a good Wednesday!!!!
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Good luck with your new, no-light, no-bug-eye-pony-tail route, SD! Let me know if you arrive to the hospital on time!
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Hi Mark, I did pretty well – only a couple of minutes late. So it seems to be a better route. Thanks for asking!!!!
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Good job, SD! By the way, I sort of dig the ponytail through the cap, when planned appropriately. 🙂
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My summer was beautifully long in all the right ways.
Goodness yes, I have to practice after not doing something for a long time. I’d say the exceptions are swimming, cycling and skating — I never seem to forget how to do those things, but anything with a ball, phew!
This post reminds me that it’s been too long since we took the kids bowling! We need to do that soon! 🙂
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When I stepped up on the first practice shot and my foot stuck, and I jerked like a robot, I thought that was a bad sign for sure, Joey. I guess I’m a natural at taking walks! Have fun bowling with the kids. It’s been too long since I made it a family thing with mine. 🙂
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I need to remember to warm up before spending an hour or more at the allotment. Can’t move the following day. Hope you get there on time this week. And get a parking spot!
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I have to leave on time this week, Rachel! And, yes, stretch once or twice before the practice session starts. Even for bowling. For allotment gardening, yes, that would help your next-day physical movement for sure!
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I have learnt that 🙂 Hope your team wins!
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Thanks, Rachel. We will roll along hoping, too. 🙂
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I would require a miracle to participate in any sport but hooking bro Mark. You do remember I’m the Happy Hooker here, don’t you? BTW, when I saw the name Bowling Green, I nearly fell out of my chair. Did you know there is a Bowling Green, KY? Home of Western KY University — no joke! I got lost there every time I visited. And it’s considered an easy place to get around in. But I get lost each time I turn a corner, so no big surprise there.
Oh, yeah, my bowling average was 78, so you have me beat by a long shot.
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I’ve heard of Bowling Green, in the Bluegrass State, indeed, sis Angie, home of Western Kentucky U. Never been in your fair state, though, any part. I’d get lost for sure, from Louisville to Lexington, Happy Hooker. Stop needling me!
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I’m not using needles when I hook bro Mark. And if you go from Louisville to Lex, you are going in the wrong direction, and will be lost more than I ever was. If I ever tried to navigate outside Owensboro, or even inside Owensboro, I’m lost the first time I turn a corner, so don’t feel bad.
You really should come some year for our International Bar-B-Que Festival though. Come to my place for the burgoo though. I’ll have the REAL stuff, better than the fake kind they serve at the riverfront. It’s always the Mother’s Day weekend, on Friday and Saturday. But don’t go from Lou. to Lex if you ever come here either. WESTERN Ky means just that, only more like mid-mid western, with Paducah being really the Western part. Confused yet? I can keep going on and help you wind up in OZ.
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I’m good with maps. Mastered Google. Trust Garmin. My dear wife Karen comes armed with Waze iPhone app. And still I manage to get lost. Go figure, sis Angie.
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