 |
|||||||
|
|
|
by Randy OoneyMy Nickel’s Worth by Randy Ooney
My Nickel’s Worth by Randy Ooney
RENO
Earlier in life I partnered with a lifelong friend as we bowled in the Minnesota State Senior bowling tournament. We cashed a few times but the reward was really just sharing old times every fall.
So last fall, we tried it again, this time at Huikko’s Lanes in Buffalo. The story was different last fall, as Randy won his age group with a 743 set. In the doubles we partnered for 4th place with 1374. In addition to his local victory, Randy was seeded with a paid entry to the national senior tournament at the National Bowling Stadium in Reno. I have bowled five tournaments at the stadium, and I have to say I am not a huge fan. I always found the scoring condition to be tough. Out of the fifteen 3 game sets for me, only two over 600, and not very much over. But this isn’t about my whining.
Randy showed up at the stadium and fired an 817 set including a 300 game! Carrying the corners became an issue in the next six games but Randy still posted a nine game total of 2132, about a 235 average! The 817 was of course the high 3 game set of all participants, and the 2132 was also the high 9 game set of all the participants. So Randy walked away with …………………………….. 5th place. How can that be? You guessed it, it is a handicap event. Booooo!
You would think that by the time a bowler reaches the over 50 senior status, the sandbagging would be at a minimum. But not so. The four guys that finished ahead of Randy all had questionable reasons why a previous average might not have been a reasonable assessment of their current ability in bowling. The only other reason I could possibly think of is that maybe they were using a Brunswick Combat Zone that they had in their garage.
But anyway, my congratulations go out to my teammate Randy Gerdes for a great performance in the national tournament. And I certainly hope we will partner up again this fall at Jesse James Lanes in
But for now, it’s off to Treasure Island in a couple of weeks to participate in the Pro Am with the PBA50 bunch. I’ve had pretty good luck at the Island, maybe Wally the bowl man might ask me for a few tips. Enjoy the golf weather. League season is coming soon to a center near you.
|
Unfortunately, a physical problem took my pal off the lanes a couple of years ago, at the same time a teammate, Randy Gerdes was turning 55 and qualified for the event. We ventured off to Louisville Lanes in Shakopee, each of us shot six mediocre games, but what else is there to do on a Saturday afternoon in November? Certainly not go to a Gopher football game.
Northfield. I’d like another shot at taking on Roger Blad and Ken Holets.