Splitzter-September 26, 2002

  I guess bowling isn’t quite the same as golf in some respects.  If you’re anything like the ol’ Splitzter, you get the sticks out the first time in the season and hit it long and straight right off the first tee.  Right?  Not everyone’s like that?  Hmmm… Well, bowling I suppose takes some warm-up time.  Sometimes as much as four weeks to get into the groove of things.  Add to this the fact that if you’re over the age of 70, it might take ALL of five weeks to get your groove on.  That would explain Lenny Clark (if anything could explain Lenny).

Our “Bowling Guru” Lenny Clark shot the highest series in the history of the Henry County Bowling Association in the Hernandez Insurance Classic last week.  Stringing together scores of 234, 279 and an awesome 299 finish, he finished off a cool 812 series with a 10 pin on ball 12 of the last game.  I haven’t heard that much applause in the scratch league since the Hoopster announced he was giving up bowling… for the 12th time.  We pick on Lenny quite a bit because he takes it so well, so I believe everyone was in his corner when he stroked that first strike in the tenth frame of game three to lock down the 800 series.  Nice going, Len.  Your buds are excited for you.

Following on Len’s coattails was another member of the Geritol-by-the-gallon member Henry Bischoff.  Henry had his biggest night in quite a few years Thursday night in the Hays City League with scores of 258-190-246, just missing his 700 series with a 694.  Henry, always quick with a smile, said afterwards that River City finally put the oil where he could hit ‘em.  What he didn’t know is that a teammate glued a strip of 80 grit sandpaper to his ball track to give that 30 year old projectile the maximum grab that 2 revs could get.

The girls from the Napoleon Party Mart League are starting to warm up to the shot.  Janet Franz is back this year, shaking the cobwebs off her game with a nice 265 game to go with her league leading 652 series.  Monica Tonjes tied her 652 with a solid 238-203-211 set of her own.  Nice shooting, ladies.

A bit of bowling knowledge for the Splitzter fans this week.  Many of the newer bowling balls being manufactured need much more care than the AMF 3-dot classics we rolled in the 70’s.  The resin shells need constant attention to keep them in “factory fresh” condition.  Personally, I use a simple household cleaner (non-abrasive) weekly to keep the oil saturation to a minimum.  Sometimes, after a year’s use, the shell needs restored with a 3 step sanding and refinishing process.  You would be surprised just how much turn you’ve lost over a time period simply from track wear and oil saturation into the shell.  Gotta keep ‘em clean, boys and girls, to get that same reaction from week to week.  It’s easy to do and the payoff on your consistency week after week is worth the few minutes.