San Francisco USBC Open Tournament - Apri 27 and 28, 2019

source: San Francisco USBC

For all San Francisco Bay Area league bowlers, the San Francisco USBC is hosting our 13th Annual Open Championships at Classic Bowl in Daly City on Saturday, April 27 and Sunday, April 28.

Teams can be comprised of all men, all women or mixed. If you are not a San Francisco USBC league bowler with membership and bowl in another SF Bay Area sanctioned league, you will be required to pay a $10 local association fee.  Click here to download a tournament entry form.

Dates and squad times:
Saturday, April 27:
1:00 pm Doubles/Singles, 5:00 pm Team.

Sunday, April 28:
11:00 am Team, 3:00 pm Doubles/Singles

Check-in begins 1 hour before squad time.
Entry fee: $30/event. Please note Doubles/Singles are considered separate events but you are required to bowl both events.

I will be there both days. On Saturday, I'll be fulfilling my Board of Directors duties helping Stephanie with the tournament. On Sunday, I will be bowling all 3 squads with my team.

Hope to see you there.

Pablo Pitches in a Pinch

source: Jeff Chiu, AP
Pablo Sandoval, relief pitching
SF Giants vs LA Dodgers, 28 April 2018

I haven't posted in the past 2 weeks due to a bunch of weekend bowling activities.

April 14 and 15 - worked and bowled in Pacifica at Sea Bowl for the SFUSBC City Tournament.

April 21 and 22 - in Reno at the National Bowling Stadium bowling Women's USBC Championships.

Today, Women's Peninsula USBC Open at Bel Mateo (where I bowl Monday nights).

Yesterday, back in Pacifica at Sea Bowl for the yearly meeting and election of SFUSBC Directors. Appointment approved and got my navy association polo to make it all official.

Also yesterday, the Giants and Dodgers played a doubleheader (day and evening game). The day game was to makeup April 6's rained out game in San Francisco.

Had it not been for the doubleheader, it was unlikely we would have seen 2012 World Series MVP Pablo Sandoval make his pitching debut.

Since Pablo's return to San Francisco late last season, he's performed admirably in a utility/supporting role. He's played 3rd and 1st base and is listed as an emergency back up catcher for the Giants.

He added another position to his player résumé. Relief pitcher.

The Giants were down 15-6 with another game still yet to play. On those occasions where the game is a blowout, a MLB team will have a position player come in to pitch.

Enter the Panda.

He pitched a perfect 9th inning. 3 infield ground balls = 3 outs. If you missed it yesterday as I did, here it is:

2018 Asian American Bowling Association - Lunar New Year Tournament Results

source: aababowling.com

In my little corner of the bowling world, it's nice to know that I can participate in local handicap tournaments, bowl well, and make out with some cash. Especially if I'm able to win back what I paid in entry fees. Anything more is icing on the cake.

For 2018's Asian American Bowling Association's Chinese New Year Tournament, my Wednesday league night teammate Jason Wu and I did that. We finished in a 4-way tie for 20th place among a total of 333 teams. We'll split $65.

To see the complete list of cash winners, go to http://www.aababowling.com

Next up, 2 April tournaments: San Francisco USBC's City Tournament at Sea Bowl, April 14 and 15. I'll likely be there on both dates, as a participant and SFUSBC board member. On April 22 and 23, I'll be in Reno for the Women's USBC Nationals at National Bowling Stadium.

2017 in Review

source: steemit.com

Season's Greetings. As this will be my last blog entry for 2017, I'll include  my personal highlights for the year.

Enjoy the rest of the holiday - see you in 2018.

1. First place, Chinese-Japanese Labor Day Tournament, 740 and under division, National Bowling Stadium, Reno, Nevada.
   
2. First trip to Europe, cruise to Italy, Spain and France. 
   
3. New job position/promotion in June. 

   

   source: LinkedIn

4. First 600 series in bowling, highest women's average in Wednesday league. 
   
5. Power outage, December 15, 2017, 9:51 pm to December 16, 2017, approximately 5:30 pm. 
   

An Assist Away From The Basket

source: SFGate

As the weekend winds down, it has turned out to be one of the most memorable.

• Lunch with a longtime dear friend I don't see often enough. Made it extra special when he offered (I graciously accepted) to pick me up at my office. 

• San Jose State bowlers Darren and Michael Tang bowling in the stepladder finals at the USBC Masters. Fourth seed younger brother Michael defeated Martin Larsen and big brother Darren to lose to Jason Belmonte in the championship match. 

• Set a personal new high scratch series in my last squad at the Chinese-Japanese New Year tournament at 4th Street Bowl.

• Stephen Curry offers big assist during a team timeout. A female fan tried her hand at skee-ball to win some cash. She wasn't doing well and a towel-headed Steph sneaks in for the $5K assist. 

You the man, Steph.

Orleans in Vegas - Hawaiian Invitational

2016 Hawaiian Invitational
1st squad scores

After a 2-week absence, I have returned. I missed October 16 due to a 7+ hour storm related power outage in my neighborhood. On October 23, I was in Las Vegas bowling my first Hawaiian Invitational.

The Hawaiian Invitational is an annual bowling tournament held at the Orleans Hotel. This is the same place where Liz Johnson won this summer's PWBA Las Vegas Open.

Like the Asian American Bowling Association (AABA) tournaments I bowl at 4th Street Bowl in San Jose and National Bowling Stadium in Reno, a participating bowler must be of Chinese or Japanese ancestry, or bowl in a Chinese or Japanese league.

In my long gone softball days, the big Asian tournament invitational hard core players attended was Sumitomo in Sacramento. I had informal invitations to come watch, but never got invited to play.

Of the Asian tournaments I bowl, the Hawaiian Invitational has the most participants (all 70 lanes at the Orleans are taken). Roster submissions begin early in the year, and payment (room, optional meal plan and tournament costs) must be paid in April, 6 months before the tournament date in October.

Above is a photo of my team's 1st squad scores. If you've ever bowled in leagues and tournaments, you'll notice scores are 4 games, rather than the usual 3. Overall, we didn't do badly, but total pins with handicap, was at least 500 pins from the top team scores.

For most bowlers, the best perk of the tournament is the doubles jackpot. You can choose anyone bowling the same squad time as a partner. The fee is only $3 per bowler with no limits on partners. Bowl well enough and a $6 team investment can result in over $1K prize money. Not to worry, the usual bracket and side pot bets are available too.

I had loads of fun. I consider these tournaments as reunions. It's great to see people you once bowled with in league or in other tournaments. Between squads, there's plenty of time to hit the casinos and slot machines, catch a movie in the hotel's multiplex cinema, or eat yourself silly at the buffet or any of the hundreds of nearby restaurants.

In the words of T-800 Model 101, "I'll be back."

2016 Chinese Japanese Labor Day Tournament

In 2011, I attended my first Chinese Japanese Labor Day Bowling Tournament. Since then, I've gone every year.

This year's trip was one of the more enjoyable trips I've ever had, mostly because it was the first Reno trip for my 2012 BMW 328i.

BMW's are always known for their handling and acceleration, so I knew the drive would be fine. The added plus was the updated technology in the car's onboard computer. I could play my choice of music from my phone in the order I wanted at full blast through the car's speakers.

I also talked a few friends from both leagues into making their first trip up this year. It was fun to hang out with them at breakfast, between squads, and at dinner.

I bowled 4 squads - 2 per day, doubles and team. Total pinfall, 1910. Tournament average was 3 pins above my season average. I'm proudest of the 3 split conversions I made: the 5-10 twice and the 3-7-10.

The tournaments have become the equivalent of attending a family reunion. I'll hear exclamations of "ai-ya" or "ni mo gow chaw" after a bad throw, and "ho yeh" and "ho laeng" after a good throw. It's what I used to hear at family gatherings, especially during mah-jongg games.

Many thanks to Jim Mars and his staff for their hard work. It's the best kind of recreation I could ever want - competitive fun on a holiday weekend.

2015 San Francisco USBC Tournament

Today, I finished bowling 3 squads (all doubles) of the Chinese-Japanese Spring Invitational at Cloverleaf Bowl in Fremont. Like my results from the USBC Women's Nationals in Reno, I only bowled 1 series above my average. From a half-full glass standpoint, the total pins of the 9 games bowled came very close to my regular season average.

Last week, I bowled 3 squads at the San Francisco USBC Championships at Sea Bowl in Pacifica. It was probably the best I bowled in a tournament. Although my lowest series was team, our team, Friends, is currently in 4th place. There was a session that bowled today so I should know final results within the next few days.

If it holds up our team will cash out. I may end up getting some cash for the other events I bowled as well.

****UPDATE, MONDAY, MAY 18****
Unofficial final standings came in.
Team: 6th place. Missed cashing out by 31 pins.
Doubles: 18th place.
Singles: 24th place.
All events: 37th place.
Overall, it was a very good showing considering how many teams and number of bowlers with higher averages and tournament experience we competed against.

Team name: Friends, 4th place

Singles, 18th place

Doubles, 14th place with partner Jason Wu
Teammates Walter and Monica Kwok, 13th place

All events, tied, 21st place
Teammates Walter Kwok, 14th place, Monica Kwok 15th place

2014 USBC Women's Nationals, Reno Convention Center

This past week, I bowled my first USBC Women's National Tournament at the Reno Convention Center. Unlike the less than stellar accommodations in my first women's state tournament (Fresno) in 2012, this is the way tournaments should be done.

My teammates are all longtime bowlers: Kathy, my Monday night teammate, bowled juniors as a kid. She remains friends with many her teammates, who still bowl leagues and tournaments.

Then there's Jan and Wilma. Jan and Wilma bowl with my other Monday night teammate Mark on Thursday nights. Both have bowled for nearly as long as I've been alive.

The biggest highlight in attending this tournament was to see Jan get recognized for her 50th consecutive Women's National tournament (see article on Bowl.com).

L to R: Lani, Jan, Wilma, Kathy

Unlike the National Bowling Stadium in downtown Reno, the lanes where we bowled were not a permanent part of the convention center.

For the first time this year in the USBC Women's Championships, bowlers were classified according to average. No handicap scoring was used. Our team bowled in the Emerald division (575-649 combined average). When Kathy and I bowled doubles, we were in Division 4 (290-319 combined average).

As a tournament participant (and being part of Jan's team certainly helped), Kathy and I got a $20 discount toward any purchase in the pro shop and gift store. I got a couple of towels and an ID tag for my 2-ball roller.

Kathy used her discount to buy a new Storm 3-ball roller bag for her son, who needs the bag to carry his bowling balls and shoes for a junior tournament next weekend in Orange County (southern California). He's competing for a spot in the Junior Gold Championship which will be held this July in Buffalo, New York.

It was very, very cool to see my name on the big scoreboard. During doubles, each bowler's home city was listed next to her name. I was never prouder to see "San Francisco, CA" next to mine. Only wish my series had been as big as my name on the scoreboard.

Because this was a weekday trip, Kathy got me a killer Groupon deal at the Grand Sierra Resort, which is near the Reno-Tahoe airport.

For $59, we got a 2-night stay with waived resort fee, free room wi-fi, and 2-day complimentary breakfast buffets for 2.

Like cruise ships, the Grand Sierra features amenities that make it possible that you'd never have to leave the hotel. Within the hotel there's a Starbucks, Johnny Rockets, Round Table Pizza, Port of Subs, a wedding chapel and a pool area called "The Beach".

My absolute favorite amenity: the 24-hour, 50 lane bowling center.

Grand Sierra's 24-hour, 50 lane bowling center

It's definitely my first choice on a future Reno trip -- when I'm not there to bowl in a tournament.

Women's Bowling Tournaments (or lack thereof)

An early league trophy

Today I was scheduled to bowl in the 8th Annual San Francisco USBC Women's Tournament at Classic Bowl in Daly City. It was scheduled to begin at 10 am. I would have been there anyway for practice with friends from Wednesday league.

Found out yesterday I wouldn't bowl the tournament. It ended up being another practice session. Not necessarily a bad thing.

Due to the low turnout (8 teams  = 32 women), we cancelled. It would not have been worth our strongest bowler's time and money to drive 50+ miles from her house to battle for payouts less than our $80 entry fee (doubles, singles and 4-person team).

I bowl 3 to 7 tournaments a year. All but 1 or 2 of them are outside the San Francisco Bay Area. Of all the tournaments I have bowled in the past 6 years since I began league, only 2 have been women's - Sea Bowl in Pacifica and a state tournament in Fresno.

What frustrates me is that once the tournament started, there were at least 7 other female leaguers (including me) on other lanes not bowling in it. Four of us have 150+ averages. The remaining 3, 175 and higher. Krystal didn't know until I told her. It's my guess at least one of the women practicing didn't know either.

In my humble opinion, I'd like to offer a few suggestions that might generate a better turnout:

1. Early notice - Put out the word, especially via email and on social media (Facebook, Twitter) 3 months BEFORE the tournament date. This gives women with families and many other commitments to clear calendars and organize teams. I didn't know about the tournament until late February. By word of mouth.
2. Friendly reminders - Get people to pass out flyers to women on their league night.
3. Recruit women without teams - as I did with both leagues I'm currently in, I didn't know anyone. I just signed up and got placed. I bet there'd be enough interested women not on a team would sign up and form their own teams. These are women you would not get otherwise.
4. Open the invitation to other Bay Area USBC leagues. I know several women league bowlers not in SFUSBC that would have participated but could not. The Asian American Bowling Association's tournaments permit any USBC sanctioned league bowler to participate as long as 50% of the team is of Chinese or Japanese ancestry, or bowl in a Chinese or Japanese league.

I don't claim to know all the answers. What I do know is that there are a lot of recreational/sporting functions out there league bowling has to compete against. Don't make it more difficult for women who want to bowl other than weekly leagues and can't.