Spare Pins and a 740 Series
I always knew there was a reason why I kept two cases of bowling pins laying around my basement. Up until last night, I was never really sure what that reason was. 
My brother and I bowled in the Dexter Tournament of Champions Pro-Am at Bradley Bowl. The format has you bowling 3 games with 6 different pro bowlers. I brought one of my bowling pins and a Sharpie, hoping to snag a few autographs. Upon arriving at Bradley, we noticed signs posted on the walls advertising a bowling pin and marker for $25. What a rip off!! Anyway, I got a number of autographs and only missed Brian Voss out of the ones I wanted.
The above picture was taken with all of the amateurs on our pair of lanes (my brother and I are ones on the right), plus two of the pro bowlers (Walter Ray Williams, Jr. and Lonnie Waliczek). I thought I did fairly well, throwing a 740 series (268, 252, and 220), which is by far my best scratch series. With handicap that put me at 818, which was well ahead of everyone else on our pair of lanes. I’ll have to wait until the final scores are published to see how I did overall. Oh, did I mention that the tournament was 9-pin no tap? For those non-bowlers, that means if you get a 9 on your first ball, it counts as a strike. My brother and I had a great time and it definitely builds some false confidence to see those high scores up on the board… until you realize that’s with counting 9′s as strikes. Oh well. I did have 5 real strikes in a row in my second game. 
