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The Morning After: Rochester Reflections
Posted by BowlerCluke Friday, May 30, 2008 9:00 PM
It was another fun, yet humbling, experience in 2008 for most of the Factor X
and Team Reyes participants who descended upon Rochester, New York this
past Memorial Day weekend for the 40th running of the Lilac City Tournament. As
has been the case over the last several years now, both tournament sites (Gates
Bowl and AMF Olympic Bowl) have opted to replace their high-scoring house
conditions of years past with much more challenging tournament patterns that are
less forgiving when bowlers miss left or right of target. For some teammates,
the change seems almost welcome and is taken in stride as a challenge, something
that merely requires a few games to re-acclimate themselves to yesteryear's
tougher lane conditions; for others, that re-acclimation seemingly never comes.
What is most interesting about this particular tournament however is that,
regardless of who are conquered and who are the conquerors, all have tremendous
fun, and the stop remains a favorite of both Gardner- and Northampton-based
teams.
As is typically the case, the trip kicked off on the Thursday before Memorial
Day for most; the date which for the last ten years has been designated as the
"travel day." And also as is the norm, event coordinator Jimmy Girard was the
first to arrive at the Rochester Holiday Inn, sauntering in around 2:30p. By
10:00p, about two-thirds of this year's 16-person field had arrived, with the
remainder opting to make the drive in the wee hours of Friday morning. Unlike
years past, there was a little more buzz than normal in and around the Rochester
area, as the PGA Senior Tour just happened to be in town this weekend as well,
and several PGA staff members were also booked at the hotel.
Early Birds Flock to Olympic Bowl Friday Morning
The tournament schedule in 2008 was nearly identical to last year's version,
with many bowlers opting to bowl an "ad-hoc" set of doubles and singles early
Friday afternoon before the scheduled team event. It didn't take long for most
who participated to discover this year's lane condition was quite similar to
2007's:
"I seemed to be able to play a little farther out than last year," Tom Clukay
recalled, "but just like last year, breakpoint was everything. If you threw the
ball past or through the breakpoint, you left a washout or a 3-7 split, period.
You weren't gonna get any extra help from the back ends on the outside."
Leading scorers in the ad-hoc doubles were Tom Clukay (638) and Jimmy Girard
(603), but unfortunately they were not paired up together. Bowling with Clukay
was Bill Allen, while Gary Subocz matched up with Girard. Both struggled, Allen
bowling 513 and Subocz 493. Also competing in the ad-hoc event was Will Allen
and Joe Misterka, who shot 1072 between them.
The ad-hoc singles event was also led by Girard and Clukay, Girard bowling
231-203-199 for 633, and Clukay shooting 218-193-205 for 616. Both entered the
Bonus Combine event and scored respectably, Clukay finishing with 1254 scratch
and 1332 handicap, Girard bowling 1233 scratch (no handicap).
Gates not "Pearly" in 2008...
Unfortunately, the extra practice doubles and singles events could not prepare
them for what awaited them at Gates Bowl in the Friday evening team event.
Traditionally, Gates has always been the tougher-scoring house, and 2008 was no
exception. Bowling in the 6:00p team event (which got off to it's customary
start time of about 6:45p), the X Men shot just 2563 scratch (2701 with
handicap). Of the 15 games bowled, only two scores broke the 200 barrier: Jim
Girard's opening 232 game, and Gary Subocz's 219 middle score. Girard's 557
ended up as the high score on the night, followed by Subocz' 540, Clukay's 518,
Will Allen's 464 and Bill Allen's 453.
Bill Allen entered this year's tournament coming off his best all-around season
ever and with new equipment that had him coming into the team event with lots of
confidence and huge expectations for himself. Allen vocalized the entire team's
frustrations quite succinctly later that weekend:
"After bowling that 118 opening game I started thinking to myself why am I here,
maybe I won't come back next year, but I'm better now. I was pretty upset with
myself, but now that I've cooled off, I still had fun. I'll be back."
Returning to the "Scene of the Crime"
With so many poor scores bowled on Friday night, few teammates were chomping at
the bit to return to the scene of the crime Saturday morning... yet that's
exactly what they had to do. Little did anyone know that the scene they were
returning to was going to was going to be a crime scene, quite literally in
fact! Upon arriving at Gates bowl for Saturday's noontime team event, members of
Factor X and Team Reyes quickly discovered that the police
cruisers in the parking lot were not there by coincidence or monitoring traffic.
Rumor has it that there was a "rumble in Rochester" at Gates Bowl shortly after
the X Force left the lanes the night before, followed by an alleged robbery later
that night in which upward of $30,000 in cash was stolen from the facility. (Factorxbowling.com has been unable to obtain official confirmation
of Saturday night's events, but the story would appear to be corroborated at
least in part by the
fact that the ATM machine inside the building appeared to have been vandalized
Saturday morning; it was wide open, inoperative
and out of cash Saturday morning, leaving many teammates unable to
withdraw extra money for brackets. When asked about it, Gates staff would only
respond that the machine was down and would not be available the rest of the
weekend.)
The teams for Saturday's rematch were randomly-shuffled versions of Friday's
main teams, featuring Joe Misterka, Shelly Bond, Bill Allen, Desiree Short and
Will Allen as members of this year's version of The H.O.T. Gang, and Ryan
Short, Ed Reyes, Ken Adams, Tom Clukay and Guy Fox rounding out the 5-man roster
otherwise known as Team Reyes II.
While everyone agreed that Saturday's scores were much more respectable than
Friday's disastrous team event, scores were still not at the level everyone
would have liked. Of the ten bowlers competing with Team Reyes II and
The H.O.T. Gang, only the husband-and-wife combo of Ryan Short (for Team
Reyes II) and Desiree Short (for the H.O.T. Gang) would bowl over
average; both entered the tournament with 180 averages, Ryan shooting scores of
256-175-141 for 572, while wife Desiree bowled 210-182-167 for 559.
Also bowling with The H.O.T. Gang, Bill Allen felt much better following
his 552 set that featured a 221 closing game, but the team would still fall
short of the mark in terms of a potential pay day. Misterka would finish with
530, Bond 487, and Will Allen 434, placing the team's final handicap tally at
2928 - respectable, but unlikely to make any money at tournament's end.
Of potentially better news was the performance turned in by Team Reyes II.
With Ryan Short's 256 opener paving the way, the team opened with a monster 1105
scratch score that helped set the pace for the rest of the day. Joining Short in
the hit parade was Guy Fox 245, Ken Adams 234, and Tom Clukay 217; Reyes' tough
luck 153 would prove to be the team's only blemish that game, but was still more
than sufficient to enable the team to crack the 1100 barrier. Scores would taper
to 895 and 901 in the final two games, but the team's 3147 handicap score (2901
scratch) could very well earn Team Reyes II a paycheck later this summer,
at least based on last year's low-to-cash numbers. Congratulations, Team
Reyes!
No-Tap No-Relief for Most...
Given the low scoring pace through the first two days of the tournament, it was
of little surprise that some of this year's Lilac tour de force opted to head
back to the hotel for a little extra R&R, as opposed to heading back across town
to Olympic Bowl for some No-Tap tournament action. But for those who chose to
partake of yet another helping of keggling pie, most found little or no
relief... even when faced with the prospect of having to knock down only nine of
ten pins each frame.
Of the bowlers reporting in their scores, only Jimmy Girard, Bill Allen and Tom
Clukay finished with scores rivaling their normal "ten pins per frame" averages.
Desiree Short was also rumored to have bowled well, unofficially finishing in
the 730s after factoring in her handicap. Girard finished with 692, Allen 658.
But of all who participated, only Clukay is likely to earn a paycheck after all
is said and done:
 "I recognized what was out there right away. I had a great shot at least as far
as getting to the pocket was concerned. Unfortunately, it took me a little too
long to figure out the right ball and the right release, or I might have done a
lot better."
Unlike most of the tournament shots - but consistent with the standard no-tap
shot - the no-tap featured a flood of oil very far down the lane on anything
inside the 10-board from either side of the lane. Unlike years past however, the
outside part of the lane seemed to be comparatively dry, especially for those
with slower ball speeds.
"When I saw how much oil there was in practice, I tried a shot up four-board
just for ha-ha's, and the thing hooked at about 25 feet," Clukay remembered. "I
knew right then I had a shot up the outside, it was just a question of figuring
out the right ball-hand combination to minimize the over-under. Unfortunately,
it took me about 15 frames to do that."
Clukay opened with scores of 242 and 232 in his first two games, bowling with
four different balls and trying several different hand positions before finally
settling on his "Gardner hand release" and his pin-up Twisted Fury. Upon making
the move to the Fury in frame six of game number two, Clukay seemingly couldn't
miss, striking from the sixth frame on in game two for the 232 score, then
opening with the front nine in game number three before tugging a shot high for
a 4-7 leave. Converting the spare in disgust, he turned away immediately after
releasing his fill ball, turning to Girard and saying, "that's what I should
have done last frame." The fill ball turned out to be a solid 8-pin.
Based on last year's numbers, Clukay's 791 handicap score (754 scratch) should
cash, albeit not very high. The score currently sits in ninth place.
Clukay won $1000 in this same tournament back in 2001 for finishing in third
place overall with an 866 score.
The Last Mile... Sunday Doubles & Singles
The weekend events concluded with one more set of doubles and
singles Sunday morning at the place where it all began, AMF Olympic Bowl. Round
two of the doubles featured the "more-standard" tournament-ending pairings for
Factor X of Bill Allen with Will Allen and Tom Clukay with Jim Girard. And
unfortunately for all, what started off as a promising day of scoring once again
ended primarily in frustration, at least from a bowling perspective.
For the Allens, leadoff bowler Will Allen opened with his
best three-game set of the tournament, bowling games of 204, 191 and 213 en
route to a 608 series. Father Bill Allen ended strong as well, struggling with a
pair of 160s in the first two games, but then getting hot in the finale for a
219. The pair finished with an 1149 scratch score that included a 432 game three
score that had both optimistic for good final singles sets. But neither were
able to carry their momentum into the final event, elder Allen finishing with
523 and younger just 489.
Clukay and Girard mirrored the frustration of the Allens at
just about every turn. As was the case with Will Allen, lead-off bowler Tom
Clukay put together his best set of the tournament, a nice 214-197-249-660
effort. Also mimicking his Allen counterpart, Jim Girard struggled in games one
and two but finished with a nice 257 final game for 592. The pair's 506 final
game had each thinking the same lofty thoughts as the Allens heading into
singles... thoughts that were soon dashed, courtesy of sub-par 572 and 531 sets
by Girard and Clukay respectively. Both ended the tournament having to swallow
identically bitter 157 pills.
Normally mild-mannered and easy-going Jimmy Girard summed his
frustrations up in unusually vocal fashion:
"Boy, the lanes [conditions] really sucked this year. I wish
they'd show more love for the people who support them year after year."
The Final Verdict: Two Thumbs Up
But if there's one thing this group all shares - a trait that
is truly unique indeed in these current times in which immediate gratification
is almost always requirement number one - it's the fact that every single one of
the bowlers who make this trip each Memorial Day weekend are in it every bit as
much for the fun and the camaraderie as they are for the bowling. More than a
decade of bowling together in this tournament has made this trip much more than
just an average bowling trip for the ten to twenty people who participate each
year, and it is doubtful that a few years of subdued scoring is going to
diminish that level of enthusiasm. Bill Allen, one of the tournament's newest
participants, summed this year's events up as follows:
"Despite the scores, in a lot of ways this year's tournament
seemed even more relaxed than last year's. Everybody just seemed to have such a
good time this year. It was a lot of fun."
Tom Clukay echoed his teammate's statements:
"It was a challenge, but then again, it's a tournament. It's
supposed to be. I know I'll be back, and I'll guarantee you I'm not alone on
that one. Heck, I'll bet half the guys will come back next year just for another
meal at Delmonico's Steak House. That was awesome! What a find! Thanks, Bill
[Allen]."
See you next year!
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