| Wednesday, Oct 26th, 2005
I haven't even wiped the sleep out of my eyes yet, the
hotel room is still dark and after moving balls around for 5
hours yesterday my body is a little stiff. In a couple hours I
will be at our first official practice session of the year. Most
of the players arrived Monday afternoon, while I arrived
yesterday (Tuesday afternoon). It was a pretty easy drive for me
to Tulsa, Oklahoma since I am from Topeka, Kansas. Just over 4
hours on the road. I decided to organize the inventory before I
checked into the hotel...knowing most everybody else would be
dealing with their inventory today. I got there at the perfect
time I had the whole truck to myself. You can imagine what it
would be like if all eight ball companies were loading their
shelves at the same time. The isle between the shelves is less
than 3 feet wide, with each company trying to organize their
section of the trailer. Shuffling around the balls still on the
truck from the senior tour and the new inventory arriving for
the start of the swing. About 6:30 PM Lonnie Waliczek showed up
on the truck and offered his assistance. A kind gesture from
Lonnie. When ever a player offers to help load and unload balls
on the truck my first concern is the possibility of what might
happen to the player offering the help. It seems every time I
shuffle the inventory around I end up smashing a finger or toe
once or twice and moving around 50 plus cases of bowling balls
tends to have its effect on you the next couple days. I am glad
to say Lonnie's fingers and toes are safe and considering the
shape Lonnie stays in I am less worried about how he will feel
this morning. I really enjoy hanging out with Lonnie any chance
I can and it gave us some time to catch up on the last couple
months. The exempt players were in meeting all day long and
began to filter in around 7:30. Stopping by to say hi I was able
to catch a little information about their day of meetings.
It seems the main points of interest were the new Lane
Machine technology, the uniform look the PBA is going to use,
and the early morning practice sessions. The unknown is always
challenged by bowlers but as usual the good bowlers will adapt.
To me the thought of uniforms is quite funny, I can picture how
differently the players will look. I hope they took the wide
range of physiques and styles into consideration. The most
important issue has to be the new lane machine technology the
tour will be using this year. The new machine is called
Authority 22 by Brunswick.
None of the bowlers knows how the patterns are going to play
with the new technology so everybody is a little anxious. The
machines looks and sounds very impressive. It is amazing what
technology can do. Each board is dealt with individually for the
entire length of the lane. The consistency and accuracy of what
they want to do with the oil is at a new level. I am told if
they want to leave one board dry the entire length of the lane
dry while loading up the boards on either side of it...the new
technology can do just that. Sounds cool but we will have to
wait and see what happens when the mad scientists get a hold of
it.
Well I better get the day started and hope you will all join
me as we begin the 2005-2006 season. Everybody is fresh right
now and anxious to get started. That anxiety will only increase
each week and I will be there to help you understand what it is
like to be inside the PBA tour. Right now it feels like I was
wrestling with an elephant. So as I switch on the lights and
shake off the sleep I invite you to enjoy this years edition of
brunswickinsiders.
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