Archive for May 26, 2009
Brunswick Euro Challenge 09
May 26th
March 2009
Off to another Eurotrip. Left on Tuesday at 7:30pm and arrived into Paris at 9:30am. The start of this trip was one of the more interesting ones. I was supposed to get picked up at an airport hotel. They told me to get the shuttle to the hotel but I jumped on the wrong shuttle. Let me set up this scenario so you can appreciate how hard it is on travel days. I have 2 3-ball bags. I decided to bring these balls: Plastic, Tour Edition Wild Ride, Wild Ride pin down, Twisted Destruction, Maxx Zone, Rattler pin down, Twisted Fury, and Swarm. So there I am in the Paris airport with my cart after picking up my bags from baggage claim. I have 2 3ball bags, my luggage with another tote in it (heavy) a backpack carry-on, another rolling carry-on (for the 20 Kaizen shirts that were pre ordered and the jewelry that I sold!) I also had a purse. All this stuff, just me. No help. Fortunately I sat next to a very nice man on the flight. He didn’t’ pressure me to talk to him but when I did feel like it, it was nice to meet him. When I collected all my bags he was there helping me. He showed me where the airport shuttle was, as I had to find my way to the hotel.
There is only so far you can go with the airport cart… then they block you off and you can’t take the cart any further. This posed a problem for me and my 383 bags. I had to figure out how to get my bags up the people walker to the airport shuttle.. without a cart. Fortunately, again, the nice plane neighbor was there to help me. I’m not sure what I would have done had he not been there. Probably made a few trips and risk leaving my stuff out of my sight. He grabbed my 3 ball tote and put it on his suitcase to carry it up the people walker to the airport shuttle. I had my luggage bag, 2 ball tote, backpack, purse, and me. We finally made it to the shuttle.. and off of it at the point where the hotel I was getting picked up at was. More >
Hey Ma, goin to Sweden to bowl league…
May 26th
Sweden: 2.20.09
I am a proud member of X-Calibur. This team resides in Sweden and has the ability to add international players to their team. X-Calibur competes in a Swedish league. Swedish league… not American league. The leagues we have in America are your normal, 5 man, Friday night scratch leagues where there are high game pots, and a little money to be won. The Swedish league? Think NFL league.
There are a handful of teams that compete in the Swedish league. They are from different cities and have a following from that city. This is nothing like anything we have in the United States. This league isn’t for money, but is super competitive. It’s all for pride. Competitions are often, and always on the weekend. 10 players travel to each event, 8 bowl. How it works is this:
Each match consists of 4 games. 8 players are paired up in doubles teams and take on the other doubles teams from the opposing team. Each game of the match is worth 5 points. One point for each doubles win, and a point for the TOTAL pins of each team. Each weekend consists of 3 matches.
Each weekend of competition matters a great deal because you must have the top 4 points to qualify for the Nationals. The tournament is unlike any I have been a part of. There is a LOT of yelling, cheering, and fan interaction. I just bowled this qualifying weekend, I heard the finals weekend is ridiculously crazy. More >
