My name is Erik, You can call me Brownie.  I am new to bowlspace in August, 2007.  A great friend just told me about it on a visit home.  I don't have to many friends here nor where I live, so this will hopefully open some outlets for new friends with like interests.

 I am from Iowa origianlly.  Grew up bowling in May City Bowl on the West side of Cedar Rapids.  About High School I moved to the Far East side to a suburb called Marion to a house called Castle Lanes.  Castle Lanes to this day has more memories for me than every other Bowl put together.  My first EVERYTHING happened there.  I shot my first 2 300's there, my first 2 700's, my first 800, my first girl...lol.  That place was my home.  I started working there when I was 16.  I left there when I left the Cedar Rapids area.  I think in the 4 years I called Castle Lanes home I probably logged in the neighborhood of 30,000 practice games.  There was one season that I was assitant manager there and I bowled in 9 leagues 7 days a week! One league every night and a double shift on Friday and Saturday nights.  That was where I decided I wanted to be the best. 

 From there I bounced around East Central Iowa a bit until I settled in Ames and met my beautiful Wife.  From there it was on to the desert of South East Washington, the Tri-Cities. 

 The Tri-Cities is one of those places where I never REALLY realized what I had until I lost it.  You will never find better people anywhere than in the Tri Cities and I miss you all so much.  Not a day goes by that doesn't call me back there.  I still call it home.

 Kat and I spent some key years in Richland.  We married there and had our first and so far only child, Dobber {portrayed in my profile picture}, there.  I met the best friends I have ever made there.  I helped to open my first pro shop there. And I learned some of the most important rules and techniques of bowling there.  Of all the places I have lived, I would say I "FOUND" most of myself, as a bowler, in the Tri Cities, WA.

 In October of 2006 My family up and moved to Greater Pittsburgh, PA.  My wife finished school, CONGRATS!!!, and aquired a job with Bechtel working with Bettis, the DOE and The Nuclear Navy at a plant here in West Mifflin.  She is a brilliant woman and I am so lucky to have her as my bride and the mother of my BOY.  She is awesome and she supports me in EVERYTHING, thank you sweet heart.

 So, that's about it.  I am a chef, not very interesting like Kat, but I love it.  Food and bowling are the 2 things I really rock at.  And I plan to keep rocking until my knees and elbows all give out. 

 So, it has come and passed.  After moving to Pitsburgh, PA. from my cozy little corner of Richland, WA. and going 10 months with no pro shop to call my own, no friends, no TRUE BOWLING friends anyhow, no Home lanes...NO LEAGUES!, I finally made my Pittsburgh debut on my first Pittsburgh league and my first league of any kind as a permanent member in over a year.

 I have had my moments.  Practicing here and there, trying to decide which house I liked the best.  And of course in July we traveled back west to visit frineds and family in WA.  IT WAS AWESOME!!  Kat let me bring 3 balls and my shoes.  Alan, my old pro shop manager, mentor, PBA pro, and of course one of my very best frineds, asked me to sub one night with him on his summer swiss trio league.  Now I of course said yes becase I would always jump at the opportunity to bowl with Alan.  But I knew in my mind that it had been a while since I had bowled in my "own house".  Well, I worried for nothing.  I shot a 240 something out of the box and followed it up with a 290.  I shot over 900, helped Alan's team into first place to start the next week, and had a BLAST.

 Well, flash forward to this past Monday, August 27 to be exact. I arrive at Playmor Lanes in West Mifflin, Greater Pittsburgh.  I was not nervous, why should I be?  I have been practicing here on a regular basis, averaging anywhere from 220 to 235 on the house shot, which is what I have been told they lay for this particular league.  I will have an easy night, right?  Shoot 650 without even trying and my new team will love me....RIGHT?

 So I wait, and wait, and wait...I was told league starts at 6, but be here 15-20 minutes early, I was misinformed, PRACTICE lights come on at 630, LEAGUE starts at 645.  So I meet my team and IMMEDIATELY I realize something is terribly wrong.  You see in this league they draft their teams just like in the NFL or any other professional sport.  The team captains are the 16 Highest averages from the previous book season and they draft who they want.  This is a 16 team, 5X3 league.  Typical men's HANDICAP league format.  As soon as I meet the team I am informed I will be the lead off man.  No problem.  I am given a run down of the team and averages.  cool.  Then I am asked the big question, "So, your first time bowling in a league huh, you must be nervous?"

 I am not sure where the lines of comunication broke down, but they crashed hard.  "My first time in a league?", I replied, "No, that is a mistake.  This is my first time in a league in Pittsburgh."  "I have been bowling in leagues since I was 7 and competing seriously since I was 15."

 That is when the hush settled over the crowd.  The captain then explained how he picked me as his last round pick under the impression that since I had no listed average and no one had ever heard of me, I was new, I was wet behind the ears, and my average would suck....THUS giving them an enormous handicap this half...VICTORY WAS AS GOOD AS THEIR'S! 

 "Well, surely you have been off for a year and your average isn't super high, right?"  "What have you been averaging this summer?"  he asked me, "220" I responded.  Then he turned purple.

 It was at this point that he started grilling me.  I am under no circumstances to shoot over 170.  My goal in fact, is 150.  If I average 160 for the first 3 weeks it wouldn't be terrible, but don't go any higher.  I mean it, if you have over 100 by the 6th frame I want to see a lot of gutters and ALL open 10th frames by the way. 

 I am not kidding when I tell you I felt like my team captain was that NBA ref that just got busted for fixing games for gambling. So what do I do?

 I mean, I am in a new league, new town, new team.  I want to make this huge impression on everyone right away.  I want to be bowling with the big dawgs in town come this summer you know?  Running the pro shop, rubbing elbows with all the top averages so I can slide in the door.  And now my team, to whom I am committed, tells me I am obligated to slip and fall flat on my face instead.  Well this is quite the predicament.

 Morally I was lost.  On the one hand, I feel a moral obligation to help my team.  On the other hand, which was by the way tipping the scale, I felt the obligation to myself and all the men who have molded and crafted my skills over the years, to never let myself down and always give 120% EVERYTIME I step on the approach. Sandbagging is NO option....

 So do I sandbag or not?  WHAT A DILEMA!!!!!!

 So I tried to compromise.  I think I was more of a success to the men who have mentored me than I was in the eyes of my teammates.

 To please myself and those who support what I do and my future in this SPORT, not game, I gave every shot everything I had...Every shot but one per game.  I picked key moments to flub I guess.  First game there was a 6-10 leave.  I dropped the ball and picked the 10.  Second game I left a 10 in the 3rd and took no time lining up, dropped it way early and ditched it.  The third game I didn't actually flub up on anything.  The fifth frame came charging through the nose for a 4-7-10.  I mean I gave it the old Pete Weber try, I missed that 10 pin and the conversion by millimeters at most, but that was my "flub" for the 3rd game. 

 So, I shot 683.  Not exactly the 450  they were looking for.  So, I decided to stay and buy the captain a beer and have a chat. 

 Turns out this guy ended up in a situation last season where this new kid comes to town, gets put on his team on draft night, has an average of about 145, but somehow he musters up a 701 on average night. So now he has a 145 average bowler carrying a 235 average, with a zero handicap.  They lost every game.  They did not win a single point the entire half.  That was his last experience with "The new ringer in town."  Apparently that is what Don, the one guy who knows me at the bowl and knows how good I am, has built me up to be.  I have been dubbed, "The new young gun ringer in town."  Hey, it could be worse.  At least now my name is out there and people know to watch me.  Unfortunatley this didn't put Bruce's, my team captain, mind at ease.

 In a nut shell I told him, I am sorry, but I was raised not to sandbag.  I believe it is cheating and I am not a cheater.  I don't do it to help myself out, I am sure not going to do it to helpout 4 strangers.  It is against my beliefs and it is against my code as a sportsman.  I told him in addition, that I AM in fact a 220 average bowler and I will carry my weight on this team.  I told him, we may not win every game, but if we loose games, it is not because I am not giving 120%.  I said, I will not carry the team all of the time, but I will also never ride it's back.  He may not have liked everything I had to say, but he was accepting of it. He also made the comment that he didn't want to get beat by his lead off man every game. LOL

 By the way, we won 3/4 that night.

 So, I don't know what the future holds for me in Pittsburgh, hopefully it will get better.  Hopefully I will be able to fit in around here and start to make some friends soon.  I love bowling so much, it is such a huge part of who I am and I really want to be huge in Pittsburgh....WITHOUT CHEATING.