OH MY GOD!!!!!! Keith made it!!!!!

I will quickly get out of the way...We both made the qualifying cut to Round 2 at 5:30pm. One game format. I had a good shot. Went strike, smash 7-spare, weak 3-pin spare, made an adjustment, strike, strike, weak 3-pin spare, made one more adjustment for a through-the-nose 4-pin. Took a breath, threw the spare, and missed it right. No big deal. Made an adjustment, went weak at the pocket and left the 3-6-7 split. I made the decision to go for two instead of the spae attempt to get as many pins as possible, so I got the two. Next shot, made an adjustment, went high to leave the 2-4, with the 2 scooted over to the right a bit. So instead of throwing straight I threw a weak strike shot at it, and I missed left, the ball skidded past, and I hit the 4 pin to capture my third open in a row. I made one final adjustment in the tenth, went double smash 7-pin for a 183 game. My previous post was wrong...the cut was 194, and the re-entry number was 185+. I absolutely blew it. But that's OK because I have two extra days to try and qualify. You know why? Because KEITH MADE THE GRAND FINALS!!!

He made the first cut with a 213, which cashed him for $1,000.00. Then the last game there were 7 guys in his division who qualified, three made the last cut.

He was on his game. He was throwing the ball great, making spares, and getting some good breaks. He went strike, spare, double, spare, spare, then struck in the 7th, 8th, and 9th. He got up in the 10th only needing a spare to clinch a spot. He threw a good ball, but it checked up at the end and left the 3-4-6-10 split. Oh shit. This could cost him a spot. He adjusted his spare shot, threw it PERFECTLY, and made the spare. He slapped it off and missed the slap a bit, but mine was three times as loud from the gallery. I actually apologized to the people around me. I ran it out 2 pair to the right up on the concourse. But we weren't done...he needs a big count on the fill ball. So in memory of our dear friend Jeff Bell, he went Brooklyn to carry and shoot 225. I knew he was in, nobody was scoring well. And after the announcement was made, Keith was 2nd high qualifier and made the Grand Finals on Saturday!!!!

Since this is my blog I won't let him speak for himself, but I can't tell you how proud I am of him. He has been struggling the entire time, hurt his leg, but didn't give up. And it paid off huge for him. This is so awesome!!! OK, enough for now. We are going to eat supper, have a few libations, and I'm going to give it a run tomorrow morning. I am really, really close to making it, so tomorrow I am going back to work. Gotta go, we have some plane/hotel/car rental adjustments to be made to come back on Sunday. WOW!!!!