On a Roll

FINAL

2006-05-04T05:51:00.000-07:00

With any new invention comes improved features, new ideas, exciting upgrades, and most importantly, competition for the ideas and features currently in place. This has happened within the media in recent years. In journalism there has been a number of sources that have reigned for years. These included newspapers, radio, and television, better known as the “traditional media.” In recent years a new form of media known as blogging, or personal journalism, has risen to challenge.
One challenge presented by blogging to the traditional media is the simple fact of unlimited space. Newspapers have only a certain number of words or columns they can dedicate to a particular story or article. Television stations only have a certain amount of time they can dedicate. Radio has the same problem as television. These types of media all have a limited space and a large number of stories to cover. Blogs, however, have unlimited space. There is no limit to how little that scroll bar down the side can get. Any number of words can be written and any number of articles can be covered.
Another challenge presented by blogging is that blogging, unlike traditional media, allows for easy and almost guaranteed reader response to news. Space is provided for comments on blogs so that readers can get their true feelings out. They can get mad or sing praises about the news, with the approval from the writer of the blog. Many times the writer or others reading the blog will respond to the commenter. Newspapers allow for some of this but the majority of letters never get published and never get a response. With television, this rarely happens. And with radio, only if it is a station that you can call into, and even then, your chances of being on the air are slim to none.
The third challenge blogs have created is that blogs give “right here right now” news coverage. Writers who are serious about their blogs usually have updated news. When a story happens, they have it. With newspapers, news does not come out until almost a day or more after the news happens. With television, unless it is a story so big they break into your favorite TV show, you have to wait until a news show comes on, which could be hours after news happens. With radio, news must wait its turn, again, unless it is something major.
Each form of media, whether it be blogging or traditional media, has presented benefits and drawbacks in terms of reporting style. Traditional media has been around for so long and still serves the purpose of reporting the news today. However, new media, such as blogging, has presented a new way of reporting the news. For some, traditional media might serve their needs just fine. For others, blogging may be a more popular alternative, because of the reasons above.

Word Count: 479

End of the Year

2006-04-26T17:07:00.000-07:00

Summary of Sectionals

2006-04-26T16:59:00.000-07:00

Sectionals

2006-04-20T06:09:00.000-07:00

We competed in eight tournaments throughout the season. Now all that was left to do was to sit around and wait to see if we had made it to the Sectional Tournament. You have to be in the top 64 teams in the nation to be able to participate. The final standings were to come out March 1.
During the last week of February I was on the college bowling website just looking around to see what was new and I happened to check the standings sheet for the girls. Well, we had gone from 58th a couple of weeks ago to 68th now. I was heartbroken! We had gotten ourselves so hyped up about going to Sectionals and now we would not even be going. I immediately emailed my coach to ask him if he had seen this and if, in fact, this standing sheet was right. I waited impatiently for a reply back from him.
When he emailed me back a couple of hours later he reassured me that we were not necessarily out of it. He told me the reason the final standings were not coming out until March 1 was because the United States Bowling Conference (USBC) had to check out all of the teams to make sure all of the teams had completed all of their paperwork correctly. The USBC also had to make sure that each team had used eligible bowlers to compete in all of the tournaments. If paperwork was wrong or ineligible bowlers had been used, these teams would be disqualified from competing in the Sectional Tournament.
So I waited around for almost a week not knowing if any of the teams above us would be disqualified. I received an email from my coach the day before we were supposed to find out the results. He stated in his email, “I will let you all look for yourselves” with an attachment directly to the standings sheet. I figured this was good news but I wasn’t quite sure. I opened the link and there it was, page one with the first 50 qualifiers…we were on it! Number 50! I was elated and I might have even let out a “Yes!” I had been so disappointed a week ago and now I could not stop smiling. I told everybody- my parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, friends, and co-workers.
We found out that we would be competing in the Sectional Tournament on March 25 and 26 in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The singles competition for the few of us that wanted to bowl in it was on March 24, the Friday before the weekend full of team competition.
"My favorite part of being on this team is having the opportunity to travel to all of the different cities. If people are considering it, I would highly recommend it. You get to meet all kinds of people from all over the country. It's a good way to socialize and have fun. Once you improve, the more you are able to compete, so it is good incentive to improve," says Freshman Alyson Bridwell.
For the boys, the news was not so good. Since there are so many boys teams in the nation and since we were just a first year team, they were not fortunate enough to make the team competition of the Sectional Tournament. However, any of them that wanted to compete in the singles competition were able to do so. Even though the boys team had improved immensely, they were not rewarded like the girls team. I felt bad for all of them because I knew they were all disappointed. I wished they could participate in the Sectional Tournament right along with us. But I know they will be there next year right along side us.
We had three weeks until the Sectional Tournament. All we could do was practice, practice, practice. The singles competition would consist of six regular games on Friday, as I said before. Saturday and Sunday would be comprised of 32 Baker Games each day. This would equal to just over six regular games each day per person. We knew going into it that it would be a long, tiring weekend, especially since we would only be taking six girls, meaning there was only one girl to rotate in and out each game, so if anyone got hurt or became extremely tired, we would be hurting for help. We had to practice, train for bowling that many games, and hope that we would all make it.
Freshman Ashley King summed up the year by saying, "My favorite part was being part of a team. We formed a really strong bond and our level of teamwork was more than I have experienced before. We were all very close and very supportive of each other."

Word Count: 680
Word Count to Date: 2787
Date Posted: 20 April 2006

Day Two

2006-04-18T07:28:00.000-07:00

We woke up at 6, got ready, had breakfast, and were at the bowling center at 7:30. We were starting at 8, same tournament, a whole new day, a whole new format. We picked up our balls, headed to our lanes, unpacked our equipment and, once again, waited for the lanes to come on for practice. We were all a little less nervous than the day before, even though butterflies flew through our stomachs and adrenaline pumped through our bodies.
The format on the first day was simply six games that five bowlers each completed. These scores had been combined for an overall team score or “total pinfall” as they call it in bowling. These scores also counted for the singles competition. Each member of the team was ranked according to their total pinfall for the six games. There was both a men’s divison and a women’s division.
Day two was a big difference from day one. The format of the second day was “Baker” format. This means that five bowlers bowl together in one game. This may sound a bit confusing. What this means is that the first bowler on the team bowls the first frame and the sixth frame, the second bowler bowls the second and seventh frames, and so on, until the fifth bowler completes the fifth and tenth frames. This bowler is known as the “anchor” because he or she has a chance to throw more balls since they have a chance to throw three balls in the tenth frame. However, each member of the team plays a significant role in these baker games.
Day two we bowled sixteen baker games. This equals out to about three regular games since you only bowl two frames a game. It is a fun format and really allows a team to focus on just that, the team. You don’t have to worry about bowling singles games, you worry about how your frames couple with the frames of the others on your team. It is a great format to compliment the six singles games bowled the day before.
Day two took us about four hours to complete. It was not as tiring as the first day, but we were all ready to crawl in the team van and head home. It was a two and a half hour drive home. We had made it through our first tournament.
"College bowling is definitely a lot different from high school bowling. There is much more traveling involved, many more bowlers competing, and a much higher level of competition. Generally, it is just a lot more fun," commented Junior Kevin Cashman.
Coach Dug Barker was previously a high school coach before becoming a college coach. In general he says, "Coaching is so much fun because you get to watch the improvement in each individual and the team as a whole. And even better when the individual realizes their improvement."
He compares college to high school coaching by saying, "College has so much more competition, it is much more work, it involves more financial responsibility, it is just a whole other level of bowling. In turn, that much better coaching is necessary. College bowling provides for so much more focus on the team. It allows for more bonding because of the amount of time spent together, specifically with traveling."

Word Count: 398
Word Count to date: 2107
Date posted: 18 April 2006

Day one

2006-04-18T06:58:00.000-07:00

Finally, the lanes were turned on for practice. It seemed like eternity. I threw the first ball for the team, the first ball thrown, ever, for our newly formed bowling team. I had bowled in tournaments before so my nerves were more calm than most. I thought others might not even be able to pick up their ball, they looked so scared.
The lanes turned off, signaling practice was over. The six of us bowling stepped off away from the approach and huddled together in a circle. We had six games in front of us. Our coach took the lead giving us words of wisdom. “Try to relax, bowl, and don’t get down on yourself. Keep each other positive. If you need help you know what to do.” We put our hands together. “Go Knights” we yelled in unison. We were nervous, pumped up, and looking forward to what lay ahead.
Five of us bowled each game. We bowled with a different team of five bowlers each game. If your team started on the left lane you moved two pairs left. If you started on the right lane you moved two pairs right. The format was basic, just like any other game a person would bowl when they go out with friends on the weekends. It was just more intense, took longer, and for me, was a lot more fun. Each game took about one hour to complete, making for a long, tiring, six and a half hour day.
We packed up our balls, checked out the standings sheets, went outside and headed over to Fudrucker’s. We were all exhausted from bowling six games in six hours, something most of us were not used to. We sat down, ordered, and chowed down! There was some conversation, but all of us were so busy eating for the first time of the day we didn’t have time to talk.
After dinner we headed back to the hotel, which was only a few minutes away. Most of us crashed but the brave stayed up and worked on homework. It had been a long day and there was only more to come tomorrow.

Word count: 359
Word count to date: 1709
Posted on: 18 April 2006

Our First Tournament

2006-04-06T07:12:00.000-07:00

Our First Time

2006-04-06T05:53:00.000-07:00

“We will meet at 8:00 Saturday morning in front of Miles Hall. That should put us there around 11, just enough time to eat and be in the bowling alley by 12. We start bowling at 1.”
It was the day of our first tournament, October 22. We had been practicing for about five weeks now but many of us were still unsure as to whether we were ready for this or not. The majority of the team piled up into the previously wrecked Student Government Association van with the yellow stripe down the side from a pole and the door that constantly let in the cold air. The few lucky ones were able to ride in personal cars, transporting all of the balls.
We left at 8:30 that morning from Miles Hall. We had about three hours to drive to Dayton, Ohio. Three hours to anticipate every moment of that day. What are people going to think when we walk in? I think we all anticipated stares since the other teams didn’t know what to expect from us. What are the lanes going to be like? Am I going to put up any good scores? Am I going to embarrass myself when I get up to bowl? How good are these other players going to be? I know I worried myself to death about it. I was confident in my bowling because I have been competing for three years now but bowling in my first college tournament was a brand new experience.
The van pulled off the interstate at approximately 11:30 after two, not needed, bathroom breaks. We turned at one light, then another, then a stop sign, then a left turn into the parking lot… We were finally here, after three long hours to think about what Poleking Lanes was going to look like, we were there, in person, facing our first challenge of the year.
We all stepped out into the cold air in our sweatpants and sweatshirts. Most of us had slept along the way so it was a shocking adjustment. Our coach got out and went inside to check us in while the rest of us separated and went to eat at one of the several restaurants around the bowling alley. Some of us ate and others didn’t. Some were so nervous about the day that lay ahead that they couldn’t stomach any more.
Before we went into the bowling alley most of us had to change our clothes because we really would have looked stupid walking into the bowling alley in what we were currently wearing. Some changed in the cars and others in the restaurants. When we all had changed we finally looked like a team for the first time. We took some pictures outside the van and were ready to walk in to the bowling alley.
We walked in, more intimidated than most of us had ever been in our lives. We took everything in as we were walking through the bowling alley to our assigned lanes. We looked at all of the teams, guys and girls. They looked at us at the same time. It was almost like slow motion.
We weaseled our way through the hundreds of spectators and bowlers that were already standing behind the lanes. I pulled my balls while others carried theirs on their shoulders, trying not to run over or hit anyone in the process. The guys made it to their lanes first while us girls still had some dodging to do. We wished all of the guys luck for the day and continued our walking. We finally arrived at our lanes, started to get ready and attempted to calm the butterflies in our stomachs. Now all that was left to do was sit and wait for a while until they turned our lanes on for practice.

Posted on: 6 April 2006
Word Count: 649
Word Count to Date: 1350

In the Beginning...

2006-04-05T17:00:00.000-07:00

“Okay, I’ll see you tomorrow about noon down on Fourth Street.” That’s when I knew it might actually happen. That’s the conversation I had with Dug Barker, my coach now, when he was simply the guy who wanted to help start the bowling team. That next day, the process was actually started and progress was made. Not long after turning in all of our forms to become a “registered student organization” we actually got approved.
To get approved we had to do a lot of paperwork. This included a preliminary roster, by-laws and a constitution. The roster had to have at least five girls and five guys’ signatures committing to the bowling team before we would be reviewed. The constitution and by-laws were a set of rules laid out for each member of the team. It laid out our purpose, requirements for membership, officers of the team, meetings, committees, club dues, fundraisers, and grade requirements. All of this paperwork had to be complete before the approval committee would even consider us.
Another requirement was a school sponsor for the team, someone who could check grades and work with the Student Government Association on approving events or fundraisers. For a while we had a hard time finding a sponsor. One day our sponsor, Heather Snow, assistant Dean of Students, just kind of fell into our lap when we had a table set up. She came by, started talking to us about her husband and his bowling, and a few days later she committed to being the school sponsor.
One of the hardest parts of becoming a new organization is how to finance it. The Student Government Association allots certain amounts of money to each Registered Student Organization every year. They also have a certain amount set aside each year for new organizations. For our first semester, we were allotted part of this money but not nearly enough to cover all of our costs which included tournament entry fees, hotel rooms, food, and shirts.
Now where do we go from here? We had five guys and five girls who said they would probably bowl, which is how we were able to get approved, but would they actually stick with it? We only had three girls and one guy who had actually bowled in high school, so we were still looking for members. We sent emails, set up tables, hosted informational meetings, talked to everyone we knew, trying to inform the entire campus of the new Bowling Team in order to recruit. Needless to say, we recruited, and we ended up with eight girls and eight guys. Some had previous experience, others not.
Once we had these sixteen members we all joined the “Sunday Night Youth Sport Shot League” at Ken Bowl. First off, let me explain what the words “sport shot” mean. Most leagues are bowled on a “house shot” which is just a basic pattern of oil set out everyday for the league bowlers. If you have ever gone bowling, you would have bowled on this type of pattern. However, the pro bowlers and college bowlers bowl on a shot called a “sport shot.” This is a pattern of oil which is much more difficult than a house shot. If you are familiar at all with oil patterns, a sport shot usually has more oil on it than a house shot, allowing a limited amount of ball reaction, as well as being a longer pattern, resulting in less hook.
Each Sunday night we would get together and bowl two games for score for the league. Following those games we would shut off the monitors and simply throw balls, strike shots and spare shots. It was a new experience to most of us, bowling on this sport shot. Only two of the members of our team, myself and Alyson Bridwell, who also helped start the team, had ever bowled on a sport shot before. However, we quickly saw improvements in all of our games. We owe this to our coach, Dug Barker, who is nationally ranked and has been coaching youth for several years.
"I had never really bowled before so I joined more for fun than anything. But once I started learning how to bowl it was that much more fun. It's a great experience," comments Freshman bowler Chris Polito.
Once we had been practicing on this pattern for several weeks, it was time to bowl our first tournament…

Outline

2006-03-29T17:04:00.000-08:00

•The idea for my story is to do a piece on college bowling. We now have a team at Bellarmine which I helped start. I will talk about my experience this past year as well as my other teammates and other teams around the country.
•Abstract:
o My story is going to be an informational blog in order to tell people about newly formed college bowling teams. I will describe my own experience being on a first year team and discuss how we got it started. I will also tell of what is needed to start a team. I will also interview other teams to find out what their experiences are like. I will discuss tournaments as well as the rules of those tournaments. Any other information I need to present can be found through the USBC Collegiate Association.
•Questions needing to be answered:
o How many teams are there around the country?
o What schools have teams?
o What are the tournaments like?
o What do the athletes like or dislike about the tournaments?
o How can you start a team?
•Why should I write this story?
o I think I should write this story because bowling is become more and more popular, especially at the high school and college levels. Many high school students are unaware of the increasing popularity of college bowling. I think they, along with other college students, should be informed about how college bowling works so if they decide they really want to bowl in college they know what schools to look at.
•What is the peg?
o People will read this blog because it is of increasing interest among high school and college students.
•Two or three ways to present it:
o I could present it from my perspective being a college bowler.
o I could present it from a teammate’s or other college bowlers’ perspectives.
o I could present it from a coach’s perspective.
•Audience:
o Anyone interested in bowling, but mainly high school bowlers as well as college bowlers.
•Who will be affected by my story:
o Anyone interested in bowling, but mainly high school bowlers as well as college bowlers.
•Who is not represented:
o People who are not interested in bowling.
•Interviews:
o My teammates:
 What made you want to join the team?
 What is your favorite part about the team?
 What is your favorite part of the tournaments?
 What is your least favorite part of the tournaments?
 What information would you give to someone who is considering college bowling?
o Other college bowlers (who are actually on a team):
 What made you want to join the team?
 What is your favorite part about the team?
 What is your favorite part of the tournaments?
 What is your least favorite part of the tournaments?
 What information would you give to someone who is considering college bowling?
o My coach:
 What made you want to start this team?
 What is your favorite part about coaching?
 Since you have been a high school coach before, what is different about being a college coach?
 What main differences are there between how they are run and how the tournaments are?
 What information would you give to someone who is considering college bowling?
o USBC:
 Why did you start the college bowling program?
 What colleges have teams?
 Where can people find information about college bowling?
 What benefits do college bowlers have?
 What kinds of tournaments are available to college bowlers (or how many each year, approx.)?
•What types of sources can I use?
o Myself
o Teammates
o Other college bowlers
o My coach or other college team coaches
o USBC Collegiate Association
•Research
o I can use the USBC website as well other information they have in print.
o Other college’s websites.
o Members of college teams.
•What are the obvious and not-so-obvious answers/questions:
o I don’t think any questions or answers are obvious because most people are unaware that colleges have bowling teams.

Reflection

2006-03-29T17:03:00.000-08:00

The main reason I selected the topic, “On a Roll” concerning College Bowling was because I, along with my coach and his stepdaughter, started the bowling team here at Bellarmine this year. It took a lot of work for us to start it but after this year it has all been worth it. I bowled on my high school team too so I wanted to continue bowling in college, even though I had to wait a year for that to happen. So, we finally got it started. We competed in eight tournaments plus our sectional tournament over the last two semesters. The college bowling format is one of the most fun formats.
Almost every high school has a bowling team now but we are the first college team in Louisville. I wanted to make this blog so I can inform these high school students as well as other college students who are unaware of college bowling. I wanted to share my experience as well as other college bowlers’ experiences so these unaware students can make good decisions on where they want to go to college if they really want to bowl. I want to discuss the college bowling experience and all it entails as well as have it so others can ask questions about it and I can provide them with some answers.
Basically, I am just going to start my blog with how we started our team here at Bellarmine. I want to then make a list of all of the colleges with teams. I will then talk about the tournaments we competed in and how they work. Gradually I will go more in depth with other college bowlers. Then I will get the perspective of the coaches. I will then talk about the rules and regulations and where people can find more information.

2006-03-23T07:07:00.000-08:00

Me Bowling

2006-03-23T07:00:00.000-08:00