One day after just missing his first 300 game, Bob Breitman achieves perfection on the lanes.
Bob Breitman learned from his mistakes. And it resulted in him bowling his first perfect 300 game.
Bowling Feb. 19 in the Sunday Morning Bowling Brothers league at Merri-Bowl Lanes in Livonia, Breitman rolled nine straight strikes to start a game.
Then came the crucial 10th frame. On his first ball, the lefty left the 7 pin. He picked that up, then left another 7 pin and finished with 274.
“I choked,” was Breitman’s brutally honest assessment of his failed attempt at bowling perfection.
Fast forward to Feb. 20, the next night. After bowling 216 and 218 in his first two games in the weekly Brotherhood-Eddie Jacobson B’nai B’rith league at Country Lanes in Farmington Hills, Breitman threw nine straight strikes to start the third game.
Then came the 10th frame. The few league bowlers still at the lanes and his No Names teammates saw Brietman take a different approach.
“I was focused. Calm. I blocked out all the extraneous stuff. I didn’t do that the previous day,” Breitman said.
The West Bloomfield resident rolled three straight strikes and got his first 300 game. His average in the league was 204 at the end of the night.
“I buried every shot in the pocket in that game except for the seventh frame,” he said. “That wasn’t a solid pocket hit, but it carried.”
Breitman previously had a 299 game and two 298 games. He shot the 299 when he was on the Cornell University bowling team in the 1970s. He left the 8 pin on his last ball.
Then-Cornell coach Mo Pinel, a renowed bowling ball designer, gave the pin to him.
“I still have it,” Breitman said.
Breitman first joined the Brotherhood-Eddie Jacobson league when he moved to the area in 1978 from the East Coast.
He left the league in 1987 but re-joined it in either 2016 or 2017, he said.
Breitman is an information technology consultant who focuses on infrastructure and cyber security.
There’s been plenty of additional excitement in the Brotherhood-Eddie Jacobson league in recent weeks.
A week following Breitman’s perfect game, on Feb. 27, Tom Endean bowled a 299 game. It was the 19th 299 game in the league’s more than 60-year history.
The 299 game was 113 pins over Endean’s 186 average. It was the largest over average game in the 24-team league that week. Endean’s 647 series was a plus-89, tied for the fourth largest series over average in the league that week.
There were five 700 series in the league on March 6.
“I can’t remember a night where we had five 700s,” said Gary Klinger, the league’s long-time secretary.
Dave Shanbaum had a 731 series, his third 700 series of the year and season best.
Ryan Vieder had a 725 series, the first 700 series of his career. That series was plus-197 over average for the night, best in the league.
Vieder set a league record for the most improvement in series from one week to the next, plus-240. He had a 485 series the previous week.
Rick Woolman had a 706 series, his third 700 series of the season.
Aaron Radner’s 705 series was his eighth 700 series of the season, and third in five weeks.
Joey Schechter had a 704 series, giving him back-to-back 700 series and an average of 227 over six weeks.
Endean didn’t have a 700 series, but his 680 series was his best ever in the league. He was plus-116 over average for the night, third highest among league bowlers, and he posted his fourth straight 600 series.
The last night of the regular season in the Brotherhood-Eddie Jacobson league is April 4. The playoffs will begin April 10, with the championship match April 24.
Please send sports news to stevestein502004@yahoo.com.
