Brian Halstrom

The New Columbia 300 Power Swing Bowling Ball - Coming Soon

bhalstrom — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 12:45:28 +0000

If you’re a fan of Columbia 300 bowling equipment, then get ready to embrace their newest high performance release coming to you January 22, the Columbia 300 Power Swing.

This ball features a new strike hungry, ﬂaring TriRib asymmetric core that provides a higher RG (2.51) plus greater differential (.051) than the Columbia 300 Resurgence core. Combing this core combination with the proven NE2Maxx coverstock, the Columbia 300 Power Swing is the ultimate ball for any bowler looking for more overall hook and control.

Features:

Surface: 4000 Abralon
Core: TriRib Core
RG: 2.51
Differential: 0.051

Video coming soon…

Save the White House Bowling Lanes

bhalstrom — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 16:06:39 +0000

Few questions are more important than whether or not the White House bowling alley, installed by Richard Nixon, has a future in an Obama Administration. As chronicled in The Wall Street Journal, hoops will be the diversion of choice for the president-elect and his lane-slashing cabinet:

“I think we are putting together the best basketball-playing cabinet in American history,” the president-elect said at a news conference earlier this week.

During the campaign, Mr. Obama said he planned to replace the white House bowling alley–installed by Richard Nixon in 1969–with an indoor basketball court.

Obama uses Dr. Naismith’s game to blow off steam before big speeches, and has scheduled a 3-on-3 game before his inaugural address on Jan. 20th. Given that the current White House court is outdoors, and the fact that Obama will be facing a host of hand-wringing winter time decisions right out of the gate, the need for an indoor rim is paramount. But should the new court come at the expense of the most famous bowling lane in the country?

Click Here to Vote!

Written by David Knowles

Storm Hy-Road Bowling Ball Review & Ball Reaction Video

bhalstrom — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 15:04:01 +0000

If you’ve been watching the PBA tour this season, you’ve probably seen this ball on the show a few times. Norm Duke, Mike Machuga, Patrick Allen, & Rhino Page have all used it on TV and have had great success with it.

Click Layout Image to Enlarge

The HY-ROAD™ is the latest release in the Thunder™ Series of balls. HY-ROAD™ is the perfect complement to the 2007 solid ball of the year; the T-ROAD™ Solid.

Pin to PAP(4 1/2″ over 1/2″ up) - 4 1/2″
Mass Bias Position - N/A
CG Placement - 2 1/2″ Right of grip center
Balance Hole - 1″ x 1 1/2″ balance hole 5 1/2″ from the center of grip through CG

Surface Preparation - Left at Box Finish (1500 Polished)

What I Was Looking For In This Layout: The ball reaction I was looking for in the Storm Hy-Road ball was clean through the heads and aggressive in the back end. Something that would allow me to not have to work as hard to get down the lane, but still turnover nice on the back.

What I Ended Up With In This Ball Layout: Well Storm just put out another winner here. They say this ball is supposed to compliment the T-Road Solid, and I say that they may have just one-up’d it.This ball performs exceptionally well on those medium oil patterns. When compared to my Storm Virtual Gravity, this ball clears the heads easier and makes a great reaction in the backend. I threw this ball for the first time last night, and I am very impressed with the movement and readability.

I tried this ball on a typical house shot, medium oil. This worked best for me when I stood on 25, threw the ball in between the 3rd and 4th arrows, and got the ball to around 8-10 at the breakpoint. It seemed pretty effortless to get the ball through the heads, but once it reached the breakpoint, it made a move that was strong and predictable.

The one thing I loved about the Storm Hy-Road was the ability it gave me to play different parts of the lane. I moved 5 boards right to stand on 20 and play a little straighter. It still allowed me to get through the heads easily while maintaining enough energy down lane. After finding out that I could play straighter with this ball, I moved left about 15 boards to stand at 35. This is where I usually like to throw my Virtual Gravity. Once again, this ball impressed me by turning the corner effortlessly and exploding at the pins, sending messengers everywhere.

Overall, this is a great piece to have in your bag. Whether you’re a cranker and a down and in player, this ball simply performs on all levels.

The New Ebonite The One Pearl Bowling Ball - Coming Soon

bhalstrom — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 14:09:52 +0000

Ebonite The One Pearl

If you liked Ebonite The One - Original, then get ready for Ebonite’s newest release… Ebonite The One Pearl.

Take The ONE from Ebonite, add on some extra muscle and what do you get? Ebonite The One Pearl–a stronger, more aggressive version of The ONE.

So, what exactly makes The ONE Pearl stronger? By pearlizing the GB 10.7 coverstock, we’ve added even more power to The ONE, giving The ONE Pearl more length and an even sharper approach to the pins, resulting in increased pin carry.

Features:

Coverstock: GB 10.7
Weight Block: Centrex Symmetrical Mass Bias
Ball Color: Purple/Black/Red Pearl All colors do vary somewhat from the picture shown.
Ball Finish: 4000 with Abralon and polished with Powerhouse Factory Finish
Hook Potential: 41 (scale of 1 - 50)
Length: 28 (scale of 1 - 50, early to late)
Reaction: Length with Stronger Backend
RG Differential: 0.037 (Medium Flare) on a scale of .000-.080 Low Flare-High Flare
RG Average: 2.51 (Low) on a scale of 2.43-2.80 Very Low-High Break Point

The New Striking Motion Bowling Ball by Ebonite

bhalstrom — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 15:21:14 +0000

Ebonite Striking Motion

If you’re a fan of Ebonite Bowling Balls, then you’re going to love the new Ebonite Striking Motion. This ball offers an all new Super Shell 1.0 coverstock which pushes ball performance to new heights while also being the most durable cover that we have introduced to date. The Flat Iron Core that we are introducing to the market offers a few unique properties. As a result, the core numbers are slightly different than any other ball that Ebonite has introduced to date.

Features:

Core Design: Flat Iron Asymmetric
Mass Bias Strength: 0.022
Mass Bias Location: 6 3/4” from the pin
Coverstock Name: Super Shell 1.0
Box Finish: Sanded with 4000 Grit Abralon Pad
Length: (Ebonite scale of 1 to 50, earliest to latest) - 19
Overall Hook: (Ebonite scale of 1 to 50, least to most) - 48
Breakpoint Angle: (Ebonite scale of 1 to 15, most smooth to most angular) - 12.00

Pick up the all new Ebonite Striking Motion today!

Have You Elfed Yourself?

bhalstrom — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 19:48:07 +0000

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

In Need of a Great Gift at a Great Price? Check These Websites Out!

bhalstrom — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 15:01:41 +0000

Keeping your holiday spending under control is easy thanks to an array of Web sites with the sole purpose of helping you find bargains. There are sites that post the latest deals on everything from clothes to electronics, sites that give you cash back when you shop, sites that provide coupon codes, sites that help you compare prices and even sites that post Black Friday sale ads before they hit the newspapers.

Even if you don’t end up buying online, it never hurts to find the best deals on the Web before you brave crowded stores. Then you can comparison shop and make better choices.

Find the Lowest Price

If you really want to score a great buy, use a price-comparison site. PriceGrabber.com (side-by-side product comparison, merchant coupons and rebates) Shopping.com and mySimon.com all are great options because they give you a lot of results for your searches with the range of prices listed, product descriptions, side-by-side product comparison, and store and product ratings. The sites also are good places to go if you are looking for gift ideas.

Pronto.com fetches prices on 70 million products from 65,000 merchants, a larger retail search than rival sites offer. The site is geared heavily toward products users like most. That is, when you click on a category, you’ll get a list of the top 100 liked products. You also can get gift-buying tips from community members.

If you know exactly what you want and need just a bare-bones price comparison site, try Google’s shopping search engine, Froogle. What you’ll get are lots of results for your search, product reviews, seller ratings and a “local shopping” option to help you find products at stores near you. What you won’t see is a home page full of hot products, shopping guides, product categories and colorful images you’ll find on sites such as PriceGrabber and Shopping.com.

Hot Deals!

If you’re not exactly sure what to get that certain person on your gift list, check out online deal sites, which post loads of discounted items. You’re bound to find the right gift at the right price.

Our new favorite is dealnews, which has a team of about 15 deal hunters keeping their eyes on a million products at a 1,000 stores. Plus merchants and the site’s visitors tip them off to bargains. The deal hunters hand pick the best deals among the thousands they get daily and update the site at least 200 times a day, de Grandpre says.

The site also bans stores with poor customer service and publishes only verified — not rumored — Black Friday sales prices. Plus, you can sign up for e-mail or RSS alerts for products or stores you’re interested in and get gift ideas from the site. And it even has a Wii price tracker.

Dealtaker.com lists some deals on its home page, but you’ll find hundreds more listed in its forums, including Black Friday ads. So if you’re willing to take the time to troll through the forums, you’ll probably find deals here you won’t find other places. Or use the search option if there’s a particular product for which you’re trying to find a deal.

There are more than 153,000 forum members who post deals, and you don’t have to register to view the ones listed. The site also offers coupons for about 1,500 online stores, a price search engine and e-mail notification of deals. Because the site gets about 2 million visitors during the holidays, “when you see a good deal … take the plunge or you risk losing it because hot items go out of stock quickly,” says Neal Rapoport, the site’s founder.

For electronics, our favorite is DealsOfAmerica, which updates deals every hour. Every item it lists on the home page has a picture, a description, the store that’s offering the deal and, best of all, the list price so you’ll know just how much of a bargain you’re getting. The site also has coupons, a price-comparison tool, a list of products or services available for free after rebate or coupon and a hot deal e-mail alert you can sign up to receive. Deals are from top online retailers and brick-and-mortar stores with nationwide presence.

Another distinctive site: Slickdeals.net. It lists deals by date so you know new items are being added every day. It also offers online coupons and a forum, where you can find more deals and advice on getting bargains.

Shop With Cyber-Coupons

Put away the scissors — you don’t have to clip these coupons. Plenty of sites offer coupon codes (and printable coupons) for online and brick-and-mortar retailers. The nice thing about our picks is that you don’t have to register on these sites to gain access to the coupons.

CouponCabin posts featured coupons, as well as special offers, on its homepage and lets you search for coupons from 1,200 online stores by category and merchant. You also can sign up to receive coupons by e-mail.

DealCatcher.com provides online coupons, printable coupons and deal alerts for stores or products of your choosing through e-mail. You can browse for coupons by store or category. And with its catch of the day, there’s an icon you can click on to see similar deals.

RetailMeNot offers coupons from more than 20,000 stores and a community where you can get tips and deal info from others.

CouponMountain.com focuses on coupons for Dell, HP, Buy.com and Amazon.com, but also has coupons for stores such as Old Navy and Target. You can search by category or store. It also has a list of the most popular coupons lists deals of the day. And Coupon Craze has coupon codes and printable coupons not only for merchants in the U.S. but also in the United Kingdom and Canada. It also has a special Black Friday and Christmas coupons sections.

And if you’re shopping for children, check out CleverBabies.com. It has coupons for stores such as Toys R Us, DisneyShopping.com and babyGap. The site also posts sales, has forums and has its own coupons.

Get Cash Back

Another way to spend less is to earn cash while you shop. That’s the premise of FatWallet and Ebates.com. Join their cash-back programs and you can get cash back (usually a percentage of your purchase) when you buy items from select merchants.

Be sure to read the fine print. You don’t get cash back at the time of your purchase. Instead, it accrues in an account and is sent to you periodically. Also, not all merchants featured on these sites participate and of those that do, some have their own requirements for earning cash back.

Black Friday Ad Sites

These sites post Black Friday sale ads weeks before they run in the newspapers: Black Friday 2008, BlackFridayAds.com, TheBlackFriday.com, Black Friday Gear, BlackFriday.info, Black Friday GottaDeal.com and Black-Friday.net.

Created in 2003, Black Friday (bfads.net) was the first site exclusively dedicated to posting Black Friday ads. What we like about this site is that its lists of sale items have star ratings for the product and icons that denote whether they are early bird or rebate items. Black Friday also has a mailing list you can sign up for to receive e-mail notifications of deals.

Parting Tips

On a final note, if you’re shopping online be sure to look for privacy and security seals on retailers’ sites, know the return and exchange policies, and check shipping deadlines to ensure your gifts arrive on time.

And to make sure you’re getting the best bargain online, look for the item at the best price from a merchant with free shipping and a coupon to lower the cost even further — the trifecta of bargain shopping, Rapoport of DealTaker.com says.

Happy shopping!

(found on Yahoo Finance - Written by Cameron Huddleston)

Hammer’s Raw Hammer Acid bowling ball - coming soon

bhalstrom — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 19:37:44 +0000

Hammer Raw Hammer Acid

Hammer is set to release a new ball into their mid-level performance line of balls. They are introducing the Hammer Raw Hammer Acid on December 2, the perfect gift this Christmas. Here’s what they have to say about it:

There’s nothing safe about the Hammer Raw Hammer Acid. Made with our Max-Hook Reactive coverstock and Raw Hammer Assault core, we’ve designed it to be dangerous from the outside in; a scary combination of power and control you won’t find in any other mid-level ball. The Hammer Raw Hammer Acid. Let the pins burn.

We are looking forward to possibly getting our hands on this ball early to do a little testing. If we do get these in early, we’ll make sure to shoot a video!

Ball Features:

Core: Raw Hammer Assault Core
Coverstock: Max-Hook Reactive
Factory Finish: 4000 Grit Abralon
Flare Potential: Medium-High

Brunswick Smash Zone bowling ball review

bhalstrom — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 12:46:53 +0000

The Smash Zone integrates a pearlized version of Brunswick’s exciting EnMotion™ coverstock with an updated version of the original Inferno™ core and a high gloss polish finish. This combination creates an ultra-low RG symmetric core ball that gets through the front part of the lane then rev’s strongly to create excellent mid-lane recovery and a continuous back-end reaction.

Pin to PAP(4 1/2″ over 1/2″ up) - 5″
CG Placement - 3 3/8″ from PAP
Balance Hole - None

Surface Preparation - Left at Box Finish

What I Was Looking For In This Layout: With this layout I was expecting to clear the heads easily and give me a strong and predictable reaction down lane to compliment my Brunswick Ultra Zone. This is the second ball I have tried with Brunswick’s new EnMotion Coverstock, so I was interested to see how this ball would stack up when compared to the Brunswick Ultra Zone.

What I Ended Up With In This Ball Layout: Out of the box, I really needed to move left. I had originally thought this ball would be a little more tame than my Brunswick Ultra Zone. When I got it out on the lanes, it exceeded my expectations. I was expecting clean through the heads, which for the most part I got, but the backend reaction was where it’s at. One thing I found that I liked in this particular ball was how clean the surface stayed after I threw a shot. The ball kept its “tacky” feeling where some other equipment picks up the oil and leaves the surface oily.

After throwing a few games of practice with this ball, I learned that this thing was not going to stop hooking. The further left I moved, the more backend reaction I found. As long as I did not get the ball through the dry heads, I was alright. It did pick up quickly when I got it through the dry areas. I ended up switching to the Brunswick Swarm, a tamer ball in their arsenal that rolls very well on medium lane conditions.

The reaction the Brunswick Smash Zone gave me was surprising, being that I thought it would be less aggressive than the Brunswick Ultra Zone. I think people are going to be surprised with the performance of this ball. If you liked the original Brunswick Inferno, than I think you’re going to love this ball. For the price, it’s well worth the investment.

Click Here To watch the Brunswick Smash Zone Ball Reaction Video

Stefanie Nation takes home her first title!

bhalstrom — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 20:33:54 +0000

Congratulations to Stefanie Nation for taking home her first title yesterday on the PBA! She took down one of the strongest women bowlers out there in Michelle Feldman. I’ve bowled with Stefanie for many years and I couldn’t have been more happy than to see her win. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a bowler, male or female, who throws it better in the clutch. Stef was throwing the Brunswick MaxXX Zone

Stefanie and I bowled together for the University of Central Florida Striking Knights. I’m proud that she got the chance to get out there and do what she loves to do. Congratulations Stef!

Brunswick MaxXX Zone

Along with taking home first titles, Brad Angelo captured his first title against Chris Loschetter. To be honest, I was routing for CJ all the way. I know Loschetter will get his first title this year, because honestly, I’m tired of throwing things at the TV when he doesn’t win! Congratulations to both CJ and Brad for bowling great tournaments.

Loschetter was throwing Global 900 while Angelo was using the Brunswick Avalanche Slide.

Brunswick Avalanche Slide