Friday Night League - 697 Series

DAMNIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I cant believe i was 3 pins short. SIGH

So my first game was a 227, and that was with a open in the second frame (split) and i struck out in the 10th frame. I was releasing the ball good too

Second game was a 225. Pretty much exactly the same as the first, open in the 2nd, and struck out in the 10th.

Third game was a 245. This time i didnt open in the 2nd frame. So, everyone on my team opened in the 10th frame and going up there i had 3 in a row. The anchor on the other team walked up there with me and all i needed to do was strike to shut their team out. 1 Strike. 1 strike would have won the game, got me my 700 series, and beaten larry. So what do i do? Freaking came in high. i picked it up and then struck but he struck out. The pressure really got to me on that one and I am really upset about it. 

Friday Night League - 669 Series

Again I started off bad. Releasing the ball like an idiot. My first game was a 190. The bad part about that is I had marked all the way till the tenth, then opened. I missed the 6-9-10 like a dumbass for a 190. After that game though, i realized there was something wrong with my release. So I decided to focus of gettting the ball off my hand much cleaner. 

My second game was a 256. I had no idea it was that good either. I even opened on one frame. I threw 2 strikes in the 10th and then came in high and left the 4 pin. When i walked back everyone was telling me good job, then i looked at my score. 256... wow. I had no clue. And that double i threw in the 10th meant we took high handicap game too with 1175.

My third game was a 223. Again, i had a stupid open, but overall i was throwing the ball much better. It was actually driving though the pocket much harder than normal. I guess i just really need to focus on releasing that ball properly because when i do it rewards me with ten pin party in the pit. 

I am most likely gonna buy another ultra zone and have it drilled diferently. I really like the ball. I like the coverstock much more than the VG's cover stock. My current Ultra is drilled to roll early so i think ill get another one and get it drilled to go longer. 

Friday Night League - 604 Series

Just squeeked into the 6's on this series. I dont remember my scores, but I remember what i did wrong. The first 2 games i was throwing the ball way to hard. For some reason i had it in my head that I had to throw it mega hard. On the third game, i slowed it down and shot 231. I cant beleive i didnt do that the first 2 games. oh well

I gave the VG to Aric to throw and see if he liked it. He threw it his 2nd in 3rd game. He got 240 something the second game and a damn 279 the last game. SIGH. Guess its going to work for him.

Friday Night League - 654 Series

I knew we were on 1 and 2, and with the current slump i am in, I was expecting another wonderful 500 series. I had some time before league so i went and got my new ball drilled. I decided to go with a layout that was for "early roll with strong back end". I got it drilled at holiday, it just feels like they have the angle of the thumb better or something. Anyway, you should see the weight hol he put in the ball, you could put a gallon of water in it. 

So we got to our lanes for practice, and I decided to throw the ultra zone to see what it would do. Holy crap, I couldnt keep it on the right side. i threw 3 balls and put it away and grabbed the VG.

first game - 177

Sigh, i dont remember much of the game except that i couldnt find the right adjustment on lane 2. I had no trouble on 1. I ended on lane 2, and I marked in the 10th frame, so i decided to throw the ultra since i couldnt do any harm.  I ended up putting the VG away and kept the ultra out.

Second game - 229

So i was just throwing the ultra as hard as i could and man was it coming back. WTF? i wanted it to be a less hooking ball, but thats not going to happen. And it almost seemed like as long as i threw it as hard as possible, it would hit pocket. 

Third game - 248

Ultra zone baby. thats all i have to say.

Larry shot a 668, so even though he will be ahead of me in average, hes not out of reach. I am going to give the VG one more chance. I got a 4000 grit abralon pad to try to return it to its factory finish. It has failed me twice. 

Friday Night League - 629 Series

So this blog is a little late because I didnt really have time till today. We bowled the old men on Friday, so there was a TON of crap talking going on. I actually like bowling those old guys though, its pretty fun to mess with them about their lack of revs or speed of the ball.

I started off pretty strong, had a strike, then a spare that i missed my mark by 2 boards right, then struck to the 10th. I got up for the 10th frame thinking about how i needed to close the frame out. I missed my mark bad and left a split. SIGH. Opened in the 10th for a 245. 

Thats ok i was thinking, i was throwing it well. Second game i had the front 5, then what do i do? I come in high and leave the 4 ten. Miss it. Come in slightly high and leave the 10, miss it. Then hit pocket and leave the 7 - 10. I went from the front 5 to a 189. 

Last game i just couldnt carry anything. 195. 

Got my usual 6 opens. 4 of those were splits though, not that it makes it any better. I picked up one split but i cant remember which one. 18 strikes. 13 of those were in the first 15 frames. I just dont understand what my problem is. Its all mental i think. And i dont adjust quick enough to keep my scores high. 

Friday Night League - 619 Series

Sigh. I dont know what happened. Was it because i didnt practice on monday? I started out pretty strong, made a couple mistakes and then just could never really recovered after that. I felt myself throwing the ball harder than normal, couldve been left over from the tournament on sunday.

I was throwing my Virtual Gravity, and the lanes seemed like they were oiled pretty well. I started out playing my normal 12 to 5 shot. 

First game - 223

I had a great game going, made 3 stupid mistakes and got spares but the rest of the frames were strikes. Then i get up to the 10th frame, left a ten pin then missed it. I opened for a 223. What an idiot. How am I still missing ten pins. I was so upset about it that i had to walk off.  I had a 240/250 game going

Second game - 193

I couldnt carry ANYTHING this game. the thing that sucks when you dont carry is you get spares and then that one split that you cant pick up totally ruins any hope of getting a 200+ game. I dont remember the frames but I remember opening in the 8th and having a 133. I had to strike out for a 193. I really focused on doing that and got the 4 strikes. Talk about saving a game. 

Third game - 203

Yet another game where I couldnt carry. I decided to move and throw 10 to 5 since i was throwing it hard and couldnt seem to control it. I got a couple strikes but still sucked. Again, I had to strike out for the 203 and I did. One time in the tenth, i started my approach up there to throw and as I let the ball down I hit my leg. I managed on stopping myself while sliding up to the foul line. Walked back to the ball return, put my ball down, recollected myself and then threw a strike. Its a great feeling to know I have the control to stop in mid swing if i sense something wrong.

All in all i am pretty disappointed in myself. i wouldve had to shoot a 628 just to maintain my average. My average was 209.44 last night and I suspect it will drop to 209.2. Sigh. I wont say what Aric shot(it was bad) but his average is gonna drop to 202. Larry shot a 720, his will prolly go up a pin and he will now be at 206. A little close for comfort.

The team we bowled against needed a sub so Elena subbed for them. She didnt have her shoes or her ball, but she still bowled. She was using the "Yoly" ball that we found a couple months ago. Her first game was a 99 and her second was a 102. Then she figured out what she was doing wrong and shot the best game of her life - a 155. 

Monday Night Practice - 665 Series

It feels good to get back into my normal practice schedule. It was an added bonus that bowling was on special tonight for 2 dollars a game :).
I got my number one comp Aric to come practice with me tonight. I always get nervous when I bowl against Aric. Check out the picture and I will explain what happened.
The 221 is my average for the 3 games, below that are the actual scores and below that is the total pinfall for the 3 games. The 9.3 is my first ball average and the 29.05 is the average number of seconds it takes me to bowl a frame.
First Game - 234
Didnt get a warm up game today, so i just tried my normal line for friday night. It came in light and left a split. Oh well, it was the first ball. I made a 3 board foot adjustment to the right, and struck to the 7th frame. So my left foot was 2 baords right of the far left dot, and i was throwing 13 to about 5. i had noticed on strike 5 that my ball was coming in light. I moved and the result was a 10 pin. picked it up and then in frame 8 left another 10 pin. this time i missed it. moved back to my original line and struck out. why i moved when i was carrying is beyond me.
Second Game - 213
Had three opens in the first 3 frames of this game. 2 of the opens were because i was throwing my spare ball at the spares which I'm not 100% comfortable with. For some reason i had migrated my shot to the outside, playing about 10 to 5. Finally moved myself back over and somehow saved the game.
Third Game - 218
I had a Dutch 200 going until the 6th frame when i finally got a double. I had another stupid open in the 8th frame but ended up striking out for the 218.
Under the header "Total" in the picture, the 5 is the number of open frames. 5. yes 5. As I mentioned, I am still learning to throw the spare ball at every spare, but that is just unacceptable. the 7 is the number of spares. the 22 is the number of strikes, the 3 is the number of splits and the 1 is the number of splits that were converted. Not completely horrible, but not all that great either. I would like to see an average of 8 strikes a game, so only 2 more total. I guess i cant complain about that.
The good ol league pattern saved my ball from going in the gutter a couple times. Its just amazing to me that the league pattern is that forgiving. I almost feel like i am cheating. I was doing my "mental clearing" thing that i was doing on friday. i really think it helps me. I threw the Virtual Gravity all night.
Aric had a 594. This was his first time trying to shoot at every spare with a plastic ball. He did pretty good for his first time.
Michael did really well, he had 588. Why he cant do that in league remains a mystery. He seems to get freaked out if he gets more than 4 strikes in a row. :)

Elena is getting much better. She had a 120, 122, and 130. She even had 2 strikes in the tenth frame of one game.