....I blame me. I should be using the miraculous shattering bowling ball employed by my good friend in my prior post. Seems to be the only way to go.
I'll keep my whining to a minimum since carry is fickle, and spare-making is a requirement, but it was not a good night for scoring, even though I was consistently in the pocket all night with rare exceptions.
Game 1 I started off with the first three, and got four 10-pins in the fourth-through-10th frames. Not unheard of. I missed ALL four of them. 171. Kept missing to the left. Couldn't seem to get myself to get the ball on the proper line despite standing way left and attempting to shoot hard over the 3rd arrow.
Game 2 was cruising right along nicely until getting three splits in the final 5. A weird 5-10 pocket split, a 4-9, and then a 4-6 in the 10th. 169.
Game 3 was a nice clean 222. 564. Avg down under 196. Not pleased. Yabba Dabba Dud.
My first full season in a scratch league is almost over, and I've noticed a few things about my scores, and those of the guys I bowl with/against.
Firstly, on a scale of 1-10, in this league, my 196 avg. means I'm about a 4. I'd say 60% of the guys avg. higher than me, so I'm no heavy-hitter in comparison.
The guys around me, even guys with similar averages, have 700 series under their belts this year. Some of them have thrown in some real clunkers at 500, or even under.
While I've been inconsistent (by my own standards), last week's 524 was my worst, but at the same time, I've only been over 650 two or three times, and I haven't sniffed a 700 in league EVER. I'm 196 avg. so I'm not expecting a regular hit at 700, but figured I would have stepped in doo-doo once and gotten it by now.
So.......is the cup half full or half empty? Is it good that despite having no real outstanding series, that I hover somewhere near 200 avg? Or is it a sign of mediocrity that I can only do so much and my lack of big-shooting series is because I'm just not getting it done?
Is the difference between me and someone who avg's 200-205 a few 700's instead of a few 650's (mathematically that's obvious I guess)? Or is it more reasonable to not worry about the 700's, and eliminate more of the 540's? I can't expect to always bowl between 570-620 though.....I don't think anyone's that consistent.
In the grand scheme of things, I suppose 4/11/07 was an improvement over 4/11/06. No hospital trip was required. Let's turn back the clock.
4/10/06: Scott buys new ball. Scott practices with new ball. Scott is happy with new ball.
4/11/06: Scott comes to lanes. Scott throws first practice ball. Ball stays on Scott's thumb way too long, as if held by some gravitational or supermagnetic force. Scott's back wrenches and he spends the week laid up in bed, and the next month and a half walking with the full stride equivalent to a penguin. Anything else is blinding pain. Season over.
4/11/07: No balls sticking to thumb. No excruciating (physical) pain. Just mental torture. I couldn't carry a thing. Not with a handle. Not if you dressed me in velcro and threw a box of dryer lint over my head. Not if you covered me with duct tape and shot a cat out of a cannon into my gut. And certainly not with a bowling ball, placed with great skill and determination, into the 1-3 pocket.
I've bowled worse than this and shot 620. In fact, I'm not certain that last week's 619 was any less skillful. So what do I get for my efforts last night: 524. 524. 524. I'm trying not to hurl as I say it.
A 10-pin fest in game 1, coupled with 2 questionable split leaves, sent me into a blissful 154 to kick things off. I did miss a 10-pin, but that was my only preventable error. Once again, insert hole to dig out of here ______.
At this point, without a couple of deuces, or a hefty 200 somewhere, my night was already close to being shot. After getting a whopping 2 strikes in game 1, and another 2 in frames 1-9 of the second game due to more hideous carry, I somehow came up with XX9 in the 10th to salvage an almost-respectable 193.
I say to myself, hey, maybe I'll carry now, and if I can pop in a 220 to finish it's not so bad. Well, I go X 9/ X 9/ X 9/ X and then leave a 4-7-10 on a shot I didn't think was that high. It's about my 4th or 5th split that wasn't really through the beak that badly. Never could string any strikes together and end up with 177.
Normally after shooting anything in the low 500's, I leave seething at myself, usually because I've thrown the ball so poorly I'm mad at myself beyond words. Last night I left laughing because I knew I hadn't bowled that poorly. I only missed two makable spares, 1 10-pin, and then a chop of the 3-6 off the 10. Couldn't kick out the 10s, and my slightly-high hits always left the 4-pin. No trip-outs, no shaker-strikes, nada.
It was just one of those nights nothing went right. I'll file it under "WTF?" and move on. I can't dwell on this, as much as it sucks.
I came out of the gate strong, but faltered for a 196 in the first game, but only due to missing a 10-pin and a 4-pin consecutively in the 8th and 9th. I was hitting the pocket regularly and it felt good getting through the oil right from the get-go.
My second game was pretty solid, with a 234. I struck 5 in a row from 8-10, but had another missed 10-pin in the middle of the game for my only open. Coulda-woulda-shoulda been a 240-something, oh well.
Last game was not so great, with a 189, and I had to go XX7 in the 10th for that. Missed my 3rd 10-pin of the night, and left a picket fence, in the first 5 frames and had to scramble to get back to respectability.
A 619 is definitely something I'll take, and while only one game was truly good, I avoided the game that usually kills me once a week, like a 160-170.
Been over 600 three of the last four weeks, so that's positive. Four weeks left, still some time to make more progress before the season ends.
