Well, it sure didn't take long for the bubble to burst!  A mere four days after shooting 673, i stink up the joint last night for a 547!

Things seemed to be going pretty well when I came out with a clean 214.  Didn't get much carry except for a turkey in the middle, but I was happy enough to get through Game 1 without my usual hole to dig out of.  I made a 5-7 split early on, which definitely helped.

As some old song goes, "what goes up, must come down", and unfortunately that was the theme for the rest of the night, and my average.

Game 2 was a combination of poor spare shooting, and poor carry.  Came up light on a 2-8 and only got the 2-pin, and completely short-armed the 6-10, missing both pins.  To ice the cake I left a 4-9 split, and limped into a 168.  Ugh.

To make matters worse, I couldn't carry worth a damn in the third game, but was going dutch 200 for the first 6 frames, so I wasn't in terrible shape.  The 9th and 10th frames absolutely killed me. First I chopped the 2-4 off the 5 in the 9th for an open, and then chopped the 6 off the 10 in the 10th.  165.  I felt like someone kicked me in the gut. 

We lost the wood by 20-something pins, and it definitely was on me for 2 crappy games.

I'm completely flabbergasted at going from 673 to 547 from one series to the next.  One day everything falls, the next, almost nothing falls. 

This is an evil, twisted game, and it must be destroyed before it consumes all of mankind (or my remaining tiny fragment of sanity).

Today was the annual Mid-Hudson Bowling Association tournament, and I was in the team event, and am very happy to say I got my highest-series ever, a 673.

I'd had a 672 earlier this year, and one last year, and any time you hit a new high, no matter how small a jump it is, it feels good.

I started off with a 223, which was great, since my first game's usually mediocre if i'm doing WELL.  I think bowling for a second time in 5 days made a difference.  Usually I bowl just my league, once a week, and by the time Wednesday night comes around, I've forgotten half of the good things I need to do, that I'm usually starting to really feel midway through the 3 games.

Second game was a 204, and the third game I banged out a 246, striking the final four.

Since this was a handicap tournament, and my teammates also did pretty well compared to their averages, we might have a chance at cashing.  There's 88 4-person teams, give or take, so if we're able to do that I'll be pretty happy.

It's nice to have a real positive day at the alleys.  I've been treading water for weeks now, with nothing particularly good, or particularly bad.....just frustration in not doing what I'm capable of, so I'm going to savor this.

Tuesday night league time I really hope to carry this over and finally begin the positive run I need to get to 200 before time runs out.

I'm gonna say no on the glass actually being a sippy cup.  I was enough of a baby in last week's post!

This week the half full portion was Game 2's 255 last night, my highest of the year, believe it or not. Had a nice six bagger down the stretch, only 2 spares through 9, and then X9/ in the 10th. Missed the high game pot by 2 pins, which is amazing since it usually takes high 260's minimum most nights.  So with that game I should be looking at a nice solid mid-600 series, potentially 700, right?

Ladies and gentlemen, in the corner to my left, the intercontinental heavyweight champ-PEEEEN of the worrrrrrrrrrrrrrld:  The glass half-EMMMMMMMMMMPTY!

Game 1: 169, Game 3: 178.

Uh, yeah.  Able to eke out a 602, so not bad overall, but to follow up a 255 with 178 kinda bites the big one.

Oh well.  Association tournament this Sunday, and I'm bowling in the team event.  My teammate in the tourney is a guy I bowled against last night, who dropped a 670 on my ass, so hopefully he has more of that in the tank for Sunday when we bowl together! Bad enough they won all 3 games against us, all by 30 or less pins, even though the four of us were well over 800 each of the games.

Bear with me on this one, because I need to rant.  It's therapeutic, though admittedly whiny.

Maybe some of you feel the same way....or maybe some of you want to tell me "sheddup", but I swear, do you ever get the feeling you just never catch a break?

Every week like clockwork, I have a game that I'm pounding the pocket like crazy and not carrying anything and/or get an undeserving split that takes what could be a great/good game, and turns it into a good/mediocre game.

I've bowled physically better than I did last night, so I'm not bitching because I think I deserved to shoot 700.  But 578 was plain outright b.s.  And I wonder why I'm stuck at 196 avg forever?

Game 1: 2 strikes.  Count em.  It doesn't take long. 1......2.  There wasn't that easy? Wobbly 7 pins multiple times, 10-pins.  Not like I was all that bad. My spare shooting sucked though, and had 2 opens, missing a 7-pin and 4-pin that sat in the oil mid-lane and never moved even though I threw it slower than a turtle stuck in the mud.  Ok, so 174 is not completely ridiculous considering that, but a simple carry once or twice out of the 5 non-strikes that could have been, isn't that much to ask.

Game 2: I'm crusing right along, on target for a nice 230 or so.  I've got a turkey going, and 5 of the last 6 strikes.  I come in a little high in the 9th.  I mean SLIGHTLY. 4-7-10. WTF!  The guy on the other team even said "that didn't look like a bad ball".  Yeah, no chit!  So I open, and drop 20 in the 10th for a 213.  Not bad, but wasted pins I didn't deserve to lose.

Game 3: Again, lack of carry, and another split. My only open was an 8-10 split that was driving nicely and looked as good as any ball I threw all night.  It was no spinner.  But I could only muster up 4 strikes, and no doubles.  So I end up with 191.

I completely get that bowling can be a messed up game sometimes, and some nights you're going to get the shaft.  I can live with that.  But nearly every single week? I'm tired of damn splits that shouldn't be, ruining my good games, and not carrying good shots week in and week out. Every guy in my league shoots a 250+ game at least once a month, if not many times.  There are a lot of good bowlers, (60% of my league is over 200 avg.) and I don't begrudge them anything.  But c'mon man, hook me up.  I haven't had a 250 all damn year.  I'm not Chris Barnes, but I deserve better than this crap.

There....I said it.  Now if you'll excuse me I'm gonna go stuff my head into a ball return and hope a Shock and Awe knocks some sense into me, or puts me outta my misery :)

An above-600 series?  A game significantly above 200?  Both in the same week?  Imagine that!

Ok, one game was responsible for both, my final of the night, a 246, keeping me from another disaster, but considering a 4-week string of sub-600's, I'm not one to complain.

I came out of the gate with a 201, which is pretty good considering my first game is usually a struggle.  Naturally I screwed it all up with a 170 in the second, missing a 7-pin and a 10-pin in a game I was just really off with my release.

The third could have easily been more disappointment after rocking the pocket for an 8-10 split in the second frame.  But I strung 7 together from the 5th through the second ball of the 10th, with 9 on the fill, giving me a 617 for the night. 

Not overwhelming, but considering my recent struggles I'll take anything that boosts the average.

Hopefully the start of a good run. At 197, not much time left to make a run at 200 with about nine weeks left.