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.

After a week off due to the blizzard, back at em Wednesday night. I've got a game plan and more consistency, but the scores not really showing it yet.

Some poor carry and a couple of poor missed spares led to 174-179 in the first two, to do the damage.  Had a nice clean 227 in the 3rd, which could have easily been 250+.  Left a solid 9 in the middle of what could have been a 5-bagger, and my best ball of the night in the 2nd ball of the 10th left a solid-10.  580.  Nothing to write home about, but I feel like I've stopped the bleeding.  Still four weeks in a row under 600 is frustrating.

My goal of averaging 200 isn't looking too good unless I put up some numbers soon.  It's good to at least leave the building with a good game, and hopefully i can put something together and make a run for a few weeks.

So it's official: it's me.

Ball resurfaced, check.  Sanded down, check. Feeling good in practice, check.

Splits in first three frames of Game 1........check.

Had this crazy notion that I'd step over three boards to the left and play an outside line and swing it out and back.  Washed out first three with unmakable splits, before I abandoned that theory and went back to playing straight up 5.  Was able to salvage a 182, and only shot 178 in game 2 due to some horrible spare shooting.

Game 3 was typical. Struck first two, left 6-10 in third and missed horribly.  Struck next two. 10-pins on blistering hits next two, spared both. 7-pin on another good hit. Struck in final four for 221. Easily could have shot 240-250 (karma comes to those who actually make the 6-10 and don't fire it into the gutter about 40 feet down the lane though).

581, which is better than the last couple of weeks, but that's about all that's good about it.

At least I have something positive to go into next week with, but the game 1 blues keep zapping me.