THAT GUY who everyone hates but seems to ALWAYS be around....

[Phonetek]

You know who I'm talking about.... The game you start off with a string of strikes that guy comes up to you and says "Ever had a 300 before?" or "WOW, looks like you are on the way to a 300!" or "HEY! All you have to do is strike out in the 10th and you got a 300!" It's happened to me and I've seen it happen a bunch of times to others. Do you think baseball players come up to the pitcher between innings and say "Hey one more inning and you have a no hitter!"? How did or would you deal with this person?

[mc_runner]

That used to bother me, but now it's all good. Usually seems to happen much more in casual leagues/settings. Nowadays, I tend to keep things pretty loose, I'd prefer to keep talking vs being all uptight and to myself.

So, what I do is usually smile and crack a joke with them, then do my usual routine or go back to BSing with my team. If I let it get to me or start dwelling on it, that's all on me.

[boatman37]

Not in that sense but we have a guy that has a short temper with everyone else doing anything wrong but he is pretty inconsiderate when it comes to courtesy in the next lane. I have been at the line and had him walk up in the lane next to me and stand there. As soon as I took a step or 2 he started his approach. We had a guy a few weeks ago almost get dinged in the head with this guys ball because he lost his balance at the line and this guy was 1/2 way through his approach. This same guy last year was complaining about theamount of balls on the rack and asked our team if any of us had 2 up there. We all said we didn't and he said well then I will just start removing them. Our captain said 'you touch my ball there will be problems'. Turns out his teammates had multiple balls on the rack.

When we bowl next to him now I just wait until he bowls before I go. Last week I was lines up on the approach and saw him grab his ball so I stepped back and told him to go ahead. I waited until he was done.

[Hammer]

I used to bowl with a teammate that would tell me in the tenth frame that I need to strike out for us to win. By the way, I have always been the anchor bowler on any team I was on. It finally got to me and I told him to not tell me what I need to win anymore. I told him that every time I go up to bowl I am trying to strike. Sometimes it happens and sometimes it doesn't. Also I never look at the score to see how far ahead or how far behind we are. Doing that keeps the pressure off.

[J Anderson]

My Thursday league has a guy who often says, “Good ball!”, or something similar, while the ball is still approaching the pins. 9 times out of 10 the shot results in a split or washout. He is at least an equal opportunity jinx, doing this to his teammates as often as he does it to members of the opposing team.

[Phonetek]

equal opportunity jinx

Okay, now that was funny! An equal opportunity jinx...absolutely hilarious. Sounds like a guy with chronic foot in the mouth disease. At least it sounds like he means well but just can't help himself. He probably thinks he's being a good sport rooting everyone on hoping people will like him for it. I doubt this guy would bother me much, he sounds pretty harmless.

[Outerlimits]

Guess everyone is different, I bowl with a guy that's a 215 average. When he is on a string he always says talk to me....help keep me loose. First time he said this I thought he was joking, because I am just the opposite, when I am on a string (rare) but if I am....I want to be left alone, don't want to talk just leave me in my zone. Usually if someone comes up to me and makes a comment, I just smile and try to get back to my own thoughts, if they persist, ill answer them and walk away. But that's what works for me, others just deal with the comments. I bowl with a bunch of seniors, most have been and continue to be serious bowlers, even though they cannot bowl like they did in their heyday, they are courteous, and know when to talk or when to leave you alone.
We have one guy who is know for playing head games with people who are on a string or even just bowling above their average. Back in the day.....talking smack, and getting into a competitors head was part of the game. The leagues I bowl in know are fun leagues. No need for those tactics at 60- 80 years old. We have one guy who tries to get into folks heads when they are bowling good, a lady may be on three in a row and he will go up and suggest holding her ball a different way, or tell her the first two looked good that last one looked like your timing was off. Trust me.....he is not trying to give helpful advice, as much as planting the seed for a potential problem and disrupting their games. When his team is loosing and the other team is bowling good is when he does this. If they are winning, and the other team is struggling, he is silent. I have told him its not called for to be messing with folks, he just smiles and says they don't even know what I am doing. Their have been several complaints filed with the league about him, but its impossible to really prove.