Ebonite man

Had the previously known "crappy" 25-26 on tap for last night. Since the new lanes have been installed, the shot has been much more consistent the first 3 weeks, so I wasn't expecting anything different. Our team was assigned lane 25, so this is where I started practice. Tried the usual 8 out to about 5, and the shot was solid in the pocket. Looked like status quo on this night as well. But wait, not so fast, as I tried the same shot on 26 only to chop the 6-9-10 off a full rack. WTF?!!! ...

Had another high scoring pair with 35-36 being on tap for tonight. Lanes again were oiled fresh and backends stripped. So far this season, the house has been doing the oiling about 1/2 hour before the start of practice, something they rarely did last season. Started with the Mutant Cell again and played a bit more of a belly going from 8 out to 5. Trying to play straight up 5 just wasn't going to work as the ball tended to overreact. My first couple of practice shots were using this line and both ...

What a difference a week makes when you have the right equipment. Had 33-34 this week which had been a dicey pair in past years. With the new lanes, it was interesting to see that this pair still played very similar to before, with the left lane giving fits. Started with the Mutant Cell playing straight up 6 board. This looked good during practice and was the shot early on. The left lane did not want to carry all that well unless I got some extra lift. As a result, quite a few 10 pins were in the ...

Decided to go with the Ebonite equipment to start this season based on the end of last year's good performance. The lanes were oiled and stripped fresh so the thinking was to start with the Big One which picks up the roll a bit earlier than the NVS or NV. This was obviously not going to work as every ball kept coming in light. Switched to the NVS with a slower ball speed straight up 6 board. This ball also came in light, but was at least getting light hit swishers. Last season, not a single 7-10 ...

Had the league preseason meeting followed by a free practice session on the new lane surface. Brought both Ebonite and new equipment to see what was the difference in reaction. Started throwing the Storm and something about the pitch didn't seem right. Couldn't get real good lift unless I cupped the ball-- an unexpected fly in the ointment. Even with a fairly weak release throwing the Storm, the ball reaction was very clean and both lanes played almost identical. Switched to the Ebonite Big One ...