Iceman thought he was FINISHED BOWLING!!

[vdubtx]

ICEMAN, no reason to quit just because if a tough day on the lanes. We all have those tough days and power through them. They will make you a better bowler.

[MICHAEL]

ICEMAN, no reason to quit just because if a tough day on the lanes. We all have those tough days and power through them. They will make you a better bowler.

I agree that you should have been told about the sports shot if you were pre-bowling and not just open bowling. In your 10 minutes of warm up you should have figured this out pretty quick that it wasn't your THS shot. But why QUIT a league because of your crappy scores on a hard shot? It isn't your leagues fault

We only threw a few balls in warm up, and yes it was CRAZY to me then!! Hitting mark and not making it back to the pocket! But I have never even heard of SPORTS PATTERNS being laid down at THIS BOWLING LANE! They don't even have ONE SPORTS LEAGUE at this establishment!

So I had no idea to even imagine that it was a White Pattern!! It was a combination of many things! I think what upsets me the most is that I almost did something that is unethical!!

This is my first Pre Bowling experience, and I know you don't quit just because your not happy with your scores! I get it, you TAKE WHAT YOU GET, this usually means burnt up house shots.

I like the manager that doesn't know much about bowling, who worked restaurants in the past with no experience in the bowling area! He is a great guy, he apologized to me and my wife for not knowing that there was a difference between house and sports patterns.

I thought it was ME in the warm ups,,,, Even My wife was having problems, but KNOWING this establishment does not have Sports Leagues, ,, ,, Well it never even crossed my mind to ask if the OIL that he said was unused was SPORTS... GRRRRRRRRRRR!!!

I feel so bad about this whole situation, that tonight, when we bowl the Sunday Evening league, I am going to have them take me off this league!

((( I CAN grantee this WILL NEVER HAPPEN AGAIN))) I now know what to ASK, before, even if an inexperienced manager, (who is a great guy IMHA), doesn't know squat about oil!

I thank you all for your commits, this was ONE HUGE STUPID situation, that has scared me for life!! It was a huge life lesson on pre-bowling under weird circumstances.

Crappy scores on a tough shot is not what upsets me! LOL,,, its the fact that I was not told it was a fresh, or even used Sports shot! I ask for the freshest oil out there,,, he game it to me, but HE DID NOT KNOW the difference between Sports and house,,, as I said, he appoligied for not knowing the difference,, (HE IS A NICE GUY!!)!

I really thought ABOUT ENDING MY BOWLING league at that point,,, (((WE only bowled two games before I found out that it was SPORTS))) We then went to the hospital where I got a blood transfusion!!

[tr33frog]

How often do the guys up front really know what pattern the guys are laying out. I know way back when I worked at a bowling ally, they guys in back never told the people at the counter what they were doing. I don't know that I would ever even consider them as someone that would know for sure. Just because they don't have a sport league, doesn't mean some regular didn't ask for it. The only person that would know is the person that laid it out. Are you positive that they don't have a sports kid league? I can't find any league info online there. I know there are a couple of those here in the south.

I don't think I see why you would quit the league though.

[sprocket]

The 41' white pattern is basically what I was practicing on this morning. They had a senior tournament using about 2/3 of the house. I played around first arrow, pointing the ball and averaged 234 for the first 7 games including a 276 game. Then I had a couple of 180 games but still averaged over 220 for 12 games. There were three of us bowling and the other right hander didn't have much of a shot for the first six games. He ran out of $1's so we quit playing for $1 a game. I had won five out of the first six. Two games later he bowls 299! Now he had a good line and mine wasn't so good. I got lined up again for the last few games.

The seniors had some high scores. I believe it took about a 210 average to cash. Bowling on that much oil takes practice but it still comes down to getting lined up, finding some margin for error and hitting your target with the right speed and rotation. I used the same two balls I always use and just my normal release.

[sprocket]

Iceman, if you want to save yourself any controversy regarding your scores just take the two you bowled and bowl one more. I assume you are a pretty popular guy and there is no point in risking any bad feelings. Just explain what happened and that you quit after two games because you thought it wasn't fair but then after thinking about it decided the right thing to do was to just take the scores. In fact you may want to consider just taking a blind for the third game because if you turned around and bowled 268 for that third game, that might not look right either.

If you do that, you will look like you have a great deal of class (which you obviously have anyway) and in the big scheme of things those scores won't make much difference anyway.

[dnhoffman]

Sorry, I came as quick as I could but I got stuck in a different thread about how bowling was too easy. So, what's going in here?

[Aslan]

This is why people should just bowl when their leagues bowl instead of "deciding" to pre/post bowl because they don't feel like bowling on league night. But I digress.

As a imparitial observer…my non-binding on the arbitration regarding this dilemma is that Iceman keeps his scores.

Why? Well, because the white pattern is not "really" a sport pattern. If it was something strange like a Scorpion or Chamelion or USBC masters pattern…then okay. And I don't think it's "necessarily" the fault of the center because I've bowled in many different centers and it's very possible that the staff doesn't even know what the oil pattern is or how much oil was put down or when the lanes were even oiled last.

I've only pre/post bowled ONCE…and I didn't like it.

As to Iceman quitting/dropping out…thats just silly talk. If bowlers quit every time they bowled and did crappy…well, there wouldn't be any bowlers. I bowled Monday to practice and couldn't break 191. Couldn't figure ANYTHING out. I was all over the place…moving feet, moving targets…trying EVERYTHING to find a decent line to the pocket. Then Friday I bowled my best series that I've bowled in that league to date. Thats how things go.

And if a person gives up because they had a bad series on a tougher pattern…THAT is EXACTLY whats wrong with ego and bowling. THAT is why THS shots are so easy and so few people bowl in sport leagues and why so few try tournaments. For some reason, and I have no idea why it's SO rampant in bowling….it just seems that bowlers are unable to check their egos at the door.

[bowl1820]

I think everyone has miss read why ICEMAN is saying he wants to quit (which is load of malarky).

It's not because he had low scores, He's worried they'll think he was trying to cheat!

[tccstudent]

I think everyone has miss read why ICEMAN is saying he wants to quit (which is load of malarky).

It's not because he had low scores, He's worried they'll think he was trying to cheat!

I get that but I think the bowling alley has a responsibility in this to. Unless they are putting out sport shots all the time and all the bowlers know about it. Then they should of notified Iceman's team about the different conditions that were laid out there.
If the manager dont know the difference in patterns then he needs to learn if he is going to be an effective manager of a bowling alley. This is one of my pet peeves with AMF they bring in managers that dont know crap about bowling. If you want to hire these guys there needs to be a better training program to teach them about bowling and about the things that is going to be a concern for the people that come in on a regular basis.

I would have no problem with the scores not being used and allowing them to just use their blinds. When you normally walk in you dont expect a special pattern to be laid out. It is the managers fault for not knowing that there is a difference and not passing the information on to Icemans team.

[bowl1820]

When you normally walk in you dont expect a special pattern to be laid out.

That's true

It is the managers fault for not knowing that there is a difference and not passing the information on to Icemans team.

While it might be good PR for them to, the house isn't required to inform them.

In regards to pre/post bowling your suppose to bowl on the lanes you would have bowled on at the regular time. If those are unavailable you take whatever the house gives you and it is basically the same for conditions If those are unavailable you take whatever the house gives you.

Also a lot leagues require a league officer there to observe, though a lot don't. Some also require you get a printout of your games to include with the score sheet.

Also your supposed to request permission 48 hours in advance to pre/post bowl, also Individual unopposed bowling isn't allowed unless the league has a rule saying it is allowed