Aslan's Scores (of the non-lady kind)

[Aslan]

Sunday Morning Practice: low oil synthetics

683 Series: 201-180-153-149

Got to leagues early to get some guidance from MWhite before the Sunday Sport League and then bowled a few practice games after league play…but they were all on house shots since I am going to be gone for a few weeks and there's no need to get practice on the Mexico City pattern.

Game 1 actually went quite well. Other than not converting a 5-10 split in the 3rd; a clean game. And I struck a fair amount. Game 2 I also did quite well. Missed a 9-10 split in the 7th and then opened in the 10th due to a 1-2-4-10 washout. Otherwise clean and quite a few strike frames.

Then, Game 3 I got 3 splits and missed a couple single pins…so I was back to square 1. Then Game 4 I got 3 splits, chopped a 2-4-5, and only struck once. Again; square 1.

PinPal Stats:
First Ball Average: 8.73 pins
Strikes: 31% (3 doubles and 8 singles)
Spares: 57% picked up

Single Pin spares: 84% (11/13)
Most common single-pin leaves: 7-pin and 10-pin (3x each).
Never left a single 1-pin, 6-pin, nor 9-pin.

Multiple Pin spares: 33% (5/15)
Most common multi-pin spare leave: 6-10 (2x).

Splits: 0% (0/8)

Average over 2 games: 170.75.
Average had I picked up 100% of single pin spare leaves: 175.50.

I actually wasn't too disappointed given my recent epic struggles…shooting over 30% strikes and 84% at single-pin spares. And really, the multi-pin % is much higher if you take out the splits. Even better if you take out the less make-able washouts. Of matter of fact, the only non-split/non-washout was ONE 2-4-5 that I chopped. So I'll take that.

This is a house that is much more in line with my game. I had a TON of miss room to the right playing primarily the 8-board. And I was focusing on getting low in my approach. Not the uncomfortable way I was before; just slowly getting lower as I approached the foul line. The lower I can get, the more accurate I can be. The timing still wasn't perfect…but it was better.

[Aslan]

Monday Practice: medium oil synthetics

478 Series: 153-169-156
Started off Game 1 with 5 straight spares and a strike. Then I opened 3 of the last 4 frames. Game 2 was more of the same, mostly clean but a few frames of spare issues. Still couldn't strike in Game 3 so I switched to the Frantic in the 4th frame and was clean except for a 4-6-10 split in the 8th.

499 Series: 164-169-166
All 3 games were virtually identical…7 clean frames and a few splits/chopped or missed spares. Switched to the less aggressive Encounter near the start of Game 6.

451 Series: 129-156-166
Game 7 was 5 splits. Game 8 spare shooting was a little off…but I did pick up a 6-7 split…which was cool. And Game 9 was clean except for 3 splits.

491 Series: 168-158-165
Games 10 through 12 were more of the same…mostly clean but 3-4 open frames of splits or missed spares.

PinPal Stats:
First Ball Average: 8.45 pins
Strikes: 28% (7 doubles and 22 singles)
Spares: 53% picked up

Single Pin spares: 67% (21/31)
Most common single-pin leaves: 2-pin and 10-pin (6x each).
Never left a single 1-pin.

Multiple Pin spares: 46% (27/58)
Most common multi-pin spare leaves: 6-10 (5x).

Splits: 10% (2/19)

Average over 12 games: 159.92.
Average had I picked up 100% of single pin spare leaves: 168.58.

Actually…this practice wasn't so bad. It wasn't good. 12 games with nothing 170 or higher is NOT good. Being virtually unable to pick up a corner pin spare is NOT good. BUT…the overall stats were encouraging. And, I seemed to have a bit of an "aha moment" in Game 12 when I took off my wrist positioner and started getting a feel for keeping my hand behind the ball. Still a work in progress, but I saw some encouraging things.

I'm also going to post a bit of a ball comparison in the Stats Part II thread which is sort of inspired by Amyers questioning whether perhaps using the weaker Slingshot could be a reason for the struggles as of late…so go check it out!!

[Amyers]

looking a little better bud the spares will come back in time. I have got my right side stuff down pretty well with the spare ball but I am still struggling with the 7 and 4 pins. Can't seem to find a line I'm comfortable with on those two with the plastic but everything else is way up percentage wise for me. Keep working on it and remember don't try to do too much at one time work on one thing until your comfortable with it then move on to the next thing. It takes longer that way but too many changes at once is too hard and can shake your confidence. Keep at it I know you have it in you. I'll take a look at your post on the slingshot.

[Aslan]

I have got my right side stuff down pretty well with the spare ball but I am still struggling with the 7 and 4 pins. Can't seem to find a line I'm comfortable with on those two with the plastic but everything else is way up percentage wise for me. Keep working on it..

I am having a similar problem. I am hitting my mark...I am lining up consistently...and the plastic ball isgoing straight no matter how I release it. But I'm still missing by a tiny bit. It has to do with my allignment when I start and my allignment when I finish. I am trying to aim slightly left to compensate for my shoulder throwing the ball (not my eyes)...but sometimes I throw it perfectly and miss...over rotating just slightly. Other times I square up to the foul line rather than my target.

I know I need to be patient...but it is very, very frustrating when you hit your mark and the ball misses. And it's not a miss ONLY one way...it'll miss slightly right...then miss slightly left. That tells me its not the target...it's something I'm doing in my approach/release.

[Aslan]

Tuesday League Night: medium oil synthetics

426 Series: 133-144-149
Wow! Talk about consistency!! Last week's scores were 151-144-149. Awesome.

Game 1 I struck a few times but struggled with spares. Game 2 I struck less but was a little better with spares. In Game 3...and THIS REALLY PISSES ME OFF...<calm...chill...go to happy place..>...do you know that my First Ball average was about 9.4 if you correct for the - / that should have been a "10" but I dropped it and it went in the gutter on the first shot. That means, for the non-numberish folks...that in every frame...after correction...I hit either 9 or 10 pins. But I scored a 149!!! How you ask?? Ummm...2 for 6 on single pin spares. Mad a 7-pin and a 5-pin. Missed a 9-pin, 7-pin, and both 10-pins.

PinPal Stats:
First Ball Average: 8.06 pins
Strikes: 25% (8 singles)
Spares: 43% picked up

Single Pin spares: 50% (5/10)
Most common single-pin leaves: 7-pin and 10-pin (3x each)
Never left a single 1-pin, 2-pin, 3-pin, 4-pin, nor 6-pin.

Multiple Pin spares: 38% (5/13)
Most common multi-pin leave: 6-10 (2x).

Splits: 33% (1/3)

Average over 3 games: 142.00.
Average had I picked up 100% of single pin spare leaves: 160.33.

Even though my average was down, my average if I picked up 100% of single-pin spares was slightly up. My league average is now about 148. My sanctioned average has fallen to 162. I actually average only 1 pin higher in this THS league than I do in the sport pattern league. This idea of getting a plastic ball to improve my spare shooting has been an absolute farse and disaster. I'm hitting my mark...and I'm missing.

Despite the recent data I posted in Part II of the "nerd thread", I used the Slingshot all night. The reason is that since I changed my release, took off the old wrist positioner...my release is less consistent...and with the stronger balls (especially the assymetric Encounters) I just felt in practice that I was too "all over the place". I also don't like the thumb fit in the Encounters. The span on the Slingshot is almost perfect...but the thumbhole is too small to get my 2nd knuckle in. The downside to that is I tend to grip or I drop it. The upside to it is by thumb can't really get stuck...which relaxes me in my approach not having to worry about that. The Encounters have larger, more taped up thumb holes...and my thumb will sometimes stick. That messes with me.

I know I have to be patient...but my patience is running thin. I'll practice a bit on Saturday...then again on Monday...then league on Tuesday. Not doing sport shot league for a few weeks due to a conflict. Then in early November I'm thinking I might play with the thumbhole on the slingshot to see if I can get my 2nd knuckle in. Which means I won't use it for the league night that Tuesday. And then I'll have my lesson that Wednesday where I might need quite a bit of work. Gotta get this spare shooting thing fixed. Need to figure out the wrist positioner/no wrist positioner/ new brace situation. Need to find an ANSWER to this timing problem.

And I might retire the Frantic and get the Bullet Train drilled up. Maybe even do the VISE IT grips just to try them out...even though the cost sucks. Probably have the pro shop there do it....just to get another option. I like Mike's drilling...and he has done the best job at getting my span right. And I think the thumbhole he originally drilled non-tri-grip on my Rhythm is the best fitting thumb-hole. But I wanna try another driller and see what they think about just doing the standard drill (no tri-grip) and do the VISE IT in the ball. I have to find the sweet spot with this thumb issue. Reading Suzie's article on BTM...thumb fit is just so important...and I'm struggling BADLY with trying to get that perfect thumb fit where it's not sticking and I'm not dropping it. And I NEED to fix that if I'm gonna fix my stupid release (behind the ball) issue and my stupid timing problems. If the guy drills it and it isn't any good (like the driller before I started using Mike)...lesson learned. If the VISE IT grips provide no advantage over tape other than costing my a buttload of money...lesson learned.

But I gotta get this worked out...or I gotta switch coaches...or something. Because if this season doesn't turn around...and I'm averaging sub-150 at Sweeps time...I'm not even gonna go...not even gonna bother Rob for another lesson...because the bowling experiment will be OVER. R.I.P. Aslan. It's just NOT fun. I'm watching clowns on league night...throw with horrible form...throw entry level equipment...half drunk...and they're outscoring me. Some by a LOT. It's just embarrassing. I had fun last night. We're in first place as a team and we bowled a really fun team last night...but I'm borderline clinically depressed with this bowling crap...and I don't need that. I'll find another hobby or get caught up reading some of my books I bought and never read. Something. But not bowling. Not at < 150 average. I'll spare myself the eventual shoulder and knee surgeries and take up something else.

[Amyers]

I will tell you now Aslan figure the thumb thing out right now not two weeks or two months. Pick out something out of that exalted closet (Symmetrical decent strength) of yours take it to Mike or someone else who know how to drill and get something that fits right. Your just wasting time trying to bowl with equipment that doesn't fit properly. I spent six months trying to get my thumb hole to fit correctly (some of it self inflicted) on one ball. Pick out one that you can use get it right then switch the rest. Going back and forth between different grips, pitches, spans, and feels is a recipe for madness. Some people it effects more than others I went to a Demo day at a local lanes a few weeks ago wanted to try some stuff out with the generic drills and pitches I couldn't get anything off my hand right the only thing I did was manage to embarrass myself. You might be in that camp that has to have it correct but if your having issues getting your thumb all of the way into the ball and dropping it something isn't right.

[bubba809]

Awwww Aslan, don't beat yourself up. You got 3 choices what you can do right now:

1. Continue to be all-consuming over every pin stat, bowling graph, keep taking lessons and see what happens.

2. Stop taking bowling so serious, get VERY DRUNK with your friends, lower all your expectations and see what happens.

3. Meet a girl--get married--have a couple kids. This will AUTOMATICALLY end your time for bowling obsession.


Good Luck!

[Aslan]

Awwww Aslan, don't beat yourself up. You got 3 choices what you can do right now:

I'd contend more than 3...but, I'm listening.

1. Continue to be all-consuming over every pin stat, bowling graph, keep taking lessons and see what happens.

Okay. Thats a logical choice.

2. Stop taking bowling so serious, get VERY DRUNK with your friends, lower all your expectations and see what happens.

1. I don't have any friends. Well, I have like "3". But two live in Michigan and one I tried to get involved in bowling but he's too busy having sex with some lady he met.
2. "Getting drunk" isn't necessarily a good idea EVERY time. There are lots of different kind of drunks. I'm the kind that just gets mad when I drink. Horny...then mad (because the horny thing aint workin out)..then tired. In that order. And since this league has some bowlers that are at least "semi-serious"...I doubt I'd be welcomed to stay if I just got poo-faced and started lofting an 8lb ball 45ft down the lane because when you're drunk that's entertaining.

3. Meet a girl--get married--have a couple kids. This will AUTOMATICALLY end your time for bowling obsession.

Awww...bubba. You must be young. I remember that. Yeah...but see...AFTER Marriage and the kid...comes the desire to by anywhere but in the same place as the wife and the kid. Not so much the kid...although the 2-year old through 5-year old stage can be rough...but definitely the wife. That leads to DIVORCE. That leaves a TON of time to bowl...because you don't have the money to do anything else and by then you're 50lbs overweight and so old that going to "college night" to meet girls is "mega-creepy". That leaves bowling and online dating. But once you're past targeting women in their low 30s and get into the upper 30s through 50s....no matter what attributes they have...there is some reason why the last guy ditched them. And you will eventually find out what it was....and also want to ditch them for said reason.

[bubba809]

Awww...bubba. You must be young. I remember that. Yeah...but see...AFTER Marriage and the kid...comes the desire to by anywhere but in the same place as the wife and the kid. Not so much the kid...although the 2-year old through 5-year old stage can be rough

Actually Aslan, I'm 3 years older than you. I have a 3 year old and an 8 month old and have seen my bowling time decrease dramatically. This is a definite, providing you want to spend a lot of time with your kids. But I'm unclear...you DO have kids??

[MICHAEL]

Actually Aslan, I'm 3 years older than you. I have a 3 year old and an 8 month old and have seen my bowling time decrease dramatically. This is a definite, providing you want to spend a lot of time with your kids. But I'm unclear...you DO have kids??

YES, he does have kids, but they are all over this wonderful country. It all happened 8 years ago when he went on a drunken tour on his 50cc moped!
Making love to every biker chick he could AFFORD and at last count over one hundred chicks! But his low sperm count, and now penniless, he has but one love child, looking desperately for his father!

A lonely boy looking for his father! A father that could teach him all that is missing in his life, like how to write wordy thoughts on computers, make charts, and graphs, and maybe even how to bowl! Yes Aslan has reproductions of himself,, but at this point in his life, the riddle of bowling is his priority!



daddy,,, where are you????