How does "Anger" affect your game? Have other teams made you pissed?

[Aslan]

Okay...so during one league recently...I got upset. Not at myself for bowling bad or at the other team...just overall situation.

AND...I bowled really good. The anger/being upset seemed to calm me down, make me focused.

On other nights...if I'm angry at MYSELF...for making bad shots...I tend to do WORSE...it just spirals downward.

LAST NIGHT...I got angry at a member of the other team. I was bowling well...and this lady was a bit drunk...and;

1) Moved my ball bag...for no apparent reason. She said she moved it so "someone could sit there" but it was on OUR TEAM's side...and NOBODY sat there (our team sits more towards the back at a table).
2) Every time I'd go up to bowl...she'd have some snarky thing to say. I had to keep reaching underneath her to get my shoes (again...because she was sitting on OUR side)...because I was taping myself a couple frames each game for instructional purposes...and despite explaining this to her MULTIPLE TIMES...each time she asked, "why do you need your shoe? why do you keep taking your shoe out?"
3) And THIS is what really did it...she coughed LOUDLY during my approach...OBVIOUSLY on purpose. And of course...it was one of my only "gutter balls" of the night.

But last i night..the anger didn't "help" me...it was more like being mad at my game...it just seemed to make me bowl worse.

So I guess, just curious...have you guys dealt with anger, either at fellow teammates, the league, the alley, at yourself, a spouse, or the opposing team and how is it affected you? Improved your game, made it worse? Any helpful techniques you use to get out of a funk when you're "angered"?

[noeymc]

for me anger makes me a worse bowler cuz then i start to slack on my forum and i don't focus as much so i go in to it sprayd down with pam and let everything slide off of me pressure bring the best out in me i am more focused when i bowled my 700 series i was in a tournament ( it was in youth) city i believe and i just wanted to win so bad and put so much pressure on my self i showed up and made sure to hit my mark and pick up spares sadly i cant replicate that feeling in league =D you just gotta find what frame of mind u bowl best in and show up in that mind set if u ask me anger is not a good mind set again if u ask me

[e-tank]

makes me bowl worse. Sometimes i get mad at other teams, usually for taking too long to bowl or when you have the front 7 they say something that screws me up(this is my fault though). I get mad at myself when i pull it. Sometimes i get mad at the center for not cleaning the backends when there is massive carrydown from open bowling. I focus on keeping calm and making shots

[dnhoffman]

Bowling is like golf... The less zen you have the crappier you bowl.

[Hammer]

I don't let anger enter my game. If I am having a bad night I just accept it and do the best I can one frame at a time. Anger in anything only makes things worse. The thing that bugs me for a short while on league night are the bowlers that go flying by you as you are making your approach. It usually will distract me and make me pull my shot. Not good at all if I have a good game going or stringing
strikes. I empty that out of my head as quick as possible and carry on. After something like that I learn my lesson and watch to make sure I know the bowlers on either side of me that do that and let them go first. On a three game set on league night the first game had 6 opens and ended with a 135. I didn't get angry about it. I figured out what I was doing wrong and had a second game of 207 and a third of 227. In bowling you play the game one frame at a time and never give up no matter what and do your best for that night until the very end.

[vdubtx]

Anger doesn't enter into any equation with my game. I might get mad at myself for missing a spare, but you just cannot control the actions of others. People can sometimes be just plain douchess, it's just in their nature. Not worth getting worked up about it.

[mike_thomas93]

Anger doesn't really affect me much. I guess when I miss an easy spare, that's where I sometimes get upset, but hey, every bowler misses spares. It's part of the game. As for teams getting on my nerves, I can only iterate from high school season, but nothing really. Sure, some teams can get a little rowdy sometimes, but there's nothing wrong with cheering. So yeah, I guess one thing that would irritate me is when someone else goes on the approach when I'm already up first, then it makes me have to back off. And I guess when someone goes at the same time as me, it kind of throws me off a little. But overall, nah, I don't let anger overpower me in my game.

[Stormed1]

I don't get mad, I get even. When I get angry at another team I get super focused and execute better. As far as mad at myself my attitude is U can't have that shot back, just don't do it again

[dnhoffman]

I don't get mad, I get even. When I get angry at another team I get super focused and execute better. As far as mad at myself my attitude is U can't have that shot back, just don't do it again

Exactly, it's the only way to look at it. I've seen teams get so angry that they bowl worse and worse as the night goes on. I have one team mate in particular who gets really pissed very easily and if it happens early in the night he's guaranteed to throw a crappy set.

[circlecity]

I used to get angry when I was a teen like 14 years old. If I threw a bad shot I would get pissed and the rest of the day was hell. Now, as an adult I just handle situations better. One week a bowler on my lanes kept popping his thumb hole at the rack while I was on the approach. It distracted me a bit so rest of the night I let him go first. Problem solved.