Teammates are great but I'm letting them down

[boatman37]

Well had a pretty good night overall but still struggling in game 2. Had a 214 (high game on the team that game), a 150 (low game...lol), and a 205. We won 2/3 games (4/7 points tonight) against one of the top teams in the league. We were getting about 80 pins per game. Game 2 they crushed us. Not much we could have done. They had 254, 278, 257, 217, and 191. Pretty hard to beat that.

As for our team averages I'm doing much better this year. After 2 weeks our averages are 202.5, 199.33, 189.16, 180, and mine is 188.00 so far. So I'm not far off. If I wouldn't have been so bad in game 2 tonight I'd be closer to the top. Definitely feel I'm getting it back. Starting to get better with my spares and getting more strikes than I used to.

[boatman37]

Just saw the updated standings. It's only week 2 but we are in 1st place in our division. We have 2 divisions with 8 teams in each.

As far as my game 2 lulls I think it is more a mental thing. I was really into game 1 because we were up by about 160 about the 5th frame of game 1 but were down about 30 going into the 10th. They came storming back. I was #4 in the lineup and we were close. I struck out in the 10th and our anchor threw a 9 (lefty and left the 7). He picked it up and needed a 9 count for a tie and strike to win. He got the strike. We won by 1 (1143-1142). I could feel a mental drain after that game. Going to start trying to focus more during the 2nd game.

I started with the Kingpin but shortly into game 2 I started leaving pins with good shots. Seemed like I lost some of my angle into the pocket so I switched to the Black Widow Gold that I had surfaced with the 2000 CTD pad (no polish). Had to move about 2 boards right to get the pocket (I'm a lefty). Had some good hits but part way into game 3 started seeing a change in the BWG so went back to the Kingpin for the last 4 or 5 frames.

When I left in 2002 I was at about a 193 average. I didn't get tons of strikes but was very good at covering my spares. Now it's the opposite. Getting more strikes but missing too many spares. My current average is 188.00 in this league (only 6 games in) but my average since getting the Kingpin in mid July is 189.29 so just about back to where I left off. If I can start getting more consistent with my spares I'm confident I can carry a 200+ average. My best season ever was that 193 so definitely on track here. My goal is to be over 200 by X-Mas and hopefully 210 by the end of the season. If I get my game 2 issue fixed and convert 1 extra spare per game I should be there.

[boatman37]

Really let myself down tonight. We won all 3 games so can't say I let my teammates down. They were all on. They rolled 620, 637, 643, and 672. I had a 461...lol. The approaches were very tacky at the start. I could hear lanes beside us all complaining about it. I tweaked my knee in warmups. The approaches got better but I had that mental block and was trying to protect my knee. First game I had 2 strikes and 1 spare. Really bad night for me but we are still in first at 18-3. I kept pulling the ball and when I did hit my mark it reacted different from frame to frame. I switched balls, changed lines, etc., but in the end if I can't hit my mark consistently and convert spares it doesn't matter which ball or line I use.

So had a 136, 169, and 156. My average has been around 190 the last 6 or 8 weeks. I was 0 for 4 on 7 pins tonight. Hopefully next week is better but like I said, at least we won all 3 games.

On another note, our PSO had a 300 going until the 10th frame. Not sure what he ended up with and one of the guys on our opposing team had a 280/742. One of the guys on our team had a 279/672

[fordman1]

I just had a thought about

[boatman37]

Just ordered new shoes with interchangeable soles after last nights fiasco. I know it wo't fix my mechanics but when I can't slide at all and have a mental block on hurting my knee worse then the new shoes can't hurt. It was very humid but cool last night so they didn't have the AC on and likely to be that way the next several weeks. Can't go that long with these conditions with a shoe that won't slide. Hopefully they are here before next Tuesday night. They come with an S6, S8, and S10

[Eddy]

Really let myself down tonight. We won all 3 games so can't say I let my teammates down. They were all on. They rolled 620, 637, 643, and 672. I had a 461...lol. The approaches were very tacky at the start. I could hear lanes beside us all complaining about it. I tweaked my knee in warmups. The approaches got better but I had that mental block and was trying to protect my knee. First game I had 2 strikes and 1 spare. Really bad night for me but we are still in first at 18-3. I kept pulling the ball and when I did hit my mark it reacted different from frame to frame. I switched balls, changed lines, etc., but in the end if I can't hit my mark consistently and convert spares it doesn't matter which ball or line I use.

So had a 136, 169, and 156. My average has been around 190 the last 6 or 8 weeks. I was 0 for 4 on 7 pins tonight. Hopefully next week is better but like I said, at least we won all 3 games.

On another note, our PSO had a 300 going until the 10th frame. Not sure what he ended up with and one of the guys on our opposing team had a 280/742. One of the guys on our team had a 279/672

Sounds like me tonight. Had a slightly better series with a 493, but still felt embarrassed. I'm the anchor on a not so good team, so I expect at least 190. Sometimes I feel like giving up bowling and taking up knitting.

I can't wait to get rid of this wrist brace that I have to wear for a while because of a bowling injury. (my stupidity) The brace gives me too much lift and I find the ball hard to control at only 13mph. Even a plastic ball can get tricky to control for me. I want a naked wrist so I can "deaden" my release and just go straight down between 1st and 2nd arrow with a little hook. Now, my ball is hooking WAY too much, and it's bugging the heck out of me. I tend to bowl on dry-ish lanes, so I think I'm going to take a chance and remove the wrist brace Friday and see what happens.

[boatman37]

Sounds like me tonight. Had a slightly better series with a 493, but still felt embarrassed. I'm the anchor on a not so good team, so I expect at least 190. Sometimes I feel like giving up bowling and taking up knitting.

I can't wait to get rid of this wrist brace that I have to wear for a while because of a bowling injury. (my stupidity) The brace gives me too much lift and I find the ball hard to control at only 13mph. Even a plastic ball can get tricky to control for me. I want a naked wrist so I can "deaden" my release and just go straight down between 1st and 2nd arrow with a little hook. Now, my ball is hooking WAY too much, and it's bugging the heck out of me. I tend to bowl on dry-ish lanes, so I think I'm going to take a chance and remove the wrist brace Friday and see what happens.

Maybe try playing inside where the oil is a little heavier? I normally throw between the 1st and 2nd arrows too but since I was struggling I moved in to the 3rd arrow for a few frames just for the heck of it. Either way it didn't help my game...lol

[Eddy]

Maybe try playing inside where the oil is a little heavier? I normally throw between the 1st and 2nd arrows too but since I was struggling I moved in to the 3rd arrow for a few frames just for the heck of it. Either way it didn't help my game...lol

Didn't help me either. Oh well. I'm going take this damn wrist brace off and see what happens. I may not have a ton of power without it, but I'll bet my life I can keep it in the pocket more often. A wrist brace has always made my release too strong, because I didn't need the help in the first place to hook the ball.

[boatman37]

Well we all struggled. I couldn't find the pocket all night but my spare game was really on (7/7 on single pin spares). I'm encouraged by my spare shooting tonight. If I had just been able to get a few more strikes it would have been a good night. Other team was on fire and got a lot of lucky breaks. My plant leg was hurting all night and got so bad by the 3rd game I could hardly put weight on it.

Oh, modified my release a little tonight. My normal release is almost completely behind the ball. Very low revs. Tonight I started coming around the ball just a little. Not much but slight. Definite difference in revs. I didn't rotate my wrist at release but more just held it that way on my downswing. I had to move about 1.5-2 boards further right after I did this. But a noticeable difference in revs.

Just looked through my stats. I have only had one night averaging 200 out of 31 nights (600 in regular 3 game series and 800 in summer league 4 game series). Pretty pitiful!

Here are our series with averages in parenthesis

US:
599 (191.58)
524 (176.08) me
649 (208.41)
550 (199.08)
529 (194.66)

THEM:
552 (175)
403 (172)
655 (203)
676 (179)
529 (194)

We were giving them 47 pins each game

[boatman37]

Well we all sucked tonight. So bad that I didn't even look to see what anyones scores were. Mine were 134, 157, 154 (445). Used the S10 sole tonight and it was much better but did fall once. Made the 2-7 once and the 6-8-10 once. We lost the first 2 games then won the 3rd and got total too. Couldn't hit the pocket all night. Couldn't cover spares. Couldn't repeat anything all night. Just very inconsistent. Tried my normal outside line. Moved inside, switched balls. Nothing worked. Hopefully next week is better. Supposed to go bowl Sunday night so hopefully get some practice in. The good thing is no aches or pains tonight.