Getting in Mr. Peabody’s wayback machine I have gone back to 1975 to watch my 16 year old self struggle to average 112. If only I could tell myself how to shoot a ten pin cross lane without causing a catastrophe in the space-time continuum. Yeah, back then I was happy to get any sort of mark and a 450 series was great.
Back in the present, my satisfaction/happiness is more conditional than hitting a number for a game or series. Take Monday, I was subbing for my friend Mark in a sport league. First game was horrible, 4 splits several missed one pin leaves, and a final score of 111. Next game I switched to a different ball, still struggled with some misses early, but struck out at the end for a 170 that lost by one pin. Next set
I move one pair over and get to bowl a much younger two-hander. This pair seems to be playing very close to the way the last pair was. I started off clean for the first 7 or 8 frame with three or four strikes in a row before leaving a big split. My opponent started off gutter, spare, gutter, 8 out, and never got anything going. I wound up with a 212 and an almost three digit margin of victory. The last game, probably because I was getting tired, was much closer, and to me more satisfying because I had to make good shots to shut him out at the end.
In short, for me, it’s more about bowling clean games and being in close matches that makes it fun.
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