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Thread: Aslan's Top 10 Pet Peeves: Teammate Edition

  1. #1
    Bowling God Aslan's Avatar
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    Post Aslan's Top 10 Pet Peeves: Teammate Edition

    This is inspired due to what happened last night (read more; next post);

    10. The Guy That Never Has Any Money
    I understand times are tough. I've been there. But, ya don't join a league if you can't pay each week. Awhile back I was on a team with a kid that virtually never had enough money with him to bowl...so it was a constant struggle to get the envelope right and get him caught up.

    9. The "I Don't Care" Bowler
    As someone who is the opposite, it might just be not understanding this mindset...but it gets aggravating when a person walks up and tosses a ball...almost without looking...grabs a second one off the rack and tosses it...again, almost without looking...then comes and sits down. We had a female bowler that used two different balls, I think they were even two different weights; and she would throw one...then wait for the gate to come up and immediately throw the other...and seemingly didn't care about the results. VERY AGGRAVATING to bowlers that care.

    8. The Drunk ****
    I'm not sure if I can use the last word that describes a "loose woman"...so I'll air on the side of caution. I had this girl on my team one time that was mostly bowling to get drunk and flirt with the entire bowling center. She would flirt, they would buy her drinks, she would get loaded...and she averaged just shy of 100. The average didn't bother me as much as trying to locate her when it was her turn to bowl.

    7. The Old Man and His Stories
    I bowled recently with a guy that loved to jab me with his elbow and tell me stories about his bowling feats from the 1960s and 1970s. Like; "Ya know, back in 1968 at the old AMF Lanes down on 6th Avenue...I picked up a 6-7-10 twice in one night!" Then, less than a minute later...I'd get jabbed in the arm again with an elbow..."Ya know what...I had an all spare series back in 1972...but then struck in the 10th in the last game!"

    First of all...STOP JABBING ME! Second...there's no way you can remember all these stories...so stop making up nonsense!

    6. The Know-It-All...That Doesn't Know Anything
    I bowled with a really good bowler back awhile...who was an elite high school bowler. He used one ball...an Ebonite Cyclone. He could average around 200 on tough lane conditions with that one ball. He had excellent form and execution. BUT...he didn't know ANYTHING about bowling and bowling balls and modern advances in bowling. Everything he learned...he learned 35 years ago. Yet, he thought because he averaged 200...he was the expert.

    5. The Hall-Of-Famer Know-It-All...That Doesn't Know As Much As He Thinks He Does
    My current anchor is a very good bowler. BUT...he prescribes to many outdated ideas. Because he is so good...and has had so much success over the years...he hasn't had much need to "learn" new things. And, while he tends to reserve his "suggestions" concerning other bowlers...he is a little more forthcoming with me (more in the next post).

    4. The Mocking Mockers
    I keep notes while I bowl. I also track my scores in Pinpal. Most of my teammates love to make fun of me for this. And, while I'm used to it...it can get old.

    3. The Prankster
    A current teammate likes to "mess with me" sometimes. Mainly he'll grab my iPhone I use for Pinpal and he'll enter in nonsense scores while I'm up bowling and then I gotta come back and erase everything...or he'll write on my notes...just little nonsense. He used to put hot tamale candies in people's beers but one of the guys got mad one night so that little game stopped. More on this in next post.

    2. The Stubborn, Angry Teammate
    We got one teammate that used to be a 200 average bowler...had an injury...now he's more of a 160 average bowler. Well, he can't really accept that and refuses to take any advice on how to modify his current game. He'll ask for help, then ignore the advice. He threatens to quit every night that he doesn't throw a 570+ series. He blames the lanes...the balls...the noise in the center...prettty much everything and everybody. It sucks the fun right out of bowling.

    1. The Over-Sensitive Drama Queen
    This one still ranks #1 only because...even though it happened a long time ago...it was very traumatic. Despite my often-times "confrontational" online demeanor...I'm a fairly nice guy and a good guy to bowl with. Even Iceman told me so...and we're sworn enemies. So, it was very rough when I joined a league with a person (who will remain nameless) I met online and her husband and we had a good season...but then just before the second season I made a comment online that she took offense to...an innocent comment that I felt she TOTALLY over-reacted to...and it led to me having to her leaving the team.

    Dishonrable Mention: The Music Man
    I had a teammate that insisted on listening to a music player while bowling. Not only did this lead to him catching the ear bud wire once and flinging the unit down the lane once...but it also meant we had to wave our arms at him every time we needed his attention or it was his turn to bowl. It kinda felt like we were missing a teammate when one teammate wasn't "really there".
    In Bag: (: .) Motiv Trident Odyssey; (: .) Hammer Scorpion Sting; (: .) Pyramid Force Pearl; (: .) Brunswick Rhino Gold; (: .) Ebonite Maxim
    USBC#: 8259-59071; USBC Sanctioned Average = 186; Lifetime Average = 171;
    Ball Speed: 15.5mph; Rev. Rate: 240rpm || High Game (sanc.) = 300 (268); High Series (sanc.) = 725 (720); Clean Games: 181

    Smokey this is not 'Nam', this is bowling. There are rules. Proud two-time winner of a bowlingboards.com weekly ball give-away!

  2. #2
    Bowling God Aslan's Avatar
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    So, last night...I had two issues that prompted this list:

    1) The Prankster
    I don't know why he was amped up. I think it was because the anchor was having a bad night so the Prankster was bored. Maybe it was because I was sitting next to him when usually I'm sitting across the table from him...I don't know. But he kept messing with my Pinpal phone. I even took it with me when I went up to bowl...and he got up and grabbed it off the scoring input/console while I was on the approach.

    Now, this "distraction"...I DO NOT NEED. I'm already too much "in my own head". Any little distraction while I'm on the approach is disastrous. And my teammates 'should' know this. Yet, this guy insists on pulling this ****. And I don't want to lose my temper...but it's kinda like poking an animal with a stick. At some point, the animal is going to snap. I'd say his shenanigans cost me 13-29 pins last night and a "100 pins above average" award.

    2). The "HOF Know-It-All" also got a little annoyed with me during Game 2.

    Now, realize...he was in "a mood" because he was having a rare "off night". But,

    I had started off the first 3 frames of Game 2: 8 /, X, 6 1. The two shots on the left lane were both pulled shots but the shot on the right lane was a pocket hit that showed a decent amount of deflection. So, when returning to the right lane...I decided to ball down to the Optimus Solid. I had already moved (left), over the course of Game 1...about 2 boards with my eyes and 3-4 boards with my feet...and was now just inside 10. I decided to move my line back to just outside 10 with my left foot between 20 and 22.

    Results: X, X, X, X, X.

    Now; the first two strikes were pulled shots that went Brooklyn. The last two strikes showed SIGNIFICANT deflection. I mean, more deflection than I recall ever seeing on a shot that strikes. On the left lane the ball exited almost directly over the 9-pin...on the right lane it exited just right of the 9-pin.

    It was fairly clear to me that I would not strike again if I threw the Optimus. It's always hard to make a ball change off a strike...but not doing so when I'm exiting the pin deck right of the 9-pin seemed like tempting fate.

    So, I went to switch balls and the HOFamer says, "You put that ball back on the rack!" In other words, he did NOT agree with my ball change decision. Why? Well, he's "old school" and "old school" bowlers don't change balls off strikes...EVER. EVER. The other old school guy...a former pro shop owner...was in full agreement..., "what are you doin changing balls when you're on a 5-bagger!?"

    I simply looked the HOFamer in the eyes and responded, "I can't throw it. It's deflecting." And I left it at that.

    Next shot I adjusted my line slightly right and my vertical target slightly in: 9 /.

    I left a 10-pin. . Why? Well, two primary reasons:

    1) I didn't get a good release. I was on top the ball and fell off the shot.

    2) I shouldn't have made the slight move right. <----- when I say 'slight'...I mean 0.5:0.5 right....so, very slight...almost so 'slight' that it's negligible. But still, it was unnecessary.

    Finished the Game: X 8 1. Struck and then left a 4-9 which told me I actually needed to make a 1:1 move left.

    Game 3: X, X, 8 /, X, 9 -, X, 8 1, 6 /, X, X X X.

    Game 3 was mainly just the lanes transitioning faster than I could keep up. I made a move left after frame 3, struck in frame 4. I made a move left after frame 5, struck in frame 6. I made bad shots in frames 7 and 8. Then I made perfect shots to strike out in the 9th and 10th.

    I just wish my team was more supportive. I missed 2 out of 4 single pins. And the response after I missed the first one was to remind me that the balls is 2.5x bigger than the pin and the response after missing the 2nd one was laugher. Meanwhile, the 3 teammates giving me grief about my missed single-pins...ALL THREE missed more single-pins than I did! And my 652 series...was the highest on our team last night.
    Last edited by Aslan; 09-22-2021 at 01:53 PM.
    In Bag: (: .) Motiv Trident Odyssey; (: .) Hammer Scorpion Sting; (: .) Pyramid Force Pearl; (: .) Brunswick Rhino Gold; (: .) Ebonite Maxim
    USBC#: 8259-59071; USBC Sanctioned Average = 186; Lifetime Average = 171;
    Ball Speed: 15.5mph; Rev. Rate: 240rpm || High Game (sanc.) = 300 (268); High Series (sanc.) = 725 (720); Clean Games: 181

    Smokey this is not 'Nam', this is bowling. There are rules. Proud two-time winner of a bowlingboards.com weekly ball give-away!

  3. #3
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    Aside from #10, I agree with you.

    For #10 - filling the envelope isn't your responsibility. Filling it with your fees is - filling it with mine is mine. Let them ride - if they catch flack for it, then good, but it's not your responsibility. Let it ride.

    As for the rest . . .

    I'm a jokester. I like playing with hand-slaps (I'll do a loop around or something . . . I always come back around . . .) and I might do other things like hide someone's candy-bar or something. If they are serious, I won't do it. To be a good jokester, you must be sensitive to the "victim" - they have to be a participant. But you can't mess with someone's phone or notes (I take notes too)

    But yeah - the rest? I'm with you.

  4. #4
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    Only 2 I can think of that I have faced recently.

    First is teammate from last year. Pretty sure his goal was to get drunk then complain about how bad he bowled. We entered a doubles tournament and figuring it started early on a Sunday morning alcohol wouldn't be a factor. Wrong. We got there at 9:00 and by 9:10 he had a beer in hand

    Second is a team we bowl against. They have 2 older guys on their team that are about 180-ish bowlers. The one basically stands up there the whole night at the rack wiping his balls off. Literally spends more time wiping them off than he does back at his table. He waits until his ball comes back then wipes it off. Then before his next turn he wipes all of them off that he has up there again. The other guy on that team is almost as bad. We bowled them 2 weeks ago and at 1 point all 5 of their guys were standing on the edge of the approach. 2 wiping balls off, 2 that were up to bowl and the other that was 'on deck'
    Arsenal "15# Global Eternity Pi-45x4.5x40" "15# 900 Global Xponent-60x4.5x40" "15# 900 Global Zen Soul-60x4.5x40" "15# Roto Grip Idol Helios-90 x 2.25 x 45" "15# 900 Global Altered Reality-50x3.625x30" "15# Brunswick Uppercut-80x3.625x35" "15# Brunswick Igniter-70x5.5x35" "15# Raw Hammer Pearl 45x5.75x40" "15# Brunswick T-Zone"
    Rev Rate about 270 @ about 15.5 MPH at the pins* High Game: 290 - High Series: 733. PAP: 5 1/8"x1" up; tilt 20*, rotation 75*. YTD highs - 290-733
    Oh, and LEFTY!!!

  5. #5
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    10. Guys with no money usually don’t hang around for more than a season or two. No matter how nice they are, no matter how well they can bowl, no team keeps someone who is chronically short on the roster.
    9.this describes a kid we had in summer youth league this year. His dad is a pretty good bowler, his sister wanted to bowl. The dad brought both kids every Monday night. The girl would make an effort. The boy would just walk up, throw a house ball down the lane and immediately turn around and walk off the approach without looking to see where the ball went.
    8. Haven't run into one of these.
    7. I don’t elbow people, and I wasn’t all that good 50 years ago, so with any luck I won’t turn into this guy.
    6. There’s probably at least one at every alley.
    5. Another one where my chances of making the HOF are right up there with chances of me making two 4-6 spares in one game.
    4. I don’t think I’ve been mocked. Maybe razzed about taking too long but not mocked.
    3. This guy isn’t anywhere near as funny as he thinks he is.
    2. My nominee for this slot is only happy when the ball strikes. He’s also my nominee for #6 so you can’t really help him out.
    1. No drama queens on my teams.
    John

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