Well Tuesday Men's, was good for the most part. After trying the Jazz in practice a few times I knew it was going to be too much. This ball is stronger than I thought it was. This thing covers about as many boards as my Ogre the Ogre just starts its move earlier while the Jazz skids more and then snaps hard. So I decide to give the Radical Inferno a try. Its been the ball I follow the Purple Ogre with when the lanes start to get a little dry on Saturdays and adjustments don't work. Did pretty good. Used the Radical for the first two and half games. Started out with the front 6 the first game before keeping the line a little tight with a tad too much speed causing me to hit the pocket light and leave the four. I cover that then hit the pocket good the next frame and leave the 10 which I miss. I think I lined my body us square with the line and dropped my shoulder, the ball went over sixth arrow and never got across the lane. I normally throw it over the fourth arrow for 10 pins. Strike in the ninth and first two in the tenth, then leave the 7-10 on the last ball. The last of three of them left that frame, one by another bowler on my team and one by a bowler on the other team. All of them on the third ball after the first two were strikes. That was a 255 game. Second game I started with a strike spare and then a couple more strikes and then threw a couple of shots that went wide or a little high, but covered most of the leaves. Ended with a 203. Started the last game with a turkey and then a gutter?!!! Trying to get the ball in the oil a little more and give it some room down the lane, and at the same time drifted right so the ball went right and right before it got to the backend slides into the gutter. I only get 8. The next frame its still subconsciously sitting on my mind. I keep the ball tight and it hooks hard leaving the 3-6 which I chicken wing the spare attempt and pull the ball and had a better chance of hitting the 2-4. The Radical just keep hooking no matter how much more I moved in so I switched the my Groove. I shoot a 179 that game, just too many easy opens. The only split I left was the 7-10 at the end of the first game. On my last ball I just needed a 7 count or better to win. I pulled the previous two shots, getting a Brooklyn strike and an 8 count that I covered the leave. I then go up knowing I need 7 and know that putting it in the pocket gives us the win. I ended up opening my shoulder a little bit the ball its the pocket real light leaving the 2-4-5-7, a six count. We tied. On the night I shot 637, I think the first time I've done that since the second week of this league. As a team we won two and half points, the handicap point the first game, the half a point of handicap the second game and total by about 15 pins. Things are starting to shape up. Hopefully this is just the beginning. Other than a few bad shots that I got away with, I was throwing the ball pretty good, not making the mistakes I had been.

Friday up, Tuesday down. 184-182-186. Just couldn't carry. My teammate Jeff (205) had 12, 10pins. I had 11. Good thing, only missed 1. I started each game with a split open. It seems that I slowed down on each of those balls and carried through.

Seems like my ball was carrying too far down and hit the head on the side, leaving the 10. Both Jeff and I were adjusting all night long with the same results.

We only won 1 game, and fell farther away from the top. 2 Women Coaches beat me tonight. And, we had a sub, another woman Coach, who also beat me. Women Rule.

Well Saturday night I continued in my slump until the 3rd game... First game 151, second game 137, third game 206. I finally found a line, and feel like I finally climbed out of my small five game slump. Oddly enough we bowled against the same team that we played the previous week in position round. Well they swept us then, and took three from us this time around... This time we were missing two bowlers and had to play with them blind. Between the first and second game I had tons of misses, and splits. Third game I finally came around with my mental game and hammered away with only one open! Still only a 494 series, so I was sub 500 for the second week in a row. Though hopefully the next few weeks will be much better!

I finally had a decent night for the first time in a while. Made the decision to play the Track area and stick with it. First game - 255. Great carry and a nice line to the pocket. Second game - 191. The Special Agent started to pick up a little early. I made some adjustments but they really didn't work for the better. For the third game I pulled out the BWP. Started 2 boards left of where I started the first game with the Sp. Agent. Rolled 268 for a 714 series. First 700 in 6 months. Feels great. Hopefully this is the start of a nice streak.

Great bowling Matt! I myself am hoping my short slump is soon to be over!

I finally showed up on a Tuesday for a change. Over the weekend I worked on staying up at the line and adding a little loft. Next thing you know (in practice) I went 248-267. Then I went and got 8 more games in and with the subtle change averaged 222.

Last night I went to the Paradigm which was an old benchmark ball of mine. While I wasn't full of confidence I did bowl better by rolling 212-226-195. I only had one open and converted 5/6 ten pins. My opponent had a horrible night so I quietly took 4 points (scratch league) and left happy.

It was definitely something to build on. I "think" what really got me into trouble was the [censored] PBA Pattern practice I was on all Summer. It forced me to put the ball down early to find the pocket. While it can certainly work on an easy THS I put a decent amount of hand in it combined with dry lanes and I have been ineffective 10 out of 13 weeks. The ball would always jump left and when it did get to the pocket the angle left me nothing good. Just keeping my back straight and a slight loft and I suddenly I'm covering spares better and stringing strikes. Still work to be done but I like my chances next week. We did good as a team too, Im more happy about that part as Im FINALLY helping this team win.

A little loft can go a long way, especially at the house the Tuesday leagues is in. I threw the ball like I did the last six frames on Saturday and worked out pretty good. It adds just an extra foot of loft onto the lanes to help eliminate the worst part of the heads. This week the conditions, at least on our lanes seemed to be better but its always been more of me making mistakes then the conditions. As for 10 pins last night, I only left one and it stayed on the spare attempt as well. I think almost every leave was different last night, the only one doubled up I think was the 3-6, but thats bowling for you. Good bowling Matt, I could have shot 700 if I would have just thrown the ball better the last game and covered my simple spares I missed in the first two. Good going as well Mike, maybe this is the week we needed to get our bowling on Tuesdays jump started.

It was a most unusual Tuesday league. We had to change lanes 3 times. If you're interested, see http://www.bowlingcommunity.com/b/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=45599#Post45599

We went into the night in 1st place by 1 game. I was nervous about this, so I practiced a lot during the week in preparation. Single pin spares psych me out, and I wanted rid myself of this tendency.

I brought my iPod and listened to music to distract myself from the pressure. It worked, I bowled my best series ever - a 182, 149, 214.

Unfortunately, this was not enough and the other bowlers on my team struggled mostly. We won 2 out of 4. And 2 of the teams behind us won all 4, so we are virtually eliminated from 1st place since next week is the final position round.

The saga continued, 187-182-188. Same story as last night, just can't carry. Only 8- 10 pins tonight but I missed half. But, I buried 2- 7pins, and left 2- 9 pins and an 8. My head is being messed with. I really think my ball entry angle is causing my dilema. Moving all around isn't helping. Going to have to work on release change to solve the problem. I have even thought of bringing out older sanded balls to see if a surface change will help. Somehow, the polished finish just isn't cutting it for me on the medium lanes I am facing.

We won 5 of 7 again tonight. 4th straight week. We are still 5 out of first, but moved up to 5th. We only had 1 bowler over average tonight of 4. We just can't pull together.

I had an erratic night on the Friday before Thanksgiving. My best game was 217, which included 8 strikes and 3 missed spares. That 217 should have been a 244. My first game was a 179, the last was a terrible 154. I decided to clean my balls that night, put them away, and not pick them up again until tonight. I'd say the time off helped.

Game 1: 176
Game 2: 225
Game 3: 235
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Series: 636

I started with the Radical Inferno. I was a little shaky in the beginning of the first game, then found my groove. I got six strikes in the game, including a 4-bagger (or "hambone" if you prefer) but two or three of them were Brooklyn. I was clean for that second game, but as the lanes broke down, I couldn't get a good line to the pocket moving inside. So even after a solid 225, I decided to change to the Monster Frenzy for the last game so I could keep playing a straighter line.

My last game was almost clean; I chopped the 3 pin off a 3-6 spare shot, which was my only open. A couple of spares later, I found a great line to the pocket by rolling the ball almost straight. Everybody else was experiencing some freaky splits and some ugly leaves, but I ran off a string of six strikes in a row and had no problems until the second ball of the 10th frame when I slipped a little and left the head pin. I look at it as the kind of night that answers all the people who ask me why I use three balls.

We took all three games. I hope it continues. We've got some ground to make up after the past few weeks.