I've thought of showing up to leagues early and getting a lane just to get warmed up. I've done it before but sometimes I just don't feel like doing it, or don't have the time. If I knew I could do it every time before league I would. Of course sometimes my best game is the first game, and things go downhill from there, which I would hate to screw that up. Other times its the worst game but I start doing better the second and third and it would come in handy. I say if it works do it and keep up the good rolling Mike.

Nice bowling Mike.

yesterday I bowled a 213-194-254 = 661. I know I left quite a few pins out there so I'm not really happy with it. I missed 5 spares in total. 3 single pin spares. I blame that on using a different spare ball than the one I'm used to. My normal spare ball has some major chipping around the thumb hole. I thought I would use an old spare ball. The thumb feels totally different. It was a bad decision. I will get the Storm spare fixed. I am getting more comfortable with my higher speed delivery. I feel like I am very close to where I want to be. I was playing 12 at the arrows out to 5 at the breakpoint. For me, that is really straight. It sure gives me a ton of room to adjust with. I just look for the road less travelled during warmups. I saw more bowlers using the 3rd arrow so I decided to use the second arrow. I thought the second arrow was hooking too much so I inched over a board or two. I Only won 1 match point though. I did sweep in singles. I am now in 4th place in our singles league.

Our team is doomed though. My buddy left us at the split. We have a substitute but he is currently bowling under his average. So, if I don't get 700 and above every week, we're in trouble. I'm working on it, though.

Well I had what I guess I'd consider an encouraging disappointment of a night.

Started out throwing the ball real well, and shot 222-247 in the first two despite starting game 1 with an 8 count, and game 2 with a 9 count.

My head and my nerves got the best of me in game 3, as I knew what I needed for my first 700 as soon as I threw the last ball in game 2.

Managed a measly 179 and failed to shoot even 650 for the night, finishing with a 645.

Didn't help that I could hear my teammates talking under their breath about how I only needed 231 for a 700 series.

I'm really quite disappointed, as my only other flirts with 700 have come after mediocre first games.

Tonight I should have just stuck with what worked all night and not thought about the score.

On the positive side, I was able to increase my speed and throw my Paradigm all 3 games tonight, which is rare.

It definitely seems to carry better than my Pyro.

My tuesday night leage next week is gonna be interesting, as I'm pretty sure I'm gonna be calling for a captain's meeting and quite possibly filing a protest, based on a sub the other team used, who I just found out tonight was a former PBA cardholder.

Well i been in real slump lately probally since Mid November. Since that time i had almoost 6 weeks of under 500 series. Probally only hitting my average maybe three times since mid november.

So i decided to see if my coach to see if i can work out some kinks in my game. Change my starting postion and work on timming. Plus i also made it a point to do better mentally cause when i start bowling bad. I start thinking too much and m midn start wandering off and then i lost it all and just cant fingure what went wrong. So made it point to stop relax and take one shot at at time. Don think too much, have fun and dont worry so much if get a strike or not.

Thursday league. Showdow practice was intresting it seem another out side of 5 was real oily resulted in gutter balls. So decided to use my resurgance since the volume of oil seems heavy which is very unusally for this house. Though i did talk to one of the lane people and they said they did start to increase amount of oil they use on the lanes.

So first game two open missted 6-10 twice cause of my thum kept sticking in my spare ball so finally decided to take some tape out. Game 1 = 198. Second Game No opens but i jsut could carry very well left a lot of 9/. Game 2 = 199. Game 3 i found a sport and was carry light hits so stuck with it. 1 open tenth frame missed the 7 pin. Game 3= 232

191-199-232=629 way better then i been bowling recently. I shot all games abov e my average and felt real good with my release. I just felt good tonight i havent bowled this good in a while. So just try to keep it up.

Team wise we took all games and total pins for points. I love bowling against this team cause they seems to bring out the best in my bowling. Plus i know them all real good and we have fun together.

Way to go Brandon. Sometimes just the feel of a different ball improves your confidence that carries over to better timing and release. Strange how that happens. But, ride the wave, and stay with it.

Nice going Brandon, maybe you are out of your slump.
Good job realizing you needed to make a ball change to the Resurgence, and it worked out well for you.

I had one of THOSE nights. Nothing carried, splits up the ying yang, missed 10 pins...the whole shabang. The whole team struggled except the lead off man. Our anchor barely broke 500. Needless to say we lost two of three.

I guess if we always bowled 800 series it would get a little boring right? I'll try boring......LOL

Hey Brandon, with a string of sub 500's, then all of a sudden a 600, were you sandbagging? It would look strange if the 600 was against the first place team, after you successfully dropped your average to improve your handicap.

Thanks guys. Yeah i dont what it is sometimes i just bowl good with certain ball companies than others. I guess those Christmas Present i got did pay off and made me change back to Columiba ball paid off.

Dennis -
i just didnt feel right everthing felt off during those sub 500. I hated posting sub 500 series. I was big rut and just could pull myself out of it - that why i went to see my coach. Found a few kinks in my game that needed tweaking. I like to see my self improve than drop my average. Though we did play second place team, but we are in third place. Been in the top three spots for the majority of the season.

Mike that is awesome - way to go on your 711!!!

Slimmy - sorry you didn't get your 700 - you are getting close though, keep up the good work :-)

Brandon - Congrats on your 600, bet it felt awesome after your previous weeks :-)

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I had a very so-so kind of night. Had a 134, 172, 148 for a 454. 26 pins under my average. Oh well - luckily I keep my 160 going into next week.

The scores obviously don't show it but I physically felt good with almost everything. My hand felt great and I was actually, I thought, staying behind the ball. I did have some release issues which I noticed right away when I missed my mark to the right and did not recover. But all in all I felt pretty good. Just wish the scores would have reflected it.

Oh well - I bowl Saturday at the alley that is giving me issues, but I have decided to put the alleys back in their place and post up some good scores for once from there. Mentally preparing starting now :-)

Other than that - only 6 more days until I can put the Thursday alley back in its place and get the scores I know I should have :-)

Happy Bowling!!!!

Hi All,

Been awhile since I posted. I have been muddling along and while I have improved after another prolonged slump, last night was really frustrating. I had a boat load of strikes but still only managed a 497 (149, 196, 152). Seems like when my strike ball is working my spares suffer and vice-versa.

The good news is I am going to get a new ball. I haven't decided exactly on which one. I have an appointment tomorrow to meet with the guy at the Pro Shop so he can see me bowl and give some advice on what to get and what drilling would be best. I can't wait!!!!