Mary I would have taught her a lesson by kicking her *** on the lanes haha. She snubbed you, so don't extend your hand to again. Its her loss not yours.

Well this may sound harsh, and I appologize for that, but it is reality....

Why in the heck are you trying to high five anybody in a singles tournament style league...???

If your looking for social interaction, go back to the handicap leagues where the people need to be encouraged after a lucky shot.

You have taken a step to play with the big kids, you need to act like one. You are there to bowl not be a psychologist for your opponent. Good sportsmanship has nothing to do with interacting with your opponent. It is simply observing common courtesy of lane and game protocols, and presenting yourself in a professional manner. High fiving your opponent could be construed as an attempt to distract them from their game, which is not considered good sportsmanship.

There is plenty of time after the match is through to talk socially with your opponent and congratulate them on their successes during the match. But while play is ongoing, you need to mind your business that lies in front of you. That is your game and how you are dealing with it, not their game and how they are dealing with it.

I'm sorry if this sounds trite, but the fact of the matter is that you are on new territory in a serious, semi professional, match play league. These people are focused bowlers and serious fierce competitors. They are not there to drink and shout, or pat each other on the butt. They are there to win, improve their performance, and keep moving to the next level in their game. There is no place for the semantics of the social leagues.

I think some of you people have missed the boat, but however they are all but your opinions and I respect that. Like I said in the last post I'll go beat her a** next time and just have nothing but a one Track mind. I'm in no way intend to distract my opponent maybe that's how she might have interpret that. So like I said the end result that that I've accomplished that I'll just interact with the ones that I know. And Coach 04 for your information I do belong in a scratch league and not a handicap league. You also seemed to have missed the boat on the end result that I've learned and that's I'll just interact with the people of whom I know and I'll save myself from future embarassment. Even if I were to have waited till the games were over and then extend my hand to congratualate her she still would have snubbed me. Hey I don't want to argue, but the main thing is that I've learned something in the end and know what to do next time. In both games she did not beat by much only a few pins big deal. Next time that I play against her it will be my turn to kick her a**. I'll just plain old have a one Track mind and just have the "it's just me and the lanes and that's it." All in a nutshell I'll get her next time. There's another point to this yes to a small certain extent that it's semi-professional as far as lane conditions, but not semi professional in means to bowl for money at the end of the night. It's not like you're in the final match and there's $40,000 on the line every night and the pressure's on. The only objective that I really care about in this sport shot condition is to learn the different shots and find out what works and doesn't work as well as what adjustments work and what doesn't. As far as winning games, high average, high game and series, really doesn't mean squat to me. Yes they're great accomplishments, but learning what I need to learn out weighs that garbage and will get me to the next level. The accomplishments will take care of themselves as well as will happen for me.

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="VERDANA,ARIAL,HELVETICA,TAHOMA">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="VERDANA,ARIAL,HELVETICA,TAHOMA"> The only objective that I really care about in this sport shot condition is to learn the different shots and find out what works and doesn't work as well as what adjustments work and what doesn't. </font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="VERDANA,ARIAL,HELVETICA,TAHOMA">Then quit crying about this other lady or other people and bowl your game. Actually your goals are too narrow for this league, IMO. Because you should really be including more mental growth to support your game. The Sport Condition is not only geared towards challenging players physcially, but mentally too. But mental strength in bowling is tough to come by. It take a lot of experience. It helps if you've been invovled in competative sports all your life, but if you have not, then the learning is a bit tougher. I know because I'm working on it myself. My physical game is very strong, but I need more mental work. And the only way to get it is experience. So, since you are adding experience to your bowling resume, learn more from it then just rolling the ball.

Erin

Erin, what on earth does IMO mean? I've seen this enough when some people respond to my posts. I came from the old school and that's to tell me exactly what you mean specifically without the abbreviations of any kind. Maybe this IMO is a young person language or the thing with you younger people, but not with me. Hey I've seen more crying and complaining from other people that I've bowled with in other leagues. You name it and I've heard it. I don't complain that much comapared to other bowlers. In fact I complain a lot less. I don't even complain about the lane conditions- especially when the lanes get tough on a house shot. I just keep plugging away with my adjustments until I figure it out. And 95% of the time I do figure them out. And I don't think that an occasional complaint every once in a blue moon is wrong. Hey I'm not a machine I'm human like anyone else and I have feelings and emotions that are real and don't like to ignore them, because I would not be true to myself. I strongly feel that letting my feelings out (as long as it's in a good way) is fine as long as I don't let myself express them in a violent way. I know better than to just beat the stew out of someone isn't going to change one's behavior, because I know that it doesn't solve anything. But if one were to hit me first then I have every right to fight back and then beat the stew out of someone. I'm not just going to sit there and just let someone whip on me like that, but that's all beside the point. As far as my mental game is concerned it has came a long way and I've learned from it. It's all about attitude. If one has a negative attitude then the mental game will suffer. And also putting pressure on yourself and wind up trying too hard, which I've learned from experience really destroys the mental game. Heck I been wanting a 300 game and came close several times, but I don't try for it, nor do I get into this "I've gotta have a certain series to get my average up to a 200 plus." I used to think this way and everytime I thought that way I've realized that it didn't help me at all mentally. So all in a nutshell I just tell myself that when I get tapped on good pocket shots that just get the spares and the strikes will come. And everytime that I think this way I do very well and accomplish a lot. So that's why my average went up 10 pins more than last year, was because of my mental attitude. I'm not saying that I've conquered my mental game yet, but I'm half way there. But I know it still takes a little more work and then I've conquered the mental side of my game. Don't you think that I've made a lot of progress with my mental game instead of not at all. Like I said I don't even try too hard at all, I just focus on making good shots and take it from there.

IMO is a simple internet abbreviation for "In My Opinion". It has no other secret conotation then that.

Its kind like like LOL, FAQ and FYI. I had no idea that you didn't know what it meant, so I'm glad you asked.

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="VERDANA,ARIAL,HELVETICA,TAHOMA">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="VERDANA,ARIAL,HELVETICA,TAHOMA">Maybe this IMO is a young person language or the thing with you younger people, but not with me.</font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="VERDANA,ARIAL,HELVETICA,TAHOMA">I use it a lot online for all kinds of correspondance. And I'm nearly 10 years older than you.

No one ever conquers this game physically or mentally. And I have not seen you in bowling action so I cannot really speak to your mental growth other then the posts you put out there. But many of your posts lead me to believe that you need to develope what I call "rhino skin". It doesn't have anything to do with dealing with difficult lane conditions or bad carry. It has to do with how you perceive other people around you and let them effect your general mental state.

Erin
::who never sends the "rhino suit" off to the cleaners, especially on a bowling night.::

Erin, I completely agree with you on developing "rhino skin". I'm even planning on my practice sessions to develop mental situations like bowling against a tough competitor and how would I would deal with it. But also on the other hand I disagree with you on conquering the game physically and mentally. On the physical for my game I know that I've conquered it, because my motions from my preshot routine to my approach to the line is consistant. The mental part yes to a certain extent I can agree with you, but at the same time the mental game can be pretty much conquered 95% of the time, provided that there's no mental fatique involved. Believe me there have been times that I would struggle to concentrate, because I'm mentally drained and tried and some of those times I can bowl well and other times finish decently, but not at my full ability at times. Erin I would like to thank you for clearifying what IMO meant. I'm just learning the internet language and I'm very open minded and willing to learn and try new things. Thank you so much. No hard feelings overall I hope. And to everyone who has responded to this post thank you for your imput some of it has kicked the reality back into me and has made me a better person. Sometimes I tend to lose sight odf reality at times, but hey I'm human like the rest of you and definately not perfect. Thanks so much all of you.