My quick dip into this thread. It's fine to be glad that you got a break, but don't expect anyone else to like it. And frankly, I don't think anyone has a responsibility to high-five or congratulate anyone on a shot/score, no matter what the circumstances. Sometimes I will say "nice shot" if someone pures one, but I tend to be thinking more about my game. I don't look at the scoreboard, and I don't watch you bowl really, so I don't know what you shot. I'll check the scorer at the end of my game to write down my score/check that it matches what I have in BowlSK, and that's it. If I notice a nice score, I might say something. But, I might not. Likewise, I wouldn't be offended at all if I had a great game, or a number of great shots, and no one said anything.

Dennis,

I think along the same lines you do. If someone is getting hot, whether it be Brooklyns, high hits, or lucky strikes I need to step up my game and if I do not I get more upset with myself than the opposing player. There are so many variables in this game, how you do, how your teammates do, what the other team does that you never can tell who will come out on top. I can bowl a 200 and we lose and a 140 and we win. Go figure.

Most of the time I'm more concerned about my own game as well. The only time I really watch is when friends of mine are in the same league and we're playing against or near them (a lot of my bolwing friends at higher averaged and much more experinced bowlers than I am). So it pays to watch for little things to try or possibly emulate (in practice of course). Plus it's interesting to watch a good game especially when a perfect game on the Viper is ruined by a 7,10 in the tenth frame. That just sucks. Also watching a perfect game is extremely fun to watch because you're waiting to see if that one lucky shot that shouldn't have carried comes up. Aside from that I'm usually focused on my game.

I now understand your point of view and actually a lot of what you do I should consider because it could be a lot of my focus problems. Sometimes so much is going on with 3 conversations and paying too much attention to the scores and what other people are doing I might do better if I could shut all that out and focus solely on my game. I am thankful for all the opinions here because it has helped me understand that if someone is indifferent during bowling it could be they are focusing on their own game and there is no need to take it personal. I also hope that maybe by giving a different opinion of how certain bowlers are perceived a lot of you might understand how some people might not understand your point of view and take it the wrong way.

I will also sometimes aim for the brooklyn pocket, just because the spares it does leave are easier for me to pick up. I can pick up a five pin a whole lot easier than a 7 or 10 pin (those things are my nemesis) Plus it seams to have a higher percentage of strikes, at least for me it does. So maybe when you see some people picking up all of those Brooklyn strikes they aren't being rewarded for missing their target. Maybe they are actually trying to hit Brooklyn.

IDK just a thought

I will also sometimes aim for the brooklyn pocket, just because the spares it does leave are easier for me to pick up. I can pick up a five pin a whole lot easier than a 7 or 10 pin (those things are my nemesis) Plus it seams to have a higher percentage of strikes, at least for me it does. So maybe when you see some people picking up all of those Brooklyn strikes they aren't being rewarded for missing their target. Maybe they are actually trying to hit Brooklyn.

IDK just a thought

Brian,

Earlier in the thread some people were saying if you aim for it and get a good shot it is different then when it happens by accident so you have an excellent point. There have been cases on some of the posts where people have targeted the Brooklyn pocket. Still in the overwhelming majority of cases it happens by accident and in my case last week while I knew if I hit a certain area I would get away with it I was still aiming for 5 Board and the 1-3 pocket so I was missing my mark. It is interesting to see all the different opinions and thoughts on this subject.

Oops sorry, I must have forgotten, it's been a while since I checked in on this thread. Or might have missed it all together. I know sometimes when I click on a link it will skip over like 3 pages of stuff that I haven't read yet.

Now what kind of bothers me more than a Brooklyn strike does is at our league there is a kid that has a ball that isn't drilled. He just walks up to the line palms the ball and throws it out about 12 feet onto the lane, travels out to about the five board and it comes back and either smashes the pocket or smashes it Brooklyn. He can throw it left handed or right handed. drives me crazy.. He has about a 230 average.

I don't know why that bothers me, but it does.. I still tell him nice shot and give him a high five.. but deep in my mind it just drives me nuts.. Because I'm trying to get all of the mechanics perfect and if I so much as miss my target by 2 boards I end up with an impossible split of some sort.

Fully 2/3 of my strikes recently have been brooklyn...don't know exactly why, but it seems to give a little more forgiveness to my line.

This has been a very interesting topic to say the least.

I think Dennis has the best take on it all. It seems to balance out in the end. Like he said many times you nail the pocket and leave a solid 8, 9, or 10 and then at times you cross over and get a break. It is a shot of lower probability like he said but I just happened to get away with a lot more than I normally would on that night. Being not that long ago I was having a spell where I couldn’t get a break on a strike ball to save my life and I seemed to pick off or barely miss a ton of spares I guess this was my night to make up for that bad spell.