What a difference a week makes!

There are few things that frustrate me more in bowling than blasting the pocket and leaving some random single pin, especially when I watch guys all around me missing the pocket and getting strikes. Two Monday's ago, this was the case. In 30 frames of bowling, I missed the pocket twice all night - once the ball slipped off my thumb too soon, coming in light and leaving a2-4-6-10 split. The second time, my ball stuck on my thumb, coming in much too high, leaving a 3-6-7 split. I did not convert either of them. For the remainder of my 28 frames, I left 17 single-pin spares - 11 of which were 10-pins, which is my nemesis. I converted 9 of those, which is darn good for me. Of the remaining 11 frames, I struck on 10 of them - every other one throughout the night. If you're doing your math, I have one frame unaccounted for. This was the most frustrating frame of the evening, in that I threw what I felt was a nearly perfect shot, smooth release, steady roll on the ball, sharply into the pocket, scattering the pins, and leaving the dreaded 7-10 split. How this happens, I will never know. And, no I didn't pick this split up either. When the dust settled, and my blood pressure sky-rocketing, I left the lanes with the most frustrating 591 series I've had in a long time. I hate to complain about a 591 series. I know many people who would love to have a 591 series. But I felt like I was so consistently on target, that I should have scored much higher. I could just not get anything to fall when I needed it to.

Now, fast forward a week. I walk into ABC West to find that we are bowling on the exact same lanes as the week before. My blood pressure begins to spike immediately, and I almost call Jeff to sub for me. During warm-ups, I'm finding the same thing happening again - blast the pocket, leave a random single pin. Six shots in a row this happens, with 6 different single pins being left (in order, they were the 7, the 6, the 10, the 8, the 4 and finally the 9). I'm lining up for my last attempt at getting a warm-up strike when they shut off the lanes, much to my dismay.

So, I get up for my first shot, and somehow, all 10 pins fall. My next shot, the same result. Frame three, another strike. Frame 4 - Hambone. Two more and Frames 5 and 6, and suddenly, I'm realizing that maybe the bowling gremlins are attempting to apologize for the week before. Unfortunately, I did not strike in the 7th, ending my bid for that elusive 300 game. But, in all fairness to the lanes, the shot did not deserve to be a strike. I threw it too fast and did not give it time to turnover properly. I finished the game with a 252.

I also assumed that since I had as many strikes in the first game as I did in all three games total the week before, I was probably going to have to fight for every shot the rest of the night. And while I do feel I was robbed on a small handful of shots, the results were much better than expected, finishing with a 229 in game 2 and a 224 in game 3, giving my a 705 series for the night.

And thus continues my complete and utter bewilderment of lane conditions at ABC West. I truly do not understand how, in one week's time, I can shoot 114 pins better from one week to the next on the same two lanes. It is a mystery to me that will likely continue to perplex me. And the frustrating this about it is that I truly believe I was more consistent with my shots in the 591 set than I was in the 705 set.

I suppose that's the way the ball bounces...which would be really bad to do on a bowling alley...