League Night - NSAC - Victory Lanes - Kankakee, Illinois

I've often heard it said that you can't out-bowl bad ball reaction, and I've found that to be true because some nights I've executed very well and come away with very little in terms of score. What you don't often hear is that amazing bowling balls can't erase the damage done by poor execution, and THAT is what I proved on this night.

Game 1

X X X 9/ 9/ X X X 9/ 9/X - 236

Because we were bowling on Lanes 15-16, which is notoriously the tightest pair in this center, I decided to start the night with my DV8 Brutal Nightmare, an earlier, rollier ball, instead of playing inside with the Mastermind Genius. The decision looked good early on because despite displaying very poor mechanics, I was able to stay in and around the pocket with relative ease. I struck on six of the first eight shots with a 9-pin and a 4-pin wedged in the middle. Another 4-pin slowed me down in the ninth, and a swishing 7-pin started my 10th before a strike in the fill for 236. The score obviously was solid, but I definitely didn't throw the ball anywhere near as well as I am capable of, particularly when it came to posting up at the foul line.

Game 2

9/ X 9/ X 9/ 8/ X X X 53 - 199

Feeling like my carry would go away as I started migrating left, I decided to switch to the Masterming Genius and play the lanes how I normally have been during Game 1 of these league sets. The rationale was that since this pair starts out tighter, I would be seeing in Game 2 what I usually see during Game 1. The first three shots on the right lane showed me that the pair still wasn't opened up as much as I thought, resulting in a flat 10, a 2-pin, and a ringing 10. I managed to throw very good shots on the left lane in the second and fourth, but I got lazy in the sixth, causing the ball to go through the face for a 3-6, which I covered. Finally making the correct move, I struck in the seventh, eighth, and ninth to set up a possible 238. Unfortunately, my poor shot-making came back in a big way in the tenth as I leaked the ball right way too early, which caused it to break loose and go through the face for a the Greek church (4-6-7-9-10). I took three to finish with a very disappointing 199.

Game 3

9- 7/ 9/ X X 9/ X 9/ X 9/X - 197

Feeling like the poor results were much more operator error than bad ball reaction, I decided to stay with the Mastermind Genius to start Game 3. I rang a 10-pin in the first and threw an abysmal shot at it, which resulted in my second open in as many frames. I then proceeded to throw the next shot out the window to the right, missing the head pin and leaving the 1-2-8, which I covered. At that point I just wanted to try something to different to get my head back on straight, so I decided to switch to the Melee Jab, the ball that I have been LOVING during the second and third games in this league. I didn't miss the pocket the rest of the night, but my shoddy execution resulted in two 10-pins, two 7-pins, and only one double. That never leads to big scores, and didn't here either as I finished with 197 for the game and 632 for the night.

On paper, the scores weren't terrible, but I walked away knowing that I really didn't throw the ball well at all tonight. I'm not sure if that was the result of having bowled 9 games over the previous two days or if it was just one of those nights. Whatever it was, it was disappointing. On the bright side, my equipment continues to live up to and exceed my expectations. When I threw good shots, the Brutal Nightmare, Genius, and Jab shined just as they have been for the past month and a half. As I have said before, if you haven't checked out Brunswick/DV8/Radical, do yourself a favor and check them out; these balls are THAT good!

As always, thanks for reading! Hopefully I'll execute better and be able to report on bigger and better things next week!