Monday Meltdown

I'd like to think that I'm not my own worst enemy, but, sadly, the evidence is incontrovertible. I had a solid look all night, frustration, lapses in focus, and complete inattention to detail led to a very lackluster performance on the lanes.

Game 1

X X X 9- 63 8/ X X 9/ XXX - 215

I started the night using my Nirvana, which I was trying at 500 grit abralon plus polish, a finish I have used with a lot of success in the past. It gave me a nice look, as was shown by the quick start. Sadly, I hung in the ball in the fourth, which caused the ball to hit the dry a pinch early and blow the rack for a stone 9-pin. I hung in the second ball just a bit too, and since the Nirvana hooks even harder in the oil than it does in the dry, I missed the conversion to the left, which marked the second 9-pin I had missed this season. I went high for a 3-6-9-10 in the fifth. I thought I had the spare covered, but the ball failed to get through to the 9-pin, so I ended up with two opens in a row. I regrouped from there, throwing good shots and striking the rest of the way to pull a 215 out of the fire.

Game 2

X X X X X 9/ 9/ X 9- 9/7 - 223

Liking my look and the way I was executing to end Game 1, I decided to stick with the Nirvana to start Game 2. Obviously, things looked good early on. Sadly, after smashing the front five, my carry seemed to leave me. Looking back, I think the straighter players burning up the track area was causing my Nirvana to lose steam off the spot, which resulted in back-to-back half 10s in the 6th, 7th, and 10th. The real killer, however, was the ninth frame, when I produced a carbon copy of the stone 9-pin/miss cluster that I pulled in Game 1. Missing two 9-pins in a season is bad; missing two in one night is despicable. In the end, I hacked a front-five start to a low 220 finish. Pathetic.

Game 3

X 9- X 8/ X 6/ X 9/ 9/ XXX - 197

Realizing that the Nirvana just wasn't retaining enough energy to carry any longer, I made the decision to go to the Brute Strength, a ball that has killed for me later in the night at this house. That was the right decision. I had exactly the look that I wanted/needed on the left lane, as is shown by the fact that I struck in 4 of the 5 shots I threw on that lane (1st, 3rd, 5th, and 7th). Sadly, I was completely brain dead when it came to the right lane. For whatever reason, I couldn't seem to figure out that I needed to slow the ball down on that lane in order to give the ball time to climb the hill after encountering the friction. As such, I looked lost on that lane all the way until the 10th frame when I came out of my coma and slowed the ball down, which resulted in three flush strkes, a lot of frustration, and a lot regret.

In the end, shooting 635 for the evening isn't awful. I mean, the look I had was decent tonight, but it wasn't one of those nights where I know that I could've/should've shot 750 plus. Still, missing three single pins on the night (I had only missed two all year heading into the set) and failing to make simple adjustments is simply unaceptable. Limitations in my physical game will always cause hiccups here and there, but the wounds from tonight were all self-inflicted, and that is really disappointing.