Lately, I can't help finding myself sitting back and watching people throw big temper tantrums when they don't bowl well.  Instead of just understanding and accepting that you win some and you lose some, they throw a fit like a 5 year old.  For instance, a couple of bowlers I have been watching purposely try and kick their foot over the foul senser whenever they miss a spare.  Why do it?  It makes no sense.  Do they feel that doing this is going to help them forget about it?  I also have seen several people lately throw a bad ball and kick the ball return.  Hell, the ball return didn't do anything to them, why kick it.  Don't destroy the lane providers things just because your not happy.  Man, it just erks me.  I also hate it when everyone blames there bad bowling on poor lane conditions.  Hell, if you are that good, you could bowl on anything.  I never hear the pros complaining that the lanes are messed up and it is impossible to bowl well.  Good bowlers can adjust, make changes to their technique, adjust angles.  If you are struggling on certian conditions than use it has a learning experience.  I heard a bowler once tell me that the lanes somewhere were too dry because all of the balls he has hooked too much.  I have personally observed this bowler bowl at the particular house for years and I have never seen him throw a ball outside of a 5-10 board range.  Always straight down and in.  Sometimes you have to move across and play a deep angle.  I have never considered myself to be a great bowler.  I have good days and bad days and sometimes great days.  I admit that just like many others I get frustrated, but I keep it to myself and gear my feelings towards trying to search for a solution.  All I ask is if you are not bolwing well than please epress you frustration in a more tasteful manner.  This sports is and learning process.  It is not supposed to be easy. 

This past Tuesday in my Men's league I shot my first 800 series.  I was on fire.  Normally I would play an out and in line because the lane conditions are usually dry, but this night there was actually some oil on the lanes and I found myself through down the 5 board and in.  My ball of choice for the night was an Ebonite Predator which I bought new back in 2001 and has been my ball of preference for a long time.  I probably have between 5-600 games on it and the ball never fails me.  I had my 300 game with this ball and it paid off again for me.  My first game I threw a 266, then I followed that with a 290.  I destroyed the pocket on my first frame of this game on to be disappointed at finding a 8 pin standing there when I finished.  Then I threw the next eleven in a row.  The final game did not begin quite as promising as the other two, but I was happy to bowl a 247 and complete my first 800 series with a final series of 803.  Even though I know an 800 series is more difficult to come by then a 300 I can't help, but feel that there is something more glorious about a 300 game.  Anyway I am very happy to announce that I have reached another milestone in my bowling resume.    

I have several balls with different types of coverstock. About 5 years ago I bought my first Particle/Reactive Resin bowling ball. After about 200 games I noticed my ball lost its hooking action. I have always cleaned my balls after every game. I started out using strictly bowling ball cleaners you would by in your local pro shop. I was then told about using rubbing alcohol and after doing a comparison test I noticed no difference in a ball cleaned with a commercial cleaner and rubbing alcohol so I have from that day on used rubbing alcohol on all of my bowling balls. Nobody will change my opinion on it, no matter how much scientific mumbo jumbo talk they want to dish out. It is much cheaper, has the same result, and is legal to use during competition. Anyway after about 200 games I noticed my ball began to lose its hooking action. My Ebonite Turbo Urethane was out hooking my Predator ball. Out of the box my Turbo couldn't hold a candle to the hook of my Predator. So I became frustrated. I tried cleaning my ball with alcohol, then I tried soaking it in alcohol, tried resurfacing, scuffing the coverstock, and commercial cleaners. No luck. It still was hooking and hitting the pocket like a limp noodle. Then I became really worried. So I began researching and found hundred of articles on what they call dead ball syndrome. This is where the Particle and Reactive resin balls are famous for loosing there hooking ability after hundred of oil soaking games. Well I decided I would give up and buy another ball. Well during my research I found an article discussing the pro's and con's about baking your bowliing ball to bring out the oil. Well I figured I was going to buy a new ball anyway so I said what the hell. I found specific instruction on how to do this. I set my oven on 200 degrees and would bake the ball for 2 minute intervals. Each time I would remove the ball from the oven clean off the oil that was coming out of the coverstock and there was plenty of it. It took me almost 3 hours before the oil stopped coming out of the coverstock. Keep in mind I did allow the ball some cool down time after about every 3rd time I would remove the ball. This was to keep the ball from becoming too hot in the oven and causing the coverstock to crack. So the following day I took my ball to my league and man it was hooking like new. It was shredding the rack. Well after all of that hard work I was terrified it would soak up a lot of oil so I would clean the ball after every frame. I then decided that night to try the oven one time to see how much oil actually made it into the coverstock. Well after baking it twice and pulling globs of oil out I decided that it had soaked up the oil faster than I could clean it off so I decided that to see if there was a better way to clean the ball. I decide I didn't feel like spending another hour baking the ball. So I once again began researching cleaning methods. This is where I cam across the hot water method. So I bought a 5 gallon bucket, poured in a couple of table spoons of dishwashing liquid and let it soak for a couple of hours. The idea behind this idea is that the hot water will heat up the coverstock enough to draw the oil out without heating up the ball so much that you run the danger of cracking the coverstock. The detergent helps to pull the oil off of the surface of the ball to where it will float on the top of the water. Well after a couple of hours I pulled the ball out, placed it on a towel and dried it off. I then cleaned it an extra time with some rubbing alcohol. The following week the ball was still hooking like it did new. A couple of months and about 60 games later I noticed the ball started losing its reaction again so I once again pulled out the bucket, water, and soap. The next week the ball was once again acting like it had been reborn. I have used this cleaning method ever since. I am currently still using my predator with 800+ games and still hooking like new, and Ebonite Savage with 200+ games, and an Ebonite Big One. All are still hooking like the first day out of the box. 3 years later I have yet to have a ball crack, chip, or receive any damage whatsoever from this cleaning method. I recommend it to anyone. I still do this every few months and I recommend it to anyone. So before you throw out you old ball I suggest you give the water and bucket method a try. I felt I needed to add this after the comment I received. I do NOT recommend putting you ball in the dishwasher. The dishwasher will heat the water up much more then the water does coming out of the tap. Plus once you remove the ball from the dishwasher it will cool off quicker leading to the possibllity of it cooling too fast and cracking the ball. The water and bucket method allows the ball to cool with the water. And by the time you remove the ball it will have slowly cooled out of the danger zone. Once more, I DO NOT recommend putting a ball in the dishwasher.

    Well I have been in a slump for about the past month.  I have had a hard time getting a good consistent powerful drive into the pocket.  Well last night I had to force myself to stay behind the ball because everytime I got around the side of the ball I would create too much hook and couldn't keep my ball from overshooting the pocket.  So my first game was only a 164.  Towards the end of that game I finally got control over my wrist and was able to keep my hand behind the ball. I was hitting my mark consistently and I followed my first game with a 257 and a 268 for a 689 series.  It was a great finish to a bad start. That is why I like to believe that you shouldn't judge your night based on your first game.

Well last Tuesday I threw the ball well and when I didn't the bowling gods were on my side. I bowled a 245- 237- 235 for 717 series. It was the first 700 series I have had in a while. I was hitting my mark and my line pretty consisently, but when I didn't the bowling gods were giving me some sloppy strikes that I will proudly take. I was also 100% for corner pins with not even one close call. I am a lefty so when I talk about the corner pins I mainly mean the 7 pin. I was dead on every shot. I look forward to next week. I hope the bowling gods will be on my side again.