Bowling is one cruel game sometimes!
The following is an account of what happened this evening in my bowling league... it assumes that you have some knowledge of the sport but if you have any questions please ask and I will be happy to clarify anything.
I'm in a PBA experience singles league right now (every man for himself, and we bowl on the same lane conditions professional bowlers face on the Tour, very difficult with lots of oil) and this week was the roll-off for the 1st quarter (week 8 of 32). Whoever was in the lead at the end of this week would be champion.
I've bowled my ass off this whole season so far and going into the last 2-game block, I was 2.5 points ahead of my nearest competitor, who I was bowling against in the finals. All I needed to do was win one of the last two games (we get one point each for game and highest two-game total) and I'd be crowned champion of the quarter and get the big prize money.
The shot we're bowling on right now isn't really that hard, (Kegel's Middle of the Road pattern) but this week seemed very different... after the second game the lanes became almost unplayable. Just a tad soft or left the ball would hook brooklyn or right through the face, and any miss right would just slide and not even make it back to the headpin. But i was still making my spares and staying afloat.
I had a 30-pin lead with just two frames left in the match, and my opponent got frustrated. He was totally lost with his hook ball and could not get anywhere near the pocket, so he put all his equipment away except for his plastic spare ball and chucked it straight at the headpin.
This is a move ONLY reserved for "give up" mode, when you resign all hope of being competitive in a bowling match, concede victory, and say "fuck this I'm going home".
In the 9th frame, he threw a strike doing this. I was like... okay... maybe you can get lucky once.
And then in the 10th frame, the ONLY way I would lose the game and the title was if I opened (did not strike or spare) and if he threw two strikes (doubled). I missed just a board to the right and left the 1-2-4-10 washout, and hit it just right only to have the headpin fly around the 10 pin, a horrible break. I still thought the odds of my opponent throwing a double with his spare ball going straight was VERY slim.
Well, his first one barely touches the headpin and sets off a crazy chain reaction of pins that ends up being a sloppy strike.
"That's all right," I'm thinking because if he does not strike on the next ball, I still take the title.
He flat-out pulls the next shot waaay left, and it barely hits the headpin on the left side, leaving the 5-pin standing. The headpin hits the side wall, rolls back on the deck and JUST nudges the 5 over before the pinsetter goes down.
I lose.
To make matters worse, he did the same thing in the next game and got lucky strike after lucky strike and ended up shooting a 208 game, one of his highest games of the year, after, in his words, "giving up." I kept on trying and left four splits in the next game and lost by a landslide, and lost the league by HALF a point.
Bottom line is, luck is a big factor in this sport, especially in a one-game match. My opponent was very apologetic to me because he knew he had no business stealing the No. 1 spot from me throwing his spare ball straight at the pocket but thus is bowling. I even tried his strategy for a few shots, going straight at the pocket, and unlike him, I never was able to get one strike doing that.
Now I gotta somehow put this debacle behind me and start fresh in the 2nd quarter... but this was one of my most frustrating bowling nights of my life and tough pill to swallow.
I'm in a PBA experience singles league right now (every man for himself, and we bowl on the same lane conditions professional bowlers face on the Tour, very difficult with lots of oil) and this week was the roll-off for the 1st quarter (week 8 of 32). Whoever was in the lead at the end of this week would be champion.
I've bowled my ass off this whole season so far and going into the last 2-game block, I was 2.5 points ahead of my nearest competitor, who I was bowling against in the finals. All I needed to do was win one of the last two games (we get one point each for game and highest two-game total) and I'd be crowned champion of the quarter and get the big prize money.
The shot we're bowling on right now isn't really that hard, (Kegel's Middle of the Road pattern) but this week seemed very different... after the second game the lanes became almost unplayable. Just a tad soft or left the ball would hook brooklyn or right through the face, and any miss right would just slide and not even make it back to the headpin. But i was still making my spares and staying afloat.
I had a 30-pin lead with just two frames left in the match, and my opponent got frustrated. He was totally lost with his hook ball and could not get anywhere near the pocket, so he put all his equipment away except for his plastic spare ball and chucked it straight at the headpin.
This is a move ONLY reserved for "give up" mode, when you resign all hope of being competitive in a bowling match, concede victory, and say "fuck this I'm going home".
In the 9th frame, he threw a strike doing this. I was like... okay... maybe you can get lucky once.
And then in the 10th frame, the ONLY way I would lose the game and the title was if I opened (did not strike or spare) and if he threw two strikes (doubled). I missed just a board to the right and left the 1-2-4-10 washout, and hit it just right only to have the headpin fly around the 10 pin, a horrible break. I still thought the odds of my opponent throwing a double with his spare ball going straight was VERY slim.
Well, his first one barely touches the headpin and sets off a crazy chain reaction of pins that ends up being a sloppy strike.
"That's all right," I'm thinking because if he does not strike on the next ball, I still take the title.
He flat-out pulls the next shot waaay left, and it barely hits the headpin on the left side, leaving the 5-pin standing. The headpin hits the side wall, rolls back on the deck and JUST nudges the 5 over before the pinsetter goes down.
I lose.
To make matters worse, he did the same thing in the next game and got lucky strike after lucky strike and ended up shooting a 208 game, one of his highest games of the year, after, in his words, "giving up." I kept on trying and left four splits in the next game and lost by a landslide, and lost the league by HALF a point.
Bottom line is, luck is a big factor in this sport, especially in a one-game match. My opponent was very apologetic to me because he knew he had no business stealing the No. 1 spot from me throwing his spare ball straight at the pocket but thus is bowling. I even tried his strategy for a few shots, going straight at the pocket, and unlike him, I never was able to get one strike doing that.
Now I gotta somehow put this debacle behind me and start fresh in the 2nd quarter... but this was one of my most frustrating bowling nights of my life and tough pill to swallow.