Wife and I have debated getting back into a league. The problem is a lot of the leagues are either ultra-competitive and filled with drunk assholes or they non-competitive and filled with old assholes. Either way there are assholes.

The key I think is to find someone who works at an alley and see if he/she can find you off hours to bowl for free. Seems the best thing is just a lot of practice.

Are you trying to hook or just throwin a straight ball? After about five months straight of playing, I was able to get over 180 pretty easily and hit my high of 225 with a hook. After a month off from playing, I fell off and couldnt hit the broad side of a barn.

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I'm throwing a straight ball. I'm getting much better at hitting that 1-3 pocket with consistancy.
It's a straight damn shot and I've even got a weird ass backspin on my ball, hooking ever so slightly back to the right.

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"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

If I'm free I'm down to bowl whenever.

Darko you have what is considered a backup ball like I used to and sometimes still do. Go for the Brooklyns!

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Power is always in the hands of the masses of men. What oppresses the masses is their own ignorance, their own short-sighted selfishness.
- Henry George

The gf and I are bowling in a summer league that starts in a couple of weeks...I haven't bowled in a league in a couple of years, but am looking forward to it.

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-- source

Actually, I meant to post this here because its kind of like human bowling;

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I just cannot stop watching it. You got the dude who gets hit by it and laying there trying to steer and then flops off.

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

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I don't remember half the time if I'm hiding or I'm lost

I wouldn't

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Oh man.

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"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

Ball punch

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The fucking ten pin is what keeps me from being a real good bowler. There are a lot of guys in that boat. I've seen enough guys use a different ball just for the ten, usually plastic, something hard that doesn't move. I'm not that into bowling to carry multiple balls around.

I've always heard that when you leave the eight, it means you threw the ball too good.

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Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

You should play with the bumpers on.

Knocking down the ten pin when its left is what makes you a good bowler. I'd rather shoot at a 10pin than a 5.

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I get that I'm supposed to be mock angry, but I apologize for being stupid but I don't get it ... sorry!

(please do not hesitate to explain it to me)

In the meantime, something topical and also heretical for your viewing pleasure ....

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Power is always in the hands of the masses of men. What oppresses the masses is their own ignorance, their own short-sighted selfishness.
- Henry George

Lord Voldemort lives over here?

Next time you guys are in the area, let us know....precious.

Darko, where did you go for the ball and shoes?

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@audioidkid

It means your ball doesn't "finish"... Your ball should hit the 1, 3, 5 and 9 and clip the 8. Usually the five should take out the eight, but if you are too light in the pocket, you can easily leave the 8 or the 8-10. You can easily leave the 8 though on a pocket shot -- annoying as hell.

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"All crowds boycotting football games shouldn't care who sings or takes a knee because they aren't watching." - Nas

i had bowled regularly for many years, but when i moved here i stopped for a few years for that reason - i didnt know many people in town and didnt know anyone who bowled around here. this year i finally went into my local bowling center and asked about league availability and was hooked right up with a team needing a 5th man. it worked out great, and i have met a lot of really good guys and some outstanding bowlers. i hadnt bowled in about 6 years, so it wasnt pretty at first, but i started turning it around after christmas and the average has climbed up to respectability (187). if you want to bowl, go on down to your center and join up. you will be glad you did. i am kicking myself for waiting so long to join here. i cant wait for next season to get that average up there where i want it!

Got the ball at the Brusnswick pro shop. Got the shoes and the bag at mc sports. There is one in Lake Zurich.

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"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

Yeah, because you just know that's a strike until the eight is standing there.

Also, lefthanders shouldn't count. It's a grossly unfair advantage.I've never bowled a lefty for money outside of pot games and I don't think they should really even be allowed in the pots. They should have their own fucking pots.

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Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

i am a lefty and acknowledge that there is an advantage to that. on my team is another lefty, and he is always crying about me fucking up his line and carrying down his oil, and i just laugh to myself. look at all the righties tracking all over each other out there week after week, and you are the one crying? its even funnier when we bowl against a lefty or two.

i dont care, conditions are what they are. you still have to hit your marks and make your spares. there is an advantage but for the average league bowler it isnt THAT big of an advantage. the problem most of the time isnt the changing conditions, its the approach and the release. changing conditions is mostly an impressive-sounding cover-up for the real problem - the guy throwing the ball.

Yeah, if there are a few of you on the pair, the advantage is lessened somewhat. But it's nice when you're the only southpaw on the pair, isn't it? And that happens fairly often.

But the changing conditions do make a difference. Sometimes by the third game I'm standing in the middle of the alley, and occasionally even toward the left. That shot is a lot tougher to make than a couple boards from the right gutter which is where I usually start out. I see more than a few guys with several balls. They never change the spot they start from, but rather, simply change balls based on conditions. I see that as somewhat of a cop-out. In fact, I think you should only be able to use a single ball per series. Learn how to adapt to conditions rather than letting the equipment do the work.

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Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don

[Sorry, Ivan]
Maybe I'm wrong. Didn't you have some medical misadventures recently involving testicular,um, surplus?

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I don't remember half the time if I'm hiding or I'm lost

for several years a used 2 balls - one of them i only used for 7-pins. i had a hard time flattening out my shot enough to consistently get the corner pin. this year when i started up again, i started using one ball, and it has been very successful. it really boils down to hitting your mark, no matter what the movement on the ball is. i speed it up a bit and go direct and hit my mark.

yes, it is nice to have a side to myself (or as i mentioned earlier me and my other lefty teammate), but even when the pair is loaded with lefties (well, 4-5 of us anyway) i rarely make any adjustments other than speed and maybe moving a couple boards. i really think that some bowlers over-complicate things by making way to radical of an adjustment by moving too much or pulling out different balls during a game when often a slight change of speed may be all that is required. hey, im no pro (i typically average 190-200 in a season), but that is what i have learned from some very good bowlers. i know what i need to do to get my average in the 205-210 range where i want to be - make more spares. i throw enough strikes to average 205-210. i dont pickup enough spares.

That describes my game to a tee. I wrestle with the ten the way you do with the seven. I've tried to come at it a million different ways. everything from traditionally across the alley to lining up about just the way I do on the first ball.

It really is a simple game. A few of the most basic things I learned longs ago was to release the ball like you're shaking hands, act like you're throwing the ball on top of your spot, and that one board on the floor is worth about three boards out on the alley.

Bowling has really changed over the years. I think Chus said he averages 215 in one of his leagues. I guarantee that there wasn't a house in Chicago in the 60s that even Johnny Petraglia could average 215 in. Averaging 185 in a Friday night league meant something at one time. But people like to score. It makes it a lot tougher to know who is really good. Some friends of mine grew up in a place called Tatovich's, an eight lane house. They used to play a game where you threw one ball on each lane in your stocking feet. Nobody ever scored 80.

_________________
Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up to The Hill
With Elon, Tulsi, and Don