Sometimes you have a night where the pins are just falling right.
In my bowling league tonight, I shot a 267, a 270, and a 265. This gave me an 802 series. My average is 168, so the 270 also got me a wristwatch for shooting 100 over my average. The 802 gets my name put up on the wall, plus I get a ring for that.
On my third game I carried a perfect game into the top of the 10th frame, then made a bad shot that cost me a 300. Which was annoying, but having just had Passover, the song "Diyanu" came to mind. It's a song about all the things God did for the Jews in getting them out of Egypt, and every chorus ends with "Diyanu," which means if he'd done this much and no more, that would have been enough. So I didn't shoot a 300. An 802, a ring, a watch, and congrats from everyone else in the league. Diyanu. It's enough.
PAD
Posted by Peter David at May 5, 2005 12:25 AM | TrackBack | Other blogs commentingDo you get a signed picture? If so, I highly recomend, "Nothing's finer than being in your diner."
Nope, never bowled a 300. But, hey, it's all good. Now I still have a goal to aspire to.
PAD
I bowl once a year, and get between 100 and 130. Is this a talent you've always had, or did you actually practice and take "bowling lessons"?
"I bowl once a year, and get between 100 and 130. Is this a talent you've always had, or did you actually practice and take "bowling lessons"?"
It's something I started doing for exercise. You'd be amazed how much it gets the heart rate up if you spend an hour doing nothing but bowling. And the more I did it, the more I wanted to do it well. I bowl pretty much every single day, anywhere from three to five games. I reached a certain level of skill, stalling at around 150, and started taking lessons. I meet with a coach once every two weeks. It's helped improve my game tremendously.
PAD
Do you think your recent knee/foot injury (I forget which) is continuing to contribute to your bowling?
You know, I almost bowled a 300 one time, but then some idiot ran into the bowling alley yelling "Fire", creating a panic and...wait a minute, wrong thread. Sorry.
Rainbow Bowling Lanes
(614) 491-7155
3224 S High St
Columbus, OH 43207
Every Friday night from 9:30-12 midnight, DJ BIG Ben (that's me) puts aside his comic book addiction to spin some great hits for you bowling fans.
Amazing series -- especially considering your 168 average!
Congrats on the 802.
I used to bowl. Had to give it up. Too much Lane Rage. When I lost, I hated everything including myself.
I bowled a 277 one time in the first game and couldn't even get a 600 series. I think that day was the point where I sorta figured it was time to quit.
Well rolled! (My high game -- back when I was in high school was 256.)
And it is an amazing amount of exercise. But my thumb gets unhappy after a while.
802? Niiiiiiiice....
I bowled an 800 series once. Granted it took me 7 games, but I bowled an 800 series.
Hey bowlers; is it at all possible to do the Fred Flintstone style twinkle-toes bowl?
Nice; used to bowl weekly in high school and had around a 160 average but topped out at around a 220 high game myself. Was an odd game in that I wasn't feeling social, so I told my league team that I was just going to get up, bowl, then sit back down and read.
I didn't even notice that I'd bowled six strikes in a row for the first six frames, other than perhaps to think "Oh, good, they all fell down again, so I don't have to wait to get back to my book". Then someone had to tell me what I was doing, and now that I was aware of it the last four frames went all to hell.
Congrats, and good luck on shooting for 300 and an 850+ series.
I had to stop bowling when they took away the bumpers in the gutters. After they left, my game went to hell. I had to go get my wife pregnant so we could have kids. A few more years and they will be ready for their first "Bowling Birthday Party!" I can hardly wait. Daddy is going to show them how it's done!
garbonzo
Congratulations!
I once had a 300-game going, but got so nervous I lost it in the second frame.
I had a night like that once...keep in mind i havent bowled since I was like 20 tho (29 now)...
I used to play intramurals in high school...and I wasnt that good at all. Averaged maybe a 110. Then one day I rang up a 190, a 212 and a 195. After that it was back to the 110's and 120's. Got so frustrated about not being able to duplicate that night I just didnt bother to play anymore.
I only hope that on the day PAD bowls a 300 he spikes the ball throught the alley floor like Homer Simpson!
JAC
Way to go!
I love to bowl but I'm just an every once and a whiler.
I also took bowling in college as a "PE" requirement. But I have to admit it wasn't to really learn how to bowl. It was Spring and all the "Hot Chicks" liked taking the course because they didn't have to change out of their spring skirts, etc.
Yeah, it was a fun class.
Speaking as someone who bowled quite a bit in HS but tended to peak out at 150 or so (and inconsistently so at that) ... wow. That's awfully impressive. Congrats.
Maybe I'll get back into it once we move: it's always struck me as much more of an East Coast sport than West Coast. (Bowling in LA always seemed to involve glow-in-the-dark shoes and spinning disco balls. Never made sense to me.)
TWL
"I only hope that on the day PAD bowls a 300 he spikes the ball throught the alley floor like Homer Simpson!"
I once saw a guy do that, actually. Except it wasn't in celebration, but in rage. He needed to strike with his first ball of the 10th frame in order to lock up the match. He left a stone 7 pin, standing there alone, much like the cheese. He was so furious that he then missed picking up the 7. What he paid no attention to was that if he'd picked up the 7, and then got any decent kind of count on the next ball, he would still have won. When that little nugget sank in, he grabbed his bowling ball and threw it down with such incredible force that I was amazed he didn't shatter the wood, the ball, or both.
By the way, I cannot recommend highly enough "ESPN Bowling Night" Tuesdays, 8 PM EST, in which athletes from other sports endeavors bowl. Football player Terrell Owens, for instance, acquited himself quite well. Leila Ali, on the other hand, was painful to watch, although the audience just adored her. They repeat it half a dozen times or so over the week on ESPN and ESPN2, so look for it. And the theme song is written and performed by "They Might Be Giants," featuring such great lyrics as:
"You think you're 'it,' a really big hit,
Then you're staring down the lane at a 7-10 split."
and
"Come, the sport of bowling calls!
Grab your shoes! Grab your balls!"
PAD
Congratulations, Peter. That's quite an accomplishment.
By the way, I cannot recommend highly enough "ESPN Bowling Night" Tuesdays, 8 PM EST, in which athletes from other sports endeavors bowl
What do you think of the way that PBA events have apparently transformed in recent years? The introductions of the bowlers, in particular.
I caught a PBA event recently on ESPN while flipping stations, and the only reason I stopped at all was because I thought it was the introductions to a WWE match.
Hey Peter,
Recently I've been trying to learn how to get into "the zone," or "flow state," where everything just seems to click. Not with bowling - with any activity. I've been reading some zen and psychology books. It seems like it's tricky to consciously control it, because a big part of getting into the zone is letting go.
Anyway, do you think anything in particular was different last night that led you to bowl so well. Did you feel as though you were analyzing less than usual, thinking less? Any other insights? Do you get into the zone when you write?
Just curious :-)
Jason
"Anyway, do you think anything in particular was different last night that led you to bowl so well. Did you feel as though you were analyzing less than usual, thinking less? Any other insights? Do you get into the zone when you write?"
Certainly being "in the zone" in the case of bowling simply means that you're relaxed, not trying to force the ball or muscle it. In the case of having an unexpectedly high series, though, there's more factors than just mental. Basically, every bowler has an "A" game, an ideal line that they throw their ball down combined with an ideal mark that they're standing on. If lane conditions happen to match up to their "A" game, then they can have one hell of a night.
Usually I have to make constant adjustments as the lanes break down and the oil conditions change. Wednesday night, I never budged from the strike line I was shooting, which was my starting strike line. And the ball kept carrying; never had to change equipment. My "A" game. That's never happened before. I've never had a strike line that worked for thirty straight frames. Didn't happen any week before, and likely won't happen next week. But this week, yes.
PAD