Law of Averages

There’s a reason they say law of averages.  It’s because it can’t be avoided.  Sometimes you can get away from breaking the law, but in the end the law always wins.  If you speed enough or don’t pay your parking tickets, eventually it’ll come back to you.  The law of my bowling average is no different.  I can deviate from it, but in the end it wins.  I can only adjust it in increments to create a new law but it still holds the power.  Last week reminded me of that.

I rolled the best game of my life during practice.  I struggled mightily before and after that.  I had a horrible first two games of league night.  Then a very strange third game to bring it all back to the middle.

Let’s start with the good news.  Two hundred and fifty six.  256. 44 from perfect (six in my head).  No open frames.  I finally broke the 250 barrier and it wasn’t just a fluke.  I really earned it even if it was during practice.  I threw five games before I reached single-game glory and it took a lot out of me and taught me quite a bit during those five games.  The lanes were really dry and I had a hard time finding a comfortable line.  I’m not the most versatile of bowlers (yet) so I only inched left a bit here and there and moved my target only a few boards as well.  Through five games it was up and down will lots of nasty leaves and even nastier thoughts going through my head.  Then, after leaving three straight open frames to end the fifth game, I pulled my head out of the ball return and took a big step to the left (10 boards to the left of center) and aimed at the third arrow.  Something I’m not used to doing.  Or even considering.  I knew it’s what Steve would tell me to do.  Find the line, don’t expect it to come to me.  I dug deep to our last lesson about lines and reading oil and that’s what my gut told me.  My first ball left the 3-9, but that was mostly due to hesitancy in my throw.  I saw good things, though.  From the second throw on, it felt great.  I picked up two 6-10s in the 5th and 6th frame, but was all strikes the rest of the game.

Then Thursday arrived.  And, oh, what a strange day it was.  I had a particularly bad day at work and was actually looking forward to bowling quite a bit.  Until the lanes slapped me upside the head and made me wish I’d just stayed in bed all day and skipped league.  Sort of.  It ended up being very entertaining but warm-up and the first 18 frames weren’t even close to pleasant.

I think McGutters put it best when he suggested that maybe they’d put down some 80-grit at the end of the lanes.  Every hook thrown would cut sharply at the last second, taking whatever it’s normal angle would have been and tripling it.  Or quadrupling it.  It was insanity.  Scores on our pair were down sharply for anyone not throwing a straight ball.  You couldn’t find enough oil to prevent the ball from crossing over and clipping a few pins on the left side (more as a mocking gesture than anything kind).  Increasing speed only went so far, too.  I played from left of the gutter right through the middle of the lane.  Still wasn’t enough.  Frustration compounded and anxious laughs followed just about every shot.  I tried to find humor at first until I had no choice.  It was just silly.  That made everything better.

We loosened up and stopped worrying.  Tried our best and let the lanes decide our fate.  Scores were low the entire night… except for one flash of brilliance…

Me: “This is ridiculous.”
McGutters: “You’re ridiculous.  Try your spare ball.”
Me: “That won’t work, I’ve never gotten that thing to hook more than a board even when trying.”
McGutters: “What do you have to lose?”

That was the 8th frame of the second game.  So, I stepped up onto the approach with my trusty 10-pin smasher and threw a normal ball over the second arrow from one dot to the right of middle (still don’t know all the veteran bowler lingo for this stuff) and to my surprise… it HOOKED.  My Ice Storm hooked quite a bit, as in left a solid 4-pin because I got a little bit too much hook.  No joke.  I moved left two boards and found a sweet spot.  Rattled off a 211 despite the conditions.  The proof is in the video to the right.  I threw a few bad shots, but otherwise had great success when I hit my mark.  Absolutely ridiculous.  McGutters had a hunch and it turned out to be right (a much better hunch than we he thought Facebook would never surpass MySpace).

So, after that 211, I was just short of my average.  As the law dictates.  Even though we had Saharan conditions, it still won.  Thanks to McGutter’s crazy idea and my willingness to humor him.  It made for a really hilarious/awesome third game and made the entire night worthwhile.  I think the best part is that I learned more about my game and about bowling in general.  I saw extremely dry conditions.  I made drastic moves.  I tried something that seemed ridiculous.  I grew my versatility, even if just by a little bit.

And that is why I keep coming back.  Not because of the scores on the screen but because I know eventually I am going to rewrite the law of my average…

Keep ‘em out of the gutter!

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