When 216 isn't enough

Usually, if I bowl over 200 I'm pleased. It's my 'goal' so to speak. Bowling a 150 is too easy for me, just hit your spares. Spares are easy (if they're not splits). Getting a 200 requires more than hitting easy spares. It requires strikes, or more specifically, strings of strikes. This time however, I was a little disappointed.

I was experimenting a little. Normally I throw a 'full-roller' hook. Don't worry what that means, but just know that it is the least sophisticated type of hook (and probably the easiest to control). However, the full-roller has a slight problem. Although it is very effective when I happen to throw Brooklyn (left pocket) instead of the pocket I aim at (the 1-3 right pocket), I don't aim Brooklyn. I always aim at the right; but sometimes my full-roller doesn't hit it with enough energy to get a lot of strikes. So it's also the least effective type of hook when it comes to mixing the pins for strikes.

To further develop my game, I was trying out the semi-roller (which is a full roller with a little spin in it). In the first game, I was all over the place, and finished with an okay 160. By the 4th frame of the 2nd game, I found my line. I was hot, and I could do no wrong. I was dead on accurate at hitting my mark, and the pins melted before my new and improved hook. It didn't even matter that I was lofting it ten feet in the air (I did correct that with my rosin bag - my thumb was sticking), the pins had no chance. I had two strikes in a row in the 6th, and I just knew that I had a good chance of striking out (strikes the rest of the game). I was already projecting out my score - maybe 240 to 250. I was that locked in... or so I thought. Then I throw a duck. It wasn't that bad. I just threw it wrong, and missed my mark to the left. The ball went right down the middle, and if I got a lucky strike it wouldn't have mattered, but I left two pins. Then I get two more (very nice looking) strikes, and then get robbed (though my ball hit the pocket a little heavy - not enough speed) and left two pins again. Nah, 216 wasn't bad. It's just that I was so grooved in, I knew I could have done better.

Sorry for imposing a bowling story onto you, but I needed to get that out.