BowlingFans.com: George Freeman: Dealing With Variables Beyond Your Control

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George Freeman's Expert Bowling Tips:

Dealing With Variables Beyond Your Control
10/10/2000 - By George Freeman
I got an email from a friend yesterday about a situation in her bowling center where the oil machine had not functioned properly and did not oil the league lanes at all. This nearly caused the league to kill the laneman and the manager. If you suspect that the lanes you are bowling on do not meet ABC/WIBC specifications, there are steps you can take to bring it to the attention to the ABC or WIBC. In the meantime, you still have to bowl the set. Whatever anger you have as to be put aside. You do not have access to the oiling machine, nor can you legally harm the manager.

This is not limited to just equipment failure. There are times in league when your entire team cannot throw a strike no matter how well they are hitting the pocket, while the team you are bowling against is getting all the breaks. Getting angry or brooding over what they are doing is not going to help you or your team at all. Bowling is not like baseball or tennis, you cannot directly effect how the other person performs. The only opponents you really have are the 10 pins at the other end of the lane, and the lane itself. Here are some pointers:

Bowl your own game. The only person you can directly affect is yourself. Don't worry about what the opponent is doing, you can't affect his shot anyway, short of bonking him on the head, which I do not recommend. There are some bowlers who do not even watch their opponents throw the ball or watch it hit the pins, you see that from time to time on the PBA tour. That's because they are bowling their own game.
If something is terribly wrong with your lanes, whether it is scoring problems, lane problems, mechanical delays, or other delays, you still have to bowl. If you suspect something wrong with your lanes, you can call your local representative and inform them of the problem. Your job is to bowl. More likely than not, if the lanes on your pair are that messed up, then all of you are in the same boat anyway, so you just have to put the anger aside and try your best. If you brood to much over the situation, you are going to be cheating yourself on the lanes by not throwing good shots.

Hopefully these things will help you. Just remember that murder is illegal, so don't kill the laneman or the manager. Report them to ABC, but don't kill them. :)

Discuss your issues with bowlers who thrive on helping each other out 24 hours a day, 7 days a week at the Physical/Mental Game & Lane Conditions Forum at BowlingFans.com Message Board Community.

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