My buddy Justin Buford at Cliff Barnes Pro shop in Winston-Salem, NC was kind enough to punch up my Wicked yesterday and brought it to me last night. The first thing i did when i received the ball was shoot BrunsNick an email on drilling suggestions. Nick suggested a 5" pin to PAP, and a 60* MB, so thats what Justin and I agreed on for the layout. The ball had 1.9 oz. of top weight, and when the drilling was over it did not need a weight hole.

Here is a pic of the layout:http://s826.photobucket.com/albums/zz189/stopncrank/?action=view¤t=croppedwicked.jpg

As for my stats, Strider can tell you more about my Rev Rate, as I havent had it checked in years. Ball speed is 17.5-18 mph, and i have above average tilt and axis rotation.

To be perfectly honest with you, I have been pretty critical of Big B stuff in general. I've had several pieces of their stuff in the past but i'm far from a Brunswick homer, so i feel i can give an honest review without brand loyalty.

With that being said, i wasnt expecting a whole lot out of this ball in this center. Strider bowls there too, and he can vouch that the lanes can be brutal here, with no consistency from week to week. During warmups i must say the first few shots surprised me. The look i got initially on the fresh was pretty good, and i normally dont match up to oob surfaces from most any company. The fresh at this center normally causes everyone to pile up in one area, combine that with the fact there are Invasions, Cells, Pure Physics and the like on almost every lane and you get a recipe for nasty conditions.

I started out around 12-15 at the arrows with a breakpoint of 6-7, and the ball checks up strong in the midlane and gets almost sideways on the backend. I shoot a clean 227, not a 300 oob but definitely more than i expected! The next two games were all about chasing the oil inside, because i had a guy pretty close to me with dull surfaced stuff looping it.

One thing i can say that i like so far is the strength of this ball, combined with how clean it is up front even for a rough buff finish. What i can see myself using this ball for is definitely to open up the lanes from deep inside and not have to worry about recovery. While the current oob surface didnt match up to what i saw last night, i definitely am impressed with the overall ball motion. It does exactly what is advertised, it gets good length, and gets very nice recovery down lane.

I expected to eventually change the surface on this one, and im still leaning towards that. I have better options for fresh, but that new ballitis kicked in and i couldnt put it up lol. The surface change should help me alot, and allow me to really open up the lanes with it when they start drying out.

Thanks again to Brunsnick for the opportunity. Once i get a few more games on it, and i get the surface where i want it ill shoot a vid. Overall im very impressed, and this is from someone who isnt a Big B homer
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Taking your lunch money, one strike at a time....