Ranked best to worst. If a name repeats, it means I had two of the same ball. Why am I doing this? It's 1:30 a.m., I can't sleep and the dog is snoring.
1) Tsunami H20 - Great for just about everything. I've thrown it on bone dry to floods and everything in between. Best league ball I've ever thrown. Took it to The Gathering last year and shot +50 against my average on three different Sport-compliant shots. This ball is what I miss the most about the end of the L1-Brunswick marriage. May be the best ball I've ever thrown in my life (either this or Storm's original X-Factor).
2) Cherry C/2 Pearl - Always handled more oil than you would think possible. I threw it for 150 games, then gave it to a guy learning to bowl, and he added another 200-300. Still performed well.
3) BuzzBomb/R - Could rise higher on this list, eventually. Great midlane read. Best non-Diamond core ball I've thrown yet.
4) Gold Nugget (2) - Bought one used a couple of years ago and it's my get-out-of-jail card when there's carrydown or a bad pattern.
5) XXXL Starburst - Other companies miss the boat when they don't put a core in plastic. It makes an already great spare ball an effective weapon on dry.
6) Supernova XP - I'll never ask if this company can make an angular ball again. Absolute backend monster with some polish on the coverstock. Similar strength to the Tsunami H20 but how can you not bag this one if you think you'll see toasty heads?
7) Uranium HRG - Great idea for a ball and it fills a need Lane #1 didn't previously have. Slight criticism would be it handles more oil than advertised, so plan accordingly when inserting into an arsenal.
8. Enriched Uranium (2) - Very close in reaction to my current Gold Nugget, just stronger. Great for tournaments where I know I'll see heavier oil amounts. Currently is the most aggressive ball in my tournament bag.
9) G-Force Evolution - So-so experience. Great when the conditions are right, terrible when not. Hates oil. Fits well in an arsenal but I wouldn't make it my only ball unless I was going to dull the shine off it. Still, it's in my tournament bag because when the conditions are right for it, it seems to have a guidance system for the pocket.
10) Hybrid Dirty Bomb - Decent dry lane ball, which would be fine except this thing is supposed to handle oil. It wouldn't at any finish, however, so I polished it up and now use it when the backends are flying. Make lemonade out of lemons...
11) Dirty Bomb - Pretty clear by now that I don't match up with the DB core. Bought this one for drier lanes and it struggled even with that. Inconsistent motion and bad carry when it hit. I hate that, because I loved the looks of this "ugly ball."
12) Gold Nugget (1) - First one of these I had was highly condition-specific. It probably wasn't the ball's fault, because I hadn't yet worked with a coach extensively at that time and was a speed-dominant, low rev player. I've found that's not a great combo with the Diamond core. The guy who bought it off me was the same way and I think he made a garden object out of it.
13) Enriched Uranium (1) - Hate to even list this because this one definitely could have been the fault of something other than the ball. It was a short-pin ball I got off eBay and had been plugged WAY more times than the ad stated. I couldn't get it to roll or hit. Either the drilling made it roll like junk, or it had experienced cover death before I got it. Didn't appear to have many games, though. And whoever plugged the ball in advance of me getting it did it in a dark room after drinking heavily. This was the ball that almost scared me away from Lane #1 forever.
It's amazing, listing these things, that I've only had 13 Lane #1 balls over the years. I gotta get busy. (g)
Jess
