Have you ever done this?  Sunday there was a scratch tournament at my local lanes.  My friend and I were planning on bowling in it, but for some reasons we decided not to.  We decided this sat. night and during that time, we comtemplated what the shot was gonna be.  We talked to one of the workers at the lanes and he said that he was in charge of setting up the oil pattern but did not know what it was gonna be until they actually oiled the lanes.  Here is what my friend and I thought the pattern was gonna be:  flooded out to 45-50 ft and either a reverse block or a flat pattern.  I knew if this was the case I would have used my spare ball and take the oil out of play.  Sunday night after our league, which is after the tournament, I asked the same worker how it went.  He told me the pattern was flooded out to 42' and flat.  He also said that the 5 game qualifing was right at 1000.  After he said that, I knew that I should have bowled in it because I would have had a fairly good chance at making the cut.  Even if I would have bowled and not made the cut I would have considered it a good learning experience.  Oh well, life goes on.  I will definitely bowl in the next tournament.  And btw, I only missed 3 spares in league last night, so that was a great feeling.  Usually I average about 2 a game.
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You are only as good as the amount of fills in a game.

First of all, I never said that I was going to average 200 in this tournament.  I said that I had a chance in it.  Most of the bowlers in the tournament are 210 and over in average.  Even the house owner that averages around 220 did not make the cut.  I would bet a good sum of money that everyone that bowled in the tournament was using a hook monster on the condition.  For me to take oil out of play I need to use plastic because my arsenal does not consist of a big hooking ball.  

Who cares if my average is 177 or higher or lower on league conditions.  I am capable of throwing up good numbers, and there are good bowlers that were in the tournament that know I am capable of good scores that were wondered where I was.  It all comes down to a timing issue with me.  Who also cares if I miss 2 spares in a game or more or less.  In my highest series that I have shot I had one open in game 1 and 2 in game 3 and the series was 692.  Does that prove that you need to fill in every frame to shoot a good series?  No it does not.  The fills sure do help though.  Just sunday night I had only 1 open in every game and was above average in each one.  

Did I say I was a good bowler?  No I did not.  Am I a bad bowler?  Definitely no.  Just because you looked in my profile and saw my averages were in the 170's does not give you the right to say that I do not need to go to these tournaments.  Do I have the tournament experience?  No I do not.  That is why I WANT to go to these types of tournaments so that I can better myself and my average.  Oh and by the way, I have shot at more 7-10, big 4, and who knows what other split combinations over the last several weeks than I care to ever shoot at.  So split leaves and other combinations do not ever bother me.

I am sorry about the rand and getting upset over this, but I just needed to get it off of my chest.
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You are only as good as the amount of fills in a game.