Which bowling balls in the last few years did you maybe talk all up, just to be disappointed with how the ball aged? 

Me was the Hy-Road.  The Totally Defiant is boarderline for me, too condition specific....

I probably am the only bowler who didn't like my Disturbed. I tried every surface imaginable but just could not get ball to hit. No big deal,I still will give Roto another try.  I really just never saw enough oil to use ball.

 It has been a while, but the ball that fit this discussion, for me, was the original blue/white Columbia WICKED.

 When I first got the ball, it seemed that I had found magic. I could use it on nearly every condition that I came across. From down and in on oil, to swinging a 20 board area on the dry, this ball seemed to carry the world.

 Then suddenly, phhhhhht. One day it seemed to work, the next it wouldn't turn the corner. And, when I could get it to the pocket, it was now a marshmallow.

Shot 300-277 first 2 games out of the box with a pin down original Nightmare on a 38' pattern that was giving everybody fits.  The next week, the manager at the bowl announced that they had changed the pattern to 42' and due to the need to see more reaction down the lane, this ball has probably only seen 50 games since.