Last night in our traveling scratch league we start out practicing and there is a lot of oil (particularly for second shift) still on the lanes. There is a nice blend with dry boards outside 10 and a puddle in the middle, very easy condition.

I took my normal ball moved right 10 boards with my feet and 4 with my eyes and life is good.

The other team instantly go to their bags and pull out hooking sponges so that they can still play the deeper shot, 4 of their 5 bowlers do this.

By the start of the second game they have blown a hole in the puddle and essentially created a tube shot.

Now these guys are no slouches. Multiple eagle winners, 2 ABC hall of famers (one probably will be in a few years), and a couple of collegiate bowlers.

My question is why do you chop up a good shot like that? Before the night was over I had to move in over 17 boards to keep up with the break down. If everyone would have played milder equipment  the shot would have held much better, the adjustments would have been smaller, and everyone would have scored higher.

It’s not sour grapes in the since I still shot a higher series than any of them. They eventually had to switch back to tamer equipment and because of the effect of the tube then they had an OB to contend with.

MAybe because they knew the shot was easy,
and was trying to keep the oposition for scoring well?
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Eric T. Spivey, P.E.
 Visionary Test Staff Member

Last spring a national PBA player (3 time champion) was subbing on our team and a similar situation occurred (a different opposing team).

He also expressed his dismay at that time of those players chopping up a good shot and that on the PBA they tried to work together keep the shot going. I’ve heard this year that has been somewhat of a problem with all the new blood on the tour and a lot of them want to start out deep and end up with no where to move to.

The eagle holders while using sponges played straight enough that they didn’t chop up the lane as bad as the two collegian’s who were trying to hook the lane. Funny thing there was their coach is on the team (one of the eagle holders).

I would think with all the brackets and side bets going on you wouldn’t be looking to mess up the shot for the other team as much as you would be looking to keep a shot going that you could score on.

Pinbuster, personally I hope you whipped that team.  

PB evidently didn't stress enough to everyone that these are not your average house hacks.  They are ABC Eagle winners with extremely highly certified coaches from college and Team USA ranks.  I can't emphasize enough that these players have the required knowledge and skills at their disposal that all but a few elite individuals possess.  All of us hacks must show their respect to these individuals.

While I do not rank in the same category of the above mentioned team members, I do have my own opinion of this team from previous competition.  They believe that they are better than the other teams they will face in leagues.  Opponents also must recognize the qualifications brought to the table and most opponents will lose due to their mere reputation.  This great team uses this to their advantage by intentionally blowing up a pattern and forcing the other teams to play the lanes in the manner they dictate.  As PB said, he was forced to adjust.  I compare this to a basketball team that will press, shoot quick and basically try to run its opponent out of the building by scoring so many points, that the opponent forgets how to play the game.  This team metaphorically gets in your face and says, I'm better than you and now I'm going to force you into playing the game how I want to play it.  This can be intimidating to say the least.

When I bowled against this team, I would get pumped up and just loved tasting victory.  However, since they usually won the league, I always left hungry.  I would watch and listen very close to find out when and how much they were moving and make sure I kept up.  They were definitely going to lead the dance, I just wanted to keep in step.