All I kept hearing, and all I keep hearing (in town anyway) is nothing but dogging youth bowlers, youth accomplishments, and youth leagues in general.  It's always "Youth honor scores don't count," or "They might think they're hot stuff now, but just wait until they get up here with the big boys."  One of my buddies is still in youth leagues, he's averaging 225 or so.  Had a guy ask me why he didn't come up to adult leagues this year, and I told him it was because my buddy didn't think he could get the time off from work to bowl (he works evenings), didn't think he could really afford it at the time, and didn't quite think he was good enough to hang with the adults.  The guy kinda rolled his eyes, and said, "Oh, he's good enough to hang with most of them, but I think he's gonna get a reality check when he gets up here too.  He's gonna find out that in adult leagues, they don't give you that 3-4 boards of area to work with."  Lol, I felt like saying, "No, they give you 5-6 to work with because all the adults whine about having a fresh shot because they think they deserve it for paying so much."  

Sooo, here are the comparisons.  There is a LOT more competition.  Both the scratch leagues I bowl in, most of the guys are good enough to beat you anytime, no matter what kind of score you shoot at them.  However, not having to deal with leftover conditions from cyberbowling the night betfore in one league, and bowling after the peewees in another league makes me smile.  The shot is so wide open that if I keep my head on straight and make halfway decent shots, I'm gonna hit the pocket and strike most of the time.  Going from bowling on nothing but broken down conditions and having a traveling sport shot tournament to hone some skills on to a fresh wall shot every night of league is quite a difference.  

A friend that came up to adult leagues this year with me averaged 208 and 211 in his two youth leagues.  Now he's averaging 210+ in two leagues, and 227 in a league he bowls with me on.  The shots are so easy that my incredibly poor performance the first third of the season makes me want to cry, but I fixed everything, and fully expect to end leagues in May with two 220+ averages (I'm currenly at 208 in both leagues at the half).  So youths, don't let the adults try to intimidate you, 250+ plus on a wall shot isn't anything special, just a carry issue.  However, since youth honor scores don't count, I suppose I'll just have to prove myself in the world of the "big boys."  I never shot 800 in youth leagues, as "easy" as it was, so I guess that shooting one or two either this year or next year would be worth a little more, hmm?  But like I said, it's just a carry contest now, I'd have been more proud of a youth 800, whether anybody else thought it meant anything or not.
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The weekly signature series, by Hamster, presenting a mini-series of quotes from the Blue Collar Comedy tour!

"Fishin reminds me of a girl I was with, we went down to the lake down 'ere.  She wanted to make love on a horse, and I'd never done it, so we did it, and I'm trying to keep my balance, and she's fallin' off, then the manager at the Wal-Mart came out and unplugged 'er there.  I didn't even want to make love on the horse, I wanted to do it on the rocket ship . ."

I get to be shown up by Rhino every Tuesday at league, but he's on my team, so that's a good thing, especially on the nights I pop in a 700.  I know what you mean about the PWBA shots, a couple of them are BRUTAL.  I bowled one of the GISBT stops about a year and a half ago, it was horrible though.  One of the guys I was going with couldn't get off work the night before, so my dad ended up driving all night to get us there by 9.  I didn't miss the cut by much, and it was a great experience (first tournament I think I'd ever bowled), lol, and I STILL get the newsletters.  I kinda know Cory Simmons, Justin Crumley, Trent Overbey, Chelsie Bahr, and Melissa Hurst, if any of those names sound familiar.
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The weekly signature series, by Hamster, presenting a mini-series of quotes from the Blue Collar Comedy tour!

"Fishin reminds me of a girl I was with, we went down to the lake down 'ere.  She wanted to make love on a horse, and I'd never done it, so we did it, and I'm trying to keep my balance, and she's fallin' off, then the manager at the Wal-Mart came out and unplugged 'er there.  I didn't even want to make love on the horse, I wanted to do it on the rocket ship . ."

All the youth leagues I am aware of around here have fresh conditions that are run for their leagues. The majors also all tend to bowl with a limited number of players on a pair. Generally less than 6 so they are often unprepared for the transitions of having 10 players on a pair in adult leagues.

My experience is that about 20% are close to as good as they think they are. Many are intimidated and/or cannot accept that now there are 20 other bowlers in the league at least as good as they are.

I’ve seen Chuck Hall stars of tomorrow come in and quit after a few months frustrated at not being able to compete. Some kids come in and adjust quickly others are willing to learn and get better over time.

Some of this seems to have changed in the last year. The best league in town used to be on old wood lanes, long above ground ball returns, tame backends, and fast lane pattern breakdowns. Now the league travels but it is all bowled on synthetics with booming back ends. All the houses seem to run similar shots that favor the stand left sling it right crowd. The older established teams are still winning the league but the kids are coming closer.