Im sure it has...

I went to practice today, trying to get more comfortable with my new flash force.  me and my friend get a pair of lanes, and are bowling next to two middle-aged men that i assume were just bowling before their night league.  because i wanted to use my new ball, which i hadnt become comfortable throwing yet, i tried experimenting all different lines.  after 3 games in the mid-180's, it appeared that i looked lost - even though i knew this was just experimenting.  well, one of the guys next to us, who happened to be full of himself, started bowling good.  he couldnt have averaged more than 180, which were the scores i was putting up even while experimenting with a new ball.  while on his little hot streak, he comes over to me and starts telling me all about how i need to figure out the lane pattern, and that the oil pattern is my problem, etc., etc. (i'd like to know when the oil pattern ISN'T a bowlers main concern).  i tell him i know the oil pattern and practice here all the time(this house is a very easy THS with a slight OOB outside the 4 board), and that im just experimenting.  he looked at me like i was making an excuse and trying to show him up.  well, i stopped experimenting.  i moved my line so that i was swinging it out to 10, which is the track area there and the line everyone tries to play, and shot 720 the next 3 games.  he shut his mouth and bowled a couple of 160's before leaving.  

my point is this...these are the type of people i cant stand in bowling.  ive seen and met so many of them since i became serious about it 3 years ago, and it makes me sick to my stomach when i have to be next to someone like that.  why cant we just go and bowl...make our shots speak for themselves.  me and my friend, who both went to work on some things instead of just boosting our ego's, couldnt even concentrate while this guy was preaching to his friends how he was "going to beat them all".  he was bragging that he was going to shoot 300 after having the front 5!(barely shot 220)  

sorry for the ranting, but situations like this really get on my nerves.  either shut up, bowl and let others give you credit for your accomplishments, or dont bother bowling seriously(which this guy obviously was).

any thoughts?
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Erik Olsen - e13ez85@hotmail.com

You should see some of the looks I get when I go to practice my spares.  I grab my plastic ball and play across the lane (7,4,2,1,3,6,10) throwing at each pin 4 times.  Even people who can't bowl look at me like I suck.  Suffice it to say that I don't miss too many spares when the time for action shows up.

If someone really gets in your face, offer them a little wager.  $10/Game for 3 games + $20 for set should get their attention.  Or 10 cents/pin to the winner of a game, 3 games minimum.  Both of these could easily get you $50-75 and shut the other guy up.
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Nut

If horse racing is the sport of kings, then surely bowling is a very good sport as well.