Guys, I crossed with him in 2 regionals in a 3 tournament period this late August/mid-September and had him right beside me in the one we didn't cross together in. He made the finals in the Cols, OH regional and missed in Ft. Wayne, IN and Lancaster, OH. In C-Bus, we also had Brian Himmler and local sr. player Bill Henson (Midwest SR-POY 2006) with us. The biggest crowds in the building were following us all day and they certainly were not there to watch me go even on the cheetah during a shootout.
Billy is emotional at times, as we all are. When you get out in games 6-7-8 and the scoring pace is very high, you feel anytime that you don't strike you are done and it shows in your emotions.
All I can say is bowling in that atmosphere is a different animal. My thought process was to just make a good showing since I am still new to the regional scene. Henson was just trying to at the very least be high senior, but make a regular check since those pay better than high-senior check. Himmler and Oatman were there to WIN the tournament period. You folks can do the math on the expectation process and how some people react to it.
I will say one thing about that day; Even though I stunk the joint up, I learned so much OFF the lanes. Just by paying attention to the way Himmler or Oatman approached a make-or-break shot was worth the price of any 3-4 lessons alone. When I say make-or-break, I mean a shot which can push you into saving a game that you got off to slower start in. Himmler was striking at will that day, but he had a few games where he left 2-3 single pins in a row and was at 98 spare-up in the 5. He would make the adjustment to strike again in the 6 & 7th frames on each lane, then in the 8th it was like he was in another world with his focus.
Needless to say, I have mucho respect for all those guys for there MENTAL games. All of them throw it well as do many players at that top tier of the game, it is what is between the ears that puts these guys ahead of better than average players.
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Mike Craig-Columbus, OH
