Hey guys, I don't know about any of you guys, but I have been watching the Strike Pass round of 16/8 match play shows very closely. As we know, the lane conditions out on tour have been modified a bit, but no matter how long or short the patterns are, it seems that the bowling balls ALWAYS break down the pattern the same way- usually causing players to play deep inside (at least for the right side). Del Ballard has noticed it (and finally brought it up this week), and I have noticed it about 3 weeks into the season.

Also, I noticed that the guys who find a good look early into match play tend to struggle on games 2-5, and ultimately lose it in the very end. CJ has done the best with waiting for the shot come to his own game (a deep inside, big hook game). I saw that some players like Tony Reyes who found a really sweet line near the track area early, but then just lose that part of the game by game 3 and have to struggle for a while to find a new look/reaction, thus making corrections too late and losing the match.

Finally, what are your opinions on players manipulating lane conditions during their 15 minutes of practice. During one of the strike-pass sessions, there was a complaint by a player (who was off camera at the time). Their complaint was that their opponent sat around for about 5 minutes of the practice time to watch them where they were playing, and once his opponent saw he was comfortable at that spot, the opponent took his 80-grit particle ball and burned his part of the heads for about 5 minutes on both lanes, and then burned another dry spot outside of 5 to create a bounce spot into the pocket for his own game. Is this fair? If not, what are solutions?

:::I currently stand at the fence at that one, because I will admit to doing it before, and it works:::
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-Jeremy Vitug

In eight months, the tingle you are feeling will begin to burn.