I know I'm way late here - apologies about that! Life got in the way since early May (got married!), but things settled back down and off we go.

All in all, I bowled alright. I despise South Point plaza, for whatever reason. After this week, I checked out my averages since I started bowling nationals. It's been 9 years of Nationals for me now: I average 183 for my four years in Vegas and and 194 for my five years not in Vegas.

This year I shot very consistent across the board - 593 in BTM, 527 in the Journal, 569 in teams, 584 in doubles, 567 in singles. Overall, I just couldn't get anything gong. For what it's worth, I had my best all events total in Vegas ever! Progress is nice, even if I missed my goal of 1800.

And away we go!

The Arsenal

• Reality, 45 x 3.5 x 75, 2k
• Conspiracy Hybrid, 45 x 4 x 75, 3k lane shine
• Hustle PBR, 4 x 30, 1.5k
• Ninja SE, 4 x 30, 3k
• Gravity Shift, 60 x 5 x 30 (I think?), 1k polish
• Spare, marble status

BTM
Had lanes 13-14. I started off with the Hybrid Conspiracy, standing 12 looking 5/6, not bad but inconsistent. I crept in and it wasn't bad. Game 1 fill shot with PBR and that was solid. Game 2, I was able to stand very comfortable at 15 - 8/9, then finished 18 - 10/11. Started to feel very open for game 3, tried gravity Shift and have a great look from 22-14. The right lane opened way up! Had to move to 25-15. This was the way - finished 170 208 215

No notes for the Journal, it was going way fast and I got lost in Game 2, so I was flustered as could be.

Teams
Started off in the Reality, standing 13 looking at 6/7/8 and had a nice look. The backs seemed to tighten up, actually, so I kind of danced back and forth a bit. Game 2, moved into 16 and looking 9/10, not bad but saw weird over/under - kind of. It's like every third shot was one or the other. Then for game 3, bumped into 22 with Gravity Shift. It was like like...bad? Then moved to 20, and it was good...sorta? It just wasn't quite right all game, and I'm not sure what else I would do. Basically, I felt like I was fishing after I had to get off my initial line.

S/D
Starting off with Conspiracy, standing 10 looking 3/4! Wild. There's hold and bounce it seems. Ten pins up the wazoo - something like 6 in a row . Switched after game 1 to the Reality and had to move in 3, then 3 again. It was a good look. I eventually had to go to a longer ball, so tried PBR and it wasn't quite right. Even moved right a few boards but the PBR couldn't climb the hill. I tried the Ninja, and had a solid look. It read the lanes real well, actually - standing 15 looking 9/10 was pretty good for a bit as we started singles. Then, it was like they broke down closer to us, so we moved a bit left and saw a cliff. The cliff just didn't go away until game 6. At the end of game 5 we saw random over-reaction, all over the place. On a whim, my partner pulled out his Astrophysix and jumped left - it looked like a tank! Based off that, took my Gravity Shift and crushed my 5th game fill shot, standing 24 looking 12/13. Then, next two frames, G Shift didn't move!! It was wild, it felt like oil was pumped in from underneath. So I went back to the Ninja, stood on 20 looking 10/11, and fluffed the ball as best I could so it cleared the fronts. Had to move 3 & 1, finishing the day at 23 looking 11/12/13.

I'd say based on what I saw score well, and what I had, I needed a pin up asym solid or hybrid - or a super strong symmetric solid. I needed something with a bigger engine and some teeth to blend the cliffs that seemed to appear all over the place. There was 1.5 more units of oil this year compared to last, which would explain why my weaker covers struggled.

My initial thoughts for 2023 is that I am going to use more symmetric pieces, and more pin-up asymmetric pieces. I feel like pin down stuff is good for maybe 1 game at most, so I'll probably bring my pin down Reality as my tank for 2023. Then after that, I'll have some pin up symmetric & asymmetric pieces to adjust to.

We also got a new lane machine by me, and a proper practice center too with Specto and everything - so I will be practicing on this year's patterns for SURE!

Good bowling to everybody that went, and I effing will get my first 1800 next year, without a damn doubt!