Bowling

[Abandon]

Anyone usingthat new Storm IQ? That joint is pure fire, the thing is a heat seeker. I'm loving it, lol.

[Lucavi]

My brother has a white one.

[Abandon]

My brother has a white one.

it may be a storm, but i dont think it's the IQ. They're like.. purple with goldish-orange swirls. Also, all Storms have a scent about them, and IQs smell like blueberry muffins. CHALLENGE ME ON THE SCENT, I DARE YOU.

[Lucavi]

Must not be, then. This one is milky white.

[bechyni]

it may be a storm, but i dont think it's the IQ. They're like.. purple with goldish-orange swirls. Also, all Storms have a scent about them, and IQs smell like blueberry muffins. CHALLENGE ME ON THE SCENT, I DARE YOU.

this man knows the scents of many balls

[kuronosan]

I bowl occasionally. I'm not bad, now that I think about it.

[Mojo]

I've started bowling as of a few weeks ago, never bowled much before now (under 10 games in my life isn't a stretch) as I've always hated it. The game became more enjoyable after making efforts to improve. I still suck ( best score around 150) although it's a huge improvement in a short amount of time (I have bowled sub 30 before...) I'm trying different bowling styles, the best results come from hurling the ball nearly horizontally while putting a lot of spin on it although I don't feel like I have the arm strength for it (I'm not a very muscular dude) or that it's a good technique anyways. It's around 1/4 the way down the lane before it even makes contact with the ground. The throws usually look great but don't have the speed they need to for a strike. It's fun though.

[Abandon]

this man knows the scents of many balls

my money league right now is full of old ass military and high ranking dudes. i bowl with master gunnies and other high ranking marines, and the wet ball/dirty ball/smelly ball jokes do NOT stop coming, it's amazing

[bechyni]

lmao that is great.

Kinda curious what the range is for pay leagues. A couple of friends were asking about joining one when school starts back up, and I didn't want to pay too much for it since I'm not exactly the best bowler in the world.

[Abandon]

depending on the size of the league, lane fees, etc, you can expect to pay 15-30 a week. but ,the money goes towards the lanes, so all you buy is shoes, if you dont own your own. The money goes towards payouts, trophies, etc. for my league, it's 15 a week, with ~14 teams. first place splits.... a decent hunk, same with second. pretty legit.

[bechyni]

That's really not too bad if you consider how much it would cost normally for a few hours of games. I have my own shoes, just not my own ball. Might look at investing in one if we actually decide to do join a league.

[Abandon]

if you don't curve, any spare ball a pro shop would sell will work. if you plan on hooking ,well, you have some fucking research to do. lol

[bechyni]

When I took the class I did some messing around with curving but the only way I could do it was using two fingers. Everytime I tried to use my thumb it just wouldn't work. Probably will just stick to throwing it straight to the right of the 1 pin until I can actually control a curve.

[Abandon]

i use two fingers, but i've been bowling like that for ~14 years, so it's just the way i do things. If mizango still posted, he'd come in here and try to clown me for being a gypsy

[Diomer]

I'm not exactly the best bowler in the world.

Truth. To make matters worse, he'll make you keep playing until he finally wins once when your arm gets tired!

When I took the class I did some messing around with curving but the only way I could do it was using two fingers. Everytime I tried to use my thumb it just wouldn't work. Probably will just stick to throwing it straight to the right of the 1 pin until I can actually control a curve.

Still kills me.

For real though, I wish I could do more bowling, but most of my friends are beast mode bowlers who are in really advanced leagues. Considering I'm mediocre at best, it's not really a great fit currently and kills my desire to actually do it.

[bechyni]

Hey fuck you I got the W that's all that matters. It might of took me 5 games but that's not the point.

[Ashmada]

I do, quite infrequently though.

As a teen, I bought my own ball, a used 16lbs AMF Ninja Fury, I think it was around 6000 Belgian Francs, so ~15€, ~18$ in late '90s money.
Partook in a local tourney once, I must've been the youngest player (~14yo), and one of the least equipped ones (I had the ball above, but none of the other accessories - still don't), but I still beat quite a few people.
I can score quite well sometimes, but I'm not very consistent (lack of practice), can't throw fast enough to strike as much as I'd like (I'm not exactly a pile of muscle) and my unusual technique leads to difficulty when playing more than a couple of games:

Over here, most people just stand at the edge of the foul line and throw standing, I stand much further back, take a runup of 2 steps and, to avoid throwing the ball from my height (I'm 2m tall), get the left knee on the ground while throwing.
The bruise on said left knee keeps growing with each ball, which means after a few games, I try to avoid hitting the ground, which leads to off-balance throws.

As for hooking, what I've been "taught" (the guy from the alley where I bought my ball took a couple of minutes to show me) and what I've experienced, you don't "generate spin" with your wrist.
That'll lead to very unpredictable results, sometimes it'll curve too early sometimes not at all.
How he told me to do it is to simply throw with your palm towards your body and, as you're throwing, releasing the thumb before the other 2 fingers. That's it, with the right ball, that'll generate enough spin.
If you don't have a strike ball, it's pointless to even try.

For sparing, I just use one of the lighter balls (8~10 lbs) from the alley, those that are probably intended for children. I can get my fingers in them, so why not?
(not a phrase to quote out of context, that)

[Kalmado]

Haven't bowled in years, but used to be a master at some 9 pin no tap(who isn't?!). My first real ball was a Storm, I forget which, but it was too light and I ended up whipping it all over the place. Had a Brunswick Inferno and Intense Inferno gifted to me by a leftie at the lanes I used to frequent. Used them for quite some time and loved them. I'd love to get back into bowling, but I can't justify the cost right now.

[Abandon]

Cost? At the most, you'd own 3 balls and shoes, and a bag. other than that, a rag to wipe off access oil, and lane fees. I have my 2 strike balls, a spare ball which is just an old strike ball that i can whip all over the place, and between those 3, i spent... ~$450 total. My shoes are beginner shoes, so only ~50 bucks, and the 3-ball baf was 100 bucks. since then, i pay lane fees, and that's it. not a bad investment, as long as you take care of your gear.

[Kalmado]

Ok ok. In other words, I'm cheap! It really isn't a terrible investment, but I can't do it right this minute. Wifey and I are buying our first house. Maybe soon though. I do miss it. There is something about when you throw that perfect hook and watching it sail down the lane. My buddy that got me into bowling in the first place, if we threw a hook like mentioned we'd say, "tv ball"!