Nestled behind a strip mall in Fort Wayne, Indiana hides a bowling center named Georgetown Bowl. However, those in the know refer to it as, “the House of Pain.” Scores are low…always. During the tournament bowlers can be heard saying things like, “these pins weigh seven pounds!” and “nice oil pattern!” or “where is the oil?” Add to all of this that the pairs all play different from one another and you have an incredibly difficult scoring environment.
The oil pattern for this year’s tournament was Chameleon. The pattern accented the difficulties presented by the high friction wood lanes. Chameleon is a strip oil pattern, leaving large areas of the lane unplayable. Players were forced to throw the ball hard and straight with slow response (but clean) equipment or incredibly slowly and hook the lane with moderately fast response balls.
As a lefty, I could not move into the middle of the lane. I have to find lay down oil and moving in will not allow that on this oil and pattern combination. Essentially, the only option was to play outside, around the first arrow, throwing the ball firmly. The ball choice varied depending on the lane. All equipment was drilled with the pin 6 inches or more from the axis; one was pin up and the other pin down.
Once again, I started on an end pair. Once again, this pair was tighter than any other pair in the center. I was forced to start the tournament further left than I prefer; laying the ball down on the first board. When there is not free hook on the gutter that is not a wise place to play. For eight frames I was able to grind a clean game at a 190 pace. However, in the ninth frame I dumped one in the channel and did not convert the spare. The result was a 178 game that was a 205 with any kind of mark (I struck out in the tenth).
For the next five games I played them as simply and intelligently as I possibly could. My only opens were two pocket 7-10 splits. In games two through six I went 36 over with a low game of 197. However, the pain was coming! On the next pair my first shot hooked immediately and went Brooklyn. The next shot I moved three and went Brooklyn again. Again, I moved three and went through the face. Finally, I went another five boards and managed to hit the pocket. Aside from a split when the ball went through the face, I stayed clean and managed a 187.
Though that game dropped me from 4th on the squad to 7th, I was still in good shape for the finals. I thought the worst was behind me. Oh, how wrong I was! Game seven was truly what the House of Pain is all about. I threw the ball well, but was absolutely stuck in jail. The ball hooked at my feet inside and too much down lane if I played out. In hindsight, I should have thrown a very smooth rolling ball and stayed out of trouble. Alas, I did not and I shot 157.
The final game I shot a solid 205. However, that was not strong enough to make the finals or even get a check. This happens from time to time. Unfortunately, the House of Pain got the best of me for one game. Of course, the house of pain only needs one game.
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