If there is one thing that I can say about myself as far as bowling is concerned, it is that I am consistently inconsistent. The weeks prior to being in the championship lane I was bowling routinely near 200 per game and had multiple instances, 3 in fact, over the past 2 weeks where I got 3 strikes in a row.
I was hoping that perhaps I had turned a corner as far as my ability was concerned and that I would give the current champion a real "run for the money." That, unfortunately, is not what happened at all.
We have in that photo all of DUMBO's awards. There are the tag-team championships that are the medals with the 1 on them, then the two larger medals that are the awards for the highest score of the month for both men and women. The white belt is for the lessor championship that promotes the winner to the premiere league which contains no more than 6 people at a time. The black belt is for the overall champion of the league and in all but one week since DUMBO originated, this has only been held by a woman once. The chicken thing is of course for one of the most coveted awards and it is referred to as the gobbler... it is for getting 3 strikes in a row and can change hands multiple times in a week's outing.
I have held the gobbler award for 2 weeks straight and it was something of an honor because it isn't easy to get 3 strikes in a row. I had accomplished this feat 3 times in 2 weeks and was convinced that I was going to be able to bring my A game to the championship lane to be the overall champion of DUMBO for the first time in nearly 2 years.
I don't know what the deal was with me, but I just couldn't make anything happen.
My opponent wasn't bowling very well either and this gave me hope as I started out game one with 3 frames before I even got a spare or a strike. It was a spare. I got several other spares but then on the following ball I would do something stupid like knock down 3 or 4 pins and in my mind that kind of negates the special-ness behind getting a spare in the first place.
I did about as poorly as I have done in many weeks and ended up finishing the first game by barely breaking 100 points. For many, getting to 100 is an accomplishment but for me, this is absolutely terrible. My opponent managed a 162. Trust me, you do not want to be down 60 points in a 3-game championship when your opponent is a good player. It is almost impossible to make up that sort of differential because not only do you have to do well, but the person you are playing against has to do poorly also.
Things got better for me in game two as I started out on top by 20 points and had some level of confidence that I was going to make up some of that lead he had and turn game 3 into something actually worth watching. Unfortunately I fell apart late in the 2nd game and ended with a 144, which is still a respectable score but he really picked it up towards the end of game two by getting a 162. So now I am 80 points behind going into game 3.
I don't know if I was demoralized at this point or what but I think being this far behind affected my gameplay a lot and all the little bit of confidence that I had built up by doing slightly better in game two disappeared and I ended with a 102 in game three. My opponent, perhaps knowing that it was already in the bag, bowled pretty poorly as well and got a 136 in game 3. I was defeated by 112 points and this is quite embarrassing not to mention that it is not much fun for the others to watch since this is supposed to be the best in the league. I certainly didn't feel like the best in the league deserving of a shot at the belt seeing as how half of the people in the 2nd division bowled better than 2 of my 3 games.
This picture of Nadi with the championship gold was taken a long time ago... actually an entire apartment ago when I was so dominant in the league that this award basically just lived at my house. It was kind of assumed that I was going to retain the belt week-to-week and people were actually disappointed to have to face me. Those days are long gone and I can't put my finger at all on what has changed. I don't feel as though I am bowling any different than I did back in those days and as far as any sport goes, the whole idea should be that the more you do something, the better you get at it. That has not been the case with me.
Perhaps I could practice more or just take it on the chin. I still have a good time even when I lose and I am a bit of a cheerleader for all the other people in attendance, including the person that I am up against in a championship. I guess that's what you call good sportsmanship.
It will be a while before I get another shot at the belt and honestly, I hope it does take a long time because I am clearly not ready for it.