Josh Fights Back

As you may have read in the last few blogs Josh hasn't been bowling good. I have been bowling pretty decent but nothing great. I overtook Josh the week before last as high average on the team and reclaiming my throne as best bowler in our family.
I have been losing a bit of confidence over the last couple weeks and have only averaged 198. I keep reverting back to the old crap that brings down confidence and scores. The new release is keeping me close to the 200 average though. So I figured I can get my average up to 200 before the yearbook deadline in the first part of April. I also figured that if I average just around a 600 series for the night that Josh will not be able to catch back up because his confidence is lacking and maybe his focus too?
Friday we walk into bowl and this kid on the opposing team informs Josh and I that he didn't want to see any of our crap. He was partly joking but he was indicating that he didn't want us throwing any big games. Josh hasn't always been used to other teams/bowlers fearing him so when someone says something like that and he hears it he is like a shark that can smell blood.
I still intimidate a lot of bowlers just because of my history when I was a great bowler. I don't know if they just don't know how to pay attention that I haven't and still am not even close to being the bowler that I once was, but I know that I still have that intimidation factor. It is a new thing for Josh though and I am glad when someone says something like that to him because it is going to be a good night of bowling. A shark can smell a drop of blood a mile away. This kid had just severed an artery right in front of Josh. This kid was Josh's opponent and had just shot himself in the leg. The last time someone indicated in passing that Josh was an elite bowler he tied his best series. Like a 727 or something? A record that wasn't going to last!!???
The first game Josh and I were both bowling pretty good. He was ahead of me for the first half of the game and I figured the pressure might get to him and I would eventually win that game. I opened the ninth or tenth frame for a 214 but it didn't matter the pressure wasn't getting to him that night. He finished his first game with a 266! Good job Josh I just hope that I can beat you the next game. He and I were doing pretty equal for the first half of game 2 when our lane broke down! I had two strikes going into the next frame which I threw a half hour or so later, it was a horrible ball and I split leaving an open frame. My next frame was an open and that game I fell apart. I think I got like a 166? Josh wasn't phased by the fact that our lane broke and we had to bowl on one lane for a bit until we could move to another pair. His second game was a 254.
If you know anything about bowling you know that Josh's first two games put him over 500, therefor he had a chance to bowl an 800 series which is the Mecca for any good bowler. There was one bad thing though with his first two games. If he would have gotten one more pin he would have been at a 521, however he was only at a 520. Why was that one pin such a bad thing? Well if he would have gotten a 521 he would need a 279 for an 800. A 279 can be scored in numerous ways, but there doesn't have to be a string of all strikes all the way to the end of the game to get there. Since he only had that 520 this meant that he needed to shoot a 280, now in order to shoot a 280 you can spare the first frame and strike the rest or you have to shoot the first ten strikes and then you can miss. I was already pumped up for Josh because I knew that he was lined up and I knew that as long as he stayed focused he could easily shoot ten more strikes in a row. He was in a zone and I just wanted him to stay there.
We ended up moving a few frames later in the second game to a pair of lanes that worked. We got moved to a nightmare pair of lanes. I thought that they were way dry. I was doing all I could to get the ball to the packet but Josh didn't seem to be laboring at all to finish that second game. So, like I said, I knew that ten in a row wasn't going to be that hard for him. He got the first 4 strikes and I kept telling him just one frame at a time, just one ball at a time, just nice and easy. I didn't want him to get all pumped up and throw a bad ball. He got the first 7 strikes and I was pumped up. I was screaming each time he threw a strike and I knew that he only needed 3 more strikes and he would have the ring (pictured a few blogs below) I have always wanted on his finger.
In the 8th frame he stuck again. I knew that his line was getting a bit tight but it was working for him. I didn't know how his ball was staying in the pocket but it was. Strike number 9 fell and I was about to come unglued. I was screaming louder and louder. I wanted him to get the 800. I figured he was more focused on the 300 and didn't have a clue about the 800. So one more strike was all he needed. If he gets this one more strike he has a chance to still shoot a 300, plus he earns $100 for shooting an 800. He gets a ring for an 800, plus a plaque next year at the hall of fame banquet. If he gets three more strikes he gets two rings one for the 800 and another for the 300, plus an extra $100 for his 300.
As he was stepping up to the lane I wanted to tell him to throw this last strike a little farther out to the right. There was no way that I was going to interrupt him though. For some reason something was telling me that he needed to throw this next ball out a little more so that it would drive through the head pin a bit more because like I said I thought his line was a bit tight. I said nothing and Josh began his approach. He let go of the ball and it made its way down the lane just as the same 16 balls before that. He had gotten 16 strikes in a row dating back to the last game! The ball hit the pocket and the pins began to fall. I saw two standing when I fell on the ground. I knew that he had thrown a pretty good ball, but I knew that there was no way that both of the pins that I saw standing were going to fall. I belted out at the top of my lungs "Nooooooooooooooo". I looked up and he had gotten 9 of the ten pins, one of the pins that I thought were standing had fallen but not both. I knew at that moment he was going to walk away with nothing on the night. When a mere seconds before he still had a chance to have two rings $200 a plaque and a head as big as the world for the next (rest of his life). I only want one thing in bowling and that is an 800 ring. He was one strike away. He threw a good ball the pins just didn't want to fall. I sat on a step with my head on my knees for a minute or two and I could have cried. If there wasn't a bunch of people in the bowling alley I would have cried. I just couldn't believe that that all that was taken away from him in an instant. I wish that I would have told him to move his line a bit more to the right with that last ball, but I didn't. At least then if he missed he could have had me to blame and not just bad luck. He ended up with a 267 that game and a 787 series. Averaging 262 for three games and shooting the best series between us. I think my high series is 762 or something like that I can't remember. I shot a 587 averaging just over 195, but I wish I could have given Josh that last strike. In my mind before he threw that last ball I was saying "Please just let him have one more strike". I guess it wasn't meant to be. Maybe I am supposed to get an 800 before him? I am glad that he has bowled with us this year. He has awoke my desire to bowl better. I am figuring out the game little by little again and it is because of him. Sure I have tried and tried to come out of my slump for the past 9 years, but it wasn't until I was (and still might be) in jeopardy of losing the title of best bowler in our family. It will be a race for the next couple of months on who has this best year, but he knows that he needs to get a ring on his finger before he thinks he is the best in our family. I hate that he is moving in a couple of months. He is taking a job up north in February or therabouts. This has been the most fun bowling I have had since bowling my last 300 game. I have the desire to bowl again. I will miss you Josh and if I figure out how to bowl completely again I will owe a lot of it to you. So maybe when I get my 800 (since you can't) I can just dedicate it to you? Hahaha....