EPT
The league is about to start. They announce that the lanes are turning on for five minutes of practice, as usual. My friend throws his ball. A guy on the other team throws his ball. Just as I throw my ball, somebody notices that the balls aren't coming back. Then another guy who is on the other team (and also works there) suddenly remember that those lanes weren't working earlier today.
Eventually we tell the staff at the desk and they announce that we are moving to another set of lanes. I move my stuff over and throw a couple of shots with my spare ball. I go back to the old lanes and eventually the mechanic clears out the balls and I get mine back. I return to the lanes we are now assigned to, and the other team has just started bowling. I say something like "woah wait the three of us haven't practiced yet" and someone suggests I talk to the league secretary.
So I go up to Franklin, the league secretary and explain my situation. He says "once they start bowling you aren't allowed to practice anymore." I discuss it with him further and there's basically nothing he can do. He said we aren't allowed to practice on the oil pattern anymore by US Bowling Congress regulation. I would have asked to practice on another set of lanes at the other end of the bowling alley (which were probably oiled at a separate time), but they were 100% occupied by some party or event.
Missing out on practice isn't the end of the world... most likely your first few frames will suck and then you'll get used to the lanes and be fine after that. But because of the circumstances, my friend and I were annoyed the rest of the night and bowled poorly. How did the guy on the other team who missed practice bowl? He has a 150 average and his first game was almost a 230....
Yeah tonight was very frustrating. Maybe go back and read my recent golf blog because I'm going to divert my attention to that for the rest of the week :p
