So how did my first title defense go? (part 2)

I only divided this into two parts because I had a lot to say and it was going to be too long otherwise. Hopefully nobody minds, if they do mind... sorry ? I guess?

So the quick backstory is that for the past year despite being the longest-running current member of our bowling league here in DaNang, Vietnam, I have been on the outs as far as performance is concerned for around a year, perhaps more. No matter what I did to try to adjust my once rather good style, I was underperforming. A month ago I actually managed to bowl an 83, which is completely unacceptable for me. As luck would have it though on the same day I bowled the 83, I also bowled a 142, which was enough points to get me into the promotional championship game and if you win that game, you get promoted to the premiere league. I won that game and had a couple of seriously impressive games in the process. It's as if a switch got turned and I all of a sudden remembered how to bowl.

Then immediately upon getting promoted to the premiere league (which is where our best bowlers are) by sheer 25% luck I was selected to bowl the long-reigning champion for the overall championship. NOBODY including me, thought that I would emerge victorious from this, but I did somehow.

While I was still reeling from the unexpected victory that I was really proud of, the time came for us to see who my first title defense would be against, only to have it land on my long-running friend who also happens to have the highest score ever in DUMBO history as well as one of the best weekly averages out of all of us. I didn't fancy my chances in this and after one game of wonderful performance on both our parts, he was a mere 7 points ahead of me by pulling back in the last 2 frames to make our score 180-173. The victory is based on the total of 3 whole games so there is no reason to get excited yet.

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Moving on to game two, it began with much of the excellence that was contained in the first game for both of us.

Unfortunately, you can't see my opponent's score because the system erases your performance in the game as soon as you bowl your last ball but I remember what he got, it was a spare in both frames. This is impressive to me and everyone else there but I think it kind of demoralized him when I did even better than that (my score is on the bottom)

Things would stay at a level that I had never seen before in the past in the entire time that I have spent bowling in DaNang, which other than the time where I tore some muscles in my back and that one time I went on vacation, has been every single week in nearly 4 and half years.

So when I pulled out this banger of a game in game 2, the people in attendance that know me, and also know the slump I've been on in the past 1.5 years or so, they were alarmed and impressed as was I.

That is the entirety of my second game and I think I missed the last 3 pins on frame 10.

With the exception of frame 5, I was dangerously close to getting a strike on every single ball. I never did get 3 strikes in a row but this is the first time in DUMBO history that anyone has EVER gotten 3 double-strikes in the same game.

My opponent was still doing well by most people's standards but when the guy you are playing against seems as though he simply cannot miss, you are not going to win.

The end score for game number two was

205 (me) to 141 (not me)

You may recall that I was 7 points down after the first game but this incredible performance in game two put our point difference at me not being in favor 64 points in game 2 and now 57 points overall. Especially when it appears as though one person is slipping and the other person is having the game of their lives, the chances of someone coming back from more than 50 points down is extremely unlikely. In order for that to happen my opponent would need to strike gold every roll and my game would have to go completely south.

Game 3 started out with both of us doing very well again, which is what is expected of him but up until the last 2 weeks, it was NOT expected of me. Then my opponent missed a few frames in a row and I don't know if it just set in at that point that there was no chance of victory and I was just riding a confidence high or what, but this game was also an extremely one-sided affair and would end up being the largest single game point difference of the day for us.

I think that my friend an opponent kind of threw in the towel about halfway through this game because once it go to the point where I was 100 points ahead, unless I threw every ball in the gutter from frame 6 onward he he got a strike on every single roll, there was no chance of victory for him. Unfortunately I do not have more photos of the scores because I was "in the zone" and didn't want to jinx myself by being arrogant and taking photos.

Final Score 173-205-191 = 569 (me) to 180-141-117 = 438 (not me)

Believe it or not winning by 131 points is not the largest margin of victory that DUMBO has ever seen. This is actually quite common but it just isn't expected that a veteran like my opponent would ever be on the receiving end of it, especially at the hands of a guy like me that was in a terrible slump until 3 weeks ago.

The 569 total is the 2nd high 3-game score that DUMBO has ever had. It is the highest 3-game score I have ever had. The 205 is not the highest score I have ever had but it is the highest I have ever had since I have lived in Da Nang or even Asia for that matter.

I have now bowled a 200, 202, 203, 204, and now a 205 in my time here but this is over the course of weekly bowling for over 4 years minus covid-shutdown times. The only time in my life that I have ever bowled higher than 205 was 30 years ago where I somehow magically bowled a 235 and it was a fluke.

I'd like to think that this tear I am on right now is not a fluke but I gotta keep my head in the game and not lose whatever this talent is that I seem to have managed to re-find as of late. I got really bad luck as far as my next opponent selection is concerned though because even though it is totally random and decided by an unbiased app, I have drawn for my next opponent the person that I took the belt from in the first place who is still, I think, the best bowler in our ranks at the moment. Thus far, my title has had the highest ranked opponents out of anyone that has ever held the belt. It's getting me a lot of street cred, but it is getting to be a little ridiculous at this point, Every week I am facing someone that is VERY GOOD, where champions gone past at least got a bye week or two with a weaker opponent.

If I can defeat the Russian ex-champion next week, I think I will finally get some confidence from the crowd. As it stands now, I think people still kind of remember how "washed up" i was a month ago and they are just waiting for the slump to return. I hope I can keep it at bay.

Since the best I ever bowled in my life was when I was a teenager and 2 dog years is like their teenage years I will leave you with a picture of Nadi when she was a teenager.