Another 900 Set Rolled This Bowling Season

By Michael Cousins

Another month, another 900, at least that’s how its starting to seem this year. many are bothered by this. I cannot begin to tell you how many posts I have seen on Facebook discrediting this accomplishment and chalking it up as “dumb luck,” a direct quote from one of my Facebook friends.

While I won’t begin to pretend that 900s aren’t more common today than they were in years past, I also won’t begin to pretend that they’re any less impressive.

Face it: balls strike more today than they ever have. Are 900s a product of that? Absolutely. Is there some luck involved? Absolutely. Does it still require you to make 36 quality shots? Absolutely.

I have seen some make the argument that these scores have to do with the house patterns we are bowling on nowadays. I disagree. I don’t think it really matters if you’re bowling on a 5:1, 10:1, or 15:1 ratio pattern. With today’s balls coupled with today’s rev rates, balls are going to strike. Period. And if you throw 36 quality shots, you’ve got a chance.

As I said, you have a chance. Chance being the key word, because chance is exactly what it takes to pull off this feat. There is no denying that you have to catch breaks, and probably several of them, to pull off a perfect series.

Now I’m not talking about brooklyns or rolling the two pin forward, but I am pretty sure that most of the bowlers that have bowled 900 would admit that they tripped a four pin or had a messenger here or there or got a break on a shot that they thought might wrap a corner. That is bowling, after all.

Just because it takes luck, though, does not mean it doesn’t take skill.

I don’t care what anyone says, no one will EVER convince me that shooting 900 isn’t the hardest thing to do in our sport – aside from winning a PBA National title or an Eagle. One has to make 36 high quality shots in a row.

Say what you want, I understand that the term “quality shot” has lost some weight in today’s game, and a quality shot may not be the same as it used to be. But, in my mind, a good shot is a good shot, and shooting 900 takes 36 of them.

Given that they’ve been happening more often as of late, people are starting to get it into their head that they’re no longer a rare occurrence. And while there have been 3 this league season, including one in January, February, and now March, there are still only 33. 33. Total. Ever. In this history of our sport. Think about that. If you don’t think that is a rare occurrence, then I don’t know that we have the same definition of the term.

If they’re not a rare occurrence, and if they’re no long an impressive feat, I ask you this: how many 900s do you have?