I figure it was time to add another post on here, but have no idea why. So here goes:

Bowling over the weekend in a tournament with more oil than I've ever seen only stresses how important equipment preparation is before competition.  Now, this is an annual event that is know for a tough shot and lots of oil...a tournament I've won twice before.  This year however, they decided to increase the volume and length.  Being confident that I could bowl on their shot, like every year, I didn't touch any of my stuff before going, and promptly missed the cut.  Not knowing that they had changed the shot, I didn't even consider scuffing my equipment more than usual...

 5 games is very, very long, when you don't have anything in your bag that has enough surface to give you a chance.  Forget hooking the ball alot and getting lots of strikes, in this case surface was the difference in creating angles that left you a makeable spare and a big split.

 It's a lesson I won't need to learn twice.