Regarding Brooklyns:
1. They do not annoy me in any way - if they're mine. I made a bad shot - fortunately, one bad enough to get away with it. I'll take it. The pin gods gave me one - they take away far more than they give.

2. They count the same. Unfortunate sometimes, but they do. Get over it.

3. I watched a friend of mine throw 11 in a row - 1-3 on the left lane, 1-2 on the right. There was no shot of any kind that she could hit at 11:30 at night on the right lane to get the ball any lighter than the 1-2-3 pocket, so she lined up Brooklyn on the one lane. Awesome.

4. I have thrown Brooklyns deliberately a few times. When someone really, really ticks me off, or really thinks they're a better bowler than they are. I posted a story a while back about a hothead who missed a bucket spare in the 10th, and I went off the sheet - I deliberately threw a brooklyn in the first ball of the 10th to shut him out... He yelled at me that I was no good, I beat him with a brooklyn. I calmly let him know that if he'd picked up the spare, I wouldn't have had a chance!! He then started throwing stuff. I had great teammates - the two following me each then deliberately threw brooklyns - just to really get to him. I think he shot 140 the next game. People who go nuts about brooklyns are easy targets.

5. I bowled on the #1 nationally ranked college team for years. We used to drill brooklyns. It was literally drilled into us that if we were to miss while pulling the ball, "pull it 3 boards" (of course, it can take a much bigger miss these days). The whole key to winning at bowling is to make your own breaks - when life gives you 10 pins, the gods can sometimes give you brooklyns.

6. To quote the late, great Earl Anthony - "it's not how; it's how many."
I've seen him win tournaments with brooklyns. If they're good enough for him, they're good enough for me.

7. I've never seen ANYONE give back the pins they got on a brooklyn.

There. I've said all I can think of on the subject right now!
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My reaction to a Brooklyn strike depends on the situation, as many others have stated.

1.  If I throw one in practice, it annoys me a great deal, because I made a bad shot.  Since the score in practice means nothing, there is no redeeming value to the strike.

2.  If I throw one in competition, my level of annoyance depends on the situation as follows.
    a.  If I'm lined up and throw a Brooklyn, I'm mildly annoyed that I threw a bad shot, but I figure I'll throw it better the next time.

    b.  If I'm not lined up and throw a Brooklyn, I'm much more annoyed because I have to evaluate whether I threw it that badly or I'm just not even close to being lined up.  Either way, even though I'm happy that the strike counts, I'm unhappy that I've wasted a shot in my search for a good line to the pocket.

3.  In league, I usually don't get annoyed if someone throws a Brooklyn against me.  However, I have lost a tournament championship to a guy who threw a bad shot, went through the face, and carried (just as bad as Brooklyn, maybe worse).  That was very annoying!

4.  On the flipside of that last point, I would love to be able to do what Mumzie described - throw a Brooklyn on purpose just to get into an opponent's head.  I know plenty of guys that fry simply because of something their opponent is doing, and it is something over which they have no control.  I just don't have the confidence to do it, so I haven't tried.  OTOH, if my opponent is a good enough player, he/she would more than likely be able to tell that I had thrown a Brooklyn on purpose.  There are people against whom I wouldn't want to try something like this, because when they get mad, they bowl better.  Pete Weber is a good example of such a player (not that I've ever bowled against him ).
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RW (THB)

I celebrate my brookylns since I don't get them that often.  All my misses result in washouts and 2-8-10s
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- DP3
Hoss Central Inc.
Respect the Game