Light posting, sorry

 

1. heh… brings back memories. I was one of those bowling maniacs some years back. I managed to get stuck with the Secretary thing one year, so I spent about a week in the evenings whipping up a program in Basic on my trusty Commodore 128. Did the trick, all I had to do the rest of the season was plug in scores & it spit out your usual 2-page summary with all the trimmings—high scores, team standings, etc.
   I gave it all up in ‘93 after I broke my back in a fall & haven’t bowled since. Those were the days.... PBA was even still on broadcast TV, don’t remember the network but Chris Schenkel was commentator & Marshall Holman & Mark Roth were the hotshots to watch.
   I wasn’t that good either (running around 190 most leagues) but one of my 4 winter leagues had 48 teams & a half-dozen PBA members in it. Top team prize at end of season was roughly $5000 a person (we paid something like $20 a night apiece in league fees).

   Posted by Horrabin       05/13/2008  at  08:56 AM  



2. Good luck with the league secretary thing (talk about torture).

   I’m not a serious bowler (142 league average), But, I bowled my first 220 on the last night of the winter league this year. Beat my husband 2 games (his average is 185). I also beat him series that night by 4 pins. So, even thoughI’m not a serious bowler, today I am a happy bowler. 

   Posted by Punkins       05/13/2008  at  09:56 AM  



3. Hi. I decided I needed to register so that I could offer my advice. I’ve bowled at least 2 leagues per year for the last 25 years, and my league averages this year were 224 and 201 (HUGE difference in playing conditions between the two houses).

   Sorry, I can’t help you on the relative merits of different league secretary programs - I was a secretary only once for one year, and didn’t use a program.

   As for handicapping, you need to keep the following in mind:

   1. First in importance is, what is the base, “scratch” score for determining handicaps? USBC recommends setting it higher than any bowler in the league. E.g. if you have someone (or some dozen) averaging in the 235-245 range, set the basis for handicap at 250. 240 would not be bad, but you don’t want to set it much lower than 5-10 pins below the top bowler. Why? Say you set it at 220. All the bowlers lower than that get handicapped up to the 210-220 range (figuring their average score plus handicap - that’s what the formula does). That means someone averaging 245 has the same 0 handicap as someone with 220, so he has a 25-35 pin headstart on the field. If the basis is raised to 250, all the lower bowlers will receive the same (percentage of) 30 extra pins (meaning there is no difference when they compete amongst themselves), but the 245-average will only get (that percentage of) 5 pins, so he becomes much more beatable.

   2. In my experience, 80% handicap offers little hope to lower bowlers to compete with high-average bowlers. At 90%, the stronger teams will still win more often, and lead the standings, but the league will usually be competitive, with more teams in the hunt. This is especially true for a short summer league.

   3. I oppose 100% handicap - it’s just too strong an incentive to sandbag.

   4. You can inhibit the sandbagging by having a rule to use entering averages for the first 3-4 weeks. You need a rule that says you need, say, 9 (or 12) games to “establish” an average for handicapping purposes in your league. Until your bowlers have that many games, they must base their handicap on their entering average - say, (a) their highest league average within that center this season; (b) if none, their highest league average anywhere this season; (c) if none, their highest book average from last year; (d) if none, THEN they may use their first 3 league games to establish an average.

   5. As an afterthought, be sure to understand the difference between “individual” and “team” methods of handicapping. “Individual” is much more common, and simpler, but if you have a team of bruisers bringing in a weakling just for the handicap, it sounds like “team” might be the way to go, especially if your basis for handicap is too low.
   Example: Take 4 guys at 235 each plus 1 guy at 100. If the handicap is 90% from 220, figured “individual”, the handicap would be 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 108 = 108. Under the team method, the team average would be 1040, and the handicap would be 90% of (1100-1040), or 54 - just half as much. Think that 54 pins might make a difference in how many games they win? If the basis for handicap were raised to 240 (in this example), the difference between team and individual methods would be negligible to non-existent.

   As you may have guessed, I LOVE lecturing on this subject . . .

   Posted by KGrupa       05/13/2008  at  10:27 AM  



4. KG, feel free to lecture more! 

   I’ve been in a half dozen leagues so far, and each one has used a different handicapping method. While the Team Average might be “fairest”, it’s usually set at 80% which is too low, although I can see the reasoning behind it. When you’re really crazy good, the difference between a 300 and a 279 is ONE pin. When you’re merely very good, the difference between a 265 and a 234 is ONE pin and a miss. For beginners bowling is still mostly random good luck; they can throw anywhere between a 37 (well, if they’re Obama) and a 218, so you don’t want to give them too much advantage. But I still think 90% is a better percentage for the TA method.

   For individual handicaps, I’ll try running the numbers for 80% and 90% of a 250 basis, or any basis that’s just higher than the best average of all the players returning to the league this year, and see how that looks.

   Ok, next question. So I freeze the handicaps for the first 3 or 4 weeks and use everyone’s book average from last season. And I use those same weeks to establish handicaps for all the new players who don’t have one. So does this mean I can’t post Won/Lost reports until the 5th week, or do I use that week’s scores for the new people’s averages, build the handicaps from them each week, and then go back and recalculate the first 4 weeks once I have a firm average to use in the 5th week?

   Posted by Drew458       05/13/2008  at  10:53 AM  



5. I ran the numbers. Very interesting. Setting the basis high enough so that nobody gets any free advantage results in an almost flatlined handicap. Only when the difference between both team’s raw average totals drops below 61% does the relative handicap percentage increase, and then by no more than 5%.

   In other words, if the Total Newbies play the PBA Champions, an 85% handicap is 85%. And it stays 85% until the Total Newbies play the Regular Rollers, who are only 60% better. Then the 85% starts to become a bit more than 85% effectively. When the Total Newbies play the Other Newbies, then the 85% handicap effectively becomes 89.5%.

   So the best method would be to get hold of last season’s stats, and set a basis that 90% of the league’s members can’t touch. Or just use 230, which is better than most folks anyway who don’t have Magic Super Powers.

   Yup, 85%-90% of 230, no cap, no penalty. That’s what I’ll push for.

   Posted by Drew458       05/13/2008  at  11:39 AM  



6. Yes the game is still fun. It’s fun for everybody except the Treasurer and the Secretary, because they do all the work. President doesn’t do much, VP even less.

   I only volunteered because the last secretary screwed up, didn’t tell anyone, and got half the league so miffed they were ready to quit. Ok, her computer broke. TELL SOMEBODY. No big deal, we’ll help. No, she didn’t say a word. So we went the last 10 weeks with uncomputed averages, no score sheets, etc. So, screw her, I took the job.

   I ran even more numbers. KG is spot on. Set the base level to just better than the best bowler’s average, then use 90%. This method has the lowest standard deviation of percentages, so it is most fair.

   Posted by Drew458       05/13/2008  at  12:57 PM  



7. No, you never hold up standing sheets, waiting for bowlers to get enough games in to establish an average. The league must adopt rules to determine how the handicaps will work each week, for the purpose of determing the standings.

   The most common rule, in my experience, is use the first 3 games in the first week to “establish” your average, then use that average to compute handicaps for the first week (added back in after the fact); those averages then get used for the second week, as well. This is not a good rule, because it gives everyone a huge incentive to sandbag the first week of the season. But it is simple, and there is no need to bother about entering averages at all.

   The rule set I suggested is a better set, but it is complicated and may meet with resistance from the members, depending on what they are used to.

   How it would work is as follows: for any bowler who HAS an entering average (i.e. has bowled in league either this season or last), use that average to figure handicaps up until he has the minimum number of games in (9 or 12). Once the bowler has that many, you use his current average in your league the rest of the season. In the special case of someone reaching the 9 or 12 game threshhold in the middle of a set (e.g., a bowler bowled only two games in the second week, and so had 8 games after 3 weeks), you use the entering average for the first game (of his fourth week), then recalculate his handicap using his first 9 games, for his second and third games that night. This actually came up in our league last year.

   The problem is what to do about someone who hasn’t bowled this year or last. The league must discuss this issue and adopt a rule to deal with it. Options include:

   1. Allow them to establish an average with their first three games, then add it back in the first night they bowl. (That’s my suggestion, as noted in my previous post. It’s simple, and it only affects a very few bowlers - how many people want to bowl a summer league when they’ve missed the last two winter seasons?)

   2. Allow them to establish an average with 3 (or 6 or 9), but until then:
   a. They bowl scratch until they get an established average.
   b. They get handicapped based on an arbitrary average, determined by the league. In other words, they are stuck with whatever average (and handicap) the league imposes - 140, 160, 200, 230, or whatever - until they get enough games in.

   Whichever, there must be a league rule to cover the situation of bowlers who do not have an entering average, so that the scores can be added up and the official standings posted each week.

   If something comes up after the league starts, and you discover that there is no league rule to cover it, first consult the USBC rulebook; if they leave it up to the league, you’ll have to call for a Board of Directors meeting (that’s all league officers and team captains, not the general membership) to resolve the issue.

   One more thing: If your league awards end-of-season prizes for handicap achievements (game or series by individuals or teams), the handicap must be based on at least 12 games (USBC rule). A big handicap series, for example, bowled in the second week that is based on just 3 games would count for the results in team standings, but you must recalculate the handicap, based on the bowler’s average after 12 games, for consideration for end-of-season awards.

   (I wish I could convey various emotional connotations with appropriate smiley faces, but I’m completely new to this “commenting” stuff and have no idea how to do it.)

   Posted by KGrupa       05/13/2008  at  06:34 PM  



8. Oh, and about the penalty for absentee bowling:

   The USBC rulebook says (I’m paraphrasing, so you’ll want to look it up yourself), that when a team bowls short-handed, they use the average of the absent bowler, plus his handicap, minus 10 pins, unless the league chooses a different number. In other words, you can’t penalize a percentage of the bowler’s average - the penalty must be the same number of pins (10 by default) regardless of the bowler’s average.

   If there are two or more bowlers on the roster from whom to choose, you must use the bowler with the most games bowled. If two or more are tied with the most games, you must use the one with the LOWER average.

   Posted by KGrupa       05/13/2008  at  06:52 PM  



9. Comment #9 - REALLY? I saw the same rules - #105 (absent bowlers), #110 (forfeits), #114 (uneven number of teams), etc., and each said something like “unless agreed to by the league’s board of directors”.

   I took that to mean that they could do what they want; I have bowled in leagues where the absentee penalty was 10%. Was that illegal?

   Actually I thought a percentage was fairer anyway. 10 pins is a huge hit to somebody with a 65 average, but nada to Joe Pro and his 267 average.

   Posted by Drew458       05/14/2008  at  05:15 PM  



10. OK, I just looked it up. OOPS, I’m wrong. (To paraphrase Robert Heinlein, I’ve had years of practice goofing up.) This year’s handbook of Playing rules says the league can have it’s own rule.

    I had occasion to look this up about 10 years ago. I’m sure the rule read “average less 10 pins, unless the league adopts a different number.” That phrase is now gone.

    I just ran a couple of numbers, and found something interesting. If the base for handicapping is larger than the two bowlers, and the handicap percentage is 90%, and the absentee score penalty is 10%, that 10% EXACTLY offsets the advantage that the better bowler starts with. Example: Say the handicap is 90% from 220. Mr 210 gets an absentee score of 210 - 21 = 189, plus 9 handicap equals 198. Miss 80 average gets a score of 80 - 8 = 72, plus 126 handicap, total 198!

    I’d have to say this is a fair system. But I would oppose setting the penalty higher than the “gap” in the handicapping. That is, I think a 15% penalty for absentee bowling in a 90% handicap league is too much - the stronger absent bowler should not be penalized.

    Posted by KGrupa       05/15/2008  at  05:11 PM  



11. KG - You are looking at the NEW rulebook I hope. I was a little confused, so I wrote and asked. USBC got back to me in under a day:

    Leagues have full control of absentee scores.  A percentage may be used to calculate an absentee score.  Conversely, leagues can only adopt another number of pins when earning points when bowling a nonexistent team or in a known forfeit situation.

    Sincerely,

    Kathy Andersen

    Senior Rules Counselor

    So percentages are Ok for absentee penalties. But in a Bye situation or a The-Other-Team-Forfeited-So-Now-Your-Team-Has-To-Bowl-This-Close-To-Your-Average-To-Win-The-Points situation, ONLY points can be used, although the league has the right to set how many points that “close” amount can be.

    Oooh, now I have to run your numbers (90 & 10, 80 & 20), to see if it always works out to a 198 for everybody!! Kewl!

    Posted by Drew458       05/15/2008  at  10:52 PM  

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