Tuesday - May 06, 2014

one last night to go

Friday Fun League is over. We came out in 9th place, out of 16 teams. Not bad, considering we’re a new team, and that this is a fun league. $122 in prize money after a 33 week $16/wk season. The cuts were $20 per team per place. Like I said, fun league. We’ll be back in the fall.

Greed League is over. We came out dead last, 8th place, out of 8 teams. It was pretty much impossible to compete with 3 1/3 guys in a 5 man team league. We were in last place since late September, and were never able to fight our way out, no matter what. On the other hand, we didn’t just lay down and take it. Most of the time the other guys had to bowl hard to get us, so we were rarely “managed”. Which is so patronizing. I have to run up there tonight to collect my $179 in prize money after a 31 week $22/wk season. The cuts were extraordinary; even after two of our guys volunteered to be on the prize committee ( I wrote an amazing spreadsheet that calculates prize money in about a dozen ways ), making a big effort to flatten the awards out to treat the lower teams less like cannon fodder, the first place team was still awarded more than $180 more than they had paid in dues. They turned a profit. Second place got back $30 less than their total dues. This league is NOT advertised as a money league, but they operate that way. Not my cup of PG Tips tea, but I can live with it. But our team has about zero chance of filling out our roster. So, so long guys. I won’t be back. And Greed League will putter on, clinging to life with a pathetic 7 or 8 teams, IF they find another group of guys willing to sign up. Forget it; you need at least a dozen teams to make a league work properly.

Late League has one night left to bowl. We’re locked in a duel for last place, though after last night I think our almost-last position is locked in. Conditions were really strange, people leaving ugly splits all night. Ace bowlers, 230 average guys, driving right through the pins leaving Greek Church splits, Big Fours, 6-7-10s, and worse. Me? I wouldn’t say I was totally dialed in, but I only left 5 opens all night. Not a ton of strikes, but my spare game was good. I was 100% on my 10 pins. A miracle! But the best part was that I beat my opponent every game, so I took all 4 points. This is a match point league, 3 people per team, 660 starting average cap on the teams. And I bowled just good enough to chase my competition M, the lady who pretty much runs the alley, every game and make marks when she left opens. In the end my total series was about 80 pins more than hers, as I had all 3 wins and wood. As a team, we utterly whomped them. We were up 182 pins at the end of Game 1. We won Game 2 by 203. Horry Clap! Their anchor just couldn’t connect anything in either game, and was throwing more than 100 under. They rallied in Game 3, just eking out a win for the game and beating our mid guy and our anchor. So they got 3 points for that, but that was all. We won the night 13-3, and went in last night 9 points ahead. So they can take all 16 next week and still not displace us. I have no idea what the prize money will be. This IS a money league, $25/wk for a 35 week season. 1st place pays $1600 per man, but it doesn’t stop there. 2nd, 3rd, 4th, etc. get lesser but still significant awards. So the last places really, really get hosed. And gosh, for some reason there are only 8 teams on this league. Must be because it starts Monday night at 9pm. Right. Me, I won’t see a penny in prize money. I think. I didn’t pay anything to bowl in this league; I was a “permanent sub”, which is sort of like a fully sponsored bowler, except that I was never given any money to put in the weekly envelope. I just showed up and bowled. This league can do that kind of thing, what the heck, since 3 of the 8 teams are alley employees, including the boss. Would I “sub” again? Probably, although the late time slot kind of played havoc a few times. I know I certainly wouldn’t be a paying member, as much as I’ve learned to love Average Sorted Match Point competition. It’s the best. Forget that Team Average handicap crap. Forget that Individual Handicap crap. ASMP gives you someone to bowl against directly. If you have a good game, you win points for your team. If you don’t win your personal match up, at least your pins add to your team’s, so you’re contributing. And it’s handicap limited too, which keeps teams from building their 660 cap like 150-240-270.

I’m not sure how ASMP would work in a non-capped league, in a 4 person team. That would be 20 points per night, and it might be possible for the team that didn’t win the game to actually win more points in that game. Would it work with pre-bowling? Hmm, something to think about over the summer.

Summer League? I’m not sure. I think we’d both like to take a summer off. We haven’t had a break from bowling, year ‘round, for more than 6 years now. But, but, but I just last night figured out a new way to throw the ball! And I think it’s finally the right way! It’s what A & J told me on Greed League last fall, but it finally clicked last night. Of course, I can’t fully control it yet, so I want to bowl and bowl until I do. Summer League!! Plus you get balls for 40% discount, and 20 free games. Because I only have 74 free games on my card!

Posted by Drew458     on 05/06/2014 at 12:43 PM   
Filed Under: • Bowling Blogging •  
• Comments (2) • Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

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