Friday, December 28, 2007

Free balln' is ok but free fallin' is not!!

The good news was that when we showed up we found out that we were in 2nd place as of the end of the 1st half of the year, thus ensuring us a spot in the spring playoffs. The bad news is that in the current state of free fall from 1st that we are currently in we may have that playoff spot taken away from us if things do not turn around. Boys, you can free ball if you choose, but free fall is not good. We took another 0-7 beating. Two weeks off before we see where that puts us in the standings.

We actually did not bowl all that bad, with Pat (523), Dan(518) and Jim M. (504) all exceeding 500 series. Brian seemed re-energized with a 473 and J.D. brought up the rear with a 405.

An unexpected gift from Santa's helper lifted the teams' spirits and everyone is looking forward to the edge our new shirts will give us.....Grab your Balls, we are going bowling! Let's get back on track.

Friday, December 14, 2007

"Average" just does not cut it

Our poor showing from the week before dropped us to 2nd place for the 1st time in a long time. The plan was to stick to the goal of bowling our average and letting the handicap do the rest. The good news....we bowled above our average all three games. The bad news.....team "Any old strike" played to their namesake and blew away their average in the 1st two games. We were down 0-4 and 94 pins going into the last game. With our 1st half play-off spot in jeopardy and the old guys on the other team getting tired, we saw a slight chance to salvage the evening and possibly scratch out 3 points.

Brian rose to the occasion, saving his best effort (191) to the last game on the way to an impressive 495 series. I am not sure but I believe Brian had a little glimmer of realization that a weekend session at the alley can be beneficial. Dan's solid 563 series (1st game of 226, a personal high) and Pat's strong 509 helped keep the evening from being a total disaster. Subbing for sub J.D., Jim H. cancelled his trip to New York just to hang out with the boys, drink some beer and throw the rock. As always, Jim was right at or above his average.

We did win the last game and were close to taking the series (losing by only 14 pins). Next week is the end to the 1st half of the season, let's ALL step up to the plate and lock in our playoff spot.

Sunday, December 9, 2007

The noose tightens!!!

It's all about bowling your average. Captain Brian has sung that song numerous times and we have seen it work out numerous times. Unfortunately Los Diablos bowled below their average every game and the results, although painful and unfortunate, were not unexpected. An 0'fer!!! 0 and 7, skunked, ass-whooped.
With the exception of Dan's respectable 522, all members saw their averages take a kidney punch, no one even reaching their average in any game! One postive note was Brian continues to climb towards the elusive (at least in the last 3 weeks) 400 series with a 392. Looks like he has put those 380's in the rear view mirror.

With our "solid" effort this week, we may have sunk to 2nd place in the standings. Fortunatley, this upcoming week is a position week and we can control our own destiny. We need a collective team pep talk, we need to pick up the king pin, pick up those one pin spares with the width of 2+ balls and get back to smelling our balls. J.D. will be subbing for hop along Rick and hopefully we will pick up some steam heading into the final weeks of the fall season.