Friday, October 30, 2009

The team had a comfortable 10 point lead in the standings as we once again ventured out of our division to take on the 2nd best team in the league. As we have proven many times in the past, all we need to do is bowl our average or a little above and we have a very good chance of winning the evening. Handicaps are a great thing and even without Muck (also known as the new anchorman?) in attendance we felt good about our chances.

Putting up our 800 team average against their 952 may intimidate some teams....but not Los Diablos!! Not only did we shrink like a frightened turtle from the challenge, we tossed out a season low 681.......yes, 681. That would be 119 pins below average. The sad thing is we only lost by 49. Two bowlers failing to reach the girly 120's and another achieving it could explain the stellar performance.

Game 2 we stepped it up to a 730 and game 3 we were really smoking with a 754. Unfortunately for us, their score improved every game also, leading to the shameful 0-7. What we did manage to establish was an official reference name to Brian's tendency to clear out the 3 left pins on his first ball.....which will now forever be referred to as a "BP3". Editor's note: while the BP3 refers to knocking down the 4,7,8 pins, the team established frequently it could also be used for a 6,9,10 knockdown.

As the 3rd game was concluding, the talk of a team 5 x 500 seemed ludicrous as 3 bowlers were struggling to flirt with a 400. The totals for the night: Pat 503 (could he be back?), Dan 492 (right on his 164 average), JD 402(got him talking about lunch time practice sessions), Brian 394 (has he EVER talked about a practice session?) and Mark 370 (he sure seems like a better bowler with the new ball but the results have not come yet). These scores prompted a mandatory 4th game team practice session. The only significant thing that came out of the 4th game was Mark's 1st two frames when he did a Prybel followed by a BP3. Yes, he missed them all then picked up the spare and then only knocked down 3 and also picked up that spare.

As if the 0-7 evening could be any worse, the Misfits took all seven and are now within 3 games of the lead.

Sunday, October 25, 2009

The tension was high as the 1st place Diablos were matched up with the 2nd place Misfits. Was it their lack of a friendly handshake at the end of a dominating Diablos' performance last year or the fact that they edged us out in the standings that has caused this bad blood? Or could it be Dean's two-bird, ball return kicking tantrums? Maybe its Neil's bizarre style / yell / "wrong side" comments that irritates us. Maybe its the Mini Me's.....or maybe its just all of the above. Whatever it is, they are our Green Bay Packers......the team we want to beat the most.

How did we handle this heated rivalry? As our name would imply, we came out on fire. Led by Jim's 215 and our 1st of the year tequila shot (courtesy of JD), we bowled a nice, above average 831, winning by 126 pins. In the 2nd game we were even better. With scores clustered between 154 and 190, we bowled an 849 which led to a 61 point victory. With puffed out chests the team was talking sweep, many of us already putting the dominating victory in the score book.

Unfortunately, the "that's why you play the game" and "don't count your chickens until they are hatched" type phrases are so overused. Was it the affects of the tequila shot on our skills or the mental let down that contributed to what seemed was heading to a 4-3 evening instead of the 7-0 evening? The 743 score and losing the third game by 86 pins may indicate it was both. The bottom line is we could / should have been 7 -0 but we actually were 5-2.....which is a could showing.

Some "fyi" info to ponder: Rosary Florist took and O'fer, dropping into a tie with the Misfits at 21-28, trailing our impressive 31-18 record. Neil claimed he was a 201 bowler last year. In actuality his average was 168 on 10/21/08 and 176 on 4/28/09. While it feels good to catch Neil in a lie, it makes me want to puke thinking he his better than our whole team....YIKES!!

Saturday, October 17, 2009

A sub par evening

With the early season success the team has been experiencing comes a certain sense of expectation revolving around our weekly performances. Unfortunately, expectations often lead to disappointment and that is what we experienced Tuesday night. Matching up for the 2nd week in a row against a superior opponent, we limped out of the gate with a 736. Ironically, this is the one game we managed to win. The scores speak for themselves (Dan 184, Brian 150, JD 145, Pat 141 and Mark 116).

Games 2 and 3 were much better efforts ( 803 and 829) for Los Diablos but I think we woke the sleeping bear with our first game victory. The Budmeisters improved on their first game of 873 with a 1003 and a 1001. At least we inspired someone to bowl well. Series for the evening: Dan 536, Pat 495 (close 2nd consecutive week), JD 473, Brian 462 and Mark 402. Actually not all that bad for our current averages but not close to achieving the 5 X 5 goal. How close are we to the 5 X 5 goal, you ask? We have only had 2 bowlers in any week break 500 but we all can (and will again) break 500. Here are our highs for this year: Jim 547, Dan 533, Pat 533, JD 525 and Brian 487. As I speak of attaining a 500 series and providing numbers to indicate all of us can do it, I feel an obligation to also point out that we have had some challenges getting to a 400 series also (Pat 392 and Brian 398). As a reference point, 3 of the 4 Budmesiters had a 600 series capped by a last game 279 by Dominick.

It was not all doom and gloom this week as 2nd place Rosary Florists also went 2-5 so we did not lose any ground. The Misfits, however, swept the evening and must once again be watched closely.

Thursday, October 8, 2009

The team continues to jell

We all know the joys and / or pains of waking up with morning wood. It all depends how you "handle" the situation. The same could be said when we are asked to step out of our division and take on the big boys.....in this case, team Morning Wood. Strutting around with an engorged 952 team scratch series average (we just now have reached 800) they clearly knew they had the upper hand playing the Division "A" Los Diablos. How did we handle it you ask? We were clearly "up" for the challenge. With no one really having a great 1st game we bowled an above average 816 (led by Brian's 185) and only lost by a mere 12 pins. We may just have a chance.

Not only did we have a chance, our 2nd game of 838 (Jim M 199, Pat 195, Dan 183) tied the score at 2-2. Pumped up by the 2nd game victory, there was renewed discussion of the newly established 5 by 5 goal. A 500 series was within grasp for all five bowlers. A couple beer frames here, a tequila frame there and we would be all set. Here comes the bad news / good news part: There were no beer frames nor tequila frames and only 2 bowlers hit 500+ (Jim M 545 and Dan 525) (bad news). However, we won the 3rd game by 76 pins, took the evening 5-2, and 2 bowlers came very close to the 500 series (Pat 488 and Brian 487). This all despite Brian throwing what Jim described as the sh%#tiest ball ever. Of course, Brian returned the compliment a couple of balls later claiming Jim had then thrown an even sh%#tier ball (and therefore this had now become the sh#%tiest ball ever). Oh, the encouragement we give one another!!

I will end with a few closing disturbing thoughts regarding a group of men who would call themselves "Morning Wood"....1)at one point after Pat got a strike via the "back door", one of the woodsman enthusiastically pranced up to our table and shrieked "The back door is closed for me!" The uncomfortable involuntary puckering of my sphincter reminded me of the questionable make-up of this league's players. 2) After a particularly good frame by one of the opponents and an exchange of high fives by all, I again felt queasy by the utter delicacy and femininity of his soft hands 3) Why would you have cards with pictures of fat women and men with big Johnsons?

Saturday, October 3, 2009

Our first 7-0 evening of the year

This entry will be dedicated more to statistics than to any great wit or wisdom coming from me. First things first...we took the evening 7-0 which is always a good thing. This puts us at 19 - 9 for the season, compared to an 11 -17 record through 4 weeks last year (the Misfits are currently 7 - 21 if anyone is interested). Our team average is 794 this year verses 759 at this time last year.

Individually Jim's 175 average is 50th out of 91 bowlers. He finished last year at 174. JD's 164 average is 63rd and it compares favorably to the year ending 159. Dan's 161 is 68th comparing well to his ending 157. Pat's 149 average ranks him as the 84th best bowler (this still has an asterisk next to it, I believe due to the large plummet in his average and the "anti-sandbagging" rule that is in place). His average last year was 163. Brian ranks 87th with a 146 which is about the 147 he finished with last year. Mark L or P is the 91st best bowler in the league at 133. As a reference point Hank has a 186 average.

I think we all agree we each have the potential to kick it up a notch this year and despite that not really happening as of yet, we are doing great as a team compared to last year. Averaging over 800 scratch as well as all five bowlers getting a 500+ series on the same night should be a realistic goal.

As a note to Brian who put out the challenge to find if JD ever has any "challenging" games. It did not take too long a 118 on 1/27/09 and a 113 on 2/24/09.

Check out the link for Bagtoberfest 2009 pictures.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=9041&id=1835017780&l=1eeb668c7e