Bowling Bowling Bowling..... Keep Those Balls A Rolling.....
So, I joined up with a Bowling league a few weeks ago, and the season just ended. I use to bowl in Leagues quite a bit, and yes, I have my own shoes, ball and bag, the whole nine yards. I guess I went ahead and got the shoes, just so I wouldn't have to wear those funky colored rental ones, because who knows what kind of toe funk is in there. OK, I admit it, I bought the shoes because they are cool looking.
So anyway, the adventure Club that I belong to made some deal with the Bowling Alley, to let us create a 6 week league. That's unusual, because most leagues, if I remember correctly, were ~ 14-16 weeks long for summer, and 32 weeks long for winter. Now, I like to bowl, but not THAT much. 6 weeks in a row, is about right.
The thing I like, is that it is a "Handicap League", in which bowlers have extra pins added to their scores, based on their teams average, vs. the avg. of the team you bowl against. It sort of levels the playing field between the good bowlers, and the not so good. Anyway, it's not supposed to be about the winning, it's all for fun of course, but like one of my old coaches use to say, "It's more fun..... to win".
So, we had 4 teams of 3 players each, and if you are not familiar with League Play, you bowl 3 games once per week, and a possible 4 "points" can be won at each meeting. 1 point awarded for which team wins each game, and one point awarded for "Total Wood", which is the total number of pins knocked down, including the handicap pins. This week, was the final week, and my team was in second place..... by 1 point. So there was a chance.
We were not bowling the 1st place team this week, we were bowling the 3rd place team, so in order for us to win, we would need to bowl very well, and we needed the first place team to stink. Unfortunately for us, the first place team included a 175 average bowler. Let's just say, my team was going to need some luck. Basically, if everyone on the team bowls at least their average score, you have a good chance to win. So of course, that didn't happen.
My first game, I threw a 122. Not a bad score, unless your average happens to be 144, that is. The other 2 bowlers on my team threw their average, so basically we lost the first game because of me. Fun huh? Wait. I don't know if it was the beer I started drinking about 1/2 way through the first game, but in the second game, I threw a 182, with 5 strikes and a "turkey" ( 3 strikes in a row), so not only did we win the second game..... because of me, but we pulled 12 pins ahead of the other team, in total wood, at that point. In the third game, I threw a 154, and the other 2 members also threw above their averages, so we won the third game, and total wood, for a final last night point win of 3-1, which technically put our team from 1 point behind, to 2 points ahead in the league. It all depended then, on how the first place team was doing, so afterwards, I went over to the other lane.....
The first place team was 1/3 of the way through their 3rd game, at the start of the 4th frame. They had already won the first game by 95 pins, AND, the second game, by 1 pin. So, that meant that they had already won 2 of the 4 points, and were therefore at that point, tied with us for 1st place. The best I could hope for then, was a tie, but the ONLY way, for us to finish the League in a tie, was IF, the 4th place team, beat the first place team in the last game, by MORE THAN 96 pins. Fat chance huh? Oh ye of little faith.
The automated scoring system keeps a running total of the scores, including handicaps, but unless the timing of the 2 teams bowlers throwing their balls is equal, it can be difficult to determine who is winning, while the game is going on. As best I could tell in the 4th frame, the team I needed to win, was behind by 25 pins (sigh). Of course, that was before I began applying my powers of "Mental Assistance". What I do, is force the pins to fall over by sheer force of will. I direct all my "Bowling Karma", at the pins down the alley, to MAKE THEM fall over, or stand up, as the particular moment, and bowler requires.
Hey, don't laugh, "Tom's Bowling Karma", has certainly been a running joke among my "friends" in the league, but even the most hard core bowlers will agree, that Tom all too frequently, "gets lucky", when a wobbly pin is standing, and he jumps up and down, and "makes it fall over", or using his "leaning body language", to "cause" the ball to stay straight for long enough, to graze, and knock over, that last pin. People often say, "Oh that was just luck". My response? "So what, I take luck, it works for me" :-)
So it actually comes down to the 10th and final frame, the 4th place team is ahead, but I can't tell by how much, but it's close to the 96 I need, and so I give the 4th place team, my "Be The Ball", naa-naa-naa-naa-naa-naa-naaa Karma, like in that movie Caddy Shack? And I'll be damned, if they then proceeded to throw what must have been the best frame of their entire league, and the final score of their 3rd game....... A 4th place team win, by 112 pins!!!!!!
YEAH YEAH YEAH BABY BABY, HAPPY DANCE, HAPPY DANCE, Boogie Woogie, Boogie Woogie, Shuffle Shuffle Shuffle Shufle, Kick, Turn, Spin". If you've never seen me do it, think about if you've seen "Snoopy" dancing. It's very similar :-) Even Mr. "Super Bowler" on the other team wasn't too disappointed, since by his calculation, his team had blown it, and dropped to second place. When I informed him that actually, the league ended in a tie, he was so happy, that he then bought a round of drinks for all 12 of us.
That shows me good sportsmanship, which in my opinion, is SORELY lacking, in most of today's "Trash Talking" sports environment. Maybe there is hope for humankind after all :-)
So anyway, the adventure Club that I belong to made some deal with the Bowling Alley, to let us create a 6 week league. That's unusual, because most leagues, if I remember correctly, were ~ 14-16 weeks long for summer, and 32 weeks long for winter. Now, I like to bowl, but not THAT much. 6 weeks in a row, is about right.
The thing I like, is that it is a "Handicap League", in which bowlers have extra pins added to their scores, based on their teams average, vs. the avg. of the team you bowl against. It sort of levels the playing field between the good bowlers, and the not so good. Anyway, it's not supposed to be about the winning, it's all for fun of course, but like one of my old coaches use to say, "It's more fun..... to win".
So, we had 4 teams of 3 players each, and if you are not familiar with League Play, you bowl 3 games once per week, and a possible 4 "points" can be won at each meeting. 1 point awarded for which team wins each game, and one point awarded for "Total Wood", which is the total number of pins knocked down, including the handicap pins. This week, was the final week, and my team was in second place..... by 1 point. So there was a chance.
We were not bowling the 1st place team this week, we were bowling the 3rd place team, so in order for us to win, we would need to bowl very well, and we needed the first place team to stink. Unfortunately for us, the first place team included a 175 average bowler. Let's just say, my team was going to need some luck. Basically, if everyone on the team bowls at least their average score, you have a good chance to win. So of course, that didn't happen.
My first game, I threw a 122. Not a bad score, unless your average happens to be 144, that is. The other 2 bowlers on my team threw their average, so basically we lost the first game because of me. Fun huh? Wait. I don't know if it was the beer I started drinking about 1/2 way through the first game, but in the second game, I threw a 182, with 5 strikes and a "turkey" ( 3 strikes in a row), so not only did we win the second game..... because of me, but we pulled 12 pins ahead of the other team, in total wood, at that point. In the third game, I threw a 154, and the other 2 members also threw above their averages, so we won the third game, and total wood, for a final last night point win of 3-1, which technically put our team from 1 point behind, to 2 points ahead in the league. It all depended then, on how the first place team was doing, so afterwards, I went over to the other lane.....
The first place team was 1/3 of the way through their 3rd game, at the start of the 4th frame. They had already won the first game by 95 pins, AND, the second game, by 1 pin. So, that meant that they had already won 2 of the 4 points, and were therefore at that point, tied with us for 1st place. The best I could hope for then, was a tie, but the ONLY way, for us to finish the League in a tie, was IF, the 4th place team, beat the first place team in the last game, by MORE THAN 96 pins. Fat chance huh? Oh ye of little faith.
The automated scoring system keeps a running total of the scores, including handicaps, but unless the timing of the 2 teams bowlers throwing their balls is equal, it can be difficult to determine who is winning, while the game is going on. As best I could tell in the 4th frame, the team I needed to win, was behind by 25 pins (sigh). Of course, that was before I began applying my powers of "Mental Assistance". What I do, is force the pins to fall over by sheer force of will. I direct all my "Bowling Karma", at the pins down the alley, to MAKE THEM fall over, or stand up, as the particular moment, and bowler requires.
Hey, don't laugh, "Tom's Bowling Karma", has certainly been a running joke among my "friends" in the league, but even the most hard core bowlers will agree, that Tom all too frequently, "gets lucky", when a wobbly pin is standing, and he jumps up and down, and "makes it fall over", or using his "leaning body language", to "cause" the ball to stay straight for long enough, to graze, and knock over, that last pin. People often say, "Oh that was just luck". My response? "So what, I take luck, it works for me" :-)
So it actually comes down to the 10th and final frame, the 4th place team is ahead, but I can't tell by how much, but it's close to the 96 I need, and so I give the 4th place team, my "Be The Ball", naa-naa-naa-naa-naa-naa-naaa Karma, like in that movie Caddy Shack? And I'll be damned, if they then proceeded to throw what must have been the best frame of their entire league, and the final score of their 3rd game....... A 4th place team win, by 112 pins!!!!!!
YEAH YEAH YEAH BABY BABY, HAPPY DANCE, HAPPY DANCE, Boogie Woogie, Boogie Woogie, Shuffle Shuffle Shuffle Shufle, Kick, Turn, Spin". If you've never seen me do it, think about if you've seen "Snoopy" dancing. It's very similar :-) Even Mr. "Super Bowler" on the other team wasn't too disappointed, since by his calculation, his team had blown it, and dropped to second place. When I informed him that actually, the league ended in a tie, he was so happy, that he then bought a round of drinks for all 12 of us.
That shows me good sportsmanship, which in my opinion, is SORELY lacking, in most of today's "Trash Talking" sports environment. Maybe there is hope for humankind after all :-)
posted by TomH | 6:49 AM
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