January '11 Schedule

Here's the schedule for January, please let me know if you have any issues......

(Wilbur and Opal, don't forget to get your shirts!!!)

Rules and stuff (reposted for the newbies)

We're returning back to the Brunzwick Zone off of Olive and Woods Mill-which will be smoke free. The season starts Tuesday, January 4th. You should’ve all gotten an email asking for January availability; hopefully I’ll post the schedule this weekend.

 

To the newbies (and a recap for the rest): 

• You need to pick out your "old person" name. Currently, Pearl (Christina), Gus (Terry), Esme (Natalie), Ethel (Maria), Agnes (Andrea) and Abe (Steve) are taken.
• Don't forget you'll need to get your own shirts to match the team. We get our shirts at a local company called Cruisin USA-its on Olive, just north of the loop. They have a website or you can call and place your order, and pick it up there. We wear the Black and White Retro Bowler (item RBSWBBNK)and get the "Brew Crew" screenprint on the pack and our names on the front of the shirts.
• Bowling is $15 per week, and includes 3 games. The season is 16 weeks total. You can pay in cash or check (no credit cards).
• Get to the bowling center around 6:30-6:45. We're given 15 minutes every night to practice, then it starts at 7. If you're running late, let us know. You can get there around 15-20 minutes late and catch up, but let me know if you're going to be late.
• I try to post the schedule the last week of the month. If something comes up and you are going to miss your scheduled night- you are ultimately responsible for finding someone else on the team to take your place. If you can't, you can either get to the center and pre-bowl (go bowl by yourself before bowling night and have the scores count for that night) or bowl "absent". You pay for the night of bowling either way.
• Please note "Bowling absent"- is a disadvantage to the team because your score is 10 less than your average, so please use this sparingly.
• The first night should NOT be your best night. I won't use the term "sandbag" but feel free to suck your first 3 games. The rest of the season will be easiest if your average is low and easy to beat each night. 
• Many of us also play a card game during the night-$1 per game, so $3 a night. You get cards for strikes and spares and try to build the best poker hand. You're not required to play, but if you're going to, please bring some singles.

Ok, I think that's it. I'll see you guys soon!

 

The fall from 3rd to 21st hurts.....a lot

We finished 21st for the season; not bad, certainly better than our last season of last place. Even though we were in the 3rd, lets not be disappointed in where we ended up. Ok, ok, it hurts a little, but we really had a hard last 3 weeks-we lost every single game. Some we lost by a lot, but some we lost by a little. Its hard, for me at least, not to be pissed at myself when we lose by a couple pins because I can usually identify one frame of my game where if I had done better, maybe if I’d gotten a 9 after a spare instead of a 3, we would’ve won. But this isn't good for any of us....so, we shouldn’t think like that-we should concentrate on how we made it a close competitive game!


I think the thing that gets us is sometimes we bowl GREAT and then others….not so great. So if we suck the week or game after we bowl awesome, it's really hard to take. Bowling, like any sport takes practice, and I think we forget that. Its hard to play a sport only a couple times a month and expect to improve. Things like what shoes we wear (do they slide or not) and the ball make a difference each time. Not just what kind of ball we use, but how much it weighs, if the ball has nicks and cuts, maybe the core is cracked, how far apart the holes are drilled, etc. (Like if you look at the “fingertip” drilling style, your fingers are way far apart from your thumb, this makes the ball spin more.) But, even if you use the 11lb house balls each time, the finger holes might be different than the last one you use, so your game is potentially going to be different than last time. If we ot of different equipment each time and let a couple weeks lag between bowling…we don’t really improve. And that’s ok, not everyone needs to have their own ball and shoes, we just need to know that things will be different each time and not beat ourselves up about it!!! (other stuff, like how much oil the lane has on it, also makes a difference, but that’s another conversation.  :)

So, moving forward….next season starts Jan 4. Good news/bad news, depending on your habits, the alley we go to will be smoke free. We have a couple more people who are interested, so if you’re not really digging it, don’t feel bad about bowing out. I’ll finalize the new roster next week and we’ll get a practice session together over the winter break. Newbies, make sure to pick out your old people name and get your shirts!!!

If I don’t see you before the holidays, have a happy and safe holiday! Its been fun and I look forward to next season!!

Quick trip back to reality

Sad to report that we're not doing so great guys - myself included!!! I had a horrible night, absolutely disgraceful!!! It was that sad night where none of us could get a good game going and our mediocre games didn't stand a chance against the other teams beating their averages by 30-60 pins each game!!

Anyway, we WERE in 3rd a few short weeks ago and now we're probably around 10th. However, the good news is that we should still finish in the top half if we can win a few games in the last 2 weeks (practice practice practice!). Which, in reality, is where we should be. We were living the high life for a little bit, and now we're back to reality!!!

The schedule for the last 2 weeks is below, let me know if there are issues.

Also, I was required to pre-pay the last 2 weeks. Ethel (Maria) has kindly offered to collect the monies next week and will give them to me the 14th, so please pay her.

Good luck and good bowling-someone please text me and let me know how we do!!!

December Schedule

Here's the schedule for December-let me know asap if there are any issues....its the last of this half of the season, so let me know if you want to bowl again next season. (January through April, another 16 weeks!

Somewhere in the top.....

We're doing good team......we're in the 6th and above range. (we were tied for 3rd, but only won one game last week, so probably dropped a spot or two.....but still, doing just fine-especially considering we finished LAST earlier this year!)

Not sure if I gave props to everyone for their high games!!!
Agnes with a 165!
Gus with a 253!
Abe with a 198!
Esme's 152!
Ethel's 154!
Mable's 140!
Thaddius's 170!

Good job, keep it up!!!

Schedule should be posted tomorrow!!

November Schedule

Here's November's schedule....let me know asap if there are issues!

Updates and standings.....

Sorry for the lack of update last week-I had an incredibly busy week ......some updates....
Last week-I had my highest game ever, a 170 (woo hoo!!!)

This week, Ethel rocked the house last night with her 154, excellent job!!! (I think this is also her highest game ever – woo hoo!!)

This week was a “position round”, where we play for our standing. We were in a 4 way tie for 6th place, that’s right, SIXTH. Not Sixteenth. Sixth! We were last out of those tied, with total pins putting us 9th in ranking order. (this is why we have the position round) We managed to win all 3 games-one by just ONE PIN!! Esme did some recon work and found out 2 of the other teams who were tied with us each lost a game, so we should end up in 6th, if not better, as they slide to 7th - 9th place. :)

I hope to put the November schedule up soon in the next day or two….keep on practicing guys, you’re doing great!!

We have good games, we have bad games, but beer is always there for us

Good news, we did indeed win all 7 points against the vacancy team last week, and we were up to 9th place!! However, we only won one game Tuesday, so we’ll probably drop down to the teens. Hey, if we can finish in the middle, that’s fine with me!!


When you get discouraged, remember this-most of us are bowling two or three times a month. If a professional athlete only played two or three times a month, they probably wouldn’t be good, so give yourself a break. (Or, go practice!)


And if you’re STILL discouraged, remember this…. Beer loves you the same if you get a gutter ball or a strike.

Kudos and standings!

Allright, time for Kudos…..

(High games (more than 20 pins above your average) so far)

Esme with a 152

Agnes with a 157

Mabel Smith with a 132

Gus with a 224 (How great of him to get his highest game on the first night!!)

And…..I had one of my best games ever last night, a 166! YAY! Of course, my game after that I stunk up the place with 5 pins below my average, but finished the 3^rd game beating my average by nearly 20 pins.

Standings-before last night we were in 17^th place. In the middle, totally respectable!! Last night we played the “vacancy team”. Now, here’s the rules with the vacancy team – you’re essentially playing yourself. As a team, you have to be no less than 40 pins below your team (those who are playing) average, each game. You can beat your averages by however much you want, but you can’t lose to your team average by more than 40 pins. So, we all need to be no less than 10 pins below our own average, and if so, someone else on the team needs to make it up.

You’ll notice when you look at the scoresheet, that the Vacancy Team has a record of 0 - 28, but the truth is, they just don’t win any. People DO lose to them. The team next to us last night, the Sons of Dick Trickle, (they wear the racing shirts, are currently in 6^th place) said they only won one game against the Vacancy Team. Indeed, checking the scoresheet, that team only won 2 points. Wow, so we really CAN lose against the team that doesn’t exist! Crap!

Throw in a complication…its Abe’s first night bowling. So, pretty much, he needs to bowl the same all 3 games. No high game/low game for him, because he’s establishing his average. So, if he bowled a 110, 150, and a 120, that puts his average at 127. That means the game he bowled a 110 we’d be screwed because he is 17 pins below his average on that first game.

Man, can this get ANY harder?

Well, I think we pulled it off. Abe did an excellent job of bowling close together, and I helped out on the first game with my 166. Hoping I can really do arithmetic, I think we were within our team average by less than 40 pins and we won all 3 games. Which, has the potential to drive our standing up a couple spots! But, there is the chance I don’t fully understand the rules of the vacancy as they were explained to me, and we could’ve only won 1 or 2 games, so don’t hate me if that’s the case. ;)

Next up is Pearl, Thaddius, Agnes and Ethel!

Good luck and good bowling!

October Schedule

Here's the October schedule....let me know asap if you have issues!

Also, I owe a couple people kudos for good games last week, I just wasn't there so I need to check the score sheets. Stay tuned for an update later this week with high games so far and our overall placement.

Scoring Explained

Here’s the promised explanation of scoring:


Each night we play 3 games and there are 7 possible points in a night. Each person (once you establish an average) gets their individual handicap added to their score (see first post or link to the right for explanation on handicap). The individual scores are added together to have a team score, which is up against one other team’s score.

So, for example, a sample scoresheet might look like this:

So the pins we actually bowled (called “scratch score”) combined with our handicap is our total pins for that game. If our total pins beats their total pins for that game, we get 2 points. That’s 6 points and the other point is for total pins over all 3 games. So, in the example above, we won 2 games (4 points) plus total pins (1 point) for a total of 5 points. The other team won one game and got 2 points.

Confused yet???

Don’t worry if you don’t get it. If I’m not there, Esme can usually help or the other teams are usually good with helping too. I just wanted to have the explanation out there, so you have the info if you care!

Pearl's lack of excuses

Last night we bowled the other team we hang out with, the Malcontents. (We bowled them in our first league about 4 yrs ago and got along because they drank as much as we did!) I was a little worried; as Gus was supposed to tank and help bring his average down, because I knew he’d want to beat Tony. Tony, for the record, is a VERY good bowler-last yr his best game was a 290, but in the first part of the year he is on a golf league and thus is….well, not as “alert” as he could be, so he’s bowling more in the 180-215 range. Anyway, Gus ended up nearly beating him and having two good games-right around 200- and one bad game which brought his average down to around 190, which is STILL above where it should be, but that’s how it’s going to have to be. Let’s just hope Gus keeps it up and continues to get 200+ most games. :)


Esme did pretty good, I don’t have the score sheet right here but she beat her average/stayed pretty close to it for all 3 games – it’s the snazzy ball (gift from me, of course) and her tie dye shoes that do it. :P

It was Agnes’s first night and she had fun, did a good job of listening to instruction. She flirted with that foul line a bit too often but did pretty good in the last game and ended up with around a 97 average- a solid average to improve upon! (she just needs her own shoes and ball!!)

Me…man, I stank up the joint. And this time, I don’t even have the excuse of “trying to throw off”. I was SUPPOSED TO BOWL GOOD! Instead, I got an 80 on my first game. Yes, and EIGHTY- I just couldn’t hit my mark for the life of me and my spare ball is totally gone-I even dropped the ball twice! Ug. My “high game” was a 109. (normally I am a 120ish bowler, when I was bowling often, I was up to a 135 average) I think my average might have even gone DOWN a pin or two. So, I’ll be hitting the lanes this weekend to practice, that’s for damn sure.

Even with my colossal flop, we still managed to win 2 out of 3 games and took total pins, so we got 5 out of 7 points. This is, of course assuming Tony figured out everything using bowling scorekeeping and not golf scores!!! (Which, speaking of points and pins and scores, I guess I need to elaborate on that. I’ll explain in another post this week) So, we’re probably hovering around the middle as placements go, (here are around 30 teams, by the way) but we really can’t count anything as real placements until all of us establish an average.

Hopefully my practice helps me get my game back!!! Next week-Pearl, Gus, Mabel, and Thaddius!

How NOT to get a strike

Last night was a good time!! Here's the recap:

Gus, well......he came out WAY too strong the first game and got a 224. To quote him "I'm not even aiming...I can't help it, I just keep throwing strikes". Poor guy. But really, here's a tip for ya....THROW IT IN THE GUTTER next time. I'm positive you will NOT get a strike if you throw it in the gutter. His next game he lost his strike ball and bowled a 155 but by the 3rd game he was figuring both the strike and the spare ball out and got a 204. So, his average is sitting high and pretty at the 195 mark. Bastard.

Esme, despite her best efforts to get a 92 average, "failed" and got a 117 average ;) so she'll have a decent handicap. Ethel and myself, well, we will have REALLY good handicaps. (averages 95-96). As you imagine, there weren't many times we found our strikeball, but we snuck a few in. My average has nowhere to go but up, which I intend on bowling SIGNIFICANTLY better next week.

We won one game, so that's good!

Next week, Esme, Agnes, Gus and Pearl (me) are up. See you at 6:40-good luck and good bowling!!!

September schedule

Here's the schedule for September-let me know asap if there are issues!

Agnes and Mabel-don't forget to get your shirts!!!!

New Season starts next week!

Welcome back, Brew Crew and welcome to Andrea and Holly! (and possibly Andrea's friend, who might make an appearance later in the season!)

We're returning back to the Brunzwick Zone off of Olive and Woods Mill. The season starts next Tuesday, August 31- Pearl, Gus, Esme and Ethel are up. The rest of you should've received an email for your availability in September-please respond as soon as possible so I can get the schedule out.

To the newbies (and a recap for the rest):

• As soon as you pick your "old person" name, its preferred that you get your own shirts to match the team. We get our shirts at a local company called Cruisin USA-its on Olive, just north of the loop. They have an online site or you can call and place your order, and pick it up there. We We wear the Black and White Retro Bowler (item RBSWBBNK)and get the "Brew Crew" screenprint on the pack and our names on the front of the shirts. Currently, Pearl (Christina), Gus (Terry), Esme (Natalie), Ethel (Maria), Thaddius (Garrett), and Abe (Steve) are taken.
• Bowling is $15 per week, you can pay in cash or check (no credit cards).
• Get to the bowling center around 6:30-6:45. We're given 15 minutes every night to practice, then it starts at 7. If you're running late, let us know. You can get there around 15-20 minutes late and catch up, but let me know if you're going to be late.
• If you are going to miss your scheuduled night- you are ultimately responsible for finding someone else on the team to take your place. If you can't, you can either get to the center and pre-bowl (go bowl by yourself before bowling night and have the scores count for that night) or bowl "absent". You pay for the night of bowling either way.
• Please note "Bowling absent"- is a disadvantage to the team because your score is 10 less than your average, so please use this sparingly.
• Many of us also play a card game during the night-$1 per game, so $3 a night. You get cards for strikes and spares and try to build the best poker hand. You're not required to play, but if you're going to, please bring some singles.

Ok, I think that's it. I'll see you guys next week!

April Schedule

I'm 99% sure the last day of bowling is April 20, so this is it until the fall! Let me know if here are issues!

March Schedule

Here's the schedule for March. Let me know if you have issues.

Good luck and good bowling!

Practice, practice, practice

Gus and I went to practice on Monday and we split it up where I threw the first ball for his and mine for 5 frames and he picked up the spare, then we switched. It was good practice for me to concentrate on getting some consistency with my new ball without having to worry about the spare-I was aiming for the same pins every time and thus could try to work on my form. Then, I got to try out what Gus was saying with picking up my spare and throwing it the same way. (for the record, really, he does know what he's talking about-my spare ball has significantly improved) Of course, its not even close to perfect, and I need to work on my strike ball, which just isn't happening, even if I hit the "pocket". (the pocket is in between the headpin and the 3, the pin just to the right of it) But, I guess I need to practice more and hopefully it will all fall into place. Last night I bowled a 129, 130, and 130. Hey, at least I'm consistent?!?

Bad news...we lost all 3 games last night. Luckily for us, a guy on the other team bowled the "best series he has in a really long time" against us. I told him how happy we were to be a part of it (HA!) Well, we are officially in last place. I was talking with the other team who we know, and they were saying our problem (aside from the fact we've just bowled some good/lucky teams and the fact our averages are too high) could be that we aren't bowling enough - they say to get really good and be consistent, you need to be bowling 3-4 times a month. As with any sport, practice is key. So, if you have a chance, go use those blue coupon things to bowl some free games and break in your ball, or use it to try to work out the kinks. (if you don't have any, let me know, we have a couple extra) Or, a lot of time during the weekend mornings, some lanes will have a game for a buck or so.

The good news is the amount of money won isn't that different between last place and 15th, so who cares where we end up! Yes, it sucks to lose all 3 games (really!) but we're there to have fun. So, lets do what we can to improve our game and have a good time!!

I'll post the March schedule in the next 2 days...waiting to see which of you can bowl an extra time!

No place to go but up

Good news- I bowled my highest game last night- a 182! Bad news I poo'd the bed in the next 2 games. None of us did great at the same time, and they did, so we lost all 3 games and are probably right around last place at this point.
I decided this whole split season thing sucks because it required us all to establish new averages. (usually in a fall season you bowl from Sept-April, you still get a week off, but your average just carries over) And, honestly, that's really hurting us. Most of us had a really good (too good) first night and our averages are above what they should be. Ideally, our average should be not what we are capable of some of the time, but what we consistently bowl nearly every time. Sure, we'll all the occasional off-game where we don't bowl very good but our "average game" should be reflected in our average.... so if normally you barely break 100, your average shouldn't be 120, it should be 101-103.
I know, myself included, we didn't want to "throw" off our good games that first night. It seemed like even when we were trying something new, the pins just went down. It was great then, but is disenheartening now, because in order to win, we all need to beat our average nearly every game by 10% in order to capitalize on our handicap. (which is what the other teams are doing)

But, the great news is that there isn't anyplace to go but up, and our winnings aren't that different if we end up in 25th place or in 15th place. I will say though that next year, I'll probably be looking for a different venue for the following reasons:

• few of the teams are actually "lousy"
• many are actually very good (close to 200 averages, and often bowl well over that)
• the league allows all men teams, which are really just guys who aren't good enough to bowl on an all-mens team so they are "slumming it" and ruining it for everyone else
• the split season is killing our averages
• beers aren't that cheap

But in the meantime, lets not care about winning anything but the card game,which you don't need to get a ton of cards in order to win that- Esme won last night with 3 cards!

Feburary Schedule

Let me know if there are any conflicts......

Where's the "lousy bowlers"???????

So, we're not doing that great so far....we're just bowling some REALLY good bowlers. I got a 163 last week and Gus got a 237 and we still didn't win a single game....one game every bowler on their team got over 200!! I'm not sure where all these "lousy bowlers" are, but hopefully we'll bowl some of them soon!!

I just sent out a note about Feb availibility and will post the schedule this week.

Good luck and good bowling!!!

First night: some high averages, some high handicaps.....

Last night was our first night of bowling. A couple of tidbits from the meeting:

• Handicap is now 90% of the diff between your average and 200 (last season it was 210)
• Pre-bowling is allowed; anytime Wed-Tuesday before the scheduled night you can go and pre-bowl. (We’ll still have to pay for you the normal night, as an FYI, so you don't pay when you pre-bowl) 
• If you can’t make it, you can either find a sub or pay for you to “absentee bowl”. This isn’t preferred, since its 10 pins below your average, pre-bowling or finding a sub is better, but worst case, its an option. 
• You have to bowl 6 nights to bowl in the playoffs and you can't pre-bowl then

I don’t know if we won last night- handicaps aren’t figured out yet and we all decided to just let the center figure out handicaps, which will determine who won and who didn’t - I’ll know next week. Scratch, we won one game. (scratch is our actual “raw” score) but that doesn't mean we won that game for sure, although its likely we won at least one game.

I played with new ball /fingertip grip and am currently either knocking down strikes or just missing picking up spares. Which, if I knock em all down is no biggie, but if I have a night I’m off it isn’t great-but I’m getting better at it and picked up a couple spares last night. Luckily my average isn’t going to be too hard to keep up with, although its higher than I really wanted: 122. Gus, on the other hand, found his game is apparently going to be our 200+ bowler, as his average is around 207!! (lets hope he keeps it up!!) Abe did well; tried some things out and what not, ended up with a nice 150-160 average and Thaddius, well…… he’s going to have a nice hefty handicap and can only go up from there. All in all, (except Thaddius) we all bowled better than we really “wanted” to, considering the first night is the night to establish averages and thus you really want to try some new stuff out, change it up, etc, so you aren’t killing yourself to beat your average for the rest of the season. We joked that the pins were lighter and the wind was blowing them down.

Anyway, next week its Ethel, Esme, Dexter, and our newest team member, Maude! (welcome!) Everyone is entered in the computer except Maude because I didn’t know your last name, sorry….but you guys can ask someone to help you enter her in, no biggie. Of course, everyone will need to establish their averages again, so you probably won’t know if you won either; depends on if you play an uber competitive team or not and if they care to figure it out.

Good luck and good bowling!!