The Tenth Board

“Size 11′s,” my team, could only take 2/7 points from “4 Marksmen,” but we remain in a tie in points for 4th with “Fantastic Four,” and “4 Marksmen” now hold a two-point lead over “Drunken Masters.” Please note that averages for those bowlers with 9 games were recalculated, and the new averages seemed to be included in the handicap calculations.

Individually, “Russ I.” had a 300 game in the league he submits his scores from last week, so congratulations to him.

My Week 21 bowling, frame-by-frame (Link to series on BowlSK)

I thought I played better tonight, at least to start, but it’s clear that more practice on the modified shot is in order. Transition usually forces me to move more inside, but with only one other real hook bowler on the right side, I had to move outside because of carry-down. A problem with the scorer in the third game also broke everyone’s rhythm because it forced a move to a different pair, though I found something on the new pair to salvage a 157.

Result: 201-168-157=526
Average (63 games): 188
Average for last 9 games: 188
Next week’s AVG+1 score: 583

Team only managed to take one point again, as none of us were very consistent.

My team may have only taken one point last week, but it was enough to stay out of the basement, as another team got swept for a second week in a row to start the second half. “The Dynasty” and “The Generations” have each taken 8 points to start the second half. My team faces the team immediately ahead of us, “The Wild Samoans,” this week.

Individually, Ed Godino III was the star last week, as he had a 276 game and a 728 set, both high on the week, and the 276 game is the second-best in the league this season.

My Week 20 bowling, frame-by-frame (Link to BowlSK)

As I note in the BowlSK comment, I was told after bowling tonight that the “High Street” pattern was modified by shortening it 2′, and the change caught me somewhat by surprise during warm-ups, as I noted my Hy-Road was useless and I had to switch to my High Voltage. I thought I was coping with it OK, but the shorter oil pattern length also had an effect on my spare game, as even my plastic ball hooked in the shorter oil. As a result, I missed more spares than I’ve been accustomed to recently.

Result: 193-169-178=540
Average (60 games): 189
Average for last 9 games: 194
Next week’s AVG+1 score: 605

Team took only one point (first game), even with Bobby Geddes absent, as our performances were spotty.

Things did look brighter in my virtual league, however, as my virtual team once again took 5 of 7, this time against a “real” team, Team 9, which included “General Pounder,” one of my friends from the BowlingFans.com chat. Two weeks in, the “Size 11′s” are tied in points for third place with “Drunken Masters,” two of the members of whom are “MikeHL” and “lmfcoa,” two newer chat buddies of mine. “4 Marksmen” and “Fantastic Four” are the two teams at the top of the current virtual league standings, both having only lost 2 points each after two weeks.

As I mentioned in the most recent league night recap, my team was one of three that failed to take points to open the second half, and the three teams that executed the sweeps could be considered “usual suspects”: “The Dynasty,” “The Generations,” and “The Mustangs.” The round-robin starts all over again this week with my team facing “VAKINC.”

According to the BC Mixed Virtual League blog (linked in the sidebar, click header to go to home page if you’re viewing the individual article), my team (named “Size 11′s”) took 5 of 7 points in the first week of a 12-week season against the “Bye” vacant team (under the rules of the league, a team must bowl its average or better to take points against the bye team). As a result, the early going finds us in a three-way tie for 3rd place. From the BowlingCommunity.com forums, I have two “real” teammates, “leftykev” from Spokane, WA, and “Don_Ebarb” from California, along with a 187 vacant score.