I should explain something for the non-bowlers who are reading this, first: Brackets are a form of side action in bowling in which the bowler pays a fee for each bracket he wants to enter, then is drawn into a tournament bracket randomly with seven other bowlers. The idea is to beat the bowler you’re matched up against each game, with the last two in the bracket getting money back (the others are said to have “donated”). The bracket winner, of course, gets more than the second place bowler, and the person running the brackets usually gets to keep a small amount from the brackets for his time and computer use (brackets were unheard of in bowling before computers came into wide use). Note: The USBC will allow brackets to be run in sanctioned competition because the decision is ultimately based on “merit pinfall”, even though there’s an element of chance in the bracket draw; indeed, brackets are offered at the USBC Open Championships, as well as probably most state and local association tournaments.
I had known about brackets since about the time I knew about the new tournaments in the area (particularly the People’s Tournament), but it was only last season that Shawn got bracket software and began offering $1 handicap brackets in my league. I had occasionally thrown $5 in just to make it interesting, but started entering brackets more regularly recently.
I had won $2 on a few occasions for coming in second in a bracket previously, but my breakthrough was last week, and the reader is directed to this PDF file, which shows the bracket results for last week. The key bracket is the last one in the file, in which I defeated, in order, Al Cochrane, Carol Andersen, and Liz DiBenedetto for my first ever win in a bracket. The $5 for winning the bracket meant I broke even for the week. From here on, I’ll mention any bracket winnings for the previous week in my league night recaps, and will probably post a PDF again the first time I turn a profit for a night.
The Tenth Board 