I arrived for the first Wednesday night of the fall/winter season hoping to land on a team in the Westgate Mixed League, and had a check all written out in the expectation of doing so. However, when I was directed to the roster sheet, I could not find my name on any of the teams, and all of the teams were full, save for one team that had a vacancy. The vacancy was filled fairly quickly, leaving me, for the moment, a proverbial “man without a country.”
There is one other five-man mixed league running at Westgate Lanes on Wednesday nights, so during the time my status was still unresolved, I was in touch with the secretary of the Brunswick Mixed League, and I eventually landed on a team in that league, which includes a husband and wife team, Helen and Ted Sprissler, along with Pat Padula and Carl Benson. I got a glimpse of the league by-laws at the meeting just before bowling: handicap is 80% of 1000 (team) and runs for (I believe) 33 weeks, ending at the end of April (with a roll-off in the beginning of May, if needed). Dues for the league are only $15/week (I paid $30 in cash for the first 2 weeks), and the last three weeks of bowling are free, which is a relief for my finances. There will be a banquet where the prizes and awards will be given out in May.
Before bowling started, we elected Helen as our team captain, and named ourselves “The Pin Pals.” I learned that my teammates are fairly low-average bowlers, so it looks like I may be carrying this team through the season. We should have handicap in our favor much of the season, which should make for some interesting matches. I also looked at last year’s standings for the league and learned that high average was only something like 208, so high average in the league is a goal that might be reachable.
As part of the “Administrivia” for this post, I would like to announce that I have joined BowlSK, the scorekeeping and stat tracking site, and will refer to that site for my bowling on each night. There will be a link in the “Author’s Links” section of the sidebar linking my profile, and each night’s session will be linked in the posts as below:
The linked page shows graphically how I did, including notes on such things as stance (where I start on the approach) and target (which board I’m spotting at the arrows). The sheets also give room for notes, and I will be taking advantage of that feature.
One thing about last night’s series that I didn’t include in the notes is that my spare game was scattershot in the first game as I was getting settled in. I still saved a 182 in that game, however. No one was on my line, so I didn’t have to move much during the series, only moving outside in the third game when I thought it would help my carry, and back inside when I sensed the lanes finally broke down. We probably won’t know how my team did for points until after the third week. This league’s standings won’t be online, so I’ll endeavor to keep everyone posted on my team’s progress by posting our position going into the night before posting about each night’s bowling.
Result: 182-201-203=586
Average (3 games): 195
We’ll get out around the same time the other league does, so I’ll likely still be riding home with Brian Shea on most nights. On the ride home, we talked about our respective nights, and he said his team took 6 points.
Sean Richard shoots 299 on Westgate Mixed League opening night: During the night, I had heard that my buddy Sean shot a 299 in the second game in the Westgate Mixed League last night. I didn’t learn what pin he left in the 12th frame, but good shooting still, Sean. 😀
More administrivia: With the new league, there will be a new BowlingTracker.com stat sheet, so I’ll probably get around to editing the stat sheet link in the sidebar sometime today.
The Tenth Board 