Better Luck Next Time, Fellas

571 series (190 ppg)

Team Just Bowl Better entered the final week of the season with a share of 4th place.

A quick glance at the standings sheet confirmed that we needed to take all four points from the 3rd placed team to leapfrog them.

Sometimes all the motivation in the world isn't enough to get the job done. Sometimes things just don't go your way, no matter how hard you try. 

It didn't end pretty. All four of us struggled and finished off the season with one of our worst team performances of the year. We all lost one pin of average, not an easy feat, given the number of games played, but we found a way.

Our win-loss record over the last five weeks? A dismal 3 wins and 17 losses! I wish that was a typo but it isn't. We essentially gave this league away in the final month.

I'm shaking my head in disbelief as I write this. I don't want to even guess where we'll end up. To add insult to injury, our payout, which we thought was next week, has been postponed to June 6th.

At least my last fall season is over, that's the good news. For the next 13 weeks, I will only be bowling once a week, on Wednesdays. I've been bowling three times a week, every week, for the last two years straight. 

The wheels have started to come off, I need to diversify a little bit this summer, pick up golf again or something. As long as it isn't bowling, I should be ready to go by the time next season rolls around.

Well, that's the plan, anyway.

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Season in Review: United Nations

We came, we saw...

Team United Nations' 2012-13 fall season, a 35-week campaign, ended with several team & individual records, a second place finish in the NCAUSBCA Open Championships and a league title.

I think it's safe to say that we exceeded expectations in our first full season together.

Our team had a good mix of talent, competitive fire and experience, not to mention a strong team captain who kept us on the same page and took care of the little details.

Our team chemistry was great from day one. Daniela, Felipe and Barry are good people who made for fantastic teammates.

We had a few bumps along the way (early season accusations of sandbagging, poor lane conditions, health issues, etc.) but we weren't seriously challenged in the end.

We've decided to keep the team together next season but in a different league, in a different house. The league we will be joining is bigger (more teams) and should offer a higher level of competition.

In closing, I'd like to take this opportunity to thank my teammates for a great season. I learned a lot from each and every one of you and hope to continue to do so in the future.

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Double Doozy

447 series (149 ppg)

They say hindsight is 20/20 and I can vouch to the accuracy of that saying.

I shouldn't have bowled on Monday or Wednesday this week. Gout in my left knee resurfaced and I was unable to bend it much, let alone slide.

Yeah, I'm a stubborn one but my teammates were gracious throughout it all; not once did they suggest that I sit out and give the team a better chance to win some points.

So I bowled badly, a 447 set on Monday and a 480 set on Wednesday. If it wasn't for my knee, I would've pegged my poor performance on tiredness. A smarter man would've skipped the summer leagues, for once, and come back recharged in the fall. 

But no, not this guy.

We have our payout and no tap fun stuff tomorrow. Immediately following that will be the monthly no tap tournament I usually bowl in. What's the bet yours truly is gonna be stupid again tomorrow?

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Friday League is Over, Finally!

564 series (188 ppg)

My Friday league, Late Sparetimers, finally finished last week. Thirty-five weeks of fall bowling came to a merciful end.

I stumbled to the finish line with a mediocre 564 series, a result of poor planning and decision making earlier in the day. If I had to do it over again, I would've driven to work and gone straight to the bowling center, as is my normal custom, but for some reason I took the bus to work, got stuck in traffic on my way home to get the car and got to the bowling center as practice was almost over. 

But never mind, what's done is done. I won't be doing that again anytime soon.

From a performance standpoint, this season, even though it ended rather poorly, was my best season to date. I booked a 219, an eleven pin improvement from last year and successfully incorporated some new elements that I worked on during the summer. I enjoyed bowling with my new teammates and learned a lot from them throughout the year.

The learning process will continue during the summer; our summer league starts tomorrow night. Last year, I bowled in three summer leagues but this year, due to a combination of burnout and work travel commitments, one league is all I can muster.

I don't have any immediate plans for any new equipment, bowling balls or otherwise and I haven't given much thought to what I should work on during this summer but I'll think of something. For now, I'm just glad the season's over!

Next Friday is the payout and some fun no tap bowling. It'll be the first time I have been on a USBC sanctioned league championship team, do they hand out patches for that?

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Downward Spiral Continues

661 series (220 ppg)

For the third week in a row, Just Bowl Better came away empty handed.

For those of you counting at home, that's a grand total of zero wins and twelve losses in our last three outings. Our latest loss hurt a little more than usual because it came against the second placed team.

We started the night in fourth place and our unintentional generosity should see us slip even farther down the standings. So what happened?

Nigel and I were both +23 pins over average but Paul and Simon were a combined -127 pins under. As the team with the lowest amount of handicap, our margin for error is small so on any given night, all four of us need to be around average, something we haven't been able to do this past month.

Not to make excuses, but not a single one of the 48 lanes in the house was oiled before league started on Monday night. People from both sides of the house complained about the conditions. If you somehow managed to find the 1-3 pocket, the ball would hit the pins with the force of a limp noodle, leaving corner pins.

Nigel, Simon and Paul struggled all night to keep the ball on the right side of the headpin. Luckily, I had two weaker balls to to fall back on, which allowed me to carry the corner pins in the last two games. I played the last game with my weakest ball, the Storm Tropical Breeze Pink/Purple, and had my highest score of the night.

Two weeks remain in the season. How will it end for Just Bowl Better? Can we finish strong and stop this downward spiral? I hope so!

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Late Season Slide

677 series (225 ppg)

Just Bowl Better, sans Simon, wasn't able to get anything going during our 'emergency' post bowl today. In all likelihood, we will lose all four points to the number one ranked team, which will drop us into third, possibly fourth place.

Who said bowling your average was easy? I can tell you from personal experience that it isn't and it was probably a little foolish of me to think that we could have, especially without Simon.

Oh well, tomorrow is another chance to redeem ourselves. Hopefully we can put a stop to this late season slide and right the ship before we fall any further down the standings.

With only two weeks left, we have our work cut out for us. Time to just bowl better!

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One More Week

737 series (245 ppg)

You know the season is almost at an end when a shower and a warm bed carries more appeal than league bowling on a Friday night.

Or maybe I'm just getting old.

Either way, that was how I felt when I left the office, after a long work week, and made my way to the bowling center.

Thirty-five weeks makes for a long season. Thirty-two would be a little more reasonable but if I had any say in the matter, thirty would be just right. It's not easy to muster up the energy and focus to bowl at a high level for that long, you know? Maybe that's why, as bowlers, we go through so many ups and downs during the season. It's mentally challenging.

But I digress. We played the 12th placed team, The Grumpies, in a laid back affair that had more of a practice session feel to it than a late season league match. Daniela and Felipe, who will be bowling at nationals in a few weeks, made the most of the opportunity by testing out their new balls for the first time. 

Daniela bowled well with her new Roto Grip Disturbed to the tune of a 701 series. The lane conditions weren't ideal for Felipe's new Brunswick Aura Paranormal but he still managed to belt out a 247 with it in the last game. Dave (204 avg), who subbed for Barry, had a good 623 set. We ended up taking all seven points which took our winning percentage above 70% again for the season. Not bad!

My knee felt better than it had in a month and it made a big difference in the way I was able to deliver the ball. I used the Sync in the first two games before switching to the Crossroad in the third and was able to score at a consistent pace throughout the night, something I rarely do. Usually I have a low, medium and high game in a series. Maybe I should skip lunch more often, who knows?

UP NEXT: According to Nigel, we have to get our post bowl done before Monday or we forfeit. So our 'emergency' post bowl is scheduled for Sunday afternoon but we'll be without the services of Simon, who is out of town.

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