THE FINAL BELL

What’s Happening?!!  One last time.  Our league met for one final night last Wednesday, with round#1 winners Splashground squaring off against round#2 winners Kitt&Kaboodle.  I did not collect recap sheets after bowling so I can’t be as dramatic about this as I would normally be, but I can say that the league champion-deciding game#2 was a 2-pin victory for Kitt&Kaboodle that did come down to the 10^th frame in a classic “every pin matters” finish.  So after 37 weeks of bowling, a big congrats to the members of #23 Kitt&Kaboodle: Barbara Pendergrass, Amelia Ross, Kitt Tashlik, Chuck Reed, and Ken Klusmann.  To win a 34-team league is no small feat, especially considering the quality of bowlers found in our league.  Great accomplishment.

 Winners:  Our final gift card went to Carolyn Kolnik of #1 Shake It Off.  Carolyn opened in the 10^th yet still rolled a 242 game, good for +83 over her average.  Carolyn selected a $25 Target Gift Card for her nice bowling.

We had 24 games available in our final round of Free Bowling Trivia on the Blog.  Ken Ferrell had a huge +72/267 game#1 to take home 16 freebies, while Ron Francisco made it back to the winners circle going +16 to take 8 games home.  Our seasonal top 9 winners looks like this:

Bob Feller                    107games

Kevin Kla-Diihbah        81games

Lisa Ferrell                   66games

Ken Ferrell                   65games

Ron Francisco              51games

Bob Bigham                 43games

Lou Picerillo                 33games

Bill Stafford                  20games

William Stafford            19games.

(This list may not be entirely accurate, I seem to be missing a week in my tally )

 As I’ve mentioned previously, be sure to thank Via Linda GM Tim Brendan for making this possible.  Without his generosity, this would not have been possible.  Thanks Tim!!

 Based on our week#37 roll-off and then by total wins, this is how I show our season-ending top10:

1-                 #23 Kitt&Kaboodle-rolloff winner

2-                 #11 Splashground-rolloff loser

3-                 #20 Get Pinned-147pts

4-                 #25 Like We Care-142pts

5-                 #26 What’s A Spare-140pts

6-                 #8   In The Hole-140pts

7-                 #12 Loose Balls-138pts

8-                 #10 Go-Rillas-137pts

9-                 #36-           135pts

10-             #34 Eight Balls&A Split-134pts

 Closing-It’s been a lot of fun(and a lot of work) writing this column, being a member of this league.  I’ve met lots of faces, had some great experiences. Several of you have been big supporters, many dating back to the No-Name league that I first experimented with this effort last summer.  For fear of missing someone, I’ll bypass mentioning specific names and say that you know who you are and you kept my spirits high with your support through this long winter league. I will mention your league officers,  Brian Cail and Christina Sullivan, High Society is fortunate to have their services. They are awesome!! Without Christina’s support none of my efforts would have been possible (I could not imagine trying to bowl with the administrative load she maintains each week).   I’m hopeful of coming back next season-though not in any form of sponsorship role-to continue fostering these friendships.  I wish you all great bowling in the seasons ahead, and many blessings in your lives going forward.  It has been a pleasure.

RDM

3 OF A KIND AND A PAIR OF ACES!!!!

What’s Happening?!  Position weeks don’t generate much more excitement than we had last week as our round two finale went right down to the wire.  As added spice we had not one but a pair of 300 games tossed.  While I would like to talk about the Suns advancing to the Western Conference Finals against the Lakers, I’ve obviously got more important stuff to talk about!

Setting the scene, we had three match-ups that would attempt to determine our round#2 winner. Lanes 1&2 had #31 Givin Pins against #20 Get Pinned, each at 72 pts.  Lanes 3&4 had #35 Red&White(72pts) vs. #14 Meg’s Boys(71pts), and lanes 5&6 featured #23 Kitt and Kaboodle(70pts) vs. #5 Anybody Anytime(69pts).  Each team had a chance of at least a tie for our 2^nd round title.  Game#1 had Givin’ getting one from Get, Red go  up on Meg, and Kitt downing Anybody.  The loss by #5 Anybody effectively ended any shot for our Dback team at the crown, so with two games remaining, 5 teams are still in play for the title.

Givin’got Get again in game#2, ending #20 Get’s chances, leaving 4 teams in play. Meg rebounded against Red, to keep her chances alive, while Kitt kept the pedal to the floor against Anybody to keep their chances alive.  Onto game#3, 4 teams still in play.

Get got Givin’, but Givin’ got the crucial total pins lead, taking 5 points to end with 77pts.  Bill Evans provided a big push for Givin’ with a 715 series.

In the matchup between Red and Meg, the teams entered the match with total pins even, meaning the winner of Game#3 would take the series point.  Red surged on the strength of a couple of monster games from Sherry Mixey(238, +74) and Dan Duffey(267, +54) to take the game and series, closing their round at 77pts.

Kitt joined the fray by closing out Anybody, enabling a 7pt. sweep for the night to end their round at 77pts.  Kitt was powered by Amelia Ross’ best night of the season, going a tremendous +112 over average to lead Kitt on the biggest night of the season.

So 77-77-77 meant a 3-way tie(!!) to close the night, which is no way to close the round, so we had a one-game roll-off to determine our round#2 champ.  #23 Kitt rolled on lanes 1&2, #35 Red rolled on 3&4, and #31 Givin’ rolled on lanes 5&6.  The second best part of this was the league members that stuck around to watch, a nice crowd that really added to the excitement level.  The best part of course, was saved for those bowling in the match.

In a 100% team handicap league, the determination of outcome is simple:  whichever team rolls most over average is going to win the match.  Based on this factor, round#2 went to #23, Kitt and Kaboodle, which went a collective +110 over average in the most important game of their bowling season.  Each member contributed, in order: Barbara Pendergras +12; Amelia Ross +18; Kitt Tashlik +26; Chuck Reed +22; Ken Klusman +32.  Tough numbers to beat.  #31 Givin’Pins rolled +28 to take 2^nd place, and #35 Red&White went +2 to claim 3^rd spot. 

This leads us to this week, sweeps for most but a league championship determination for first round winner #11 Splashground and round#2 winner/survivor #23 Kitt and Kaboodle.  If position round was a warm-up, then our Week#37 finale should be a blow-out.  Good luck to both teams!

STARS: Two more bowlers achieved perfection as Kevin Kla-Diihbah tossed his perfecto in game#1(winning 12 free games of bowling), and Joe Downen reached nirvana in game#2(good for our $25 gift card giveaway, for which he selected a Chilis/On the Border/Macaroni Grille card). Overall it was a terrific night for several of our league members:

 Men’s Pins-Over-Average: Orlando Cayco +143/710; Brian Allen +125/713; Jason Lafon +95; Michael Walters +91.

Ladies Pins-Over-Average: Amelia Ross +112; Sherry Mixey +82/574; Debbie Hanauer +69; Nikki Macey +69.

Ladies Scratch: Rhonda Sigsworth 580; Gwenn Sigsworth 574; Sue Evans 565; Cindy James 563; Andrea Pozza 560.

Men’s Scratch: Larry Underwood 772/169(Are You Kidding Me?!); Kevin Kla-Diihbah 300/769; Joe Downen 300/757; Bill Evans 715; Dan Duffey 715.

POT LUCK!! Another reminder, bring some pot….er uh we are having a pot luck so bring some food this week.  We had a terrific spread at Christmas, let’s top it to close our league.  A sign-up sheet went around last week, if you missed it don’t worry, no one will complain if you bring a plate of hot wings or some freshly baked chocolate chip cookies.  Not that I’m dropping hints or anything

 Free Bowling on the Blog Trivia:  One more night to go, I’ve got 24 free games remaining for our finale.  If you think about it, please offer thanks to Via Linda GM Tim Brendan for his graciousness on this promotion throughout the season.  Tim never blinked when I asked for more games, and after this week his generosity will have allowed for the distribution of 623 free games of bowling to our league members.  Thanks much Tim!!

And for your final trivia/logic challenge:

4 people were sitting in a row, one behind the other, trying to win free bowling from this riddle.

The one in front was wearing a red hat.
The second from the front was wearing a blue hat.
The third from the front was wearing a red hat.
The last was wearing a blue hat and is blind-folded.

Note that they can only see the person or persons in front of them and are not allowed to turn around and see behind them.

Each of them were informed that they are all wearing a hat, the last person is blind-folded and that there are 2 red and 2 blue hats.  If they can guess the color of their hat, then they win the prize.

There was a long silence, then one of them guessed the color of his hat correctly. Who was it and how did he know?

Good Luck, bring some food, bowl great, make our finale a fun one!!

POT LUCK!!

A reminder to our league members, we will be having a pot-luck meal as part of our final week celebration.  A sign-up sheet circulated last week, if you missed it I’m sure no one would mind if you free-lanced a recipe to our spectacular spread.  Enjoy some home-cooking watching our league championship match between #11 Splashground and round 2 winner #23 Kitt and Kaboodle.  Special thanks to Shawn Porter of team#9 for getting the momentum going on this event.

ONE LAP TO GO!!

What’s Happening!! This is it for round two!!  After 17 weeks we are knotted up just about as tight as we could possibly be, with 12 teams within 7 points of top spot and 6 teams within 3.  The top six all have a legitimate shot, or at least of forcing a tie, for our round 2 crown and the right to face round 1 winner Splashground in next week’s finale.

Last week I printed the top 6, this week I’ll list the top 12 teams.  When a tie occurs, I’ll use total pins for my tiebreaker though I can’t be certain that that’s how our league rules deal with the scenario:

#31 Givin Pins              72pts

#20 Get Pinned                        72pts

#35 Red&White                       72pts

#14 Megs Boys                        71pts

#23 Kitt&Kaboodle                 70pts

#5  Anybody Anytime               69pts

#8  In The Hole                        68pts

#21 Dos Equis                          66.5pts

#34 Eight Balls & A Split          66.5pts

#12 Loose Balls                       66pts

#10 Go-Rillas                           65pts

#36                                          65pts

Hard to get much tighter than how we stand currently.  And with the snugness from 1-6, every game is going to count as the front runners seek to defend, and the trailers seek to ascend.  We are set for a great night of bowling this week!!

 Suns-Spurs-Tonight is game#1 of what has recently been the Suns’ greatest rivalry.  There is certainly no love lost between these two teams, and local sportswriters and talk show hosts are doing their best to whip Planet Orange into a frenzy.  Rumors of a Nash hip injury and the bulging disc still sidelining Robin Lopez are bad omens for the local faithful.

 OOPS: Somehow I missed the Desert Bowler deadline for April, so we will not have a column in the May edition.  Keep your eyes peeled for June, I will have a season ending entry as a sendoff.

 WINNERS: Two winners in our Free Bowling on the Blog contest.  Familiar faces Kevin KLa-Diihbah(12 games) and Bob Feller(8 games) reached the +10 over average for game#1 to take home some free games.

Arron Watters recovered from a sub-par game#1 to roll +68 over average in game#2 to win our gift-card giveaway.  First-time winner Arron selected a $25 Best Buy gift card as his prize.  Congratulations to Arron, Kevin, and Bob as our week#34 contest winners.

 STARS

Ladies Scratch: Rhonda Sigsworth 615; Laurie Jones 598; Sue Evans 581; Cindy James 577.

Mens Scratch: Bill Buchanon 729/+111(nice follow-up to last week’s 300); Chuck Royer 721; Gary Achtziger 704/+125; Ted Kerchansky 704; Bill Evans 701.

Men’s Pins Over Average: Len Pleckaitis +154; Joe Masters +117; Gus Gonos +113; Kevin Kla-Diihbah +108.

Ladies Pins Over Average: Hattie Santucci +100; Debbie Hanauer +69.

Free Bowling Logic On The Blog:  Several of you felt last week’s question was bordering on simplicityand wee thereby insutled at its ease so we will try to step it up this week.  We’ll have 18 games available again this week to all that can provide the answer to the following question:

What row of numbers comes next in this series?
1
11
21
1211
111221
312211
13112221

 Good Luck, See everyone on Wednesday!!

 BTW, a few entries ago I mentioned my one wish was for the Dbacks to get out of April at .500 or better.  As of this writing, they stand at 11-14, .440.  It’s going to be a long summer…sigh…..