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

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!!

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…..

(There exist several ties, so when that occurs I will defer to total pins for placement.  Not sure how the league rules will sort it out, and with this being position week, it will have significance as to placement)

#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

Realistically, it would seem that any of the top 6 teams have a chance of at least a tie for the second half title, I hope our league has it’s tiebreakers in order!

Sports!! Game 7, Coyotes/Red Wings!!  Another whiteout at Jobing.com.  As previously stated, I’m not a hockey fan, but I am a fan of an excited city and would love to see the Coyotes make it to round 2.

What I am a fan of is the NFL draft, I’m fairly certain that I was one of the originals in staging the all-day Saturday draft party, popping with the first pick and eating a month’s worth of bad food throughout the day while rarely leaving the couch.  The late afternoon chunky chili!

Two weeks left for round two, 6 teams within 7 points of top spot, another perfect game, we’re building to a big finish!!

 WINNERS: Free bowling made it’s return and we had 18 free games available.  The trivia question was a gimme, so we had all the usual suspects participating.  Michael Crofts was glad to see free bowling return, rolling +35 in game#1 to take 8 games on the night.  Ken Ferrell took 4 games for +31, with Bob Feller and Scott Bigham taking 3 games apiece. 

My absence the previous week meant this week offered two gift cards in our Game#2 Gift-Card Giveaway, one each for top male and female.  Cindy James broke through for the ladies, rolling a +69/255 game and choosing a $25 Shell Gift card as her prize.   Terry Houle took honors for the men, going +57/245, and selected a $25 AMC Movie card for his effort.  Congratulations to all of our winners for Week#34!

 Stars-Bill “Pass the Jaeger” Buchanon of #34 Eight Balls & A Split had a dream game#1, burying 12 straight for a perfect 300 game.  And it was a lot of fun to see the little celebration that ensued for his accomplishment, lots of excitement (and little liquid-filled glasses) throughout the evening.  Great bowling Bill!!

 Ladies Pins-Over-Average: Kitt Tashlik +96; JoAnn Kottler +73; Laverne Smith +71; Sandi Newhouse +53.

Ladies Scratch:  Gwenn 652(you all know her last name!); Cindy James  592; Doris Deng 592; Barbara Grasmoen 588.

Mens Scratch: Jeff Gerlinger 759; Bill Evans 736; Domenic Mordino 727; Mike Bohe 732.

Mens Pins-Over-Average: Trevor Mischik +127; Joe Downen +108; Michael Crofts +89; Dave Edwards +88.

It took a lot of effort this week to make our list, great bowling by our Stars!

 Standings: I posted a top-6 last week, now I have a league sheet in front of me to confirm my projections.  One more time for you late-comers:

 #35 Red&White           72pts

#20 Get Pinned            70pts

#23 Kitt&Kaboodle     68pts

#31 Givin Pins  67pts

#5  Anybody Anytime67pts

#8  In The Hole            65pts

 Some great matchups this week for our top of the charts.  Red&White faces Bill “Pass the Jaeger” Buchanon’s Eight Balls and a Split, Get Pinned faces a solid Nike sponsored OK Just Do It, and in a match-up of 300 games, Bill “another day in the office” Evans and Givin’ Pins is challenged by Joe “One For The Toe” Russo and Something Better.  And we follow this up with position round next week to close the round.  A great way to finish our league!!

 Free Bowling Logic on the Blog:   18  games available this week.

-I threw a ball as hard as I could, and it came back to me.  I did not bounce it off of anything, there was nothing attached to it, and no one else caught or threw it back to me.  How is this possible?

 Good Luck, see everyone for week#35!!

 #35 Red&White           72pts

#20 Get Pinned            70pts

#23 Kitt&Kaboodle      68pts

#5  Anybody Anytime   67pts

#31 Givin Pins  67pts

#8  In the Hole             65pts

Each team on this list has a fairly respectable foe this week, so expect things to get even tighter for position round.

CORRECTION: or perhaps “refinement” is a better word.  I’ve been saying we have 4 weeks left, 5 weeks, 6, etc, as we wind down.  With our league having two rounds and a roll-off, we actually have 3 weeks of round two left, with the 4th week being the roll-off and sweeps.  So that tightens things up even more for our contenders, 3 weeks of round two bowling remaining to determine who will bace round#1 winner ‘Splashground’ in our league roll-off on May12th.

 Two weeks ago BusinessWeek ran a cover story titled “It Wasn’t Our Fault. Really.” that talked about the huge investment firm Goldman Sachs.  Lo and behold last Friday the SEC files a suit against the goldmen.  So I’m thinking this week’s BW title will read “Really?”

Suns lose game #1.  Sigh.  It’s always fun being part of a town with a team on a nice playoff run, so lets hope this was just a mis-step on the Suns part.  After an over-achieving regular season, where the team dared us to believe, it would almost hurt to go out in round one.  It’s kinda like that cheerleader in the 12th grade who smiled at you leading you to think she really would go to Prom with you…I digress, my apologies.  The ‘Yotes are up 2-1 in their series, which has stirred up lots of interest for hockey fans, but it doesn’t seem to lift the town quite like a Suns run would.  Our boys of summer have now lost 4 straight, and a struggling Dbacks team makes for an even longer summer.  Please just get out of April over .500.  And for Suns, please just get outta April!

 No gift card giveaway for week#32 means I will double up the program for week #33.  So it’s likely I’ll run two giveaways, men and ladies each getting a card.  I’ll make an announcement during game#1 to lock this in, both giveaways likely to be done  for game#2.

 Stars

Mens Pins-Over-Average: William Stafford +106; Arron Watters +89; Ken Ferrell +87; James Paya +76.

Nice to see Bill Stafford at the top of this list.  He’s been one of this blog’s regular followers from day one, nice to see him have a breakout night with the new bowling ball.

 Ladies Pins-Over-Average: Lois Mcclees +98; Linda Wright +79; Alicia Dimond +49.

 Mens Scratch: Dylan Taylor 759; Buddy Groom 707; Pete Santucci 704; Dave Warthen 696; Mike Bohe 696.

 Ladies Scratch: Gwenn Sigsworth 614; Sue Evans 594; Rhonda Sigsworth 579; Laurie Jones 558.

 Standings-I did not take a copy of last week’s corrected sheet home with me, so I am unable to list our standings heading into week#33.  I know we are incredibly snug at the top of the standings, and if I get my hands on a corrected sheet I’ll amend this section for you.  I’m also trying to determine when position week is for round two, and when the actual roll-off occurs.  Will keep you posted.

Free Bowling Trivia on the Blog!!  The Return!  I told you I would bring this back so here we are.  I will have 18 games available for this week, and we will still use game#1 as our marker, +10 to qualify. 

I have two coins in my pocket, totaling fifty-five cents.  One of the coins is not a fifty-cent piece. What are the two coins?

 Good luck, see everyone on Wednesday, four weeks to go!!

Winners:  Joe Mischik III had a nice rebound from game#1 to #2 this week.  Joe opened (-25) with a 148:( but decided to bowl game #2 anyway.  Good thing he did as Joe reversed his scoring fortunes going +81 with a solid 254 game.  Joe kept it going in game#3, going +53 with a 226.  Joe’s outstanding effort in game#2 netted him our gift-card giveaway for the week, and Joe selected a $25 Best Buy gift card for his prize.  Way to go Joe!

STARS:  Phil added green jacket #3 to his closet.  A touching tribute to family and faith at the 18^th after his victory.   Good guys wear green!

Men’s Pins-Over-Average: Joe Mischik lll +109; Lou Abel +101; Buddy Groom +93; Louis Capello +72.

Ladies Pins-Over-Average: Sheryl Kaufman +64; Barbara Pendergras +61; Rosalie D’Amico +60; Kitt Tashlik +59.

Ladies Scratch: Gwenn Sigsworth 650; Rhonda Sigsworth 630; Sue Evans 604; Christina Sullivan 564.

Mens Scratch: Bill Evans 300/738; Patrick Sawyer 721; Mike Bohe 717; Joe Downen 716.

Another ho-hum week for Bill Evans.  Bill started the night with a bang, going 12 easy for his second 300 game of the season.  Once I get past tax season I’ll look at my recaps to see how many 250/700 numbers Bill has put up this season, congrats on another big night Bill!

Standings:  Here’s where things get funny.  We’ve had two team meetings recently regarding two former league members who dropped out of the league.  Last week it was voted to pull their sanction cards.  What’s odd is that their former team(#24 X-Factor) jumped 17pts(!) in the standings this week!  Several teams went in reverse as well, as if to even out X-Factor’s large jump.  So I’m wondering if some scores got adjusted retro-actively as a result of the pulled sanction cards, to reflect a 130 blind as opposed to an absent bowler(avg less ten) score.  I’ve got a note in to Christina, she’s going to look into it, hopefully we’ll know by Wednesday. 

In the meantime, this is what our standings look like:

#24      X-Factor                      62pts

#20      Get Pinned                   62pts

#23      Kitt&Kaboodle            61pts

#35      Red&White                  60pts

#32      Dead Wood                 59pts

#14      Megs Boys                   56pts

#13      WTF(will they fall)        56pts

#31      Givin Pins                      55pts

#30      Something Better          55pts

#5        Anybody Anytime         55pts

#8        In The Hole                  55pts

Whatever is going on, it is awesome that we are this late in the round and have 11 teams within 7pts of top position.  So think about that when you consider the handicap vote we will be having in a few weeks time.

Next week’s edition should mark the return of free bowling trivia, and perhaps ‘free time to write creatively’ within this post.  Should mark the return of me as I’ll probably miss this week because of the tax season finale. Have fun without me, play fair, looking to see some big numbers on this week’s recaps!

A co-worker pointed out to me what a wonderful month April is, Final Four, the Boys of Summer, NBA playoffs, NFL draft, the Masters, Easter, just about all you could ask for.  Plus the ability to sit outside, enjoy the sun, and not get baked.  And 4 more weeks of ‘relentless’ pressure as our league winds down.  Seems like we just started…..

Winners-Louis Capello of #6 Gumbas (Whoz bedda den you?) had the antipasto working in game #2, rolling a 257 game that was good for +82 and a $25 AMC movie card. I would congratulate him but for the fact that it was against your editor’s team .  Great bowling Louis, was it something I said?

Our Free Bowling On the Blog Trivia is taking a 2-week hiatus, so for week#31 I took all the free games in my bag, and any extra’s I could muster off of Timmy to allow for a 42-game giveaway bonanza.  Two usual suspects, Lou Piccerillo and Bob Feller, hit their mark to claim the prize, with Lou taking 25 games and Bob 17.  The break is necessary to allow me to get through the final two weeks of tax season with my sanity, but I am hopeful to ramp it back up for the final few weeks of our league.  Thanks to Tim Brendan and Via Linda, we have distributed 541 games to our league bowlers to date.  Next week I’ll include a tally sheet showing who the top victors were. 

 Stars

Men’s scratch: Bill Evans 758; Dylan Taylor 721; Chris Webber 699; Rick Mitchell 694.  (Note: Bill Evans is like a Walter Payton in football.  The more carries Sweetness got, the stronger he got.  Week#31 and Bill is busting out 750s.  Great bowling.)

Men’s Pins-Over-Average: Gary Baugh +133; Chris Marino +105; Lou Piccerillo +103. (Try spelling Piccerillo repeatedly in a blog, two c’s, two r’s, two e’s???.)

Ladies Pins Over Average: Sandy Baker +77; Judy Warthen +62; Barbara Pendergras +59; Jane Stimbert +54.

Ladies scratch: Cindy James 611; Sue Evans 583; Sherry Mixey 559; Rhonda Sigsworth 555.

Standings:  Last week had 11 teams within 7pts of the top, this week saw some fall-off as we have 6 teams within that 1-week spread.  I’ll print all teams within the 7-pt spread from here on out.  Don’t take a breath if you’re in this list!

#23 Kitt and Kaboodle 59pts

#35 Red&White                       58pts

#5   Anybody Anytime  56pts

#20 Get Pinned                        55pts

#30 Something Better               53pts

#32 Dead Wood                      52pts

The only match-up this week that gets my attention is our top spot Kitt and Kaboodle against 50pt Givin Pins, though at this point in the season every point matters.

Free Bowl…..sigh… .. As mentioned up above, this section is taking a break through week#33, hopefully picking up again in #34. 

Thanks for reading, see everyone on Wednesday!