Thursday, February 03, 2005

Life in the Fast Lane

Well, it's Thursday night, which means it's time for another Bowling Update!

Lane assignments changed tonight so that we could face a different team (standings are calculated on a win/loss/tie system). Our team name (I Can't Believe It's Not Gutter!)got a bit butchered, appearing as "r can't believe it's not g" and "r can't believe it's not gutte." I pointed this out to the staff and hopefully it will be corrected for next week.

Tonight's performance was a marked improvement from last week. For starters, everyone broke 100 in the night's first game. Even better, we found out that they set handicaps based on last week, so our score should look all the more impressive. A brief rundown of tonight's performances:

r can't believe it's not g(utte)
Wrong Lane: 114, 134
Take a Knee: 113, 129
9-pin: 144, 109
On Fire: 158, 147
One-arm bandit: 104
Breaks 50 (f/k/a Secret Agent): 106, 97
Bowling Injury: 97

And now some color commentary:

Wrong Lane put in an impressive showing, breaking the all-important 100 barrier in both games. A spare-spare-strike combo in the last two frames of the second game landed a personal best of 134. Wrong Lane continued to live up to the name tonight, once again bowling on the... wrong lane.

Take a Knee put up solid numbers tonight, again breaking 100 in both games. Though not up to the same average score from last week, Take a Knee won a bet by beating Break 50's second score by more than 30 points.

9-pin had considerable success in the first game, causing our team to rethink the nickname. There were some errant gutterballs in the second game, but 9-pin continues to be a strong leader on the team. 9-pin has bowled four consecutive 100+ games.

On Fire more than lived up to the name by posting ICBING's top score for both games and by being one of the team's most enthusiastic cheerleaders. On Fire was closing frames left and right with strikes and spares. In addition, On Fire bowled three consecutive strikes during the first game to get the elusive and much sought after turkey.

One-arm bandit bowled the first game, and rounded out the impressive team showing of six 100+ scores. While pleased with the team's considerably better performance, One-arm bandit probably wishes it had come a week sooner when there was a bet with the opposing team.

One of the great Cinderella stories of season is Breaks 50. The team may have to consider a different name for this bowler (again) after tonight's showing. But we might keep it for irony's sake if this hot streak continues. Hopefully the 40+ point improvement from last week will ease the pain of losing a bet to Take a Knee (see above). Nevertheless, Breaks 50 gave Take a Knee a moment's pause by throwing a strike to open the tenth frame.

Bowling Injury took over for One-arm bandit and served as "relief bowler" for the second game. After last week's double gutterball incident, some may have been concerned. But that concern would have been unfounded, as Bowling Injury hit the gates running with two spares. Although unable to maintain such an impressive pace, there were no repeats of the double gutterball and Bowling Injury came oh-so-close to the 100 mark.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

You forgot, we actually won all three games (I think) against a team that called us socially awkward. So they may think they're better than ICBING, but they didn't back it up.

And about that bet with the bowler known as Secret Agent - it was in the bag the whole time. I just let her think she had a chance!

- Take a Knee

D said...

I've never read such lively bowling commentary.

Anonymous said...

You know, that team that called us "socially awkward" has some nerve! One of the players walked up to me and whispered, "Don't blow it" before bowling the second half of one frame. Right as I was getting ready to bowl once, my opposing bowler yelled, "Bowling Injury! Bowling Injury!" just to throw me off. And I also got told that I looked like a side-arm pitcher. Pricks.

-Bowling Injury

Anonymous said...

Normally I would counter such a beligerent comment with strong words. But I concede that Take a Knee won and thus has heckling rights (at least for this week).
-Breaks Fifty (And Sometime 100) AKA Secret Agent AKA My Average is About 70 AKA I Was Compared to a Princess

Anonymous said...

I must say that we have style and skill. But now we must work on the class. When people call us "Socially Awkward", what do we say? I think the appropriate response is, "Why thank you. I think you're wrong." When we get those silly gutter balls, what do we say? How about, "I thought the pins needed a little break from the beating I was giving them, so I spared them the misery." And when the opposing team shouts at us and taunts us because they've had a bit too much to drink, perhaps we should offer them another round. Most importantly, we should never, EVER swear, use crass language, taunt, heckle or abuse the other team. When we pummel them with figuratively closed bowling fists, we can spray them with the lemon juice of good cheer.

-- En Fuego