This week, Bob and I had to pre-bowl because we had tickets to the Death Cab for Cutie concert. When we got there and started bowling, we knew right away the lane conditions were not comparable to what we were used to on Monday nights. It agreed with Bob because right away, he started off with a bang and churned out a 194. Holy cow, I think that was 50 pins above his average! I was pretty even-keeled and bowled just a tad shy above my average which means 1 point for me. Bob tripped up in the second game but I made up for his poor showing. During the third game, though, I was starting to get tired and didn’t achieve my average (I mean, I biked 20 miles before bowling and was stinky). It wasn’t too bad, though, so Brandon and Andrew, let’s get 7 points this week!

Oh, and by the way, we both struck in the fifth frames during the first two games so the Pizza Frame is still on!

This week we bowled really quickly. The entire other team and Brandon had prebowled due to the Daytona 500 being that Sunday afternoon; evidently it’s some sort of holiday for a particular demographic. The Rockets had prebowled pretty well, but we weren’t too concerned with the lead Brandon gave us. Of course, Andrew and I fucked it up.

We lost the first game, with none of us beating our averages (I came closest, tying my average for no points). If we had bowled against a blind, we still wouldn’t have won that game. The second game, Jen and Brandon carried us, with each of them being 30+ pins over their average. Thankfully, the Rockets tanked the second game and we won by one pin more than we lost in the first game. So teamwise, we each have two points, and we have a 1 pin lead in the overall after the first two games. We knew the third game would be a challenge with the Rockets rolling an 830, but with Brandon’s 244 and Jen’s 180, we felt like we were in good position. It came down to the tenth frame for me. I got a spare to start the frame, then I needed 7 to win outright. I tugged it for a 6. We tied the third game, splitting that point, and won the overall by 1 pin. So we ended up 4-3 this week, but it feels like a loss. Oy.

So last night, i headed up to Olivette to pre-bowl since I will be out of town this weekend. This was my first time prebowling this season and generally, I don’t prebowl well. Bob came with me to be my “oral” support, meaning so that I have somebody to drink with. Of course, he was already half-cocked from the wine.

The first was a typical pre-bowl game. I struggled to find a line and was all over the place. The lanes were pretty dry and my black widow was finding it hard to stay on the right side of the head pin. I ended up shooting a 171. Not really a great start but I was closer to my average than Bob was when he prebowled the week before.

After the lack of control during the first game, I switched over to my well-used Messenger that typically never lets me down. Meanwhile, Bob and I engage in our 2nd pitcher. The second game started mediocre and I was on pace for a dutch 200 through the first five frames. But I was able to string some together and ended with a 220, which was more than 25 over average so thats two points towards the bet.

Yeah, a 3rd pitcher is definately a good idea. My goal was to try to stay consistent in the 3rd game and just best my average. However, that was not the case because I put together a good run of strikes. Meanwhile, Bob has now passed the “buzzed bowling is good bowling” point and was now on the “i can’t keep it out of the gutter” path. That’s ok though since I was driving and he wasn’t prebowling. I ended up with at 244 earning another two points towards the bet.

So, recap. 171 220 244 = 635 and 4 points. More beer seems to be the way to go to bowl well. This also gives me four weeks over 600 and averaging 214 during this stretch. Ah, its good to be back. I just hope I can stay here and help get us back to 1st place.

After several weeks of being #1, SOAL succumbed to the pressure of being so good and lost 7 straight points this past week. It could be that we had a week off, the bitter cold or that one of our members was missing. We couldn’t pinpoint why we got our butts kicked, the fact is that we did. It all started off with Bob’s terrible showing during his pre-bowl. If he hadn’t have bowled beforehand, we may have had a chance. A dismal three games in which he was unable to attain his average. After hearing his scores, we were a bit shook up when we walked into the bowling alley to face Taking Care of Business. Well, not only did we have to bowl against a team in which we had to give them 87 pins, they were the second place team, only 4 points behind us. Damn. We came pretty close the first game which meant that they were beatable. It helped that Brandon bowled a 225 and I bowled a 163, that boosted Andrew’s poor 139 and Bob’s 131. But that wasn’t enough and we lost by 13 pins. We were annihilated in second and it was due to Butt Crack’s 244 (every time this guy bowls, you see his butt crack and I don’t mean a little bit, I mean his whole ass is hanging out, ewwww). That was 98 pins above his average. Yeah, we had no chance. We even improved on the last game, the other team just bowled better than us. But I did score 184, which was the highest score out of everyone in the third game (yea me). That meant we fell to 2nd place, but I have faith that we can regain the #1 position. In the end, I ended up with 4 points, Brandon 3, and Andrew and Bob received 0 points. It’s time for me to gloat a bit, I’m pulling ahead!!!

Jen and I are going down to Florida to torture ourselves over 13.1 miles of the Magic Kingdom, so we got in a quick prebowl tonight. And quite frankly, if we are going to bowl like this, we should prebowl every week.

Boys, you are going to have a good time of it this weekend. Watch out for Chops (he dropped a 715 last week), and try to stay out of the way of the wifebeater.

For the record: I needed all three in the tenth in the first game for the point. Got it. Needed the first two and change in the tenth in the second. Got it, and the third for good measure. Only got the first two and 7 in the third game, but starting out with six in a row was cushion enough. I was a little afraid I’d throw a 300 in prebowl, to be honest.