The start of a new bowling season

It’s September, it’s after Labor Day, and that means the start of a new ten-pin bowling season.

While other years I joined a fun league, this year I wanted something different, very different.  I joined a serious league and by doing so I’m now playing with the big boys.

I was more than a little hesitant though.  The guys who play in that league have averages of between 190 and 210.  And then there me, with an average of 158.  I used to be better, clocking an average of 172, but I guess age brought me down a bit.  Still, I’m not ready to throw in the towel, so if I’m going to be beaten, I’m going to be beaten by the best.

Another reason why I joined a serious league is that maybe I can learn a thing or two from watching the good players.  Stance, walk, delivery, follow-through ... they might know something that I don’t.

Another reason yet why I joined this league is because I am sick and tired of being beaten by “sandbaggers”.  What are sandbaggers ... players who deliberately play bad at the beginning of the season to achieve a high handicap.  After 12 to 16 games, when the handicap more or less settles, they start playing full force.  Their game, plus their high handicap makes it nearly impossible to beat them. 

With this league this is not going to happen.  These bowlers are bowlers from the top drawer and they don’t resort to cheap tricks. 

Still, like I said, I was a bit hesitant in joining.  I saw all these good bowlers arrive and I thought to myself ... what am I doing here?

Much to my surprise I played rather well.  I scored:

189 – 158 – 191 – 150, that’s an average of 172.  Not too shabby.

Dieter didn’t do too shabby either.  He scored seven strikes in a row.  I was beginning to think that tonight was the night he would score a 300.  Unfortunately, in the 8^th frame it went wrong ... one pin remained standing.  He ended up with a score of 267. 

We ended up winning most of the games and scored 13 out of 16 points.  Suddenly I felt a whole lot more confident about this league.

In the weeks to come we will undoubtedly be beaten.  Probably more than once, but one thing is for sure ... we won’t go down without a fight.

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