With nearly every bowler having six games under their belt after two weeks, the VML Bowling League is off and running. Historically, the second week of every league is each individual bowler's moment to shine – they are either dealing with an over-inflated average from the previous week and on a mission to prove that they can maintain it or they are on the opposite side, and facing an opportunity to really bring the heat after a sub-par performance seven days prior. The teams that found themselves on the positive side of that equation rose while the teams that weren't floundered. Want to know how your favorite team did on Tuesday? Well, you've come to the right place...Having declared war on the blind, the members of Bowl Movement found themselves bowling the league's favorite team of missing bowlers – Ray & Stevie. Now, according to league rules, when facing a team of all blinds a team merely has to bowl within 10 pins times the number of bowlers on the team (so, in this case, 40 pins) of their team average. In other words, it's like Friday night for most preteen boys...they just have to beat themselves. Unfortunately for the Movement, this task proved rather difficult. Led by Jerry Krall and his 394 series, the team only managed to add two notches into their win column. Their 3-5 record drops them into 6th place while Ray continues to look for answers in 8th.Starting off a season with a sweep is a tough feat to accomplish. Staying perfect for two weeks in a row is almost unheard of (I said "almost"). Had it not been for an incredible Game #1 from Nick Allegri and his Kitten Mittons, the now-1st place No Pinheads would have done it. Allegri's team-leading 498 series was enough to end the Pinhead's perfect start. Dennis "Pops" Laube put up a 458 series for the Pinheads to reverse the tide and bring the rest of the victories over to his side. With a 7-1 record, No Pinheads sits atop the league standings all by themselves while the Mittons take their 4-4 record into 5th place.Talk about bringing in the right person at the right time. After missing the initial week of bowling, new recruit  Teresa "T" Deterding brought the necessary oomph (a 372 series) to Drink and Hurl to help her team secure a 3-1 victory over opponents Feed the Monkey. The Monkeys, who were once again led by Chris Able and his 416 series, did manage to eek out one narrow win at start but remain in 7th place. The Hurlers, however, improve their record to 4-4 and slide up to 5th place.Also attempting to remain perfect after two week were the cocky bowlers of Pin Pricks. Unfortunately for them, however, they ran into AJ Hofmann and  Derrick Grimpo of the Ground Zero Mosque. Grimpo, who set an average of 119 last week, shot a 504 series en route to securing a 3-1 matchup victory over last season's champions, while Hofmann's similar performance barely edged him out over Grimpo for this week's Most Valuable Bowler award.  Leading the charge for the Pricks was the tallest Prick, David Codding, who shot a 566 series but could only manage one win for the night. While Ground Zero moves up into 2nd place with a record of 6-2, the Pricks go limp and slip into 3rd with a record of 5-3.Bowlers making their way into The 200 Club this week were: Nick Allegri (212), Ian Goetz (201), David Codding (208, 205) and Ken M. Wilson (225).For the full results of this week, please check out Season 22, Week 2.See you next Tuesday!

THIS WEEK'S MVB AJ Hofmann Runner Up: (See Posting)	#1 POWER BOWLER Derrick Grimpo Runner Up: Ken Wilson	#1 H2H BOWLER Derrick Grimpo Runner Up: Scott Murdock
FROM THE GUTTER (GUTTER QUOTE) "Oh, nice. You've put a gigantic wet spot on Ian." Melissa Wilson, upon seeing Ken wiping his sweaty forehead on Ian's back.

Hey, gang...with the popularity of the Most Valuable Bowler award each week, we've decided to implement a new feature on the site called Power Rankings. Since the MVB pinpoints who, on an individual level, contributed the most firepower to help their team win the most games on any given week, we wanted to find out which bowlers were having the best week overall. Combining elements of the MVB equation along with a bowler's performance compared to his or her average, we've been able to rank who is having the best week all around. You might think that it would be the person who rolled the highest series but once you compare the numbers to that person's average, that's not always the case. As we finalize how we want to present the data – tentatively we'd like to show the top ten power rankings on a weekly basis as well as having a cumulative running throughout the season – we're also thinking of new features to add to the site based upon this data as well. For instance, we'll be able to pinpoint each bowler's individual best performance throughout their entire career within our league. The results may surprise you.Stay tuned!

Week 1 is now officially in the books. With solid debuts from veterans and rookies alike, this season promises to be an interesting one as seven teams (and one blind team) battle for supremacy to take home the title in December. Two teams of old timers even kicked off their seasons with perfect 4-0 records – an accomplishment that has only happened a handful of times in the league's 10-year history. Want to see how your favorite team fared? Well, you've come to the right place...Before we get started we'd like to officially welcome and recognize the rookies that made their debuts Tuesday night: Aaron Chandler, Brian Cunningham, Chris Able, Chris Massey, Jake Parrott, Jessica Thomas, Rick Heckadon and Sarah Manning. Thanks for joining the league!In the first matchup, returning champion Carl Goetz of the aptly-named Pin Pricks set the pace for his team's night against opponents Feed the Monkey. Putting up a 569 series, Goetz led his team to a rare 4-0 first night series win. With a strong rookie debut out of Monkey Chris Able and his team-leading 425 series, the team finds themselves with no place to go but up . The outcome of the matchup propels the Pricks into first place due to total pins and cages the Monkeys into 8th. Two lanes down, the embattled members of the Ground Zero Mosque faced the debuting members of Drink and Hurl. Starting his season off with one of the league's two 200+ games rolled last night, the Mosque's Jason Carpio put up a 506 series en route to a 3-1 matchup victory against the competition, Drink and Hurl. Made up of four brand new bowlers to the league, Hurl got the best output via lead off bowler Jake Parrott. Parrott, starting the season off with his new personal best high game (a 179), put up a 394 series and helped secure the team's lone victory. The outcome between these two teams finds the Ground Zero Mosque erected in 4th place while Drink and Hurl has a chaser in 6th.Down on lanes 19 & 20, the sunny team Kitten Mittons met up with four people taking a Bowl Movement. Apparently beginning to figure out his new bowling ball, the Kitten's Nick Allegri came out firing with a team-leading 515 series to earn his team three notches in the win column. The Movement, led by last-second replacement Jessica Thomas and her 409 series, managed to poke its head out just in time to win Game #3 and avoiding the sweep. The Mittons, after Week 1, find themselves sitting in 3rd place with their 3-1 record while the Bowl Movement floats in 5th with the opposite record.The final face-off of the night was a fast and furious fete for No Pinheads who found themselves facing the team devoid of any actual bowlers, aka Ray & Stevie. Putting on this weeks' Most Valuable Bowler performance was lead off bowler Aubrey Moren who, coupled with the team's high 495 series from anchor Freda Schroeder, managed to secure a first week sweep and move into 2nd place. Hapless (and memberless) Ray & Stevie see their way to 7th. The only bowlers making their way into The 200 Club this week include: Carl Goetz (223) and Jason Carpio (211). For the full results of this week, please check out Season 22, Week 1.See you next Tuesday!

THIS WEEK'S MVB Aubrey Moren Runner Up: (See Posting)	#1 POWER BOWLER Carl Goetz Runner Up: Nick Allegri	#1 H2H BOWLER David Codding Runner Up: Ken M. Wilson
FROM THE GUTTER (GUTTER QUOTE) "Does this t-shirt idea for my team (the Ground Zero Mosque) make me a bad person?" Scott Murdock, upon showing a sketch of a bowling ball flying like an airplane into two Twin Towers looking bowling pins.

The 22nd season of the VML Bowling League officially begins tonight. With only seven teams signed up, this is the smallest crew we've had since the Fall 2002 season. The Finals are a full four months away. Which two teams will end up facing one another in the championship matchup? Rest assured, returning champions Ian Goetz, Carl Goetz and Ken M. Wilson will do their best to defend their crown and return to the Finals but with several brand new teams in the mix, it's anyone's guess as to who will emerge victorious. So, without further adieu, let's get this party started!Bowlers making their debut this season include Aaron Chandler, Ben Coffman, Brian Cunningham, Chris Able, Chris Massey, Jake Parrott, Rick Heckadon, Sarah Manning and Teresa Deterding. Welcome to the league, new blood! If you have any questions at all please drop Ken or Scoot a line.Now we know that there are several of you that will not be able to make it the first night. This is okay. It's better to miss now than later on in the season when your team will need you. In the event that you cannot make it on a particular night, just alert your team captain or leave a note for Ken and/or Scoot. This way we can make sure that everything is taken care of on the administrative end.We hope that everyone has a fun time this season and good luck to everyone.

It is with great pleasure that we launch the new and vastly improved GutterAlley.com web site. After nearly seven years of faithful service, we've retired the old code in favor of a revised look and feel running on the WordPress engine. While there is still plenty of work to be done porting over code from the previous site, rest assured that we'll bring it all over while adding many new features as well. For those of you in the league this season, Ken and Scoot will be creating you accounts on the site very soon so that you can enjoy a more customized experience. And for those of you who are not in the league this time around – but have bowled in our league before – please contact Ken or Scoot and ask them to set you up with an account. Naturally, development will continue on as the season progresses bringing you the same level of statistics as you've enjoyed in the past. However, the use of Google Charts will make its way onto the site providing you with a deeper level of number crunching of how you're truly doing over the course of the season as well as throughout your career in our league. We plan to implement all of the data we have dating back to 2003 over time so that you can graph yourself – or others – until the cows come home.Many, many more features and enhancements will be added to the site as well but it's coming up on three o'clock in the morning and 'tis time to call it a night.We'll let you in on more as we progress.Stay tuned!