Week 13 is now in the books and oh what a week it was. The league standings may not have changed very much but the stage is being set for an exciting finish to Season 23. Three teams seem to have broken themselves off from the rest of the league with the Finals just as many weeks away. Only seven games separate the triumvirate at the moment and a showdown between the top two teams is slated for next week. In the meantime, GutterAlley witnessed yet another impressive series of high games from bowlers not typically in the spotlight on their teams, several crucial games were settled by just a few pins in the 10th frame and a new recruit this season added yet another notch in his MVB belt proving that you never can tell what's going to happen on any given night in our league. Gotta love it, folks!Voting for the initial class of inductees into the GutterAlley Hall of Fame will shut down very soon. Anyone that has completed at least one season of bowling in our league is eligible to vote and it only takes a very short time to make your picks so please take the time to let your voice be heard today. Talk about a hard fought matchup. After last week's high output, No Pinheads's one and only Dennis "Pops" Laube continued to light up the lanes with yet another team-leading performance. This time, Laube's 527 series secured them Game #1 before the opposition woke up. After that, it was time for The Joe Longstreet and Sam Nau Show. With Longstreet's 384 series coupled with Nau's third Most Valuable Bowler of the season, SucmaBOWLS stormed back to win Game #2 and Game #3. Fortunately for the Pinheads, their margin of victory in the first game helped them hold on to even the victories at two games apiece. While No Pinheads remain in 4th place, SucmaBOWLS managed to hop back up into 6th place with their two wins.Everyone loves a good underdog story, especially when it involves Touch My Vlad picking off another win from a top ranked team. Such was the case Tuesday night when they faced league powerhouse Istanbowl Turkey. After Vlad stole Game #1 by a mere nine pins – with Chris Able's 401 series leading the way and Emily Podhajsky's highest game all season – it was time for the Turkeys to get back to business. Angela Bradford then took the reigns and led her team to a 3-1 matchup victory with her 499 series. The wins keep both teams in their current standings spots with Istanbowl Turkey in 3rd and Touch My Vlad in 8th place.Look out, first place...there may soon be a new sheriff in town. Continuing their impressive push towards the Finals, Dolls and Balls is showing no signs of slowing down. Unfortunately for Tonganoxie Doglift, this week was the best week of the Balls season. With anchor and team namesake Ryan Doll hoisting a 563 series to lead the way – and earning the #1 Power Ranked nod as well – the Balls secured a 4-0 win over Tonganoxie. While the initial two games were blowouts, Game #3 was settled by only four pins. Rookie of the Season contender Russell Madsen led the Doglifts with a 437 series in the losing effort. Dolls and Balls remains in 2nd, still back 4.5 games, while Tonganoxie Doglift slips one spot into 7th place.How does one celebrate his birthday during the best season of his career? By adding four more victories, that's how. Carl Goetz, who has put up big games week after week all season, spent the night before his birthday helping S*I*C*K stay atop the league standings by defeating Eat Split and DI 4-0 in their last face off this season. Goetz led S*I*C*K with a 570 series. On the opposite side of the equation, AJ Hofmann put up his best individual game of his career in Game #2 – a 183 – within his team-leading 449 series but it simply wasn't enough to derail the current league champions. S*I*C*K keeps their claw hold on 1st while Eat Split and DI remains in 5th place.This week saw a league veteran make his way into The 200 Club for the first time all season to join two other regulars who haven't been spied there as often as they should. They include: Bill Krejci (225), Ken M. Wilson (200, 201) and Ryan Doll (206, 200).Uh-oh. Murdock the Kinda Good at Times gazed into his crystal bowling ball to divine the Week 14 predictions and he's spied quite a bit. In a potential preview of the Finals, our league soothsayer foresees underdogs Dolls and Balls beating S*I*C*K 3-1, Eat Split and DI battling Tonganoxie Doglift into a 2-2 standstill, SucmaBOWLS falling all four to Istanbowl Turkey and Touch My Vlad continuing their 1-game hits against the predicted-to-win-3 No Pinheads. We'll have to wait and see just how accurate his powers of prognosticating turn out to be next week.See you next Tuesday!

THIS WEEK'S MVB Sam Nau Runner Up: (See Posting)	#1 POWER BOWLER Ryan Doll Runner Up: Kelly Anderson	#1 H2H BOWLER Ryan Doll Runner Up: Dennis Laube
FROM THE GUTTER (GUTTER QUOTE) "Oh, I'll show her something small." Bob Brunker, while talking to Seth and Ken about the "beer wench."