The ninth installment of "The 11th Frame" features some interesting nuggets from our Top 25s collection, covering the accolades (and disappointments) of our current and not so-current league rollers.As mentioned already in this week's write-up – Steve Kiernan hoisted a huge series after having not been around the entire first half of the season while Cliff Barendsen got back to his MVB ways in an effort to turn his team's season around. Wondering what else happened that you probably didn't know about? In this special Hall of Fame edition, we'll look at things you might not have realized about this season's six nominees. Check this out:INDIVIDUALS: Read the rest of this entry »

Week #9 saw a familiar face show up to fill the void left in the league when Neil Rieger made his move to California – and he showed up in a big way. Also around the league, three teams managed to switch places in the league standings as we get back into the swing of things with everyone repeating the schedule of the first half of the Spring 2013 season. Eighteen more 200+ games were added into the mix as we continue our quest to be the best when it comes to the single season with the most games over two hundred. Ready to find out how your favorite team did? Be our guest...After the position round last week, Murder, He Wrote looked poised to reach the top...but quickly derailed from their goal at the hands of Three Strikes and You're Out!. After winning close content in Game #1, mainly due to Murder's fill-in anchor Seth Gunderson and his team-leading 529 series (including a 220 in the initial battle), last week's heavy hitters ran into this week's battling babes as Three Strikes took the remaining games in the matchup to end with a 3-1 victory. Angela Bradford's 535 series did the trick as her team improved to 20-16 but fall one notch down to 5th place. Murder manages to hold onto 2nd place but are no longer just a half game behind the league leaders.Last season, Steve Kiernan fell just one victory shy of winning his first championship. Had he bowled in the Finals like he did Tuesday night, things would have been radically different. Making his debut this season as a replacement bowler for Neil Rieger on Dragon Balls, Kiernan came out firing and ended his night with an impressive 706 series against opponents Ballz Out. It should come to no one as a surprise that Steve was this week's #1 Power Ranked bowler. But was his output enough to bring about a sweep? Oh no. Just ask this week's Most Valuable Bowler and Ballz Out anchor Cliff Barendsen. With his 588 series, Cliff managed to keep his team in the fight as the two teams dueled to a 2-2 standstill. In the end, neither team moved in the league standings with the Dragons extending their lead on the league out to 1.5 games while Ballz Out remains in 8th place.The last time these two teams met, Will Strike if Provoked came away with a clean sweep over opponents Brunk Enough to Dowl. This time around, though, things were just slightly different. After a blowout in Game #1, Will Strike looked ready and willing to rack up another sweep until Brunk's Kody Karnes hoisted a 258 – and ended with a team high 650 series for the night – to turn the tide with a Game #2 victory. Will Strike's Aubrey Moren struck back with a 626 series to wrap up not only Game #3 but total pins as well to keep his team in 3rd place. Brunk Enough, with their lone win, remains in 7th place.Down on the final pair of lanes, Snakes on a Lane set their sights on getting back into the swing of things and did so with the lone sweep of the evening. With Carl Goetz leading the way with an impressive 684 series, the men easily took all four games against Split It and Hit It. Dennis Blake led Split It with his 466 series but it wasn't enough to derail Carl and crew. The Snakes were the lone team to move up in the league standings this week, slithering two spots up into 4th place. Split It and Hit It tumbles one spot into 6th place.Bowlers helping this to be the best season in league history spied hanging out in The 200 Club this week include: Aubrey Moren (235, 204), Carl Goetz (214, 236, 234), Cliff Barendsen (202, 200), Freda Schroeder (203), Ian Goetz (202), Ken M. Wilson (205, 214), Kody Karnes (211, 258), Ryan Doll (224), Seth Gunderson (220), and Steve Kiernan (244, 257, 205).The Tournament of Champions continues to roll on with no changes in Division #1, still owned by Ken M. Wilson (15) and Carl Goetz (13). Division #2 is covered by the Duo of Dennis', Blake (12) and Laube (7). Freda Schroeder (13) moved up to a tie with Jonathan Vigliaturo (13) in Division #3 while Michael Smith (15) propelled himself to the top of Division #4, ousting fellow teammate Mark DeVoe (12) from the top spot.Voting on this season's Hall of Fame ballot is now open and ready for your input. Six league legends are vying for the lone spot that this season offers. Congratulations once again to nominees Bill Krejci, Cory Chorpenning, Demond Robinson, Jason Carpio, Ryan Doll, and Seth Gunderson. Vote for these guys today! See you next Tuesday!

THIS WEEK'S MVB Cliff Barendsen Runner Up: (See Posting)	#1 POWER BOWLER Steve Kiernan Runner Up: Carl Goetz	#1 H2H BOWLER Carl Goetz Runner Up: Aubrey Moren
FROM THE GUTTER (GUTTER QUOTE) "No, seriously, you guys. These oatmeal cookies are hella good." ...said no one ever, until Chelsea uttered the line with a straight face before conning two league bowlers into buying some.

Kicking off in the Spring 2011 season, our bowling community collectively cast its votes for the inaugural class of enshrinees to the GutterAlley Hall of Fame. These initial four bowlers were tasked with carrying on the Hall's enshrinement duties, promising that one new bowler would make his or her way to join them at the end of every season going forward. We are happy to say that the tradition is about to continue for a fifth time to welcome in the eighth inductee. The GutterAlley Hall of Fame Screening Committee is proud to announce the names of the six candidates up for enshrinement this season – Bill Krejci, Cory Chorpenning, Demond Robinson, Jason Carpio, Ryan Doll, and Seth Gunderson.Each of these six bowlers, in his own way, has made an impact on the league over the years. It will now be up to you to cast your votes to send one person to join AB, Scoot, Freda, Ken, Carl, Bob, and – most recently – Codding in the Hall.Every member of the bowling community that has an active account on GutterAlley.com will be assessed a number of votes based upon his or her tenure within the league. Bowlers who have not yet completed a full season are ineligible to vote for the Hall of Fame candidates. Bowlers who have completed 1-2 full seasons are allowed one vote. Bowlers who have completed 3-4 season are allowed two votes. Bowlers who have completed 5+ seasons are allowed three votes. Hall of Famers are allowed four. Voters are not required to cast all of their available votes.Voting starts today and shall remain open until the week before the Finals (Week 15 - May 7th, 2013).For your convenience, we have prepared a page about each nominee so that you can get to know them better and see their influence on our league both on and off the lanes: Read the rest of this entry »

So you're team's going to have to miss a week and you need to pre-bowl or post-bowl?NKC Pro Bowl is hosting high school bowling classes as well as a few national bowling tournaments over the next couple of months, so for the remainder of the season lane availability outside normal league times will be very tight.    If your team needs to pre or post bowl, please called the bowling alley at 816-221-8844 as soon as you know you will be absent, in order to make arrangements and ensure a pair of lanes will be available for your team.Because of the additional paperwork they will be dealing with during this time, they ask that any post-bowling be completed by no later than the following Sunday.  Going forward, this is really best practice anyway because if you post-bowl later than that, it forces data entry and scoresheets (both for the bowling alley and for us) to be done at the last moment when we may not have time to get it all done.Thanks, everyone, for keeping these things in mind going forward!

The eighth installment of "The 11th Frame" features some interesting nuggets from our Top 25s collection, covering the accolades (and disappointments) of our current and not so-current league rollers.As mentioned already in this week's write-up – the position round went down with a HUGE personal performance by Bill Krejci while just about every single team switching places in the league standings. Wondering what else happened that you probably didn't know about? Check this out:INDIVIDUALS: Read the rest of this entry »

The midway point of the 27th season of GutterAlley action is now history and with it came some historical happenings. As a league we're still on pace to break the all-time 200+ games in a single season record, a mere five games separate the top six teams (all of which shifted in the standings Tuesday night), and the third highest series of all time was thrown. We can't say that this was a typical position round by any means. Ready to get into the details? Have at it...After suffering defeat at the hands of Dragon Balls last week, the team with the best record heading into the position round – Will Strike if Provoked – looked to exact their revenge. It looks like that will have to wait as the Dragon's Rob Kaszuba took matter into his own hands and almost single-handedly propelled his team to a clean sweep to take over first place with a record of 21-11. Kaszuba shot a team-leading 541 series (his best this season), increasing his score each game as the night progressed. The Provoked were led by Aubrey Moren and his 571 series but simply couldn't fire on all pistons, falling two spots into 3rd place at 18-14.The last time Snakes on a Lane and Murder, He Wrote met, the Snakes' Ken M. Wilson put on a clinic with his 683 series to take all four games. Despite Wilson's 669 series this time around, it was simply no match whatsoever for the onslaught brought forth by this week's #1 Power Ranked bowler, Bill Krejci. Rolling the 3rd highest series of all time in league history (including two entries on the highest games of all time), Krejci's 743 series absolutely routed the competition to take over 2nd place with their record of 20.5-11.5. Snakes on a Lane, having been in first place three weeks ago, has plummeted to 6th place with their 16-16 record.Other than the Finals, rolling the best series of your career in the position round is almost perfect timing. Just ask this week's Most Valuable Bowler, Mark DeVoe. With his 474 series, combined with anchor Dennis Blake's team-leading 497 series, DeVoe's scores allowed Split It and Hit It to come away with a 3-1 matchup victory down on Lanes 45 & 46 to improve to 16.5-15.5 on the season. Angela Bradford, anchor on Three Strikes and You're Out!, narrowly missed a come-from-behind-victory in Game #3 that would have allowed a split of the series but fell just one roll short (uncharacteristically guttering after throwing two strikes in the 10th frame) with her 519 series. Split It and Hit It rise one spot to 5th place while Three Strikes also climbs one spot into 4th with their 17-15 record. In the battle of 7th and 8th place, Brunk Enough to Dowl and Ballz Out opted to take a ride on a roller coaster against one another. With Cliff Barendsen's 580 series leading the way, the Ballz got out to an early lead by taking Game #1. Not to be outdone, Kody Karnes put up a 643 series (including a 267, which also puts him on the highest games of all-time list) to reverse the momentum and give Brunk the win in Game #2. The two battled it out with 200+ games apiece in Game #3 but Barendsen's team came away with the win in the end. Total pins, however, seesawed over to Brunk Enough to even the series at two games apiece. Neither team moved in the league standings, with Brunk Enough to Dowl improving to 12-20 to Ballz Out's 7-25. Nine bowlers found themselves making their way into The 200 Club this week, including: Aubrey Moren (223), Bill Krejci (279, 269), Carl Goetz (237), Cliff Barendsen (202, 210), Ian Goetz (200), Ken M. Wilson (215, 247, 207), Kody Karnes (267, 216), Rob Kaszua (204), and Seth Gunderson (255).The Tournament of Champions had some shakeups this week. Division #1 saw Ken M. Wilson (15) regain his spot ahead of Carl Goetz (13). Dennis Blake (11) extended his lead out ahead of Kody Karnes (6) and Cory Chorpenning (6) in Division #2. A new sheriff is in town in Division #3 as Jonathan Vigliaturo (12) moves ahead of Phil Schroeder (10). Division #4 welcomed back Mark DeVoe (12) to the top spot while Stephan Miller (10) chases him very closely.Nominations for this season's Hall of Fame induction is now closed. Thank you to everyone that nominated someone. Voting on this season's ballot will begin next week.See you next Tuesday!

THIS WEEK'S MVB Mark DeVoe Runner Up: (See Posting)	#1 POWER BOWLER Bill Krejci Runner Up: Mark DeVoe	#1 H2H BOWLER Bill Krejci Runner Up: Mark DeVoe
FROM THE GUTTER (GUTTER QUOTE) "Hey, Ken...be sure to blog about THAT! Hahahahahahahahaha!" Cliff Barendsen, after watching Angela Bradford gutter in the 10th frame after two strikes to lose Game #3 in a tightly contested battle.

The seventh installment of "The 11th Frame" features some interesting nuggets from our Top 25s collection, covering the accolades (and disappointments) of our current and not so-current league rollers.As mentioned already in this week's write-up – the league standings have tightened up significantly in preparation for the position round, Dennis Blake was the week's MVB, and Carl Goetz tries to keep his team in contention with a #1 Power Ranked bowling performance. Wondering what else happened that you probably didn't know about? Check this out:INDIVIDUALS: Read the rest of this entry »

So, as we do each season around this time, Scoot and I got to thinking about how the standings could move around depending on the numerous outcomes from next Tuesday. So we sat down and came up with what is listed below.The highest each team could move next week after the position round, provided "perfect conditions" take place (and by "perfect conditions" we mean that your team sweeps and the teams above end their matchups in the most advantageous way to allow your team to move up in the standings):1. Will Strike if ProvokedHighest: 1st place, of course, since they currently lead the league with 18 wins. They'd be at 22.Lowest: 5th place, due to a total pins tie breaker. If they get swept by Dragon Balls, the 3rd vs. 4th place matchup splits, and Three Strikes and You're Out wins 3 games or more.2. Dragon BallsHighest: 1st place, with a 3-1 win over Will Strike if Provoked and Murder, He Wrote not sweeping Snakes on a Lane.Lowest: 5th place, if they get swept or lose 3 to Will Strike if Provoked, Murder and Snakes split 2-2, and Three Strikes wins three.3. Murder, He WroteHighest: 1st place, if they sweep Snakes on a Lane and Dragon Balls wins three.Lowest: 5th place, if they get swept by Snakes, and Split It and Hit It either sweeps or wins three.4. Snakes on a LaneHighest: 1st place, if they sweep Murder, He Wrote and Dragon Balls win three.Lowest: 6th place, if they get swept by Murder, He Wrote and Split It and Hit It wins three.5. Three Strikes and You're Out!Highest: 2nd place, by total pins, if they sweep Split It and Hit It, Dragon Balls wins either two or three, and neither Snakes or Murder sweep one another.Lowest: 6th place, if swept by Split It and Hit It.6. Split It and Hit ItHighest: 3rd place, if both Will Strike if Provoked and Snakes on a Lane sweep their opponents while Split It sweeps in their own matchup. Lowest: 7th place, if they get swept by Three Strikes and You're Out! and Brunk Enough to Dowl sweeps Ballz Out.7. Brunk Enough to Dowl Highest: 6th place, if they sweep opponents Ballz Out and Split It and Hit It fail to win a single game in their matchup against Three Strikes and You're Out!Lowest: 7th place, even if they are swept by opponents Ballz Out.8. Ballz OutHighest: 8th place, even if they sweep Brunk Enough to Dowl they will be at 9-23 to Brunk's 10-22.Lowest: 8th place.Good luck to everyone! Who knows what next Tuesday will bring.

Everyone has now bowled one another once and, with that, the 27th season of GutterAlley action has found itself knotted up in the league standings in one of the closest first halves we've had in quite some time. Heading into the position round next week, a mere two games separate the top five teams in the league. That's pretty close, folks. Ready to see how it all played out? Keep reading...Having finally broken free and taken over 1st place outright last week, Will Strike if Provoked looked to hold onto their position. And while they did come away still in first place by the end of the night, it wasn't without some frustration from opponents Dragon Balls. After losing Games #1 and #2, behind a 547 series performance from the Dragon's anchor Ryan Doll, Will Strike regrouped and pulled off a solitary win to stay ahead of the heap. Both Phil Schroeder and Aubrey Moren shot a 539 series to lead their team in the losing effort. With the wins, Dragon Balls ends up being one of only two teams that moved around in the league standings and finds itself in 2nd place. The two teams will face off against one another in the position round with records of 18-10 and 17-11, respectively.Down a pair on Lanes 43 & 44, four Hall of Famers did battle against one another in what almost ended up being an outright slaughter. Fresh off their ass whooping last week, Snakes on a Lane looked to rebound but quickly derailed at the hands of opponents Three Strikes and You're Out!. Despite throwing the highest series of the evening – a 668 and earning #1 Power Ranked bowler status in the process – Carl Goetz simply received no help from his fellow Snakes as Three Strikes took it to them for a 3-1 matchup victory. Bob Brunker provided the most output for the winning side, ending his night with his best series this season – a 584. Even with the wins, Three Strikes and You're Out remains in 5th place while Snakes on a Lane becomes the only team to fall in the league standings, finding themselves in 4th place now. When you are the team's anchor and find yourself down two bowlers, what do you do? Well, if you are Dennis Blake of Split It and Hit It, you knuckle down and put up this week's Most Valuable Bowler performance. Shooting over his average every game, Blake's 528 series led the way on both sides of the equation en route to the night's lone sweep. The victims this time around were Ballz Out, who are now in the midst of an 8-game losing streak. While Game #2 was won by a mere three pins, the rest of the games weren't even close as Split It improves to a record of 13.5-14.5 good enough to remain in 6th place. They will face Three Strikes and You're Out in the position round. Ballz Out's anchor Cliff Barendsen led his team with a 518 series but continues to struggle to find a way to bring his team to victory...and remains in 8th place.At the far end of the bowling alley, Murder, He Wrote looked to extend their winning streak after last week's sweep. You know how people say that every pin counts? Well, that was certainly the case in Game #1 against opponents Brunk Enough to Dowl. The two teams found themselves tied at 661-661, resulting in a half game victory apiece. Game #2 also came down to the final roll, with the victory going to Murder – compliments of Bill Krejci's team leading 554 series by a margin of only four pins. Game #3 came down to another duel, this time going Brunk Enough's way via the 528 series from Kody Karnes and a 10-pin margin of victory. Total pins went Brunk's way, by six pins, to end it with them taking the series 2.5-1.5. Neither team budged in the league standings – Murder, He Wrote remains in 3rd while Brunk Enough to Dowl continues to reside in 7th place.As a league, we managed to cross the midway point on our way to becoming the season that has seen the most 200+ games. Those contributing this week in The 200 Club include: Angela Bradford (206), Bill Krejci (200), Bob Brunker (204, 223), Carl Goetz (225, 235, 208), Ian Goetz (209), Ken M. Wilson (200), Phil Schroeder (216), and Ryan Doll (203).The Tournament of Champions is back on track now with some changes in the divisional leads. Carl Goetz (13) has taken over the top spot in Division #1 from Ken M. Wilson (12) who has apparently forgotten how to bowl. Division #2 finds a new leader in this week's MVB Dennis Blake (8) while Kody Karnes (6) moves up to tie Cory Chorpenning (6), who has seemingly vanished into thin air the past two weeks. Phil Schroeder (9) and Freda Schroeder (7) continue to rule Division #3 respectively but find Anita Osthoff (7) in a tie for the second spot. Michael Smith continues to hold onto Division #4 but find a new person on his heels, Stephan Miller (7) who inches out Mark DeVoe by a single point.As mentioned on our Facebook page earlier and on the whitesheet Tuesday night, nominations for this season's Hall of Fame induction will close at the end of bowling in the position round. Please, if you haven't already, hop on over and nominate some folks. There are almost 60 bowlers eligible for induction this season but, in the end, there can be only one. Please take a moment and help someone make their way into the Hall this season. See you next Tuesday!

THIS WEEK'S MVB Dennis Blake Runner Up: (See Posting)	#1 POWER BOWLER Carl Goetz Runner Up: Bob Brunker	#1 H2H BOWLER Carl Goetz Runner Up: Dennis Blake
FROM THE GUTTER (GUTTER QUOTE) "Jeez, you guys...who do you think you are, the Royals?" Sabrina Gray, commenting on the Snakes' 2-6 record the last two weeks.

The sixth installment of "The 11th Frame" features some interesting nuggets from our Top 25s collection, covering the accolades (and disappointments) of our current and not so-current league rollers.As mentioned already in this week's write-up, birthday girl Freda was pushed up into 1st place outright thanks to her team while Neil Rieger went out on a high point, shooting a 277. Wondering what else happened that you probably didn't know about? Check this out:INDIVIDUALS: Read the rest of this entry »

With the position round just right around the corner, Week #6 is usually a great time to make your move if you're looking to improve your station in the league standings. Several teams got the memo while others simply did not pay that close attention to it. Now that the post-bowling has been taken care of, we can get into the full story. With one of their own out for the night, Split It and Hit It recruited 1/4th of the reigning championship team from last season to fill in Tuesday night. John Boren showed up to sub and, with his team-leading 562 series, helped Split It take Game #1 from opponents Brunk Enough to Dowl. Kody Karnes, however, had different plans. He countered with a 604 series which made the difference in Game #2 to even the series at a game apiece. Game #3 came down to the wire but went in favor of Split It and Hit It before – ready for this? – causing a tie for total pins. Split It takes their 2.5-1.5 matchup victory and remains in 6th while Brunk Enough continues to hold onto 7th place.It took until Monday the 11th, but the results of the matchup between Ballz Out and Murder, He Wrote was finalized...and went down exactly as Scoot predicted. While both teams were off, Murder was off less and came away with the 4-0 sweep to improve to 15-9 on the season. Bill Krejci's 578 series was the top for Murder, He Wrote while Cliff Barendsen's 491 was the highest output from Ballz Out. Murder moves up a spot into 3rd place while Ballz Out, now 5-19, remains in 8th place.Having danced around one another almost all season, the two teams with the league's best records – Will Strike if Provoked and Snakes on a Lane – finally met for their inevitable showdown. With it being Freda Schroeder's birthday, the team figured that the best birthday present they could present her was a beatdown of of the Snakes...and they delivered. With Provoked's anchor Aubrey Moren leading the way with his first 600+ series of the season, a 643, he not only led the team to a 3-1 ass whooping over their opponents but also landed #1 Power Ranked bowler honors as well. The team moves up to own 1st place outright with their 17-7 record. The Snakes' Carl Goetz led his team in the losing effort with a 614 series while falling to 2nd place at 15-9.On the final pair of lanes, the Dragon Balls said goodbye to Neil Rieger by treating him to a clean sweep of opponents Three Strikes and You're Out!. With anchor Ryan Doll (and this week's Most Valuable Bowler) shooting his best series so far this season – a 662 – the team stole Game #1 in the 10th frame but emphatically took each game beyond that. Neil himself put the icing on the cake by shooting his best game in the league – a 277 – good enough to earn him a spot with the 7th highest game thrown in league history in his final game. Three Strikes' Bob Brunker led his team with a 495 series but it was simply no match for the Balls' output. With the wins, Doll and crew climb one spot up into 4th while Three Strikes and You're Out! fall two spots into 5th place.Those bowlers wishing Freda Schroeder and Sabrina Gray a happy birthday in The 200 Club this week include: Aubrey Moren (235, 214), Carl Goetz (245), Freda Schroeder (200), Ian Goetz (233), John Boren (212), Kody Karnes (239), Neil Rieger (277), Phil Schroeder (233), and Ryan Doll (206, 246, 210).The results of the Tournament of Champions will be up as soon as we have the scores from the post-bowling.See you next Tuesday!

THIS WEEK'S MVB Ryan Doll Runner Up: (See Posting)	#1 POWER BOWLER Aubrey Moren Runner Up: Neil Rieger	#1 H2H BOWLER Aubrey Moren Runner Up: Ryan Doll
FROM THE GUTTER (GUTTER QUOTE) "Now THAT is how you retire from a league!" Neil Rieger, after rolling a 277 as his final game and walking off into the sunset.