The fifteenth 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 – Carl Goetz was this week's #1 Power Ranked Bowler and teammate Ken M. Wilson was the MVB the week before the Finals in the biggest "too little, too late" of the season. With the Finals coming our way on Tuesday, we decided to look into our treasure trove of statistical trivia and see what we had in regards to the output our league has tallied on the true do-or-die night of each season.Check this out:INDIVIDUALS:
| AB's Huge "Close But No Cigar" Finals | |
 Angela Bradford |
Way back in the Fall 2006 season, Angela Bradford was on a team called New Balls, Old Rack. After having been in 1st place during the season, her team faltered and slipped down the standings in the second half. In Week #16, however, AB put on the best individual over-average performance in Finals history to land at the top spot of the Top 25 Finals Performances (Compared to Average) list. With an average of 148, Bradford put up a 648 series – her career high and the highest ever rolled by a female bowler in our league's history – to propel her team from 4th place to 2nd...finishing a single game from winning the title. Don't mess with AB when death is on the line. |
| Doll's Finals Finale | |
 Ryan Doll |
In a season that had already been settled prior to the Finals, Ryan Doll found himself in the bottom half of the league standings on his team Vier Reiter Der Apokalypse in Fall 2011's Week #16. Adopting the mantra of "never say die," Doll put up his highest career series to date – a 707. Looking back, this performance sets him atop the Top 25 Finals Performances (Scratch) list and was certainly the highlight of his season. Can he do this during the Finals this season? We shall see. |
| Krejci's Collapse | |
 Bill Krejci |
Now these next two lists are brutal...but this first one is inexcusable. With us having already looked into who shot the best series scratch and best series over their average in the Finals it was only a matter of time before we looked for the polar opposite. Our first gaze into the gutter? The Top 25 Finals Meltdowns (Compared to Average). Hall of Fame nominee Bill Krejci, a year ago in the Finals, walked in with a 183 average and shot two games in the 120s to take top "honors" on this list. He ended up 117 pins below his average. Damn, Bill. |
| The Lowest of the Low...times three | |
 Ariel Waldman |
Again, this list is probably one of the cruelest we've ever put together. But, for the sake of consistency (and morbid curiosity), we decided to see who has shot the lowest series of them all during any of the Finals in our league's history. The "winner" of this dubious honor goes to three individuals – each having put up a 260 series during the last week of their respective seasons. They include Ariel Waldman (Spring '06), Emily Podhajsky (Spring '11), and Kris Hiestand (Fall '02). Sorry, gang! |
TEAMS:
| TOPs with team total pins |
| When it comes to total team output, the heaviest of our heavy hitting teams haven't quite owned the Finals...ever. We ran back through to see if any teams have ever put up their best performances in the Finals and the answer was a big no. We found out that Fall 2012's FTOP produced the highest output with their 2,296 to sit atop the Top 25 Best Team Finals Performances (Scratch) but doesn't even show up as a blip on the radar on the Top 25 Best Team Series (4-per) list. Let's step it up, teams! |
| Well over their team average |
| If there is ever a time to fire on all cylinders, it's in the Finals. Throughout all our seasons, we've witnessed groups come together to best their own team averages and really stick it to their opponents. No team in history has ever out-performed themselves more so than on a night we've already talked about above – Fall 2011's very own Vier Reiter Der Apokalypse during their Finals. With a total team average of 612, the gang put up games of 695, 714, and 664 to go +237 over...the most ever in league's history according to our Top 25 Best Team Finals Performances (Compared to Average) list. Before that, the single best team Finals over-average performance had stood since the Fall 2006 season. |
ODDITIES & STRAIGHT UP NUMBERS:
| A Finals settled...by a single pin |
| Way back in the Spring '03 session, Jason Carpio and his Bowlers of Mass Destruction were looking for their first title. Having entered the Finals in 1st place by the total pins tie-breaker, Carpio's team faced off against Ken M. Wilson's D-Day. The two teams exchanged punches in Games #1 and #2, with each winning a single game and setting up the ultimate showdown for the crown in Game #3. With the game – and the title – on the line, the 10th frame was a high pressure situation. With the BMDs done, it was on Wilson to win it or lose it. He needed two strikes to wrap it up but only managed to get the first one, leaving a 4-pin to be picked up. Miss it and Carpio's team wins it all (back then, team total pins for the season determined the tie-breaker in the event of two teams having the same record). Pick it up and Game #3 ends in a tie, giving Wilson's team the championship by the narrowest of margins. He picked it up...winning the championship for D-Day...with that single pin, the closest Finals matchup for the championship title in league history. |
