For the first time in league history, the team rolling against the Blind (Vacancy) Team not only didn't finish early, they were actually the last to finish. Meanwhile a late addition to the league (Ben Spencer) made for a complicated first week for the Tournament of Champions, and next week will be equally complicated when another new bowler -- likely the last new bowler this season -- will join us.

First up, on lanes 7 & 8: A deFreda-ed Holy Sandbaggers, Batman! duked it out with Stephen Hawking's Fight Club. Led by Phil Schroeder and his 574 series, Holy Sandbaggers, Batman! split the series with Stephen Hawking's Fight Club. Meanwhile, #1 power ranked Michael Mead and his 622 series led the Fight Club in the stalemate. Holy Sandbaggers, Batman! drops 2 spots in the standings to 5th place, while Stephen Hawking's Fight Club sinks 2 spots to 4th.

For when you need the extra stamina to bowl harder and bowl longer.

On lanes 9 & 10: A barely-existing Split It & Hit It had some choice acronyms for W.A.Q.P.T.G.B.T.E!. Despite a 545 series by Dennis Blake, Split It & Hit It got swept. Sean Miller and his 493 series led W.A.Q.P.T.G.B.T.E! to a clean sweep, with some cleanup by this week's MVB Sean Simmons. Split It & Hit It remains in 6th place, while W.A.Q.P.T.G.B.T.E! jumps 2 spots to 2nd.

On lanes 11 & 12: Vote JV HoF 2016 campaigned against Terra Bowl. Led by John Boren and his 602 series, Vote JV HoF 2016 secured a clean sweep over a finally Vacancy-free Terra Bowl. Tim Deddens and his 465 series led the TerraBowlers in their effort. Vote JV HoF 2016 remains in 1st place, while Terra Bowl remains in 7th.

Finally, down on lanes 13 & 14: For the first time in league history, the team facing the blind team was the last to finish. No one can figure out why. Aaron Barber and his 643 series led O'Dell Lawn Service to a sweep against Ray & Stevie. Poor Ray & Stevie remains in 8th place, while O'Dell Lawn Service jumps 2 spots to 3rd.

It should be noted at this point that it is very important to read any document carefully before agreeing to it. Especially when that document is an email of bowling related bets for the Fall 2016 season. Because Scott Murdock didn't notice the second paragraph in an emailed bet list before replying "I agree to all of these," he inadvertently agreed to a bet with AJ Hofmann that if AJ ends the season with a higher average than Scoot (which has never happened), Scoot has to eat a Carolina Reaper. Well, as it happens, AJ is currently bowling the best season of his career (158 and climbing -- 21 pins above last season), while Scoot is currently having his worst season since Spring 2003 (134 average and dropping!) So clearly, Scoot has a lot of work to do to avoid a fate nearly worse than death! To that end, we have created the Fear The Reaper page, which will update each week to show what Scoot has to do in order to change his destiny. It's not pretty.

This week, in an extremely painful to calculate Tournament of Champions, Michael Gordon took a small initial lead in Division 1. Michael Mead ran away with Division 2, while Division 3 saw Jonathan Vigliaturo nipping at the heels of AJ Hofmann. Division 4 was largely a travesty that made Scoot nearly throw his laptop out the window into the rain, but after all the reprogramming was finally done, Sean Simmons was the clear winner there.

Bowlers entering The 200 Club this week include: Aaron Barber (247,205), Carl Goetz (234), Jeremy Gregory (209), John Boren (208,212), Michael Gordon (215), Michael Mead (224,203), and Phil Schroeder (234)

Next week will be another complicated Tournament week as another new bowler will be joining Split It & Hit It to replace MIA Todd Way. See you then!

THIS WEEK'S MVB Sean Simmons Runner Up: (See Posting)	#1 POWER BOWLER Michael Mead Runner Up: Sean Simmons	#1 H2H BOWLER Michael Mead Runner Up: Aaron Barber
FROM THE GUTTER (GUTTER QUOTE) "People give me such odd looks when I say that bowling should be easy tonight because we're rolling against the blind team." Seth Gunderson, on the mental images outsiders must have that we have a team that's easy to roll against since they can't see what they are doing.