38 seasons of bowling are now behind us. And while this was not one of our better seasons scoring-wise by far, wasn't it a lot of fun with all the topsy-turvy standings?
8 Balls -- Fall 2018 Champions
- In terms of league average, this was our 12th-worst ever with a combined league average of 148.5638. Now, the sidebar of the bowling web site notes that this makes our league equal to just having let Conor Clarke roll the entire season. Conor, don’t take that the wrong way, because another way of looking at it is that in your rookie season you outbowled 11 of our previous leagues. And, in terms of the number of 200+ games rolled, this was our 10th worst season ever, with a mere 85 200+ games rolled all season.
- In Week 14 Curtis Whiles took the league record for best performance ever in our Head-to-Head category, with a score of 100% among 87 potential matchups. Meaning, had he bowled each person in the league individually that week, his scores would have beat every single person in the league in every game. Only one other person has ever achieved 100% (John Richardson on 11/29/2005), but that was a smaller league with only 66 potential matchups.
- In Week 8, Scott Murdock became the second person in league history to reach 1,500 recorded games bowled. Phil Schroeder followed suit in Week 10.
- In Week 2 Aaron Barber rolled the 8th highest power-ranked series in league history. And in Week 10 he became the 8th person to reach 150 career 200+ games.
- In game 2 of week 3, Emily Nicolet (avg 107) beat Michael Mead (avg 195) 132-129 scratch for the 13th biggest underdog vs powerbowler smackdown in league history.
- We maintain a list of the 25 Best Bowlers who have Never Won a Championship. With three league members graduating off that list this season, AJ Hofmann is now the best of all current bowlers who have tragically had their championship dreams stomped upon.
SEASON INDIVIDUAL AWARDS:
Women's High Series Scratch: Monica Hufford (522)
Women's High Game Scratch: Freda Schroeder (206)
Women's High Series Handicap: Alison Radke (628)
Women's High Game Handicap: JoAnne Gordon (237)
Men's High Series Scratch: Aaron Barber (634)
Men's High Game Scratch: Michael Gordon (242)
Men's High Series Handicap: Curtis Whiles (736)
Men's High Game Handicap: Seth Gunderson (265)
Aaron Barber is #1 Power ranked bowler, Scott Murdock is runner up.
8 Balls is #1 Power ranked team, Serious Bowlers is runner up.
Head to Head: Aaron Barber would have won 62.516% of all possible one-on-one matchups this season, Matthew Taylor comes in second with 62.205%
PEOPLE'S CHOICE AWARDS
Rookie of the Season
(Which first year bowler did the most for his or her team in their initial outing?)
- Runner Up: Conor Clarke
- Winner: Jeremy Cline
Seth Gunderson Captain of the Season
(Which team captain provided the most leadership, dedication, and inspiration to their team?)
- Runner Up: Pat Hamell
- Winner: Alison Radke
Carl Goetz Defensive Bowler of the Season
Which player with an average of 150 or above proved to be the strongest finisher in crucial tenth frame situations?
- Runner Up: Dennis Walling
- Winner: Aaron Barber
Underdog of the Season
Bowler with an average under 150 who was the biggest spark for their team.
- Runner Up: Alison Radke
- Winner: Chadwick Andrews
Bob Brunker/Rob Kaszuba Sportsmanship Award
This award should go to the one male bowler who continually shows the best example of good sportsmanship throughout the entire season.
- Runner Up: Pat Hamell
- Winner: Rob Kaszuba
Emily Podhajsky Sportsmanship Award
This award should go to the one female bowler who continually shows the best example of good sportsmanship throughout the entire season.
- Runner Up: JoAnne Gordon
- Winner: Alison Radke
Pat Searcy 'Life of the Party' Award
Named for a man whose exuberant personality made bowling nights more fun for all those around him. Given to the person who livens up Tuesday nights and brings a smile to all our faces.
- Runner Up: Alison Radke
- Winner: Jeremy Varnell
Sub of the Season
The sub who did the most for the team or teams they helped
- Runner Up: Carl Goetz
- Winner: Michael Mead
Favorite Team to Roll Against
- Runner Up: Bowling For Beers
- Winner: BDE
Most Feared Team to Roll Against
- Runner Up: We Don’t Give a Split
- Winner: Serious Bowlers
Most Valuable Bowler – People’s Choice
Who did everyone think did the most for their team?
- Runner Up: Dennis Walling
- Winner: Aaron Barber
Actual MVB, Runner Up:
- Dennis Laube, personally responsible for 10 of his team's wins
Actual MVB, For Real:
- Aubrey Moren, personally responsible for 10.5 of his team’s wins.
The David Winger "Gone But Not Forgotten" Award was given to Cliff Barendsen. Cliff joined us in Fall 2012 and rolling with us for six seasons, though for one of those seasons (Spring 2014) he rolled as a sub for two different teams. His personality made him a huge hit within the league, earning him a place on one of the Joker cards in the league’s poker deck. Every team he was a member of was named “Ballz Out”, regardless of who was on the team.
Cliff Barendsen
Though all of his teams finished in last place, with the notable exception of a 5th place finish in Fall 2013, Cliff was one of the league’s top bowlers. His 166 career average belied his ability to churn out 200+ games, with a career high game of 256 and a career high series of 633. As of this writing he’s the league’s 7th best bowler to never win a championship and the 6th best to never have been on a team with a winning record. He was named Most Valuable Bowler four times and runner-up MVB four additional times. He is the 8th most improved bowler in league history, growing his game +47 pins over his career with us.
Cliff’s inaugural Fall 2012 iteration of Ballz Out was notable for having the best finish in league history of any last place team (24-40), a record which still stands to this day. And the Spring 2015 iteration of Ballz Out stands out as being the team with the greatest second-half-of-the-season improvement in league history. After going 4-29 for the first half of the season, they flipped it around to go 17-15 in the second half of the season. (Though this was still not enough to get them out of last place.)
There’s one other thing Cliff achieved league notoriety for. Though there are a number of bowlers throughout league history who have gotten Scoot in trouble with AMF Management (Carl, Amy Goodnow, and Thomas Lin all come to mind), only Cliff ever succeeded at getting Scoot in trouble on multiple occasions. This is because Cliff could not stop himself from drawing penises all over the backs (and sometimes fronts) of score sheets before they got turned in. He was so well known for it that when the Fall 2015 roster was turned in to the back office, the woman who put them in the computer actually said “Oh good, penis boy is gone” when she noticed his name absent from the list.
Recruiting is now underway for the Spring 2019 season, which begins on January 22. Please let Scoot know if you or anyone you know would like to join!
New Personal Best Games
| Bowler | New Best |
Old Best |
Since... |
| Chuck Kissee | 190 | 141 | Spring 2018, wk 12 |
| James Tott | 192 | 189 | Fall 2017, wk 15 |
| Jeremy Varnell | 199 | 185 | Spring 2018, wk 6 |
| Josh Rothermel | 187 | 185 | Spring 2018, wk 1 |
New Personal Best Series
| Bowler | New Best |
Old Best |
Since... |
| Brian Orrick | 501 | 494 | Fall 2017, wk 9 |
| Chuck Kissee | 432 | 378 | Spring 2018, wk 12 |
| Emily Nicolet | 406 | 399 | Spring 2018, wk 11 |
| James Tott | 521 | 490 | Fall 2017, wk 15 |
| Jeremy Varnell | 489 | 452 | Spring 2017, wk 13 |
| JoAnne Gordon | 438 | 426 | Spring 2018, wk 7 |
| Monica Hufford | 522 | 4514 | Spring 2018, wk 9 |
New Personal Best Average
| Bowler | New Best |
Old Best |
Since... |
| Ben Spencer | 157 | 152 | Spring 2018 |
| James Tott | 142 | 141 | Spring 2018 |
| Jeremy Varnell | 140 | 139 | Spring 2018 |
| JoAnne Gordon | 128 | 118 | Spring 2018 |
| Sean Miller | 157 | 156 | Fall 2015 |
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FROM THE GUTTER (QUOTE OF THE SEASON)
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