Hey, gang! Please don't forget that there will be no bowling this week due to a private party at the NKC Pro Bowl. We'll pick right up where we left off next Tuesday – September 6th – for our official Week #2.See you next Tuesday!

The Fall 2011 season – the 24th in league history – is officially underway now that the eight teams have rolled their first series of games. Scattered amongst the numerous returning veterans were three brand new bowlers along with two substitutes. GutterAlley officially welcomes Kim Wallace, Jonathan Vigliaturo and Gary Schroer into the league and to subs-turned-full-timers Mike Berlin and Neil Rieger as well. One of these five will come away with Rookie of the Season honors at the end of the season. REMINDER: We will not be bowling next week due to NKC Pro-Bowl being rented out for a private party. Our league will reconvene on Tuesday, September 6th to pick up where we left off.The first matchup of the evening featured long-time leaguers (and apparently permanently named) No Pinheads versus the half-new/half-old Gutterballs. The Pinheads, led by lead off bowler Aubrey Moren and his 482 series, took Game #1 before the Gutterballs' very own Jason Carpio woke up and went into overdrive. Stealing Game #2 by a single pin, the Gutterballs needed every bit of Carpio's 601 series – as well as this week's Most Valuable Bowler performance by newcomer Jonathan Vigliaturo – in order to turn the tides and come away with a 3-1 matchup victory over No Pinheads. The wins starts the Gutterballs' season off right, pushing them into 2nd while No Pinheads begin their title hunt in 5th place. Down a pair on Lanes 19 & 20, the most oddly named team this season – Mysterious Platypus Appendages – took on the co-ed team Skirtz & Jerkz. With Orion Kinkaid leading the way with his out of the game 483 series, the Jerkz looked to be well on their way to a sweep until they were derailed by a mere six pins. All three bowlers present for MPA tonight threw games well above their averages to secure the come-from-behind victory. Teresa Deterding led the MPAs with her 410 series. Skirtz and Jerkz find themselves after the first week in 4th with a record of 3-1 while the MPAs start the season in 6th with the reverse record.After a stellar run last season, the returning members of the renamed Vier Reiter Der Apokalypse wasted no time at all in re-establishing themselves as a team with which to be reckoned. Led by Bill Krejci and his 526 series, the three horsemen and one horselady ended their inaugural night with a 3-1 matchup win over the returning Kitten Mittons, last seen in the Fall of 2010. Ryan Simonet led all bowlers on the Mittons with his 373 series and secured their lone win of the evening. Der Apokalypse gallop up into 3rd while the Mittons quietly cover their paws in 7th place.Having wrapped up the title last season, reigning champions STFU Donny has given noticed that they intend to keep their crown at the end of this season as well. Beginning their season with the lone sweep of the evening over opponents Das Sauer Popes, STFU quickly takes over the first place spot. Anchor Ken M. Wilson's 608 series led the team as well as earned him #1 Power Ranked bowler honors, proving that STFU Donny is not out of their element. The Popes' MIke Berlin smoked up the lanes with his 420 series to lead his team in the losing effort. The Popes begin their season in 8th place.Bowlers having a drink on the house this week at The 200 Club include: Carl Goetz (234), Jason Carpio (225, 211) and Ken M. Wilson (210, 250).Gazing into the crystal ball of the league's very own fortune teller, Murdock the Kinda Good at Times foresees three sweeps next week and one 3-1 outcome across the league. The sweeps, he claims, will belong to STFU over Kitten Mittons, Vier Reiter Der Apokalypse over Das Sauer Popes and No Pinheads over Skirtz and Jerkz. He calls for a single pin victory by the Mysterious Platypus Appendages before Gutterballs reverses their own fortune and takes the matchup 3-1. Will these predictions come true? Who the hell knows. See you next Tuesday!

THIS WEEK'S MVB Jonathan Vigliaturo Runner Up: (See Posting)	#1 POWER BOWLER Ken Wilson Runner Up: Jason Carpio	#1 H2H BOWLER Jason Carpio Runner Up: Ken M. Wilson
FROM THE GUTTER (GUTTER QUOTE) "I went down all the way and came up with nothing." Jennifer Seefeldt, after missing a single-pin spare at the last second.

Well, gang, we are exactly one week away from kicking off the Fall 2011 session of the VML Bowling League, aka GutterAlley! We hope that everyone enjoyed their summer break. During the off-season, good old North Kansas City Pro-Bowl purchased a brand new $47,000 oil machine for the lanes. Upon arrival to roll some practice games during the break after the new machine had been put to use, two employees warned us that we "wouldn't like it." So to anyone that throws a fingertip ball, beware – the shot is radically different than it was last season and it may take you a bit to adjust to the new patterns. Consider yourself warned, hookers!For those of you that are new to the league – including those few that have subbed in the past and have decided to join us full time this season – welcome! New recruits this go around include Gary Schroer, Jonathan Vigliaturo, Kim Wallace, Mike Berlin and Neil Rieger.START DATE: Tuesday, August 23rd at 6:20PM (league bowling starts at 6:30 after ten minutes of practice)LOCATION: NKC Pro Bowl, 505 East 18th Avenue, North Kansas City, MO 64116. Anyone that has been in the league pretty much knows everything else that's about to be told but, just in case you are bored and/or need a refresher, here's the GutterAlley 101 so that you know what to expect in our league: Read the rest of this entry »

And that does it! With the roster completely full, it's time to pick teams. To speed the process up, we here at GutterAlley are going to take a stab at what we think are going to be the teams this season based upon emails received during the recruitment process.Team 1Logjammin' -- Jonathan Vigliaturo, Gary Schroer, Scott Murdock, Jason Carpio*Team 2No Pinheads -- Aubrey Moren, Phil Schroeder, Dennis "Pops" Laube, Freda Schroeder*Team 3Mysterious Platypus Appendages -- Aaron Chandler, Teresa Deterding, AJ Hofmann, Jake Parrott*Team 4Skirtz & Jerkz -- Neil Rieger*, Kim Wallace, Orion Kinkaid, Jennifer Seefeldt Team 5Vier Reiter Der Apokalypse -- Kelly Anderson, Rob Kaszuba, Bill Krejci, Ryan Doll*Team 6Kitten Mittons -- Alison Radke*, Kelly Sands, Ryan Simonet, Nick Allegri Team 7Das Sauer Popes -- Emily Podhajsky*, Eric Summers, Sarah Sauer, Mike Berlin Team 8STFU Donny -- Seth Gunderson, Ian Goetz, Carl Goetz, Ken M. Wilson*If this is not the case, please let me know as soon as possible.Once a team is officially set, we will bold it. In order to make a team "official," we need to know three pieces of information:1. The order in which you want to bowl...2. Your team's name...3. The team captain.That's it!