Pet Peevs of Team your Bowling Against

[stargell1]

We have a guy who always swears and throws things. It is usually something like a towel but last thursday he threw his wrist support on the floor. I told him to calm down and he tried to stare me down. Then he told me where to go and how to get there. So I told him that he is looking like a jerk and calm himself before someone gets hurt. He knows I am a bouncer and I reminded him this is a game and that nobody is playing for a million dollars. I also reminded him that I would kill for his average. He did calm down but this is an ongoing issue with him. Every week he freaks out and it seems to be my job to calm him down. I took the league president last week that this guy needs a talking to.
The other issue I have with other teams is the long smoke breaks. It slows us down and takes me out of my groove. Then the same people take forever to throw their ball. I swear it took 2 minutes one night. I am a beginner and to me these both issue show a lack of resprect for the game.

Smoke breaks in leagues should not be allowed. It's disrespectful. It's not an issue in tennis leagues because no one who plays tennis smokes.

[Mike White]

Smoke breaks in leagues should not be allowed. It's disrespectful. It's not an issue in tennis leagues because no one who plays tennis smokes.

It's quite a stretch to say NO ONE who plays tennis, smokes.

[2rott]

Last year we had a very elderly person on one of the teams that had to be helped on the lane every time she bowled. After throwing the ball she stayed at the line & had to be coaxed back by a relative. Whoever was on either side of her, had to put their ball back down because of the long wait. If you were up at the line before her, she was not held back by that relative & you would have to wait again. The league is probably some kind of therapy for her, but I'm not sure if just bowling on the open lanes, non league time, would do just as well.
With this said, I didn't hear too much grumbling by others because we're all sympathetic to her plight & I wonder if I would be in the same situation someday.

[NewToBowling]

It's quite a stretch to say NO ONE who plays tennis, smokes.

In tournament settings or if there were tennis "leagues" I'm sure majority would not take smoke breaks between sets. In bowling it seems to be the norm.

[zacks]

Thank goodness my bowling alley has the foul lights turned on in practice. I havent bowled in a league yet that people take two shots in practice in a row. My mens league has the rack reset after every shot and with 5 people on each team it is definitely needed.

So my house has the lights on in warm-ups and you can trip them to reset a full rack if you don't strike. 97% of the bowlers in my leagues will do this as a courtesy to the guy (or gal) behind them as the rule in our house is one shot, then move to the end of the line. The 3% that don't usually are newer bowlers that tend to forget to do it.

I'm bringing this topic back up because last night something happened. I bowl with my fiancee, my friend, and his fiancee. My friend's fiancee threw a non strike, started to turn and walk away, then quickly remembered to trip the foul light just in time.

A guy on the other team had some words under his breath that were loud enough for everyone to hear, something like 'it doesn't matter, just keep the line moving'. He didn't look at anyone when he said this so everyone just kind of shook it off and moved on.

Next lane over, my friend's fiancee throws another non strike, hits the foul lights immediately, guy throws is arms up. No words, just body language with some attitude.

One more time, non-strike, the habitual foul and again, guy goes nuts. He doesn't really say anything comprehensible, just over-dramatically throws his hands in the air and mumbles to himself. We were a little baffled, as he just grabbed his ball and went to throw.

I told my friends fiancee to just leave whatever slop is left for him, because maybe that's what he wants.

He settled down for the next couple shots, then towards the end of warm-ups, he ended up behind me. Now I didn't notice this and when I left the greek church I hit the foul line. Uh-oh. He went ballistic. 'Why did you hit the foul lights? You're not supposed to hit the foul lights.'

I said, 'What, you wanted to practice shooting the greek church?' 'Yes' he said. 'Sure you did.' I sarcastically said back.

Now I know I didn't handle this the best way, but he never said anything to us about not fouling in front of him, and never actually said anything directly to any of us until he said that to me.

I asked his teammate a little later (other two team members were absent) if he goes ballistic like that every week and why if for some reason he wants to shoot at slop he doesn't just use 'his big boy words' instead of being rude with attitude, especially to the girls on our team.

He responded, because the machine is faster if it cycles regularly and it's in the league rules. The first one is mostly not true, and the second one was never mentioned in the league meeting, so I'm requesting a copy of the rules because the other two leagues that I bowl in in our house have no such rule (I have those rules, just not this league).

I corrected him on the first one, the machine is faster to sweep and spot a fresh rack unless two shots are thrown fast enough to not let the pins replenish, in which the difference is negligible and the next person is usually not ready that fast anyway (including the guy throwing the fit!).

The rest of the night the other guy never high-fived anyone, never acknowledged anyone, never spoke to anyone (not that he had been acknowledging anyone prior to this anyway). I'm not sure if this is the guy's normal attitude or not. I know of him, have seen him around, but haven't bowled against him since probably 2010 or so when I was in this same league before (for only one summer season).

I'm just thinking if the guy has an issue, or even just a preference, why not speak politely first instead of just giving attitude? The thought crossed my mind that maybe this guy has a mental or social disability.

The reason for my rant is not only to rant, but to ask if I'm the one out of line here?

Sorry if I went a little off topic.

[Amyers]

I myself got a little pissed off last week we were on lanes 1 and 2 and the ball returns were not working properly. This is an older house and there are only enough room on the rack for 11-12 balls before there is an issue. Their were 5-6 instances where my spare did not come back even though I stopped to wait on it a bit so my teammate said he would get it. I guess he forgot or maybe it wasn't back by the end of his turn. The first I got a "too many balls on the rack" even though the rack wasn't dangerously over loaded I didn't think anything about it and went back and removed it. The second time it was "someone get there d*** spare off the rack" and I explained what was evident that the ball returns were not functioning properly and that I didn't want to hold the game up for 5 minutes every time I threw the spare. It happened to a couple of other bowlers too and finally in the third game I got " Get your d*** spare off the rack directly at me" Where I finally exploded and told him he could remove my spare himself or I'd happily store it up his a$$ the next time he cursed in my direction.

It wasn't like the rack was dangerously overloaded or that it wasn't happening to the others also it just seemed to have more problems with my spare than the others. I did strike out the last 5 balls and we took 2 out of 3 so I left with a

[zacks]

I myself got a little pissed off last week we were on lanes 1 and 2 and the ball returns were not working properly. This is an older house and there are only enough room on the rack for 11-12 balls before there is an issue. Their were 5-6 instances where my spare did not come back even though I stopped to wait on it a bit so my teammate said he would get it. I guess he forgot or maybe it wasn't back by the end of his turn. The first I got a "too many balls on the rack" even though the rack wasn't dangerously over loaded I didn't think anything about it and went back and removed it. The second time it was "someone get there d*** spare off the rack" and I explained what was evident that the ball returns were not functioning properly and that I didn't want to hold the game up for 5 minutes every time I threw the spare. It happened to a couple of other bowlers too and finally in the third game I got " Get your d*** spare off the rack directly at me" Where I finally exploded and told him he could remove my spare himself or I'd happily store it up his a$$ the next time he cursed in my direction.

It wasn't like the rack was dangerously overloaded or that it wasn't happening to the others also it just seemed to have more problems with my spare than the others. I did strike out the last 5 balls and we took 2 out of 3 so I left with a

I think sometimes people have a bad day then try to take it out on others. Sometimes people are just always grumpy.

Sometimes if there are a lot of balls on the rack, instead of waiting for my spare ball I'll grab my strike ball and bring it back with me or put it on the bottom rack if the other side is clear of others bowling. Though sometimes I go for my next shot and can't find my strike ball. Lol.

[billf]

1. Super slow bowlers
2. Really loud music
3. Bowlers that complain when they throw a flat shot and leave an 8-10, 7-9, single pin. etc..

On a side note: Our scratch league has been for warm ups one and done. We don't reset the rack. Next guy has no obligation to attempt the spare but don't reset the rack. Like, seriously, do you really need the pins to tell if you got back to the pocket? These are 5 man teams and we get probably 10+ rolls each. Our men's handicap league use to be shoot your own spare. You were lucky to get four rolls. Two seasons ago I brought it up at the league meeting and this one now is also one and done. Now the better bowlers don't feel like they are getting punished for throwing strikes during warm ups.

[fordman1]

I blew my top last Friday when the lead off man on the other team went out side and took a 5-6 minute smoke break after the 1st and 2nd game. We had to go looking for him to get him back. Then he had the balls to go out after the 4th frame of the last game and that was when I went out side and yelled a bunch of F bombs and read him the riot act. I explained in no uncertain terms that he was not special and had no right to make everyone wait while he indulged his filthy habit. He was upset but kept his mouth shut for the most part. After we finished he came up to me and apologized. I think he really was sorry. That ended it!

[zacks]

I blew my top last Friday when the lead off man on the other team went out side and took a 5-6 minute smoke break after the 1st and 2nd game. We had to go looking for him to get him back. Then he had the balls to go out after the 4th frame of the last game and that was when I went out side and yelled a bunch of F bombs and read him the riot act. I explained in no uncertain terms that he was not special and had no right to make everyone wait while he indulged his filthy habit. He was upset but kept his mouth shut for the most part. After we finished he came up to me and apologized. I think he really was sorry. That ended it!

Some people simply don't get it. They're oblivious to the fact that 5, 6, 7, 8 other people are sitting and waiting on them.