Dumping sandbagging whatever

[TheSheibs]

Ah, yes. The sandbaggers. The people who don't bowl to their full potential for a number of reasons. i.e. wanting to keep their average down because of another league that requires a specific average, not caring about how they do in a specific league, Knowing they will win against a specific team without bowling their best, etc, etc. There are all kinds of reasons people come up with for not doing their best. There are some who do it because of a strategy that their team has come up with for whatever reason. Some who bowl in a summer league say that they don't care because it is a summer league and they are trying new things or taking it easy or whatever. IN MY OPINION, screw them. If you are not going to go out and give it your best shot, wither it be to help the team win or to get a new personal best, you should always try your best. If not, then screw them. I do not like people who sandbag and even though with my starting average and ending average being different by 29 pins, I was not sandbagging. I know that there were some people who thought that when I started to hit in the 180-213 range for three weeks in a row. But I was also bowling 6-20+ games a week in practice. Practice makes perfect. If i suspect someone of sandbagging, I have no problem going up to them and asking why they are not hitting their average. Most of the time the answer is that they are having an off night. That happens but it doesn't happen for several weeks in a row. And about not trying to hard at the beginning of the season, screw that. I'm out there to meet people, have fun, and improve my own average. If that means hitting a high average on the first night and then having it drop throughout the season, so be it.

I'll get off my soap box now before this turns into a novel.

[Hot_pocket]

Ah, yes. The sandbaggers. The people who don't bowl to their full potential for a number of reasons. i.e. wanting to keep their average down because of another league that requires a specific average, not caring about how they do in a specific league, Knowing they will win against a specific team without bowling their best, etc, etc. There are all kinds of reasons people come up with for not doing their best. There are some who do it because of a strategy that their team has come up with for whatever reason. Some who bowl in a summer league say that they don't care because it is a summer league and they are trying new things or taking it easy or whatever. IN MY OPINION, screw them. If you are not going to go out and give it your best shot, wither it be to help the team win or to get a new personal best, you should always try your best. If not, then screw them. I do not like people who sandbag and even though with my starting average and ending average being different by 29 pins, I was not sandbagging. I know that there were some people who thought that when I started to hit in the 180-213 range for three weeks in a row. But I was also bowling 6-20+ games a week in practice. Practice makes perfect. If i suspect someone of sandbagging, I have no problem going up to them and asking why they are not hitting their average. Most of the time the answer is that they are having an off night. That happens but it doesn't happen for several weeks in a row. And about not trying to hard at the beginning of the season, screw that. I'm out there to meet people, have fun, and improve my own average. If that means hitting a high average on the first night and then having it drop throughout the season, so be it.

I'll get off my soap box now before this turns into a novel.

well said im with you on it how i feel is if u dump and i know you do it when i bowl you that low average wont save you because i will be trying my best to shoot 700 and up

[billf]

A guy on my team tonight bowled a 156 first game. Second game, second ball of tenth frame he very obviously put it in the gutter. I was livid. I asked him what the hell he was doing? Turns out it was a 156. Said he wanted a triplicate patch. Game three he miscounted and bowled a 182. I was thrilled he didn't accomplish his goal. I've wanted to replace him for over a year now but don't know another available bowler that can afford it.

[chrono00]

A guy on my team tonight bowled a 156 first game. Second game, second ball of tenth frame he very obviously put it in the gutter. I was livid. I asked him what the hell he was doing? Turns out it was a 156. Said he wanted a triplicate patch. Game three he miscounted and bowled a 182. I was thrilled he didn't accomplish his goal. I've wanted to replace him for over a year now but don't know another available bowler that can afford it.

did the gutter cost your team a win?

if not, thats one of those times I could let it slide. it's hard to bowl 3 in a row like that. i've doubled it with two 187's but never all 3 games.

[mdlee3]

I have a couple experiences with this type of thing from both sides of the argument.

A couple summers ago, I had thumb surgery. When fall league started, I started off with a low 500 series, like 510 or so. Now, keep in mind, I only average 180-185 usually so it wasn't that much of a drop off. On this particular day, I felt I was throwing a good ball, but I wasn't getting a lot of the carry I would usually get, probably due to still recovering from my surgery. The next week, I improved a little bit, bowling around a 540 series. The following week, I break out and bowl a 653 series. Now, everybody on the league knows how I bowl and knows I can range from about a 470 to about a 680 series. Unfortunately, this team we were bowling against was a new team in the league and to this day, they still swear that I sandbagged in that particular league.

On the same league, each season when we bowl this one certain team for the first time, they always bring in the captain's wife to bowl against us. This happens every year except for last season when we actually bowled this team the first week. Every year though, this woman never bowls until it's time to bowl against us. After that, she'll bowl against other teams. She usually starts with about a 130 average, but each time she bowls against us after that first time, she's always close to a 600 series, sometimes missing it by a few pins, one time she bowled a 698 against us with 60+ pins of handicap.

I'm completely against sandbagging and if I can prove somebody is doing it, I will speak to my league officers or tournament officials about it. Even if nothing gets done, it's better than just sitting back and letting it go with no complaints. Unfortunately, it's too hard to prove that somebody is sandbagging compared to just having a horrible day. I'll use my own bowling as an example. I leave a lot of 10 pins and I also go brooklyn a lot and if I don't get a strike, I will often leave the 5 pin. I'm generally horrible at the 10 pin, picking up just over 50% of them if I had to guess. I generally don't miss the 5 pin unless I pull it. However, if I wanted to sandbag, I could easily miss a few 10 pins on purpose or whiff on a 5 pin. That alone would keep my average low enough that I'd have a decent handicap. Now, I don't do that. It really aggravates me to miss single pin spares and I do want the highest possible average I can possibly get.

[billf]

I bowled against the guy I consider the best in the county last season. I beat him 8 of 9 games scratch. During "our" season series he averaged 258. I averaged 271 against him. The whole season was a 184. I wasn't sandbagging, at least not on purpose. I just tend to bowl better than normal against the better bowlers and awful against the lower average bowlers.

[Tokes]

Really I was just irritated that every time I missed a spare my teammates were like good job and every time I made a strike or spare they were like don't try so hard and don't score so high. Also, kinda embarassed that my teammate would go up say im not even trying a njust chuck it close to the gutter each time. Hopefully sunday goes better and we can win 1 of the 3 games.

[billf]

Last season my brother-in-law was on a team that wanted him to sandbag. What was odd is the guy pushing it would bowl his best. I think that guy just had insecurity issues and wanted to have the highest average on the team. It was a mixed league (2 female, 2 males) and his then wife was on the team.

[wdc1987]

We have a guy in our local house that tells us to drop our average by 25 pins atleast and then start going to the tournaments. But what do you learn by doing this. Id rather bowl to my full potential and come in last place so i can come back next time as a better bowler! I have seen guys drop their average during league because they were playing a team the next week that was getting 125 hc.

[Hot_pocket]

Really I was just irritated that every time I missed a spare my teammates were like good job and every time I made a strike or spare they were like don't try so hard and don't score so high. Also, kinda embarassed that my teammate would go up say im not even trying a njust chuck it close to the gutter each time. Hopefully sunday goes better and we can win 1 of the 3 games.

See this really dont like...they dump while losing games. People dont realize just how important the first couple weeks are when i won my first adult league even though it came down to a roll off...we were ahead by alot of points because we were bowling seriously. Throwing games while dumping is just a waste of money because know one is guaranteed bowling good.