How to calculate averages

[snafu]

Firstly, a "200 average bowler" doesn't average 175 either during a slump or condition change (I assume you mean pattern change), as far as illness, Jimmy Connors said: If you are ill don't play and if you do play don't complain.

[billf]

This season, in three leagues combined, I averaged 238 for Aug., 234 for Sep and 202 for Oct thus far. This includes a 480 series two weeks ago. So how could a 200 ave bowler not slump and ave 175 for a month?

[bowl1820]

Firstly, a "200 average bowler" doesn't average 175 either during a slump or condition change (I assume you mean pattern change), as far as illness, Jimmy Connors said: If you are ill don't play and if you do play don't complain.

It's just as likely as a 160 average bowler averaging 185 for a 4 week period. As for the ill bowler, he's not complaining. he averaged 185 for the last 4 weeks and now that he's better He's reaping the reward of your system. he has a handicap based on a 185 average, instead of the 195 average he would have had using the old system.

The 200 ave. bowler doesn't have to be ill or whatever, he could be a sandbagger. That 4 week average system made it real easy to do. He could dump 2 weeks out of the 4 and go into a position round with a nice little handicap bonus.

The old system his ave. wouldn't have dropped that much just dumping 2 weeks.

Yes These might be extreme examples and not likely to happen in real life. But they are meant to show that every system has flaw. You close the door for one person, you open it for another.

This whole thing is the handicap/average argument that has been going on for years. Your system isn't new, but if you can get your league to do it and they are happy with it fine. Hey go for it I'm not telling you not to do it.

[snafu]

You know...you are quite right.

Last year a member of my team pointed to a player on an adjacent lane and predicted that he would miss his spare, when I asked how he know he answered that whenever that bowler wasn't going to win his game he dumped. He said that he was surprised I hadn't noticed. I said that in 50 or so years of bowling I had never thrown a game and it would never have occurred to me that someone would.

Handicaps are a problem, the answer is, of course, as we did in tennis and other sports to have competitions graded and all scratch. But bowling doesn't work that way.

[billf]

My scratch league works like that. You are paired against the other team based off of average. High score wins. My opponent last week had a first game of 98, easy win. Second game was in the 230s. He wasn't sandbagging as there is no reason to in that league. Plus I knew they had changed the oil and the machine was serviced so I wasn't as stuck on trying to play my normal line (if I even have one) as the other guys. Out of 60 bowlers I was the only one who was above average the first game. Guys that means I bowl with 59 typical house bowlers lol