Sandbagging Suggestions

[95yj]

Sandbagging is an old and sore subject but the league down here is facing it and it really shows up because of the format of the league. We are not in the States and therefore no ABC rules (17a) apply. The issue gets discussed every year but no one figures out how to do anything about it and the house (who runs the league) doesn't want to throw out any teams or players for financial reasons because we are a small island and the main men's league is only 12 teams of 4 players.

The format of the fall league, which I think is the biggest issue, is 13 weeks twice a week. Playoffs consist of the top eight teams playing a round robin with the other seven teams with individual averages frozen to the end of the first 13 weeks. Top two teams of the round robin play off against each other for first and second. There is no prize money as each team is sponsored with all league dues paid and no extra money for prizes, banquets or the like. This last statement makes sandbagging even more ridiculous.

It seems that every year there's an issue with sandbaggers. This year, there's a team with eight bowlers, all but one carrying between 160 and 177. The one honest guy has a 190+ average. Most individual averages in the league are between 170 and 210 with the mean around a 190. The team finished the year with a 684 average (four players) but through six playoff nights has won 35 of 42 points and is carrying a 798 average. Four of their 160-177 bowlers are carrying, 191, 197, 197 and 215 averages in the playoffs. The 177 bowler with the 215 playoff average consistently misses the pocket in leagues and is burying every ball in the playoffs. We bowled a scratch 900+ (four bowlers with no handicap) and lost by 40 some pins.

The league will probably not change their playoff format. Anyone have any ideas on how to minimize the appeal for teams to sandbag, use pin management, cheat or whatever term you want to use? We are looking for ideas to present in the captains' meeting before the next league starts. We could probably walk in with a 650 average and manage to make the top eight teams and then carry an 840 or higher in the playoffs, but that's not an acceptable solution.

[bowl1820]

Simple change it to a scratch league.

Since there is no prize money, banquets or prizes and no one has to pay. all thats left is bragging rights. So going scratch is the simplest answer.

[Zothen]

Since the house you bowl in is not willing to enforce a sandbagging rule do to financial loss,the only real way to do it is to make that league a scratch league. The other suggestion is to have a high avg prize fund where everyone chips in say $5-$10 week and if money is high enough the sandbaggers might disappear. The real problem is can you prove they are sandbagging and is this a sanctioned league?

Zothen

[Greenday]

Well, if money is their biggest concern, get enough non-sandbagging teams to say they'll quit if the house refuses to make fair rules.

[bowl1820]

Wow banned, didn't see that coming.

[95yj]

Wow banned, didn't see that coming.

That threw me for a loop also. Didn't know what I did wrong. It turned out that my email address: mail@..... got automatically flagged as generic.

Anyways, thanks for the responses. Unfortunately, making this a scratch league isn't really an option. In my experience, not too many people under a 190 will join a scratch league due to lack of competitiveness. Plus anyone who did wouldn't get to bowl too much if there were higher averages on their team. This would cut the league down from the 14 men's teams we fielded this year to probably 6 teams. We just aren't a big enough island to support a scratch league.

Any other suggestions?

[billf]

If this is a handicap league, place a cap on the amount of handicap an individual bowler can have. Then instead of a sandbagger getting 30 pins of help they will get say, 10 instead.

[Stormed1]

I thing would be to put in a drop rule. Or make it a scratch league with a team limit

[ArtVandelay]

How long has the league been around? I was in a company league that had been established for about 10 years before I joined it. They had a problem with sandbagging at one point too, but it stopped. Our company league wasn't USBC sanctioned. I'm not sure if that's why this worked, BUT for the most part everyone who bowled stayed the same from year to year to year and they knew what the league average was. This wasn't the greatest league ever and they decided to set the handicap at 200.

So, you'd bowl your 3 games and let's say you have a 180 - 190 - 170. You would take 200 x 3 (games played) = 600. Your series was 180 + 190 + 170 = 540. So you take the series 600 - 540 = 60. At THAT point they would take 60 and divide it by the 3 games bowled (which equals 20) and multiply 20 by 0.90 and determine the handicap to be 18 pins. And that formula was applied for EVERYONE, so if you had someone who bowled 3 series of 80 on the dot, their handicap would be 108.

Well, once they figured out how people who had good averages were sandbagging, they decided to structure the handicap. If your average was under 100, you got 95% of the pins for handicap. If you were 100-120, you'd get 90%, 120-140 you get 80%, and so on and so on. It took some work because we had to develop an excel spreadsheet, as people would jump from bracket to bracket as the season went on, but it wasn't WORTH it to sandbag too horribly unless you planned on STAYING there and never getting better, which is almost counter-productive. Why would you work that hard to suck when you can work hard to be good and keep your pins?

It's a weird system, but that excel sheet really helped and it seemed to work!