How do I Sub?

[ArtVandelay]

I spend about $15 to $30 a week for opening bowling of about 3 to 5 games per visit...

........................................

...i am not ready to commit to a full season investment.

Youre spending about what I spend to bowl a week. I pay $13 for the league, and I always buy my team a bucket of beer which either costs about $24 after a tip, or a week of blood farts... I hate the markup at my alley. But I only bowl once a week, 3 games, all in league. For me, thats about all my schedule will allow. I can get a better value open bowling on discounted times, but I enjoy league more.

You know what? Start an excel sheet. Make an exact list of how much you are spending on bowling per week. You have 2 to 3 months to get your budget together before summer leagues start. If you can really afford $15-30 a week for bowling, you can probably afford a league once or maybe even twice a week. Now, you would have to drink water, but if that floats your boat, then why not?

[SmilingBowler]

An average is just that. If I were to run into you at the bowling alley and you said your average was between 160 and 170 I would look right at you and say, "So only 165" and walk away. Why? Because an average isn't about, around or between any two numbers. It is what it is. You keep your games on your app on your phone so it will give you your actual, up to the date, right now, average. It won't say between, around or about but a real number. Those are facts and a "real" or "serious" bowler that wants to sub on my team had better know his average at a minimum.

We do have a guy with a 185 average and another at 164 on our team. I don't mind averages that low in a handicap league but I do need to know what I can realistically expect out of any player on my team on any given night. If it's a situation where I know ahead of time that I need to make up an average of 15 extra pins a game I need to know that BEFORE hand, not after. There was one day a teammate was injured at work. He wanted to bowl and I'm always OK with that. He said he would probably be about 30 pins under average though and would sit out if we wanted. Derrick and I both said "I got it" at the same time. Rod bowled an average of 15 pins under each game but Derrick and I both shot in the 790s destroying the other team. That doesn't mean that there aren't any off games. There always will be for any of us but they are the exception not the rule. Am I making any sense?

Personally, I'm obsessed with tracking my progress. As I just said on Twitter a moment ago, I have 8 different apps on my iPhone for scoring bowling games. Some I'm still testing out, but I really like the one I recently found here mentioned in the POST YOUR SCORES sticky thread. My blog here is now designed to keep my stats for my record and for all those others who are curious about my success. I feel the best way to improve is to focus on the positive. So, the more and more I can look at my best scores, the more likely they are to happen.

When it comes to paying for my leagues, the Monday Night Mens League is a money league. $20/week and everyone on a team roster gets paid at the end of the year, based on games played, team finish, personal bests and other accolades. The Thursday Night Mixed is a banquet league. $17/week with prize money and an Open Bar, all you can eat buffet banquet at the end of the season. The Wednesday Night Mixed Non-Sanctioned League is just $13/week and a nice banquet with neat door prizes (like bowling towels, a bottle of ball cleaner, etc.) and we usually have a Pin Boy and Pin Gal - where they dress up pins and honor a bowler for whatever they choose. $50/week in bowling isn't bad in my book, especially knowing I can get a hefty chunk back between the USBC leagues.

Another bonus, because I'm a league member at our local house, I can bowl practice games for $1 9-11AM on Sunday mornings. This has helped big time. These are the times that I may play alternate games, like aiming to shoot Brooklyn to set up different, uncommon spares or playing "Catch 22" which you've probably seen me talk about on other posts here. All in all its worth it. The more I bowl, the more I can focus on my strengths and knock out the little things before they become weaknesses.