When sweeps leads to sandbagging…bad things happen...
So our team was in a battle tonight. I knew we would struggle in Game 1 against a team that featured two high rev thumbless bowlers…but I've watched that team other weeks and they tend to fade over the course of the night. They put so much into revving up the ball…that they just get tired. And they really struggle with spares when they don't strike.
So Game 1 we lose…Game 2 we win. In Game 3 it's close…but we have the upper hand going into the 10th. Our 3rd bowler…opens in the 10th after a 4-bagger. Then I get up and I leave a 1-2-4 and chop the 2-4 off of it leaving the headpin. So our chances of winning 3 points are gone. We still can split…but our anchor would need to mark. He strikes…then misses completely and hits only the 10-pin. So he's pissed…and figures we have the pins to win the game and split…so as usual…he intentionally misses to keep his average as low as possible.
The "problem" is…he did the math wrong…and if the other team's anchor strikes out…they beat us by 2 pins and take 3 points. Well, the other team's anchor strikes out and we lose by two pins. The old guy on our team was NOT happy and couldn't understand why the anchor would just toss the ball in the gutter on his last throw.
Now, this happens routinely on both Tuesday and Wednesday leagues. Both anchors are more concerned with their average going into sweeps than they are with trying to acheive a high average. And while I don't like that practice, I can certainly understand why they do it. They see other people sandbagging and winning $400-$1200 in Vegas…so they figure they might as well do so as well.
I'm not mad at our anchor…I actually feel bad for him because he just simply did the math wrong. And really, had me and the other guy picked up our make-able spares in the 10th…our anchor wouldn't have been in a bad spot and we could have not only easily won game 3; but we could have taken overall points as well. So, I think I would have been more upset if I had struck out and we were in the running for 2 points and then the anchor just purposely tanks.
Sandbagging…it just never seems to end.
In Bag: (: .) Motiv Trident Odyssey; (: .) Hammer Scorpion Sting; (: .) Brunswick Endeavor; (: .) Radical Outer Limits Pearl; (: .) Ebonite Maxim
USBC#: 8259-59071; USBC Sanctioned Average = 186; Lifetime Average = 171;
Ball Speed: 14.4mph; Rev. Rate: 240rpm || High Game (sanc.) = 300 (268); High Series (sanc.) = 725 (720); Clean Games: 181
Smokey this is not 'Nam', this is bowling. There are rules. Proud two-time winner of a bowlingboards.com weekly ball give-away!
I'm sorry that's just pathetic especially from your anchor. They are in that position for a reason and really shouldn't be doing things like that. I understand they see others doing things like that around them but if you are contributing to the problem you are the problem.
I am a proud member of Bowlingboards.com bowling forums and ball contest winner
Current arsenal
900 Global Badger Claw - Radical Ridiculous Pearl - Spare Ball Ebonite T Zone
If any bowler on my team did that, it would be the last time that he ever bowled on my team, period!Originally Posted by Amyers
Yeah, I would be mad at him. I don't even care if it was a math error, it was purely selfish/unsportsmanlike on his part. Amyers nailed it.
I wouldn't bowl with a guy that did that!!
Irregardless of the win and points, it's just poor sportsmanship to not make an effort to score points for your team.
The other issue besides losing the points for his team is that by sandbagging for sweeps, he is also cheating his teammates who are his competition for singles and doubles in sweeps. Sandbagging is cheating. Just because there is money involved in sweeps, it's still cheating, however he tries to justify it. The man has no integrity, pure and simple.
Agreed. Looks like he isn't much of a team player. Don't need enemies with friends like these
The old guy on our team is a real character. He has 16 bowling balls and brings at least 8 with him each night. He has a Hyper Cell Skid, a Jackal, a Bad Intentions, a Columbia Smackdown, a Radical Guru, a Hammer Deadly Aim, a Track HX, etc… He's a decent bowler…but inconsistent. He also has a bowle issue that is really difficult on me bowling after him…lets just say sometimes he "drops a bomb" before my turn.
Now THIS guy…he takes bowling seriously. He keeps asking me if I want to be anchor because I'm better than our anchor. I keep refusing because it really doesn't matter. And the old guy is really competitive…so he's always taunting the anchor and joking around.
Well, after our anchor (a young guy, probably 20s, thumbless bowler) threw the 2nd one in the gutter…the old guy had this crazy surprised look on his face and just instinctively says, "What the %*^& did you do that for!!" And the anchor responded…"uhhh…because there's no way they can beat us and make up the pins anyways so it doesn't matter." The old guy still couldn't figure it out. He doesn't understand the sandbagging aspect.
Well…once the kid realized…we could still lose if the other anchor (who was on FIRE that night) struck twice with good count…lets just say after the game was over I thought there was gonna be a fight. The old guy was really giving it to him. I tried to play peacemaker…pointing out that had HE (the old guy) and I…not totally choked in the 10th and opened…we might have had a chance at 2 points…so it's all good. But I was waiting for the kid to just lose it and yell something like "Ughh…maybe your dumb *** could throw the same ball the same way for more than 2 shots and actually strike more than twice a game…maybe THEN I wouldn't have to mark twice in the 10th just to take 1 point!!" And then that would have been the end of the team. The fat lady has missed 2 straight weeks…so if we lost our anchor…we could be down to 3.
I wasn't happy about it…and it bothers me when people sandbag. I guess I'm just so used to it that it doesn't phase me anymore. I've watched guys bowl lefthanded and dump it in the gutter every shot while establishing…I've watched anchors on teams bowl well when needed and then do nothing for half a game and you have a 200 average bowler bowl a 117…and I even heard with my own ears last season as the woman who won sweeps earlier in the season flat out said that she doesn't really try during the regular season…it's about sweeps. And, the won like $700 as the top female last season in Vegas. Hell…I had a guy elbowing me…claiming that I was sandbagging just because I opened the first game with 7 straight spares…as if I was intentionally trying to miss right and leave the 1-2 every shot.
But here's what is annoying about that night (besides losing the 2 points)…I shot a 195. In Game 2, I had a 166 in the 8th then spared twice giving me a 195 with a fill ball to throw. A gutter ball and I have a 195-195 after 2 games…might have a shot at a triplicate. And Game 2 we were getting smoked anyways…so my fill shot didn't really matter. And in Game 3…as long as I didn't strike in the 10th…I'd have a shot at that 3rd 195. I ended up with a 7 on the first ball in the 10th and could have just chopped a pin off the 1-2-4 and that would have gave me 195 for a 195-195-195 triplicate. But…like the old guy on our team…and like Iceman I'm sure would say…I just can't do that. I try my best on every shot unless there's some rare situation where the team would benefit from me not trying my best.
But things like that…just makes me want to find a suitable scratch league sooner rather than later.
I never liked sandbagging. Never have, and never will. If someone is going to try and bowl even a little bit seriously, then they give 110% all the time, not just when they need to make their average. They will never develop as a teammate (or bowler) if they play like that. Whether money is involved or not, that's a selfish move.
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