I can't believe what I saw last night.

[Cdolcejr]

So last night in league, I saw one of the most obvious and blatant occurrences of sandbagging that I’ve ever seen in my life. This guy John who has a 205 average in the league had struck from the 3rd frame to the 9th frame of the third game. For the 10th frame, he then picked up a yellow house ball and chucked it straight into the channel. At first I couldn’t believe what I had just witnessed. I then realized that he probably was getting a pin out of the gutter (I was a few lanes down and couldn’t see too well). I decided to get a little closer to see his score. He had a gutter in the 10th on a 7 bagger and then threw a crappy shot with absolutely no intent to knock down pins thus opening the 10th.

I know its summer league and it’s supposed to be fun, but in all honesty I kept my distance because I was beyond furious. I asked others around me if they saw what I just saw- I thought I was hallucinating. Another guy saw it too. I ended up letting it go because if I went over there I would’ve flipped out. I’m thinking about talking to the league president but I know they won’t do anything about it.

My question to you is- what would you have done if you were in my shoes and witnessed this? Am I overreacting?

[John Anderson]

You are definitely over reacting and have anger issues if you are that mad over this.

Is it right? No. Should you be that mad? No. It's basically a minor form of cheating. If it's that big of a deal, kindly discuss it with the league president.

[fortheloveofbowling]

So last night in league, I saw one of the most obvious and blatant occurrences of sandbagging that I’ve ever seen in my life. This guy John who has a 205 average in the league had struck from the 3rd frame to the 9th frame of the third game. For the 10th frame, he then picked up a yellow house ball and chucked it straight into the channel. At first I couldn’t believe what I had just witnessed. I then realized that he probably was getting a pin out of the gutter (I was a few lanes down and couldn’t see too well). I decided to get a little closer to see his score. He had a gutter in the 10th on a 7 bagger and then threw a crappy shot with absolutely no intent to knock down pins thus opening the 10th.

I know its summer league and it’s supposed to be fun, but in all honesty I kept my distance because I was beyond furious. I asked others around me if they saw what I just saw- I thought I was hallucinating. Another guy saw it too. I ended up letting it go because if I went over there I would’ve flipped out. I’m thinking about talking to the league president but I know they won’t do anything about it.

My question to you is- what would you have done if you were in my shoes and witnessed this? Am I overreacting?

You were ticked because you are a bowler and not someone who just bowls and that has zero to do with average or talent. That crap flies in a have a ball league or some bar league but not a legitimate league with a higher concentration of BOWLERS. Fortunately, the area i live in would not tolerate that type of blatant sandbagging. I say blatant because even in a more competitive area you will still have people sandbag just not so obvious. Either way, wrong is wrong.

[Cdolcejr]

You are definitely over reacting and have anger issues if you are that mad over this.

Is it right? No. Should you be that mad? No. It's basically a minor form of cheating. If it's that big of a deal, kindly discuss it with the league president.

I probably do have anger issues and am overreacting, but I disagree that it is a minor form of cheating. For instance, if this guy's average should be 220 and he's keeping it down at 205, that's a significant difference.

Handicap is 90% of 230 in this league. That means if his average is 205 he will get an extra 22 pins per game {(230-205)X 0.9}. That equates to 66 pins over three games. Let says that he is in reality 220. {(230-220)X 0.9}= 9 handicap pins per game/ 27 games per series. The difference is 13 extra pins per game or approximately 40 pins per series. To beat this person, I would need to shoot 40 pins higher than him if he just shot his average of 205 each game. If he needs to bowl better than that to beat me, he is certainly capable.

[Cdolcejr]

You were ticked because you are a bowler and not someone who just bowls and that has zero to do with average or talent. That crap flies in a have a ball league or some bar league but not a legitimate league with a higher concentration of BOWLERS. Fortunately, the area i live in would not tolerate that type of blatant sandbagging. I say blatant because even in a more competitive area you will still have people sandbag just not so obvious. Either way, wrong is wrong.

That's what pissed me off- he wasn't like a 150 average or something, he's clearly one of the better, more experienced bowlers in the league and blatantly did that to cheat. With that said, I have no respect for him. It basically says to all the lesser experienced bowlers that it's ok to cheat.

[fortheloveofbowling]

That's what pissed me off- he wasn't like a 150 average or something, he's clearly one of the better, more experienced bowlers in the league and blatantly did that to cheat. With that said, I have no respect for him. It basically says to all the lesser experienced bowlers that it's ok to cheat.

So even at a 205 average he is not a bowler, just someone who bowls. Just to clarify, i have no problem with people who just bowl. I have a problem with people who cheat at bowling. Sorry you have to deal with people on your league like that.

[Cdolcejr]

Luckily its just a summer league and I won't have to deal with him for much longer.

[DukeDi]

I would be ticked at that as well. I'd be even more ticked if was to prevent or help another team in knockdowns or for quarter/half.

All you guys are right. There are some people who just bowl and aren't really bowlers. I couldn't do that if I tried. If I am Bowling well and have a shot to shoot 250+ I'm going to do my best to get there. The way I see it all evens out in the end.

There are the Sandbaggers out there that are tougher to spot, I really hate those guys.

[LyalC52]

i really don't understand all this sandbagging
how much can you actually profit from it? so you get $40 instead of $30 in a mixed handicap league

around here the only leagues that pay out a lot of money are scratch league

[Mike White]

i really don't understand all this sandbagging
how much can you actually profit from it? so you get $40 instead of $30 in a mixed handicap league

around here the only leagues that pay out a lot of money are scratch league

What about the last week?

Don't they have sweeps where you live?

In my Laughlin league I made about $1500 for those 3 games.