City of Atlanta Bowling League

[Kenny Taylor]

      If there ever was a league that painted itself into a corner the City of Atlanta league is a prime example. In my 50+ years of bowling, I have never seen a league with no cap and a 200 handicap base with 12 bowlers coming in with averages over 220.

      One team has an 864 entering average and receives16 pins a game, meanwhile another team averaging 781 gets the same 16 pins handicap, no contest.

       A 200 handicap base is so outdated, maybe we should be bowling with 2 finger rubber bowling balls on flat oil patterns. The base should be 220 minimum and realistically 230.

        We had the influx of 220+ bowlers last week when the Fultons Finest League at Forest Park folded recently and 4 teams joined the City of Atlanta League bringing 8 of the 12 220 average bowlers. 

        When asked about changing the rules the league president said it "can't be done", BS, a vote would have been nice. The cap and hdcp base will probably change next year but what about each and every bowlers $720.00 dues  that they will be won by the stacked teams (gauranteed).

        This is a prime example of people not knowing what they are doing being voted into positions of authority. Ironic that the name of the league is City of Atlanta.

        I had to get this off of my chest, it really bothers me. I was so angry last week I couldn't focus on bowling. I am done complaining, and i will refocus, but I think my rants are falling on a lot of deaf ears.

[Christopher "CEE-LO" Logan]

I understand why you could be mad about an influx of better bowlers.....but honestly the street goes two ways i'm in a league where my team starts 200 pins in the hole every game because hdcp is 90% of 220....so on my off days when i'm shooting 180-190 does that make it fair when someone shoots a 130 and beats me by 30?  a 200 hdcp numbers is a dream for high avg bowlers because we're less punished for putting in work to be good at this sport....personally it sounds like you should have picked a better team to go along with that low cap number

[Kenny Taylor]

   You are right. We had four strong teams join this league after the first week. I'm thinking about replacing a bowler for the second half but its not a very kind thing to do.

   What ever happened to 70-80% handicaps. If you rap and the 180-190 gets lucky on a double you lose.

   I bowled a four man team last year in marietta with individual match points. The hdcp was 90% of 220 but the team that won had 3 or 4 bowlers over the cap. I was 217 but I would get 2 pins from 229 average bowlers. I'll bet if the handicaps were 90% or evvn 70 or 80% of the difference in the individuals bowling each others averageas it would have been a different story. The league lost a few teams this year, " you can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can't fool all of the people all of the time."

[Christopher "CEE-LO" Logan]

the way i look at it the difference between a 200 bowler vs a 230 bowler is 1 spare or strike.  i carry a 210 but when i'm up against the better bowlers i can hold my own but i just hate handicap that rewards bowlers for really just showing up.  i deal with it because i love to bowl and with my schedule i can't go hard every weekend like the better bowlers do.  one of these days i'll be able to get after it a lil more and i'll be good after that

[Kenny Taylor]

   The difference between a 200 bowler and a 230 bowler is 90 pins a night. If the 200 bowler is a good spare shooter he would have to double (not just strike) nine more times a night. Its a big difference, the 200 bowler has to carry those 10 weak 10 pins he leaves every night to become a 230 bowler. The high average bowlers usually have very good ball speed and higher rev rates which becomes pin speed down the lane.

   My ball speed is below 16 mph and my average is below 220. i've seen a few slow rollers average over 220 but very rarely. I'm curious as to what your ball speed is.

[Christopher "CEE-LO" Logan]

It depends its mainly 15-16mph.....but u got a point ball speed makes the pins go BOOM lol

[Christopher "CEE-LO" Logan]

Christopher "CEE-LO" Logan said:

It depends its mainly 15-16mph.....but u got a point ball speed makes the pins go BOOM lol

[Christopher "CEE-LO" Logan]

However one example, I watch guys like Jake Washington, jay sterner, Greg black and Terrence bright, heck I've even seen isom Hawes........there ball speeds are normal like ours there just incredibly consistent......practice man practice

[Kenny Taylor]

  Next time you watch them, hopefully you will be somewhere with ball speeds on the screen, they all throw at least 17-18 mph. I bowl with Dominique Hodo, he's 19-20 mph, averages 230+ and has 2 series over 850 this season. I'm an old school tweener and I'm seeing what the new generation fireballers are doing.

  There is a way to measure bowling ball speeds with a stopwatch. You can use the stopwatch on your cellphone, and the link is on the internet www.csgnetwork.com/bowlingballcalc.html or bowlingknowledge.com has a chart that converts time to speed.

[Christopher "CEE-LO" Logan]

yea i've seen hodo throw he throws a fastball like the Nolan Ryan of bowling lol but the rest of them i see them on tuesdays even tho i don't bowl in that league.  terrance throws hard when the lanes are dry (but who doesn't) and jake, jason and greg are simply some smooth bowlers (like new school tweeners) cause as far as their ball speeds go they don't look much faster then mine and i know for i fact i like to hang at 15-16 unless cranking it down there is my last resort.....either when you throw hard you got the benefit of better pin action obviously, but when a lil' slower you got much more control and room for error