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Other commitments and vacation turned today’s session into the days of old — only eight bowlers — so we had two teams of four using only two sets of lanes.

All four bowlers on one team bowled above their averages, so you can figure out who won the team competition. The team of Frank, Alex, Woody and Linc bested Ed Schecter, Marty, Dave and Ben, winning the first two games big — by 88 and 101 pins. Undaunted, the losers went double-or-nothing and almost pulled it off when Frank got splits in three of the last four frames enroute to an ignominious 139 game; but alas, the losers came up 21 pins short and the winners each went home a dollar richer.

From an individual perspective, six bowlers were +. Marty was +3 after starting the day with a 4-bagger before coming back to earth. Frank was +9 and had a 501, thanks to the day’s only 200 at 204, but was dragged down by his ongoing trips to “Splitsville”. Ben was +13.  Woody was +14. Linc was +38, just missing a 400 series at 398 after slowing his ball speed to improve his control in the third game. But the bowler of the day was Alex, who had three triples on the day, his best game in a long time at 197 and a 522 series, +96. “Yeah, baby”!

Speaking of “Splitsville,” we had some fun talking about variations on songs that could be reimagined through a bowling lens. This led to me commenting about “The Last Train to Splitsville” and generating AI lyrics for which Marty created a music mix. It’s fun and the link is included below. Maybe Nutmeg should use it (although “The Last Train to Tenpinville” would be more appropriate for them).

Here’s  the link to “The Last Train to Splitsville” that you can cut and paste into your browser.

Given how empty Nutmeg seems now that the Tashua guys finished their season, it was good for us to have 13 bowlers today. Five of us bowled above average, although no one really lit it up for an entire series. Before we began bowling, Dave said to me: “I think I have a 150 in me today.” I asked him if that was for his series. . Then, Dave went out and bowled a 142 in his first game! While the rest of his morning wasn’t quite that good, he did manage a +25 on the day. After a slow start in the opener, Ed Sc finished at +5. Tom had the only 500 series at 514, and Ted had high game to start his day with a 185.

Our co-BoDs each hit a milestone. Steve broke 400 for the first time at 401 for +29. Woody had a 150 in his third game and was +37. And Alex finished with his best game in weeks with a 183 and was +45.

Frank continued his split-making magic, converting a 9-10 and a 3-10, while Tom converted a 5-7. And no session is complete without a BBS, which today came from Dave.

We started our day by serenading Ben Briggs, who has a birthday the next day. Wishing him many more.

Some weeks we have it and some weeks we don’t. Of 11 bowlers today, only three were above their Last 21 for the day.

Let’s start with our BoD, Ed Smith. With the day’s only 500 series, Ed’s 569 was +89. It was his fourth 500 series in a row. Along the way, he even converted a 6-7 split! Next, let’s mention Mike, who had a 376 series at +49. And then there was John, who’d been away for three weeks but came back to bowl a +9 series. We should also give a shout out to Woody, who was only 11 below his average but converted an amazing 3-7-9-10 split.

The photos below capture two other highlights from the day. First, was a unique game by Frank in game two. He had no open frames, despite leaving four splits — all of which he converted (2-7, 2-5-7, 3-10 and 4-5. He lost 25 pins from his score to end up with a 175, but, as the photo shows, he was pleased nonetheless. Ed Smith’s team was all smiles, as shown in the other photo taken by teammate Woody, when their team swept all three team games and walked away with a whole lot of quarters!

As for the rest of us, we couldn’t wait to get out of Nutmeg without getting hurt!

For the past few years, lanes 13/14 have given many of us fits. So, when the team of ESm/GG/BB/MR saw their names assigned to that pair, they probably grumbled. On this day, though, all four did reasonably well and the team even managed to win the first two team games. Ed Smith’s 515 series was +29. Ben got off to a great start and even a clunker for his third game could not keep him from a plus series at +12. Mike was right on his average. George had two good games before fading in the third. Somehow Ben’s 115 even managed to win a quarter from George in their third game head-to-head.

Frank’s team (FD/ESc/IW/DS) got off to a poor start in the first two games (except for today’s BoD) but recovered nicely, as both Frank and Ian had their best games of the morning and Dave had a plus day at +16. Tom’s team (TL/AG/SG/WS) got off to a decent start, but today’s “Mr. Anonymous” had his worst game and worst series in many a session (even though he converted a 5-8-10 split!). Tom managed two 200 games amidst that carnage and a 569 series (+18), but it wasn’t enough; nor was Steve’s +25 series.

Now for our BoD. A month ago, the Professor (Ed Sc), had a 650 series. Last week, he couldn’t break 400. Today, Ed’s roller coaster took him to a 509 series (+44). What made Ed’s series all the more excellent was his consistency. He was the only bowler of the day who had three good games! And this even while giving tips to Ian, who was initiating his brand new ball. Whatever attention Ian received, it did not seem to distract Ed one bit —.maybe it was even a case of “physician, heal thyself.”

Two recurring themes all season have been success following a layoff and wild swings from week to week. The pattern continued today for some of our 14 bowlers.

Our BoD was someone who I thought wasn’t even supposed to be in town this week. Not only did Marty announce last night that he would show up today — he really showed up today! His 516 series was +78 and paced his team to winning two of the three team games. Marty was helped by two of his teammates, Ed Smith and Tom, who also bowled well today. Ed finished with a 203 and a 529 series (+55). Tom started off with a 211 first game and finished with a 581 series (+35). Team member Mike also was +29, which enabled them to overcome a tough day by their fifth teammate, Mr. Anonymous, who was -83 for the day and -146 below his BoD day three weeks ago.

Ian, George and Ted continued their good bowling with +19, +10 and +1 days. Ian’s 379 series was his high for the season. Their team managed to win game two. Woody also had a good day at +18, which was achieved while his teammates stunk up the joint for two hours. That included last week’s BoD, who was -177 below last week for his worst performance since 2024 and the prior week’s BoD, who was -251 pins below his phenomenal bowling that day. Talk about wild swings!

We had some excitement during the poker game, including Ian having a hand with four queens and two kings!

Tom filled his quarter container by winning all three hands at his table. Our split conversion of the day goes to Bill, who ma

de a 5-7. Speaking of splits, Marty’s team got bitten in game two with 12 splits, only to be outdone by Frank’s team, which had 15 splits in game three. As Marty said, “There’s enough red up on the scoreboard to decorate a small Christmas tree!

With 75% of the season in the books, it’s fascinating to see how the same person can be so good one week and in the dumpster another. What that means, with 12+ bpwlers most weeks, is that we always have a couple of guys step up every week…and so it was today.

Let’s start with Frank. He was red hot for three months before he went to Florida for a month and a half. And when he came back, he was good but not as good. That changed today! In game one he had a run of seven strikes in a row and had our highest game of the calendar year at 243. In game three he had a six-bagger and a 202 but his split in the tenth kept him from a 600 series by three pins at 597 (+63). Pretty good stuff.

Then there’s Ed Smith. Talk about hot or cold! Of his 22 series this season before today, exactly half were above 500 with a high of 598 and a low of 407. Today “Good” Ed showed up with a 534 series also at +63.

Other plus series were bowled today by Ed Sc (+2), Ian (+10), Mike (+13), Linc (+18) and Dave (+19). We had two BBS — one by Bill and one by Linc. And Ed Sm had two nice split conversions making a 5-7 and a 2-7-9.

After last week’s heroics from the Professor, we were left to wonder who would step up today. With 14 bowlers, someone was bound to, right? Yes, indeed!

In his report last week, Frank mentioned that George Gilliam’s outstanding day should not get lost in the excitement of that day. Well, George backed up his +126 day with a +118 day today. His 544 series included a 212 first game (his highest game in three years)! Another highlight came from Ben, who had his highest series we can remember at 507, his first 500 series in five years! While “only” +87, that certainly qualifies for co-BoD honors. For that matter, the Commish came back from his week off and did what Frank usually does after an absence by bowling a big series of 623 (“only” +77). After rolling a split in his first frame of his day, he got hot and had a 217 in game one. In game two he missed a 7-10 pin spare and still had a 196. Then, after missing a ten pin in the first frame of game three, he still came home with a 210. So, we’ll add Tom as co-BoD.

Other highlights included another good day from Ian at +33, a +23 from Ted, and a +12 from Dave. In the team game, George’s team won one game while Ben and Ian led their team to taking the first two. George added even more quarters to his pocket, winning all three poker hands at his table and also taking the game three quarter from Ben (as did Ted again, reminding Ben not to peak too early ). At his table, Tom won the first two hands (the second with four nines!) and thought he had the third hand won with a flush — until Alex made a tough spare in his tenth frame, allowing him to fill out a higher flush to win.

It’s worth noting that the score sheet next week will show three new names in the “Last 21” column with 160 or better averages as Bill, Ted and George climbed up to that new level thanks to excellent bowling over the past month. Well done to all three!

Today was a day not for the ages but for the aged — in this case, our amazing 92-year-old professor Ed Schecter, who turned back the clock and bowled like he did when he was only 90! Ed had three 200 games, including a final game of 236 for a 650 series! This not only makes him bowler of the day but likely bowler of the year, with a +206 on the day!! Ed — you are my bowling hero!

Lost in all the excitement about Ed was what would normally have been a bowler of the day performance by George Gilliam, who had a 182 and 204 en route to a 552 — +126. Bill Tamme had the only other 200 game and his third consecutive 500 series at 518 (+44). Frank had the only other 500, with a 516 but was still below his average.

In addition to Ed, George and Bill, 4 others were + on the day — Alex (+23), Mike (+69, including a 158), Linc (+39) and Ian (+38).

There were two Ben Briggs spares by two of the day’s better bowlers (Bill and George) and a 3-10 split conversion by Alex. And, not to be totally outdone by Ed, our other nonagenarian, Woody Spurgeon, made a 4-10 split!

The team competition wasn’t one because four of the + bowlers, including Ed Schecter, were on the same team. So, the team of Mike, Ian, John, Bill and Ed Schecter took 30 quarters from the other two teams. Don’t spend it all in one place!

Let’s see what kind of heroics next week brings when the Commish returns.

Wow, what a day we had today at Nutmeg!! Of our 13 bowlers, 11 bowled above their average. Four had 500 series. One had two 200 games. And three (!!!) had their highest DMA series ever.

Ben was +8, including two games in the 150s. Marty was +18, including a 183 second game. Dave was +25. Tom was +27. Bill was +36, paced by a 190 first game. George was +45, thanks to a 179 second game. Ian was +53. Ted was +57, including a 192 second game with a four-bagger. Ed Smith was back to form with a +65, including two games in the 180s. John was +83, with all three games above 135. And Woody was +92, including games of 148 and 152!

The 500 series were bowled by Bill at 507, Ted at 513, Ed at 542 and Tom at 570 (which included games of 201 and 200).

Our three who had their best-ever DMA series were Ian (377), John (431) and Woody (416), all of which are worthy of BoD recognition.

Split conversions came from Frank D (3-10), Ted (9-10), George (5-7), and Ben (3-6-7). And no day is complete without a BBS, which came from Dave.

Team Ed (ESm/TH/IW/BT) won two of the three team games (little wonder given how well they all bowled). Team Woody (WS/AG/BB/TL) salvaged the third game. Ben edged Ted but narrowly lost to George in their game three matches.

We’ll end with a nod to Frank, whose string of 500 series was snapped, but who we were happy to have back nonetheless.

For most of the 14 of us who came to Nutmeg today, it was a very average day with a few exceptions. And even for the others there were flashes of excellence.

Six bowlers were above their average and a seventh, Ben, was on the number. George was +9 as he improved game on game. Ian was +13 thanks to a 135 first game. John bowled a very steady +24. Woody had a +26 thanks to a strong second game of 150. Bill finished strong with a 190 (high game of the day) and had a 500 series on the number (+35). Mike started out with a 133, which paced him to a +37 for the day. Bill and Mike share BoD honors for the day. Mike also had the split conversion of the day, making a 4-5-7.

In the team competition, Tom’s teammates (DS/MR/IW/SG) bailed him out to win two out of three as Tom’s 518 series was quite below average (-37). Dave had two games of 111, only to be done in by his second game. Dave even recorded a BBS.

George went away happy, winning all three poker hands on his lanes. He also edged Ben in their third game head-to-head by two pins, so George filled his pockets with a few quarters.

Perhaps the best part of the morning, though, was seeing Ed Smith walk in after a few weeks’ absence. Welcome back Ed!