My makabagbag-damdaming song after our Team
Papaya versus Team Guyabano Philly Pinoy Mixed Fall League (MFL) Week 8 matchup
is based on Claire de la Fuente’s song “Sayang” dahil talagang sayang na sayang (at buwisit na buwisit ako sa sarili
ko…):
Sayang
Papaya’y
muntik nang manalo
Nguni’t kay
palpak ng bola ko
Kaya, “tie”
lang ang napala sa Guyabano
O sayang
Panay ang
“flashback” sa isip ko
Pagkakataong
pinang-hihinayangan ko
Sayang,
sadyang masaklap ang kapalaran ko
Sayang man
Papaya naman
ay naka-tie
Hindi natalo,
our hope’s buhay!
Next week, to be
panalo we will try and try (until
we die)!
Well,
what can I say? We had a good chance and
it got away. Team Guyabano has been
pulling away from the rest of the pack with their consistent above-average play. Our car pool buddy Marlon Paed has had 200+ games for several weeks but had a sub-par
prebowl series that gave us a glimmer of hope.
My former BowlStar teammate Chona/String
Aquino had a spectacular prebowl series: way to go, Chona-chons! The Guyabano anchor and my Bowlinator teammate Romy Liboon has been playing fabulously
well in the past few weeks. Team Papaya,
in papaya yellow, needed to play well to make good on our threat to make
Guyabano fall! Here is a photo of Team
Guyabano, courtesy of anchor Romy’s better half, May.
Game
1 did not go Team Papaya’s way. We had
some good frames but struggled overall to even stay close to our averages, and
with Romy getting his groove early and stringing strikes, bolstered by Chona’s
scary good prebowl score, we had no chance and lost by 53 pins. Game 1 goes to Team Guyabano. Galing
talaga ni Romy!
Game
2 and Team Papaya turned into hot tamales.
Strikes and doubles from secret anchor James and Gabriel, the Wonder
Kid! Spare after spare from the BowlStar
blogger! Gabriel converting on a
2,7-split! In the 10th frame,
James converts on a difficult 1,2,10-split and ends up with a 222 game. Gabriel logs an awesome 141 game: go Wonder
Kid! I surprised myself with a 181
score. With that fantastic team
performance, Team Papaya grabs Game 2 with a 70 pin advantage.
Boy,
did I struggle in Game 3. James, Gabriel
and Romy continued their excellent play, although it was getting harder to
string strikes and wayward balls were becoming more common. Plagued by too many open frames, I was not
looking forward to the 10th frame, not sure anymore which ball to
throw and where to stand. James ended
with a 189 game, stating that “it’s okay, si
Jing naman ang anchor” = ayayay!
Gabriel scores a 106 and the difference is in the single digits. Romy converts on a spare and logs a 181 game
(his two other games were 205 and 203 = hanep!). It is now up to me.
I
throw my first ball and it leaves the 2,4,5,8-bucket. James and Grace start telling me that if I
convert we have a chance to win.
What?! I’ve been missing that
spare all night, all night, I tell you!
But I hunker down, grab my Cake Boss and give it a good heave =
spare! I start celebrating, thinking my
work was done, but no! I need 9 pins on
my last ball for Team Papaya to win. I take
my time, check my notes, decide which ball to throw (Cruella, o kay lupit mo!), decide where to stand
and where to throw. But you know the
rest of the story: sometimes you throw the ball and get the win, and sometimes
it rolls into a washout and you are left with regret. Last
week, I had my star turn. This week, I
am full of regret. The humanity! Lost the chance to win by two pins coz I could not convert! But…we DID get a tie, we did not lose and we
played pretty darn well. So we are
brushing this off and learning from this week’s play, and are facing the next
two weeks with hopes for more victorious outcomes! Go Papaya!
And go go GO Team Guyabano for giving us such an epic battle: hating kaibigan!
It
was a quick night for most of the teams: a record 11 of our players
prebowled (we had 7 prebowlers last week, and we thought that was a lot...). On the lanes beside us, Team
Durian pulled off a sweep of Team Atis.
My poor GoPapa Joel C logged an awesome 246 game (at prebowl) but could
not cheer his team on to a win. Team Chico,
all present, pulled off a win against Team Lansones, which only had Jojo
present. Team Santol, also all present,
split points with Rosie, the only present player of Team Rambutan.
The Ivan-ator of Team Pakwan was Lord of the Lanes over Team Mangga: galing ng mama! At the opposite end of the lanes, Team Langka
wins three points but needs to hand Game 3 to Team Duhat (nang sila’y mabuhayan sa Game 3).
And
the only matchup with complete attendance finishes up last and becomes a
marquis match with many spectators, as Team Suha courageously sweeps Team
Bayabas in grand fashion. No more luha for Team Suha: they are peaking at
the right time, just like Team Kropek/Kilawin did last year! Great job, Roy, Eden and Edwin!
The
MFL Week 8 League Standing Sheet has been posted on the Limerick Bowl website. Here is the summary of Week 8 team standings.
The top four teams hold on to their rankings, but Suha leapfrogs into five place.
|
Team #
|
TEAM
|
RANK
|
CURRENT
|
|
Wk 8
| ||
|
|
win
|
loss
|
|
win
|
loss
| ||
|
6
|
Guyabano
|
1
|
24
|
8
|
|
2
|
2
|
|
11
|
Pakwan
|
2
|
21
|
11
|
|
3
|
1
|
|
3
|
Chico
|
3
|
20
|
12
|
|
3
|
1
|
|
10
|
Papaya
|
4
|
18
|
14
|
|
2
|
2
|
|
14
|
Suha
|
5
|
17.5
|
14.5
|
|
4
|
0
|
|
7
|
Langka
|
6
|
16.5
|
15.5
|
|
3
|
1
|
|
5
|
Durian
|
7
|
16
|
16
|
|
4
|
0
|
|
13
|
Santol
|
8
|
16
|
16
|
|
2
|
2
|
|
2
|
Bayabas
|
9
|
15
|
17
|
|
0
|
4
|
|
9
|
Mangga
|
10
|
14
|
18
|
|
1
|
3
|
|
1
|
Atis
|
11
|
13
|
19
|
|
0
|
4
|
|
4
|
Duhat
|
12
|
13
|
19
|
|
1
|
3
|
|
12
|
Rambutan
|
13
|
11
|
21
|
|
2
|
2
|
|
8
|
Lansones
|
14
|
9
|
23
|
|
1
|
3
|
Since I am back in Downingtown and cannot lose
my notes in transit (no more excuses!), I am happy to present you with the
complete rundown of fantabulous performances for MFL Week 8. Just so you know, I work on my notes for these
highlights on Sunday night, after we get home from Limerick Bowl, by looking at
the (now legible, thank you!) score sheets.
My notes allow me to see how everybody did so I can already compose how
I will present your performances in the blog.
Here is a picture of what my typical notes look like: this happens to be the MFL Week 7 notes, the
sheet of paper I left behind and did not get to blog about last week…
Top Male Players: My GoPapa Joel played
well (with mwah!), at least not dismally, during his prebowl and holds on to
the top spot. Romy was consistently
sharp (matinik!) during our
match. Paolo holds on to the third place
spot, but our secret anchor James (Papaya) is not far behind after his inspired
play. Yebah!
1. Joel C (Atis) 206
2. Romy (Guyabano) 189
3. Paolo (Bayabas) 186
Top Female Players: The Philly Pins still hold the top three slots,
but our bowling angel Angie leapfrogs into the 2nd place spot this
week, bolstered by an awesome prebowl performance.
1. Jing (Papaya) 160
2. Angie (Langka) 156
3. Mitchie (Mangga) 155
200-Clubbers:
We have seven (7) this week, up from the meager five we had last week.
·
Joel
C (Atis): 210, 246 = My GoPapa is back!
·
July
(Durian): 222 = Hanep!
·
James
(Papaya!): 222 = Go Papaya!
·
Jay
(Santol): 218 = Yebah! Galing ni
Commish!
·
Edwin
(Suha): 205, 210 = Wow! Awesome!
·
Romy
(Guyabano): 205, 203 = Solid!
·
Paolo
(Bayabas): 203 = Oks na oks!
BREAKTHROUGH PLAYERS who logged averages for
the night that were more than 10 pins above their previous average are:
·
Jon (Mangga): Jon had scores of 188, 170 and 168 for a
175 Sunday average against his previous 157 average. Way to go, second week with a 170+
average!
·
Brenda (Duhat): Buhat,
nang si Brenda’y magbowling, siya ay naging addict na rin! The lanes were loving my godsister this week. She came in with a 118 average and had scores
of 124, 125 and 155: 134 average, baby!
Happy, Happy Birthday!
·
July (Durian): Boy, was he scorching up the lanes
tonight! With scores of 222, 147 and 182
against 167 previous average, he had a 183 average for the night. Matinik
at mabangis!
·
Mila (Bayabas): Even with us watching her
and making her nervous on that last game, Mila was cool as a cucumber, logging
above average games of 126, 120 and 133 (111 previous average).
·
Eden (Suha): Pinaluha
ni Eden ng Suha ang Bayabas with the awesome showing of my sweet sister
whose hard work and prayer have been paying off on the lanes these past few
weeks. Her scores were 151, 121 and 152
against a previous average of 128. Your
former Bowl Whisperer, my GoPapa Joel, is so proud of you (siempre ako rin, love you!).
·
Rosie (Rambutan): Wow, galing
natin tonight, ah! She had a 138
average going in and logged scores of 182 (!), 146 and 126 for a 151 average
for the night. Buti nalang talaga nakita namin kayo nung nagpractice kami nung araw
na yon, kung hindi….glad you are in the MFL, even more glad that you are
both playing so well!
·
Chona/String (Guyabano): Slaying us in her
absence with her killer scores, String had a 128 average for Sunday (131, 142
and 111) against 116 previous average.
·
Edmer (Pakwan): You can see it in the League Standing Sheets for
Week 8, he supposedly is Most Unimproved, but I don’t get it coz he played
really well! Former average was 158, and
scores (prebowling with Angie: uy, inspired…) were 177, 170 and 168 for 170
Sunday average. If that is the
definition of most unimproved, I’ll take it every week! Congratulations!
·
Dennis (Chico): He said at the start that he did not want to
play, he just wanted to watch the Eagles.
So glad he played! His scores
were 168, 167 and 159 against a 154 average.
Way to go!
LOVE TEAM OF THE WEEK (how many times na, ha!)
is Jun (Rambutan) and Giovie (Durian), for having individual
prebowl performances that were 25-26
pins above average. Uy, inspired…. Jun had scores of 166, 137 and 160 for a 154
average for the night against a 128 previous average. Our Philly Pin teammate Giovie had scores of 152,
142 and 140 for a Week 8 average of 144 against a 119 average coming in = oooh,
what will she do at our USBC league this Wednesday? Looking good, our dear protégés!
PLAYER OF THE WEEK is Jay
(Santol) who logged games of 164, 218 (yebah!) and 155 for a 179 average
for the night against a previous average of 145. Our Commish was hot hot HOT! His 218 score allowed Team Santol to win the
second game with a 17 pin advantage.
Super wow!
And since sometimes, there are Super Star performances that require special mention, I am happy to announce that ALL STAR PERFORMANCE OF THE WEEK
goes to Edwin (Suha) for blowing us
away with scores of 189 (!), 205 (!) and 210 (!) which gave him a fantabulous 201
average and 603 series for the night against a previous 152 average. That’s 49 pins above average! He mentioned that he had felt challenged by
his being Most Unimproved Player last week with a 105 game. Talk about a comeback: super amazing! Congratulations on your awesome play, bow!
SHINING STARS with outstanding games are Rico (193,197), Ivan (189), Jing (181), Angie (180), Desi (180), Ed (175), Grace (163), Jeff (162), Jojo (160), Derek (158), Lolet (158), Gabriel the
Wonder Kid (141) and last but not least, Rolly (136,141, improving!).
Congratulations on your stellar play!
LUCKY STRIKE RAFFLE (50/50): Our lucky winner was Roy of Team Suha with a $31 prize. Congratulations! How lucky can you get: raffle winner and his
team pulls off a sweep! Thank you, Alice M, for taking care of the raffles this Sunday. Our pot of
additional prize money from the raffles is now $310. Watch out for communications on our revised
prize structure incorporating our booty from the raffles: exciting, more
moulah!
IMPORTANT REMINDER: All
bowling fees must be paid by this Sunday, Week 9, November 2, which happens
to be our Bowloween Night. If you have
been paying your $15 bowling fee all along, this means that you have to pay a
total of three (3) week’s worth of fees or $45 this Sunday. If you are paying with your credit card,
please make sure you get your payments completed at the Limerick Bowl front
desk after practice or during the 5-10 minute mandatory break after Game 1 is
done. If you prefer to pay in cash,
there is an ATM in the facility. Since this is an absolute deadline that you have been given ample notice on, we will be strictly enforcing a NO PAY, NO PLAY policy if you do not comply.
ADDITIONAL ANNOUNCEMENT: Team
Captains, please please please kindly hand over your team’s pay envelopes
to me by the end of the FIRST game. I was
still collecting envelopes in the middle of the third game this Sunday. It’s our LAST week for collecting bowling
fees, let’s do this right!
REMINDERS on our THEME NIGHTS:
·
Our
Bowloween Night is this Sunday, MFL Week 9, November 2. I hope y’all have some scary good get-ups in
store.
·
No
theme is scheduled on our last week in regulation play, Week 10 on November 9.
·
It
will be Filipino shirt day on our Finals Week, November 16. Just around the corner!
Team Papaya is up against Team Lansones on MFL
Week 9. Can we “scare” up a win on
Bowloween? Abangan!
Only two more weeks to go in regulation
play! Our Finals and the conclusion of
the 2014 MFL is not too far away. Time truly
flies when you are having fun!
It is time to think about the Winter League,
which usually starts in mod-January.
Contact Paolo with questions. You
need to have a team of four players so start forming your teams already. We KNOW you will be sabik sa boling by January so come join the fun of Philly Pinoy
bowling in 2015.
See you at the lanes, dear MFL players. Bowl, baby, bowl!
