Pet peeves (what league member do to tick you off)

[Frank Goebel]

Having more free time than usual, I find myself with more time to spend online, read all the posts in several forums, and get a little creative.

With this new forum, I've thought out loud all of the things that league members do that get my goat.

So, here's a chance to voice it, to get it off your chest...and, multiple peeves are permitted. I could name a dozen, but to kick this thread off, I'll start with just one and add others as some of you present yours.

Here's a good one: I often get a phone call at work, or an e-mail the day before: "Hey Coach (that's what they call me)...I'm gonna need a sub Monday night, can you find someone for me?" like that's MY job....

[Lance Rasmussen]

Coming from a Bowling Center point of view....

2 hours before league meeting for the first week of fall league... Secretary (new or previous) walks up to the counter and says "so..... who do you have bowling in our league this year????"

I feel my age (and I'm not that old) when I can say "I remember the day when secretaries would actually would call and sign up previous bowlers and new bowlers and fill all the teams.... With the occasional 'can you look out for two couples to fill my league'"

[Angel Zobel-Rodriguez]

Gee, Frank, call me crazy, but helping someone find a sub *is* part of my job. I have the average book, I have the phone numbers of people who might sub, and I usually know who's already going to be subbing on a given week. If it's the same day, I can never guarantee anything, but I always do my best.

Given the time of year, and that my leagues will be all flooring this weekend, my peeve is the people who commit to bowling, then don't show up the first week. I'm way too busy that very moment to call to find what's up, but half the time when I do get in touch later in the week, it's like "Oh, we decided at the last moment not to..." Of course, if they told me that even two days before the league floored, they'd save me the lashes with the wet noodle I invariably get from corporate.

And Lance, it really depends on the league. My husband and I really do take care of the entire sport league we run. The center forwards the calls to us and we take it from there. On the other hand, at the corporate center where we coach, it's expected the center handle all the teams, new bowlers, etc. Since secretaries change year to year there'd be no way to know who "should" be doing that work.

[Patrick Lajko]

From a bowler standpoint, I quit (i.e. never went back to) a league because there was no reminder that the league was starting again. I think the secretary should remind bowlers of the start of the league. When I thought about it, I realized that league should have started but no one reminded me and then it was too late. So I never went back to that league.

On the good side, West Seattle Bowl emailed me and also mailed a postcard reminding me about my league. That's what a league secretary should do. (They manage the league)

[Frank Goebel]

Angel, I'm not opposed to helping bowlers find subs...I just get the feeling that it's often last-minute, that they want me doing the calling for them. And those calls come in when I'm at work, and being bowling night, I have to work harder to be able to leave on time for bowling.

I can totally agree about bowlers (and teams) deciding last-minute not to show up...no-call, no-show. I had one (team) this season. We knew that the highest bowler on that team would probably not bowl, but we didn't expect the others to just not come.

Otherwise, I did have a productive pre-season meeting, with most of the captains there (and a few bowlers, as well). Being a franchise league, I contact captains, and leave it up to them to call their team members, and relay their final roster to me. If I can't reach a captain, I do call someone else on the team that I know have enough fortitude to handle the task. I do use the e-mail function in BLS to notify those who do subscribe and/or have e-mail addresses on file of any updates, that's a big help.

Now, another peeve of mine: The recap has spaces for individual series totals, as well as team handicap and scratch totals. So often, these totals aren't written. I've told the teams that if they don't do all the totals, their points might change, especially if they've circled the wrong score as having won a point in my match play league. I even had one lane pair write the scratch total in the handicap total spot, and they therefore got the team series (three points) win wrong. And another pair, they didn't multiply the team handicap (per game) by three, they used the team game handicap and added that to the scratch score to get handicap. At least in that case, the points still matched....

[Keith Chambers]

Let me put the peeve in the opposite direction. I have a league that fills the whole house, 40 lanes, and often have a waiting list at the beginning of the season (Winter and Summer). I send each Team Captain a request for confirmation of return about a month prior to the league starting, hold a preseason meeting two weeks prior to the league start, yet there always seems to be one team that shows up on the first night expecting to bowl yet they did not return the confirmation form or attend the preseason meeting. My real peeve is that is a different team each season.
I too have more, but will hold them for later.

[Dusty Clark]

It is in our bylaws that it is NOT the secretaries job to find a sub. My league is a woek league so emails get answered rather quickly. If someone asks for a list of subs I will give them a list of the subs but I will not contact the sub for them. Since I am also the league's webmaster I maintain a list of the league subs on the website.

One of my biggest pet peeves is that people remain on the approach while waiting for their ball to come back. Some people start their approach far back and those people are in their field of vision.

[Paul Muzio]

Great thread Frank!

It is NOT the Secretaries JOB to find substitutes for league members, unless it is a by-law of that league.

Adult leagues require adult responsibilities, and finding your own sub is part of any bowlers responsibilities. Most secreataries niether have the time nor the resources availalbe to them for this purpose.

Note: there is a big difference between finding/locating bowlers to complete a league before the season starts than finding substitutes at the last minute.

As far as league start up, each bowler is reminded at the end of the season when the new season will begin. A meeting is always held 2 weeks before the beginning of the board and franchise owners. The franchise owners at this point will and do notify their chosen teammates of dates and times.

Note: most leagues usually start their winter seasons the week of Labor day. Now how tough can that be for any bowler to remember.

As far as recaps sheets - most of the time they're right on, the occasional instance where one is not completed properly, oh well....as long as you have the correct scores for the games, that's what matters.

Now standing on the approach waiting for your ball to return is just improper etiquette, but, a simple kind reminder of this to the bowler should be more than sufficient for it to end, although some bowlers can not be taught. It is definitely worth an effort though.

My peeve are bowlers who complain about rules/prize funds (you know who you are) and do absolutely nothing to bring about change...they seem to want to be heard loudly, but do nothing to institute change/upgrade.

[TJ Roidl]

I gotta goodie for ya Frank. I call the team captains 2 weeks before the preseason meeting ( 4 weeks before bowling starts). I also call a second team member from each team to help spread the word. I remind the Captains to call ALL their team members for the meeting. If I feel generous - I'll send e-mails out to the smarter ones. I even send in a sports notice to the local newspaper to put in the sports section! We have a meeting attended by 15-20% of the league bowlers and 60-75% of the teams are represented. We change a few rules to tweek something or address a situation. First night of bowling here come all the teams (not looking at the posted schedule) up to me saying "where do I bowl?" "where's my team?" "Have you got any extra bowlers?". I hand out envelopes, tentative schedules, and the RULES. Invaribly some twit reads the rules changes and wants to know who changed the rule, and demands a "special meeting" to get the old rule and/or schedule changed back. I ask "Were you at the meeting?" and point out the President of the League. You see Frank, I had a special rule put into the league several years ago that reads " The League Secretary does not arbitrate nor interpret the rules. The League President will arbitrate / interpret all rules. Please consult your ABC/WIBC (now USBC) rules book for further instuctions" Like I said in another thread, I've been doing this too long.

[Lance Rasmussen]

Thats well put TJ.

The presidents job is to arbitrate / interpret all rules. Its the secretaries job to insure those rules are followed.

[Keith Chambers]

Paul hit onto another one of my pet peeves. When the President asks for volunteers to be on the Prize Committee, everybody has lead hands; but after two or three "volunteers" have been appointed and the ballot is passed out there are plenty of people that do not like any of the proposals!
This season in my scratch league, the committee members decided to not pay any individual awards and to enhance the team place payouts. No less than eight people complained to me about there not being any individual awards options. I told each one of the them the same thing "You had an opportunity to write your own proposal, but didn't take advantage of it. Next year you should volunteer when asked." (I will also have my list, just in case they do not willingly volunteer and need to be appointed).
Last year, the individual award was more token than substantial with all awards being paid $20 each. No difference in High Series or High Game or High Average. One of the main reasons that the committee members decided to not offer them this season.
Let us not let this thread die. There are more peeves out there.

[Frank Goebel]

I have league members that don't realize that the local newspaper is stingy about printing bowling scores...the next county over in both directions, bowling is far better featured. One of them would cover us, but it's not widely read by my league members. Still, there's an expectation that sponsors' names will be in the listing, if it's printed at all. There's one member that's always on me about not having them printed, but the paper is not obligated to follow a league's unwritten rule...and, it's very much unwritten. Perhaps a separate thread regarding how league bowling appears in local newspapers might be in order....

[Angel Zobel-Rodriguez]

My peeve is that our Monday night league is usually the last league to floor after Labor Day (the common start day in SoCal). Why is it that people print that they sanctioned out of league A and turn that card into league B and then turn in a card in league A that says they sanctioned out of league B? In November, I will no doubt get a list of bowlers who try to milk the system a little bit and I have to confront them.

Oddly enough, these are never newer bowlers. They're always league veterans.

[Frank Goebel]

Angel: Oddly enough, these are never newer bowlers. They're always league veterans.

That's precisely it. They know how it works. A newer bowler wouldn't think of it. The veterans hope it's not noticed. That's why the association hangs on to the cards....

[Keith Chambers]

I have five or six of those bowlers here too. One of them actually got away with it last season. Bowled in no less than six leagues and submitted no fee cards in all of them.
He did not bowl in any of my leagues last season, but he joined a team this year and when I verified his average it showed a "1", which means USBC fees were not paid last year.
We have enforced the rule of using an ineligible bowler and forfeited all points won using any bowler that either has not paid their membership fees or turned in a false no fee card. It is very hard for a bowler who has been in the league for several years to claim they thought they paid in league B, or league A when you have copies of their cards in your hand.
The President also told the affected Team Captain that they had the right to protest the forfeiture. All they would be required to do is stand up in front of 38 other Team Captains and explain why they should be allowed to cheat the system while everyone else was expected to follow the rules. (There were no takers)

[Frank Goebel]

I once had a bowler come up to me demanding that I run down to his pair, immediately, to fix something.

I was in the first frame, and had just picked up my ball for a spare attempt. I told him I had to shoot my spare. He would have nothing of it. I missed a couple of "opportunities" to get up on the lane to bowl when adjoining lanes were vacant...he delayed me, and my help, further.

As it turned out (and this was no less than 16 lanes away, maybe more) someone on the other team had fixed the situation before I got there. I don't remember today what that issue was....might have been needing to "blind out" an absentee that was the leadoff bowler, and the "color bar" was on his name. The other team had at least one other member that could handle it, but instead, he had to go running to "Daddy"...the league secretary....

[Kay Passwaters]

I have been a League Secretary for over 10 years, and I can tell you I have seen and heard it all.

I send out a bi-weekly newsletter which contains a captains list, current sub list and some minor rules for reminders. I also include birthdays on a monthly basis and anu upcoming events.

And still to this day, someone will come to me wanting a phone number, or other information that is in plain site for all to read. If they would simply take the time to read what I give them, it would alleviate alot of headaches.

I also keep a website for these leagues for review which is updated on a regular basis , which also contains the same information on the newsletters.

And here is a new pet peeve which just happened on my Friday night league.

I had a league bowler approach me wanting to know why I had fixed the 50/50 sales, since the past 4 weeks the same team has won.

My reply to him was, why and how could I possibly fix something like that, when the ticket is drawn by different people every week, he stated abruptly, ITS FIXED, I then told him, ok then don't buy them anymore, he in turn got directly in my face and said I WONT. All I could do was laugh at him.
And he is a new member this year, go figure.