Interesting situations how Bye's affect you

[Lance Rasmussen]

With the new rule that prohibits earning USBC high score awards during post or prebowls, this can affect your league depending on how your Bye rules are.

This was clarified and I wanted to forward the results.

1) If you follow Rule 114C with the "Earn The Points" rule, then the team who must do a pre/post bowl and is scheduled to oppose the Bye team for that week can NOT earn the high score awards. Granted, this discriminates against this team, because all the other teams who oppose REAL teams have the opportunity to post/prebowl those games and get the awards providing they schedule and oppose eachother during the makeup/prebowl.
This is, by the way, is the DEFAULT rule now, so if your league bylaws do not specifically state which method, you must use this.

2) If you follow Rule 114C with the "Draw" system, then 3 teams would be required to makeup / prebowl to qualify for the high score awards; The team opposing the bye, the drawn team ( whos scores will substitute the bye team) and the team opposing the drawn team.
You can imagine how hard this will be.

3) If you follow Rule 114C with the "Bye" system, then there isn't any problems.... Then again... With this rule.. The team opposing the Bye team doesn't bowl, so there is no awards that could be earned anyways.

The heart and spirit of the reasoning behind this ruling in August is completly understood and valid. But you can see some situations that can be affected.

[Frank Goebel]

What I'm trying to understand, is if a team is bowling against a Bye team
"Earn the Points" rule being used - we had one the first week of the season)
and they bowl on an assigned lane pair at the same time and place as the
rest of the league, are the members of that team also ineligible for those
awards? We don't use a pre/post- bowl for those situations. In our case, the
fact that there was a Bye team at all was not known until the night of
bowling (an entire team didn't show).

[Lance Rasmussen]

If you are bowling during the normal schedule WITH the league, then awards apply regardless.

The new rule only applies when not bowling with the league during the regular scheduled time/date, which then makes it a pre/post bowl.

[Joyce Lost]

I have an 11 team league - all 11 teams bowl every week. The team bowling the bye has to come within 10 pins of their team average to win. This is working great. I tried to get a rule on how they were to bowl, no luck, but I think next year we will have one on team pace to follow. I just write on the "BYE" team their team average less the 10 pins + the handicap. They know exactly what they have to bowl to win. It has been working great, and they can earn awards during league. Joyce

[Lance Rasmussen]

Joyce,

DURING the league, it isn't an issue. The team opposing the empty/vacant/bye team will earn awards (unless, of course, your league opts to let the team skip bowling and set the points to a percentage basis).

The issue pertains to Make-ups or Pre-bowls. If a team is scheduled against the BYE team and must do a pre-bowl or make-up, they are not entitled to the high score awards.

This is where things become unfair in the system. If it was any other team than the team opposing the bye team, they could do a prebowl/makeup AND earn all awards as long as the opposing team agrees to make-up or prebowl with them.

Since the BYE team is not a "real" team (or Draw Team), then the team scheduled against them is not offered the same opportunity and must bowl with the league during the scheduled week if they care about earning those awards.

Personally... I would have a REAL hard time telling a bowler who just shot a 300 or 800 series "atta boy.... to bad you don't get national recognition or national awards, even though you paid $20 for your sanction card" if they did that during a pre/post bowl.

(Dont get me wrong... the reason for the new rule based on the situation where bowling these high scores during pre/post bowl were abused and under "suspect" conditions.)

[Keith Chambers]

Lance,
I think that you making this out to be bigger than it has to be! The team has other options - IF they are trully worried about high score awards. Get a substitute and bowl at the regular time.
The other option that you and others have is to muster enough support to overturn this ruling at the USBC meeting next Spring in Nashville. There were other methods available to make the unopposed bowling problem go away, but the USBC board chose to use a sledge hammer when a tack hammer would have worked much better.
There is a big difference in a "team" bowling unopposed than the problems that occurred with an "individual" bowling unopposed (and unsupervised). Those scores should be recognized if they are bowled on the same conditions as the league plays on. To require that unopposed bowling be observed by a league official seems more than reasonable to me - as long as league official is not limited to the elected officers.
Either I or my President(s) personally observe all prebowls and postponements so as to eliminate the questions and problems that invariably crop up after a team bowls well in the unopposed match. Since it does not happen that often, it is not a big deal for us. If it happened more often, then we might have to press other Board members into service.
This ruling will come up for discussion and maybe a vote in Nashville, if you do not like it, be prepared to counter with a proposal that you would like and get it on the floor for discussion. If everyone that has voiced disapproval of the current ruling votes to throw it out, it has no chance of survival! The question is, what do we replace it with? Nothing is not the right answer!
Keith Chambers
San Diego

[Lance Rasmussen]

I do agree with you that it really should have dealt with things only at the team level and not the individual level. Course.... I'm sure that this would come up again when a trios league has two absentee's and one player bowling, which would be a legal lineup normally.

As I said. Its understandable. And I agree, the wrong hammer was used.

[Ann Cummins]

I have an 11 team league - all 11 teams bowl every week. The team bowling the bye has to come within 10 pins of their team average to win. This is working great. I tried to get a rule on how they were to bowl, no luck, but I think next year we will have one on team pace to follow. I just write on the "BYE" team their team average less the 10 pins + the handicap. They know exactly what they have to bowl to win. It has been working great, and they can earn awards during league. Joyce

114C states: An individual must bowlaat least his/her average less ten (10)pins and/or teams must bowlat least the team average less ten (10)pins per player,unless the league's board
states another number.

I always thought this was a scratch figure, NOT + handicap.

[Lance Rasmussen]

You are right Ann. It is NOT handicap.