Thursday – The Revenge?

Well Thursday A started 0-5 against Tuesday A, but now they have their big guns.  They also have the number one team in the league who frankly doesn’t give a crap about night vs night records.  No one will care about those stats if a Thursday team hangs a banner.

Game of the Night

(EARLY) X-O: #1 Guns of Brighton (4-0) -1 vs #4 Back In Black (3-1): It doesn’t get much better than this.  It’s juicy enough when Bayside’s mechanics have their teams duel regardless of record (not to mention Stevie’s son, who joined the team, is also a former bowling mechanic).  On top of that you have the defending champs (BIB), the current #1 (GOB), the current top dawg (E-Minor)…it’s an embarrassment of riches for one match.  On the lanes GOB gets Jon Moon back from his Disney trip (too premature for his “I’m going to Disneyworld” moment perhaps), but they lose Hootie to the D.  Seatown should fill in fine.  E-Minor and Pickles are also in.  BIB rebounded last week on G-Boy’s big game, and Stevie will be amped out of his gourd for this game.  The BIB ladies have also stepped up with Bama gone.  Should be a great, great battle, but I’ll take Thursday to get one due to GOB depth.

Game of The Night Any Other Night

(EARLY) X-O: #2 Strikes of Hazzard (4-0) -1 vs #3 Leisure Rolls (4-0):  Well, well, well, a battle of A division undefeateds.  Strikes were expected to be here, sort of.  We knew they had improved with the General Lee signing, and they were solid to begin with.  They’ve been winning in exhilirating fashion with a couple 8-7 tallies and even a 1 pin victory.  The Rolls are the upstart expansion team who were the first expansion squad to enter with a chip on their shoulder.  They’ve handled everything thrown at them so far, and now get their first taste of Tuesday.  They are also sponsored by Labatts which should earn them a few sideways glances from our Moosehead faithful.  They don’t have a single ace average-wise, but they have amazing top-end depth.  Magic’s silent assassin demeanor as captain is the polar opposite of the Strikes happy go lucky salesman of Captain Uncle Jesse.  Great clash in styles, great game.  I’ll go with Deputy, he’s hungry.

Other Early Games

X-O: #5 Still Living On A Spare (4-1) -5 vs Body English (1-3): This looked like a good one before the season started but now is an afterthought to the two monster games going on at the same time.  It’s a pretty good rivalry – LOS harbors a deep BEER resentment.  Shithawk has taken excellent smack shots at Hungus for years, Cheese and Precious are always convinced Bayside is out to get them, and Natro was on the old LOS team that lost in the semis to BEER on their only championship run.  Look for The Towers to bowl agitated, which will probably work for them, though it might suck if you are a pin.  BEER has been a weak sister this year with the lowest average in Tuesday A.  Precious even said “it’s embarrassing to watch BEER bowl now.” And this gem “Hungus is a shell of his former self”.  Well, so far it’s all true, though embarrassing is subjective as the team still has sharp duds and is having a drinking renaissance.  A return to winning, however, may be a little further down the road.

Guacabowle (2-3) -1 vs Bowlderdash (2-2): These guys have the slight misfortune of playing in the shadow of all these big crossovers.  Wouldn’t it be cool if they ended up stealing the show by reaching a bowloff?  I’ve been betting on Guac a lot this year and coming up empty, but I am a stubborn man and I’m going back to the well again.

Late Games

#12 Young & Bowled (2-3) -7 vs #7 Nutz (3-2):  The Nutz have been on a tear, but Busta is in Hazaii.  Ergo, Y&B wins.  The Nutz will fight but I can’t see anyway they pull this off over a Y&B team coming off a thrilling bowloff win and looking for their 3rd straight.

I.B.S. (4-1) -7 vs Bad News Spares (0-4): These teams both finished 0-12 last year, but things have been a bit different this year.  The Spares are still on their winless pace, but I.B.S. has been thriving with the move down to Thursday B and have their eyes on a division crown.  Given their shared experience, however, they certainly won’t be running up the score.

Happy Hands (4-1) -7 vs 5 O’Clocks  (0-4): The Hand’s Munj has been really putting in the work at the lanes.  It’s paying off as these guys look to get to the halfway point at 5-1 with a good luck at defending their division title.  The O’Clocks are still looking for that spark and not sure who it will be coming from.  Automatic?  Feltie? Former Captain of the Year Tillie?  We’ll wait and see.

Granola Bowlahs (3-1) -3 vs Slaughterhouse 7 (2-3): The Granola crew are off to a solid start in their rookie year.  Bijou has been excellent and the 2v2 pair of Rick Vaughn and Colucci Kid have been posting some decent totals.  They’ll play a veteran S7 crew.  Coco Lopez vs Bijou is a nice women’s all-star showdown, and Ishmael will battle for top points all night.  They’ll keep it close but I’m picking Granola to win in crunch time.  (So lame, Hungus!)

X-O: #6 Off Constantly (3-1) -3 vs #14 Yay? (2-2):  This is the marquee late matchup, and another intra-Bayside showdown with staff on both sides (Nuber vs Mona Laudley).  OC has been having a solid season with Dick Liquor leading them at this juncture.  Nuber and Oz have yet to go off but have been maintaining, and Hunny Bunny is close to 150.  Yay? is adjusting to life Ralphie-less, which is a little quieter and depends on a lot of rolling from Mona.  Probie had his good week last week so no expectations on him, but Jewdy and Yao have been a bit more consistent.  To win they’ll need Smallwood to regain his 2012 Draft League form.