The second best week of the season is always the position round. With the chance to watch the standings swing wildly in any direction, the matchup victories set the stage for a potentially crazy second half. Can the current league leaders hold onto first place? History has proven otherwise, watching them fold like a paper napkin season after season in the second half. Perhaps this is their time...perhaps not. The stage has been set for the second half. Let's go.Regardless of the outcome of... (more...)

Fellow bowlers, Our very own Scott "Scooter J" Murdock has fallen on his knees to ask of you – on this season's position round – that you refrain from humping him in the event that you throw three strikes tonight. Instead, he begs, he feels that everyone should simply go and give Dennis "Pops" Laube a big hug for each and every strike that you throw. Perhaps even a pat on the back for every spare.Murdock simply wants to spread the love around after having received so much this season.What... (more...)

With the position round a mere week away, a sense of urgency swept across the league with teams needing to win big Tuesday night during Week #7 in order to face the opponent they most desired. In the end, four teams came out with three wins while the rest of the league took their lumps and walked away with only a single win. While only the bottom half of the league standings shifted around, two teams in the top half managed to extend their lead away from the rest. For those of you not familiar... (more...)

We're now six weeks into the season and one team has resoundingly pulled out ahead of the rest of the pack. While half the league jump all over the place in the standings, the other half remained steadfastly in their current positions. The position round is just around the corner so wins this week and next week are truly important leading into the mid-point of the Fall 2011 season. Ready to see how everyone did? Let's go.After a bad opening week of the season, the members of No Pinheads began... (more...)

As the league puts Week #5 to rest, five teams shuffled spots in the league standings with three moving up and two dropping down. While the team at the top of the heap holds onto their spot for a second straight week, the teams in second through sixth place played musical chairs with a mere three games separating them all from one another. The big surprise on the lanes came from the team that moved up two spots behind an outstanding performance from a man earning his first MVB and #1 Power Ranking... (more...)

With the Fall 2011 season a quarter of the way complete, things are shaping up to make this season interesting. After four weeks, three different teams have sat atop the league standings. One bowler put on the performance of the season thus far, securing both of the top weekly honors while obliterating the reigning champs. Did we mention that this season was going to be interesting? Read on...Please, if you could spare a minute or two, click over and nominate someone for the GutterAlley Hall... (more...)

With averages leveling out after three weeks of bowling, things typically begin to settle down and we start to see which teams are hell bent on proving that they are in it to win it. Tuesday night's performances, however, contained a mishmash of scores – some way up, some way down – that once again shifted around the league standings...including an interesting tie at the top of the heap. If you haven't taken a moment to nominate someone for the Hall of Fame, please consider doing so.... (more...)

Ahh, the uncertainty of Week #2. If there was ever a week tailor made to wreak havoc on everything from averages to the league standings, it's the second week of any season. Week #2 of the Fall 2011 was no exception with every single team changing places in the standings, averages swinging wildly and Scoot's team ascending into the top spot. In other words, hell has frozen over.In the first matchup of the night, the reigning champs STFU Donny had planned to extend their win streak after a perfect... (more...)

Had anyone asked league founder – and Hall of Famer – Angela Bradford in our inaugural season how long she thought the VML Bowling League would last, I doubt she would have been anywhere close to right. And here we are, twelve years later, currently bowling in our 24th session. Next season will be the 25th in our collective history and we here at GutterAlley thought it would be fun to look back upon the best, the worst and the oddest records that we could dig up since we began the task... (more...)

Hey, gang! Please don't forget that there will be no bowling this week due to a private party at the NKC Pro Bowl. We'll pick right up where we left off next Tuesday – September 6th – for our official Week #2.See you next Tuesday!  Read More →

The Fall 2011 season – the 24th in league history – is officially underway now that the eight teams have rolled their first series of games. Scattered amongst the numerous returning veterans were three brand new bowlers along with two substitutes. GutterAlley officially welcomes Kim Wallace, Jonathan Vigliaturo and Gary Schroer into the league and to subs-turned-full-timers Mike Berlin and Neil Rieger as well. One of these five will come away with Rookie of the Season honors at the... (more...)

Well, gang, we are exactly one week away from kicking off the Fall 2011 session of the VML Bowling League, aka GutterAlley! We hope that everyone enjoyed their summer break. During the off-season, good old North Kansas City Pro-Bowl purchased a brand new $47,000 oil machine for the lanes. Upon arrival to roll some practice games during the break after the new machine had been put to use, two employees warned us that we "wouldn't like it." So to anyone that throws a fingertip ball, beware –... (more...)

And that does it! With the roster completely full, it's time to pick teams. To speed the process up, we here at GutterAlley are going to take a stab at what we think are going to be the teams this season based upon emails received during the recruitment process.Team 1Logjammin' -- Jonathan Vigliaturo, Gary Schroer, Scott Murdock, Jason Carpio*Team 2No Pinheads -- Aubrey Moren, Phil Schroeder, Dennis "Pops" Laube, Freda Schroeder*Team 3Mysterious Platypus Appendages -- Aaron Chandler, Teresa Deterding,... (more...)

With summer winding down it's time to once again turn our attention toward filling up the 32-person roster for the next session of the VML Bowling League. Starts: August 23rd at 6:30pm (practice starting at 6:20)Ends: December 20th (total of 17 weeks, skipping August 30th*)Cost: $14 per week, does include the cost of rental shoes (full-time VMLers will tentatively pay only $8/week)Location: NKC Pro-BowlHere are the brave souls that have signed up so far to battle this season:1. Ken M. Wilson2.... (more...)

The Kansas City Corporate Challenge bowling competition took place on Saturday, June 18th. Teams from all across the Greater Kansas City area competed in the annual event with VML digging in to face 'em all in Division E. The competition was strong but bowlers throughout GutterAlley's history showed up and came away with medals.The women's team was comprised of GutterAlley's own  Read More →

The Spring 2011 session of the VML Bowling League officially came to a close Tuesday with league president Ken M. Wilson and secretary/treasurer Scott "Scooter J" Murdock presiding over the semi-annual Fun Night. The league crowned title winners Seth Gunderson, Ian Goetz, Carl Goetz and Wilson for their first place finish. Prize money was handed out to all the other teams based upon their win records.1. S*I*C*K (48-16)2. Dolls and Balls (37.5-26.5)3. Istanbowl Turkey (36-28)4. No Pinheads (35.5-28.5)5.... (more...)

The Spring 2011 season has officially come to a close with the results of the Finals now in. Three of the four members from last year's championship team repeated as the first place finishers – congratulations to Seth Gunderson, Ian Goetz, Carl Goetz and Hall of Famer Ken M. Wilson. In the end, three teams swapped places in the league standings as four sweeps were handed out tonight in the matchups. Ready for the final rundown? Let's hit it...The last time that S*I*C*K met up with opponents... (more...)

With the Finals taking place this evening, the voting for the Season Favorites will open after everything is said and done. For those of you unfamiliar with the Season Favorites, it's akin to the NBA's season awards for Rookie of the Year, the Sixth Man, Coach of the Year, etc. There are currently six categories for you to debate and vote upon. They include:Rookie of the SeasonThe best all-around bowler in his or her first season. Past winners include current bowlers Jake Parrott (Fall '10),... (more...)

With almost 100 votes cast from bowlers representing the entire history of the league, the inaugural class of GutterAlley's Hall of Fame has been selected. Congratulations to Angela Bradford, Scott "Scooter J" Murdock, Freda Schroeder and Ken M. Wilson.The four will be officially inducted into the Hall during this season's award ceremony on May 24th. Angela BradfordAB made her debut in the very first season, actually creating the league and acting as its first president. Throughout her time in... (more...)

Surrounded by a steady stream of country music and an entire horde of cowboys and cowgirls, the bowlers of GutterAlley battled through the week before the Finals while a pony stood by the front door. Yes, an actual pony. You can't make this stuff up, folks...but it actually happened. Even though the drama surrounding who would win the title ended last week, teams continued to jockey for a better spot in the standings as every win means more money in the prize fund envelopes at the end of the season.... (more...)