One month from today, the seven teams of the VML Bowling League will square off one last time in the Finals. While there has not been any real movement in the standings for several weeks now, time is starting to truly run out as the distances between win records continue to shift. Three teams appear to have put themselves out of reach as the season winds down...with one of those teams gaining ground each week.The last time that the current league leaders Pin Pricks met up against opponents Kitten... (more...)

Week 11 is now in the books and with it comes what appears to be very little change. As has been the case many times this season, not a single team has swapped places in the league standings. However, the distance between teams has narrowed quite a bit in some places and made vast improvements in others. The first place team now enjoys its largest lead to date this season while a game and a half separates 2nd and 3rd place. With a mere five weeks until the Finals, it's anyone's guess as to which... (more...)

The Finals are officially a month and a half away. Week 10 had the potential of providing quite a shakeup in the league standings as the top four teams faced off against one another. While both of these matchups ended in a tie, another team's big move has them a mere one game back out of 4th place. With a mere 1.5 games separating first and second place, the teams in 3rd through 5th place find themselves just a short distance from one another with win records of 24, 22 and 21 respectively. A... (more...)

As the second half of the league officially kicked off, each team faced the same opponent they met on Week #1. With more games under their belts, the teams that took it on the chin the last time they met up in August mounted their own turnarounds on Tuesday night. Week #9 also had its share of controversy with a contested outcome against the blind team. After reviewing the league rules, discussing the situation with two employees of the bowling alley, polling various members of the league and... (more...)

The 2010 Fall League is now officially half over and the standings do not look that much different than they did after Week #1. The top two teams have the same record, 3rd and 4th place share the same record and the rest of the league is knotted up on through 8th place, each with a chance to quickly move up...or down. As mentioned last week, the position round gives teams the optimal chance to improve their record against their closest competition but only two teams truly cashed in on the moment.... (more...)

Historically, the weeks of the position round and the Finals have the biggest potential for a shake-up in the league standings. A distant third (and fourth) are the weeks preceding those showdowns. For those of you that are new to the league, we'll explain how the position round works.After each team has bowled one another once, the following week is handled a little differently. Rather than starting the schedule over again, teams are pitted against their standings counterpart. So, next week,... (more...)

Six weeks ago, seven teams embarked on a journey to take the title in the VML Bowling League. With the midway point quickly approaching, four of those teams seem to be distancing themselves from the rest of the pack en route to what should be an exciting position round on October 12th. While there was no change whatsoever in the top four spots on the standings, the gap between first place has been narrowed even more. Want to know how everyone did? Well, read on...When will someone be nice to... (more...)

If historians ever study the 22nd season of the VML Bowling League and look for the week in which the tables turned the most, we predict that it will be Week #5. Of course, we'd all wonder why the hell they are studying our bowling league in the first place but one never truly knows. Regardless, Week #5 was the week in which the first place teams massive win streak was ended and when the standings were tightened quite a bit. A mere five games now separate six of the eight teams in the league.... (more...)

Week #4 is now just a memory as the 28 members of the VML Bowling League have logged their scores into the history books. While the bowlers of No Pinheads continue to add to their impressive record, the rest of the league continues to beat up on one another in an effort to topple the current league leaders. How did your favorite team fare this week? Read on, my good friend, and find out...They say that absence makes the heart grow fonder. Such may be the case for Ground Zero Mosque who welcomed... (more...)

Week #3 of 17 is officially history now and with it came some surprises. While more than half the league changed places in the standings, No Pinheads continues to rack up victories and mow down anyone they face. How long can they remain at the top of the heap? Only time will tell. With the newly launched Power Rankings feature in place, one bowler has taken both MVB and the #1 Power Ranking for the week. Here's how the night went down...After completing their post-bowling on Friday afternoon,... (more...)

When we last heard from the abandoned mascot of Feed the Monkey, he had taken a job as a men's room attendant on the advice of a less-than-reputable psychic.The new career began well, but on the second night a bar brawl in the men' room nearly killed Monkey.Unfortunately for Monkey, the fight erupted because the bathroom had not been adequately stocked with toiletpaper, as this photo proved. Monkey was immediately fired.Homeless, alone, and destitute, Monkey wandered the streets throughout the... (more...)

Power Rankings have officially made their way onto GutterAlley. "What in the hell are Power Rankings?" you ask? Well, we're glad you asked.For years now, people have enjoyed earning the title of being the week's Most Valuable Bowler. The MVB selection, based entirely on a mathematical equation that takes into consideration a number of factors, would point out the one bowler that had put on the best win-producing performance. Sometimes, however, this wasn't necessarily the best bowling performance... (more...)

Forgotten and abandoned by his teammates from Feed the Monkey, poor Monkey began wandering the lonely streets of North Kansas City.   However, before being forced to turn to a life of prostitution to survive, he was found and picked up by a member of an opposing team.The joy of being rescued could not erase the pain of abandonment, so Monkey asked to be taken away to the nearest bar so he could drink away his sorrows.After a binge lasting well into the night. Monkey learned that hitting the bottle... (more...)

With nearly every bowler having six games under their belt after two weeks, the VML Bowling League is off and running. Historically, the second week of every league is each individual bowler's moment to shine – they are either dealing with an over-inflated average from the previous week and on a mission to prove that they can maintain it or they are on the opposite side, and facing an opportunity to really bring the heat after a sub-par performance seven days prior. The teams that found themselves... (more...)

Hey, gang...with the popularity of the Most Valuable Bowler award each week, we've decided to implement a new feature on the site called Power Rankings. Since the MVB pinpoints who, on an individual level, contributed the most firepower to help their team win the most games on any given week, we wanted to find out which bowlers were having the best week overall. Combining elements of the MVB equation along with a bowler's performance compared to his or her average, we've been able to rank who is... (more...)

Week 1 is now officially in the books. With solid debuts from veterans and rookies alike, this season promises to be an interesting one as seven teams (and one blind team) battle for supremacy to take home the title in December. Two teams of old timers even kicked off their seasons with perfect 4-0 records – an accomplishment that has only happened a handful of times in the league's 10-year history. Want to see how your favorite team fared? Well, you've come to the right place...Before... (more...)

The 22nd season of the VML Bowling League officially begins tonight. With only seven teams signed up, this is the smallest crew we've had since the Fall 2002 season. The Finals are a full four months away. Which two teams will end up facing one another in the championship matchup? Rest assured, returning champions Ian Goetz, Carl Goetz and Ken M. Wilson will do their best to defend their crown and return to the Finals but with several brand new teams in the mix, it's anyone's guess as to who... (more...)

It is with great pleasure that we launch the new and vastly improved GutterAlley.com web site. After nearly seven years of faithful service, we've retired the old code in favor of a revised look and feel running on the WordPress engine. While there is still plenty of work to be done porting over code from the previous site, rest assured that we'll bring it all over while adding many new features as well. For those of you in the league this season, Ken and Scoot will be creating you accounts on... (more...)

The Spring 2010 season draws to a close, with Empire Strikes Back officially earning this season's championship title! The final week saw three teams climb in the standings, while three teams slipped. Freda Schroeder picked up this week's high game (200) and series (529) for the women. As for the men, Aubrey Moren snagged this week's high game with a 219, and high series was earned by Ken M. Wilson with a 589. Read on for all the rest of the details! First up, on lanes 25 & 26: Scoot Gave... (more...)

The fifteenth week of Spring 2010 saw one team climb in the standings, while two teams slipped. Freda Schroeder picked up this week's high game (209) and series (541) for the women. As for the men, Ken M. Wilson snagged this week's high game with a 245, and high series was earned by Carl Goetz with a 582. Meanwhile, Tournament of Champions is officially down to its final eight bowlers, who will face each other next week competing for two cash prizes! Read on for all the rest of the details! First... (more...)