There are just two more weeks until the end of the skeeson, and you guys should know the deal by now, so I’ll just give you guys what you want: the Picks to Click for Week 7!!

Tuesday

8:00pm (Back Lane)

(20) Spot Skeero (2-3) 4156 pts.  vs.  (12) Hungskee Like The Wolff (5-0) 4877 pts.

These two teams have a lot in common besides playing on the same night.  They are both rookskee teams who have only played five matches. If they could only tend to their make-up games, they could easily find themselves rolling into the playoffs (they better get on it soon as this is the last week roll makeups). The final similarity is that both teams consist of two superb rookskee players.

Players to watch:  Sylwia Oak (Skeero) of Spot Skeero has had a great year.  Her improvement (from 233 in Week 1 to 366 in Week 6) has been impressive, especially when she has only hit 24 hundos on to date.  Watching her play last week, she was a thing of beauty with her rolling motion.

Rolling for Hungskee Like The Wolff, JD Mynhier (JSKEE) could easily be the Rookskee of the Year. He is leading Tuesday night in scoring average (367), hundos (88), and Full 40s (2).  Keep it up, JD — if it isn’t for the few rollers ahead in skeeson average, you could be the MVSKEE.  But, there’s still a chance for that in the next two weeks.

Outcome:  JD is good, and his skeemates James Munder (The Thunder) and Peter Wolff (The Packmaster) aren’t far behind. Howwwwlllllll!!!

Hungskee Like The Wolff (1000), Spot Skeero (875)

Wednesday

8:00pm (Back Lane)

(2) Ay Skee Wa Wa! (6-0) 5919 pts.  vs.  (3) A.Skee Slater (4-2) 5656 pts.

This matchup could easily be a playoff preview featuring some of the league’s top rollers. Yes, I know I am talking about my team, and I will not talk about myself (like some people on this blog, L*Skeezy). But, I will talk about these 2 rollers:

Players to watch: Ay SKEE Wa Wa! Alan Sochacki is probably the most interesting man in our league. If you haven’t met him, you should! He is a smart and good guy. But even better, he has been one of our best skeeball players over the past five skeesons. Not to deliver bad luck, but it looks like it is going to finally pay off for him as he leads the MVSKEE award by a substantial margin. While winning the personal accolades would be nice, I’m sure he’d be even happier if his team can win that nice big trophy at the end. A.Skee Slater focuses this time on reigning Rookskee of the Year, Eleanor Comiskey (Miss SKEEmerica). Her second skeeson hasn’t been a slump as she is near the top 10 on Wednesday’s in scoring average (328.17) and hundos (73). Eleanor has been the perfect complement to the talents of skeemate for Katie Nierzwicki (K-tizzle) and should help the team go far into the playoffs.

Outcome: Outcome? I am not going to give one for a match I am in. But, I will say the scores should be very high and a good test for both teams before the end of the skeeson.

Thursday

8:00pm (Front Lane)

(9) Notorious B.I.SKEE (3-3) 5333 pts.  vs.  (1) SKEENAGE MUTANT (6-0) 6164 pts.

Another 8pm match preview? Why not!  This is the old classic of heavy favorite and true underdog.  One team is on their way for another division title and another team is just trying to get into the playoff party for the first time.  But, upsets and surprises can happen anywhere in life and I am not taking this one for granted.

Players to watch:  Notorious B.I.SKEE team features a good and consistent roller in Dan Springer (The Ringer). So much so, that he has rolled a 310 for 3 straight weeks to start the skeeson. The exact same score! I can’t recall that ever happening before. Combos also have been a specialty for him. He is one of the very few to have a Full 50 on his resume from Skeeson IV.  S.M.N.H. have 3 excellent rollers, but the one that has stand out so far has been Dave Faust (F***in’ Dave). He is a quiet competitor who just let his game do the talking. His balance when rolling consists of having a beer in his left hand and a ball on the right hand. The night leader in hundos (89) and 2^nd in scoring average (363.17) can say the balance has worked! Oh yeah, expect to hear a bunch of “F***in’ Dave” chants.

Outcome:  S.M.N.H. should win, but I think this one will be closer than expected.

S.M.N.H. (1010), Notorious B.I.SKEE (963)

That’s skee for me! Roll on.

Jman

Now that the bye week is over, the final stretch begins! There are only three more weeks until the team playoffs, High-Roller and Wild Card tournaments, awards and everything else that is SKEE-A-PALOOZA! And if you didn’t already know, every roll counts! For the new rollers, hopefully, you have already learned everything you needed to know to excel in this game. For the veterans, you know it is time to finish the skeeson strong! Without wasting anymore words, let’s begin this week’s “Picks To Click.”

Tuesday

8:00pm (Front Lane)

Skee Dog Night (5-0) 4798 pts. 1st place  vs.  The Buttskees (3-1) 4672 pts. Tied for 2nd place

It’s always nice to talk about such a close match, especially with the Tuesday Division lead on the line. This match also features some of the best rollers in the league and are both veteran teams that each average close to 300 a game each skeeson. This could very well be the match of the season, and it could go either way.

Players to watch:  When you talk about Skee Dog Night, the first player to note would be Scott Alleman (formerly of Sports Fix Chicago fame). This fellow Bears and Cubs fan carries his passion from sports over to skeeball. As the Hundo Shootout Champion from Skeeson IV, Scott currently ranks third in scoring average (340.25) and ninth in hundos (58) in the Tuesday Division. He is also very excited about his team going undefeated as the top team on Tuesday. Meanwhile, The Buttskees’ (whose actual team name is the “Frank R. Hurlbutt Memorial Skeeball Team”) Mallory Milluzzi (Milluzzskee), has been one of the best female rollers with her smooth and straight roll that very few rollers dare to try. It’s carried her to the Final 4 in the High Roller Tournament (twice), won her Most Improved Roller and Hundo Leader awards and helped bring her team SKEE-A-PALOOZA in Skeeson IV.

Outcome:  This will be a huge match with skee lane advantage in the playoffs on the line and shouldn’t disappoint. But, overall, I see the first place team widening the gap with this game. 

Skee Dog Night (1002), The Buttskees (950)

Wednesday

10:00pm (Back Lane)

WhiSKEE Dix (5-0) 5192 pts. 1st place  vs. The Tight Skeeholes (3-2) 4385 pts. 5th place

I know, I know! I’ve already talked about The Tight Skeeholes in a previous Picks to Clicks, but this match is worth watching! If you do want to know more about them, you can read my blog from last week.  So, this will be more about the team running away with the division, WhiSKEE Dix. This team originated from Three Headed Monster rollers MJ Luppino (Wolverskeen) and Elliot Freirich (El Dawg). Over the past five skeesons, they have rolled with a wide variety of skeemates: David Adler (Skeeson I), Mike Rubin (Skeesons II & III) and Mike Powers (Beerman) (Skeeson IV). Even with a slew of skilled rollers, they managed to come up short every time.  This skeeson, they turned to an unlikely source- (see below) – and it has given them their best chance yet.

Players to watch: Who is this unlikely source you ask? It’s a girl who, surprisingly, is having her best skeeson yet (individually and team). Her priorities are, in no particular order: Koozies, wine, running, skee bracelets, skeeball, social media and boys. If you guessed Lauren Gillaspey (L*Skeezy), congrats — go take a shot with her. L*Skeezy is rolling on her first new team since Slopskee Seconds disbanded after four fun-filled skeesons. I don’t know how (and why) they came up with that, but there is nothing slopskee about her play. Always a strong bank shot and avid bracelet collector, L*Skeezy is finally seeing her hundo game improve after it seemingly vanished the past two skeesons. On the topic of adding a new third member to a team, The Tight Skeeholes have also added a new one to the mix with Tom Seeberg (Skeeberg), filling in for Mac Murray. After a bit of a rough rookskee start, he has averaged around 297 and hit 15 hundos in the last 2 weeks. His skeemates Tony (Tone Loc) and Andy (Ders) miss Mac, but are glad to see Tom picking up the slack.

Outcome:  WhiSKEE Dix might struggle with the week off, but they will manage this one. 

WhiSKEE Dix (975), The Tight Skeeholes (910)

Thursday

10:00pm (Front Lane)

The Kelly Kapowskees (2-3) 4420 pts.  11th place  vs.  Comskeedians (4-1) 4733 pts.  4th place

Though not originally planned, I can list quite a few reasons why this match should happen. For one, it would be the best match of the night. Another is both teams are in the playoff mix. The third is it would be a playoff rematch from last skeeson ultimately won by The Kelly Kapowskees. The final reason would be that I usually keep score for both because, well, why not? You have to feel the hype for this one, right?

P.S. I did check the grid, and it works perfectly! Skee Wee’s Playhouse and O.M.Skee can play in the back lane.

Players to watch:  Comskeedian’s Brian Kucha runs an HH Gregg by day and skeeballs deep into the night. This “shot caller”, which I think is a better nickname for him, plays for not one but two different reasons: to play well (individually and as a team) and to drink.  But, as a roller and skeemate (as I would know originally rolling with him way back when), he is great.  Like me, he puts the value into every frame and ball like his life depends on it.  Unlike me, he is having another fine skeeson (327.60 scoring AVG, 61 hundos), and I hear he might actually be here for SKEE-A-PALOOZA (say what?!)!  For the Kelly KapowSKEES, Prashant Nashi, Prash for short, is the player that makes that team go.  You always get consistency with him for an average around 305 and about 12-13 hundos.  Also, he came up with a concept called “causal hundo” when he or his skeemates are struggling during a hundo round.  How it works is if you haven’t had a hundo through 3-4 balls, you walk away from the machine, walk around with a ball in your hand, get set back on the machine, and roll again.  I would say it is an effective concept and maybe something I should do now. Prash, if you wanted to keep this a secret, sorry! The secret is out!

Outcome:  Comskeedians in a runaway if all three members, including Tom Matias (Tomahawk), manage to show up this week.

Comskeedians (960), The Kelly Kapowskees (890)

If this blog post doesn’t motivate you, maybe this will!

Best of skee to all!

Jman

I have a tendency to exaggerate every once in a while. Like after a round of golf I might tell you I drove the ball 300 yards when in reality it was something closer to 225. Or if I went to the gym, I might say I benched 215 lbs, when all I really did was sit in the corner and cry. But THIS…this is different. This is something I am not exaggerating about.

T.J. Haskamp on team Rollin’ Balls is the best magician I have ever seen.* 

Here’s how it went down last Wednesday night.

It all started innocently enough when I came across a promotional deck of Amstel Light playing cards and decided to work some of my amazing magic on Katie “K-Tizzle” Nierzwicki. The premise was basically for her to pick a card, any card, from the deck. Then I would shuffle then deck and pull out a card….Then when it wasn’t her card, she would have to drink however many drinks I was off by. The “magic” part being that she would be drunk by the end of my trick. She loved it, so I moved around to try it out on TJ and his “Rollin’ Balls” crew. Miraculously, when I tried the trick with TJ it accidentally worked, as I picked out the right number card out of the deck. 4:52 odds…Just total blind luck. I felt pretty pleased with myself, when TJ casually took the deck and said, “That wasn’t bad, but do you want to see a real trick?” I totally thought he was fucking with me, and braced myself for some variation of “52 Pick Up.” Never in a million years did I think he was a real magician.

What happened next you would have to see (skee) for yourself to believe. He did not one, but a series of the ridiculously amazing card tricks. Slight of hand was impeccable. Myself and others gathered around him like a bunch of 4 year olds as we collectively gasped “Nuh uhhhh” and chanted “Do it again!!!” for the next 30 or so minutes. I’m pretty sure he could have had any girl in the room that night, and to be honest, he was one levitation trick away from having me switch teams.

There’s no better way to say it : “That shit was cray.” 

The moral of this story is, if any of you have crazy hidden talents and have been holding out on me, I want to know about it right now!!! Not tomorrow or next week, right NOW! I’m at Glascott’s 3 nights a week, for 7 hours at a time and not drinking booze. I’m am at the point now where I am in desperate need of any additional entertainment. Hula hoop, tell me a story, tap dance….I don’t care. Hey, I think there may even be an ongoing team music/dance video contest going on right now that none of you have yet to participate in. WTF are you waiting for? You know I can give you all free drinks, right? You’re too spoiled.

In closing, TJ was a great sport about all the attention, and apparently has been performing magic six he was 6 years old. Good stuff. Now if only he and his team could magically start rolling balls into the hundo holes…That would be magical.

 

( *Granted, I have not seen many actual magicians in person.)