Sweep with a sweep? Sounds like Elmer Fudd, doesn’t it? Well maybe the Undergrads could have used Elmer versus the Alumni in Game Four of the 1997-98 Sig Series event. The Alums swept the UGs 7-0 in the February 21st Bowling Match and in the process, clinched the Sig Series crown for the first time since 1995. Notably, the 4-0 triumph in this year’s Sig Series marks the first time ever that one team has claimed the title in four straight games since the inception of the Sig Series in 1990.
Traditionally, choice of the sporting event for Game Four has been made by the team trailing in the series. This usually gives the team that was behind a chance to pick any event that they felt that they could easily win at and stave of elimination. So after the Alums took a commanding 3-0 lead in the series with wins in Softball, Football and Basketball, the UGs had the choice for fourth event. Their initial choice was a rematch in football. It was a wise choice since the students had owned their older brothers in that event for years. Besides, they probably wanted revenge for the 7-6 loss in the classic Mud Bowl football game back in November. But this wasn’t November. It was February and the sun was shining. It was a perfect day for football. So what happened? The UGs changed the event to bowling at the last minute and we all spent a beautiful day indoors.
The bowling match started late as both teams only had three bowlers each. Both team captains agreed to ditch the old ‘two points for a match and one for total wood’ scoring system. The reason being that if one team won the first to games, the third game and total wood was a waste of time. So we adopted a new scoring system. Game One was worth one point. Game Two was worth two points. Game Three was worth three points. Total wood was still worth one point.
Another modification that was instituted last year was that both teams have everybody bowl and we take the five highest totals from each team. This way everyone gets to play and if you suck… no one cares. Only this time the Ugs had three players (Joe, Jones & Driller) so the captains logically opted to take the top three and not penalize the UGs for their small turnout.
Game One started close, but eventually the Alumni pulled away. Dave Barker and Bruce DiBisceglie bowled well above their average turning in a 138 and 170 respectively. Glenn "nine pins" Trimboli matched DiBisceglie with a 170 and the Alums posted a 478. Driller led the UGs with 153, but the young’ens were victimized by numerous untimely splits and finished with 371. Greg LaSala bowled a social 109.
In Game Two, Mighty Joe Young started off strong with two strikes in the first three frames, but again splits killed the UGs as Driller and Jonesy combined for 5. Despite Joe’s 171 game, the UGs struggled as Driller bowled a 94 and Jones, who experimented with different balls all day, shot a uncharacteristically low 131. Their 398 total was an improvement, but not enough. Greg LaSala stepped up to a 120 for the Alums as Dave took the social114. Bruski, a typical 140 bowler left only two open frames to lead the Alums with 156 and saved Trimboli’s ass who turned in an embarrassing 145. But the 421 was enough for the old men to take Game Two and a 3-0 lead.
Here's where the modified scoring system helped the event and the UGs... With the old scoring system, the score would have been 4-0 and the UGs would have no shot to salvage a win and save the Sig Series. But with the new scoring, Jones, Driller and Joe still had a shot for the remaining four points and a 4-3 win. There were only two problems. First, they had not only win Game Three, but win by 130 points. Second, the Alumni’s ace bowler, Stoke Lambert just walked into the bowling alley.
Only a few minutes into the deciding game, it was clear that the Alumni smelled blood as they knew they were one game away from a Sig Series sweep. The Undergrads needed the Alumni to start off slow, but Stoker lead the way as Lambert, DiBisceglie, and Barker had 133 points by the end of the third frame. When the Game Three was done, the Alumni had a solid 458. The UGs needed a 589 to win the match. This was impossible for the tiring trio that had only a team 385 average going into Game Three. It was at this point, the UGs took a page out of the Alumni book. They cheated by changing all the scores giving themselves all perfect 300 games. So we’ll never know how much they really scored in the final game, but the multitude of pins left standing was evidence that it was considerably less than three perfect 300 games and probably much less than the 458 the Alumni bowled.
So the Alumni, after three straight years of Undergrad Sig Series domination, brought the title back to the ledger side of the ledger with a 7-0 bowling win and a 4-0 Sig Series sweep