The Book Club Invitational World Championship

In what was one of the most awe inspiring moments in living history, Wee Dave started X X X X / X and the rest was history. The most deserved winner of the inaugural season of the Book Club Invitational World Championship.

As founder, allow me to speak on all the people who took sheer delight in seeing you wipe the floor with Schmertie's corpse in the final.

Well done and watch out for season II

Fans and heros- The BCIWC is pleased to introduce to you all the 10 Pins with a Legend monthly interview.

To read about the first cab off the rank, head to the invitees page and click on the link under schmertie's name...

Yours in strikes!

Gentlemen, 

We always knew that we were participating in something pretty special so it should come as no surprise to you that new people are wanting to participate in the Invitational. I would guess that I receive 20-30 requests per day to be a part of the event and while some of them have a great deal of merit, there are others with no leg to stand on at all.

However, last night I received a text message from a member of the BCIWC informing me that 'since Gillard's unemployed now and has some more free time, she wants to join the BCIWC.' 

I can confirm that this morning I have received an email from 'Jules' which stated the usual 'I've been following the Invitational with a keen interest' and 'I really believe that I have something unique to offer the competition'. As is standard with all semi decent enquiries I asked how said person might bring something to the competition.

Jules sent 2 photos in response:

1. Obviously keen to show us that she would fit in with our need to quench thirsts.

2. Part of her signature dance should she bowl a strike.

Until the email correspondence can be confirmed it is not official and as I say, the original rumour came from a friend of a friend but it is certainly food for thought. We could accept her and then become the first BCIWC to oust a former prime minister from the competition... But it would take a pretty tacky person to do that...

Esteemed members, 

On the eve of round 2 I find myself pondering the ranking ladder and the brave men that hold on to it for dear life. Night one is but a fading memory for some of us, particularly the older members of the invitational.

So, until we hit the lanes again all we can do is speculate.

Will there be movers and shakers tomorrow night or will the results be as consistent as the expectation of a Smank/ MM argument? Surely form is temporary but class is permanent?

As it stands, a big hitter sits out of the top 4 and another struggles to stay in touch of the top 3. Are they under pressure? Are they asking themselves what happens if one of them has another less than good night? Or, like the champions that they can be, are they secure in the mindset that the man from Del Monte will sink back to the bottom of the pit where the bookies so crassly predicted he would be?

Either way, come 11:30pm tomorrow night, we will know a lot more about whom the contenders are and who the pretenders are...

Be brave...

Breaking news:

It has been brought to the attention of the BCIWC that one of its fine members has been, allegedly, getting in some extra practice during the days prior to the first evening of BCIWC. 

There are 2 things to note as required by my lawyers. 1) Extra practice is not in conflict with the rules of the game. 2) These allegations, until the subpoenaed evidence (inc. Strike MC surveillance footage, credit card statements etc) has been processed, analysed and presented, are simply allegations...

The suggestion is that the person is question made more than one visit to Strike MC on his own. At least one visit was believed to be during a lunch break and the other was, again, allegedly, after work.

Strike MC refused to confirm/deny when approached by reporters however a member of the public has come forward to report that a man wearing a tracksuit that can only be described as ‘Tony Pulis like’ was seen ‘sneaking in’ to Strike MC (on the right below).

Another witness claimed that the bowler had a very distinctive bowling action. Until the Strike footage becomes available we can only speculate on who the bowler was based on the description given by the witness. Police sketch artists were able to come up with the following artwork based on the description given.

At this stage, the source(s) for this breaking(?) news would prefer to remain unnamed for fear of repercussion. It is, however, believed that the several sources stemmed from one person very close to the individual.

Whether you believe that extra practice is dedication or against the spirit of the game I just hope that the ‘guilty’ bowler doesn’t keep it as a guilty little secret in the future.

On a final note, it is my hope that the bowler’s secrecy and hard work paid off on the first night of dancing on the big stage… I guess only they know the truth....

Gentlemen, I think we can all agree that the first Book Club Invitational World Championship was a success. While Willy the 'Whale' only got one prediction right (TLR 6th) there were certainly a few cats thrown among the pigeons with the man from Del Monte raising a few eye brows with 6 spares or strikes in a row. Magical stuff.

The sponsors have brought something to the attention of the BCIWC committee- the strike dancing. Some of the dances were quite lacklustre to say the least. This is something we need to be working on as this is something that draws the fans. More fans means more sponsorship and as we are ambassadors of the fine game, ultimately it is our responsibility.

The CEO of the bowling alley will apparently be made aware of our competition. Rumour has it that the CEO will be choppered in to present the trophy to the champion.

There was a stewards inquiry into the fans standing on the runway of lane #7 for parts of the 2nd and 3rd game. While the stewards concluded that it may have had an impact on the run up of the bowlers it is an unavoidable fact that the competition is going to draw interest from other punters and we are not in a position to control their actions.

Finally, to flash or not to flash. It would have come as no surprise to anyone lucky (?) enough to know schmertie and Midfield Maestro that there was an argument between the two of them (several, actually). Issue was taken with the flash of schmerties camera and then his reluctance to allow photos to be taken of him. While Schmertie will claim to have the moral compass for life I think we need to make sure that what is good for one is good for all. After all, the pressure of the flash does funny things to a man.

Men, 

I found this while cruising around on the www. seems legit?

Having just had a conversation with the CEO of Strike Bowling I can confirm that the lanes have been rated as a 7 (0-10 ranking) for this evening. 7 is widely considered to be an average to fast pace while still rewarding those who prepare to bowl with a little swing.