Highs and Lows

Yesterday was to be a pretty good day - I was kept busy at work, I had my last class meeting, and was entered to compete in the Brewskeeball Best Roller of the Year (BROTY) competition. The day went by quickly, the meeting was over in a blink, and I was off to the Buckshot to fight for my place in Brewskeeball Skeeson I history.

I arrived at the bar around 9 expecting that the tournament would soon be starting, but the championship round for the final two teams was only just beginning. This final would pit Skee Fast Lose Your Pass (the team that beat us in the Semis) against The Skee Amigos in what would be a total blow out in favor of Skee Fast. The boys from the Sunday night league dominated the entire match and ended over 500 points ahead of the Amigos by the end.

Well deserving of their victory, they chugged room temperature Miller High-Life from the Brewskee Mug in celebration.

Shortly after the celebration, the BROTY competition started. The BROTY pits the top 24 rollers in the league (as determined by highest rolling average) against each other in a single elimination bracket. I didn't have the score to get a first round bye, but my competitor didn't show up and I was automatically bumped to the second round to face Ken-Dog of Skee Fast Lose Your Pass. By the time we were called to the line, Kenny could barely stand up from the celebrating.  Despite the alcohol in his system, Kenny rolled a solid two frames, but my 310 and 350 put me through to the next round. 

The next round would pit me against Ned from the Skee Amigos - we tied the first round, he won the second, and I won the third. We played the first playoff round of the night as all the other rollers had won in straight sets. In the end, my roll of 290 was enough to beat the 250 of Ned. Moving on to the Final Four, I faced Skee-Zak, a fixture of the Wednesday night league. The battle was fierce, but I took the match in the third round with a 320 roll.

The final round would find me, a relative unknown, against Brover Cleveland of The Broskies - his Goliath to my David. For those that don't know, The Broskies were the team to set the all time rookie season high score in the very first week of competition posting a team final of 961. Brover would roll a 29.3 average in that match and maintained a season average of 28.28. His cool demeanor belied his rolling - he was on fire that night, consistently rolling over 300 in each of his previous matches. Additionally, like myself, he had limited his alcohol intake and maintained a steady hand and smooth form.

This is the only known picture from the BROTY with both myself and Brover
(that's me rolling in the Final Four, and Brover in the brown shirt on the right watching the action)

As I shook his hand, I stared into the eyes of my combatant and saw a quiet confidence which I lacked. Heck, I was happy just to have made it this far, but this was to be a match for the ages. 

I rolled first and opened with a mediocre 280. I recounted to Burchie how early in the season I was happy to break 200 but now that my rolling had improved, anything less than a 300 was a failure - Brover proved me right by rolling a solid 340 right out of the gate. Despite this opening salvo, I resolved to stay in the fight for as long as I could. My next roll would be another average score for this level of competition - a 270. Despite my meager attempt, the skeeball gods were watching over me as Brover matched with a 270 and we would be forced into a third and deciding round.

Not expecting to make it this far in the tournament, I was out of money and had to borrow a dollar from Burchie to make my third roll of the match. Once again I rolled conservatively and ended with a 260, but this turned out to be enough to keep me in the match as Brover was only able to manage a 190 - overtime!  These final nine rolls would determine who would take home the BROTY trophy. 

Once again, I was forced to borrow a dollar just to be able to compete. I stepped up to the line, collected my thoughts and began to roll. 40 after 40 rained down and it appeared as if I was going for a full-circle (all 40s), but then a few missed rolls and I ended the match with a 290.  All I could do then, was sit back and watch.  Brover approached the line maintaining the calm he had shown all night while his fans wildly cheered him on. His first roll, only a 10 - stepping back for only a moment, he quickly collected his poise and re-approached the line.  Then came two 50s in a row as he really turned on the heat. However, another 10 shook his confidence somewhat and he seemed to lose stride and began rolling inconsistently

Down to the final two balls, he would have to hit 50s or 100s to win the match - he opted for the hundos. The first roll fell short and gave him a meager 10 points - I was holding my breath. He closely examined his last ball and set for his final roll. As the ball released from his grip, everything seemed to slow and the room went quiet. The ball hit the ramp and began sailing in a perfect arc towards the left side hundo. The speed, the trajectory, the arc - it all seemed perfect - but the ball sailed over the hundo and bounced off the wall to score a 10 giving Brover a final score of 230. I had just won the BROTY!

Handshakes and congratulations were exchanged and high fives were given by my Sunday night compatriots. I stood atop lane 1 and hoisted the BROTY trophies high over my head in victorious celebration. Flashes popped all around me as I stood there in my moment of glory - it was wonderful. After 126 rolls and $14 dollars - $2 of it borrowed - I would end the night as the best roller in all of San Francisco.

Unfortunately, the celebration didn't last long as I had to head home to get some sleep. I collected the final few high fives and congratulatory handshakes and headed out to my car, reveling in my recent victory, and felt as if nothing could bring me down - I wish I hadn't felt like that.

I climbed into the car and placed my new BROTY hardware on the passenger seat. Closing the door, I noticed that there was a lot more "outside" noise inside the car than there should be. Perhaps I had accidentally left one of my windows cracked? Maybe the door hadn't been shut all the way. Or, maybe it was because my rear passenger window was smashed out - ah, yes, that's it!

I cursed, I got mad, then I got over it...there was nothing that I could do. In the past I would have stayed mad and hit things and probably would have done more damage, but a cooler head prevailed and I just went home.

Despite having my window smashed out and my computer stolen along with my copy of "Into the Wild" (which I had only gotten half way through), I did have my pride and the comfort in knowing that I was still the Best Roller of the Year for San Francisco, Skeeson I, and that's something no one can steal from the back of a 1979 Mercedes 300D.

I slept with my trophies last night...

-jonathon, BROTY, SF Skeeson I