Fantasy sports might be all the rage, but unless you’re a professional athlete you don’t get the chance to really be a part of the action.
A Pennsylvania bowling league has come up with a way to have it both ways, according to an email I got from Eric Coy, president of the Colonial Variety League that bowles on Monday nights at Red Crown Bowling Center in Harrisburg, Penn.
He wanted to share what the league does for others who might want to do something similar.
The 5-man handicap league had 19 teams last year in the actual bowling competition.
The fantasy competition involved a dozen bowlers in the league who each picked six different bowlers from the league — covering 72 of the 95 league regulars — in a round-robin draft.
The fantasy owners then put four of the six bowlers in a lineup each week and bowl them against another team in the league.
“This was a creation I came up with along with a buddy of mine named Jack Altland several years ago since we were bored with just playing cards,” Coy said. “We wanted to do something unique.”
Here are the league rules:
2012/2013 RUM BULLIONS ISLAND BAR FANTASY BOWLING RULES:
TEAMS:
• The league shall consist of 12 teams competing in 29 regular season weeks and 3 weeks of playoffs.
• No 1st half or 2nd half, just 29 regular season weeks.
• The league will have a $20.00 fee payable before the draft by each team.
• If you win, you will owe no money the following week.
• If you lose, you will owe the Secretary (Mike Green) $2.00 when you turn in your lineup.
• In case of a tie, both teams will owe the Secretary (Mike Green) $1.00 when you turn in your lineup.
DRAFT:
• The draft will be held before week 2 of the regular bowling league (August 27, 2012).
• Draft will begin at 5:00 p.m. in the Bowl-N-Brew Lounge.
• The draft order will be reverse standings from the previous season.
• The 2 new teams (Chris Green and Dave Walker/Sean Nies will flip a coin to decide who will draft 5th and who will draft 6th).
• The coin flip with the 2 new teams will take place during week 1 of the regular league.
• Draft will be reverse order for the even rounds and regular order for odd rounds.
• The draft will last 6 rounds.
• You may draft bowlers who do not have an average yet but you cannot use them until they have bowled 3 full games during the current season.
ROSTER/MOVES:
• Your roster size will be a total of 6 bowlers.
• You will be able to make 8 total moves (trades and free agent pick-ups) throughout the 1st 22 weeks of the fantasy regular season.
• You will be limited to a maximum of 2 moves per Monday night (just remembering you are only allowed 8 total per season).
• The roster moves (trade) deadline will be MONDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2013.
• When you want to make a roster move, you must turn in your free agent pick up to Mike Green and he will let you know when he posts the results if you got your free agent pick up(s) or not.
• Free Agency priority will be reverse standings order.
• Trades are allowed at anytime throughout the 1st 22 weeks of the fantasy regular season and when a trade is made, it must be approved by Mike Green and both teams will owe Mike Green $1.00 each.
• The traded players will be allowed to use right away.
SUBS:
• Subs will ONLY be allowed if you cannot legally put a lineup in that gets you under the 810 average cap or you have 3 or more absent bowlers.
• A sub can only sub for one fantasy team in the league per night.
• You may pick up more then 1 sub per night only if you have more then 3 absent bowlers from your roster and each sub will cost you $1.00 each.
• Teams wanting the same sub in a particular night will use their record to determine who gets the sub (worse record would get the sub). If both teams have the same record, then it is a coin flip.
• A sub must at least have 3 games bowled in the current season before you are allowed to use him.
• When you turn your lineup in, you must indicate on your lineup sheet that you are using a sub or subs and which one or which ones are the sub or subs and why you are using a sub or subs.
• When you turn your lineup in for that evening and you have a sub or subs on it, you must pay Mike $1.00 for each sub.
LINEUPS:
• Your lineup each week will be due to Mike Green by 6:20 p.m. each Monday night (gives each team a chance to make sure their bowler(s) are there that night).
• Your lineup will consist of the 4 bowlers you are using for that week in the order you want them to compete against your opponent (you will have 2 guys on your bench not being used that night).
• The order that you submit will be the order Mike uses to determine the scoring each week against your opponent.
• The CAP for your 4 man roster each week will be 810 (202.5 average per bowler).
• Each bowler used in your starting lineup MUST have a minimum of 3 games bowled during the current season (You cannot use someone who has not bowled yet in the current bowling season or has less than 3 games bowled in the current season).
• The CAP will never change throughout the bowling season.
• Your lineup must not have a total average higher then 810 or Mike Green will put in a bowler from your bench that fits under the cap (You will owe Mike $1.00 the following week for the lineup change).
• If Mike cannot get your lineup under the cap OR you fail to provide him with a sub for a bowler in your lineup that is absent and he cannot put another bowler from your roster in, then you will take a 120 BLIND score and lose those 3 points (he will take out the lowest average guy in your lineup or if the guy is absent just insert the blind score there).
SCORING:
• Each week there will be a possibility of winning a total of 17 points.
• Each game will count as 5 points (1 points per head to head matchup with opponent and 1 point for winning total).
• The final 2 points will be grand total for the week.
• The final scores will be available online and on paper the following week of bowling.
STANDINGS:
• The standings each week shall be the same as fantasy baseball head-to-head standings are and that is the final result from week to week.
• For end of the year tiebreaker scenarios, if you end in a tie with someone, then it will come down to your record versus him to determine the final standings or if that cannot break the tie, then it will come down to total pins, or if that cannot break the tie, then it will be a coin flip.
PLAYOFFS:
• The playoffs shall consist of the top 6 teams.
• No 1st half and 2nd half, just a 29 week season.
• No money will be due from any of the playoff teams even if you lose.
• Week 30 of the bowling season will be week 1 of the playoffs pitting the #3 seed vs. #6 seed, and the #4 seed vs. the #5 seed (The #1 seed and the #2 will have a bye).
• Tiebreakers will be the total of your 2 bench players.
• Week 31 of the bowling season will be week 2 of the playoffs pitting the #1 seed vs. lowest seed that won the week before and the #2 seed vs. highest seed that won the week before (The losers from week 1 of playoffs will have a bye).
• Week 32 of the bowling season will be week 3 and final week of the playoffs and it is the championship of fantasy bowling pitting the winners from the week before for the championship, the losers from the week before battling for 3rd place, and the losers from week 1 of the playoffs battling for 5th place.
PAYOUT:
• Payout is as follow:
o 1st Place - $170.00
o 2nd Place - $130.00
o 3rd Place - $108.00
o 4th Place - $80.00
o 5th Place - $50.00
o 6th Place - $30.00
o Secretary (Mike Green) - $20.00
o The 6 teams not making the playoffs will receive $0.00.
