T3 - A New Kind of Bowling League

Prior to the 2023-2024 season, a unique opportunity arose for the bowlers at Thunderhead Bowl and Grill in Taneytown, Maryland, which allowed for the formation of a new league for the Fall season. SpareTalk's Rod Weaver, who had become a fixture at Thunderhead during the prior two seasons, was presented the opportunity to form a weeknight, evening league. Rod enlisted the help of a few of his influential acquaintances to spread the word about the formation of a new league in Taneytown.

The need for something new to attract players on the busy Monday nights for bowling, prompted the introduction of a combination league, similar to the already existing 'Match Point' leagues. This new 'T3' league was named with a '3' for two reasons: 1) It was to be a Triples League, and 2) It was to be a '3-in-1' league, in which there would be the traditional league of team vs. team match play, but also included would be an inner-league 'Singles' league. The Team method would be based on points for team wins and losses. The Singles league would allow individual team members to acquire points for his/her team, based on each player receiving a separate ID number, which would allow for points accrual vs. another member in the league, which in most cases would be on another pair of lanes.

The third part of the T3 league was a means by which an end-of-year tournament would be established, with prize money based upon the amount of 50-50 money being collected on a weekly basis. The end-of-season, handicap-based tournament would advance the Top 8 players who 'qualified' for the tourney, based on how the players performed on Week 28 of the 30-week season. Those who advanced to the final 8 player bracket would then be eligible for the accrued additional prize fund from the 50-50 intake throughout the course of the season. And because these qualifiers were predicated on how well they performed individually on ONE night of bowling, it would give those bowlers who may have been down in the standings, a chance for a sizable payoff in the tournament. There were 8 finalists, and each advancing bowler would collect a percentage of the cumulative 50-50 prize fund.

To get an idea of how the T3 League functioned, take a look, via the WorldLeagues website by clicking here.