Savage Deets: Giving and Taking

The UBA Savage Deets is the UBA’s version of their Glossary; a series of terms that are used for the Underground Bowling Association. This will be updated on a regular basis.

NEW ENTRIES

Giving It Up – Being ahead in a game going into the tenth frame and losing because you or your team made enough mistakes / opens for the opponent to win.

Lay Down – A team that ‘lays down’ is when a team that’s trailing in the match stops attempting to win, causing them to lose by a major amount.

Shock The World – When someone that’s heavily favored to lose a match winds up winning it. ‘He beat the 250 average Bowler. He shocked the world’.

Taking The Game – Winning the game despite trailing at the end with a combination of strikes from your end and mistakes from your opponent’s end.

---

FULL LIST OF ENTRIES

---

Action – Bowling someone for money. “Do you want some of this action?”

Area for Days – When the bowler gets a strike, regardless of where he throws his shot.

A$$-Betting – When someone is bowling for money, loses the match and doesn’t have the funds to pay out.

Beef – Having an issue or an argument with a bowler to the point that the issue can only be settled on the lanes (usually with money attached to it).

Bunter – Someone who can hold their own, but is not considered elite and usually refers to themselves as not being elite – usually 200 or 2-teens

Called Out – Being challenged to a match by a bowler – usually a bowler with a beef against you.

Carpet-Betting – Betting from the carpet. IE. betting on the participants bowling without actually bowling in the competition.

Cashing Spot – The position a bowler needs to place in or the number of rounds a bowler needs to advance in in order to win prize money. 

Celly-Cam – When a bowler leaves a weird split that is shared on social media. The term is named for the originator of this practice; Marcel ‘Celly’ Danley.

China – Very easy, or high-scoring lanes ‘These lanes were china’ means that the lanes were easy to score on.

Corona’d – A league or tournament that ended due to the Corona Virus

Craps – A score of 7 in the first ball that does not get converted into a spare on the second ball (usually on a split). ‘7 Out. Pay the Donts. Line’s Away’

Cut / Cut Score – A score a bowler need to obtain in order to advance in a tournament

DMV – Short for the Washington DC / Maryland / Virginia Area that is part of the All-american Conference.

Doll Hairs – Money. Usually Dollars

Donut – The 0 in a match when a team gets swept 40-0.

Fish – Someone who is known to take matches and not win, losing frequents amount of money in the process.

Five Pin Payment – When a bowler misses the 5 pin in a UBA match, which usually results in them paying the club anywhere from $5 to $25, pending on each club’s rules.

Five Pin Powdering / Five Pin Smack – When a bowler misses the 5 pin in a UBA match, which usually results in them getting a handful (or bottle-full) of baby powder as punishment.

Fleeced – Being conned. Losing money by betting towards someone who is a lot worse than advertised or against someone that is a lot better than advertised, either as a bowler or a backer. ‘You’ve been fleeced, son!’

Getting Off The Island – Shooting a 300 (or in some cases, FINALLY shooting a 300).

Giving It Up – Being ahead in a game going into the tenth frame and losing because you or your team made enough mistakes / opens for the opponent to win.

Handicap Tournament – A tournament where bowlers get additional pins based on their average / ability

Hitter – Someone who strikes a lot and is considered one of the elite – usually 230 or better

House Mouse – Someone who is really good at their home house but really bad everywhere else.

Island / The Island- A place where the inhabitants are people that have not shot a 300 yet.

Lay Down – A team that ‘lays down’ is when a team that’s trailing in the match stops attempting to win, causing them to lose by a major amount.

Lefty / Righty Tournament – A tournament that a team of 2 people compete in where one bowler is left-handed and another is right-handed

Locked – When a bowler is continuously throwing good shots and is burying them for strikes.

Locked Out – When it’s mathematically impossible for the trailing person or team to win the game.

Margin of Error is Zero / El Cheapo – When a bowler must win the rest of the games in their match or they lose the match.

Nixon – The 4/6/7/10 combination – or Big 4 – derived from Nixon’s ‘Double Victory’ sign. The phrase was coined by Northeast Heavyweight Champion Alex Prell.

Nomad – Someone who jumps from UBA squad to UBA Squad.

North Carochina – A house shot that is considered easy, usually in North Carolina but could describe any alley in the Southeast

OG / Original Gangster – Someone who’s either been in the UBA from the very beginning or who has been part of a UBA team from the very beginning. Ex. There were 18 bowlers at the start of the South Jersey Storm. Alvin Dickinson was one of them, which makes him a South Jersey Storm OG.

Opt Out Period – The period that people can jump from one team to another without being suspended 90 days for removing themselves from a team

Over / Under (Age) Tournament – A tournament that a team of 2 people compete in where one bowler is over a certain age and another bowler is under a certain age

Over / Under (Ability) Tournament –A tournament that a team of 2 people compete in where one bowler is over a certain average and another bowler is under a certain average

Pause – Exclaimed after something that is said in a bowling alley or about bowling that could be mistaken as a double entendre, usually of a sexual nature.

Pay Day – The day that bowlers get their prize money from the UBA.

Phase 4 – The phase that will allow people to bowl in New York alleys post Corona-Virus.

Poached Out – A team that is forced to fold because too many of their players are taken by other teams

Release – Being dropped from their team. If a team releases the player they can join another team immediately, effective the end of the month. If a player eleases themself from a team they need to sit 90 days unless they release themselves during Opt Out Period (See Opt Out Period)

Run it back – Play the same game / match again for the same stakes; similar to Double or Nothing.

Schleprock – Bowling Jinx or the person that brings bad bowling luck wherever they go. The term originated frmo Alvin Dickinson

Scratch Tournament  – A tournament where bowlers bowl based on their ability and no one gets bonus pins to start the tournament

Shark – Someone who usually wins action matches, and is usually really good at selecting which fish to challenge and eat their money.

Shock The World – When someone that’s heavily favored to lose a match winds up winning it. ‘He beat the 250 average bowler. He shocked the world’.

Smoke – Bowling someone for money. “Do you want some of this smoke?”

Stay In Your Lane – The bowling version is to tell bowlers to challenge people within their own average group ie. don’t challenge people much better than you and don’t pick on people who are much worse than you.

Stretchy – Losing a game or match by a very large margin of pins, usually at least 100 pins per game times the number of bowlers competing.

Sweeper – A Tournament that last a small number of games (usually 4) where the highest scores win.

Taking The Game – Winning the game despite trailing at the end with a combination of strikes from your end and mistakes from your opponent’s end.

‘These Pins Aren’t Loyal’ – A phrase meaning that pins – or bowlers – aren’t always loyal to the same team.

UBA Baby – A newborn that was conceived during the night before, after or during a UBA Weekend Event.

Walkdown Activated / Walkdown Achieved – When a bowler is at least down by 2 games in his match and can’t afford to lose another game, but manages to win the match.

Walled Up – Very easy, or high-scoring lanes, usually referring to the bowler being able to pitch the ball on the outside segment of the lanes and it comes back in for a strike.

WCS – Short for World Championship Series

‘We Have a Situation’ – When a lone 5 pin is left after the delivery of the first ball. Various teams, including The South Jersey Storm, have their own musical tune they sing wihle other teams have their own traditions.

Work – Bowling someone for money. “Do you want some of this work?”

WTA / Winner Take All – A format where only first place gets paid out, vs. the top 3 or 5 places paying out.