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
‘A Squad’ / ‘B Squad’ / ‘C Squad’ et al.– The grades that people give the teams that have shown up. Usually with this code: ‘A Squad’ – Best Bowlers / ‘B Squad’ – Very good / ‘C Squad’- Average and beatable/ ‘D Squad’ – Below average or Dumpster Fire Squad / ‘F Squad’ – Fail or What are they doing here? or This is the team we had to get at the very last minute.
Bet Good / Bet Amazing – A bet that’s been laid out has been accepted and if you lose you better pay up. Player A – ‘I’ll put down $50 that I will beat you in the next game right now.’ Player B – ‘Bet Good’.
Sandbagging – Deliberately not bowling to the best of your ability to keep your average down or to lower your average. This is usually done when the game has been decided in a blow out fashion.
Short! – When your score falls a few pins shy of making a tournament cut or winning a prize. It’s usually exclaimed by shouting out the word very quickly. ‘Short!’
FULL LIST OF ENTRIES
40 Piece – Taking every single point from the opposing team. ‘We 40 Pieced them’ means you won 40-0.
‘A Squad’ / ‘B Squad’ / ‘C Squad’ et al.– The grades that people give the teams that have shown up. Usually with this code: ‘A Squad’ – Best Bowlers / ‘B Squad’ – Very good / ‘C Squad’- Average and beatable/ ‘D Squad’ – Below average or Dumpster Fire Squad / ‘F Squad’ – Fail or What are they doing here? or This is the team we had to get at the very last minute.
Aaaaaaaaaawwwwwwwww You Suck! – That’s a chant that you will hear if someone puts the ball in the gutter on the first ball of the frame. If that person double gutters (throws the ball into the gutter twice), that’s grounds to be powdered.
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.
Backer – Someone who puts up money for a bowler in competition (whether it’s a tournament entry, UBA entry or side stuff) – and reaps the benefits of making a profit if the bowler does well.
Back Row Bingo – When you leave the whole back row in a game (7 pin, 8 pin, 9 pin, 10 pin) instead of throwing strikes.
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).
Bet Good / Bet Amazing – A bet that’s been laid out has been accepted and if you lose you better pay up. Player A – ‘I’ll put down $50 that I will beat you in the next game right now.’ Player B – ‘Bet Good’.
Blow Out – Winning or losing by a wide margin. ‘We blew them out / We got blown out’
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
Butt Hurt – If you get your feelings hurt because you lost or someone made fun of you on social media on something that’s superficial or not too serious. ‘He just lost by 200 pins and a picture of him missing the 5 pin is now online, so he’s a little butt hurt right now’
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.
Dumping – Deliberately not bowling to the best of your ability to keep your average down or to lower your average. This is usually done when the game has been decided in a blow out fashion.
Dumpster Fire – You’re either bowling really bad or you’re really bad. ‘That score was a dumpster fire’ or ‘You are a human Dumpster Fire’.
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.
Gutter Creature, Gutter Monster, et al. – The creature that lives in the gutter that magically eats your balls for dinner if you leave them too close to the edge of the lane. ‘Your ball got eaten by the Gutter Monster’
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
Hot Garbage – You’re either bowling really bad or you’re really bad. ‘That score was hot garbage’ or ‘You are Hot Garbage’.
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.
It’s A Wrap – When a game or series is mathematically over. The phrase is usually spoken by the victors.
Land of the Red Numbers – When a bowler throws a bunch of splits in a row (the splits indicated by red on any electronic scoreboard), they take a trip to the land of the red numbers.
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.
Mystery Score – A game played where whoever comes closest to a score revealed after a game wins a prize. Consider it bowling’s version of a lotto.
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.
Salty – If you get your feelings hurt because you lost or someone made fun of you on social media on something that’s superficial or not too serious. ‘He just lost by 200 pins and a picture of him missing the 5 pin is now online, so he’s a little salty right now’
Sandbagging – Deliberately not bowling to the best of your ability to keep your average down or to lower your average. This is usually done when the game has been decided in a blow out fashion.
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
Short! – When your score falls a few pins shy of making a tournament cut or winning a prize. It’s usually exclaimed by shouting out the word very quickly. ‘Short!’
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.
Tanking – Deliberately not bowling to the best of your ability to keep your average down or to lower your average. This is usually done when the game has been decided in a blow out fashion.
‘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 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 while 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.
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