The information contained in this article was corroborated by 4 different people who were at the tournament.
The LIGBT is at it again!
The Long Island Generations Bowling Tour, run by Steve Sanders, has had their share of controversy in the past (you can see some of those controversial articles by clicking here!). Unfortunately it seems as if they're not learning fr
om their mistakes.
Yesterday, the LIGBT took their show on the road, running a self-dubbed Special Event Doubles Handicap Tournament at AMF Garden City Lanes. Unlike a few tournaments in the past, everything that happened during the tournament seemed copacetic. Unfortunately everything changed shortly thereafter.
After the tournament had ended and the monetary prizes were about to be distributed, President Steve Sanders quickly stepped in and halted all payments. Apparently, once again after the tournament had already ended, Sanders decided to take it upon himself to rerate one particular bowler named Zack Ortmann. As per LIGBT rules, the average used in the tournament is the highest book average over the past 2 years. As you can see by the image to the right, Ortmann has a book average on Bowl.com of 132 from the Tuesday Early Mixed League at AMF Babylon Lanes. Being as such, he came in with an entering average of 132. Ortmann proceeded to shoot games of 141, 208, 165 and 197 and with his 132 entering average, he was looking at a Top 3 finish in the tournament as well as approximately 75 bracket wins. And then it was not.
Sanders decided to rerate Ortmann up to 166, a whopping 34-pin difference. This change not only took him out of contention to possibly win the tournament, but Sanders also refunded all brackets Ortmann had entered. All in, this post-tournament change resulted in an approximately $2400 swing, adding up his expected tournament finish and bracket winnings. What's even crazier is that according to Ortmann himself, this was actually his second rerate. Apparently he was rerated from 132 to 140 at the last LIGBT tournament he entered, but was then allowed to enter at 132 for this tournament.
Crazy things continue to surround the LIGBT. Only time will tell what happens next!
