When you’re one of a handful of males in a female-loaded workplace, there comes a time when you have to take a stand.That time came last week.After months of hearing how wonderful a team the Star Herald girls put together for the Saturday Night Mixed Bowling League, and after being prodded weekly to write a story on the squad, I decided enough is enough.In order for this story to see the light of day, I declared, someone from this office would have to beat me in bowling.Much to my surprise, Christine Mann was the only taker.Actually, Hills Crescent editor Lexi Moore, who once paid $1,200 to earn a college credit in bowling, said she would join Mann and myself for what I billed to be the Showdown at Luverne Lanes last Saturday.When Moore was a no-show (fear is a powerful emotion), I found myself facing a proud, card-carrying member of United States Bowling Congress in a three-game, winner-take-all match that I thought would put to rest any more requests about writing a story on the (get this goofy name) the Star Herald Ball Busters.I only overlooked one thing setting up this challenge: I suck at bowling.Sure, I did play with a team that competed in a Sunday Night League for three years more than a decade go, but I was more into the beverages than the bowling aspect of the sport. I don’t think my average ever reached the 140-pin mark, and I know that I had not picked up a bowling ball more than three times since those days.Still, I considered myself to be the favorite entering Saturday’s match. How could I not? I was squaring off against one of at least two members of the Ball Busters squad that don’t know how to keep score.The way things turned out early in the match, any fourth-grader in the land could have tallied my effort.My goal during the first year of Sunday Night League play was to break 100. I opened the showdown by rolling a whopping 98.Things got better for me as the day progressed, but not by much. I followed the 98 with a 109 before finishing the match with a 144 in Game 3.Since I did improve with every game, and I was taking side bets saying I would score a 160 during the match, I coaxed Christine to roll one extra game.It was a bad idea, as I regressed to a 125.As anemic as my performance was, Christine, who I now call the Lean, Mean, Bowling Machine, fared far worse.I’ll take the highroad and won’t reveal her scores. Let’s just say she never did reach the century mark in any one of the four games.All things considered, I didn’t bother to celebrate my victory. When I knock down an average of 117 pins in three games, there’s not much to boast about.On the positive side of the ledger, I didn’t face questions about when I’ll be writing a story about the Ball Busters at work on Monday.Instead, after my lackluster performance on Saturday, at least one of the Star Herald girls wants more than a story. She figures there’s some easy money to be made by bowling against a chump like myself, and wants in when the Showdown at Luverne Lanes II is staged.