I'm not on a bowling team on Tuesdays, I just sub. So far I've sub'd on 4/6 teams (it is a very tiny league). Subbing is a good gig because you don't have to show up and in the worst case no one needs a sub but you can just practice on the open lanes instead. The cost for this league is the same as practicing - it isn't a "guaranteed league" so subs have to pay for 3 games of bowling instead of playing for free ("free" really, if you don't have to pay buying a round is standard).
Subbing frequently also begets subbing frequently: this past week three teams (out of the six) asked me to sub for them next week. This can be explained by my recent above-my-average performances, shit eating grin[1][2], and a desire to not lose 10 pins per game for an absence. The mighty George Jones (he doesn't have 300 game rings, he has a 300 game watches) has made an art out of subbing; He bowls 4+ nights a week across several houses and isn't on a team.
The upcoming Winter league is a bit touchier. My teammates Mike & Kristy have moved out of Boston so I'm a floater. The problem isn't that I need teammates; I have been asked to be the "we need one more guy" guy on a bunch of teams (not all overlap nights). The problem is that "Winter" starts the first week in September so I need to figure out if I'm moving to New Hampshire nowish. Heck, my next overseas trip is in September so I need to figure out if I'm staying in the country (and if I do I need to sign up for a hunter safety course w/ ).
[1] Americans smile. One of the Lithuanian girls I ended up running with on my trip remarked on this frequently. She had done student exchange to the US and missed smiling people dearly. She also couldn't believe that I smoked so her opinion might be suspect - there are 60 million American smokers.
[2] The topic of shit eating came up at the Lithuanian conference. One of the guys I met makes good money working for a company that makes $1 million a month from scams (the popups that say "Optimize your computer, click here!"). Adjacent guy said that for one million he would eat shit for one month and then quit. I got to reply "really? after the first month it's all gravy."