"Bowling Blind"

Bowl Long Island

Ebonite Monday Open

Well apparently, I've got a lot to learn...

This is not meant to be formal or sarcastic because when it comes to bowling in general, the line between sarcasm and formality is blurred greatly only because I have always tried to live by the mantra to not take yourself too seriously. The ability to laugh at yourself is greatly appreciated among friends, family, and your enemies. If you can laugh at yourself the list of enemies is much much shorter unless they are totally unresponsive to anything. Last night was the case that you can laugh at yourself and you have an unresponsive opponent and the adage comes out that someone was looking for trouble.

For some oversight, lets get into what happened last night at the 'Patch. The Ebonite Monday Open league at BLI is a split season (two 18 week sessions) with each half having a winner as well as an End Of Season overall champion to the team that had accrued the most points at season's end. This was week 15 and the league is getting into "money time" where position round matches are coming one after another for the last few weeks of the half to determine who the first half champion is. My team going into last night's play was in 4th place and with a great late season charge can actually win the thing. My teammates are Billy Shannon and Mike Boble, who were very good players in high school for Commack in the early part of the decade and won two Suffolk County titles in high school. That would make them familiar with winning along with myself who won two state championships in high school, two conference championships in college and 3 all-event wins in college for William Paterson. Do we have Walter Ray's resume...? Hell, no. Have we had our share of team success? Yes we have, just not as a collective unit. Andohbytheway...we are a 3 man team in a 4 person league. Yes, in an open league where there is no cap on team averages in a highly competitive league, we have been bowling with a vacant bowler at the top averaging a consistent, yet uninspiring 160 and despite all of that we have still found our way to the top 4 of the league.

After sneaking out the first game by 14 pins, we won the second game by 57 pins giving us a 71 pin lead in total wood heading into the last match. Another win against a team over us in the standings would be huge in that the march actually winning the league would now be a 3 team race. With that being said, every pin is important in head to head match play for points each week. I had an uninspiring 204 the first game while my opponent, fellow left hander Mike Angelus shot 249. I snuck out a one pin win in game two over Mike A. but was still down roughly 50 in count to win my series point. The last game was really never in question as Mike B. and I came out striking. Mike A. was staying close with me with strikes...and then the 7th frame came into play. Billy caught a light mixer after his match play opponent opened and he gave it a slap out. Unlike Billy to do it but a nice break after his opponent gave him an opening. Mike B. then struck and then Mike A. finally gave me an opening to get back into the series point by leaving the 3-7-9. I was working off the first six and this shot was going to give me the chance to get back in it. I made my shot and took a half step to the left and gave a little "Yeah!" call out when all ten went back to the pit. And that is when the trouble started...

Peter Doyle, our opposition's leadoff bowler just shook his head and said audibly enough, "Boy...you guys got an awful lot to learn about winning." When Billy heard it, he wanted to know what Pete meant by that. Pete was talking about Billy's slap out and my little cheer (had he looked hard enough, that hit got me to a point where had I shot 300, I would have won my series point and that hit was the shot that got me back to even against Angelus) and said we had the match won, we had it wrapped up and there was no need to give off the celebrations. Boble and Billy wanted to keep up the conversation, but I told them to quit it and that it was a dead issue. However, Pete and the boys kept going on about for a few more shots (I casually noticed that no one else on his team even said a word about the situation or even defended Pete in the conversation) until we made peace. Pete shook our hands and said it was done with but after he was done bowling, he quickly packed his bags and left. It seemed for all the world that Pete was, most assuredly, not over it. As it turns out, I did need all 3 in the 10th for the 300 and the series point and threw an awful shot in the 10th to give that away. A 264 final game gave me another 700 series for the night and my 5th this season, but all I could think about was what Pete said: do we have a lot to learn?

By all accounts, Shannon, Boble, Scherrer, esquire is the youngest team in the league (that is our last names but not our team name...that is aptly called "We Need a 4th"). We have been bowling with a major handicap all season and yet, here we are with a chance to pretty much heist a first half league title. What Pete Doyle said about us learning a lot is a tough line to take. It is not like we are young punks that came from off the street and are taking advantage of modern technology (or not nearly as much as anyone else is...we are all helped by the technological advances), I like to think that Billy, Boble, and I are good guys who might not always be bowling great but we know how to win games in team competition and that is the reason why we have made this run. Another factor might be that everyone thinks that with only 3 bowlers they should beat us handily every week and no one has really bowled lights out against us. If they did, that 160 number we get every game would prove to be too much for us to make up. So I ask Pete Doyle, who I have no issue with at all, and will not because what he said is nothing that I have not heard before or probably won't hear again...I ask you, "Sir, are you sure we have a lot to learn about winning or do you think you have a lot to learn about losing?"

I like to think that learning how to lose and understanding that in today's league game, the best teams or the most talented teams do not win. There are more politics involved in league play than there is on Capitol Hill in a session (aside from the daily question most politicians ask: "General Tso's or Sesame?"). The politics might have actually led to a downfall of more league bowlers falling like Republicans (see, two political references in one blog!). Bowling for most people is still a way for everyone to disconnect once or twice a week, to hang out with friends, to have a beer or two (Bowl Long Island does have 2 fers on pints past 10pm every day) and maybe to throw a few strikes. For the upper class of bowling, league is about winning money but politics, technology, and poor sports ruin it for most of us. For someone like myself at 24 years of age, I still have aspirations of making a living out of bowling in some form. I care too damn much about seeing bowling fall on its face. The only problem is when you hear what I heard last night about having a lot to learn from a bowler that doesn't even know you, it makes you worry about what we've come to in bowling. I guess in the long run, we all have a lot to learn about each other in this game.

Coming soon: Yours Truly hands out his calendar year bowling awards for 2008. For any comments or suggestions as to what the bowling world wants to hear, email me at Senordoscien527@aol.com.

"Bowling Blind"

PBA Tour

Good to the "Bohn"

Operating costs aside, the true cost of any product always costs more than its retail value, no matter how great the demand or how precious the supply. In tough economic times (a situation I'll actually delve into later), you need one word from a commodity: consistency. The more consistent a product has been over a long period of time, the more willing you are to take a bet on the product. Even during tough times you know that the product may be on the downside of its returns, but is still solid enough to at the very least, balance things out. The best case scenario is that the product gets on a hot trend and you can make a profit out of and still feel that your faith entrusted in the product was well justified. Every person wants to be surrounded by the words "success" and "consistent" as a sign of prominence in society and usually don't value loyalty as much as one used to.

Perhaps that best describes Parker Bohn III stock value over his career: remarkably consistent and successful for the better part of a decade or 15 years on the PBA Tour (before mega fat cholesterol meals and deforestation were title sponsors), then a downturn where Bohn struggled but was still relevant. This was followed by a near collapse in 2004 where at one point in the season, he was ranked 51st in the points list and outside of an exemption for the following season. It almost seemed the PB3, Inc. was going out of business...

But a late season resurgence got him in the points list then 2005 saw Bohn win again in El Paso, Texas on the Cheetah pattern. At that point he had become only the 4th bowler to ever win 30 titles and the career long portfolio still looked as if it had another good run in him. A win last year in South Carolina was another spike in the market then Sunday's win over Mike Scroggins 242-198 further solidified that, even in a down economic season you can still rely on Parker Bohn III.

The real story though was evident on the telecast when Bohn basically admitted that he felt that he was overlooked for Team USA during the Men's World Championships this past summer. In some cases, bowling had moved on from a standpoint of loyalty and had searched for other forms of support. Much like the economy, the USBC had devalued its loyalty to Bohn...

This isn't to say that USBC treated Bohn wrong. After all, he is on the "Dream Team" as a member but was not one of the first 6 chosen to represent America in the World Championships. The other fact that Walter Ray Williams, Jr. won the Masters division further supported USBC in not having Bohn be on the traveling squad as justified. However, I mentioned a few weeks back that as good as Williams is, he was never the greatest promoter for the sport of bowling when he was the game's top bowler and still is one of the best in the world today. Bohn, despite not winning as much as Williams has in the last 5 years was still the epitome of a bowling ambassador: a professional and a class act, a sportsman, did bowling promotions across oceans and continents, and would never utter a bad word about bowling no matter where he went. This generation's Dick Weber??? No question about it. This society's answer to a model citizen??? Of course there is. A winner??? Well...not as much recently but he's still a name in the sport with 32 titles and two player of the year awards, as well a 4 time Steve Nagy Sportsmanship winner, showing the finest example of being a pro and showing class to his fellow bowlers. In the end, he no longer was a dominant player but a good figurehead to put on Team USA as a name to attract the international attention. USBC made a clear indication that they didn't think Paker Bohn could win anymore. His win at AMF Thruway Lanes proved differently and that his true cost is much higher than anyone else's. Speaking of AMF...

AMF

"Always Means..."

Fiscal trouble?

Finance cutbacks?

Forgetting league bowlers?

Yes, I am a happy employee of AMF working at Syosset Lanes in Long Island but the recent changes in cutting back hours to save income means that the economy is hitting everyone hard. The recent hour cutbacks as well as reduction of pay increases and no longer matching 401k contributions are clear indicators that AMF is feeling the crush of revenue losses. Bowling is a strange activity in that people do not make plans to bowl for say, a date. They do it on a whim...almost as an impulse thing to do. Usually open bowlers go through cycles of going to bowl just to kill time and then something else comes along to kill some recreational time. Whether it be mini golf, movies, or your local pub, etc...the open bowler has their moments of coming and going, which puts them out of a constant. The one thing that is a constant with bowling is league and with that comes league promotion.

Bowling promotion in leagues has been a highly untapped resource primarily because league play is in the major decline and has been so for the last decade. The truly elite players don't care much for leagues because the house conditions have catered to the lesser talented players and have created bowling's version of NFL parity in a bowling center as well as bowling companies creating bowling balls that supply greater entry angles and better pin carry for players who are lesser talented. The lower level players are just that: lower level bowlers that do not ply a considerable amount of trade into practicing or learning the new advances in the game and very comfortable bowling in mixed handicap and vacation leagues. The only problem is that those mixed leagues and vacation leagues at AMF are nonexistent. True, the big leagues are still floating around in certain AMF centers but bowling leagues are a guarantee licence to print money for a bowling center. Not only are leagues but in house tournaments as well.

The next two weeks on the Big Wood PBA Tour are to be held in AMF centers (Thruway Lanes and Country Club Lanes) and this should be a time for AMF to make a gigantic push in terms of exposure and saying to the bowling public, "Hey, economy is on the short side of things but we can host a high caliber tournament in conjunction with the PBA Tour and help get our centers some exposure and we can show how good we are." Sadly though, in looking for a high profile name in the company to be in the front row showing a brave face on Sunday's telecast, there was no mention of any AMF management in attendance. Surely they were there at the show, but no mention of it was disturbing. It couldn't have hurt to mention if Mike McKinley (Northeast Region VP) was there just to show that things are ok. Alas, it sounds as if McKinley wasn't in attendance and why you may ask? Because AMF decided in their December 1st memo to all AMF centers that travel expenses for District Managers and Regional Vice Presidents will be cut by 20%. A short term panic decision that completely didn't make sense considering that the last two events for the first half of the PBA Tour's schedule are to be held at AMF centers would have been a nice memo to show the staff members that work in all the bowling centers that we, as a company are still doing ok and that we will rebound. Let's hope next Sunday that the visibility is apparent.

College

1 vs. 2

If you enjoy watching a true powerhouse bowling team look no further than Vanderbilt's 3rd consecutive tournament victory this past weekend at the Jeanette Lee Invitational. The Lady 'Dores went through the field unbeaten this past weekend to raise their won-loss to record to 36-5 and for the 3rd time this season, overpowered the field in terms of total pinfall. The march to a fantastic 1-2 Vandy-Nebraska matchup in January begins as both teams are off until the Mid-Winter Classic. And these two teams were ranked 2nd and 3rd to start the season...wow, who did the rankings? The BCS?

High School

Century Mark

If you have a young daughter in the Long Island area who likes to bowl, do yourself a favor and take her to East Islip Lanes in East Islip, NY and watch the girls high school bowling team in action. Led by coach Harold Cooley, East Islip has owned women's bowling in Long Island since I was in high school (was it really 1998?) and they have also had their success on the state level winning two state championships in the decade along with winning seven county championships as well since the 2000-01 season. Andohbytheway, did I mention that the girls are riding a 100 match winning streak.

Yes...one hundred. In times of waning interest in bowling, the high school level in New York is still high and heavy as one the few states that carry bowling as a varsity high school sport for both men and women. With that being said, for a high school team to not lose a match in seven years says a lot about overall dominance and great coaching. Coach Cooley has been at this since I bowled in high school 10 years ago and he has always gotten the very best of his players and the word "program" fits into this high school team. They were good then, should be good now, and may always be good and the team that stops the streak will have some history for themselves...that is, if East Islip loses...ever.

Tommy Scherrer had to change his personal at the bottom this week in order to plug how you can contact him. For questions, comments, concerns, or really if you think I stink at this please send all of your questions to Senordoscien527@aol.com.

"Bowling Blind"-Part Deux

Oh, here we go again...

Bowl Championship Series

For Part Two of this week's "Bowling Blind", I had to come up with something to kick off my entry that would sum up my thoughts on the BCS system as it enters yet another late season controversy that yields outright hatred for the system. I tried coming up with how the computers, which are humans actually, to get their "Revenge of the Dorks" moment in the sky by possibly instituting the worst possible scenario for the National Championship game just as revenge for not having any athletic talent whatsoever. I also looked into the BCS for the human pollsters who just are blind to the rejecting traditional norms and flat out voting the teams who simply do not lose because the pollsters really have the power of the pen to save the BCS as much as they have the power to ruin the BCS by looking into the name on the uniform. As it turns out, I could not come up with something snappy or witty until I opened up the newspaper this morning and looked under my daily horoscope-a thing for which I never, EVER subscribe to but thought the message it gave me today was worth my thoughts:

Gemini

"Someone you run into today (hopefully not literally) will annoy you in a big way. Whatever they say or do you will disagree with as a matter of principle, or so you would like to believe. Could it be you just don't like their face or the way that they talk."

That horoscope seems rather fitting, but I am launching this as a pre-emptive strike on anyone who might disagree with me on principle with what I am about to say regarding the BCS, but I get paid an absolute fortune to voice my opinions (my annual salary for writing blogs: zero dollars...First Amendment: Priceless).

For the record, I do not like the "face" of the BCS or the way they "talk" because everytime you see what it has done to college football, you scratch your head. They have given fans, media members, and coaches across the country headaches, earaches, stomachaches, and any other aches you can summate and each time they try to modify the system, it gets worse. The whole thing is a mess right from rankings to its points system, even down to its hideous logo (I mean, did you see that stupid thing starting my blog today??? Who still thought FedEx still delivered things especially when all the commercials you see are about UPS? And really...palm trees? To a New Yorker? Are you kidding me?).

What could Brown have done to the BCS? My guess is more than Jeff Sagarin.


For historical references, the BCS was created in 1998 to "determine the national champion for college football while maintaining and enhancing the bowl system that's nearly 100 years old". That statement is literally plastered on bscfootball.org as the BCS has become the the sport's showcase. Showcase for what, exactly? Last year's barn burner classic Sugar Bowl between Georgia and Hawaii...? 41-10 Bulldogs. Ok, how about last year's Rose Bowl-the Granddaddy of the them all-between USC and Illinois, that was a Big 10-Pac 10 rivalry game and your final was...? Trojans 49-Illini 17. Umm...ok. What about the Fiesta Bowl? West Virgina 48-Oklahoma 28. Eh, das ist nicht sehr gut, mein herr. Even last year's national championship was a bore fest as LSU beat The Ohio State University by 14.

Every year, the BCS seems to breed inept matchups for fans and doesn't give the neutral or casual fans the matchup they want. When you think about what the BCS has done for us in the last decade, just go back to 2005, which was the BCS apex and will never be matched again. Fiesta Bowl: Ohio State vs. Notre Dame, Sugar Bowl: West Virginia vs. Georgia, Orange Bowl: Florida State vs. Penn State, and the National Championship was the Rose Bowl Game: Texas vs. USC. To say that these games all were not in the 4-5 star range is to be a fool. Ohio State-ND was a two big time traditional school teams going at it. Brady Quinn and Troy Smith, Charlie Weis and Jim Tressel. West Virginia-Georgia was a drama filled game with the Georgia Dome the site after Hurricane Katrina. Florida State-Penn State was a triple overtime classic with the Nittnay Lions pulling off the victory.

Then USC-Texas...the greatest college football game I have ever seen played. A legit 1 vs. 2 matchup between the only undefeated teams in football, Vince Young coming back to Pasadena after his historic Rose Bowl performance against Michigan in what was the best game of the 2004 BCS games. The unstoppable USC machine with Reggie Bush and Matt Leinart, looking for an historic 3 peat national championship in their backyard in their showcase bowl game. It was filled with storylines and drama left and right, and the game on the field did not disappoint: Young drives home the winning touchdown late in the 4th for Texas 41-USC 38. Texas twice stopping USC on 4th and shorts in the game that got them the ball back with Young running the zone read better than any college quarterback has EVER run it before. Leinart having a day where he threw for 365 yards, most ever in a championship game, and throwing for 29-40 that night (Young incredible as it sounds, was 30 for 40 in the game-the best duel in championship game history). Reggie Bush going for almost 300 all-purpose yards in the game and was on the sideline for USC's 4th and 2 late in the game where LenDale White was stopped short by Texas starting the great game winning drive by Young. If you never had seen a football game before or after this, I am happy for you because you will never see that type of game again considering the storylines coming into the game and the affects of the major players afterward in their pro careers (Leinart, Young, Bush, and White). It was the BCS at their finest and you know how it happened...? It happened because the BCS did not touch the game.

It couldn't have been touched because everyone knew that Texas and USC were the two best teams in the country that year and any alterations to that would have been disastrous, which leads us to 2008. This season, football has easily 5 superpower teams in Alabama, Florida, Oklahoma, Texas, and USC. Two are from the SEC, the best conference in college football (Florida and Alabama) and two are from the Big 12, the second best conference in college football (Texas and Oklahoma). The wild card belongs to USC, the potential Pac 10 champion and many people's pick as the most talented team in the country. The Trojans, however are killed by the fact that they play in the Pac 10 and it is far weaker than the Big 12 or SEC and they have one loss this season. Florida, Texas, and Oklahoma also have one loss and Alabama is undefeated. Both the SEC and the Big 12 have championship games, the Pac 10 does not so USC only has UCLA on their schedule to show the country how great they are and make no mistake about it, the Trojan defense is special to watch. This is truly Pete Carroll's dream team that plays this type of lock down D in winning games. USC will need help to get into a national championship.

Ok, let's run this down effectively. Florida and Alabama will play for the SEC championship this weekend and the winner effectively speaking, deserves a national title bid. The Big 12 championship is...? Oklahoma and Missouri...yes folks, Oklahoma will face (and surely crush) Mizzou in the title game and one would think their national title bid is in the cards. There is one problem...Oklahoma lost to Texas this year and they play in the Big 12 South (Missouri is the Big 12 North champion). This is where the mess begins for the BCS: you have a team in Texas that will not play for their conference championship, yet can sneak into the national championship picture if Oklahoma loses (only a man smoking stuff out of Jamaica would think that Missouri deserves a national title bid if they beat OU because they are not on the same planet as the Sooners). But if you are a purist of college football, doesn't that concern you that Texas will backdoor in without playing it on the field? Wouldn't that concern you that the Pac 10 champion USC will not get a chance to play for a national championship ahead of Texas? Especially when USC is everyone's trendy pick for their slam dunk defense, could you imagine a classic offense vs. defense dream game between Florida and Tim Tebow and USC's suffocating interior D? Well, you won't get it and why won't you get it...?

You won't get it because of the B...ig 12 conference committee.


In an archaic system with modern computers and maybe biased human pollsters, the Big 12 decided to use the most asinine tiebreaker they could use to determine tie for conference records: what team is higher in the BCS. Say what you will about the BCS (and if you have not fallen asleep yet, you will read more about it) but this mess, for once does not fall into their lap and you can thank the bigwigs with their oil rigs down south for this one. The Big 12 South has had 4 great teams all season in Texas, Oklahoma, the high powered Texas Tech Red Raiders who are ranked 7th in the BCS, and Mike Gundy's (He's a man of course...now he's 41) Oklahoma State that are ranked 14th in the BCS.

(If you love Coach Gundy, you will enjoy this Coors Light commercial: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-lBP0Adb5g)

Texas on a neutral field in Dallas beat Oklahama 45-35 in a fantastic game to set themselves up for the BCS title picture but lost to Texas Tech 39-33 with one second left on the road. Texas Tech then moved up to number 2 in the BCS after their win then got hammered by OU on the road 65-21 to set up a 3 way tie in the Big 12 South. Oklahoma last weekend won a shootout over Gundy's Okie State 61-41 that in the computer's minds was enough to vault the Sooners over the Longhorns and get them into the Big 12 title game.

Where is the fairness in all of this, you say? Each team had one loss against each other and by all standards, this was an impossible situation to handle in that you were going to anger one team and possibly two teams. That is where the word tradition came to hurt Texas Tech in this 3 way mess. They were the team without the "history" to have any staying power among the other two teams and ostensibly suffered for it by dropping down to number 7 in the BCS. It also did not help Texas that Tech got humiliated by Oklahoma so much in that they slipped in the rankings. Case in point, had Oklahoma only beaten Tech by 7 or 10 points, it would have made Tech as a far tougher opponent which would have made the Texas loss on the road to them even better in the computer's minds, possibly giving them the duke over Oklahoma this weekend. Sounds strange to even say this but the word "history" hurt Texas too in this because the team they lost to failed to have the resume that if they lost they could avoid getting left out of the BCS title picture. Sounds even stranger to even say this but Oklahoma benefited from the word "history" in their loss to Texas. They lost to a team with a great tradition and that coupled with a neutral site loss to Texas made their loss look more credible in the computer's minds making them the Big 12 South champion.

In the end, the BCS did absolutely nothing wrong in thier decision making when it came to Oklahoma over Texas, they really had no choice but to let it play out on the field and in the minds of humans and computers. This is not to say the BCS is an infallible system: it is to a high extent because it fails to involve a playoff system for fans and maybe for head coaches so that they can relax. This is where you can make the honest case that the BCS system has its plusses and is better off than a playoff.

A) The mere fact that the Red River Rivalry game is still being talked about as the reason as to why Texas is not in the BCS title hunt is what makes the rivalry games so great. Thanks to the BCS, I have gained a new appreciation for the regular season games as well as the rivalry games. Two examples of this happened last year with the Backyard Brawl between West Virginia and Pittsburgh and the SoCal Rivalry game between USC and UCLA. West Virginia had the inside track to be in the BCS title game by beating Pitt at home no less and gagged on it the day after Thanksgiving. The next day USC knew that a win would more than likely set themselves into a title game against the SEC champion, which was LSU. They had UCLA, a major underdog, playing them on the road at the Rose Bowl and of all things, UCLA stunned the Trojans in the SoCal Rivalry to vault a less than dominant Ohio State into the title game. Remember, both USC and WVU were their conference champions and in a playoff system would have still been heavy favorites to win a national title. Their losses in the rivalry games ended up costing them dearly and they never had a chance to make amends for it.

B) Where does one draw the line for a playoff? Say you have an 8 team playoff for the national championship and utilize the bowl games on New Year's Day as your semifinal games, culminating with the highest remaining seeded team playing in the Rose Bowl Game. Sounds like a perfect system but if you carefully observe this year's BCS standings there are three major issues:

1) In the top 8 you have the SEC champ, Big 10, Big 12, and Pac 10 champion in there but you do not have the ACC or Big East champ-the other two major BCS conference champions-involved in the top 8 of the BCS. A major flaw if you only have 4 of the 6 BCS conference champions involved for which the conference's power we'll get to shortly.

2) Where does the line draw between the 8th and 9th ranked teams? Think critically for a moment about the point differential between the 2nd and 3rd ranked teams in the BCS in Texas and Oklahoma. It is 0.0128, which is miniscule as to what team is in the national title game if the bowls started today. What is the point differential between 8th ranked Penn State and 9th ranked Boise State? It is O.0339. Ok, slightly higher for the 8-9 debate but less than a tenth of a point for both situations determining who gets involved in the national title game. The end result is that you will end up angering someone anyway that thinks they have a chance.

3) Here is the major kicker however this season if you were to take PSU at the 8th ranked team: Boise State is undefeated this season and is 9th. In a playoff system, don't all undefeated teams deserve a chance to get beaten? They have played the regular season as meaningful as you can possibly play it and they do not get a chance to vie for a national title? That would stand to be the real tragedy. And what about Ball State? They too are undefeated and are ranked twelvth in the BCS system. Where does the line draw? How can you humanly have a playoff without all the undefeated teams in college football? The answer is you can't do that because the smaller schools with perfect records have it held against them that they are not in the Big Six. That leads me nicely into...

C) The conference's power is overwhelming in the long run. Just make this quick take on the Big 10 champ Penn State. Had they run the table and gone undefeated as well as Alabama and one of the Big 12 South schools, you would have 3 undefeated conference champions. Everyone in their sound and right minds would tell you that of the conferences, the big 10 is the third best of the 3 and you can make the case that Alabama and the Big 12 champ were the two logical title game teams. Could you imagine the uproar the higher ups in the Big 10 would have, especially if Joe Paterno, at 80 years young, had an undefeated team and was not in the national championship game? While it's a fair political argument to make, it is a bad sporting argument to make, thanks to the 'eyeball test'. If you have watched enough games this season, your eyeballs would tell you that Penn State would not be able to score on Alabama or stop Oklahoma defensively. The sexy matchup would be the defensive Crimson Tide against the Sooner offense, which might go down as the greatest offense in the history of college football this season. In essence, the BCS would have played itself out correctly and there would be no need for a playoff.

D) In the end, we as fans love the BCS because we can debate and that is the great thing about sports: who is better? It is a flawed system but so are the conferences' dependency on the BCS for ratings, money, recruitment, and overall power in college football. It works both ways in the world of football and that is something no one can deny.

In a Utopian society, we'd see a Florida-USC championship game but games aren't won on overall talent, nor or they won on paper or in voting or in computers. They are won on the field between white lines with a leather oval shaped ball played by 22 men, 11 on each side through all sorts of weather, climates, and field surfaces. Alabama to this point is the only team that has deserved the honor of playing for a national title in that they have not lost a game yet. Just don't lose to Florida or Utah, Boise State, and Ball State are gunna start a peasant uproar. In a Utopian society, those 3 teams get to lose a game before being out of the hunt but because they don't play in front of 80,000 fans per week, have billions of dollars riding on TV deals, merchandising, and additional revenue, and are playing in mountain ranges at 1 in the morning Eastern Standard Time they are considered second class citizens in a sport where the BCS does not mess things up: the Big 12 messed it up, the SEC messed it up, the Big 10 and their compromised wads of money want to mess it up. They followed the money to protect their spots among the elite programs in college football. A true eptiome of Bowling Blind.

"Bowling Blind"-Part Uno

The Winner Within consisting of Championship Reps

NCAA

Winning...and losing

The correlation between wins and losses is simple in sports: two teams meet, one team scores more is declared the winner, while the team that scores less is declared the loser. Sounds rather simple to say, but in collegiate bowling the victors are a little bit less defined. Usually in team games and in baker games, teams bowl them out, accumulate pinfall totals and at weekend's end, the team that has knocked down the most pins is declared the winner, those that do not are considered runner up finishers. It has always been the simplest formula to observe and it makes sense when you think about it: bowling is not a 40 yard dash, it is a 26.2 mile marathon. You don't make careers in a day or in a week but in the long course of seasons and multiple victories. In the college world, as written before, you only get so many chances in four years to make a career or make a team so a season is neither a sprint or a marathon, yet a 10K or a half marathon. Your pacing has to change and be out near the front of the pack from the start in order to pull ahead in the end and emerge victorious.

Last week's Eastern Shore Hawk Classic in Millsboro, Deleware had Vanderbilt emerge victorious for the second consecutive tournament to make it a perfect start to their season...kinda...sorta...

Let's review some quick facts about the tournament last weekend:

1) Vanderbilt beat Kutztown University by 257 pins and beat third place Deleware State by 545 pins.

2) Michelle Peloquin and Josie Earnest finished 2nd and 4th respectively for the all-events, marking the second consecutive tournament the best 1-2 combo in the nation and possibly the best 1-2 bowling combo since Nathan Bohr-Sean Rash at Wichita State came out in the top 5.

3) The mere fact that teams cannot physically hang with the Lady 'Dores, especially in the northeastern part of the country has now turned the college bowling season into a rather intriguing storyline between Nebraska and Vanderbilt. These two teams have clearly emerged as the two superpowers in NCAA bowling and nothing short of a 1 vs. 2 season long power struggle to where you hope at season's end bowling fans get a national championship between the Huskers and the 'Dores and that it lives up to the hype in April.

4) Vanderbilt's record after two events this season is not 2-0, but it is 28-5.

28 wins and 5 losses??? Yes, their record is 28 and 5. Despite these being "tournaments", the game within the game is a win-loss record in the context of the tournament which, in turn helps establish teams with records in the course of a season. This enables the National Tenpin Coaches Association (NTCA) to establish a rankings system to determine the top teams in the nation. The NTCA then selects 8 teams to participate in the women's national championship in April.

This past weekend, Vandy lost 3 games this week (same as host school and reigning national champions, Maryland-Eastern Shore) which now put them at 28-5 despite being utterly dominant in their first two tournaments in terms of pinfall. Michelle (who if you haven't noticed, I like a lot..."she's cool, pretty, excellent bowler, maybe she'll go on a date with a starving blogger"...) intimated to me on Saturday after their team game loss to Sacred Heart that the team has to learn how to win games. It is a strange dichotomy into how NCAA bowling is in that a team that was leading the tournament after Saturday afternoon was leaving the bowling center a loser in relation to win-loss record...by one pin no less.

While Michelle's worries are warranted as well the worries of Earnest as well (in tears after the SHU match as she failed to strikeout to win the match outright and showed tremendous emotion), the three losses must be looked at in their own context. Friday, they lost to Jersey City in bakers after NJCU shot a tournament high baker game of 269. Saturday in the team game portion, they lost twice to Bethune-Cookman and the aforementioned Lady Pioneers of SHU. In both those games however, Vandy ran into some lefty magic. Against Bethune-Cookman, it took a tournament high game of 257 to beat Vanderbilt by 27 pins. In the second loss to Sacred Heart, the lefty combination of Sarah Pellatier and Katie Edsall both shot in the 240's, with the latter Edsall basically channeling her inner Tommy Jones and carrying everything in sight to help score the upset. In Pellatier, she ended up winning the all-event title playing a risky bank shot but rewarding enough to claim individual victory.

But team bowling is not based on the one player, but the 5 bowling and the support system on their bench. Vanderbilt went on to sweep all 6 games in Sunday's baker format using a combination of good team play, rotation changes, and flat out solid shotmaking to turn a tight tournament between a game Kutztown team into a rout, plus a rather solid beatdown of KU in bakers 816-697. Win-loss records aside, you can observe a lot just from watching as Yogi Berra would say. What I have seen from Vanderbilt in two tournaments is a dominant team game group of players who are great shotmakers from player 1 to 6. They have a versatile lineup so much so that Peloquin, easily the best senior class bowler in the nation is bowling second in team games. The real question is whether or not they can pull off success in the baker games, the backbone of college bowling come April. That will be the true question of winning and losing. Will Peloquin be right in saying that her team has to learn how to win? They have until April to find out...

PBA Tour

Just a few quick observations on the Big Wood PBA Tour this past week:

1) "Dear Kenny Simard....": keep talking to Norm Duke and you're bank account will go up. Simard was easily the best player in the field this past week in Chicago as he threatened to shoot the 19th televised perfect game in tour history against Brad Angelo Sunday. Unfortunately, Simard shot 289 in the semifinal match and then lost in the title match to Wes Malott in devastating fashion leaving a ringing 10 pin to lose 216-211. In fairness to Malott, he completely outbowled Simard in terms of lane play and in hitting the pocket but still had to sweat out Simard needing a double in the 10th to claim his first title. It was not in the cards for Simard but as long as he keeps Norm Duke's ear, he will win soon and often.

2) Jason Couch's return: great to see JC back on TV after 9 months away due to knee surgery and he was his usual solid self albeit in defeat to Angelo. Couch is a great mark for the sport of bowling in terms of excitement, energy, clutch, big-game, big-time performances as well as his risk-reward style of game. Yes, he's got 15 titles and 4 majors and here is hoping he's got another great 1999-2002 major run in him especially with Duke still performing at a high level in the majors and pushing the major envelope to another level in recent seasons. Bowling is better when these two players are in the hunt for big time wins because of the intensity they bring and the audacity they have on the lanes. Hopefully, both are healthy for the entire season and bring their best to the big tournaments.

3) Wes' one win was...?: Wes Malott likes to win once a year so he got his title out of the way really quickly by winning for the second time in Chicago in his career-4th title and one each in the last four seasons-and for the second time on the scorpion pattern. However...I don't see this being the end of Wes' winning ways this season. In six events, he has already made 3 shows on 3 different patterns, in the top 3 in points, average, and player of the year points. He is truly a monster out on tour and Malott can really revolutionize the sport for big men.

4) Angelo is back: I knew he won earlier this year in Omaha but in losing to Simard yesterday (or getting gangbanged for lack of a better word), you see Brad Angelo be Brad Angelo again. In his first two or three seasons on tour he was great on TV from a standpoint of talent, humor, personality, and intensity...but no wins. The last part (the no wins) started to mentally affect him it appeared and whenever he got to television in recent years, he struggled and wallowed in darkness while not showing much emotion. It seemed as if for all the world, it looked as if a great player was not going to get over the winless hurdle. Then Omaha came, Angelo outbowled everyone on the show and won his first title which seemingly has rejuvenated him. In getting creamed by Simard, Angelo was waving the towel in the 8th frame of their match when he knew he was done in for and he smiled through it all. One win can change a lot in a guy's eyes and for Angelo it was a spirited win. He is back on TV smiling, showing himself to the crowd, having a good time like he did several years ago when he was arguably the best player on tour. If you wanna argue over details about "best player" go ahead but he was the top player in points in a cumulative sense for almost two seasons. His ball roll might very well be match by roughly 0.1% of the guys on tour and when he's on, he's on.

5) Ladies...?: So far in three Women's Series events, nothing has stirred my interest in women's bowling this season. Yes, Michelle Feldman becoming a dominant player in the series is helping putting an old face with a new concept but so far, the Women's Series events have been rather uninspiring. It has not helped that Feldman's two victims in Jody Woessner and Missy Bellinder have averaged about 160 in their matchups against Feldman but still, we are dealing with a so far lifeless Women's Series.

Tomorrow: Part Two of Bowling Blind surfaces around 'bowling' in another sense...

"Bowling Blind"

PBA Tour

'Choog'in Along

For roughly 24 hours, I was searching for ways to describe what I saw this past Sunday on the Big Wood PBA Tour when suddenly it me: no, not an idea but a flat tire on the Long Island Expressway while driving my sister and her friends to the teen center. My sister had already driven me nuts by oversleeping in the morning and missing the bus for school along with her friend who was staying over for the week at our house (aptly nicknamed "Ashton's Palace"). Then I do the big brother thing and pick her up from school after my bowling instruction lesson and there she comes waiting for her friend...and another friend that I had not known was joining them this afternoon. Perhaps the extra baggage in the vehicle was too much for the Silver Bullet (my '01 Sentra) to handle as the left front took a bump and went limp on me quicker than a sailboat on a calm, sunny day.

This past Sunday's Chameleon Championship was much like this afternoon for me in that I got more than i bargained for and most I did not like and wish did not happen, although in the end you felt as if the outcome you anticipated all day long was going to happen. That outcome Sunday was the official coming out party for Billy O'Neill winning his first career title. After coming within one shot of taking down the great Walter Ray Williams Jr. (Hall of Famer and bowling ambassador as you all well know), this was going to be the week where O'Neill would take his spot among the elite and become a PBA champion. Usually tournament leaders in the stepladder format do not fail at sealing the deal unless circumstances of an extreme nature take place and one of the major factors I always consider is can the guy at the bottom of the ladder complete all the steps and get so much momentum that he is unstoppable? In the case of Mike Machuga, I was proven right. Machuga was seeded 5th in what was supposed to be a 4 man stepladder final only extreme circumstances necessitated such a change.

On Friday night, a scoring malfunction had Sean Rash (Sunday's #4 seed) bowling in the position round against the wrong player. It was nothing of Rash's doing at all nor was it of Machuga's doing-merely an honest mistake made by the PBA. However, honest mistakes are one thing...not giving both players the opportunity to bowl would have been another thing. Rash was supposed to bowl where he was supposed to bowl, same with Machuga but mistakes happen and Rash after seeing the mishap and knowing full well what he needed to bowl to advance to the show did enough to knock Machuga out of the final 4 (and by one pin no less). The PBA made thr right call and Machuga took care of the rest going through Rash, then Brain Kretzer, then Wes Malott, and then finally past O'Neill to win his second career title.

As for Bill O'Neill, he has now had 3 runner-up finishes in his career and in the last two weeks has had the tournament in his own hands both times, only to make a late game error and lose the match. While last week, losing to Walter Ray is no shame he had a chance to put a player who has never been a great closer in Williams on the hot seat to try and win (yeah, I forgot to mention that in my Walter Ray Haterade blog of last week-if you can keep up with WRW for 8 frames, he will get fast with a shot and go plack 10 and you can sneak in the backdoor and win) and O'Neill went 2-4-8-10. A week later, title in his grasp late spot in the 8th frame...2-8-10. Amazingly, O'Neill still had a chance to win his first title outright with a double in the 10th frame and failed to do so. Machuga stepped up and showed you how winners win: clutch double in the 10th for the money.

This show turned out to be the flat tire on the expressway for O'Neill in that no matter what the expectations were, something happened along the way to change the result which leads me into one of the major thoughts of this blog: for all of Billy O'Neill's great amateur and collegiate accomplishments before coming out on tour, where has the major breakthrough come for him? In 4 remarkable seasons at Saginaw Valley State, O'Neill never won a national championship and only came sniffing near one once in his senior year where Rhino Page and Kansas got in his way. In 4 years on tour, still no wins and two mini meltdowns when he had a chance at the title. Look, this is not a blast on O'Neill or me being harsh on him not winning but eventually, the label begins to be etched on your forehead, "yes he throws it great, but...".

The label grew on Chris Barnes and his failure to win a major and still hangs over his head to this day despite winning a pair of majors. When the great college players make headway on the PBA Tour, much is expected of them from the start because bowling fans want to get get behind a player from the start and root for him. The only way that anyone will root for a player is if they can win and prove to fans that they are on that winning level. Rash has won, Page has won, even Machuga is from the great stable of college players of this generation has won twice, O'Neill has not yet. Here is hoping that he does because when you watch him bowl, he can get crazy hot and run through people unlike most in this sport. I do root for him but until you change the flat tire, it will stay flat.

Some other observations about yesterday:

1) The Rash Aura is weakening: for the second consecutive time on television, Rash looked tight, he looked nervous, and looked uncertain in his approach to bowling. It showed on the scoreboard in losing to Machuga in the first match in which Rash rolled 3 suspect strikes and balked again. Say what you will about Rash and whether fans like him or not, he is a great mark for bowling: polarizing. Fans like him or hate him, there is very little grey area with Rash. But one part of being good on TV is swagger. Tommy Jones has the swagger on TV that you wish most young players had to where they ran through people. Rash appeared to be heading that way but has looked very tight the last few times out and with that, looks to be beatable as opposed to when he just running through people on TV.

2) Malott-a advertising: my buddy and Monday night teammate, Mike Boble noticed Wes Malott's nice racing shirt Sunday. Big Wes is well a big guy, to which he had Office Space type 'flare' all over the shirt. He has his Roto Grip shirt with the big Roto star right in the middle, the new Cell Pearl bowling ball, Vise grip patches on his right chest and left arm, on his right arm was the PBA Tour patch, the 50th Anniversary patch, and had his shoe sponsor, Etonic on both arms and on the back of his shirt. I was almost expecting Malott to hop out of a race car with his pit crew. I jokingly talk about that but did you happen to see the oversized check Jimmie Johnson was carrying around winning his 3rd straight NASCAR championship? Johnson made over 7 million dollars this year driving in left circles...yes, seven million bucks. I can't help but be dumbfounded by it but this is where you can start seeing the paralles between Walter Ray and bowling as opposed to Dale Earnhardt in car racing. What Earnhardt did for the sport of racing by selling his name and promoting himself to polarizing levels (he was hated by many in the sport), he became a far greater name than anyone in the sport and the future generation has followed suit and are now making millions a year with sponsors all over everything on their car and fire suits as well as their signature on anything that cannot be bolted down. On the bright side, Walter Ray sells RV's...

3) Machuga Maturation: the Chameleon pattern lended itself to playing the inside line all week long and Mike Machuga went into TV Sunday with a plan: play from out, carve it from out, work a shot from out and stick with it. It was a performance worthy of his bowling buddies Norm Duke and Brian Voss in that he gutted out a victory when it appeared that he was going to lose. Back to back opens early in the championship match to O' Neill while Billy O started out with 3 out of 4 strikes could have ended Machuga's day. However, all those late night talks with Duke and some Marlboro Reds in the hotel room (and other things perhaps...) paid off for Machuga in the title match. Playing the gutter shot, he carved out a performance worthy of Duke or David Ozio when he was the master of the gutter shot. It appeared that Machuga was going to have to move away from the gutter yet he did not and prevailed by getting the big time double that he needed to win.

4) Ladies...: Just two events in, the Women's Series has kinda been rather unexciting so far. Michelle Feldman has made both shows and won Sunday over a rather unimpressive Jody Woessner, after Feldman came up short against Stefanie Nation two weeks ago. Feldman has found her groove bowling with the men in the midst of the Women's Series. Her power game has become very transparent bowling alongside with the men so far and she has been able to run away from her fellow females when the lanes require an inside line. Feldman can be very exciting if she is on striking and ripping racks and taking women's bowling to another level but so far, she has been off in her TV appearances. Yes, she did win but in the process missed two single pin spares making what should have been a runaway a match to where she needed to make marks late in the match to hold off Woessner. If the Women's Series is to take off into new heights and make women's bowling seem relevant again (past college), it will need Feldman to be a monster on the lanes as well as its other top stars in Carolyn Dorin-Ballard, Nation, Diandra Asbaty, and Joy Esterson to make splashes on television in ways they did last year. So far, the heat is not there yet but with five events left, you hope that a storyline comes out of the Women's Series instead of women just bowling for no good reason.

College

Next Week: No PBA blog on high scores (the Ultimate Scoring Championship), but it is time to bring the college game back into the forefront next week with the Lady Hawk Classic November 21-23, held at Millsboro Lanes in Millsboro, Deleware. Bring the kiddies to this wonderul shore resort town...in the middle of fall, right before Thanksgiving where lakes turn into ice rinks and the sun sets around 4:30 in the afternoon...better yet, watch some bowling then go watch some Ohio State football ass-whuppin on That Team Up North.

About the Editor: Tommy Scherrer (that's me) is one of the night managers-a far more fancier term for 'Shift Leader'-at AMF Syosset Lanes. A former student at William Paterson in Wayne, NJ as well as a former member of the Pioneer bowling team for 4 years, he is a regular contributor to the pockets of many great players and on occasion, will actually make his money back generally in marathon tournaments.

"Bowling Blind"

PBA Tour

Still "Dead" on
He still won't go away...

Even at 49 years of age, Walter Ray Williams Jr. continues to defy Father Time (and perhaps the hearts of several fans who would rather see him vanish) by taking down Bill O'Neill, 246-202, for his 45th PBA title Sunday afternoon in Hammond, Indiana.

Yes...forty five titles.

It is truly staggering to think that Williams is still winning in a generation where power and youth are being served more so than ever. If you take a look around the Big Wood PBA Tour, the young stars have power, they have revs, they have collegiate successes, they have national championships, they have degrees, they have exposure...in an essence, they have everything Williams never had (sans the Caly Poly-Pomona alum's physics degree, which has been greatly underrated over the years as to how successful he has been over the changes in the sport). However, Williams still has wins...he still has money...he still has drive...he still has his legacy as the greatest player in PBA history intact...in essence, Williams has what everyone else wishes they had: greatness.

Walter Ray truly is great and it's hard to describe how he does it. He throws it end over end, he throws it too firm, he throws it too straight, he falls off balance on every shot...this assuredly goes through just about every opponent's mind when they face the man nicknamed "Dead-Eye", but he does it the same way every time and the results are similar..."red ball up 5, ten in the pit...", he has made it almost comical and did I mention he is 49 years old? He defies logic, age, physics, and modern convention yet still wins. There is one more thing he defies and that is the game's mortality.

A question opposed to me this morning at Bowl Long Island by one of the seniors was how can Walter Ray win so much and yet he does not transcend bowling like Tiger Woods does golf or Roger Federer does tennis? I had no logical answer for him trying to avoid the simplicity of saying that nobody cares about bowling but that is not true. Bowling still has a place in society, albeit not as lucrative or as prominent as it once was decades ago in relation to fame and fortune, but the sport has suffered through inexorable tolls in the last 15-20 years due to lack of interest of lack of revenues or lack of money or lack of TV exposure. Say what any bowling purist wants to say about the current state bowling is in, this fact remains: this is a severe uphill climb for the sport in regards to notoriety and will be for years to come. To the PBA's credit, they have pushed new players to the public's viewing in the last few years in O'Neill, Sean Rash, Rhino Page, Wes Malott, and Tommy Jones to garner interest in young stars that can carry the sport's water for the next decade plus. However, they still have one glaring issue that whether or not anyone will admit to saying it still plagues their future and that is they cannot get rid of the main player that put them in this perilous hole: Walter Ray Williams Jr.

After thinking about it for a few hours before writing that last line, it is something I have genuinely thought about for the last 3-4 years and never had the guts to publicly say for fear of excommunication from bowling but here goes nothing: you cannot have a sport prosper when its greatest player has not done anything in the way of promotion on a global stage the way Walter Ray Williams Jr. has in his career. Whether or not people like to admit this but the sport's great demise has happened with Williams as its top player and that is a sad reality. Look, this is not saying Walter Ray is not a nice guy by any stretch of the imagination but when the game has needed him to be an ambassador, a leader for youth bowling, a figurehead above all the other players, to be a transcendent figure he has not been there. Where Williams could have promoted the game globally during the tour's off season, he stayed at home and pitched horseshoes and played golf (both exceedingly well, in fact Williams is a member of the National Horseshoe Pitching Association Hall of Fame). Only recently, did the World Tenpin Bowling Association decided to give its top stars a chance as promoting the game by allowing professional to participate on their national teams and Williams was the star of the Men's World Championships, winning the Masters event. It was truly a landmark event for bowling having arguably its greatest player ever win and still show at his age that he is still better than all the young talent arriving on the bowling scene, however this moment for Walter Ray came about a decade too late for himself or for American bowling.

This isn't to say that he is responsible alone for the downfall of bowling but he is a very prominent face in bowling annals for the last 3 decades and the sport is still suffering to regain its equilibrium because of many bad decisions. With all that being said, Walter Ray could have and perhaps should have tried to do more for bowling from a promotional standpoint in his career when he was easily the best player in the game. He will be remembered in January as probably the greatest player in PBA history for the PBA's first 50 years, but this begs the great question to the great man's legacy: is Walter Ray Williams Jr. the greatest player of all-time?

Is he better than Dick Weber or Don Carter? The PBA won't agree with that statement but let's get some semblance of facts for a moment. Both Carter and Weber won 4 US Open championships (formerly named the BPAA All-Star) and in the case of Carter if you count his bowling world championships that many consider majors, Don Carter has 11 majors. Most though will argue that Williams was a better and more consistent player than Carter was so his resume as a bowler nuts to bolts is comparable.

Is it to Weber's? You can make the case that Dick Weber is not even close to Williams in terms of overall success as a bowler but there is one thing that no man that has ever bowled before or after Dick Weber can argue with: when it came to promotion, showmanship, class, professionalism, and sheer bowling talent, Dick Weber was the total package. He had aura and mystique (not the night dancers, Curt Schilling), he had audacity and persistence, and he had the winning pedigree. In short, he transcended the game of bowling in the 50's and 60's the way Arnold Palmer did for golf.

That is maybe the greatest correlation you can make in denouncing Williams' greatness is looking at it from golf's lineage in the last 50 years. For golf, there was Palmer who was then followed by Jack Nicklaus, the greatest golfer of all time. Nicklaus was followed by Tom Watson and Greg Norman, then followed by Tiger Woods who has sent the game from a popular standpoint into the stratosphere. Bowling had Weber, then followed by Earl Anthony, the most beloved bowler ever by the common fans who sent the game into new paralles winning titles and majors at a breakneck pace, then it was followed by Williams by winning player of the year in 1986. This was 22 years ago and Williams should have sent the game to greater heights by traveling globally and promoting the game, instead the mantle of promotion went to Parker Bohn III and Mike Aulby, who were both great players and legendary players but were not truly the world's best player. Pete Weber (Dick's son) would have been the great link to bowling's past but the PBA in its conservative past never allowed Pete Weber to be "Pete Weber", the dynamic and at times controversial player. Suspensions have cost him roughly 8-10 titles and there the PBA has butchered its greatest what if...

What if Weber, who currently has 34 titles, had won at least 8 more titles if suspensions had not stopped him? He would be sitting at 42 titles, still with a few more years in him to get 4 or 5 more titles he would be in the mid forties as well. What if, given the rise in promoting bowling from a postmodern standpoint, you had two players in Williams and Weber-polar opposites of each other in every conceivable form-going week to week seeing who was truly the greatest player in tour history? What if both players could rise each other's game to new levels and bowling to new levels by having a weekly chance to take over the career titles lead? Finally, what if Weber could have picked off Williams a few times when he was suspended and was truly bowling's greatest talent, denying him of a few titles...would this conversation be about Pete Weber being the greatest player in history having Walter Ray chasing him? We will never know the truth but what we do know is that bowling has suffered with Williams as its top player and he had every chance in the world to enhance the game and most importantly to him, his paychecks.

What if...?

There is no need for what if...? We know unfortunately.


About the Editor: Tommy Scherrer (that's me) is one of the night managers-a far more fancier term for 'Shift Leader'-at AMF Syosset Lanes. A former student at William Paterson in Wayne, NJ as well as a former member of the Pioneer bowling team for 4 years, he is a regular contributor to the pockets of many great players and on occasion, will actually make his money back generall in marathon tournaments.

"Bowling Blind"

A"dore" me

Truthflly speaking, you cannot quantify the value of adding or subtracting one player to any team in one tournament or game. It is just unfair to generalize such ideas based on "does X player make everyone around us better" in 3 days but after one tournament for the Lady Commodores of Vanderbilt, they have found one great problem that every team wishes they had: they have 6 of them that makes them better.

It is amazing to think back to April of the 2007-08 season, that the last time Vandy took to the lanes, they were in defense of their national championship and basically had their ticket stamped to at least defending their title when they were up 3-0 to Maryland-Eastern Shore in the national semifinals...then things fell apart. Whether it was bad breaks for Vandy, lucky breaks for the Lady Hawks, Sharom Brummel outcoaching John Williamson, or one team was flat out better than the other when the pressure was on the line, 3-0 became 3-4 and Vandy had authored nothing short of a collapse and went home titleless.

In the world of college sports, you only get so big a window to be the best and to make runs at winning titles. Winning one national championship is always self fulfilling in itself but the chance to win two makes great teams historic and make no mistake about it: the 2007-08 'Dores were supposed to be historic. They had the same roster from the 2006-07 championship team and added to their future with solid players in Amanda Halter, Brittney Garcia, and Ellen Morrison. But there was something missing from the 07-08 team that never was properly looked at until they were defeated and those in charge didn't know who their future was. They thought it would be Morrison but she struggled with the ever changing and drying conditions of NCAA bowling and is still in transition. They thought Garcia was talented but raw and somewhat emotional and maybe too emotional to be effective. When evaluating Amanda Halter, they didn't see talent but they saw stability and depth from a bowling standpoint and coupled with her straight game and loft was another Karen Grygiel...in the future.

Strange as the world is, the future is now and now Garcia and Halter, along with new freshman Brittni Hamilton and the core of Micha Peloquin (hi, honey!), Tara Kane, and Josie Earnest took step one into taking the 2008-09 season and making last year seem like it was 20 years ago by coming east and taking down Farleigh Dickinson in the title match to win the Fright Knight Invite (yes I know it was riveting to say 5 times fast) this past weekend.

"It's my blog...she goes up...I have a bias."

When 6 players contribute to a victory, you revel in the 'team effort' idea behind the win and make no mistake about it, this unit of 6 showed something that arguably no Vandy team showed at any point last year and that is bowling character in the face of adversity. Through Saturday's traditional 5 team games, Vandy had opened up a big lead into their Sunday baker games only the pinfall did not carry over and was only used for seeding in Sunday's brackets. Due to the travel and short time slot, only the top 4 teams in pinfall could win the tournament, with the winner of the 1 vs 2 matchup (Vandy vs. FDU) would get a bye into the championship match while the losing team faced the 3 vs 4 winner (Deleware St. vs. New Jersey City University) to see who would be the other finalist.

(Note: had you tried to read the bracket system on paper Sunday it was color coded and done very well to explain how the seeding would play out yet even after seeing it, one might have felt they walked into a rainbow on an acid trip not quite sure knowing what was going on...much like how St. Peter's and Morgan State looked all weekend which was about 20 female Art Shell Faces while bowling and no, that was not meant to be a male pig but to say that these teams were getting beat up pretty good and they had no shot.)

Of all the strange ironies, FDU just ran over Vandy like they were standing still and it looked like the tape had been replayed from the UMES semifinal match (or just watch the Met bullpen door open and you know what I felt like in 2007 and 2008) and despite being up over 400 pins on FDU through all the pinfall bowling, this was what mattered and Vandy had to get through two teams to win the tournament and sure enough, they took on Deleware State and the same thing was happening, only this time it was more prevelant off the lanes.

FDU has Mike Lopresti, who for all the rather unpleasant things I say about him and how he looked like a maroon oompa-loompa this weekend, is a damn good coach and evaluator of talent. He out coached Williamson by leaps and bounds by getting his best players in the right slots in the lineup to be succesful. It was not that Williamson had the wrong 5 players, he had them in the wrong spots. From a spectator's perspective, the player with the best look from the first shot she threw for the 'Dores on Sunday was Tara Kane yet she was not in the anchor slot, which is reserved justly for Earnest but Kane was not 4th or even 1st to start. John Williamson had his two seniors in Peloquin and Kane, bowling 2nd and 3rd respectively. Hamilton looked shaky and nervous, Garcia was her usual risk-reward self and Earnest looked like she was in need of some help at the bottom and never got it. The end result was 4-2 Knights.

DSU has Kim Terrell, who for all the rather pleasant things everyone has to say about her and how she is one of the great major bowlers in women's bowling history, is another damn good coach and evaluator of talent annnddddd of lane play. In their matchup against Vandy, Terrell saw the lanes on fire and made the edict to her five players: same ball, same line, same layout, same method. And it looked for all the world that the Hornets were going to sting (yes, corny but deal with it) the 'Dores to the consolation match. DSU was striking and sparing and seemed to be a unit while the Black and Gold looked lost-from the players on the lanes and espicially the coaching staff of Williamson and Travis Loeffler, who at times in the FDU match were 10-15 feet apart from each other showing little in the way of unity. However, two things happened that turned the complexion of the tournament in Vanderbilt's favor. First off, the Terrell-ettes failed to execute enough to win matches and in an error of her own, may have failed to get her best players bowling in the key baker positions. The second thing was Kane moving to the leadoff and Peloquin to the 4, with Halter coming in for Hamilton at the 3 slot.

Halter had the right style for what was happening on the lanes: speed and loft with precision on the quick drying heads while Hamilton was just off. Halter stepped in and Williamson threw her in a non-pressure spot in the lineup in a pressure filled situation and suddendly the express got rolling. Down 2-1 and 3-2, Vanderbilt roared back to beat Deleware State 4 games to 3 to get the rematch against the Lady Knights of Leonia. The next 5 games were a formality: Kane and Garcia (later Hamilton for Garcia) stayed sharp, Halter continued to channel her inner James Posey and then the talent came out. Peloquin jumped left and started becoming Dave Huested, Jr. and Earnest started splitting the 16 board like she was a Weber and the end result was 'Dores 4-Knights 1...game over.

"Vanderbilt+Halter-Grygiel=TEAM"

When this season began, Williamson had one major issue to contend with that no coach in the bowling nation had to deal with. He had to integrate a lot of big names into a small collective unit and then try and get the best 6 players to travel to every tournament. With 6 bowlers, things are simplified greatly for a coach and their staff. First of all, his/her players can bowl and not worry about looking over their shoulder at seeing the backups foaming at the mouth to get in, espcially if you are struggling as a bowler. Secondly, with only 5 bowling balls to bring per bowler, a coaching staff has to evaluate 30 bowling balls. Don't think it adds up? Lets look at Sacred Heart for a second: Coach Becky Kriegling likes to bring the entire school with her to the tournaments and at points has as many as 12 bowlers traveling. You can bring up to 5 balls per person in an NCAA tournament and if all the bowlers bring the max amount that is now a rather unmanageable sixty bowling balls that Kriegling, and assistant Steve Peloquin (yes, Michelle's father which leads to so many other stupid questions that I heard over the weekend) have to sand or shine or tape up or glue grips or remember specs...blah, blah, blah. It becomes impossible to manage. The last thing in bringing 6 is that if you have a team over 10 bowlers, bringing only 6 justifies the rest not traveling in that more than 25% aren't in competition. Perhaps the last item of note is where Williamson's gamble paid off the most because he had a delicate choice to make when assembling his team, mainly did he take his top three seniors in Peloquin, Kane, and Grygiel along with Hamilton and Earnest as the other two locks and then take one more between Morrison, Garcia, Halter, Ashley Belden, Katy Lammers and Kaitlin Reynolds or not bring Grygiel, sub her out for either Halter or Garcia and then take the best of the remaining cast? Williamson went with Halter and Garcia, and kept Morrison, Belden, and Grygiel off the traveling squad.

(One more note on Sacred Heart: they do have a 3rd person on staff in Jaime Smith but she is called a "stats" coach. Surprising for a team that has always had a nice lineage with left handed bowlers that Smith, a left handed bowler is not more involved in the bowling decisions espicially with two lefthanders on the team.)

This is not to say that Karen Grygiel deserved to be held back but on a team of 6 where 4 spots are taken up, two for 7 is a near impossibility to make without pissing someone off. Williamson chose to go with a combination of talent and good team players that was missing on his team in previous years. Say what you will about Grygiel's potential as a player in her career, she has won a lot in her bowling years but she is a mentally soft player when things do not go right. Accepting being the 6th woman on this team would be a devastating problem given her past success and her at times, penchant to pop off. The only logical way to have her travel is to have her start every block of bowling and cross your fingers on a player who is in transition in her game to have a perfect look and not bench her for fear of losing her in the long run mentally. Ask any coach alive with a last year player on the decline in terms of skills and they will say it is the toughest thing to do in sports because of their pull on a team's young players and overall psyche..it spells disaster. Having Halter and Garcia thrive in their opening tournaments as main-event players will only help the team's future as well as their present.

This isn't to say that these two will have their growing pains this season or that Hamilton will struggle with the game at a higher level as well or that Kane's lack of bowling knowledge will hamper her ability or that Earnest and Peloquin won't be in teacher mode throughout this season and not be in shotmaker mode for every game but their success of the younger players in the first tournament will allow the core to be the big time players that they have always been. In the college sporting world, young and old alternate really fast and with quick turnover so the young players quickly become the veterens and the new breed is right behind them to learn from those that preceded them. Before you blink, Kane and Peloquin will be gone and Garcia and Halter take over the roles.

A"dore" the present because the the future comes to pass awfully quickly...this is the season of redemption and transferrence in Nashville for the Lady Dores.

About the Editor: Tommy Scherrer (that's me) is one of the night managers-a far more fancier term for 'Shift Leader'-at AMF Syosset Lanes. A former student at William Paterson in Wayne, NJ as well as a member of the Pioneer bowling team for 4 years, he is a regular contributor to the pockets of many great players and on occasion, will actually make his money back generally in marathon tournaments.

"Bowling Blind"-a reivew of bowling in the past 7 days.

(Editor's note: This will become my true weekly feature on blogspot, which is a look at bowling reviewing the previous week on the PBA tour as well as a look at local and collegiate bowling news. The reason for college: I have rooting interest as you will soon find out.)

Defining Duke

Whether or not fans of Wichita like to hear this, but your hometown heroes got owned yesterday. Let's properly put into context what Norm Duke has accomplished the last 8 months of his bowling career on the Big Wood PBA Tour. In February of this calendar year, Duke was ranked 51st in the PBA point rankings putting him out of the exempt line for the current 2008-09 season. His career-whether or not anyone thought it-was truly in the balance. Injuries has offset the great talent and the brilliant match play mind that occupied his body (again) and just when he finally got healthy enough to bowl without pain, he became ill again with the flu. It could have been a simple fold the tent week for Duke and try and rally for the rest of the season to earn his tour card, but this was no normal week back in February of 2008...this was the World Championship. A major championship that he could not pass up given that he could will his way through match play and hold off enough bowlers to at the least save his career in terms of points was enough motivation. What Norm Duke did was will himself into the championship round and then took down the legendary Walter Ray Williams, Jr. and Ryan Shafer to win the World Championship and earn a 4 year exemption.

Encore...?
Duke then rolls into the US Open in March and wins the only major he has never won, doing it running the ladder to firmly cement his legacy in PBA lore by being the second player to ever win the career Grand Slam, joining Mike Aulby as the only other bowler alive to have laid claim to the Masters, Tournament of Champions, National/World Championship, and US Open.
Encore...encore..?
Once again, the World Championships came calling and Stormin' Norman came a-callin'. Healthy, happy, and almost free of any distractions surrounding him just went out and assaulted Chris Barnes in the title match to win his third consecutive major: a feat never accomplished in this history of this great sport.

The truth behind the victories lies the simple fact then when he's right, Norm Duke is the best player in the world when the money is on the line. I alluded to it yesterday that he is the sport's most popular player since Earl Anthony and the amount of respect he gets, even in what was considered a hometown mosh pit for Sean Rash and Barnes yesterday, the one chant that still prevailed was "DUUUUKKKKEEEEEE!!!"
Take away the small stature and the oversized elf ears and the balding spot on top of his head and there is still the bowler, Norm Duke: one of the 10 greatest players of all time, maybe one of the 5 best in PBA Tour history, and a future Hall of Famer in January. He is one of 5 players to win the Triple Crown (Aulby, Pete Weber, Billy Hardwick, and Johnny Petraglia), one of two players to win the Grand Slam, and now the only player to win 3 straight majors. He has won two Player of the Year awards (and was easily denied one in either of the last two years based on politics or new formats), has shot on of the 19 televised 300 games in PBA history, and lost in yesterday's victory he joins Williams, Anthony, Mark Roth, Weber, and Parker Bohn III with at least 30 PBA titles in his career. He now has 6 majors and its hard to think that even at 44 years of age he won't get another one or two before his great career comes to a rest. He has truly become one of the all-time great ambassadors and good guys in bowling. His resume is far from done and there is one more stat worth noting: in the last two plus seasons (this win included) Duke has won 7 titles and was healthy for pretty much less than half of the events he bowled in. Simply amazing...

College

Anyone got their watches ready?? The NCAA bowling season is about to get rolling with the season's first marquee tournament, the FDU Invitational October 31-November 2. Women's bowling has really taken gigantic strides in the last few years and women's collegiate bowling has been right at the apex of this rebirth. Not that the ladies are getting televised in the college game as they are in the pro level, but they are the future of the game and the talent of these players is exceptional. The tournament will be held at Parkway Lanes in Elmwood Park, New Jersey just off of Route 46 East. If you enjoy watching bowling and for a reasonable price (free) get your fannies to the newly renovated Parkway Lanes. Andohbytheway, have a grilled cheese sandwich while you are there at their snackbar...it is to die for (almost literally).

Michelle Peloquin

"The better bowler in this relationship is NOT the author."

Local

No local news to report so far because I really wasn't around locally last week visiting my girlfriend (Michelle Peloquin, Senior, Vanderbilt, ranked #2 in the nation, hence my rooting interest) while she was on her mid-semester break. My objective for this-and I have no idea how to do this-but I will try to feature a league per week in this feature for the local leagues in the Long Island area. If i can't...then you will have to deal with my weekly barbs Monday night at the newly renovated Patchouge Lanes (Bowl Long Island).

About the Editor: Tommy Scherrer (that's me) is one of the night managers-a far more fancier term for 'Shift Leader'-at AMF Syosset Lanes. A former student at William Paterson in Wayne, NJ as well as a member of the Pioneer bowling team for 4 years, he is a regular contributor to the pockets of many great players and on occasion, will actually make his money back generally in marathon tournaments.

PBA World Championship

Hello bowling fans, and welcome to a special running diary of the Big Wood PBA Tour!!! Today we document the sport's first major, the World Championship!!!





12:55 pm: Like the intro folks?? I built up nothing...ESPN cut away to Norm Duke throwing a practice shot with those new PBA pro shirts. Looks like he should be in a NASCAR pit crew.





12:58 pm: Duke in a commerical looking like a hippie throwing a peace ball up 7...high flush.





1:01 pm: New music...new graphics...same game. Rob Stone is back looking sharp and the crowd certainly has its "HAMBONE" signs ready to go.





1:03 pm: Randy Pedersen is looking sharp again...has he been on the nutra system plan?





1:05 pm: Rash-Duke is match one...Rash is first up...BALK! Apparently Chris Barnes has taught him well...but Rash recovers and strikes. Duke comes back playing up the 1 board and strikes...what else is new?





1:07 pm: Rash balks again...if this were baseball, Duke would have scored two runs already.





1:10 pm: 100th show for Duke and about 100,000 Marlboro Reds later...he keeps on truckin'. Rash balked again for the 3rd time...he is lost $1,100 dollars already. He may actually lose money on this show the way he's going. Bob Davidson is having a field day somewhere.





1:13 pm: No Hambone...Rob Stone's publicist is looking to jump out a window.





1:16 pm: Geico...'so easy, a caveman could do it." Ladies and gentlemen..the saviors of bowling: Tom Clark and Fred Schreyer...not only are they leaders of the premature balding club, but they are clients as well.





1:18 pm: Rash leaves the 7-10 and then promptly hits the 10 pin and flies it back into the pin deck but does not get the 7 out. For his next shot...BALK! But he recovers and strikes in the 7th frame.





1:22 pm: Again...a stop by Rash in the 9th. Strikes again...makes him 5 for 5 on striking after a stop.





1:25 pm: 1...2...3 strikes from Duke in the 10th. Rash needs to strike out to tie. Rash gets ready...and stops again. He is donating to the Jimmy Fund today it would seem.





1:26 pm: Rash goes stone 9 pin to lose his first match in his career on TV. To recap Sean Rash's day: 6 balks, 7 strikes, one 7-10 split, one near made 7-10 split and about $2,100 shorter in the wallet after having 6 shot clock violations. Duke wins and advances to the finals.





1:30 pm: For the Big Wood Tour's 50th season, they are bringing back some of the game's greats for interviews. This week, they bring back Nelson "Bo" Burton, Jr. for an interview in between matches. Mr. Burton is truly one of the all-time great ambassadors for bowling there is. He and Chris Skenkel were the true pioneers for televising bowling. The tour also is doing their top 50 bowlers in PBA history. Burton is featuring #46 on that list: Gary Dickinson, 8 time champion and a former US Open champion.





1:37 pm: The old title sponsor of the tour: Denny's. Where real heart attacks happen...





1:38 pm: Match number 2 is Steve Jaros versus Chris Barnes. Barnes the reigning POY as you know by reading my blogs and Jaros both wearing their Pit Crew uniforms.





1:40 pm: Chris Barnes starts out wayyyy in...in front of the ball return on the right lane. The master tactician has 9 spare, 9 spare to start. This match will not have the same type of feel as the first match did.





1:42 pm: Jaros with his GEICO spare ball, Steve would like to think GEICO, 3G shoes, Global 900, Vise grips, the PBA tour, and his twins for sponsoring him this season.





1:45: No strikes so far. Both players look absolutely lost early. Norm Duke cannot wait to finish his 3rd Red of the match to finish one of these guys off. Quick cut of Chris' wife, Lynda (the better of the husband-wife). Note: Chris proposed to Lynda at a bowling alley...yea, if I do that you can basically cut my man region off.





1:48 pm: Finally....the strike HAS COME BACK....to the World Championship.





1:49 pm: Double for Barnes with a can opener strike. Then proceeds to do the single most obnoxious thing on tour: go over to his twin sons and give them a high five. If this scene has not played out over and over in fans' minds each of the last 3 seasons. Look, I root for Chris...I truly do, but he should have the audacity to just run over every player in his way and not worry about giving his kids a high five. They will not knock ten pins over but he's a good family man so I should shut up.





1:53: I forgot Jaros is throwing an AMF ball...sorry, AMF. Gotta give dap to them as well for sponsoring Jaros.





1:55 pm: Barnes' shirt is more symbolic of a bike racer's shirt so at least it's not as bad as the one Jaros and Duke have on.





1:59 pm: Barnes needs all 3 in the 10 to shut out Jaros...there's 1...there's 2...AND 3! Barnes locks out Jaros...you have no idea how hard that is on a condition like that to fire 3 in the 10th for the win. Chris takes the time to throw up a WSU Shocker cap...lame.





2:02 pm: Bowling fans get what they want: Duke-Barnes...but first a word from Cialis.





2:05 pm: Historical matchup scenario: Duke wins it would be his 3rd consecutive major victory-the first in tour history to do so. Barnes wins it he would win bowling's "Triple Crown" (WC/US Open/TOC). The winner also get to do donuts on the infield with their new racing shirts.





2:09 pm: Barnes starts off the title match playing wayyy out to start. Goes half 10 to start. Duke steps up, same line, same release, same result for him-strike!





2:12 pm: Barnes whiffs the head pin in the 2nd frame. Randy Pedersen hates to question Barnes' moves but its suspect to say the least especially when he looked like he was coming on from deep inside...never did though. He only used the term 'second guess'. This is where I wish Pedersen would get away from being 'Randy the bowler' Pedersen and be 'Randy the analyst' Pedersen. Not Johnny Miller-like but critical enough to where he might actually generate some heat on the show.





2:13 pm: Hambone watch...DUUKKKKEEEE....HAMBONE!!! Shoot me now, devil! Take me home, Lord!





2:16 pm: What to do Chris Barnes? Continues to play out and strikes with the bank shot off the rail. New observation: they are playing music in between shots.





2:18 pm: Barnes inexcusably misses the 4 pin in the 5th frame. Norm Duke is up by 50...dig the grave now.





2:19 pm: Duke now have 5 in a row...cue up some Styx for DUUUKKKEEEE!!!





2:20 pm: Barnes strikes and gives you the stupid Buzz Lightyear smile afterward. Again, Chris Barnes promptly shot himself in the foot then the chest and then finally the head.





2:22 pm: The 300 watch is on right now...7 bagger for Duke. DAMN IT THOMAS!!!! Ring 10...I jinxed him. Well not really, Duke missed in with more speed and his ball just went through the pins too fast.





2:23 pm: Barnes moves back inside...doubles. Figures.





2:25 pm: Duke moves way in on his fill shot and strikes...he's incredible! Simply incredible.





2:27 pm: Duke picks up the Eddie Elias trophy (wow, they shrunk the damn thing!) and defends his World Championship and in the process wins his 3rd consecutive major and the 6th major of his career. Barnes once again completely out thought himself in losing.





2:30 pm: Randy and Norm talk on the floor. When you analyze Norm Duke's career, there has never been a more popular player since Earl Anthony. He is loved for his diminutive stature, his elf ears, his penchant for crying after winning...all of that, he is truly one the greatest players ever to bowl. Chris Barnes on the other hand goes home without the Triple Crown and another show where 'the great tactician' screwed himself.








I am not sure if I will be doing this every week for the Big Wood Tour but I will certainly try and do this during all the major events this season...anyway, have a good week people we'll talk later!