PBA Xperience-Farmingdale Lanes
"Where we last left your hero, he was bowling on the Chameleon pattern on Thursday night...we flash forward to a month later and yes, we are back on the Chameleon..."
Yes, yes, yes...I know that are wondering where I have been the last few weeks, not posting up my weekly blogs on the PBA Experience league I have bowling Thursday nights this summer of 2009. The answer to that lies in some very important issues that I have been meaning to bring to light:
1) I am moving. As in, out of the house and into a swank, new apartment in Worcester, Mass. with Michelle in the fall. Things come in order and primarily speaking, financing the apartment, as well as moving some things in and out of the room. The computer has stayed however, but I have had other pressing issues on my mind.
2) Work. Syosset Lanes is in a very serious attempt to rehab its infrastructural image. What I mean by that is heading into the new fiscal year, our management has had to be more creative with ideas involving customer service to make budget from previous year. We have also been more diligent in keeping our lineage rates similar from one system to another (in this case-Centaman to Qubica), to make our numbers match up. We have also stepped up our crush on staff members adhering to dress codes and personal conduct. Not that this should be an issue to most who work in AMF, but for some reason, I have dealt with some rather snobbish, overbearing, stubborn, spoiled brats in my year and a half working there. For whatever reason, they fell in line with a certain style of work ethic and quite honestly, it doesn't suit what I feel is a professional worker in a bowling center with such high exposure. My only issue is that these people have been around the longest time at Syosset and it is seriously affecting my ability to manage people there. All of this though, is a mere moot point with the move and the transfer to AMF Town and Country in September.
3) Just bowling. No time for thought process and typing away. I just wanted to bowl and not worry about setting up weekly blogs, but something suddenly came up in the month of August. For years, I have wanted to adamantly defend my loyalty to my favorite music band, Third Eye Blind. I was never sure how to do this without getting laughed off the face of the earth, but with their new album coming out on the 18th of the month, I felt it was time to express my feelings about how profound an impact they have had on my adolescences and early adulthood. But....that's for another time, lets flashback, shall we?
OK, so after the Chameleon pattern would be the Viper, but I was not in the area to bowl. I had the USBC Championships in Las Vegas and my sub was....well, no one. No one could fill the shoes for me because mostly, any sub I wanted were all out in Las Vegas. Subsequently, I had no bowler and won no points and I was leading the league going into that week.
The next week was the Shark, which has played awfully rough for me. I ended up starting the league in 8th after getting zero points from the previous week. I shot 763 and struggled with ball reaction all night long. It did not help matters that I was bowling with Darren Andretta, who is making a habit of bringing great tools to the sport of bowling, but with no discernible way to use them.
After the Shark week, I was in 11th place-the lowest seed I have been all summer. But I had quite the exit strategy: the Cheetah pattern. Now before you get on me about 'oh, he's a lefty and he should score well on this pattern' junk, I was bowling with two other lefthanders that night in Eric Taylor Sr. and Tommy Genova (subbing for Andretta). They shot 694 and 653 respectively. I shot 909 for the night and once again swept the night for 17 points, making my season on the Cheetah 34 for 34 in possible points won. On that pattern, with its potentially high scoring pace, that is a tremendous feat.
The following week, it was the Scorpion pattern. I was now 3rd in points, but still had to bowl with two other lefthanders in young Alex Garger and reigning league champ, Joe Costanzo. Of course, the league leader was Mike Perrone, the lone righty. The Scorpion played much tougher than it did the previous time out, but I still got 16 points and shot a tough 816. That pattern was not easy bowling with two other lefthanders and then having to chase another lefthander in Frankie Calca the next two games.
Whewwwwww....OK, we are now up to speed. This past Thursday was the Chameleon. I come into the night 2nd in the league at 90 points, a half point behind Perrone and had some daylight from 3rd (Calca) and 4th (Marc Bieler). Once again the lanes played with a zone inside the track area, but with some different equipment choices.
Practice: Last time the Chameleon was out, I had success right from the start with my Scout Hi-Flare, but with another lefty on the pair, I was not going to have the fresh backends to have that ball recover later downlane, as practice predicted. I needed something stronger and that was my U-Turn Pearl/Particle. It is amazing how much mileage I have gotten out of that ball this year and this night was no different.
Game 1: 232. Frankie beat me....or he should have beaten me. I was in the same area of the lane as I was last time, and Frank was left of me. I am shocked to see how good his look was from around 8-9-10, while I did not have that. We get to the 10th, I strike out and I cannot lose the game. Frank could tie me if he did the same, but I knew I could not lose if I delivered. The first shot was pretty good but went soft 7, spare. I struck on the fill to force Frankie to step up and his ball caught the lane too early and overreacted right through the face, leaving a split and getting the 3 points.
Game 2: 228. Kept creeping right to find the fresh and use Frankie's area against him, which once again coincided with him needing a double in the 10th frame to beat me and coming up short again. I will be honest, I was lost. It was a lost 228 game. Two shots struck on the cross, but I took them knowing that I was probably due to get a few bad breaks. Two games and two wins, you run away and move on.
Game 3: 162. Lowest game of the year...and it still got me 2 points for the game. Frankie did shoot 191 to grind out the win but the righties were having a miserable time. Mike shot a dismal 141 and Marc shot a just as dismal 152. I was very fortunate for the 2 points. The lanes were giving me two different looks, but I just didn't read it until the 4th game. I juggled between the U-turn and Scout that game and had no idea where to go on each lane.
Game 4: 242. Best game I bowled all season long. Forget numbers or strikes or spares, this was the kind of mental awareness and lane management game I had been lacking and it clicked for 10 frames. I decided to use two different balls for the last game. The U-Turn on the left lane, and the Scout on the right lane, which was at this point on FIRE!!! I just had to tell myself with the Scout you've seen this before dating back to the first time I bowled on the Chameleon. The U-Turn on the left lane until that lane broke down to where I could use the Scout, if need be. That need be would be a be needed...if you follow me. After a quick 4 bagger and a couple of spares, you can see the left lane beginning to break down like the right lane. Now it was time for the Scout to finish the job off. A late 5 bagger to shut out both Mike and Frank got me the win, an 870 series (sensational bowling on this pattern) and now the lead in the league with a 16 point night and 49 of the last 51 points won in the last 3 weeks.
Now we get to this coming week and the Viper pattern, for which I feel is my favorite pattern and was last year for me in terms of overall consistency. However, this will be my first time bowling on it this season and the patterns at Farmingdale have been a case study in finding out how the lanes are playing week in and week out with the new pattern lengths and oil ratios. Until then folks, remember that you strike for show...but you spare for dough.
Namaste.
Sunday, August 2, 2009
Sunday, June 28, 2009
"Bowling Blind"-The PBA Experience
PBA Xperience-Farmingdale Lanes
Bowling fans...welcome to another installment to "As the Lefty Worm Turns", with your host: Mr. Thomas Scherrer...take it away, Tommy.
Well, well, well....thank you very much Mr. Announcer Guy (whomever wrote that opening), this is another installment of the PBA Experience at Farmingdale Lanes. Today, we are going to review the nature of the arguably the PBA's most challenging animal pattern: the Chameleon pattern.
Why is it challenging you ask? Two important reasons, I believe, make this pattern the most challenging pattern out there not know as a 'major' pattern. First, the length of the pattern. It now stands at 40 feet, which as we all know is pretty much a mid range pattern in terms of distance, however the words '40 feet' and 'flat ratio' always screams out a US Open-type condition, and naturally a lower scoring pace. They PBA though counteracts this by laying out the Chameleon in strips, which do give the pattern an area to play on the lane, therefore enhancing scoring pace. This is where the second reason comes into play...you have to find said area and not guess wrong. If you guess correctly, you can shoot some high scores at the start and once the lanes go through their Game 2-3 transition (which always seems to happen on this pattern) the scoring pace usually goes medium-high as opposed to medium-low. If you guess wrong from the start, then you are pretty much handing over points the entire night.
This week's Chameleon pattern at F-dale yielded higher scores from inside the track area, making the usually pristine outside angle seen there rather touchy. Not that the players couldn't play out there, it is just the carry was too iffy from out so at least the track area and in seemed to be the desired place for scoring. OK, 'nuff jibber-jabber...FOOL! Get to the night's action.
Bowlers: Myself, Chris Paroly, Mike Perrone, and Adam Chase-all righties. Pair next to me had Joe Costanzo, last year's league champion, as the only other lefty in the top 8 bowlers.
Ball of choice: You think...inside 10, Thomas? You aren't gunna play inside that and chances are you are going to use some surface to give you mistake room if you miss left from in, right? Right? Stunningly and amazingly....wrong. I elected to warm up with the Columbia 300 Scout Hi-Flare, pin in the ring finger. A stable enough drilling to get a read on the lanes, but I had a thought creep into my head since I practiced Sunday about how the lanes were playing. Every shot from inside the track area on the left provided a better reaction on the lanes but it was too much reaction, often duck hooking high into the pocket. Bringing the Scout was merely a case of me taking a weak shiny ball playing inside the track area to create hold for a stronger ball to create more area. What I discovered is that the Scout was not only reading the lanes great but was hitting hard. After practice ended, I went with a gut instinct and used the Scout to start with.
Game 1: 233. Clean game for me. Laydown point was around 18, crossing the arrows around 12-13 and trying to nail the good ole' ProAnvilane rangefinder at 45 feet, which would be the 10 board. Safe to say, it worked out great to get the first game win and get some early ground on my opponents. Chris and Mike both played around first arrow shooting 191 and 189 respectively. They did not throw bad shots, the merely had less than stellar carrying. Adam struggled to a 162.
Game 2: 172. What happened you say? I happened...a lost game to where I missed two 7 pins as my carry started to wane. It should be noted that this was more mental error by me. I usually change hand positions with the bowling ball for spares instead of going to a polyester spare ball for spares. On the first weak 7, I weakened up with the Scout throwing it directly at the 7 pin. I did miss a little right but I did not think the ball would suddenly elect to dart right at the last second missing the pin. It was a surprise to say the least. In that game, I also left a 4-7 and used the Scout again and it did the same thing, darting right at the end. Thankfully for me, the 4 pin was there to provide a wider target and the spare conversion. On the second weak 7, I did make a slight angle move to pivot my left hip more to the left side of the pin figuring it would be the correct adjustment. Wrong again, sir. In caveman speak, ball did thing same time miss pin right. It only cost me one point in the game as Paroly fired a 226 and Chase shot a rather scary 269 game. Perrone shot 187 as he was clearly just hanging in with a real spotty ball reaction, but he got one point and I got nothing.
Game 3 (changing pairs): 174. Had the left lane....could not locate the right lane with a compass and Magellan's crew. I remind you, Mr. Costanzo was on the pair before me playing very direct up the lanes to some degree of success, but he too was suffering from some suspect carry playing out. I had the left lane with the Scout, but the right lane with the Scout did this for me to start: 2-4-7-8, converted; missed pocket 1-3-6-9, chopped the 1-3-9 leaving an open. I go with a ball change to the Power Swing trying to do what Costanzo was doing hoping it would at least keep me close. The 5th frame was a solid shot, but along came that late snap that created the iffy carry and I left a 6-8 pocket split and another open frame. I tried to move a little in off that shot in the 7th frame, and it wasn't even close going high and the 4-7 spare, for which (you guessed it) using the Power Swing, I actually had the ball fade downlane and chop the 7 pin clean off the 4, my third consecutive open frame on the right lane. I did get one point out of the game as Chase shot 165, Perrone found his ball reaction moving a little further left and shooting 205, and Paroly shot 185, still dancing on the verge of either have a big game look or a big game meltdown.
For 3 games, this is how the total wood was matching up: Paroly was at 602, Chase was 596, Perrone was 581, and I was 579. I needed to find a good game somewhere and I knew the only place that was happening was inside...
Game 4: 211. Back to the Scout on the right lane. I had the left lane nailed down and when you have confidence in one lane, you go on autopilot and adjust accordingly. When you don't on the other lane, you have to gamble and trust your ability that it can work. Instead of straightening out my trajectory on the right lane, I decided to wheel it (for me) with the Scout, standing around 30, targeting 23 on the lane and 17 at the arrows, looping it outside the rangefinder. While the ball wasn't striking it was close: back to back solid 8's and a weak 7 pin. The left lane was still dead solid, leaving only a swisher 10 on that lane for two games. Meanwhile, Perrone is on fire: front 4 to start. Paroly is hanging tough, and Chase was well...lost again. I needed to string some strikes. Suddenly, Perrone stops striking and in the 8th opens, Paroly is starting to self destruct on the lanes (his ball is never moving downlane leaving washouts abound), and I slowly creep into the total wood talk. In the 9th frame, I struck to put myself in position to win and when Perrone opened again in the 9th, the game was mine to win but I had to go to the right lane in which I had one strike on for two games and find a double for not only the game win but the total wood win as well. The first shot in the 10 got wide but I knew i caught some fingers in it and I got the light mixer strike and gave an Ana Ivanovic-style fistpump for finishing work (sadly guys, I look nothing like her so don't get your hopes up about this becoming commonplace). That got the duke for the win in the 4th game, now get the second one for the total wood over Perrone, who shot 195 for the last game. The second shot was absolutely perfect, blowing all 10 off the rack for an 8 point finish, and 12 for the night. I only shot 790 for the evening (my spare game was brutal tonight, cost me 840-850), but on this tricky pattern, you take that and hope that your fellow bowlers are having similar issues on the lanes that evening.
Overall, 12 points was more than anyone else took and I trusted my instincts as a player to get the clutch double on the right lane. It gave me the lead overall in the league with 52 points, and my average for 16 games is a respectable 203, despite having some rather below average spare shooting. My overall lane setup this year has been very good, for which I am proud of but still needs work in the match play format. One more odd note on the night: rare is it in the world where you are using your weakest ball for your strike ball and your strongest ball for your spares, however the Chameleon can do strange things to you as a bowler. In any event, this was a positive night for me in that I found my hook game for which I might need as I travel to Vegas for the USBC Championships. Of course, it will be blogged on...in the meantime, I gotta find a sub for next week's Viper pattern.
To Vegas we go...baby. Remember, that you strike for show, but you spare for dough, and some weeks, your spare is a 'no', while your strike is a 'go', like it was for me this past week.
Namaste...
Bowling fans...welcome to another installment to "As the Lefty Worm Turns", with your host: Mr. Thomas Scherrer...take it away, Tommy.
Well, well, well....thank you very much Mr. Announcer Guy (whomever wrote that opening), this is another installment of the PBA Experience at Farmingdale Lanes. Today, we are going to review the nature of the arguably the PBA's most challenging animal pattern: the Chameleon pattern.
Why is it challenging you ask? Two important reasons, I believe, make this pattern the most challenging pattern out there not know as a 'major' pattern. First, the length of the pattern. It now stands at 40 feet, which as we all know is pretty much a mid range pattern in terms of distance, however the words '40 feet' and 'flat ratio' always screams out a US Open-type condition, and naturally a lower scoring pace. They PBA though counteracts this by laying out the Chameleon in strips, which do give the pattern an area to play on the lane, therefore enhancing scoring pace. This is where the second reason comes into play...you have to find said area and not guess wrong. If you guess correctly, you can shoot some high scores at the start and once the lanes go through their Game 2-3 transition (which always seems to happen on this pattern) the scoring pace usually goes medium-high as opposed to medium-low. If you guess wrong from the start, then you are pretty much handing over points the entire night.
This week's Chameleon pattern at F-dale yielded higher scores from inside the track area, making the usually pristine outside angle seen there rather touchy. Not that the players couldn't play out there, it is just the carry was too iffy from out so at least the track area and in seemed to be the desired place for scoring. OK, 'nuff jibber-jabber...FOOL! Get to the night's action.
Bowlers: Myself, Chris Paroly, Mike Perrone, and Adam Chase-all righties. Pair next to me had Joe Costanzo, last year's league champion, as the only other lefty in the top 8 bowlers.
Ball of choice: You think...inside 10, Thomas? You aren't gunna play inside that and chances are you are going to use some surface to give you mistake room if you miss left from in, right? Right? Stunningly and amazingly....wrong. I elected to warm up with the Columbia 300 Scout Hi-Flare, pin in the ring finger. A stable enough drilling to get a read on the lanes, but I had a thought creep into my head since I practiced Sunday about how the lanes were playing. Every shot from inside the track area on the left provided a better reaction on the lanes but it was too much reaction, often duck hooking high into the pocket. Bringing the Scout was merely a case of me taking a weak shiny ball playing inside the track area to create hold for a stronger ball to create more area. What I discovered is that the Scout was not only reading the lanes great but was hitting hard. After practice ended, I went with a gut instinct and used the Scout to start with.
Game 1: 233. Clean game for me. Laydown point was around 18, crossing the arrows around 12-13 and trying to nail the good ole' ProAnvilane rangefinder at 45 feet, which would be the 10 board. Safe to say, it worked out great to get the first game win and get some early ground on my opponents. Chris and Mike both played around first arrow shooting 191 and 189 respectively. They did not throw bad shots, the merely had less than stellar carrying. Adam struggled to a 162.
Game 2: 172. What happened you say? I happened...a lost game to where I missed two 7 pins as my carry started to wane. It should be noted that this was more mental error by me. I usually change hand positions with the bowling ball for spares instead of going to a polyester spare ball for spares. On the first weak 7, I weakened up with the Scout throwing it directly at the 7 pin. I did miss a little right but I did not think the ball would suddenly elect to dart right at the last second missing the pin. It was a surprise to say the least. In that game, I also left a 4-7 and used the Scout again and it did the same thing, darting right at the end. Thankfully for me, the 4 pin was there to provide a wider target and the spare conversion. On the second weak 7, I did make a slight angle move to pivot my left hip more to the left side of the pin figuring it would be the correct adjustment. Wrong again, sir. In caveman speak, ball did thing same time miss pin right. It only cost me one point in the game as Paroly fired a 226 and Chase shot a rather scary 269 game. Perrone shot 187 as he was clearly just hanging in with a real spotty ball reaction, but he got one point and I got nothing.
Game 3 (changing pairs): 174. Had the left lane....could not locate the right lane with a compass and Magellan's crew. I remind you, Mr. Costanzo was on the pair before me playing very direct up the lanes to some degree of success, but he too was suffering from some suspect carry playing out. I had the left lane with the Scout, but the right lane with the Scout did this for me to start: 2-4-7-8, converted; missed pocket 1-3-6-9, chopped the 1-3-9 leaving an open. I go with a ball change to the Power Swing trying to do what Costanzo was doing hoping it would at least keep me close. The 5th frame was a solid shot, but along came that late snap that created the iffy carry and I left a 6-8 pocket split and another open frame. I tried to move a little in off that shot in the 7th frame, and it wasn't even close going high and the 4-7 spare, for which (you guessed it) using the Power Swing, I actually had the ball fade downlane and chop the 7 pin clean off the 4, my third consecutive open frame on the right lane. I did get one point out of the game as Chase shot 165, Perrone found his ball reaction moving a little further left and shooting 205, and Paroly shot 185, still dancing on the verge of either have a big game look or a big game meltdown.
For 3 games, this is how the total wood was matching up: Paroly was at 602, Chase was 596, Perrone was 581, and I was 579. I needed to find a good game somewhere and I knew the only place that was happening was inside...
Game 4: 211. Back to the Scout on the right lane. I had the left lane nailed down and when you have confidence in one lane, you go on autopilot and adjust accordingly. When you don't on the other lane, you have to gamble and trust your ability that it can work. Instead of straightening out my trajectory on the right lane, I decided to wheel it (for me) with the Scout, standing around 30, targeting 23 on the lane and 17 at the arrows, looping it outside the rangefinder. While the ball wasn't striking it was close: back to back solid 8's and a weak 7 pin. The left lane was still dead solid, leaving only a swisher 10 on that lane for two games. Meanwhile, Perrone is on fire: front 4 to start. Paroly is hanging tough, and Chase was well...lost again. I needed to string some strikes. Suddenly, Perrone stops striking and in the 8th opens, Paroly is starting to self destruct on the lanes (his ball is never moving downlane leaving washouts abound), and I slowly creep into the total wood talk. In the 9th frame, I struck to put myself in position to win and when Perrone opened again in the 9th, the game was mine to win but I had to go to the right lane in which I had one strike on for two games and find a double for not only the game win but the total wood win as well. The first shot in the 10 got wide but I knew i caught some fingers in it and I got the light mixer strike and gave an Ana Ivanovic-style fistpump for finishing work (sadly guys, I look nothing like her so don't get your hopes up about this becoming commonplace). That got the duke for the win in the 4th game, now get the second one for the total wood over Perrone, who shot 195 for the last game. The second shot was absolutely perfect, blowing all 10 off the rack for an 8 point finish, and 12 for the night. I only shot 790 for the evening (my spare game was brutal tonight, cost me 840-850), but on this tricky pattern, you take that and hope that your fellow bowlers are having similar issues on the lanes that evening.
Overall, 12 points was more than anyone else took and I trusted my instincts as a player to get the clutch double on the right lane. It gave me the lead overall in the league with 52 points, and my average for 16 games is a respectable 203, despite having some rather below average spare shooting. My overall lane setup this year has been very good, for which I am proud of but still needs work in the match play format. One more odd note on the night: rare is it in the world where you are using your weakest ball for your strike ball and your strongest ball for your spares, however the Chameleon can do strange things to you as a bowler. In any event, this was a positive night for me in that I found my hook game for which I might need as I travel to Vegas for the USBC Championships. Of course, it will be blogged on...in the meantime, I gotta find a sub for next week's Viper pattern.
To Vegas we go...baby. Remember, that you strike for show, but you spare for dough, and some weeks, your spare is a 'no', while your strike is a 'go', like it was for me this past week.
Namaste...
Saturday, June 20, 2009
"Bowling Blind"-The PBA Experience
PBA Xperience-Farmingdale Lanes
Back to business...back to a quick understanding of why sometimes, at 25 years old, I am not a professional bowler, but merely a nice player locally. Last week, I performed smartly and consistently on the Cheetah pattern shooting an 846 on my way to a sweep of the night's weekly 17 points. This week's effort??? Simply a case of a bowler still learning how to become better and also smarter.
This week's pattern: Scorpion, 42 feet long, usually requiring a direct line in the track area to start then migrating inward on the lane.
Opponents: Chris Paroly and Adam Chase-righthanders-and Frankie Calca, lefthander. Two righties, two lefties.
Practice: Sunday afternoon, I tried to warm up and evaluate the nature of how the pattern would play and it played tight downlane. When you get to Thursday, your initial ball reaction to the pattern might be a little bit different due to the cleaning of the lanes, or the humidity in the bowling center so you must go in with an open mind and use the 10 minutes of practice to come up with a game plan and ball path. During practice, the backends SNAPPED alarmingly so meaning that despite the pattern, there would be a little more backend reaction on the lanes than what I encountered Sunday. It also was noticeable that there was some aided recovery room wide of target as well which is a green light special for most players.
Ball of choice: C300 Power Swing, standard layout, pin under, GC out but with a little more sanded finish (the same surface I used Sunday to some success).
Game 1: 196. Talk about a waste of great bowling. Front five to start, have the look on the lanes to win that game easily and then the 6th frame came along, leaving the Big 4 split and then only getting one pin (keep this in mind). 8th frame: move right, get softer and leave a 3 pin. You figure a gimme spare...whiff it because I tried to hook it getting another read on the lane, meanwhile Chris Paroly is rolling off a string of 8 strikes in a row to shoot right past me. 10 frame: absolute horrible shot leaving a 4-5 split, then missing it. Lost the high game, then watch Frankie double in the tenth to beat me by 3 pins. Front five got me one single point.
Game 2: 244. Front 6 this time and did not waste it but with one bad break comes the defeat of this game as well. It should be noted that i am laying it down around 10 and getting back from as far right as 3 on the left side of the lane so I had area but carry is always the critical ordeal on the lanes. The tenth frame comes a-callin' and up comes a pocket 6-8 split. Not a great shot but with the lanes holding up well, it was a surprise, much like the Big 4 was. On my conversion attempt, I miss both pins instead of getting one. Why was this important? This time, Adam was hot on my tail, needing a double and 7 for the win. I get one, he must go double, 9 for the 3 point win. Adam steps up like the talented young player he is and get the double, then on his fill gets...you guessed it, 7 to win with a 245 and a snide, 'thanks for getting nothing' remark as he walked by.
Game 3: 189. Not much to say about the game except it was the smartest game I bowled and it was the lowest game I bowled for the whole night. Keep in mind that we are moving pairs and both Frank and I were chasing Darren Andretta. Darren elected to take a Storm Virtual Gravity and sand it down to a 1000 to really blow up the track area on the left side of the lane. While Frankie and I did not get a lot of the early hook, we got Darren's carrydown and thus, lost our area on the lane. Chase shot 193 for the 3 points, while I got 2 just keeping it close and avoiding mistakes, which were plenty: a missed 3-9 spare, 4-6-10 split, and washout in the game leading to 3 opens yet enough tinkering to strike enough in the game to hold off Paroly by 1 pin.
Game 4: 190. Went to a C300 Perfect Rival, shined to a 1000 to try and generate some more kick downlane, which did work but my carry was not very good at all that game. Ring 7, solid 8, shaker 10, plaque 7 but I was in the pocket so my objective was to just clean the game and hope that the lanes didn't give up a 220 game on the right. It was evident that Frankie had lost his look entirely on this pair shooting only 163 and 158. Adam shot 176 with a lot of pulled shots and mistakes. The last game was up Chris and I to get for 3...to say the least, Chris had the look. While my carry was bad, he rattled off 4 in a row to open up a big lead in the middle of the game but then the nerves set it for him: 2-4-8-10 in the 8th and a washout in the 10th gave me the chance to steal the point with a mark in the 10th. My response...cut one short and leave a 2-7 baby split. Not the easiest spare in the world, but certainly convertable. Naturally, I pull that one as well and chop the 2 pin off to lose by 4 pins. So to review, I gave away 1, potentially 2 points in the first game, 1 in the second, and 1 in the last game. I also ended up losing to Chris 39 pins in total wood giving him 13 for the night, and 10 for me. It also put Chris in the overall lead in the league with 41 points to my 40 going into next week.
Overall, just a mentally poor performance by myself giving points away with small mistakes on the lanes. It is a part of growing up as a player and 819 most nights is a solid night, however when you feel like you have an 880+ ball reaction and fall well short of that number, you feel like you let it go for one night. The beauty is that I am getting very comfortable being more aggressive on the lanes with decision making and for not bowling well in two of the 3 weeks to start the summer, being one point out of the league lead is to be considered a small blessing.
A quick word about Chris Paroly: he will not excite you like Adam Chase does talent wise, nor does he have Darren's bag of tricks as a bowler (you can say the same for myself and Frankie as well, as we do not have what most would call tools), nor is he as smooth as Joe Costanzo on the lanes but he is a tough bowler, smart on the lanes, keeps the ball close to the pocket, and understands ball motion. He has a funky style of game but he repeats and understands the scoring pace of most pairs which allows him to stay close in every game. He shot 858 for the 4 games and has averaged 216 so far for the first 12 games this summer, while I have averaged 205. Most people may not like his game but like his philosophy...he is a force to be reckoned with this summer.
Next week: Time to tackle the ever confusing Chameleon pattern. Until next week folks in the Long Island area...stay dry because Damn, this weather is a pain in the ass to look at! But don't forget that you must learn from my lessons and you can strike for show...but you spare for dough.
Namaste...
Back to business...back to a quick understanding of why sometimes, at 25 years old, I am not a professional bowler, but merely a nice player locally. Last week, I performed smartly and consistently on the Cheetah pattern shooting an 846 on my way to a sweep of the night's weekly 17 points. This week's effort??? Simply a case of a bowler still learning how to become better and also smarter.
This week's pattern: Scorpion, 42 feet long, usually requiring a direct line in the track area to start then migrating inward on the lane.
Opponents: Chris Paroly and Adam Chase-righthanders-and Frankie Calca, lefthander. Two righties, two lefties.
Practice: Sunday afternoon, I tried to warm up and evaluate the nature of how the pattern would play and it played tight downlane. When you get to Thursday, your initial ball reaction to the pattern might be a little bit different due to the cleaning of the lanes, or the humidity in the bowling center so you must go in with an open mind and use the 10 minutes of practice to come up with a game plan and ball path. During practice, the backends SNAPPED alarmingly so meaning that despite the pattern, there would be a little more backend reaction on the lanes than what I encountered Sunday. It also was noticeable that there was some aided recovery room wide of target as well which is a green light special for most players.
Ball of choice: C300 Power Swing, standard layout, pin under, GC out but with a little more sanded finish (the same surface I used Sunday to some success).
Game 1: 196. Talk about a waste of great bowling. Front five to start, have the look on the lanes to win that game easily and then the 6th frame came along, leaving the Big 4 split and then only getting one pin (keep this in mind). 8th frame: move right, get softer and leave a 3 pin. You figure a gimme spare...whiff it because I tried to hook it getting another read on the lane, meanwhile Chris Paroly is rolling off a string of 8 strikes in a row to shoot right past me. 10 frame: absolute horrible shot leaving a 4-5 split, then missing it. Lost the high game, then watch Frankie double in the tenth to beat me by 3 pins. Front five got me one single point.
Game 2: 244. Front 6 this time and did not waste it but with one bad break comes the defeat of this game as well. It should be noted that i am laying it down around 10 and getting back from as far right as 3 on the left side of the lane so I had area but carry is always the critical ordeal on the lanes. The tenth frame comes a-callin' and up comes a pocket 6-8 split. Not a great shot but with the lanes holding up well, it was a surprise, much like the Big 4 was. On my conversion attempt, I miss both pins instead of getting one. Why was this important? This time, Adam was hot on my tail, needing a double and 7 for the win. I get one, he must go double, 9 for the 3 point win. Adam steps up like the talented young player he is and get the double, then on his fill gets...you guessed it, 7 to win with a 245 and a snide, 'thanks for getting nothing' remark as he walked by.
Game 3: 189. Not much to say about the game except it was the smartest game I bowled and it was the lowest game I bowled for the whole night. Keep in mind that we are moving pairs and both Frank and I were chasing Darren Andretta. Darren elected to take a Storm Virtual Gravity and sand it down to a 1000 to really blow up the track area on the left side of the lane. While Frankie and I did not get a lot of the early hook, we got Darren's carrydown and thus, lost our area on the lane. Chase shot 193 for the 3 points, while I got 2 just keeping it close and avoiding mistakes, which were plenty: a missed 3-9 spare, 4-6-10 split, and washout in the game leading to 3 opens yet enough tinkering to strike enough in the game to hold off Paroly by 1 pin.
Game 4: 190. Went to a C300 Perfect Rival, shined to a 1000 to try and generate some more kick downlane, which did work but my carry was not very good at all that game. Ring 7, solid 8, shaker 10, plaque 7 but I was in the pocket so my objective was to just clean the game and hope that the lanes didn't give up a 220 game on the right. It was evident that Frankie had lost his look entirely on this pair shooting only 163 and 158. Adam shot 176 with a lot of pulled shots and mistakes. The last game was up Chris and I to get for 3...to say the least, Chris had the look. While my carry was bad, he rattled off 4 in a row to open up a big lead in the middle of the game but then the nerves set it for him: 2-4-8-10 in the 8th and a washout in the 10th gave me the chance to steal the point with a mark in the 10th. My response...cut one short and leave a 2-7 baby split. Not the easiest spare in the world, but certainly convertable. Naturally, I pull that one as well and chop the 2 pin off to lose by 4 pins. So to review, I gave away 1, potentially 2 points in the first game, 1 in the second, and 1 in the last game. I also ended up losing to Chris 39 pins in total wood giving him 13 for the night, and 10 for me. It also put Chris in the overall lead in the league with 41 points to my 40 going into next week.
Overall, just a mentally poor performance by myself giving points away with small mistakes on the lanes. It is a part of growing up as a player and 819 most nights is a solid night, however when you feel like you have an 880+ ball reaction and fall well short of that number, you feel like you let it go for one night. The beauty is that I am getting very comfortable being more aggressive on the lanes with decision making and for not bowling well in two of the 3 weeks to start the summer, being one point out of the league lead is to be considered a small blessing.
A quick word about Chris Paroly: he will not excite you like Adam Chase does talent wise, nor does he have Darren's bag of tricks as a bowler (you can say the same for myself and Frankie as well, as we do not have what most would call tools), nor is he as smooth as Joe Costanzo on the lanes but he is a tough bowler, smart on the lanes, keeps the ball close to the pocket, and understands ball motion. He has a funky style of game but he repeats and understands the scoring pace of most pairs which allows him to stay close in every game. He shot 858 for the 4 games and has averaged 216 so far for the first 12 games this summer, while I have averaged 205. Most people may not like his game but like his philosophy...he is a force to be reckoned with this summer.
Next week: Time to tackle the ever confusing Chameleon pattern. Until next week folks in the Long Island area...stay dry because Damn, this weather is a pain in the ass to look at! But don't forget that you must learn from my lessons and you can strike for show...but you spare for dough.
Namaste...
Saturday, June 13, 2009
"Bowling Blind"-The PBA Experience
PBA Xperience-Farmingdale Lanes
I'm bacccccckkkkk....
Yes folks, fellow readers, you thought you had me on summer vacation but I have returned with a notion: a notion to all the bowlers across this great nation (for which I think if 20 people know this blog exists is good enough) to summarize my weekly outings on the PBA Experience at Farmingdale Lanes.
Quick summary on the league: Thursday night, 4 games (two games on one pair, two on the pair to the right), 4 bowlers on each pair, bowling match play against one another, winner in each game gets 3 points, second gets two, third is one point, and last gets zero. For total wood, the format goes 5, 3, 1, 0 to truly reward the overall best bowler for the night in the group. Makes every shot very important as well as getting as many pins as you can. It also makes for interesting dynamic from pair to pair as well. Being left handed, it sometimes is irrelevant because there are fewer lefties or no lefties on your pair and on the pair to the right of you so you have the lanes to yourself. That can either be a good thing or a bad thing depending on what is transpiring out on the lanes and what pattern it is.
This past week's pattern: Cheetah. As we all know, this pattern brings out the big numbers due it short length and friction zone outside first arrow, maximizing angle from the outside part of the lane and producing wide open pocket strikes. The pros call it 'bumper bowling', the rest of us mere mortals call it, 'the tough pattern on the experience'. Often too many times, I hear a lot of people say that the Cheetah plays nothing like it does when they watch it on TV when they bowl on it. The tricky subject is always what they expect to happen.
Most league bowlers assume that just because there is friction to the right and left, that they an whip it to the gutter and revel in it rebounding back to the pocket for strikes all night. The assumption is wrong based on what I feel are two visual mistakes by most players. First off, we all see the length of the pattern (36 feet) and tell ourselves, 'okay, we gotta throw it hard and fast to the gutter'. A fine theory but what happens if you are hooking it and miss in? Overreaction occurs and your ball goes runaway brook or misses the head pin running away. The natural adjustment is to just throw it further right to the gutter. The only problem with that if you get it to the spot too early, it could either hook too hard or go in the gutter or even worse, never hook at all off it and you are stuck with 2-8-10 all night. The only other visual I can infer is what bowlers throw. Most people go under the assumption that they need a ball that hooks later downlane to combat what is early friction in the heads. Again, this is another big visual misread I feel. The front part of the lane is heavily oiled on most Cheetah patterns and you do need to get the ball started earlier to make the ball roll sooner on the oil, but also mellow out all the backend reaction downlane to make it a smooth look.
The most important thing I feel that is important on the Cheetah is to actually carry down the oil a bit to the right of where I want to play (me being left handed of course) then in the last few shots, get lined up. Ok, enough chit-chat, let's get into scoring.
201-235-208-202=846
Bowling ball used: Columbia 300 U-Turn Pearl/Particle, 1.5 pin, leverage drilling , pin below the fingers. Allows the ball to roll soon and mellow out the backend reaction downlane. The trick of all this though for me was touch. I had a hand position right up the back, fingers spread wide to enable me to get more end-over-end roll to start.
In practice, I took the U-Turn and played around second arrow with little belly at all-just trying to get a feel for the ball path and how much they are hooking, which to say was a LOT!!! About 7 minutes into practice throwing it up 10 my ball went solid 8 and I smiled. I had carried some oil down to where it was time to move left and get on the gutter. And when I mean gutter, I mean the 1-2-3 board and yes I had that kind of room. I also did not have that kind of carry to put up big numbers, but 9, spares at Farmingdale can win most games and sneak in a 3 bagger somewhere to get it over 200 which I did for a solid 201 game. My lone mistake was pulling in the 8th frame leaving a split, but strike, 9, spare, 8 was enough for the win. Game two played great for me shooting 235 with the 10th being an experiment shot resulting in an open. The reason: I had two lefties to follow on the next pair in Darren Andretta and Frank Montgoris and Frank was further right with his laydown point so it was worth getting a few shots before I bowled from a little further right just in case the gutter wasn't there. I also had game two wrapped up early so it was worth a test run which went like this...runaway brook for a 5 pin, then whiffed the 5 pin. Yeah, in wasn't there yet...oh well.
In the second block of games it was evident that the gutter had kinda been beat up by Darren but considering the scoring pace on the right, 200 was needed to win. Nothing too over the top and I figured I could get that out of myself. The last two games were 208 and 202 both wins, and a clean 17 point sweep for the night. I was upset that I flagged a 2 pin (to the right amazingly) and also failed to cover a 2-4-7-8 in the 3rd and 4th game respectively. In retrospect, I probably needed to move a little right and go to a ball with some more angularity downlane in my shiny Wrath High Flush or a Perfect Rival. Had I needed a 220-240 game, that might have been the move to make but it was not necessary in winning all 4 games using the U-Turn which is always a good night to use just one ball. The harsh scoring pace showed in my group: I shot 846 but no one else in my group shot 800...or even 700 for the 4 games. Tony Cipriano was the second high man with 664 and his method of attack was pretty similar to mine. The other two righties (Steve Schnieder and Christ Liotta) fell into the hook trap that kills a lot of amateurs on the Cheetah pattern and when they make the move, they have not set up the lanes well enough to get away with their bad shots. It indirectly killed Tony's look after the first game and he failed to shoot above 190 after the first game.
Overall, it was a good night for me bowling wise (car-wise...not so much) but I know that only two weeks in, the bowlers are still trying to figure out the lanes and the better bowlers are still not bowling against each other every game at this point, but there are a lot of good bowlers in this league and I hope to keep bowling well.
For now, my readers, enjoy your summer and for all kids who watched Luis Castillo drop the potential game ending pop up Friday night...TWO HANDS!!! And for all kids who watched Mark Texieria not take the play for granted and ran it out...RUN IT OUT!!! Enjoy bowling and remember folks: "Strike for show, Spare for dough!"
Namaste...
Next Week: the Scorpion
I'm bacccccckkkkk....
Yes folks, fellow readers, you thought you had me on summer vacation but I have returned with a notion: a notion to all the bowlers across this great nation (for which I think if 20 people know this blog exists is good enough) to summarize my weekly outings on the PBA Experience at Farmingdale Lanes.
Quick summary on the league: Thursday night, 4 games (two games on one pair, two on the pair to the right), 4 bowlers on each pair, bowling match play against one another, winner in each game gets 3 points, second gets two, third is one point, and last gets zero. For total wood, the format goes 5, 3, 1, 0 to truly reward the overall best bowler for the night in the group. Makes every shot very important as well as getting as many pins as you can. It also makes for interesting dynamic from pair to pair as well. Being left handed, it sometimes is irrelevant because there are fewer lefties or no lefties on your pair and on the pair to the right of you so you have the lanes to yourself. That can either be a good thing or a bad thing depending on what is transpiring out on the lanes and what pattern it is.
This past week's pattern: Cheetah. As we all know, this pattern brings out the big numbers due it short length and friction zone outside first arrow, maximizing angle from the outside part of the lane and producing wide open pocket strikes. The pros call it 'bumper bowling', the rest of us mere mortals call it, 'the tough pattern on the experience'. Often too many times, I hear a lot of people say that the Cheetah plays nothing like it does when they watch it on TV when they bowl on it. The tricky subject is always what they expect to happen.
Most league bowlers assume that just because there is friction to the right and left, that they an whip it to the gutter and revel in it rebounding back to the pocket for strikes all night. The assumption is wrong based on what I feel are two visual mistakes by most players. First off, we all see the length of the pattern (36 feet) and tell ourselves, 'okay, we gotta throw it hard and fast to the gutter'. A fine theory but what happens if you are hooking it and miss in? Overreaction occurs and your ball goes runaway brook or misses the head pin running away. The natural adjustment is to just throw it further right to the gutter. The only problem with that if you get it to the spot too early, it could either hook too hard or go in the gutter or even worse, never hook at all off it and you are stuck with 2-8-10 all night. The only other visual I can infer is what bowlers throw. Most people go under the assumption that they need a ball that hooks later downlane to combat what is early friction in the heads. Again, this is another big visual misread I feel. The front part of the lane is heavily oiled on most Cheetah patterns and you do need to get the ball started earlier to make the ball roll sooner on the oil, but also mellow out all the backend reaction downlane to make it a smooth look.
The most important thing I feel that is important on the Cheetah is to actually carry down the oil a bit to the right of where I want to play (me being left handed of course) then in the last few shots, get lined up. Ok, enough chit-chat, let's get into scoring.
201-235-208-202=846
Bowling ball used: Columbia 300 U-Turn Pearl/Particle, 1.5 pin, leverage drilling , pin below the fingers. Allows the ball to roll soon and mellow out the backend reaction downlane. The trick of all this though for me was touch. I had a hand position right up the back, fingers spread wide to enable me to get more end-over-end roll to start.
In practice, I took the U-Turn and played around second arrow with little belly at all-just trying to get a feel for the ball path and how much they are hooking, which to say was a LOT!!! About 7 minutes into practice throwing it up 10 my ball went solid 8 and I smiled. I had carried some oil down to where it was time to move left and get on the gutter. And when I mean gutter, I mean the 1-2-3 board and yes I had that kind of room. I also did not have that kind of carry to put up big numbers, but 9, spares at Farmingdale can win most games and sneak in a 3 bagger somewhere to get it over 200 which I did for a solid 201 game. My lone mistake was pulling in the 8th frame leaving a split, but strike, 9, spare, 8 was enough for the win. Game two played great for me shooting 235 with the 10th being an experiment shot resulting in an open. The reason: I had two lefties to follow on the next pair in Darren Andretta and Frank Montgoris and Frank was further right with his laydown point so it was worth getting a few shots before I bowled from a little further right just in case the gutter wasn't there. I also had game two wrapped up early so it was worth a test run which went like this...runaway brook for a 5 pin, then whiffed the 5 pin. Yeah, in wasn't there yet...oh well.
In the second block of games it was evident that the gutter had kinda been beat up by Darren but considering the scoring pace on the right, 200 was needed to win. Nothing too over the top and I figured I could get that out of myself. The last two games were 208 and 202 both wins, and a clean 17 point sweep for the night. I was upset that I flagged a 2 pin (to the right amazingly) and also failed to cover a 2-4-7-8 in the 3rd and 4th game respectively. In retrospect, I probably needed to move a little right and go to a ball with some more angularity downlane in my shiny Wrath High Flush or a Perfect Rival. Had I needed a 220-240 game, that might have been the move to make but it was not necessary in winning all 4 games using the U-Turn which is always a good night to use just one ball. The harsh scoring pace showed in my group: I shot 846 but no one else in my group shot 800...or even 700 for the 4 games. Tony Cipriano was the second high man with 664 and his method of attack was pretty similar to mine. The other two righties (Steve Schnieder and Christ Liotta) fell into the hook trap that kills a lot of amateurs on the Cheetah pattern and when they make the move, they have not set up the lanes well enough to get away with their bad shots. It indirectly killed Tony's look after the first game and he failed to shoot above 190 after the first game.
Overall, it was a good night for me bowling wise (car-wise...not so much) but I know that only two weeks in, the bowlers are still trying to figure out the lanes and the better bowlers are still not bowling against each other every game at this point, but there are a lot of good bowlers in this league and I hope to keep bowling well.
For now, my readers, enjoy your summer and for all kids who watched Luis Castillo drop the potential game ending pop up Friday night...TWO HANDS!!! And for all kids who watched Mark Texieria not take the play for granted and ran it out...RUN IT OUT!!! Enjoy bowling and remember folks: "Strike for show, Spare for dough!"
Namaste...
Next Week: the Scorpion
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
The Rehabilitation of Isiah
Isiah Thomas introduced as FIU head basketball coach.Heeeeee's baaacccck!!!
And this, folks, is a good return. In today's media world where we blog, twitter, MySpace, Facebook, and text our way to up to the second news bulletins and all the current reality biz information, you find yourself immersed in so many devious and shady characters that it can make your head spin. We know so much about people in the public sector that our opinions of people usually of a first impression. These snap judgements of certain people grow into a national perception that often leads to said people into negative role models for our youth to follow. You shun your kids away from television sets when certain people are flashed on the local news before dinner, saying to your kids, "this is not how you are supposed to act".
We live in a more greed infested, morally corrupt, sexually deviant society. Our counterbalance is to believe in the worst in people because the best in people is often not mentioned merely because it is expected of human beings to act good. But what defines being good today? Does it involve being honest? Subservient to a religion? Loyal to friends and family? Looking to give back when in harsh financial times, it is necessary to help those in need? Or is it being successful? Success deems you to win, to have power, to have a strong voice, to have money, to use your voice in any manner possible, whether or not it is of an honest nature. As long as you are successful, who cares about being good?
We seem to forget Isiah Thomas is a good man...just an awful executive of a professional sports team. He is no longer considered a success but a failure: a failure in the CBA; a failure with the Toronto Raptors; a failure with the Indiana Pacers; a national punch line with the New York Knicks in his tenure. Failure...joke...loser...disgrace...bum...those are the words in recent years to describe Thomas' post-NBA career. As usual, we tend to remember the recent past of a person's public life as being his entire life.
Let's go back however to Isiah Thomas, the player, and DAMN! what a player he was. Easily, the man who truly revolutionized the point guard position in the 80's with the Bad Boy Detroit Pistons and at his size a 6 feet tall, was a giant amongst big men. Big, physical men. Big, physical, tough men...there was one voice on the floor for those back-to-back champion teams: Isiah. He brought us the last undefeated college hoops men's team in the Indiana Hoosiers under Bobby Knight as the sophomore point guard. One young voice was heard on the court win after win after win after win: Isiah.
We don't remember the past because it was the past. It means little to our generation. It is all about what have you done for me lately? Lately Isiah Thomas' life has been a mess: miserable in New York running the Knicks, a feud with troubled Knick guard Stephon Marbury, a sordid sexual harassment lawsuit against Madison Square Garden, and of course, bad basketball under his leadership as both team president and head coach. The lasting stigma was prevalent.
Now Isiah Thomas has moved on. He has moved from the turbulent world of professional sports to college basketball, named head coach at Florida International University. He has moved back to where he can become Isiah Thomas, the legend, again. How can he regain his status as an all-time great basketball name, you say? He is now coaching in the Sun Belt Conference, far removed from McDonalds high school all-americans, or top prep school stars, or international sharpshooters. He is no longer dealing with the financially extravagant and open check book policy of the Dolan family and MSG or any other NBA team, but of a mid-major program stuck in a mid-level conference in Division I-A located perilously in South Beach, Miami. You begin to wonder if this is another stop on the Isiah Thomas Misery Tour.
Well, for one, I hope this is step one onto the Rehabilitation of Isiah. He has been through enough bad news (most of it, his own doing) and it is time for fans to remember just how great a basketball mind Isiah Thomas was as a player and can be as a coach. He no longer has to deal with multi-million dollar egos and grown men who know of Isiah, the great player. In college, he can shape young minds on how to play the game the way he played it at the highest level. He can walk into houses of single moms talking about he grew up in the streets of Chicago and how he needed a place with a father figure and found one under Coach Knight and the Hoosiers. He can walk into their houses and be that same father figure to young kids coming out of high school looking for hope and promise in a world that has let them down so far. Thomas can relate to kids on a level for which he could not with NBA players. If there is one thing Isiah Thomas did do well in his tumultuous time in the NBA as an executive is that he knew talent in the draft. Now all he is doing is drafting and he will draft talent, it is all a matter of putting it all together to work, where he truly did fail as a coach in the NBA.
But that is of no concern now. He is willing to "pay the price" to make this program successful. Define successful...it is winning? Not really in the SunBelt Conference. It is all about getting an education, a good job, a proud profession for their parents to be proud of. The winning now is secondary as much to making kids adults which I think is right up Isiah's alley.
This folks, is Step One.
Sunday, April 5, 2009
"Bowling Blind"
PBA TourThe Cliffhanger
The Golden Anniversary of the PBA Tour had its moment of truth Sunday. It had its best storylines all season long with the ultimate storyline brewing at the end of the special 2 hour telecast of the 66th US Open. Could the title match of bowling's most prestigious tournament be a contest between 3rd seeded Chris Barnes and top seeded and defending champion, Norm Duke? Arguably, the two best players in the sport would be going at it for another major to end the year, just like the way they started the year at the World Championship. Added to this, had Barnes gotten to Duke, the ever controversial Player of the Year race would have actually been a glorious scenario to end the season. Coming into the week's action, a Barnes of Duke win, coupled with Wes Malott not making the televised finals would create a new leader on the POY points race and this being the last event, a champion not named Malott. Either it would be Duke or Barnes...Barnes or Duke being the first player to win multiple POY awards in this decade.
In the decade of bowling parody (the 2000's), no player has repeated in winning POY honors yet the argument has been enveloped time and time again over the last several years: of all the players in bowling, there are two who play on a different level with regards to mixing talent, lane play, psychology, and overall success. Those two being Barnes and Duke. It is no surprise that these two fantastic players were 1-2 in average all week and given the diabolical nature of the US Open oil condition, they were the only two humans to be over a 210 average. With all that being said, you felt as a fan that to get the payoff for being a fan, you had to see Duke vs. Barnes for the US Open win and the 2008-09 POY.
But it didn't happen...
No, it didn't. Mike Scroggins ruined the party and outlasted both Barnes and Duke to win his first US Open title and the first in 20 long years that a lefthander has claimed the US Open title. This is absolutely no indictment on the player Mike Scroggins at all because he is a good person and solid performer. Everyone rags on his game yet he now has 6 titles and two majors which is more than over 99% of his ciritics will every have for a bowling resume. It was a great storyline as well, coupled with the wonderful stories of Richie Wolfe and Amleto Monacelli, two men who are no longer bowling on tour yet given their age and great physical conditioning, still made it onto the US Open telecast. It was a show filled with great stories but as fans, there was one must-see event that had to happen...and it didn't. And for once, we do not have to blast Chris Barnes for it.
Barnes was all but heading to the title match against Duke while facing Scroggins. Scroggins was, to be very generous, lucky to be close. Barnes had set the lanes up to a T to hit the pocket, however his problem was striking on the right lane. Enter the 10th frame and Barnes needing the first strike to down Scroggins with a 9, spare, strike would force a tie. Barnes looked for answers on the right lane all game to strike and then he got it all lined up, perfect, right into the 1-3...AND THE BALLGAME IS OVE...
There stood a solid 8. The dream was temporarily ruined. Yet there was still a chance for a tie with the spare and a strike. After Barnes covered the 8 pin, his next shot was just as good for the tie, lined up, perfect, right into the 1-3...AND WE HAVE A ROLL OF...
There stood the 10 pin. Ball game was OVA. And for all intents and purposes, so was the tournament. Duke never looked comfortable in the title match as Scroggins was able to shake off his two open frames and win the major championship. As for Duke's side of history, it was a rare moment lost by one of the great champions in the history of our sport, a man who has taken full advantage of his most recent opportunities and with the win, would have been a 3-time Player of the Year, joining even more rarefied air and beginning the greatest argument of this generation: who was the best player in the last 25 years? Duke, Pete Weber, or Walter Ray?
While the argument might not be over until next year to put a lid on the debate, there is still that open question. One more open question that has to be begged now is this: Scroggins' win made Wes Malott the 2008-09 Player of the Year. Yes, folks...Wes Malott does not win a major, does not even make the championship match of a major this season, blows off a tournament for which he dismissed then backtracked the following week after he won, and did not fully embrace the new formats of this season and he is to be 'rewarded' with his first Player of the Year. To even further complicate matters more is that he had to have someone else win him Player of the Year instead of him winning it outright. That became the major issue I had beginning the year about the POY race this season as well as last season. How a sport can have its Player of the Year be settled on how a guy makes television and not on his resume and the nature of the show in which he makes it is wrong. Norm Duke by far had a better season than Malott did and comparative numbers justify this: Malott and Duke both had 3 wins but Duke made two major finals shows and Malott made one. Malott won the highest scoring event on tour this season that was contested on a non-house shot, while Duke won three events and made the championship match on the 3 lowest scoring tournaments on tour this season and won two of them. The other win came when he only threw half the shots (Duke's doubles with with Liz Johnson). Now it is arguable to say that Barnes had a better year than both of them, leading the tour in points, making two major finals, as well as having one of the greatest runs in PBA history during the Extreme Swing, winning twice and making 6 shows on 16 different patterns during the second half of the season.
In the end, we are still stuck with a cliffhanger...
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Go RVing Match Play Championship
Barnes....Williams...it's the PBA on ESPN (cue the John Tesh music). Wait, what? That was the NBA on NBC? Sorry, folks.
12:55 PM: Quick cutaway from Baseball Tonight to Chris Barnes throwing a practice shot. Looked like he struck, he fist pumped. Nothing like a practice shot and a fist pump.
12:57: Old School PBA clip with Tommy Jones in his Buddy Holly glasses...and he must have stopped at Denny's before the video shoot. Damn, Thomas.
1:00: Dicky V!!! It's Awesome baby...with a capital A!
1:01: Rob Stone giving us the rundown and then Randy Pedersen chimes in with his observation: he feels like Barnes has a huge advantage with the multiple patterns and the fact that he has rolled to 4 straight Extreme Swing telecasts. Quick cut to last night's action between Williams and Chris Loschetter then Barnes and Mike Wolfe. The exhibition those two put on last night was amazing. Barnes shot 824 for 3 games on two different patterns.
1:04: WRW has got a lime green MoRich shirt with what appears to be polka-dots, Barnes is in his usual Lance Armstrong biker shirt. Stone misspeaks by saying that this is the 4th time these two have bowled for a title. This is actually only the second time they have bowled on TV for a title and the 4th time, period.
1:08: I always feel like...somebody's WATCHIN MEEEEE! Geico: so easy, a wad of money and googly eyes can do it.
1:09: The chess match on the lanes...the Chameleon on the left, Cheetah on the right. Both players plan to play up the rail. Walter does just that: RED BALL UP 5!!!
1:11: Barnes with a can opener strike to start, then dribbles, shoots, and scores on the left lane.
1:12: Hey, look. Barnes pulled a shot...what a shocker that was. Big 4 and the first open of the match.
1:14: Walter Ray....HAMBONE. Or an opening 4 bagger (well said, Rob Stone). Then he packs another strike for 5 in a row.
1:16: Barnes strikes on the left lane with the Resurgence. Amazing how many miles that ball still has on it. Arguably the ball that saved Columbia 300. My girlfriend and I are discussing the bowling ball, saying how that ball tore up oil patterns in college (and still does as she bowls for Vanderbilt, as most of you know), but how she never could get a good feel for it.
1:20: Walter Ray with a humbling career review in comparison to Earl Anthony saying that was Earl did was much more impressive as he now has 7 in a row.
1:21: Barnes spares then strikes and flat out cannot hang with Williams if the outside is playing that well. As Williams trips the 4 pin for 8 in a row. Crowd isn't even jacked up.
1:22: Now 9 in a row...you almost had a feeling something like this might happen today with these two and the friction zone to the right.
1:24: Barnes is Noble sign...very creative. Barnes changes balls again, really trying to max out his look on the lanes. Shoots 241. Now it is Walter...with a 7 pin...ouch. Suddenly, we have a match. Just like that. AND HE MISSED A SINGLE PIN SPARE!!! Incredible. The entire match changed. Barnes is only down 26 after one game when it looked like he'd be dead.
1:29: Nice section on youth bowling. One of the major criticisms of bowling in the last 5-10 years has been the death of junior bowling and how it has killed the adult leagues now. Tons of scholarships??? Don't think so...
1:31 Randy talks to Barnes and WRW in between games. A nice evaluation...brain fart says Williams on the whiffed 7 pin.
1:35: Lumber Liquidators...title sponsor of the PBA. Yep, I'm sold.
1:37: Barnes to start Game 2 and strikes. Barnes saw the light and is looking to explode through it. Walter on Cheetah makes a ball change and goes 2-8...something doesn't look right with him.
1:39: uh oh...uh oh...Barnes has found both lanes it would seem. He looks absolutely locked in.
1:40: Ball change for Deadeye...4-9. Misses both pins and then goes big 4 on the Chameleon. This is a fold worthy of the New York Mets bullpen...can't you just see K-Rod blowing out a vocal chord due to his excessive celebrating and being out for two months? But I digress...
1:42: And Barnes is playing the Phillies...shoot me now. Now Barnes has 5 in a row, he looks absolutely locked in. Did I already say that? Sorry, that was a "Memento" moment, except I did not need to tattoo myself with notes.
1:43: Walter Ray with the Flomax weekly update...and again goes high during the quick segment. He is having weak stream issues right now.
1:45: ESPN commerical for fantasy baseball with Alyssa Milano: the only child star that did not have a true falling out in her career in the last 25 years. Think about it very carefully and see if you can't figure out one more who accomplished that goal.
1:48: We return to Barnes now leading in the match suddenly...wow, just opened up the rack for 6 in a row. He is remarkable when he's right, now he has 7 in a row. One is thinking Barnes has started to run away and its only the middle of the match.
1:51: Now Barnes has 9 in a row...sensational. Walter Ray finally doubles in the match. I hate to say this about Williams but he has to try and alter Barnes' look instead of trying to run after him. Could he maybe move left and stay ahead of him?
1:52: Barnes takes a re-rack. Foolish of him but we'll see if it works. And yes, an SPLIT! WE still have a match! Barnes gives away roughly 30 pins back and it is now a 48 pin match after two games. That is easily doable for Deadeye to recover from.
1:56: Michelle: "I want to say this has lived up to the hype...but not entirely in a good way."
Me: "It is the beauty and the curse of these two."
Michelle: "It is."
What we mean by that is that we expect these two players to give us a thrill in good ways but they keep handing each other chances instead of just outbowling each other.
1:59: Walter Ray with Randy: he sounds boring and uncomfortable with what is going on. Barnes with Randy: he sounds relaxed and certain of his next move but yet also doesn't give you this sense of I am going to destroy Walter Ray...he stands no chance, don't miss old guy or you will lose.
2:04: They are going commerical free for the last match. Barnes has a healthy lead but we have seen him gag away healthier leads with fewer frames. Williams promptly starts with a strike. Barnes moves laterally and goes 4 pin. Back to Chameleon...bird dogs the 10 pin! OUCH!!!
2:08: Walter gets over amped and barely leaves the 10 pin. That can be his only miss of the match. Then Barnes on Cheetah goes plack 10. Now what is the move for CB on what is easily the tougher of the two lanes, amazingly, the Cheetah?
2:10: Williams makes a ball change...and strikes. WOW. Then nails on the Chameleon and strikes...look out Chris.
2:13: Barnes hasn't missed on Chameleon all day by the way. The lane he is finishing on. Williams goes 4 pin on the left lane. Where Barnes has created right, he has erased Walter's left.
2:15: Barnes' first non strike on the left lane. Now it is a 39 pin lead for Barnes. Williams still can't strike on the left lane. Barnes starts worrying about his carry. I ask you why that even came up in his mind, but that would make too much sense. It was the Chris Norry moment.
2:17: Barnes again makes a tight shot (spinchter tightening...). Leaves the 2-4-5 and makes it. Still leading...one more mark...BIRD DOGS IT FOR THE WINNA!
2:18: Barnes wins and for the first time in his career wins back-to-back events, capping off one of the greatest runs in bowling history. As for Walter Ray, he fought hard but that missed 7 pin truly was the downfall of his day. He actually won two of the three games but lost total wood by 29. 722-693, a 29 pin win for Barnes and his 12th title.
2:23: Randy and Walter Ray again after the match. Gracious as a champion, he said that Chris bowled better than he did. But his interview was telling: his game is predicated around playing straight and being accurate but the power players really force him to slow his ball speed down and rely on carry as much as his ability to throw it firm and make the pins dance.
2:28: Barnes and Pedersen interview after the last commercial break. You can tell how great his mind is when he just bowls and lets his talent take over. He gambled right on the lanes and he took away WRW's hold left. He is still alive to repeat as Player of the Year but he will need to cap off this amazing run of bowling.
12:55 PM: Quick cutaway from Baseball Tonight to Chris Barnes throwing a practice shot. Looked like he struck, he fist pumped. Nothing like a practice shot and a fist pump.
12:57: Old School PBA clip with Tommy Jones in his Buddy Holly glasses...and he must have stopped at Denny's before the video shoot. Damn, Thomas.
1:00: Dicky V!!! It's Awesome baby...with a capital A!
1:01: Rob Stone giving us the rundown and then Randy Pedersen chimes in with his observation: he feels like Barnes has a huge advantage with the multiple patterns and the fact that he has rolled to 4 straight Extreme Swing telecasts. Quick cut to last night's action between Williams and Chris Loschetter then Barnes and Mike Wolfe. The exhibition those two put on last night was amazing. Barnes shot 824 for 3 games on two different patterns.
1:04: WRW has got a lime green MoRich shirt with what appears to be polka-dots, Barnes is in his usual Lance Armstrong biker shirt. Stone misspeaks by saying that this is the 4th time these two have bowled for a title. This is actually only the second time they have bowled on TV for a title and the 4th time, period.
1:08: I always feel like...somebody's WATCHIN MEEEEE! Geico: so easy, a wad of money and googly eyes can do it.
1:09: The chess match on the lanes...the Chameleon on the left, Cheetah on the right. Both players plan to play up the rail. Walter does just that: RED BALL UP 5!!!
1:11: Barnes with a can opener strike to start, then dribbles, shoots, and scores on the left lane.
1:12: Hey, look. Barnes pulled a shot...what a shocker that was. Big 4 and the first open of the match.
1:14: Walter Ray....HAMBONE. Or an opening 4 bagger (well said, Rob Stone). Then he packs another strike for 5 in a row.
1:16: Barnes strikes on the left lane with the Resurgence. Amazing how many miles that ball still has on it. Arguably the ball that saved Columbia 300. My girlfriend and I are discussing the bowling ball, saying how that ball tore up oil patterns in college (and still does as she bowls for Vanderbilt, as most of you know), but how she never could get a good feel for it.
1:20: Walter Ray with a humbling career review in comparison to Earl Anthony saying that was Earl did was much more impressive as he now has 7 in a row.
1:21: Barnes spares then strikes and flat out cannot hang with Williams if the outside is playing that well. As Williams trips the 4 pin for 8 in a row. Crowd isn't even jacked up.
1:22: Now 9 in a row...you almost had a feeling something like this might happen today with these two and the friction zone to the right.
1:24: Barnes is Noble sign...very creative. Barnes changes balls again, really trying to max out his look on the lanes. Shoots 241. Now it is Walter...with a 7 pin...ouch. Suddenly, we have a match. Just like that. AND HE MISSED A SINGLE PIN SPARE!!! Incredible. The entire match changed. Barnes is only down 26 after one game when it looked like he'd be dead.
1:29: Nice section on youth bowling. One of the major criticisms of bowling in the last 5-10 years has been the death of junior bowling and how it has killed the adult leagues now. Tons of scholarships??? Don't think so...
1:31 Randy talks to Barnes and WRW in between games. A nice evaluation...brain fart says Williams on the whiffed 7 pin.
1:35: Lumber Liquidators...title sponsor of the PBA. Yep, I'm sold.
1:37: Barnes to start Game 2 and strikes. Barnes saw the light and is looking to explode through it. Walter on Cheetah makes a ball change and goes 2-8...something doesn't look right with him.
1:39: uh oh...uh oh...Barnes has found both lanes it would seem. He looks absolutely locked in.
1:40: Ball change for Deadeye...4-9. Misses both pins and then goes big 4 on the Chameleon. This is a fold worthy of the New York Mets bullpen...can't you just see K-Rod blowing out a vocal chord due to his excessive celebrating and being out for two months? But I digress...
1:42: And Barnes is playing the Phillies...shoot me now. Now Barnes has 5 in a row, he looks absolutely locked in. Did I already say that? Sorry, that was a "Memento" moment, except I did not need to tattoo myself with notes.
1:43: Walter Ray with the Flomax weekly update...and again goes high during the quick segment. He is having weak stream issues right now.
1:45: ESPN commerical for fantasy baseball with Alyssa Milano: the only child star that did not have a true falling out in her career in the last 25 years. Think about it very carefully and see if you can't figure out one more who accomplished that goal.
1:48: We return to Barnes now leading in the match suddenly...wow, just opened up the rack for 6 in a row. He is remarkable when he's right, now he has 7 in a row. One is thinking Barnes has started to run away and its only the middle of the match.
1:51: Now Barnes has 9 in a row...sensational. Walter Ray finally doubles in the match. I hate to say this about Williams but he has to try and alter Barnes' look instead of trying to run after him. Could he maybe move left and stay ahead of him?
1:52: Barnes takes a re-rack. Foolish of him but we'll see if it works. And yes, an SPLIT! WE still have a match! Barnes gives away roughly 30 pins back and it is now a 48 pin match after two games. That is easily doable for Deadeye to recover from.
1:56: Michelle: "I want to say this has lived up to the hype...but not entirely in a good way."
Me: "It is the beauty and the curse of these two."
Michelle: "It is."
What we mean by that is that we expect these two players to give us a thrill in good ways but they keep handing each other chances instead of just outbowling each other.
1:59: Walter Ray with Randy: he sounds boring and uncomfortable with what is going on. Barnes with Randy: he sounds relaxed and certain of his next move but yet also doesn't give you this sense of I am going to destroy Walter Ray...he stands no chance, don't miss old guy or you will lose.
2:04: They are going commerical free for the last match. Barnes has a healthy lead but we have seen him gag away healthier leads with fewer frames. Williams promptly starts with a strike. Barnes moves laterally and goes 4 pin. Back to Chameleon...bird dogs the 10 pin! OUCH!!!
2:08: Walter gets over amped and barely leaves the 10 pin. That can be his only miss of the match. Then Barnes on Cheetah goes plack 10. Now what is the move for CB on what is easily the tougher of the two lanes, amazingly, the Cheetah?
2:10: Williams makes a ball change...and strikes. WOW. Then nails on the Chameleon and strikes...look out Chris.
2:13: Barnes hasn't missed on Chameleon all day by the way. The lane he is finishing on. Williams goes 4 pin on the left lane. Where Barnes has created right, he has erased Walter's left.
2:15: Barnes' first non strike on the left lane. Now it is a 39 pin lead for Barnes. Williams still can't strike on the left lane. Barnes starts worrying about his carry. I ask you why that even came up in his mind, but that would make too much sense. It was the Chris Norry moment.
2:17: Barnes again makes a tight shot (spinchter tightening...). Leaves the 2-4-5 and makes it. Still leading...one more mark...BIRD DOGS IT FOR THE WINNA!
2:18: Barnes wins and for the first time in his career wins back-to-back events, capping off one of the greatest runs in bowling history. As for Walter Ray, he fought hard but that missed 7 pin truly was the downfall of his day. He actually won two of the three games but lost total wood by 29. 722-693, a 29 pin win for Barnes and his 12th title.
2:23: Randy and Walter Ray again after the match. Gracious as a champion, he said that Chris bowled better than he did. But his interview was telling: his game is predicated around playing straight and being accurate but the power players really force him to slow his ball speed down and rely on carry as much as his ability to throw it firm and make the pins dance.
2:28: Barnes and Pedersen interview after the last commercial break. You can tell how great his mind is when he just bowls and lets his talent take over. He gambled right on the lanes and he took away WRW's hold left. He is still alive to repeat as Player of the Year but he will need to cap off this amazing run of bowling.
Saturday, March 21, 2009
"Bowling Blind"-The Exteme Swing
At long last, this is a title match...
PBA Tour
"It's About Damn Time"
Well...we have finally arrived to this moment...
It took us roughly nine long seasons to achieve this matchup for a PBA title. The bowler of the 90's, Walter Ray Williams, Jr. and the bowler of the 2000's, Chris Barnes will meet for the GoRVing Match Play Championship tomorrow afternoon in Norwich, CT. For Walter Ray, it is another notch on his legendary Hall of Fame resume to add a mixed pattern championship after the devastating, heart-stomping loss to Patrick Allen to start the second half of the season in Reno. For Chris Barnes, this is the 4th consecutive finals appearance he has made and in the fourth consecutive Extreme Swing format tournament, he has a shot at winning in what can only be described as truly the best 4 week stretch of bowling we have seen from any player in, quite possibly, the history of the sport.
Barnes in the last 4 events has thrown plastic balls, bowled on 6 different patterns in 5 days, navigated through an eliminator mega-bucks style format, and now through an all match play format. The last two he has bowled on have had the mixed patterns and in case anyone forgot, Barnes has made two other shows this half on the first mixed pattern event and then the Dick Weber Open and its difficult lane pattern. To review, Barnes has made 6 shows the second half of the season on fourteen patterns. Are you kidding me??? In the annals of PBA history, we may never know how good this run by Barnes is only because...we have nothing to base this performance on.
The PBA has never attempted to showcase its best players in tournaments that have truly tested their overall game. For years, the game had been the same: 42 games, 18 in qualifying, 24 round-robin matches, stepladder for the final 5 in a 90 minute telecast. Admittedly, it got kinda boring to watch and this a bowling fan talking, wondering how those in charge of the PBA didn't feel like changing things up every now and then to see if maybe a novelty could become standard. Things changed in the 2001-02 season with single elimination match play. Best of 5 and best of 7 matches in head-to-head competition with the finalists bowling on the show. Fans were able to make believe for a moment and see possible rivalries develop and get emotionally invested. Supporting their favorite player of players compete against guys that they didn't like or hated in some cases to develop an emotional investment in the product so that they would camp their behinds on their sofa and watch the telecast on Sunday, or buy tickets to the local event, or possibly go bowl with their favorite players in a pro-am or two during the week to establish a following with bowling.
There was hope...but hope sometimes can dangle on a string like slow spinning redemption and in the case of the PBA, it could never get a true desired rivalry for its fans to get behind.
Walter Ray vs. Pete Weber, you say???
Fans forget that a rivalry must have both sides that can win and must both be presented as winners. While Walter Ray beat Weber from pillar to post every time they bowled, Weber became more and more less over with the fans as the man. If you can't beat the great Williams at any point on television, then are you worth the hype? The answer is no way.
Ryan Shafer vs. Norm Duke???
Not even worth mentioning as a rivalry. Duke has embarrassed Shafer in his career on TV so much so to where Shafer has basically had a Hall of Fame career denied thanks to one man alone.
Barnes vs. Tommy Jones???
Really....? Guys, Jones has whacked Barnes like the Wall Street Journal does to a housefly.
The only rivalry that came out of the match play format was Patrick Allen and Mika Koivuniemi, much of it due to Mika's audacity calling himself "Left Hander's Wurst Nightmare" and PA beating him in that classic US Open match where they went to a sudden-death roll-off to where Allen yelled out to the Jersey crowd that it was a new season and a different outcome. Other than that, they haven't had enough head-to-head matches to truly have anything long lasting on TV.
What about Barnes vs. Williams???
Ah, the rivalry that never was. If you do your homework, these two players have only met for a title once and it was a major, the 2004 ABC Masters. It was fun to watch as a fan. Barnes was still throwing Brunswick and wearing shirts with the American flag and eagle on it. Walter Ray still has his full beard and only had 38 titles at the time. It was great to watch arguably the two finest players in the world go strike for strike on the shortest pattern in tour history at 34 feet. The only poor shot thrown was by Barnes late in the title match as Walter Ray was charging close to a perfect game in a major tournament. It showed two things to me: 1) Walter Ray was still a factor in bowling and in the big events where Barnes was making common occurrences and 2) we would get to see this a few more times in the coming years. Five years later...
Here we stand today and we have been waiting a long time for this moment to come around. Walter Ray vs. Barnes. The two players that have come to define the beauty of bowling and its curse in the last 20 years. The smartest player to ever bowl against the most talented and dedicated bowler ever. Also the greatest rivalry that never was in bowling history. The possible passing of the torch that never came around. They have three games tomorrow to show us their smarts and their talents by themselves and for a title.
Gentlemen...make us proud.
Monday, March 2, 2009
"Bowling Blind"-The Exteme Swing
Etonic Marathon Open
For all fellow readers who were waiting for my predictions on the Etonic Marathon Open last week, I apologize for my computer's strange tendency not to upload this page and thus providing anything relevant rather well...irrelevant. So without further ado, I give you a little subtitled list I like to call "26.2 Reasons to Love the EMO":
1: Welcome back David Ryan!!! Even if it was for one week, Ryan's return to the sport that helped catapult his career to such accomplishments as Little League Baseball, D-3 football, and some strange version of Japanese military training was a great sight for the bowling fans in need of a Rob Stone Vacation. For the record, Mr. Stone now has four children and he looks like he is about 28...either he ages well or he's got some powerful pelvic muscles, but I digress.
2: Woodland Bowl: easily one of the top 5 bowling centers in the country, without a shadow of a doubt. Think about the last 10 days of bowling contested at the Woody: the Hoosier Classic with close to 80 collegiate teams and a waiting list to boot last weekend, followed by 54 games over 5 days of professional bowling this past week.
3: The city of Indy itself is a fantastic city to visit (just not in the middle of a Nor'Easter) with some great history with race car driving and bowling.
4: Those odd looking lime green tinted sunglasses Pete Weber was donning on Sunday in his latest defeat to a young player that he more or less helped cultivate from a style standpoint.
5: Five players on the "plus" side of power revolutions making the show in Bill O'Neill, Chris Barnes, Ronnie Russell, Weber, and Wes Malott (yes, we'll get into alllll of them shortly).
6: Barnes' opening 6 bagger while rolling 3 10 pin messenger strikes. His opponent, O'Neill just threw his towel in disgust over his head almost feigning defeat.
7: O'Neill's answering 6 bagger to end that match and force Chris Barnes to strike on the first shot in the 10th (which I would bet dollars to pesos that 7 out of every 10 people watching the show knew he wasn't going to strike on that first ball andohbytheway...he didn't).
8: BLUE!!! The Colts mascot in attendance. Thank God he got away from Peyton Manning, who is still waiting for that possession in overtime against the Chargers.
9: Nine games times 6 patterns equals 54 games of bowling with no match play at all. PBA execs: embrace this format except add a tweak to it next time for the fans. Get the final four bowlers on TV and have them bowl 3 matches each and find out who actually should have won this. Of course, if you asked Malott, he probably should have won it and did anyway.
10: The pesky 10 pin for Pete Weber cost him the match. Wrong ball choice to say the very least in contrast to what happened last week where Weber only had two balls to choose from and was going....plack 10 of all things last week.
11: Eleven titles was in the front row in Hall of Famer David Ozio, the master of the gutter shot and now the GM of Etonic Worldwide. Etonic could not have found a better figurehead than a true pro, a self made HOF'er and one of the great action bowlers ever. Did I say action??? I meant late night practice...not action, no no no....
12: Ronnie Russell's climb to the Big Wood Tour this season. Missed the first 7 events of the season and is in the cut line with 4 tournament left. Chances are he is going to survive another year and he has bowled one third less tournaments than most other exempt pros.
13: Patrick Healey's strange story. Russell got back on the tour due to Healey's inactivity this season and anyone that I trust in bowling circles has absolutely no idea what is wrong with Healey or what he has been up to in the last two years.
14: Xtra Frame's free 7 day trial...but you must put down a credit card to apply to the free trial. Warning: if anyone elects to get the free trial you must cancel subscription immediately or you will be billed for it after the 7 day trial. Caveat Emptor.
15: "Whoa...Nellie!" Dave Ryan's call for O'Neill's washout in the 7th frame of the second match against Russell.
16: The wide, wide, WIDE pocket Russell had for 2 games and then it went adios in the title match.
17: The open format this week got some unknown names close to the show in Edward VanDaniker Jr. and the ever growing push for Jason Belmonte who finished 11th. Clearly the multiple lane conditions and longer formats have helped certain bowlers and you are starting to see a trend with certain players in these super long formats. Guys like Walter Ray and PA are always close. O'Neill and Malott have thrived in these formats but Richie Allen always keeps sneaking up in these big formats as well. Take a much closer look at the THB's finishes in these formats exceeding 45 games and you'll be surprised.
18: "Sixty feet...to success!!!"
YES!!! Thank you Dave.
19: No Hambones this week. As I said, it was nice to have a week off from that yet the Stone machine has taken off. Even with him telling fans in Indy he would not be there this week, fans still littered the TV audience with Hambone signs. Rob Stone continues to get over with fans.
20: So do these funk Gemini Shirts. Ronnie Russell wore a bubble shirt for all I could guess on the show. Coupled with the Billy Johnson shoes (his nickname was "White Shoes" for all teenagers who have no idea who I was talking about), he was one strange looking leprechaun.
21: What does PDW stand for? Peter David Weber...I never knew. His theme song for the shows while he is striking is Motorhead's "Time to Play the Game". Yes folks, only on "Bowling Blind" can you get a cross between Lemmy, PDW, and Triple H and make it work smoothly.
22: How generous is this Scorpion pattern to pros? Its length of 42 feet coupled with the PTA (Predominant Track Area) made the lanes play more like your ordinary house shot only with slower ball speed. Think about how many shots Sunday did not hit the pocket and you might be able to count it on one hand.
23: How good are Weber and Barnes in these last 4 weeks? They have both made three out of the last four shows, and the same event, and with totally different formats behind it. They go from reactive to plastic then back to reactive. If you couple Pete Weber's top 10 at the Masters, Weber in the last 4 weeks has bowled 46, 40, 35, and 55 games and he is 46 years old bowling on two flatter patterns, a modified Cheetah with plastic balls and then bowling through 6 different patterns.
24: Why not the same dap for Barnes? Lemme think....oh yes, because no matter how much you want to root for Chris Barnes, he constantly lets you down when the pressure is on. Barnes had a 48 pin lead through six frames and somehow ended up losing by 19 pins...a 67 pin turnaround. He constantly frustrates fans that come to see him run over players at this level because most fans and most pros readily agree that no one in this game has more tools or trick than Barnes yet he continues to let something plague him when Sunday comes. Dean Hintz can't help him, Lynda Barnes can't help him, not even his kids can help him. Chris Barnes can only help Chris Barnes just as much as the only thing stopping Chris Barnes is Chris Barnes.
25: The winner: Wes Malott. Glad to see his "week of rest" was good for him.
26: Oh, I'm not done. I congratulate Malott on his win.
"Yeah, But..."
He changed his story. Two weeks ago, he basically dismissed the tournament as not being fair in saying that you should not take the technology out of the players hands. Then he proceeds to win the tournament rather comfortably and during the process was calling out PTI's Mike Wilbon about his comments about him hiding from it because he didn't think he could win. Malott's response was that he needed a week off on the show...we like to call that in the media as Covering Your Own Ass.
Personally, Malott's mouth has done more for me to dislike him this year more than anything else. He did not accept the first mixed championship pattern on TV, and then he railroads the tour for electing to take technology out of the players hands. It seemed like Malott got sensitive toward the issue and elected to tell "his side of the story" just a week too late.
And oh, the .2: The Don Johson Buckeye State Eliminator might be the most intriguing show of the season because for the first time in PBA history, bowlers will be bowling with each other in 4 4-man pods basing winners and survivors on total pinfall. The show will condense it to one game for the final pod until there is a winner. This might be the most politically charged tournament ever because bowlers will have to trust their other group members (or at least one) to advance to the finals and then the finals would be no different. Expect this to be Survivor: Columbus. Just no live scorpions to digest.
Leftyism's email is Senordoscien527@aol.com for further questioning.
For all fellow readers who were waiting for my predictions on the Etonic Marathon Open last week, I apologize for my computer's strange tendency not to upload this page and thus providing anything relevant rather well...irrelevant. So without further ado, I give you a little subtitled list I like to call "26.2 Reasons to Love the EMO":
1: Welcome back David Ryan!!! Even if it was for one week, Ryan's return to the sport that helped catapult his career to such accomplishments as Little League Baseball, D-3 football, and some strange version of Japanese military training was a great sight for the bowling fans in need of a Rob Stone Vacation. For the record, Mr. Stone now has four children and he looks like he is about 28...either he ages well or he's got some powerful pelvic muscles, but I digress.
2: Woodland Bowl: easily one of the top 5 bowling centers in the country, without a shadow of a doubt. Think about the last 10 days of bowling contested at the Woody: the Hoosier Classic with close to 80 collegiate teams and a waiting list to boot last weekend, followed by 54 games over 5 days of professional bowling this past week.
3: The city of Indy itself is a fantastic city to visit (just not in the middle of a Nor'Easter) with some great history with race car driving and bowling.
4: Those odd looking lime green tinted sunglasses Pete Weber was donning on Sunday in his latest defeat to a young player that he more or less helped cultivate from a style standpoint.
5: Five players on the "plus" side of power revolutions making the show in Bill O'Neill, Chris Barnes, Ronnie Russell, Weber, and Wes Malott (yes, we'll get into alllll of them shortly).
6: Barnes' opening 6 bagger while rolling 3 10 pin messenger strikes. His opponent, O'Neill just threw his towel in disgust over his head almost feigning defeat.
7: O'Neill's answering 6 bagger to end that match and force Chris Barnes to strike on the first shot in the 10th (which I would bet dollars to pesos that 7 out of every 10 people watching the show knew he wasn't going to strike on that first ball andohbytheway...he didn't).
8: BLUE!!! The Colts mascot in attendance. Thank God he got away from Peyton Manning, who is still waiting for that possession in overtime against the Chargers.
9: Nine games times 6 patterns equals 54 games of bowling with no match play at all. PBA execs: embrace this format except add a tweak to it next time for the fans. Get the final four bowlers on TV and have them bowl 3 matches each and find out who actually should have won this. Of course, if you asked Malott, he probably should have won it and did anyway.
10: The pesky 10 pin for Pete Weber cost him the match. Wrong ball choice to say the very least in contrast to what happened last week where Weber only had two balls to choose from and was going....plack 10 of all things last week.
11: Eleven titles was in the front row in Hall of Famer David Ozio, the master of the gutter shot and now the GM of Etonic Worldwide. Etonic could not have found a better figurehead than a true pro, a self made HOF'er and one of the great action bowlers ever. Did I say action??? I meant late night practice...not action, no no no....
12: Ronnie Russell's climb to the Big Wood Tour this season. Missed the first 7 events of the season and is in the cut line with 4 tournament left. Chances are he is going to survive another year and he has bowled one third less tournaments than most other exempt pros.
13: Patrick Healey's strange story. Russell got back on the tour due to Healey's inactivity this season and anyone that I trust in bowling circles has absolutely no idea what is wrong with Healey or what he has been up to in the last two years.
14: Xtra Frame's free 7 day trial...but you must put down a credit card to apply to the free trial. Warning: if anyone elects to get the free trial you must cancel subscription immediately or you will be billed for it after the 7 day trial. Caveat Emptor.
15: "Whoa...Nellie!" Dave Ryan's call for O'Neill's washout in the 7th frame of the second match against Russell.
16: The wide, wide, WIDE pocket Russell had for 2 games and then it went adios in the title match.
17: The open format this week got some unknown names close to the show in Edward VanDaniker Jr. and the ever growing push for Jason Belmonte who finished 11th. Clearly the multiple lane conditions and longer formats have helped certain bowlers and you are starting to see a trend with certain players in these super long formats. Guys like Walter Ray and PA are always close. O'Neill and Malott have thrived in these formats but Richie Allen always keeps sneaking up in these big formats as well. Take a much closer look at the THB's finishes in these formats exceeding 45 games and you'll be surprised.
18: "Sixty feet...to success!!!"
YES!!! Thank you Dave.
19: No Hambones this week. As I said, it was nice to have a week off from that yet the Stone machine has taken off. Even with him telling fans in Indy he would not be there this week, fans still littered the TV audience with Hambone signs. Rob Stone continues to get over with fans.
20: So do these funk Gemini Shirts. Ronnie Russell wore a bubble shirt for all I could guess on the show. Coupled with the Billy Johnson shoes (his nickname was "White Shoes" for all teenagers who have no idea who I was talking about), he was one strange looking leprechaun.
21: What does PDW stand for? Peter David Weber...I never knew. His theme song for the shows while he is striking is Motorhead's "Time to Play the Game". Yes folks, only on "Bowling Blind" can you get a cross between Lemmy, PDW, and Triple H and make it work smoothly.
22: How generous is this Scorpion pattern to pros? Its length of 42 feet coupled with the PTA (Predominant Track Area) made the lanes play more like your ordinary house shot only with slower ball speed. Think about how many shots Sunday did not hit the pocket and you might be able to count it on one hand.
23: How good are Weber and Barnes in these last 4 weeks? They have both made three out of the last four shows, and the same event, and with totally different formats behind it. They go from reactive to plastic then back to reactive. If you couple Pete Weber's top 10 at the Masters, Weber in the last 4 weeks has bowled 46, 40, 35, and 55 games and he is 46 years old bowling on two flatter patterns, a modified Cheetah with plastic balls and then bowling through 6 different patterns.
24: Why not the same dap for Barnes? Lemme think....oh yes, because no matter how much you want to root for Chris Barnes, he constantly lets you down when the pressure is on. Barnes had a 48 pin lead through six frames and somehow ended up losing by 19 pins...a 67 pin turnaround. He constantly frustrates fans that come to see him run over players at this level because most fans and most pros readily agree that no one in this game has more tools or trick than Barnes yet he continues to let something plague him when Sunday comes. Dean Hintz can't help him, Lynda Barnes can't help him, not even his kids can help him. Chris Barnes can only help Chris Barnes just as much as the only thing stopping Chris Barnes is Chris Barnes.
25: The winner: Wes Malott. Glad to see his "week of rest" was good for him.
26: Oh, I'm not done. I congratulate Malott on his win.
"Yeah, But..."
He changed his story. Two weeks ago, he basically dismissed the tournament as not being fair in saying that you should not take the technology out of the players hands. Then he proceeds to win the tournament rather comfortably and during the process was calling out PTI's Mike Wilbon about his comments about him hiding from it because he didn't think he could win. Malott's response was that he needed a week off on the show...we like to call that in the media as Covering Your Own Ass.
Personally, Malott's mouth has done more for me to dislike him this year more than anything else. He did not accept the first mixed championship pattern on TV, and then he railroads the tour for electing to take technology out of the players hands. It seemed like Malott got sensitive toward the issue and elected to tell "his side of the story" just a week too late.
And oh, the .2: The Don Johson Buckeye State Eliminator might be the most intriguing show of the season because for the first time in PBA history, bowlers will be bowling with each other in 4 4-man pods basing winners and survivors on total pinfall. The show will condense it to one game for the final pod until there is a winner. This might be the most politically charged tournament ever because bowlers will have to trust their other group members (or at least one) to advance to the finals and then the finals would be no different. Expect this to be Survivor: Columbus. Just no live scorpions to digest.
Leftyism's email is Senordoscien527@aol.com for further questioning.
Monday, February 23, 2009
Ground Control to Major Tom
The embodiment of a franchise rebirth now must look elsewhere for employment.
Ranger fans...Garden Faithful...the 18,200 of you who walk into Madison Square Garden...you asked for it for a few weeks. You chanted it audibly last Sunday against the Flyers and maybe moreso inside the 6 inches that are between your ears for the last two months: "Fire Ren-ney!"
Clearly, the bloom has been off the rose of Tom Renney for the past few weeks as the New York Rangers have struggled to maintain their playoff standing (currently 8th) after starting the beginning of the season 10-2-1. The power play has been a season-long (as well as a tenure-long) problem, the free agent defense signings of Dimitri Kalinin and Wade Redden have been big to colossal busts, the burden put on goaltender Henrik Lundqvist is bigger than the gridlock of Manhattan, and the fans expectations being greater than what most thought have led to this firing of Renney.
And most Ranger fans support this change. My only question is: how can you be so naive to dump a man who gave a franchise the shot in the arm it needed for so many years, right to the curb like he was a pathetic loser running the Rangers?
Fans as MSG apparently didn't learn much from how bad Isiah Thomas was with the Knicks to see how good Renney was coaching the Rangers to 3 consecutive playoff appearances and two years ago, was roughly 7.7 seconds away from guiding the Rangers to the Eastern Conference Finals (and considering how good the Rangers were at handling the Big Three of the Ottowa Senators and how Jaromir Jagr owned a then fading Redden, it might as well been a Stanley Cup Final appearance). Here we stand in late February and Renney is updating his resume...
How did this happen? For one thing, Renney lost Jagr as well as Brendan Shanahan and Sean Avery and Martin Straka and General Manager Glen Sather (or "Savior" to some) never replaced them with any players of equal or greater talent for the 2008-09 season and to some extent, you could not fault Sather. Jagr and Shanahan had gotten on old legs and might have been too expensive to hold onto given their Hall of Fame status. Straka had business ventures back in the Czech Republic to explore and at 35 was not likely to get another long term deal. Avery, for all his disruptive antics on and off the ice, was too asking for too much money as a role player and without any marquee stars, the Rangers smartly locked up Lunqvist long term as their stable in net. The thought was after these events happened, the Rangers were going to be led by Scott Gomez and Chris Drury along with Lunqvist and give players like Brandon Dubinsky and Ryan Callahan time to mature along with Marc Staal (who at 22 might be the best one-on-one defensemen in the NHL already), Dan Girardi, and Petr Prucha-who had been sort of buried underneath the glut of the previous players on their way out. As a fan who had enjoyed 3 straight years in the hunt for Lord Stanley's Cup, knowing that if King Henrik got crazy hot for 4 rounds, there would be no time for any "1994" chants in the Uniondale Tomb (Nassau Colosseum), the Cup would be in New York...if the Rangers elected to develop their young talent and not make the postseason this year, you could have dealt with it and look to 2009-10 with the younger players a year better.
Instead Sather went and got Dead Legs Redden and Dimitri Kalinin to horrible contracts that makes you pine for Isiah Thomas giving Jerome James a long term deal and a free buffet card as a discount. In case you forgot, he also signed Markus Naslund (if you remember, his ghost plays right wing every now and then), and then signed Michal Rosival to a horrible extension (so horrible for Rosival that he developed a nerve condition called "dontshoothepuck-itis"), thus killing Rosival's hunger that he had for the previous 3 years and therefore buried Girardi, Paul Mara and held back the development of Corey Potter and Bobby Sangunetti in Hartford.
The message changed...the expectations were now in the "Grey Zone" of sports. The Grey Zone is the most perilous Zone to be in as a fan because you think your team can make a run but don't know if they should because it might cost you dearly for 5-10 years. In the case of the signings of Sather, the franchise might only be set back 2-3 years as long as Sather does not or did not panic and hotshot any other deals. Firing Renney was panic move #1. Firing Renney was a decision to try and motivate the players that were not performing up to their standards and to make an honest run this season back to contention. Panic move #2 would be to trade a young player with a reasonable deal for a lot just to save face for the season (this is where that Keith Thachuk for Dubinsky deal will leave me in a cold sweat). The main problem is now who takes Renney's place?
John Torterella...? "Yeah", Ranger fans shout. "He is a former Ranger coach, New York guy. Will motivate these players that Renney couldn't. By God, he won a Stanley Cup in Tampa Bay of all places!!!"
Yeah, But...
He wore out his welcome two years later (and remember this: the year after the Lightning won the Cup there was a lockout so Torterella had two years by default of being the man in the NHL) by bashing studs such as Vincent Lecavlier and Martin St. Louis publicly, and in case you have yet to figure this out Ranger Nation: coaches who win championships do not stay on the welfare line for four years because they like drinking LaBatt Blue and discussing X's and O's with Maguire and wondering how much of a lecherous prick Don Cherry actually is on Hockey Night in Canada. Torterella could not get along with his stars and the city of Tampa Bay, will New York and Larry Brooks' mighty pen be a salve to him? Highly unlikely. He or any interim coach will inherit a situation that on the surface has the Rangers struggling to stay in the playoffs (yes fans, the Rangers are actually still in 8th place in the Eastern Conference and Carolina and Buffalo have goaltending injuries that is now more vital than ever so it will take the Toronto Maple Leafs and their 5 Year Plan to get rid of the Rangers from postseason contention), and struggling to live up to the expectations that clearly are weighing on winners such as Gomez and Drury.
Gomez in years past when things might have gone south could look behind him and see the all-world goaltender (Martin Brodeur) and the greatest defense pairing of all time (Scott Stevens and Scott Niedermeyer) and feel that the world is ok. Drury could look back and see Patrick Roy and Ray Bourque and then to the side of him see Joe Sakic and Petr Foresburg and feel that the world is ok. They both have the King and Staal right now but they have no one else and now they have a new head coach who will change the system to attack and take risks offensively, which might help Gomez. Drury's game will not change as well as the big game ability of the Ranger captain, but the message has or might change. Will it work? Can Naslund find his hands on the power play again? Can Redden finally be Redden on both ends of the ice? Will Rosival shoot when he is open? Will Prucha see the light of day and play alongside Zherdev and Lauri Korpikoski?
Will the change work? I hope I am wrong about Torerella and his ability to get along with his better players without killing them. I hope the Rangers find their balance again as an offense and have the Garden behind them once again. I hope...I hope...I hope.
With Tom Renney I had hope...now I don't know what I have.
To reply to Leftyism's posts, email me at Senordoscien527@aol.com.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
"Bowling Blind"-The Exteme Swing
PBA Tour
GEICO Plastic Ball Championship
In some strange and warped parallel universe, Tom Clark and I must have been separated at birth from the head. In his recent profession as an editorial writer for USA Today, Mr. Clark bemoaned what technology has done to the sport of bowling by stating that "The bowling balls of today are the steroids of our sport". In a time where we (those that supposedly write about relevant material) elect to put certain legends on pedestals for a majority of their career and then upon suspicion of cheating in any manner, destroy them as if we are the keepers of the moral conscience of sports. To any sports writer whom elects to do this is just as shallow as a conspirator of the game as the athlete who dares to "stay ahead of the game" by using performance-enhancing drugs and then deny fact. Why deny fact, you say, instead of coming clean? The answer is evident in the athlete's usage of said PED's: it is either kill or be killed...go back home to the farm, they city, the plant, or whatever trade or profession who were born into by family. Any admission to cheating is subject to the wrath of us, the media, or as the legendary Ted Williams would call writers, "The Knights of the Keyboard".
So why don't we just erase this entire generation of bowlers from the recent PBA's 50 All-Time Greatest Bowlers? One could surely argue that technology has enabled the career paths for Fab 50 bowlers such as Jason Couch, Patrick Allen, Chris Barnes, and Tommy Jones as players who have bowled exclusively in this era of modern technological advances. They are all lock down, case closed Hall of Fame bowlers but they bowled in a generation where bowling balls have been made en masse, layouts can be made to cater to a lane condition, surfaces altered, weight blocks manipulated, and any other means of gaining an advantage. Of course it would be dumb and idiotic to deny these 4 players their just due as the best 4 bowlers of this era (post 1997) by saying that because they have gone up against the game's previous legends and future stars.
What about saying that technology has helped further the career of legends like Parker Bohn III and Walter Ray Williams, Jr. who appeared to have fallen behind the curve on technology then suddenly find themselves to retain their Hall of Fame careers? Of course, no one would ever say such a thing but lets look logically for a few moments at this. Bohn and Williams throughout the 90's were the two most consistent players on Planet Earth making show after show and winning titles left and right and then both went through struggles post 2000, with Dead Eye making the transition smoother than Bohn did:
Bohn in the 90's (1990-1999):
-66 TV appearances
-20 Titles
-$1,477,067 in earnings
Williams in the 90's:
-86 TV appearances
-25 Titles
-$1,689,969 in earnings
Bohn's down years came from 2002-2004 where he failed to win for 52 events and while players such as Couch, Allen, and Barnes had made strides and won titles and became tour stars. As for Williams, he hit two small skids in his career in early 2000 and 2003 where he basically looked as if he was finally slowing down but then he made big charges to make shows and win titles and make poor seasons your good ol' WRW season.
Naturally we aren't going to rip them for using the modern missiles of bowling balls to stay competitive. Both have won this season, both are still top 15-20 players at their age and are still marketable stars. They are also favorites for this week's most anticipated and perhaps most controversial tournament in its 50 year history with the So Easy a Caveman Could do It Plastic Ball Championship.
Ladies and Gentlemen...Tom Clark has cleaned up the game! Let's have him go after Donald Fehr and Gene Orza...
The formula is simple: All players in the main 64 player draw are to be given two identical plastic balls with the 50th Anniversary logo on each ball. Once the players have the balls, they can drill and alter surface in the way they see fit then bowl 14 games of qualifying and then the PBA brings back the single elimination best of 7 match play to determine the final 4 bowlers on the show. The PTQ will be contested with modern equipment and the standard amount of bowlers and the high amateur will get into the main draw. As of this blog, the PTQ ended and so far, the PBA has struck gold on its lineup for this week. For this tournament to be effective, the PBA needed to have a few names involved that weren't there in the main draw and they pulled an inside straight with this:
1) Brian Voss: He needed to be involved in this tournament. As one of the main proponents of limiting technology and basing your game on skill, dexterity, and mental fortitude, Voss deserved this honor of getting the vaunted Commissioner's Exemption. As a Hall of Famer, a 50 Greatest and a man who won his last 4 PBA tournaments using exactly one ball for each tournament, Voss needed to be here.
2) John Nolen: Last week's USBC Masters champion was given an additional Commish exemption and why not give him one? He is a future star in this sport, with a game that if you look closely enough starts to remind you a guy name Husted, comma, David. The last two tournaments he has bowled in were both open tournaments on demanding conditions and he went 8th and 1st. To say that he needed to find a way in the main draw was saying that Lindsay Lohan needs a milkshake (anyone who recently saw her in today's New York Post and knows her has to direct her to the nearest porterhouse steak...PRONTO!!!).
3) Jason Belmonte: The two-handed Aussie worked his way through the PTQ to just barely make it in (how they didn't wall the PTQ for Belmo just so that he can get in safely is stunning...but I digress) and enter the Round of 64. For those that have seen Belmonte's remarkable physical skills, it will be interesting to see if using only plastic balls will either make him a major favorite or a major disappointment this week.
Fans hope to see Belmonte exercise his unique two-handed style with
nothing but a pancake weighted bowling ball.
4) Mike Keily: Another PTQ advancer from Lakewood, Colorado and one of the local favorites. There has always been this inward feeling amongst local bowlers that if a top pro came by and you limited what he could use for bowling balls and bowled straight up action games, the local guy would have the distinct advantage knowing the house characteristics. Keily is in the Round of 64 and here is the local star's dream of running down the elite pros on about as fair a playing field as you are ever gunna get so he becomes an instant personal favorite of mine. Added to that is his sister, Mandy is a good friend of Ms. Peloquin, as they were teammates and close friends on Vanderbilt's first national championship bowling team so I got some personal bias toward him.
OK, so we got the elements out of the way as well as some individual stories of some players...now the real question is for this momentous event, who will be able to survive bowling's version of the IROC racing and win the Plastic Championship? First, here are some players that I feel will not be successful this week:
Wes Malott: I am going to be about as generous as I can about Malott here for a moment in that he's remarkably talented and should be a factor in every tournament he bowls in. Then Wes opens his mouth...
"I'm not a huge fan of it (the format), to be honest," said Wes Malott, 32, who leads the PBA standings but won't compete in Wheat Ridge. "They're taking away the technology the sport has embraced. Nobody's asking Tiger Woods to use a wood driver or Roger Federer to use a wood racket. It's not how you control the advancements in our sport."
Note to Wes: if you elect to show that kind of dismissal toward one of the tour's most anticipated events and then choose not to bowl in it because you do not think it embraces the technology of the sport, then you have thoroughly missed the point of the tournament as explained by Clark:
"We want to turn back the ball technology; we want to illuminate how the technology works — by removing it. We want to create an environment that's unique, that asks bowlers to prove their skill."
There are reasons why I have not supported guys such as Malott and Williams in the past years for their utter dismissal of certain things the PBA is trying to explore and trying to attract viewers that...DUH...might want to pay to see them bowl. Chances are that Tom Clark is going to be the most influential figure in the sport for the next 20 years and anyone that is bowling and fails to embrace change of a unique kind should probably go back home and choose another profession.
Tommy Jones: He might either have a great week or a bad week. Chances are is that he won't this week because Jones has admittedly struggled with his game this season. He has been too steep in his swing which has caused him to try and alter his physical gifts and when the technology isn't there to help him create area and pin carry, he might suffer from it. I kinda hope I'm wrong with this one but I have to observe carefully.
Mike Scroggins: Time not to beat the dead horse (copyrighted by yesterday's blog), but the lefty-righty question begs some transference in this event. There are some major issues creeping up that the right handers using only plastic balls will carry the oil down so much that it will create unusual transition for the players. As for the lefties, the backends will stay fresher and play easier to get to the pocket and, ostensibly their scores will be better. Naturally, this would encourage you to think that Scroggs and his party will get a chance to bowl on Sunday. However, Scroggins needs to create area and hold for himself to be an effective player and chances are, he will not have any this week. He will need to hook the ball far more this week to increase his carry and for Scroggins, that could mean a short week.
Chris Barnes (Norry): Naturally, the president of the IHL league (I Hate Lefties for long) will be more or less whining about that previous fact that the left will play that way will cause Barnes to register a 25 on the Fry Out meter and forget that he is actually the most talented player in this field and should make the TV show Sunday.
As for the bowlers who will make a good showing this week, there needs to be a few elements that a bowler must have:
1) Experience: Anyone that bowled in the 80's when these balls were in vogue and lane conditions went through some strange carrydown and low scoring, you will need someone who has seen these things before.
2) Accuracy: Threading a needle this week will at the very least, help players identify who is throwing it the cleanest and who has their game in sync with the plastic balls.
3) Power: Of the firmness and directional sense and not of the revolution sense. If you can play direct and maintain carry without lack of deflection, then you have a shot at this title.
4) Do not look at the pattern: The Cheetah pattern is the pattern being laid out for the week and usually it dictates an outside line with good ball speed. The only problem is that you do not want to overthrow plastic balls because they will never grab the lane. This might be a crazy observation but you might see players utilizing the deep inside line moreso this week to maximize carry as the outside part of the lane might get too swirly. Caution: too much belly through the front from in is not likely to work. Look for the fallback shot from in to be a possible winning combination.
Take those into account and here are a few guys that might win in my eyes:
Tommy Delutz Jr.: Few guys in the sport of professional bowling play the deep inside line as good as the former Willy P Pioneer can and in a week where Delutz might get to use that to his advantage, expect him to get deep into this tournament and break that long drought of losing.
Jason Couch: Lefty+revs+playing in=instant favorite. As long as Couch can read the way the lanes are playing and get a good draw in match play, he will be in good shape.
Mika Koivuneimi: A pertinent follower of the perverse lane condition and limited technology in his overseas career plus his incredible mental game can make him a front line favorite to win.
Chris Barnes (again): How can he be both a favorite and not a factor? Because he is Chris Barnes, damnit. He should be able to get to the finals easily when you think about it. He has got every conceivable advantage and skill to be a factor in this tournament. You just hope that Barnes realizes that and can ignore the left-right factor.
Who will actually win? It is hard to say and easy to say really. It's easy to choose a top star like Williams or Pete Weber or Norm Duke because they are who they are because of all their great skills and mental ability. Williams, for one should embrace this challenge to truly cement his greatness as a player to fans who don't truly see him in that light. We all know Weber has got the game's most pure release in the sport. We all know Duke has the best touch in the world. So why have this conversation? Because it is worth seeing if someone can rise up from the ashes to show us something we did not think was possibly from him. It would be even easier to choose a top lefty like Bohn or Patrick Allen because of the left side of the lane playing cleaner downlane, however I am not going there either.
The winner of this tournament can't really be easily picked out because this favorite of mine has not really been healthy enough for me to get behind him but if there is anyone who can handle this change in technology would be the man who truly re-established the power game and sent it to another level and that is Mr. Robert Smith. How on earth can this man not be the heavy favorite for this first ever plastic ball championship? The pattern is one of his strengths (Cheetah), he has plenty of ball speed and revs to keep his A game reasonably close, and lets face it-is there a more fun show on TV than watching Maximum Bob doing something only imaginable by common folk with a 10 pound ball? If his hip and back are feeling good and he has a good enough look on the lanes, he can certainly win this thing.
One more thing about Smith: he has been teetering on the verge of having to retire because of these lingering injuries and it would be a tremendous loss for bowling fans not to see Smith bowl in the coming years. Perhaps a win here would give fans one more glimpse into what might have been for a guy who has suffered through some plain bad luck in his career. It's time to see Smith back on his game.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
"Bowling Blind"
No longer unknown, John Nolen took his place among the new generationof stars this week in Las Vegas.
"Yeah, But..."
ESPN personality/comedian/NutraSystem spokesperson/Eagles music fan Chris Berman loves to "beat the dead horse" analogy, well...like beating a dead horse. Be that as it may, on NFL Countdown Sundays before bowling telecasts in the 2007-08 season, you can hear Boomer Berman talking about the Jacksonville Jaguars and all their overall talent, their good young coaching staff, and how they might have been able to put a stop to Tom Brady and the Belicheats undefeated streak. However, he would always give the Jags this classic line: "Yeah, But...", meaning that as much as you like it, there is something missing from really, really liking it. Almost as if the Jags were the chorus girl in high school that had a great voice and with the right type of look, could be a megastar singer. Yeah, But...she had split ends. Yeah, But...she has a rotten personality. Yeah, But...Yeah, But...
The last few weeks of the PBA Tour have been right along those "Yeah, But..." weeks despite them having two great backdrops with the Dick Weber Open and the USBC Masters, both shows failed to live up to the hype of what was happening.
(Flashback alert....)
Dick Weber Open: Norm Duke crafted a sensational performance in derailing Mike Fagan. Fagan had navigated his way through 3 match wins to get to the title match and Duke, the top seed, had to show great touch in playing the outside line to win and did so with a sensational 278 game while Fagan sputtered losing his inside line losing the match and finishing second. It was Duke's 3rd win of the season and got him within two points of Wes Malott on the Player of the Year points list (foreshadowing to come). It was truly a great exhibition of shotmaking making Duke worthy of winning the tournament named after one of the game's all time great bowlers in Mr. Weber.
Yeah, But...did you see how good Mike Fagan was??? Hey, everyone knows I love Norm Duke more than any other player in the game and he showed great touch in crushing Fagan in the title match but Mike Fagan has made the leap to that level as a player that we will see often in the next few years. His sick, athletic game, as well as that awesome looking argyle shirt (for which there is no picture of ANYWHERE...how can that be?!?) makes for good television and he was able to deliver for a solid hour of bowling on a demanding condition only to run out of lane against the great Duke. Fagan is still missing a singles title but you can't help but think that he, along with Bill O'Neill will be champions real soon out here. Did the PBA make a point of this, by the way? Um...no, not really.
USBC Masters: John Nolen made history by claiming major glory by defeating Danny Wiseman at the newly constructed Cashman Center in Las Vegas, Nolen's first pro title to boot. The 29-year-old from Waterford, Michigan literally came from the longshot column to pretty much dominate the entire week of bowling. He led qualifying, then in the unique and dangerous double-elimination match play ran through 6 opponents to head to Sunday at the top seed. His good roll continued, edging out Wiseman in the title match for the Masters win. For Nolen, it is a $60,000 pay day and a two year exemption and the second straight season a young star in his 20's establishes his ability to march his way through the sport's most grueling match play tournament.
Yeah, But...there were two odd things about the telecast that did not make sense to me. First, how dead was that audience? Maybe I am looking for a 5 star crowd to really galvanize the bowlers every week but can the fans of professional bowling start showing some life, pluh-leeeze???
Maybe I should blame the pros for that but I will get off that because it is a major and there is no more greater objective for a bowler than to focus on the 60 feet in front of them in this spot with so much on the line, including so much for both Nolen and Wiseman. It was made pretty evident that this day was Danny Wiseman's possible farewell to pro bowling. He is 41 years old, has 11 titles as well as a Masters title on his future Hall of Fame resume. A second Masters crown and two year exemption would have been enticing for Wiseman to keep his career going. When he went shaker 10 in the 10th to lose, you almost got the sense that this was it for one of the game's most flamboyant and highly skilled players. I hope Wiseman does not leave the stage as long as he is still exempt but this was a prime example that Wiseman still has game.
The other note that confused me on TV was those Player of the Year standings showing up. Since Norm Duke finished 5th this week, he failed to make the telecast and the lead in the POY standings, yet somehow when the graphics came up, he was tied with Malott for the lead. A question would be How?!? How can you humanly base a POY race, which formulates itself on making television as a legitimate award when a bowler fails to make the TV show by one spot yet ties for the lead? Again, I go back to my eyes and tell me who the POY has been this year and it is a 3 person race between Duke, Malott, and Allen. Allen and Duke have to have a slight edge over Duke because they both have major wins this year while Malott in his one crack came up short. How hard is this people? Seriously...
In any event the last two weeks were clear indications that the PBA is still having difficulty trying to sell its sport on television and I still foresee problems in the future...that is, if they were standard tour stops. The next few weeks come arguably the most critical 6 weeks the PBA's 50 year history with the "Extreme Swing", a 5 event swing that will test the game's elite on a myriad of lane conditions with different formats, different equipment, and different lane conditions during days of certain tournaments that can attract fans who might have waned on the same old same old of pro bowling a chance to find a new passion for a dying love that is bowling. Here is hoping that the PBA gives no "Yeah, But..." to the fans watching live or at home. Of course, the 6th and final week will be the ultimate test of bowling, the US Open. For the next few weeks, I will give my loyal 5 or 6 readers predictions on the coming weeks every Wednesday on each event as to who will win.
Yeah, But...you might be proven wrong. So what? At least I am there as a fan watching. Yeah...
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