"Bowling Blind"

PBA Tour
The 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...