Child of the 80's

I just finished watching the GEICO Plastic Ball Championship on ESPN. Congratulations to Jeff Carter for his first PBA title. As a fellow child of the 80's, I was thinking the exact same thing about Carter's shirt before Rob Stone mentioned the Van Halen reference. How many of you had this image in your mind when you first saw his shirt?

I also enjoyed following the scoring on this tournament during the week and watching some of the 'older' guys like Brian Voss and Pete Weber excelling in this format. Maybe, if they had an open format to this tournament, we could see some of the guys who love the strong arc type roll, such as Wayne Webb or Del Ballard.

Other interesting observations:
Though it was the PBA Cheetah pattern, only half the volume of oil was used. You can easily blame the ball manufacturers for the price of bowling going up. With the advent of resin bowling equipment, proprietors have to use twice as much oil on the lanes as they did 20 years ago. Does that sound correct? Has lane oil properties changed in the past two decades? If not, then there is twice as much oil on the lanes today than the days of the Yellow Dot.

There was a mini-controversy about this tournament. Wes Malott refused to enter because everyone was forced to use the same ball? Come on. I agree with Woody Paige that Tiger Woods would still win many tournaments if everyone used wood drivers. I'm sure Malott is confident enough to know he can be competitive with any ball in his hand. How about this theory? Anyone's ball contracts cause an issue with participating in this tournamen where they could not throw the sponsor's equipment? Notice how they worked around this by holding the sponsor's bowling ball during their interview segments.

1993 was the last year that the champion used a plastic ball in the championship match. That was Walter Ray's 13th career title, his 7th in that calendar year. Did you notice how many revolutions he had during that clip? He, and Norm Duke, are the most versatile players out there in my opinion. Can anyone identify that particular bowling ball he used? I can't find that tournament on YouTube.

Arnie Van Buren has passed

Arnie Van Buren passed away on February 10, 2009 he was 92
Arrangements: Viewing will be Saturday Feb 14 at 12:00 at Elm Wood Chapel and the funeral will immediately follow at 1:00 pm at Elm Wood Cemetery.

Mr. Van Buren was a past treasurer for the Alabama State Bowling Association and was inducted into the Greater Birmingham and Alabama State Halls of Fame in 2002.

How many televised 300's?

Ron Kantowski of the Las Vegas Sun has an article about the USBC building and tearing down a world class bowling facility for the USBC Open Championships. He makes an allegory that uses bad facts.

"...is more remarkable than watching somebody named Earl or Walter Ray roll a 300 game on TV (there have been 14 of those, but none since 1999)"

Well, there have been 18 televised 300 games. The problem with journalism these days is there is no fact checking. If you don't check your facts for a news story, you might as well write for a blog. A quick Google search for "televised 300 games" led me to this web page. This page references a February 2003 Bowling Digest article which lists all of them at that time. Page 1 of this link shows only 14 televised 300 games. I'm thinking the article reporter stopped his research at this one page. So, his reference was 6 years out of date. The author did not check to see if there were any perfect games rolled since then. If you love finding journalistic mistakes in the print or television media, there are a multitude of political blogs that love to highlight this type of mistake.

No wonder, my children's teachers don't trust a lot of Internet references for papers.

One Lane or Two

Proper lane courtesy? No, that is a discussion for another time. It is now your practice time, one lane or two?

When I was a mere teenager working the counter at a Brunswick house back home, I remember one of the better bowlers insisting on a pair of lanes to practice. Bowling was more popular back then, and I thought he was a little arrogant to ask for two lanes for just himself when the bowling center was somewhat busy. Why does one person need a pair of lanes to practice?

One lane allows a slower tempo to practice. At over$2.50 a line, practice isn't going to be a lot of lines, so it does not need to be rushed in less than 15 minutes. When I used to get a lane for $10/hour, I would practically kill myself to get as many games in the timeframe as possible. Not much of a quality practice as simply a repeat of shots and getting as much bowling in for little money.

One lane also allows the conditioner to change more quickly if you are the only one throwing shots. "But you are making each lane different on the pair." So? This is not golf. I don't have to rake the sound trap after I was in it. Most people realize that most lane pairs are not equivalent anyway. Yes, they are very similar, but you can notice which lane hooks more or less. The difference may only be one board or you may not adjust your line between lanes, but it is there.

So, if you are alone or with one friend, why do you need a pair of lanes if the center is moderately busy?

Bad Beat Stories

Poker players refer to a bad beat as the one, or two cards, that were dealt to make their seemingly strong hand lose. During poker TV shows, they show the probability percentage of winning the hand. When the guy with a 5% chance gets that one card in the deck to win, the guy that had a 95% chance of certain victory will let everyone know in the future the story of his bad beat. Want to see a bad beat? Yes, 4 Aces can lose a poker hand.

I feel like venting. Enough time has passed now to calmly relay my bad beat bowling story. The situation is a Peterson Point style match play league. After a mediocre 205 game, I am behind in series by about 20 pins. I feel confident. I feel that I am balanced at the line, throwing the ball well. I was slow in adjusting to the transition. I feel a big game coming to win series.

My opponent is bowling well, but I am bowling better. I have a small string to extend my lead in the game to the magical 20 pins. I just need more count. I step up on the approach first in the tenth frame. I strike. By my bowling first, I was hoping for this situation to put the pressure on him. It works as he leaves the dreaded 7-10 split. I just won, or so I thought. I let him finish to clear the frame. Yes, you guessed it. He picks up the 7-10 split! I have to double in the 10th to reclaim the victory that I was sure I had a few seconds ago. No problem. I still feel good and in the groove. Coming off my hand, the shot felt good. Before the ball even reaches my intended target at the arrows, I am thinking that was a good shot. Being left-handed, I know it will be flush in the 1-2 pocket. As I thought, it was dead flush. For some unknown reason, the 10 pin was untouched by this explosion of pinfall in a textbook pocket hit. I had a stone 10 pin! No, it was not a weak 10, nor a swishing pocket hit that failed to knock down the 10 pin. It was not a high hit, it was not a light hit. It was not half-pocket hit that could have left a 7 pin. It was a stone 10 pin. Needless to say, with my opponent's fill ball and my failed double, I lost.

I lost to a converted 7-10 and a stone 10 pin, each event within 60 seconds of the other. Time heals the bitterness as I suppressed my emotions until I was alone in the car driving home.

When bad luck happens, you feel the need to tell the story. I hear these types of stories at the bowling center, some in excruciating detail. Here is your chance. Let it off your chest. What is your bad beat story?