New State Record

Congratulations to Ron Ware. Ron set a new state high series record during the Super Classic League at Plamor Lanes on June 8, 2011. He bowled games of 300, 300 and 279 for an 879 series. He broke the 2003 record set almost exactly 8 years ago by Ben Thames of Enterprise by 1 pin.

To beat 879 will be a tough feat. There are only a few ways to do it.
1. Throw 36 strikes in a row for a 900 series.
2. Throw 35 strikes in a row for 890-899
Or the less obvious ways,
3. Throw 24 strikes or 25 strikes in a row, then a spare, then strike out for a 890 or 880 series.
Or reverse this order
4. Spare, then 35 strikes in a row, or strike, spare, and 34 strikes in a row.

Congratulations Ron.

Overconfidence?

When I get to the host city of the USBC Open (or previously, the ABC Nationals), I like to watch earlier squads to gather information as to where I can or should play the lanes. Now, you can read the Internet for other bowlers' experiences or insights. One source of information has always been USBC Hall of Famer Jeff Richgels. He has posted on his blog his information, sources and practice methods for his team on how they attack their team pair.

If you have been following bowl.com, there have been higher scores and numerous honor scores. The top teams are, once again, scoring high. Even Jeff has posted his insight while practicing on the Open lane condition in his home house.

One thing to emphasize about this year is that it's more about getting to the pocket "correctly" to carry well, rather than just finding the pocket, as it usually is at the Open Championships.

Getting to the pocket is not an issue this year? The Open is not a tournament to let your guard down and lose focus on your goal. The pessimist in me knows a bad set or sets this year will be more disappointing than in year's past. I will now block all this Internet information and do my normal routine. I will watch similar bowlers to my style while I am there and see how they are doing. I will make my adjustments to the lanes as they are playing. Tougher conditions dictate that I play more conservative. Easier house conditions usually require more aggressive style, such as more speed or more back-end reaction. I will keep a tough condition mentality and try not to lose that focus after my first double. I hope it will be the start of many strings. But only focus, concentration, and good shots make that happen, even if it was on a house shot.

Side note: We used to bowl the same dates and squads as Jeff Richgels teams. Well, both groups moved to different dates. While they took our money most every year, I do remember those guys congratulating me as I bowled a perfect game in team event in 2007. I also enjoyed bowling with some of them during the Bowlers Journal squads. As current and former professional bowlers, they are a pleasure to bowl with and against. They are a credit to our sport. However, I am glad we no longer bowl on the same USBC Open squads!

May 21 update: Too prophetic. This team is now leading the USBC Open team event with a record 1281 team game.

You know the feeling when you strike every shot in practice, and then cannot strike once the competition begins? I'm starting to get that feeling before I am even on the plane to Reno.

Storm Damage throughout the State

AlabamaBowling.Com is headquartered in Huntsville, Al. On April 27, one of the worst outbreak of tornadoes and thunderstorms hit in the state in recorded history. Power has been out across north Alabama as many regional utility companies have lost their feed to the Tennessee Valley Authority.

While the servers are not located in the state, I am. Updates to the web site may be slower while power and internet access is restored across the state. Many bowling centers are also out of power, so many leagues and tournaments are postponed or canceled.

If you have any updates on damage to bowling centers or tournament, please comment.

Is the Internet changing the free market?

For those not subscribing to Bowlers Journal, the February 2011 issue featured an article concerning changes that Ebonite is implementing in selling its bowling balls to web based retailers.

How does that affect us, the common consumer? Those great discounts some web shoppers were getting may be gone. Some large Internet based pro shop retailers were selling Ebonite products for less than your local pro shop could purchase the same ball. It may not be a short term problem for the consumer as you could find great deals on the Internet. It does lead to a long term problem as less pro shops can make a profit to survive. It also leads to a long term problem for Ebonite if the retail value of their merchandise is artificially devalued. While the Internet retailers slowly grow market share, it comes to the expense of one of their product suppliers. If Ebonite cannot make as much money creating the product, there will be less choices in the market place and less product to sell. Less supply creates higher prices.

This is not a problem exclusive to the bowling ball industry. The article mentions other industries changing its resale policy. Ebonite is now treating the top three retailers as a 'national house account' similar to how Ebonite treats Kmart and Dick's Sporting Goods. There is no longer a distributor or middleman involved between manufacturer and retailer. Ebonite sells directly to these retailers and subjects them to its pricing policies. Ebonite imposes a minimum suggested retail price for its products.

The article mentioned a similar situation with airlines and dropping certain travel web sites from ticket booking web sites. I have also noticed the Internet retail boom affecting running shoe prices and supply. As an avid runner, I usually buy a new pair of running shoes every six months. I would always purchase 'last year's model' of shoe from running shoe web sites. They were always on clearance price. A $100 pair of quality running shoes could be purchased for $40. I did this for two or three years. As I mentioned how Ebonite was worried about their products being devalued in the market, running shoes were not a $100 product to me. Running shoes were worth no more than $40. The running shoe industry fixed this problem a different way. They didn't flood the market with too much product. Then, six to eight months later, they come out with the latest 'improved' new model, and once again, flood the market with product. Thus, retailers were stuck with a large inventory of 'old' product which they sold at wholesale price or lower.

While your favorite pro shop still exists, pick up the February issue of Bowlers Journal and read this article. Steep discounts with bowling balls bought on the Internet may be coming to an end. My favorite running shoe manufacturer now makes only enough product to supply the demand for its maximum value price. This is the first law of economics. Now, I cannot get running shoes for $40. My short term loss for great deals may be a long term victory to keep my favorite running shoe manufacturer viable.

Welcome Back PBA to ABC

Sure, times have changed since the Professional Bowlers Association was last on the ABC network. For one, Disney now owns both ABC and ESPN. So, it seems very easy for the PBA to be on ABC if it is the big brother of ESPN. The show seemed much like an ESPN telecast except for one huge difference; HIGH DEFINITION.

I believe that was the first time professional or serious bowling has been televised in HD. It was incredible. The PBA can be seen on your ESPN HD channel, but the show is not broadcast in HD. You see the same 4:3 aspect ratio in HD as you do on the standard definition channel. The picture quality was incredible. I have seen HD shows for years, and PBA bowling for decades before that. Maybe that is why the picture seemed that much more incredible as I am used to a certain quality in bowling programming. Hey, I thought the Weather Channel was cool the first time I saw it in HD. Can the PBA afford to broadcast in HD in the future? I hope so. As I have reported before, I usually drift to sleep in the middle of the show after I know who is on and what equipment they are throwing. With a superior quality product, I did stay awake this time.

I was disappointed that the commercials were the same as the ones on ESPN. Even on ABC, there seemed to be no commercial bonanza of new sponsors. Even with a large prize fund and $250,000 first prize, SportsCenter exposure, and news headlines around the country of the semi-final match, there was not any new sponsors. To me, this still does not bode well for the PBA.

Would you bowl a 100 game for millions to watch for your 15 minutes of fame? Wayne Garber did. I am positive he did not do it on purpose. He bowled a great tournament. Remember, he received $50,000 for his placement. He may have bowled a 100, but a 279 would have given him the same result; a loss to eventual winner, Mika Koivuniemi. Mika's 299 made SportsCenter's top plays of the day. Wayne also received a Commissioner's Exemption for the Earl Anthony Memorial PBA tournament. I don't think he would have received the possibility to bowl in the next tournament stop with a 200 game in the semi-final match.

UPDATE: Tom Daugherty can appreciate my post as I totally misattributed his new PBA record to former exempt player Wayne Garber. Tom can hope he can still have some sense of anonymity. I blew that completely. At least I did not say confuse him with former American Idol contestant, Chris Daughtry. Thanks to the reader who corrected me with his comment.