My Description of Extended Bottlegate 2 Video

I wrote previously that PBA Xtra Frame was going to show a longer clip today of Sean Rash confronting Jason Belmonte for making noise with his water bottle while Rash was bowling, and I pledged to blog as soon after that as possible about what I saw.

Well, to tell you the truth, I'm disappointed. I expected a significantly longer and more revealing clip than I saw. The clip I saw today was only a few seconds longer than the original clip, and all it showed that the original clip didn't was Sean setting up on the approach, hearing a noise, presumably from Jason's water bottle, setting his ball back on the rack, and saying something like, "That's real class" to Jason before picking his ball back up and making the shot we've already seen in the original, somewhat shorter clip.

I thank the PBA for showing the video via Xtra Frame, but, like I said, I'm a little disappointed in it given how much the guys on Xtra Frame had been touting it as a more revealing look at this increasingly controversial incident that "Bowling Doctor" Jeff Mark has characterized as far and away the most intense confrontation he's ever seen between two PBA competitors.

Now I've heard that there's still more to see and hear than what's been released so far, and some if not all of that is supposed to be released in some fashion Monday or Tuesday of next week, but I'll believe it when I see it in terms of it shedding significantly more light on the controversy.

Judging from what I've seen so far and think it's likely that I ever will see of "Bottlegate 2," Belmo may very well have been telling the truth when he wrote to me personally last Tuesday to state that the noise was unintentional. And, barring my seeing good reason not to, I'm going to take him at his word and hope that this whole thing is laid to rest and that Jason continues to receive the respect of his competitors and of bowling fans for being the great bowler and fine human being he has long appeared to be.

However, he really does need to find a way to stop making distracting noises when his opponents are on the approach, and I have no doubt that he will.