Bowling Bytes--5/24/10

I'm back from something of a blogging hiatus, and today's entry is chock full of recent bowling news.

~ Pennsylvania bowler rolls 47 consecutive strikes -- "Tommy Gollick of Oberlin, Pa., set a United States Bowling Congress national record by rolling 47 consecutive strikes during league play at the Red Crown Bowling Center in Harrisburg, Pa., on May 11, pending the submission of certification paperwork. Gollick didn't exactly get off to a great start during his Tuesday night scratch league with a 4-10 split and open first frame. But the split did not foretell what would turn out to be a record-setting evening. After knocking down the 4 pin for a 9-count in the opening frame, Gollick struck out for a 279 game and then proceeded to throw three consecutive 300 games to finish the four-game set with a total pinfall of 1,179..."

~ Ohio bowler shoots 300 and 811 at USBC Open Championships -- "Earon Vollmar (pictured left) of Toledo, Ohio, got off to a rough start in singles at the 2010 USBC Open Championships, failing to mark in two of his first three frames. The 21-year-old right-hander decided to make a ball change, and everything fell into place. He rattled off a near-record 28 consecutive strikes on the way to games of 247, 300 and 264 for an 811 series, which is tied for second place in Regular Singles. Terrence Syring (right) of Bay City, Mich., leads with 833..."

~ Former champions challenge lead at USBC Open Championships -- "Five years ago, KR Strikeforce of Decatur, Ill., conquered a very demanding lane condition and outdistanced its nearest competitor by 119 pins to take home the Regular Team title at the United States Bowling Congress Open Championships. With success comes added pressure, and one of the team's main goals since winning has been to prove that the victory wasn't just a fluke. The group has only cracked the top 100 one time since winning, but nearly reclaimed the top spot at the National Bowling Stadium on Wednesday night..."

~ PLAYER SPOTLIGHT: Mike Scroggins -- "The player who impressed me the most out on Tour this past season was Mike Scroggins. Although he doesn't throw the big power ball like Jason Belmonte or Tommy Jones, have the ability to throw the ball a gazillion different ways like Chris Barnes or possess an uncanny nose for the winner's circle like Walter Ray Williams Jr., the things Mike Scroggins does with the talent he has is a testament to what you can achieve by setting goals, believing in yourself and working hard..."

~ PBA Senior Tour Starts Western Swing May 30-June 2 With Northern California Classic -- "The Professional Bowlers Association Senior Tour resumes action May 30 with a stop in Northern California followed by two Senior majors—the Senior U.S. Open presented by the Suncoast and the United States Bowling Congress Senior Masters—both to be conducted in Las Vegas. Reigning PBA Player of the Year and Hall of Famer Walter Ray Williams Jr. and defending champion Dale Traber head a list of more than 100 players scheduled to compete in the Senior Northern California Classic at Harvest Park Bowl in Brentwood May 30-June 2...PBA Hall of Famer Wayne Webb will try for an unprecedented third consecutive Senior U.S. Open title when the event returns to the Suncoast Bowling Center June 6-11. Webb, who recently moved to Columbus, Ohio, won the Senior Columbus Open in his new hometown April 27 for his third Senior Tour title...The Senior Tour will move to South Point Bowling Center in Las Vegas for the Senior Masters June 13-18 where Traber will try to defend his Senior Masters title...PBA.com’s Xtra Frame video service will provide coverage of the Senior U.S. Open and Senior Masters. Click on http://xtraframe.pba.com/Info.aspx to subscribe to Xtra Frame to catch all the action..."

~ The 11th Frame: Jaros wins 43rd PBA Regional Title -- "Steve Jaros won his 43rd PBA Regional title over the weekend, pulling him within one of the all-time PBA record. Jaros, who earned $2,500, beat Anthony LaCaze in the title match of the Illinois Valley Classic in Peru, Ill. LaCaze won $1,300. The event, which was contested on the Shark pattern, was "old school" with qualifying, 16 games of round robin match play and a stepladder finals..."

~ PBA West Leaders Through May 24, 2010

~ PBA Southwest Region Leaders through May 23, 2010

~ PBA Central Region Leaders through May 23, 2010

~ PBA Hall of Famer Andy Marzich Dies at 74 -- "PBA Hall of Famer Andy Marzich of Torrance, Calif., died Tuesday after a battle with cancer. He was 74. Inducted into the PBA Hall of Fame in 1990, Marzich was a six-time PBA Tour titlist who won all six of his titles between 1962 and ’64 with three titles coming in 1963 and two in 1964..."

~ Andy Marzich--R.I.P.

~ Donnie Layman: Andrew Koff's Rising Star -- "As many of you have already read, 18 year-old Andrew Koff of Miami won the Southern Region Jupiter Open this weekend. If you haven't seen this young man bowl yet, you're truly missing out on a potential legend in the making (yet another reason to subscribe to Xtra Frame). Being a South Floridian myself, I had heard his name making the circles as the "next big thing" in bowling in our area. At that time I had never seen him bowl in person, but had been told that there were a few videos from a couple of JBT stops in which he had made the finals. After doing some Google searches I came across the videos, and though at the time he was all of 13 his game sure didn't reflect it. He was playing angles on the lane that most kids that age haven't dared to attempt or been coached to "see", and he was doing it with accuracy and consistency. To say I was impressed by the video would be an understatement to say the least...This kid has the potential of becoming one of the all time greats in our game if he continues to pursue it..."

~ Mika Koivuniemi regains lead in European Bowling Tour rankings -- "With the victory in the 7th Istanbul Open, his second win on the European Bowling Tour this season and the fourth of his career, Mika Koivuniemi, Finland, regained the lead in the men's ranking..."

~ Mika Koivuniemi shoots big games to win the 7th Instanbul Open -- "8-time PBA champion and PBA Player of the Year 2003-04, Mika Koivuniemi (pictured left), Finland, posted some big games en route to win his second European Bowling Tour title of the 2010 season in the 7th Istanbul Open Sunday at Timeout Bowling Center in Istanbul, Turkey. In the title match, Koivuniemi fired games of 258 and 290 to fly past Mykhaylo Kalika, Ukraine, 548-424, and to pocket the 10.000 Euro top prize..."

~ Team USA's Edwards, Janawicz blog from Guatamala -- "Today, three-time Team USA members Brenda Edwards and John Janawicz wrap up their blog from Guatemala City after concluding their experience at the 2010 Pan American Championship of the Champions tournament with a Gold medal in Mixed Doubles. The event was the first competition on the schedule for Team USA 2010, which recently visited Arlington, Texas, for the first Team USA training camp to be held at the International Training and Research Center..."

Who Says MIke Scroggins Can't Bowl?

"To have a guy like Scroggins POY would be a travesty to the already dying "game" of bowling. Scroggins-type can be found in any decent city league. I can't stand watching him bowl. He has 0 athletic ability."
--Michael, commenting on pba.com

Well, Mike Scroggins didn't win PoY. But had he beaten Pete Weber last Sunday, he would have. And I guess a pretty strong case could have then been made that he would have deserved it. Yet, it seems as though Michael and a lot of other people wouldn't have liked it because they don't respect Mike Scroggins as a bowler. They think his game is too one-dimensional.

"He has only one shot. Down and in from near the gutter. If he doesn't have that look, he's lost."

"He throws a weak ball." "He's boring to watch. One line. No hand. Bland personality. No charisma."

Well, all I can say is that this bland and allegedly limited bowler finished 3rd in season points, 3rd in earnings, tied for 3rd in cashes, tied for 3rd in match play appearances, tied for 2nd in championship round appearances, and 4th in average. Not too shabby for this "un-athletic" bowler .

Maybe his style IS unspectacular, like that of a lot of bowlers in our local leagues. But how many of league bowlers do you know who could average in the high 250's the way Scroggs did a few years ago in league, much less enjoy the PBA success that Scroggs has had for the past several years, almost winning Player of the Year this season by leading qualifying in one of the most challenging tournaments of the year?

Conversely, how many league bowlers do you know who have beautiful styles, throw the ball hard with a zillion revs, and made the pins fly all over the place but can't average over 220 on a typical house pattern or over 180 in a sport league and would be utterly and completely humiliated in a PBA tournament?

I love to watch guys like Jason Belmonte, Robert Smith, Tommy Jones, Wes Malott, and Pete Weber bowl. They're remarkably talented physically and have impressively powerful games. Yet, Mike Scroggins had a better season than any of them by almost any standard you'd care to name and will certainly end up in the PBA Hall of Fame for what he accomplishes in his career.

And isn't that the bottom line in deciding who can bowl and who can't?

Bowling Video of the Day--2010 Marathon Open

Some people missed all or part of yesterday's ESPN telecast of the Marathon Open. Others would no doubt like to see all or part of it again. You can do this anytime you want if you have PBA Xtra Frame, although you'll probably have to wait a few days for it to become available. But if you want to see it right now, it's available on YouTube in HD right now. Normally, I'd embed the videos below, but these videos have windows that are too big for that. So I'll provide links to all 12 parts instead.

Part 1 (Introduction)
Part 2 (Match 1: Wes Malott vs Brad Angelo, Frames 1-6 1/2)
Part 3 (Match 1, Frames 6 1/2 to end)
Part 4 (Match 2: Brad Angelo vs Chris Barnes, Frames 1-3)
Part 5 (Match 2, Frames 4-5 1/2)
Part 6 (Match 2, Frames 5 1/2 to end)
Part 7 (Match 3: Brad Angelo vs Pete Weber, Frames 1-5)
Part 8 (Match 3, Frames 6 to end)
Part 9 (Final Match: Pete Weber vs Mike Scroggins: Warm Up)
Part 10 (Final Match, Frames 1-4 1/2)
Part 11 (Final Match, Frames 4 1/2 to end)
Part 12 (Post game interview)

Bowling Video of the Day--Pete Weber vs Mike Scroggins

Here is video of an earlier meeting between Pete Weber and Mike Scroggins. This was at the Dick Weber Open in 2008.

Bowling Quote of the Day--4/4/10

"I'm glad he didn't choose the Cheetah pattern, because I'm no good on the Cheetah pattern."
--Pete Weber, referring to Mike Scroggins exercising his choice, as tournament leader, to have the players bowl on the Dick Weber pattern today

A New and Improved Pete Weber Wins His 35th Title and Gives Walter Ray an Easter Gift

"That's right...there you go, Rob."
--Pete Weber, shouting to ESPN bowling announcer Rob Stone while giving him a crotch-chopping hambone salute

“I feel like I just won my first title. I don’t know what to say. It’s been three years since I won. I thought I was never going to win again.”
--Pete Weber

This isn't the article I was expecting to write today. After watching Mike Scroggins run away from the rest of the pack yesterday, I was expecting him to win on the same Dick Weber oil pattern today that he dominated yesterday and for me to be grudgingly congratulating him not only on his title but also on winning Player of the Year. I say "grudgingly congratulating" because I really wanted Walter Ray Williams Jr., to win that seventh PoY award, but I was all but convinced that he had a proverbial snowball's chance in Hades of doing it.

And so, after Scroggins won the PoY award this afternoon, I was going to write that it really doesn't matter all that much who wins it. It's just a hollow and superfluous label pinned on someone determined by an imperfect scoring system to be worthy of it. It doesn't definitively tell us who the Player of the Year really is or that such a label is even meaningful except in cases where someone has performed vastly better than anyone else. And in that rare case, we don't need a points system and Player of the Year award to tell us who we already know the best performer of the year has been.

But now that Pete Weber is the newly minted Marathon Open champion and 35 time national titlist and Walter Ray Williams Jr. has been crowned this year's PBA Player of the Year, I have to change everything. I'm compelled to beamingly congratulate Walter Ray on winning his double record setting PoY award and Pete Weber for giving us a marvelous, lingering glimpse of the old Pete Weber, minus the overbearing obnoxiousness of the past, en route to winning his first national title in three, long years of drought in impressive fashion and being so touchingly open with his emotions and so pleasingly gracious in victory.

When Pete Weber is at the top of his game, I can't think of anyone more magnificent to watch on the lanes. That patented, gracefully swooping approach and follow-through, that marvelous slow, hooking ball to the pins that magically carries pocket hits of every variety is one of the bowling wonders of the world. And let me tell you, as good as he looks on TV, his style looks even more beautiful in person. Even when he's not scoring well, as he wasn't the last time I saw him in person in that right-handed debacle at Serra Bowl nine or ten years ago, he still looks great doing it. Go see him in person while and if you have the chance.

But something that stood out about Pete today aside from his always gorgeous style was his attitude. It was a perfect and joyful blend of swagger and humility, of laserlike determination to win and profound acceptance of the fact that he might not, of colorful crotch-chops and shout-outs and cordiality and respect for his opponents. And his exultant tears at the end and effusive words of gratitude to everyone who made his victory possible were genuine and moving. It seems that an older Pete Weber has lost none of his competitive fire, but that his fire has been transformed by trials and setbacks in the crucible of life experience to forge an emerging maturity and wisdom that lifts one of the most, if not the most, charismatic and exciting bowlers on the planet to new heights of greatness.

If this season of the PBA Lumber Liquidators Tour had to come to an end today, at least it ended on an exciting and very satisfying note. Congratulations, Pete. Congratulations Walter.