Final Thoughts on 2012 U.S. Women's Open Fiasco, With Complete Video

                                                 (Photo from examiner.com)


Well, the telecast has aired, and now I can openly congratulate Kelly Kulick for winning her third U.S. Women's Open without spoiling the suspense for any of my readers. I can also offer some concluding comments about the whole messy business after having seen it, or at least most of it, with my own eyes.

I say "at least most of it," because one of my gripes, shared by many, is that ESPN2 cut out several frames of the competition in order to squeeze two hours worth of bowling action into 90 minutes. I seem to recall that last year's telecast was two hours and didn't edit out any frames, but perhaps I'm mistaken.

However, now that I've watched the telecast (and you can too below if you haven't seen it already or you want to see it again), what more is there to say that I haven't said already? Quite a lot, actually, but I'll try to keep it relatively brief.

First of all, I confess to being pleasantly surprised that things didn't turn out worse than they appeared to. I half expected to see a swirling dust storm all but blocking out our view of the action at times and sending papers and other debris flying past the bowlers and landing on the lanes and having to be removed between shots. And I more than half expected to see the ladies throwing balls that hooked off the lanes even though they were plastic, losing their footing on the dusty approaches, and looking really flustered at times. Instead, I saw consummate poise and professionalism from all the competitors as they as gracefully as humanly possible posted hapless shot after shot and made the best of a terrible situation and scored amazingly well under the circumstances. I have nothing but unbounded respect and admiration for how well Lynda, Shannon, Stefanie, Missy, and Kelly handled it all and how gracious the runners-up were afterward.

Second, I want to repeat what I've said before. I think Dave LaMont and Chris Barnes are the best announcing team in bowling today, and I'd love to see them doing ESPN's PBA telecasts together (Randy Pedersen could be there too) when Chris doesn't make the finals. They too made the best of a bad situation with that telecast.

Now, with due praise delivered, it's time to get to the criticism. I begin by asking, What were they thinking when they decided to hold the finals in a dusty wind tunnel? Don't tell me they had no way of knowing what the weather would be like when they planned things. Reno is a windy place all year round and any respectable meteorologist could have told them that if only they'd asked. Or perhaps they did ask but didn't care when they got the answer. Perhaps they were so busy falling all over themselves shouting, "They can bowl outside by the Reno Arch. How cool is THAT?!" that they didn't give the integrity of the bowlers and the competition a second thought.

I'm guessing they were thinking that bowling outside in that venue would inject a WOW factor that would put women's bowling on the map and draw more onlookers to the actual event as well as more viewers to the telecast. But is there any good reason or evidence to suggest that it would or did? How many extra viewers do they think the telecast actually drew because of where it took place, especially when the telecast was aired almost a week after the fact and everybody knew the outcome? Why do they keep showing these ballyhooed events a week or so late?. Yes, I've heard from someone who should know that showing these events live doesn't seem to affect the ratings any, but I'm not sure how they came to that definitive conclusion. I can't help but think that last year's finals in Cowboys Stadium with its one million dollar offer for a perfect game in the final match would have drawn more viewers had they been shown live.

I discussed this yesterday with someone very much in the bowling industry, and he said, as others have said, that they should have added the money they spent on constructing those outdoor lanes to the prize fund instead and held the finals in the ready-to-go National Bowling Stadium. That way, the finalists would have bowled on conditions at least similar to what they mastered to get them to the finals, they would still have been doing it in a great venue, and they could have used the special occasion to showcase the bowling stadium and talk about the extensive renovations planned for it that will make it an even more spectacular place for tournaments of every stripe in the years to come. Instead, they turned arguably the most prestigious women's bowling tournament on Earth into a freak show.

But, say some defenders of the format, they were all battling the same conditions, and, besides, the U.S. Open SHOULD be tough. Well, does this mean that we should move, say, the NHL Championship game to an outdoor parking lot filled with cracks and crevasses, outfit the players in antiquated field hockey gear and roller skates, and decide the championship THAT way? Or should we make the bowlers throw every shot between their legs to create that WOW factor and make it "tough" on them the way a U.S. Open should be?

Kelly Kulick averaged a blistering 240 + over qualifying and match play to achieve the top seed. Now maybe that was higher than the conditions of any U.S.Open worthy of the name should have allowed, but she should have been able to use the skills in the final match that brought her to it, and not have to resort to throwing plastic with no hand as straight as possible over 25 board and leaving 5-8-10's. The whole thing was a travesty.

As I said, and as you will see if you check out the videos below, the ladies were gracious afterward. And as I disclosed in a previous entry, some of them came to the defense of the BPAA, who sponsored and ran the tournament, because they were just grateful to get any chance to bowl for decent money anymore and were afraid that criticism could take even THAT away from them.

Well, what do you think? Do you think the BPAA will be scared away by all the criticism from sponsoring the event next year and nobody else will step up to the plate? Should we bowlers and bowling fans just keep our mouths shut, unless we have effusive praise for a bowling event and its sponsors, and just take it the way we get it and be happy that we get anything at all?

I think we can be pretty sure of one thing. If there is a U.S. Women's Open next year, and I pray that there is, the bowling ball manufacturers will probably make sure that they're held in a venue where the ladies can show off the latest, fanciest new balls on the market instead of ragged polyester equipment savaged by parking lot conditions. And hopefully the highest game of the stepladder finals will exceed 182.

You can watch the entire telecast in the first video below, followed by brief interviews with all the participants afterwards.

Five of Bowling's Best Will Brave the Elements Tonight in the Finals of the 2012 U.S. Women's Open

I got myself into some trouble yesterday during BowlTV's live streaming of the final match play round of the 2012 U.S. Women's Open. I made some ill-advised remarks in the online chat window accompanying the bowling action in which I playfully questioned the intellectual capacities of those who planned and approved the holding of the televised finals outdoors in the fierce winds sure to be blustering under the Reno Arch this evening, and I got unceremoniously booted out of the chat and had my subscription to BowlTV revoked.

I concede that I could and should have expressed myself more tactfully. The powers-that-be behind this tournament are to be commended for seeking and finding a novel and exciting way to bring bowling to the public, and having Lynda Barnes, Stefanie Nation, Shannon O'Keefe, Missy Parkin, and, of course, Kelly Kulick compete in the stepladder finals of the most coveted and lucrative women's bowling tournament in the world under the semi-famous Reno Arch is nothing if not novel and exciting.

However, the point raised by my indelicate remarks is not entirely without merit. These outstanding female bowlers rose to the top of the 200 + elite player field by bowling superbly INDOORS at the National Bowling Stadium, and now you're going to put them OUTDOORS for the most important part of the tournament and force them to bowl not only against each other but against a wild wind and a whole host of other variables profoundly different from the ones they mastered to earn their way into the finals?

Well, obviously that IS what they're going to do, and I'm as eager as anyone to see what happens, even if, barring a trip to Reno to see it in in person this evening, we have to wait until next Tuesday to watch it on ESPN2 at 8PM Eastern. But is it the RIGHT thing to do? What do you think? Or do you want to wait until after you watch the tournament to weigh in?

You can read bowl.com's story on yesterday's match play and tonight's finals here, and you can view Matt Lawson's even better-than-always superlative rundown below.

Stories Abound at 69th PBA U.S. Open

"At the U.S. Open, it's all about hitting your target and making spares, and I did pretty good at that." ~ Missy Parkin

The PBA U.S. Open may not pay out the most money to its top finishers of all the big bowling tournaments in the world, but it is arguably the most prestigious tournament of them all, and it is conducted on what are surely among the most demanding lane conditions of all elite bowling tournaments, the flat 42-foot U.S. Open pattern.

In this year's U.S. Open, 394 of the finest professional and amateur bowlers from several continents gathered at the fabled 82-lane Brunswick Zone Carolier in North Brunswick, N.J. on Tuesday to loft and grind their way through three 6-game blocks over three consecutive days of qualifying before the field was winnowed down to the cashier's round of 98 for another 8 games of qualifying Friday morning prior to being cut to the top 24. Those top 24 will now bowl one 8-game block of round-robin match play on Friday evening and two blocks Saturday to determine the four stepladder finalists for Sunday's live ESPN telecast at 3 pm ET.

If you've been watching PBA Xtra Frame this week, you've seen some remarkable bowling, enjoyed expert coverage by Mike J. Laneside, Jason Thomas, and Jackie Bowling, heard some great guest commentary from the likes of PBA legend Mark Roth, Johnny Petraglia Jr., PBA Commissioner Tom Clark, and 14-year-old bowling phenom Kamron Doyle, and you've no doubt gained a huge appreciation for just how incredibly difficult it is to cash in the U.S. Open and how tremendously well someone has to bowl to make it to the top 24 on those lane conditions.

You would have also seen the aforementioned Kamron Doyle become the youngest bowler ever to make the cashier's round of the U.S. Open, finishing in 61st place, ahead of a panoply of big name bowlers including Walter Ray Williams Jr., Tommy Jones, Kelly Kulick, Amletto Monacelli, Tom Baker, and Dick Allen in the cashier's round and a plethora of other outstanding bowlers who didn't cash.

You would have seen 64-year-old bowling legend Johnny Petraglia remarkably make the cut and finish in a very respectable 78th place.

You would have seen USBC Queens winner Missy Parkin bowl phenomenally well against her male counterparts to average 210.84 and finish 9th in the cashier's round, setting her up for match play and a possible TV appearance on Sunday. No woman has ever made it into match play in the PBA U.S.Open before. She also finished higher in the recent USBC Masters than any woman ever has before when she ended up in 11th place.

You would have seen multiple PBA titlists Jason Belmonte and Osku Palerma two-hand their way into the top 24, while lesser known but no less exciting two-hander Brian Valenta lofted the ball 30 feet down the lane while standing on the approach of the adjacent lane to crush the pins repeatedly and impress even the hard-to-impress Mark Roth who was a guest commentator at the time.

You would have seen Sean Rash shoot a desperation 289 to leap from well down the field into the top 24 with two games to go and then flail his way out of the cut.

You would have seen 50-year-old Pete Weber bid for an unprecedented 5th U.S. Open title by finishing 10th in the cashier's round.

You would have seen P.J. Sonday using mostly one strike ball all week to finish the cashier's round in 5th place, while defending champion Norm Duke, Masters Champion Mike Fagan, and a bevy of other great bowlers including Chris Barnes, Bill O'Neill, Dan McLelland, Rhino Page, and Jason Couch did what great bowlers do and make it to the top 24 for match play of the U.S. Open.

And last but not least, you would have seen Ryan Shafer show why he has to be far and away the best player never to win a major title. He ran away and hid from the rest of the field by averaging a blistering 224 on impossible lane conditions and leading second place Mike Fagan by 170 pins.

If you don't get PBA Xtra Frame, it's not too late to sign up and catch the 24 games of match play and expert commentary today and tomorrow. In any case, be sure to tune into ESPN on Sunday to watch the televised finals of the greatest bowling tournament of them all. And you can get the official scores and major backstories at the PBA website.

Missy Parkin Bounces Back to Win 2011 USBC Queens Championship

Last year, Missy Bellinder needed only a mark in the tenth frame of her match with Kelly Kulick to advance to the third match of the USBC Queens Championship. She got up, threw what looked like a great shot, and left a pocket 7-10 split for a 212 to 220 loss. Kulick went on to win the next two matches and add the Queens title to her miraculous year of accomplishments.

Since then, Missy got married, worked hard on her game, and came back this year more determined than ever to win. Now Missy Parkin, she decisively beat two time U.S. Open champion and former Queens champion Kim Terrell-Kearney 235-172 and then defeated top seeded Elysia Current 214-189 to earn the championship, the tiara, and the $20,000 first prize.

The hard throwing right-hander had this to say about her victory in a USBC press relase posted on Bowl.com:

"After last year's show, I was pretty devastated, and for a while after that, every time I left the 7-10, I got angrier and angrier. But today, I definitely had a different mindset. I told myself I needed to throw 10 good shots every game, and that's all I could do. That was my plan all week, and it worked out well."

Congratulations to Missy Parkin on her 2011 Queens title. I have the feeling she's going to be a force to be reckoned with at the U.S. Open in Texas in June.

For all the results of this year's and last year's Queens tournament, click on here. Below is video of a brief interview with Parkin about her victory. And when video of the televised finals becomes available, I'll be posting it to this blog, so be sure to check back for it.

Preview of Tonight's USBC Queens Televised Finals

"I'm just taking everything in as it happens and trying to enjoy being out here and competing. When I'm not in a bowling center, I try not to think about bowling or talk about bowling. Tonight, I'm going to relax and enjoy the moment and just wait for the lights to go on tomorrow."

--Elysia Current

Tonight, ESPN2 will televise the match play finals of the USBC Queens Championship live from the Oncenter Convention Center in Syracuse, NY at 7 PM EDT. Former college bowling standout Elysia Current, who knocked Sacramento favorite and past Queens champion Leanne Barrette-Hulsenberg out of the competition, went undefeated yesterday in double-elimination match play and will be the top seed in tonight's stepladder finals, needing to win only one match to claim the coveted Queens tiara and a $20,000 check.

I watched Bowl.com's live streaming of the competition most of yesterday and the day before, and I have to say that Elysia looks like she has an excellent chance of winning tonight. She has a sound, cleanly efficient style and throws a powerful ball that seems tailor-made for the lane conditions in the Convention Center.

The first match of the star-studded finals pits Cathy Dorin-Lizzi, who handed her sister Carolyn Dorin-Ballard her first defeat yesterday, against three-time Queens titlist Wendy Macpherson. The winner will take on Kim Terrell-Kearney. The winner of that match will go up against Missy (Bellinder) Parkin. And the winner of that match will advance to take on Elysia Current for the championship.

Last year's champion, Kelly Kulick, got knocked out relatively early in yesterday's match play competition.

You can click here to see how the bowlers who made it to match play fared in the brackets, here to read Bowl.com's preview story on the finals tonight, and here to watch match play action from Monday and Tuesday in the Bowl.com/Ustream archives. Finally, below is a video preview of tonight's finalists and matches.