Breaking Down Bowling's Bottlegate 2

Point/Counterpoint

Belmo did it on purpose. He didn't do it on purpose. Belmo's a cheater and a liar. Belmo's a good guy who made mistakes and just needs to be more careful from now on. Sean Rash is a jerk. Sean Rash is a tough competitor who doesn't take crap from anybody and gave Belmo what he deserved. The PBA should punish Belmo and/or Rash. The PBA shouldn't punish Belmo and/or Rash. The PBA is milking these Bottlegate incidents for all they're worth. The PBA is simply sharing the news of what happened. The PBA should use these incidents to stir up interest and attract viewers to the telecasts. The PBA should say nothing about these incidents and should edit them out of the telecasts. Impressionable children and society at large will be scarred for life by seeing these incidents. Children already see much, much worse, and neither they nor society will be harmed in the least by it.

If you read the various bowling forums about Bottlegate 1 and, especially, 2, these are the diverse opinions you'll encounter about these incidents. I never cease to be fascinated by how human beings can see and judge the same events in such wildly contrasting ways.

I think I've already made my opinions regarding Bottlegate 2 pretty clear, but I wrote yesterday that I planned to post my updated "take" on the matter today with the help of the extended video the PBA released yesterday (see below), so here goes.

What I see when I look at the video

Extended Clip: Rash/Belmonte Bottle Incident - Funny bloopers R us

At the beginning of the video, there is some kind of "roll off" competition between Rash and Belmonte. Rash is on the approach while Belmonte takes three sips from his water bottle. Then, as Belmo puts the cap back on the bottle and begins to set it down on the floor, Rash puts his ball back on the rack but doesn't say anything. It's not clear if Rash is reacting to a bottle noise or not. I can't hear any bottle noise, but this isn't to say there isn't one. Rash has a well-publicized tendency to balk on his shots, so maybe he didn't hear anything that made him put his ball down and regroup, and maybe he did. Then he grabs his ball, throws a strike, and says not very loudly but loudly enough to be heard, "Step up to that, Bitch," as he walks back and Belmonte gets up for his shot. Belmo throws a strike and sits back down. Rash gets back up, picks up and wipes off his ball and steps up on the approach while Belmo reaches for his water bottle and can't find it at first, finally does find it, picks it up and just holds it from the bottom with one hand and from the near the top with the other, Rash turns around, Belmo apologetically says, That was...," and Rash puts his ball back on the rack while saying, "Really. Lot's of fu*king class right there," resets himself, and Belmo waits until Rash releases the ball before he picks his bottle back up and it seems to make a crinkling sound when Rash's ball is more than halfway down the lane. Rash says, "Go through it!" as his ball looks like it might go high but strikes, and then he turns around and yells, "Take that, you bottle bitch! Come on! [Bleeped inaudible] Come on! Let's go! Let's have some fun!" while he walks back and high fives his Brunswick teammates and then sits down and says, "I'm tired of it. Everyone, you do it to."

What I think about it all

I won't bore you with a long winded exposition on what I think. I'll simply say that I believe Belmo when he says he didn't purposely distract Rash, and even if he were lying, I don't think anyone could prove it, and, therefore, no one should flatly accuse him of what they can't prove, especially given the way he's conducted himself in all other respects. I think Rash was out-of-line to act the way he did but that this doesn't make him one of Keith Olbermann's "worst persons in the world." I think the PBA should fine Rash or at least strongly warn him that profanity won't be tolerated in televised events. I don't think the PBA was wrong to report on the event and even use it as promotion of its upcoming telecasts. I don't think the PBA needs to edit out the incident although it probably should and probably will be required by FCC regulations to edit out a choice word or two. I don't think airing the incident will significantly impact children who watch it or society at large. I think Bemo needs to consciously adjust his pre-shot routine so that he doesn't touch water bottles while his opponents are on the approach and in the process of making a shot in the finals of a PBA event, or he needs to use a water container that doesn't make noise. No, better just to not touch ANY water container while opponents are bowling.

You've seen the most revealing video, you've read my take on it. What do you think? Or do you think you need to see it all on TV first?

Video--What Do YOU Love About Bowling?

Here is a marvelous, short video in which some of the PBA's best (with the notable absence of Walter Ray Williams Jr.) explain why they love bowling. I think the bowling industry needs to do more of this kind of self-promotion. Kudos to PBA publicist Jason Thomas on this one. The background music, the bowlers' insightful comments, and the visuals are just a superb blend.

Dick Allen Is BWAA's Kegel Bowler of the Month for April 2011

Congratulations to Dick "Ritchie" Allen for winning the April 2011 Kegel Bowler of the Month award from the Bowling Writers Association of America. Allen won the season-ending 2011 PBA Dick Weber Playoffs title.

If you've been reading this blog for awhile, you probably know that I'm not Mr. Allen's biggest fan, but I still want to give credit where credit is due.

You can read more about Dick Allen's award here.

Mike J. Laneside Thinks PBA Telecasts Need to Change With the Times

"Many other professional sports combine entertainment elements within the sporting event, why can’t professional bowling?"

--Mike J. Laneside

PBA Xtra Frame's outstanding bowling announcer Mike Jakubowski (aka Mike J. Laneside) posted an article yesterday on the pba.com website that should provoke a lot of thought among bowling fans. It certainly has in me.

In his article, Is a Little Fun Really the End of the World?, Mr. Jakubowski argues that professional bowling needs to change with the times and do what's necessary to appeal to today's audience. Thus, bowling "purists" need to quit living in the somber Chris Schenkel style 60's and 70's of PBA telecasts and lighten up and embrace the vuvuzulas, blaring music, cheerleaders, and smack-talking, in-your-face competition of the season-ending Dick Weber PBA Playoffs of the modern era.

Here are some key passages from his article:

"Only a very small percentage of the audience in each sport sits in their seats the entire game or watches the entire telecast at home, watching every nuance, digesting every statistic, interpreting every announcer utterance. A very small percentage, the rest are there to have fun...The world of sports entertainment has changed by leaps and bounds over the last generation, while some professional bowling fans cling to the notion that presenting professional bowling the exact same way it was presented 30 or 40 years ago can engage a new generation of fans brought up on computers, video games, cell phones, texting, 500 television channels and the Internet – and most importantly, sponsors to support the sport. What other sport is presented the exact same way it was presented 30 or 40 years ago?...Pro bowling is starting to resemble professional wrestling? Good, it’s about time. I will take their television ratings, their merchandising outlets, their live audiences, their pay-per-view revenue and their sponsorship opportunities...Professional bowling never was, and never will be professional tennis or professional golf; no matter how desperately some bowlers or fans want it to be. Selling those models to a public that doesn’t buy it will never, ever work. Ever. No matter how often ‘purists’ post to Facebook or opine on message boards...This is the new world of instant social networking, smart phones and reality television. Instead of pining for something we can never be, how about we lean into what we really are?"

If you've been reading this blog for awhile, you know that I've been pretty critical of the PBA's attempts to make its bowling telecasts more "entertaining." I was especially displeased with its coverage of the "Bottlegate" incident and with the vuvuzelas and the Dick's antics in the Dick Weber PBA Playoffs, and I expressed the hope that the PBA wouldn't try to turn its telecasts into the "bowling equivalent of Wrestlemania."

Yet, judging by Mike J's column, that's exactly where the PBA may be headed because that's where it thinks today's fans and professional bowling's future appears to be if it's to have any future at all.

How do you feel about this? Does Mike J have a point? Do you think the PBA can stay alive and perhaps even become more prosperous by making itself more appealing to a broader demographic less interested in bowling per se than in being entertained, and how far in this direction do you think it can and should go before it goes too far to hold your interest?

I'm going to give the matter more thought and read what others have to say about it. Then I'll post more on the topic in an upcoming entry.

A Modest Proposal for Next Year's Dick Weber PBA Playoffs

I've posted several entries on the televised Dick Weber PBA Playoffs that concluded last Sunday. Much of what I've had to say since Sunday has not been as complimentary as I would have liked it to be.

I criticized Dick Allen for acting like...well...a dick. I blasted the blaring "horns from hell" that marred what might otherwise have been good about the telecast. I voiced objections about the formats of the qualifying and final rounds. And I shared comments and criticisms from other people who watched Sunday.

About.com's Bowling Guide Jef Goodger has posted an excellent column (PBA Playoffs a Great Idea, But Could Be More Meaningful) that, among other things, offers suggestions about how the PBA might improve the Dick Weber PBA Playoffs to make them a better season-ending playoff event. Although I recommend that you read the entire column, here is the crux of his advice:

"Take the top 16 point leaders from the season and put them in the finals. This way, it's a true playoff...Give them all a payday and let the fans see the world's best go against the world's best for a few weeks to determine the ultimate PBA Playoffs champion."

What do you think of Mr. Goodger's suggestion?

Video of Televised Dick Weber PBA Playoffs Finals

Here are the three televised games of the semifinal and final matches of the 2011 Dick Weber PBA Playoffs that took place Sunday, April 17 in Indianapolis, IN. The first match featured Chris Barnes, Randy Weiss, and Dick Allen. The players with the two highest scores advanced to the final match consisting of two games.

Bowling Quote of the Day--Jeff Richgels on Dick "Ritchie" Allen

"As a new dad, he might want you to call him Dick Allen now, but he'll always be Ritchie to me...And it was wonderful to see on Sunday that he continues to be the same basic guy I met long ago, whatever name he goes by...If you didn't see Allen's win in the Dick Weber PBA Playoffs on ESPN on Sunday, I'm not sure I can adequately explain in words what I mean. But if you saw the show, I know you understand. And I love it. Pro bowling — all sports! — needs more athletes who aren't afraid to openly be who they really are and say what they really think."

--Jeff Richgels

Vuvuzelas Almost Ruin Dick Weber PBA Playoffs

I guess I'll say congratulations to Dick Allen for winning the Dick Weber PBA Playoffs title today. I say "I guess," because I'm not Mr. Allen's biggest fan, and after today, I'm even less of one. However, he bowled well to make it into the finals, and he bowled well enough to win today.

But something else happened on the telecast today that I hope never happens again. In fact, if it does, I'll turn off the TV and do something else. People in the stands were blowing vuvuzelas. It sounded like a soccer match instead of a PBA telecast. One reason I don't like soccer is the fans blowing those horns from hell. I detest those horns and could not believe that some lamebrain from the PBA would say, "Hey, I've got a bright idea that will bring more fans to the telecast! We'll hand out vuvuzelas to the fans and let them go hog wild blowing them."

That guy should be fired. Well, maybe not fired, but his or her future 'bright ideas' should be regarded with extreme skepticism unless they're a whole lot brighter than the one that cursed the telecast today and almost sent me reaching for the medicine cabinet for a Bayer aspirin (one of the show's sponsors).

Here are what some commenters on Facebook had to say about those wretched horns on the PBA Facebook page:

"And people wonder why bowling isn't taken seriously..."

"you have got to be kidding me."

"It's gonna be a circus....bad idea...won't even watch it."

"Okay, I'll turn on closed captioning and turn the sound off."

"Terrible idea. But hey, we are just fans, what do we matter, right?"

"Yet another example of how the Industry has been slowly destroying itself for three decades now."

"whoever thought this was a good idea should be canned...immediately"

"Be nice everyone, the pba doesn't take criticism well. And this bad idea is just par for the course for these guys."

"What next? Pro Cosmic Bowling?"

"They were an irritant at the recent World Cup...and now this is in the PBA? What's next...turn down the lights,crank up the music,and make it 9-pin no tap?"

I'll have more to say about today's tournament and maybe a little more to say about the vuvuzelas in my next post, but I had to vent my spleen here and now about this aural outrage.

Bowling Quote of the Day--Dick Allen Knows

“I know my game. I know my equipment. If I make 36 quality shots Sunday, there’s a good chance I’ll be holding the trophy. I’m not going to worry about the guy from Columbia, or the guy who throws Columbia. You know the old clichés: it’ll just be me against the pins.”

--Dick "Ritchie" Allen, commenting on this coming Sunday's competition with Chris Barnes and Randy Weiss for the Dick Weber PBA Playoffs title

Dick Weber and Team Bowling Tribute

Courtesy of the PBA, here is a sterling tribute to the late, great Dick Weber and also to a time when elite team bowling was far more popular than it is today. On March 12, 1958, the fabled Budweiser team of St. Louis shot a team series of 3858 that held the record for 38 years.

Here were the members of that team along with their individual series that fateful night: Don Carter (754), Ray Bluth (834), Pat Patterson (736), Tom Hennessey (759), Dick Weber (775). Remember that this was in the era of rubber bowling balls and relatively straight lines to the pocket.

The video is narrated by the late, great Earl Anthony.

Videos of Episode 3 of 2011 Dick Weber PBA Playoffs

As promised, below are videos of the three matches televised yesterday of the Regional Championships Round of the Dick Weber PBA Playoffs. Match one features Randy Weiss vs Steve Jaros. In match two, Dick "Ritchie" Allen takes on Jack "The Ripper" Jurek. And the final match has Chris Barnes going head-to-head with twin-grip fireballer Jason Belmonte. Following those three videos is the PBA Xtra Frame post-game show in which "Bowling Doctor" Jeff Mark interviews the three winners.

Chris Barnes Looks Dominant in Second to Last Week of the 2010-2011 Season

"I’ve bowled well on TV the last couple of years, but last year the four people I bowled against shot a combined 1,012 so no one gave me any breathing room. I’ve bowled pretty well, and the season before, at the end of the year, I won back-to-back titles and left a 8 pin on the money shot in the U.S. Open to win. The things that haunted me through those TV shows Mark Baker (Barnes’ coach) addressed, and I fixed them, and when I get in those situations now there’s no fear about what’s going to happen. I know what I need to execute when I’m in those situations and it’s gone pretty well since then."

--Chris Barnes

Barnes' Vindication

A year ago, I posted a blog entry (you can click here to read it) titled "Why Do So Many Love to Hate Chris Barnes?" I wrote it a day after the telecast in which Barnes showed displeasure over a Brad Angelo crossover strike and Angelo got fired up over it and defeated Barnes during the final tournament of the season.

Barnes had had a rough year. Well, at least it was rough year for Chris Barnes, even though most touring pros would have probably considered it a good to great year. And after losing more than one "Chris Barnes Challenge" to lesser opponents, not winning a Tour title all season, and making that snide remark about Angelo's "Brooklyn," it seemed that the floodgates sprang wide open for fans to criticize and mock Barnes as an overrated, arrogant jerk who "always chokes" on TV. Never mind that, as I pointed out, he was still near the top in every statistical category and that the last three opponents he faced on TV that season shot a combined score of 811 against him.

Well, after performing superbly for Team USA in the 2010 Men's World Championships, winning the first major of this season in the PBA World Championship, sitting high in all the PBA statistical categories, and putting on a remarkable performance in his match televised yesterday against Jason Belmonte in the Regional Championships Round of the inaugural Dick Weber PBA Playoffs, I don't see how anyone can mock Mr. Barnes now.

Not only did Barnes not "choke" yesterday, but he elevated his outstanding game to a dazzling level of excellence. While all five other bowlers struggled to hit the pocket consistently and carry strikes, Barnes executed beautifully, hitting the pocket every time on a pretty tricky pair of lanes and carrying ten strikes on his way to a commanding 260-199 victory over Jason Belmonte in the final match of the day.

I don't know that I've ever seen him or anyone look sharper, and I don't think anyone has a better all-around game than his. Even if Barnes wins the title next week, Mika Koivuniemi appears to have a deserved lock on Player of the Year, but Barnes' only competition for the runner-up spot would be Bill O'Neill.

Not bad at all for an "overrated, arrogant jerk who always chokes on TV."

Other Matches

Randy Weiss def. Steve Jaros 191-179.

Dick Allen def. Jack Jurek 222-198.

Jaros and Jurek, along with Belmonte, earned $7,000 each.

You can read Bill Vint's summary of yesterday's televised matches here. As of now, I can't find any video posted online of yesterday's matches, but if and when I do, I'll present it in a follow-up entry to this one.

Preview of Dick Weber PBA Playoffs Seminfinals

Don't miss the conference finals episode of the Dick Weber PBA Playoffs tomorrow on ESPN at 1 PM Eastern. Please check out Jason Thomas' video preview below.

Carmen Salvino's Cure for the Uncommon Cough

You're probably tired of all the talk, here and elsewhere, about "Bottlegate," and, frankly, so am I. Even though I've been focusing more on how people reacted to it and to the PBA's handling of it than I have on the incident itself, it's probably time to move on, unless something comes to light that merits further attention.

However, before I move on, I'd like to share with you a Facebook comment that someone left on the PBA page soon after the "Bottlegate" story broke. The comment recounts a confrontation between the mercurial Carmen Salvino and the impassively cerebral Ray Bluth. I don't know if this really happened, but it sure sounds like it could have, and it's a delightful little story of a colorful confrontation between two bowling legends in a bygone era:

"This exchange between Brad and Belmo reminds me of an incident involving Carmen Salvino and Ray Bluth a number of years ago. Both bowlers were facing each other in a major tournament. Every time Salvino would get up on the approach and get into his delivery, Bluth would start to cough. Salvino figured Bluth was doing this on purpose, playing head games and getting Carmen to mess up. Finally, Salvino turned around, pointed his finger in Bluth's face and said: "You cough one more time, I'll punch you in the nose!" Bluth said calmly: "Go ahead, you'll hear from my lawyer!" The coughing stopped. After the match, Salvino goes up to Bluth and says: "You owe me money!" Bluth says:"What the heck for?" Salvino yells: "For curing your damned cough. Dr.Salvino will send you a bill!"

2011 Dick Weber Playoffs: First Week's Telecast

"Why does that happen every time? Every time I bowl, it happens every time.”

--An understandably exasperated Ryan Shafer

I didn't get to watch the PBA telecast on Sunday. Actually, it was filmed long before that but broadcast Sunday. I don't know why they can't show these events live. I don't know about you, but it's much more exciting to me to see them live and not know who wins until it happens then and there than to know it was taped weeks or even months ago and who won. But if you do a bowling blog like this one or just spend any time online, it's all-but-impossible not to know who wins ahead of the showing, and that takes away from the whole experience.

However, given the format of this year's inaugural Dick Weber PBA playoffs, I guess they couldn't show all the matches on the same day. They had eighteen players, three in each of six different regions, competing against one another to crown the champion, and that takes more matches and more time than any network commanding a decent sized audience could hope to show in one day.

In any case, having aired my mild gripes about the Dick Weber broadcast format, I have to say that I did manage to watch a recording of Sunday's telecast yesterday, and I very much enjoyed the action. It took place at Woodland Bowl in Indianapolis, IN on the 39' Dick Weber oil pattern. Commentator Randy Pederson explained that the relatively short oil coupled with more than the usual PBA concentration of oil in the middle of the lane allowed the bowlers to "play to their strengths," "maximize creativity" and attack the pattern from "multiple angles." In other words, it made the lanes higher scoring than we see on tougher patterns.

But higher scoring made for a very entertaining 90 minutes. In the first match, the top three finishers arbitrarily assigned to the Eastern region--Scott Norton, Tom Smallwood, and Steve Jaros bowled one match to determine who advanced to the next round. Norton, the California native, part-time attorney, only lefty among the eighteen finalists, and son of female bowling legend Virginia Norton who seems firmly on track to win Rookie of the Year honors and who won a national title earlier this year in Dublin, CA couldn't buy a strike until the sixth frame, leaving four pocket 7's, while Smallwood opened with his first five before leaving a 10 pin and Jaros with his first seven before sticking a 10 pin. Jaros went on to finish first with a 258. Smallwood stepped up in the tenth needing a strike on the first ball to win outright and left a light pocket 7. He then needed to strike on the fill ball to tie and pulled the ball slightly leaving a four pin and losing by 1 pin to Jaros while Norton finished with a distant but respectable 224.

The next match featured South region contestants Tommy Jones, "underrated" Ryan Shafer, and Randy Weiss. Weiss first shot ever on TV was a solid strike while Jones kept getting tapped. All three were in the match until near the end when snakebit Shafer went into the tenth frame with a lead only to get shafted with a pocket 7-10, Jones doubled and left a four pin for 238, and Weiss needed to strike out to win by one and did, shooting a 239.

The final match of the telecast had Central region finalists Dick Allen (formerly Ritchie Allen until he decided that he should adopt a more adult sounding name after recently becoming a father), Player of the Year shoo-in Mika Koivuniemi, and Walter Ray Williams Jr. This was Walter Ray's first television appearance of the season and last chance to extend his record 17 straight year streak of PBA national titles. When asked why he'd struggled so much this year compared to his fabulous Player of the Year season last year, he surmised that his recent hernia surgery, shortened grip to lessen the pain in the knuckles of his arthritic bowling hand, and the fact that his old body was simply "falling apart" had something to do with it.

Nevertheless, he and Allen opened with five baggers before Walter left a stinging pocket 7-10 while Mika was never in it and Allen struck five more times before sticking a ringing 10 and sparing for a 289.

Next week, the finalists from the Midwest, Southwest, and West/Northwest regions will compete, and they include such luminaries as Bill O'Neill, Chris Barnes, Wes Malott, Jason Belmonte, Brad Angelo, and Jack "The Ripper" Jurek.

If I haven't spoiled it for you by recapping Sunday's highlights, or you'd like to see the telecast again, you can watch all of it in the videos below, and you can read PBA.com's official summary of the action here.