Chris Barnes' Next and Final Opponent in the Chris Barnes Challenge

This week's Mark Roth Plastic Ball Championship in West Babylon, New York will carry the final "Chris Barnes Challenge" of the season. And, judging from the way things have been going for poor Chris this season, he may be glad for that. He's 2-2 on the season, but the two matches he won were against less-than-stellar amateurs, and the matches he lost were against pretty solid but not spectacularly good players, with the second of those losses, which took place just two days ago, being an unmitigated disaster. But next Saturday, he'll be putting up the $5ooo maximum of his own money to take on what is very possibly a star-in-the-making in young Anthony Pepe.

Pepe (please see video below) is the New York left-hander who qualified first in the recent Brunswick Euro Challenge before losing his single-elimination 3-game match in the Round of 32. This is what Tommy Scherer of the This is Bowling Philosophy recently had to say about Mr. Pepe:

"Pepe is a lefty from Queens in New York. Early 20's, good all around talent. Excellent ability to post up shots and play all parts of the lane (a unique talent amongst lefties). Shy personality, doesn't say much but his game does a lot of talking for him. Bowled many junior events with him in the early part of the decade in the northeast. He has the potential to be a tremendous player, just needs more reps at the higher levels. Already a top-5, top-10 local talent in the highly competitive Long Island/Metro NY area."

It sounds to me like Chris Barnes may have his hands more than full for the second consecutive week and that he'd better go see Fred Borden or Mark Baker for some solid coaching before the match.

By the way, this match will be contested with regular equipment and not with the special plastic balls the players will be restricted to using during the tournament.

The Calmer Way to Better Bowling

Did any of you watch Alex Aguiar take it to Chris Barnes in Saturday's "Chris Barnes Challenge"? I did, and it wasn't pretty. Aguiar shot 626. Barnes shot 524.

But it wasn't only what Chris shot that made the contest so ugly, it was the WAY he shot it. He smirked and grimaced and juggled balls all the way through it and finally just figuratively if not literally threw up his hands in resignation.

That was what disappointed me the most about Barnes' performance. I think maybe he's been so good for so long that he expects to do well all the time and hasn't learned to handle struggle and defeat with exemplary professionalism and grace.

Can you imagine Earl Anthony carrying on like that? Or do you think he would have continued calmly trying to figure out the lanes, correct his mistakes, and stay in the hunt until the end? And do you think he, even in this modern age of bowling ball mania, would have kept going back and forth between all those balls, or would he have taken a couple at most and tried his best with line, speed, and release adjustments to make them work?

I realize that we're all different. We have different temperaments and styles and ways of doing things, and what works best for some may work worst for others. But I wonder if there isn't an optimal way to approach bowling psychologically and strategically that works best for virtually everyone.

During the Chris Barnes Challenge Saturday night, Del Ballard noted how upset Barnes seemed to be and said it was good to get angry because this focuses you on your game more intensely and makes you bear down, try harder, and do better. But it didn't seem to be helping Chris.

I personally don't see the value in getting upset at yourself or the lanes or your opponent or whatever. It seems to me that you aren't consciously trying to make mistakes. You're trying to do the best you can, and when things aren't going well, there are reasons or causes for why they aren't. So, rather than get all bent out of shape, why not keep your cool and try to figure out what's amiss and correct it and keep on trying to make the best shots you can?

I guess there's such a thing as being too cool and not caring enough about what you're doing up there on the lanes to do your very best. But surely there's an optimal middle ground between that and what we see from a lot of bowlers on TV, in our own bowling leagues and tournaments, and maybe even in ourselves too much of the time.

Maybe there's a better way, and maybe we can find and discuss it here together.

Will Chris Barnes Get Revenge Tonight?

Chris Barnes will have the opportunity to get revenge against the player who unceremoniously knocked him out of the tournament in the first round this week when he takes on Alex Aguiar in the fourth "Chris Barnes Challenge" tonight at 8:30 PM EDT. The match will be a 3-game total pins match contested on tomorrow's television pair employing the same dual pattern that challenged the bowlers all week, and it will be carried live and viewable afterward on PBA Xtra Frame.

A lot is made of revenge matches. We're constantly hearing sports announcers say things like: "He's going to want to get even after so and so beat him previously, so look out!" But I don't know if this is just hype or if there's something more to it. That is, even if Chris Barnes IS upset about his defeat the other day and extremely determined to return the disfavor tonight, I'm not sure if that will make him bowl better. It could conceivably make him tense up, try too hard, and bowl worse.

What's more, I don't know that Barnes carries a big grudge against Aguiar over being defeated by him Thursday. Everybody out there is just trying their best to win and earn a paycheck to put food on the table. Aguiar just came into that match warmed up, tuned up, and readier to rumble than Barnes was at the time and was skillful and fortunate enough at that moment in time to shoot some big games and put Barnes away early.

However, I'm thinking that, revenge-minded or not, Barnes will be better prepared than he was Thursday and that tonight's match, for which each has put up $1500 of his own money, could be the best "Chris Barnes Challenge" yet. I'm looking forward to it.

Cataract Surgery, Chris Barnes, and Kelly Kulick

"It’s a tremendous privilege and honor to be invited to the White House and to meet the President and First Lady. I see this not only as something that honors my accomplishment but provides recognition for the sport of bowling as well.”
--Kelly Kulick

I had cataract surgery yesterday and will be taking it kinda easy on my eye so far as blogposting is concerned for the next few days or so. But I do want to say that I'm looking forward to getting back out on the lanes in a couple of weeks and to actually being able to see the arrows and boards once again.

When I bowled last Monday night, I literally couldn't see the arrows, much less the boards between them. Fortunately, I was playing a line near the right channel, and I didn't have to shoot many spares, so I didn't need to see very well. But on a more challenging condition or with lots of spares to shoot at, you're in real trouble if you can't see worth a darn.

On another note, I'm looking forward to the next Chris Barnes Challenge. Tomorrow night, Chris will go head-to-head with a high school sophomore names Sean Johnson in a three game match in which the high series will win the pot. This time, each bowler put $400 of his own money into the pot. Actually, Sean's dad put up the money for him.

Sean averages 225 on a house shot and even bowled the TQR in Columbus, Ohio this week, finishing 59th in a field of 96 and averaging 191 on a pro pattern to do it. So it sounds like he's pretty good for a 16-year-old.

However, there's been some discussion on the PBA website about whether a kid that young should be bowling in adult leagues and TQR's and going one-on-one with PBA superstars for money. Some have said that he should get more seasoning in junior leagues and collegiate competition before he jumps into the deep end of the bowling pool.

I'm inclined to agree when it comes to him bowling adult leagues and TQR's, but I think it's great that his dad submitted the winning bid for him in the upcoming Chris Barnes Challenge and that young Sean will now have what may very well be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to take on the best bowler in the world in a three game match shown live all around the world via Xtra Frame. Whatever the outcome, it's likely to be one of the most joyously memorable experiences of his life, and he may even learn some valuable lessons from it about bowling better. I say more power to him, and I hope he gives Mr. Barnes all he can handle. If you subscribe, you can watch it live tomorrow at 5:30 PM EST on PBA Xtra Frame. I just hope that "Bowling Doctor" Jeff Mark and guest Del Ballard provide more informative commentary than they did last time.

Finally, I see that Kelly Kulick will be visiting the White House Monday to meet with President Obama and the First Lady for Women's History Month, and I'm thrilled to see her receive this kind of recognition for the history she made recently. As I wrote in a previous entry, Why Isn't Kelly Kulick a Star?, I've been very disappointed with how little attention Kelly and her remarkable TOC Championship have garnered. I even wrote Oprah Winfrey about it a few days ago, but I haven't heard back from her yet. :-)

Maybe you could write too.

Second Chris Barnes Challenge Match Tonight

A few months ago, Chris Barnes bowled a college kid named Derrick Hartnell in a challenge match shown live on X'tra Frame. Each of them put down $1600 out of their own pockets in a total pins, winner-take-all, three game match. The kid ended up coming from way behind to clip Barnes at the end of the final game.

This evening at 9 PM EST, a guy named Shawn Lee will be taking on Barnes for $1000 in the second of five scheduled challenge matches. The match will take place at the same bowling center and on the same Scorpion pattern hosting the Don and Paula Carter Mixed Doubles tournament that will conclude on ESPN tomorrow at 1 PM EST.

Barnes' challenger apparently has some skill, having gotten through a TQR of a national tournament at that bowling center a few years ago. So it may be a good and entertaining match that you can see live on Xtra Frame tonight.

I'll post a recap of it here tomorrow.

Mixed Doubles and Chris Barnes Challenge This Week

I'm not a big fan of pro doubles tournaments, and I despise the Baker format where players on a doubles team bowl alternate frames and, on five-member teams it's even worse with each player getting to bowl only two frames per game. But I'm still looking forward to match play today at the Don and Paula Carter Mixed Doubles championship in Wheat Ridge, Colorado and to the televised final Sunday.

I'm also looking forward to the Chris Barnes Challenge match, if there is one, on Saturday afternoon. Barnes will take on the highest bidder up to $5,000 in a three game, total pins, winner-take-all match to be shown live on PBA Xtra Frame. This will be the second such match. The first one was held in Wichita, Kansas several months ago, and a college bowler ended up overcoming a large deficit after two games to beat Barnes. You can watch it on demand on Xtra Frame if you missed it the first time around.

As for the mixed doubles tournament, the teams were selected by pairing the top 16 qualifiers on the men's side of the aisle with the top 16 women in descending order of where they placed in qualifying so that, for instance, the first place man bowls with the first place woman. This means that Australian two-handed sensation and PBA Rookie of the Year Jason Belmonte, who led qualifying virtually the entire time, will be paired with Michelle Feldman. In other words, the guy who throws the most powerful ball on the men's tour will be bowling with the woman who throws the most powerful ball I've ever seen a woman throw in a real powerfest. They can line up off each other.

The other teams are:

2, Rhino Page - Shannon Pluhowsky
3, Tom Smallwood - Jodi Woessner
4, Eugene McCune - Kelly Kulick
5, Patrick Allen - Lindsay Baker
6, Wes Malott - Shannon O'Keefe
7, Steve Harman - Missy Bellinder
8, Mike Fagan - Brenda Edwards
9, Walter Ray Williams Jr. - Stefanie Nation
10, Chris Barnes - Liz Johnson
11, Stuart Williams - Tammy Boomershine
12, Brian Voss - Diandra Asbaty
13, Mika Koivuniemi - Wendy Macpherson
14, Jesse Buss - Elysia Current
15, Mitch Beasley - Laura Hardeman
16, Ritchie Allen - Clara Guerrero

Pete Weber came in 17th, just missing match play by only13 pins.

The field has an international flavor with Stuart Williams of England, Mika Koivuniemi of Finland, and Clara Guerrero of Colombia in the top 16.

It should be fun watching them bowl 16 games of match play today live on Xtra Frame. The top five teams will advance to the televised stepladder finals on ESPN this Sunday.