Bowling Quote of the Day--Chicago Bowling Lounge and Kingda Ka

"Moving the action from a theme park with Bugs Bunny and Batman in attendance to a Chicago bowling lounge was tantamount to the difference between Kingda Ka and the Wiggles World (see below)...and it turned out to make all the difference in the world in transforming the event from a "silly season" exhibition into a real competition."

--Jason Thomas

Sean Rash Scolds Jason Belmonte in Bottlegate #2

"Take that you bottle bitch!...I'm tired of it. Everyone, you do it to."

--Sean Rash to Jason Belmonte after a Rash strike

Here we go again. A little over two months ago, I wrote a series of posts about the infamous "Bottlegate" incident in which Brad Angelo took Jason Belmonte to task for his noisy water bottle in a televised match. I defended Belmonte, mildly criticized Angelo, and rebuked PBA publicist Jason Thomas for disparaging Belmonte and praising Angelo.

Well, it's happened again. Somebody has called Belmo to task for making his water bottle talk at an inopportune time. This time it was during the taping of a GEICO PBA Team Shootout match in Chicago between Team Storm and Team Brunswick, and Sean Rash is the guy doing the scolding, albeit after a strike and in a very different manner from the way Angelo did it.

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't beginning to have serious doubts about Belmonte at this point. When it happened with Angelo, I thought it could very well have been an accident with an unexpectedly crinkly water bottle. But you'd think Belmo would now go out of his way to be careful about things like that. Besides, it seems to me that the sound emanating from Belmo's bottle this time is not an innocent crinkle but a fully deliberate popping of the top off the bottle just before Rash releases the ball. Now, of course, Belmo could have done this from force of unconscious habit that wasn't intended to bother Rash, but one could argue that this is being awfully charitable to Belmo under the circumstances.

Take a look at the two videos below (the first is of the incident with Angelo and the second is the one involving Sean Rash) and tell me what you think. And here is the write up that Jason Thomas did about Bottlegate #2.

Mika Koivuniemi Will Be Looking for Another Kind of Strike on Memorial Day

I've posted many times that I think Walter Ray Williams, Kelly Kulick, and other great bowlers have not received the respect they deserve not only from the general public but also from bowling fans and the bowling industry itself. But at least 2010-2011's PBA Player of the Year Mika Koivuniemi has garnered enough respect in the sports world to be accorded the honor of throwing out the ceremonial first pitch at next Monday's Cubs-Astros baseball game at Chicago's famed Wrigley Field.

Koivuniemi and a bevy of other bowling stars will be in Chicago from May 29 to June 1 participating in this year's GEICO PBA Team Shootout at Chicago's luxurious 10-Pin Bowling Lounge. In the past, this competition has been held outdoors at amusement parks, but this year the PBA decided to go indoors and upscale. The action will be taped next Tuesday and Wednesday to be shown on ESPN beginning on June 25.

Given the fact that Mika grew up in Finland playing basketball, soccer, and hockey but has never so much as thrown a baseball, it will be interesting to see if he fires a perfect strike Monday night.

Here is the PBA press release about Mika.