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Brian Valenta: Bowling's Lord of the Loft

Jason Belmonte and Osku Palermaa are the undisputed stars of two-handed bowling, but there's another two-hander out there who shouldn't be overlooked, even if, unlike me, you're not a big fan of the two-handed style. His name is Brian Valenta, and even though, unlike Belmonte and Palermaa, he puts his thumb in his strike ball, it doesn't noticeably diminish the awesome power he unleashes on the pins.

Since being a member of Junior Team USA, leading Lindenwood University to the Intercollegiate Team Championship in 2005, winning the Intercollegiate Singles Championship in 2006, and joining the PBA in 2008, Brian has cashed high in several Tour events, and he finished a respectable 42nd place in the recently concluded U.S. Open.

One way he managed to perform so well on the hugely challenging lane conditions of the U.S. Open was to draw upon his remarkable ability to move extremely far left (we're talking NEXT-LANE far left) on the approach when he needed to and loft the ball 30 feet down the lane with freakish consistency and accuracy to crush the pocket.

It's an amazing sight to behold, and, fortunately, the short video below provides a glimpse of what I'm talking about. It comes from PBA Xtra Frame's coverage of later cashier's round play in the U.S. Open. It just so happens that Mark Roth was sitting in as guest commentator on Xtra Frame at the time, and even Roth, who isn't particularly fond of the two-handed style and has seen and done so much in bowling that he seems forbiddingly difficult to impress with any style, appeared to be almost dumbfounded by Valenta's prodigious demonstration. It should also be noted that Valenta replicated the results shown on the video several times in that game en route to a 255 score. It was stunning!

It's true that modern oil patterns, reactive resin bowling balls, and high rev releases are prompting more and more right-handed players to move far left and loft the ball over the gutter cap and that guys like Belmo, Osku, and Mike Fagan do it routinely and very well in the latter games of rounds. Yet, I must say that I've never seen anyone do it quite as impressively as Valenta. And to put an exclamation point on his loftmeister skills, the second video shows him executing a tamer but still mighty impressive version of Osku Palermaa's now legendary loft-over-the-barchair trick shot strike of a few years ago.

I know that some people don't like this modern freakshow development in the sport, and I have to admit that I too am not thrilled that lane conditions and bowling equipment are such that anyone would ever need to take such drastic measures to score well. But necessity is the mother of invention, and I can't help but marvel at the mind-boggling loftmeister skills of a Brian Valenta.

How do you feel about this? Are you similarly impressed and enthralled, or do you recoil in repugnance and horror at this wholesale desecration of the traditional bowling game?

Why Bowling on the U.S. Open Pattern Is So Difficult

Sunday's stepladder finals of the PBA U.S. Open was, in my opinion, one of the finest televised finals of any PBA tournament I've ever seen. You may wonder why, since the highest score of the day was "only" 225, and a lot of people score or even average well over that at their local bowling center.

Well, they don't do it on a legitimate U.S. Open pattern. I've bowled on an approximation of this pattern in a PBA Experience league, and I can tell you from painful personal experience that you have to bowl exceedingly well just to shoot 180. Miss your target by a board right or left, be a little fast or slow with your ball speed, or vary your release even a tiny bit, and you can end up with a three count or even a gutterball or a badly missed spare.

This is a far, far cry from bowling on a typical house pattern where you can miss your target by five or ten boards on either side or fluctuate wildly in your ball speed or release and still crush the pocket for devastating strikes or convert single pin spares practically blindfolded.

Sunday's matches were so good because Ryan Shafer, Jason Belmonte, and, especially, Mike Fagan and Pete Weber executed terrifically well under incredible pressure on supremely demanding lane conditions. And this excellent video by bowling champion, coach, and self-described "bowling geek" Jason Doust masterfully explains why the U.S. Open pattern is such a challenge.

After you watch it, I hope you'll sign up for a PBA Experience league and gain a newfound appreciation for 225 games on demanding lane conditions and for just how superbly those guys bowled last Sunday afternoon.

Pete Weber Wins 69th PBA U.S. Open

"Dad, I know you were watching. I know you're proud, and I'm sorry I broke your record." ~ Pete Weber

Until Sunday, February 26, 2012, nobody owned more U.S. Open titles than the late, great Don Carter and Dick Weber. Then Dick Weber's Hall of Fame son Pete stepped onstage to defeat Ryan Shafer 223-191, Jason Belmonte 225-213, and Mike Fagan 215-214 in one of the best-bowled and most intense televised stepladder finals in TV bowling history en route to an unprecedented fifth U.S. Open, ninth major, and 36th tour title that had no less than bowling luminary and writer Jeff Richgels opining that PDW may well be the best bowler of all time.

And as much as raw statistics might still award that glittering honor to Walter Ray Williams Jr. or Earl Anthony, there's no avoiding the fact that, as Richgels writes, "Pete has been at the top of bowling through more eras than either Earl or Walter Ray, starting at the end of plastic through urethane to reactive resin...You simply can't deny that Pete has stayed on top through more changes in the game than any bowler in history. And look at how much his game has changed from when he was a teenager who arguably had the most powerful game in bowling to almost a finesse player who is little more than a tweener in the current era of two-handed ultra power players. What hasn't changed is his almost unreal competitiveness and will to win that has enabled him to rise to big occasions as much as any player in history."

Richgels writes that he's still not sure who's the greatest bowler ever but that Pete Weber's phenomenal performance Sunday at the age of 49 has "changed the debate" for him. I guess I'd have to say that the same goes for me. Bad boy that PDW has been over the years and was again on Sunday, there's no denying his stupendous bowling accomplishments that rise to the level that one of his opponents Sunday, the immensely talented Jason Belmonte, characterized as "inhuman." I'd call them superhuman.

I'll have more to say about all of this and about this year's PBA U.S. Open and Sunday telecast over a series of upcoming blogposts, but I want to end this entry with videos of yesterday's wonderful matches for you to savor. It's been a long time since bowling has received the respect it deserves, and, regrettably, Sunday's finals probably won't change that a whole lot.

But it should.

For a concise summary of the entire 2012 PBA U.S. Open, be sure to check out this article on Jef's Bowling Blog, and for a more detailed summary of the televised finals, you can read Bill Vint's wrap up on the PBA website. Finally, you can watch the videos below to behold what words cannot fully convey of all three matches.

Men's Team USA's Gold Medal Streak Ends in PABCON Championships

Well, it would have been nice to see Men's Team USA continue their dominance of the PABCON Men's Championships, but I suppose that all good things must come to an end. After sweeping all the gold medals in the previous two tournaments and winning 25 out of 30 golds since 1997, they had to settle for Mike Fagan's bronze medal in the singles competition. Columbia's Manuel Otalora (see photo above) won the gold, and Canada's Dan "The Man" MacLelland took the silver. Bill O'Neill was fifth, Wes Malott sixth, Chris Barnes seventh, Patrick Allen eighth, and Walter Ray Williams Jr. finished in 20th place.

Today's action will move to doubles competition. The Team USA pairings will feature Chris Barnes and Bill O'Neill, Mike Fagan and Wes Malott, and Patrick Allen with Walter Ray Williams Jr.

You can click here for the USBC press release about yesterday's action and watch a video below of bowlers competing in the tournament.

Quick Update on Brunswick Euro Challenge

The Duke is out, having lost to Rob Thurlby of England 2-0 in the Round of 8. That leaves only Mike Fagan still in the hunt, and he is currently tied 1-1 with Ildemaro Ruiz of Venezuela.

Stay tuned for the final results of the Brunswick Euro Challenge.

Duke Bowls Like Duke, and Bohn Like Bohn

You knew it was going to happen. You knew it had to. You knew that the great Norm Duke wasn't going to fly all the way to France to compete in the Brunswick Euro Challenge, bowl only one squad, and end up somewhere in the lower 48 of the top 64 after qualifying where he'd have to jostle with the other 47 to earn his way into the second tier of 16 for single elimination match play. You knew that, as surely as the sun will rise in the morning for at least a few billion more years, Norm Duke would bowl again and raise himself into the top 16 where he'd be able to sit it out until match play begins.

And Duke, being Norm Duke, didn't just sneak onto one of the precarious lower rungs of the top 16 ladder; he catapulted himself into the bedrock security of fifth place yesterday with games of 234-279-259-300-236-207 for 1515 and a 252.50 average. And with his 300 game and optional entry into the "300 Game Pot-Play" bracket, he will compete with everyone else who paid their optional entry and bowled 300 in a special shoot-out after the finals for at least 2,500 Euro. So far, this field consists of Kimmo Lehtonen of Finland and "The King of Swing" and defending Brunswick Euro Challenge champion Mike Fagan.

What's more, PBA hall-of-famer Parker Bohn rose to 10th place on the leaderboard yesterday with a nice series of 1477 and also shot 300, but he didn't pay the 50 Euro required to make himself eligible for the 300 game shootout. I'll bet he's kicking himself over that unfortunate decision.

By the way, fellow hall-of-famer and last year's runner-up to Mike Fagan, Brian Voss, moved into 42nd place. I'm happy to see him hang in there.

Stay tuned for further developments.

Brunswick Euro Challenge Update

Americans Anthony Pepe and Mike Fagan continue to lead the Brunswick Euro Challenge in Saint Maximin, France, but Malaysian Adrian Ang is putting on an amazing show of consistency by amassing the highest score in all three squads in which he's bowled and moving up to sixth place overall by virtue of his latest effort of 258-244-268-245-255-210 for a 1480 series and 246.67 average. Malaysia is a bowling powerhouse, and Ang is considered to be the best male bowler in that country. Look for him and other Malaysian bowlers to continue to put their stamps on this and future world competitions.

Also, look for Mika Koivuniemi, Norm Duke, and Brian Voss to rise higher in the standings. All have bowled one squad today and may well bowl again to move up on the leaderboard. Koivuniemi is 9th, Duke 38th, and Voss, who finished second to Mike Fagan last year, is currently in 147th place. I also see that local-boy-makes-good PJ Haggerty sits comfortably in 21st place at the moment but may try to move up as well. Heck, if you're going to fly all the way to France to bowl in a big tournament, you might as well make the most of it.

Qualifying ends tomorrow, and single elimination match play followed by the stepladder finals take place on Sunday.

UPDATE TO UPDATE

No sooner had I posted the information above when I saw that another squad had concluded and that Osku Palermaa, the two-handed sensation from Finland, has moved into third place. He had bowled an earlier squad to sit in 96th place, but that would have left him out of match play. Now he's guaranteed to make the cut, and those of us who have seen him bowl on American TV, such as last Sunday, know that he's a force to be reckoned with. It's too bad Jason Belmonte isn't there too, and healthy.

Brunswick Euro Challenge Update

The Brunswick Euro Challenge rolls on today with squads 11-13, and bowlers from the USA occupy five of the top eleven spots after squad 11. In first is Anthony Pepe (pictured above). I've never heard of him, but he's from the USA and shot 299-258-217-245-297-256 for 1572 and a 262 average for six games. Right behind him is defending champion Mike Fagan with games of 221-260-281-236-257-300 for 1555. In seventh is Carolyn Dorin-Ballard, in ninth is Parker Bohn, and in eleventh is "Real Deal" Bill O'Neill.

Qualifying will continue through squad 23 on Saturday, so there may well be some big changes to the leaderboard between now and then. After that, the top 16 qualifiers will sit it out while the remaining 48 top qualifiers bowl six games to determine the top 16 from that group. There will then be 3-game, single elimination matches between the remaining 32 bowlers with qualifier #1 bowling qualifier #32, #2 bowling #31 and so on until the field is cut to four who will then compete in a traditional stepladder format for the championship and 13,000 Euro top prize.

I think we might be able to see live video coverage of the finals here, and, if not, we should be able to view it there later. What a wonderful opportunity to see great male and female bowlers from outside the USA and to see how our bowlers from the USA fare against them on conditions described as a "medium difficulty sport" pattern.

Stay tuned for further developments.

The Brunswick Euro Challenge This Week

As much as we in the USA tend to focus on the PBA Tour, there's a lot of great bowling going on in the world outside the PBA and the USA. A lot of it takes place in Europe.

For instance, there's a European Bowling Tour (EBT) and a big EBT tournament happening right now at the Brunswick Euro Challenge in a bowling center near Paris. Since there's no PBA Tour tournament this week, some PBA stars will be participating in this tournament along with hundreds of top bowlers from Europe and elsewhere.

Mike Fagan, who has made it to the final match of this tournament the past two years, beat Brian Voss for the championship last year. You can watch a high quality video of that match by clicking on here.

You may also want to view Fagan's semifinal match with a top female bowler (yes, they let the women bowl against the men in Europe too) from Denmark named Mai Genge Jensen by clicking on here.

I even got a big and pleasant surprise when, as I was looking over the current standings in the Brunswick Euro Challenge, my eye caught the name of a guy I used to bowl with in the Bay Area that I hadn't seen or heard from or about for over 20 years. I wrote to him on Facebook and told him not to be intimidated by the big, bad PBA stars coming over the pond this week.

I want to start paying more attention to bowling in the rest of the world, especially now that the PBA Tour is on hiatus this week and is winding down its season. Stay tuned for further coverage of the Euro Challenge and EBT.

Mission Accomplished

It looks like Ebonite has a winner on its hands with its new Mission bowling ball. Kelly Kulick threw the Mission all week in Las Vegas to become the first woman to win the PBA Tournament of Champions and, for that matter, any PBA Tour title. But it might have been different if Mika Koivuniemi had pulled his Mission out of the bag a few frames earlier in his match with Kulick. He didn't start using it until the seventh frame and went off the sheet with strikes from then on for a 223 game to Kulick's 227. A week later, Mike Fagan used the Mission to win his first singles PBA Tour title. That's two weeks in a row that the Mission has taken someone to a title. Who will be next?

Of course, I think legendary bowling coach and writer John Jowdy made a good point a few weeks ago on Xtra Frame when he opined that most bowlers are better off spending their money on good coaching than on a new bowling ball. But at the upper levels of bowling competition, or if you really need to upgrade your arsenal, it looks like the Mission may be a good choice right now. It was released to the general public on February 2.

Winning ball layouts
Xtra Frame's post game shows revealed that Kulick used a Mission with pin down and no extra hole to win the TOC title, and Fagan used a Mission with the pin 4" above the middle finger, CG "right down the middle," no extra hole, and mass bias right under the thumb to win his title.

The Physics of Mike Fagan's Bowling

Most people don't think of sports as physics exercises, but, really, how could you redefine what bowling is? Bowling is trying to most efficiently get the momentum of the ball into as many different pins as possible.
--Jeff Lieberman

In the wake of Mike Fagan's great bowling last week in the Dick Weber Open, below is a fascinating segment I saw sometime back on a program called "Time Warp" in which the physics of bowling in general and of Fagan's unique armswing and release in particular are analyzed scientifically.

Mike Fagan Wins, Bill Simmons Loses

Walter Ray Williams has been my favorite bowler since he began to dominate the PBA Tour in the 1980's, and he's been my favorite bowler ever since. So naturally I wanted to see him win the One a Day Dick Weber Open Sunday and extend his record title total to 47. And if Walter Ray couldn't win it, I wanted to see Pete win it in honor of his father after whom the tournament was named.

Having said that, I'm not at all unhappy with who did win the tournament. I watched the qualifying and match play rounds on Xtra Frame and was very impressed by how well Mike Fagan bowled all week on lanes that looked really, really tough for almost everyone else but not for him. He led the tournament almost the whole way and more than earned his first singles title.

The aptly nicknamed "King of Swing" looks to me to be on his way to bowling stardom if not superstardom with that uniquely loose but powerful armswing of his coupled with an expanding versatility that makes him able to adapt to whatever's out there. The bowlers say that the lanes this week were as tough as the U.S. Open pattern, and they certainly looked that way to me. Ryan Shafer missed just a little right in match play and took out only the 6-10 for a two count after, as I recall, opening the game with a six-bagger. Others missed just a little left on their strikeballs and either knocked down only the 7 pin or ended up in the left gutter. You had to be on your game with the right ball rotation, the right speed, the right equipment, and the right line(s) or you were screwed. Mike Fagan was "on" in every way and roundly earned his victory 241-213 over Walter Ray in the title match after Walter Ray continued his televised dominance over Pete Weber 234-178 in the previous match.

However, I have to say that, as much as I enjoyed the tournament, I think I would have enjoyed it even more if ESPN.com's "Sports Guy" Bill Simmons had been somewhere else during the telecast. He sat in with Randy and Rob and tried to make up for his lack of bowling knowledge with irreverent humor that, for me at least, detracted from the intensity of the matches.

To my way of thinking, bowling doesn't get enough respect as it is, and to put a clueless guy like Simmons on to make light of the competition is the worst thing you can do to honor the sport or appeal to fans. By contrast, it was very interesting listening to PGA champion and semi-serious bowler Woody Austin talk substantively a few telecasts ago about the parallels between professional golf and bowling. I'd like to see knowledgeable, articulate people like that who respect the game come on with Rob and Randy. I'd love to see Carmen Salvino do it sometime. He's always back there watching anyway. Or how about another pro bowler, a great coach like Mark Baker, a ball rep, or "Bowling Doctor" Jeff Mark?

Who would you like to see join Randy and Rob for a telecast?

The One a Day Dick Weber Open Finals Field

Well, it looks as though Xtra Frame's "Bowling Doctor" Jeff Mark and recurring guest Stuart Williams made pretty good guesses Thursday night about who would make it to the televised finals tomorrow. Each was off by only one pick in his predictions. Sunday's five-man stepladder finals will begin with up and coming Bill O'Neill taking on perennially underrated Ryan Shafer. The winner will face the one and only Pete Weber who, as PBA.com reports, would love to win the tournament named after his late father, Dick Weber, as much or more than he would any major. He qualified third last year. The winner of that match will go up against the amazing Walter Ray Williams, who is still showing those young whippersnappers a thing or two about how to bowl on very demanding conditions. And the winner of that match will face Mike Fagan, who has pretty much dominated the tournament all week long, for the title. It's a great field, and we could very well see some great matches.

Don't forget that it airs this Sunday, 1/31 on ESPN2 (and not ESPN) at 10 AM PST or 1 PM EST.

First Round of Match Play Recap at Dick Weber Open

Mike Fagan led qualifying in the One a Day Dick Weber Open, and he still leads the field after the first round of match play that took place last night. Hot on his heels is a star-studded cast headed by, in descending order, Walter Ray Williams, Tommy Jones, Ryan Shafer, Amleto Monacelli, Pete Weber, Robert Smith, and Bill O'Neill. And not far behind them in 13th place is defending champion Norm Duke.

This is a good, old-fashioned round-robin match play, top five advance to the televised stepladder finals kind of tournament, the kind I'd like to see a lot more of from now on. But take note that this week's finals will be broadcast live at 11 AM PST on ESPN2 rather than the usual ESPN. I hope that everyone who gets ESPN on their cable or satellite system also gets ESPN2, and if some don't who want to watch Sunday's tournament, they can catch it later on PBA Xtra Frame on demand. I should also mention that ESPN.com's popular Bill Simmons, "The Sports Guy," will be sitting in the ESPN broadcast booth this Sunday with announcer Rob Stone and bowling analyst Rany Pedersen.

On Xtra Frame's coverage of match play last night, British bowler Stuart Williams sat in with the boys for awhile giving his always entertaining and perceptive view of the action. He predicted that the TV finalists would be Mike Fagan, Walter Ray, Tommy Jones, Bill O'Neill, and Ryan Shafer. "Bowling Doctor" Jeff Mark predicted that Mike Fagan, Walter Ray, Bill O'Neill, Norm Duke, and Pete Weber would make the finals. By the way, Stuart Williams competed in this week's tournament, along with an international contingent of male and female stars, and finished a very respectable 30th. Jeff Mark claims that Williams has one of the heaviest ball rolls and most potent strike balls he's ever seen or heard. It hits the pins with an impressively unique sound.

Ritchie Allen dropped in for a few minutes before getting into a disagreement with Jeff Mark and leaving prematurely. Allen and Mark were talking about practice strategy on an easy pattern. Mark contended that when the conditions are easy, you should make them difficult by moving your line to where you have to be very precise to hit the pocket and carry. "Practice where it's hard, play where it's easy," he advises. Allen, on the other hand, advocated always practicing on the easiest part of the lane for strikes, because that's what you do when you're bowling leagues and tournaments. Mark countered by telling Allen that if he'd practiced the right way, he might have made the cut, and Allen promptly took off. Allen just missed the top 24 by four pins, coming in 25th.

But this raises a good question. What IS the best way to practice? Ritchie Allen's or Jeff Mark's? How do YOU practice? I try to play different lines from the easiest to the toughest. But I admit that I spend more time practicing where it's easy than where it's tough. What do you think?