Men's Doubles Highlights at 2013 WTBA World Championships

Bowling Video--The Phenomenal Osku Palermaa Every Which Way He Can

Is PBA Xtra Frame's Jason Thomas Psychic?

In case you don't have enough reasons already to subscribe to the PBA's webcasting service, Xtra Frame, here's another one. This week the PBA is in Indianapolis for the fabled Tournament of Champions, and Xtra Frame has been covering it from the opening frames of qualifying yesterday. This morning at 10 AM Eastern, Osku Palermaa, who was in either second or first place going in to today's final 8-game block of qualifying, stepped up in the first frame of his first game and left a pocket 7-10 split. Not an auspicious start, to say the least. But not to worry.

"I'm gonna to go out on a limb and say he's going to make this, Jeff," said "The Bowling Guy," Jason Thomas, to his co-announcer, About.com's Bowling Guide Jeff Goodger. "He's gonna give us something to scream about right out of the gate this morning." "Good," replied Goodger. "I trust the bowling guy's instincts."

Well, I was surprised at such a bold prediction. It didn't sound like a joke. It sounded serious. And it's no small thing to seriously predict the conversion of a split that most of us have never converted ourselves and rarely if ever seen anyone else convert. I've been bowling pretty regularly for almost 50 years, most of it at the scratch level, and have left hundreds of 7-10 splits over that time. I've never converted the 7-10 even once. And I could probably count on one hand the number of times I've seen it converted in front of me. I've seen it converted a few more times on TV and the Internet, but not THAT many more. 7-10 conversions are pretty rare no matter who's shooting at them. They don't call the 7-10 split "impossible" for nothing.

So, my first thought was, "I know it's Osku, but no way's he's going to make it." Then, immediately after that, I thought, "But Jason made that prediction so confidently that I'll bet Osku does make it. So, this coverage must not be live, and Jason has already seen Osku pick it up and then managed to make it sound like he made his prediction before Osku converted the split." But then I thought, "That's impossible. Jason may be smart, but he couldn't pull THAT off! Osku's going to miss that split, and Jason and Jeff are going to be proven wrong, and that's too bad."

Well, now that I've set the stage for you, check out the video below to see what happened, and then subscribe to PBA Xtra Frame and catch the next PBA miracle live, not to mention all the other great action you can get live, if at all, ONLY on Xtra Frame.

Bowling Video--2013 PBA Japan Cup

Bowling Video--2011-2012 PBA World Championship Finals

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?

Video--Preview of 2011 PBA World Championship

PBA Tour 2010-2011 Season's Most Memorable Moments

I just saw the PBA post to its Facebook wall the following question: "What was your favorite moment from the 2010-2011 Lumber Liquidators PBA Tour?"I pondered this question for a moment and came to realize that not only did I not have a "favorite moment" from this season, but I could scarcely think of any that I'd consider particularly memorable.

By contrast, last season was chock full of indelibly memorable moments. Chief among them were Tom Smallwood coming almost literally off the GM unemployment line to win the PBA World Championship; Walter Ray Williams Jr. shooting 290 against Chris Barnes to claim the Masters title and, eventually, his seventh Player of the Year award at the age of fifty; Chris Barnes losing the hotly anticipated first Chris Barnes Challenge to a collegiate bowler; Bill O'Neill establishing himself as the game's next superstar with his stunning dominance during the televised finals of the U.S. Open; Mark Roth rising almost literally from the dead to appear at the inaugural Mark Roth Plastic Ball Championship and even sit in the X'tra Frame booth with "Bowling Doctor" Jeff Mark and bowling announcer extraordinaire "Mike J. Laneside" for an extended session of his colorful storytelling about bowling's Golden Age and his insightful commentary about the action down on the lanes; "amateur" Brian Ziesig's sudden death victory over Jason Belmonte in the Mark Roth Plastic Ball Tournament after Belmo stuck the "atomic stone 7 pin" from hell on his one and only sudden death shot; and Pete Weber's impressive victories over Brad Angelo and Mark Scroggins to win the final tournament of the season, the Marathon Open, after a long hiatus from claiming any national titles.

And then there was my favorite moment of all, a moment that brought tears to my eyes and which ranks, in my humble estimation, as the most memorable and electrifying moment in the history of the PBA--Kelly Kulick's stunning performance in the finals of the Tournament of Champions to become the first woman ever to win not only this hallowed title but *any* PBA national Tour title.

Contrast all of this to the "most memorable" moments of this year: Mika's big miss and subsequent dejected sprawl at the U.S. Open, "Bottlegate,"Cinderella and the bleating vuvuzelas, and the Dick's wrong-footed strike against Barnes.

Well, actually, I'm being a little harsh. There were some fine moments on Tour this year, including Chris Barnes joining the rarefied ranks of Triple Crown winners, South Korea's "Dr. Gu" winning the PBA Scorpion Championship, Scott Norton stringing his first eight in his TV debut to win his first national title, Osku Palermaa winning his first PBA title, Tom Hess's emotional Masters win, Tom Daugherty's comical 100 game, Mika's 299 and title in the $1 million TOC and superb showings in all the majors, and Norm Duke's U.S. Open title.

Still, I wouldn't say that this was the year that was. I don't blame the PBA for this. It's just that the stars can't be in alignment to produce magic every season the way they were in the 2009-2010 season, and any season that has to follow such a magical one is bound to be under-appreciated.

Still, the PBA has my best wishes and hopes for next season.

Which were your most memorable and favorite moments of the 2010-2011 season?

Below is a short PBA video of 2010-2011 season highlights.

Bowling Bytes--4/20/10

~ 89-year-old Wisconsin bowler is the oldest to bowl perfect game -- "When Fran Lasee rolled a 300 game earlier this year, it was the fifth time in his bowling career he had thrown a perfect game. But this 300 game had special significance because it came just a few weeks after Lasee's 89th birthday, making his the oldest person to throw a perfect game in a United States Bowling Congress certified league...In December 2003, Lasee bowled an 834 series - 279, 290, 265 - at age 83, which, at the time, made him the man oldest person to bowl an 800 series..."

~ PBA stars offer "Dream Camp" -- "Amateur bowlers looking to step up their games will have the chance to learn from some of the hottest stars in the sport today when the 3rd Annual Bowlers Dream Camp convenes July 8-10 at Woodland Bowl in Indianapolis. Reigning U.S. Open champion Bill O'Neill joins former PBA Players of the Year Chris Barnes and Tommy Jones to offer three days of intensive instruction on a broad range of topics, including lane play, physical mechanics, ball motion, drilling layouts and much more. Coordinating the camp is renowned coach Mark Baker, whom Bill O'Neill describes as "the Hank Haney of professional bowling"...The sheer star power the Bowlers Dream Camp offers is one of several factors that sets it apart from other bowling camp experiences, with three-time Tournament of Champions winner Jason Couch, former Player of the Year Doug Kent, and PBA exempt player Dino Castillo joining O'Neill, Barnes, Jones and Baker as coaches..."

~ Two bowlers roll perfect games at USBC Open Championships -- "There were only six perfect games through the first 55 days of the 2010 USBC Open Championships, but there have been three more in the last four days at the National Bowling Stadium. Tony Woodward of Helena, Mont., rolled the eighth 300 of the year during his team event Sunday night, while Dan Matasek of Villa Park, Ill., tossed the ninth in his final game of doubles 13 hours later. Ron Hosler of Denver had one Friday afternoon..."

~ Dale Traber Leads After Second Round in PBA Senior Dayton Classic -- "Averaging 230 for 16 games, two-time PBA Senior Tour titlist Dale Traber of Cedarburg, Wis., led second round qualifying Monday in the PBA Senior Dayton Classic at Capri Lanes. Traber, in his third full season on the Senior Tour, had games of 237, 235, 247, 248, 199, 207, 264 and 235 in his second qualifying block Monday to bring his overall 16-game pinfall to 3,680. He holds a 111-pin lead over Bobby Johnson of Chillicothe, Ohio, in second, and a 127-pin lead over Ron Profitt of Brookville, Ohio, in third. PBA Hall of Famer Wayne Webb, now making his home in Columbus, Ohio is fourth 136 pins back..."

~ PBA Southwest Region Leaders through April 19, 2010

~ PBA West Leaders Through April 19, 2010

~ Osku Palermaa in familiar place in European Bowling Tour ranking -- "Osku Palermaa (pictured left), the two-hander from Finland, is in a familiar place after the conclusion of the 4th Qubica/AMF Open, the 7th tournament of the 2010 European Bowling Tour, which was contested April 14-18 at Bowling Center Gladiator Arena in Ljubljana, Slovenia. The 3-time defending European Bowling Tour ranking champion (2007-'09) lost in the semifinals against eventual winner Wendy Kok, Netherlands, en route to finish in third place overall and second in the men's ranking to earn just enough points to pass previous leader Dominic Barrett (right), England, and to stand alone atop the 2010 EBT men's ranking..."

~ Thai bowlers sweep the titles in Asian Bowling Federation Tour Thailand leg -- "Apiwich Watanaphongsakorn (l.) and Angkana Netvriseth (r.), both Thailand, swept the men's and women's titles in the Asian Bowling Federation Tour Thailand leg Monday at SF Strike Bowl in Bangkok, Thailand..."

~ Billy Welu (1953)

~ Questions on grip types, accuracy and adjustments--Feb. 2009 -- "Q: My 12-year-old son is just starting to bowl. Is it better for juniors to start with a conventional grip or a fingertip drilling?...Q: I need a tip or two about what I should do to control my ball at release. I find when I release the ball, it doesn’t always go on its intended path, and usually veers to the left. My normal target is the 2nd arrow, and when I’m bowling well, I usually hit that target and go on to hit the pocket. When I miss, it is always to the left. It feels like I am throwing the ball from outside to in, and sometimes around my waist...Q: In the 1970s, I averaged 200-plus. I quit the game in 1981, and did not return until 2004. I am now 70 years old and throw a big hook with a 14-lb ball at a speed of 10- to 11-mph. I can’t control these reactive balls, though, and my average has dipped to 148. I used to throw a urethane ball but can’t find them anymore. Do you have any help for this aging, formerly good bowler?...Q: I love to watch the PBA Tour on TV. A few tournaments back, Wes Malott seemed to have everything going when he shot 289 game, but then in the title match, he totally lost it and did not break 200. How can a bowler of his caliber bowl so badly after having a great game?...Q: Is there a good method for shadow bowling before league play? Should you try to figure out the line early or what?..."

Bowling Video of the Day--A PBA Backup Ball Championship?

The recent Mark Roth Plastic Ball Championship was one of the most interesting and exciting PBA tournaments I can remember and has refueled serious discussions about whether and how the PBA should regulate the equipment used in its tournaments. It also provoked a tongue-in-cheek discussion in the PBA Forum concerning the holding of a backup ball tournament.

After all, if the PBA wants to showcase the elite skills of its pros, why not set aside a tournament that highlights their ability to control their releases by requiring them to throw only backup balls? The discussion then turned to picking who would win such a tournament. One person picked Jason Belmonte. "Nobody would beat Belmo in a backup ball tourney.....at least no human I've ever seen," he opined. But someone else suggested that Robert Smith could give him a run for his money, and another person chimed in with Osku Palermaa.

I think it would be tremendous fun to see these three go at it with backup balls. Not in a regular tournament, mind you, but in some kind of special challenge event shown on ESPN or, at least, on Xtra Frame.

Can you suggest any other credible competitors for a backup ball challenge, and who do you think would win? Check out the videos below of Osku Palermaa and Robert Smith. I couldn't find one of Belmo throwing a backup strike ball, but I understand that he throws it virtually as well that way as he does the other way. It must be an awesome sight!

My Two-Handed Practice Session Last Night

Last night I bowled practice for three hours. During part of that time, I threw the ball two-handed in my best imitation of Jason and Osku. My form was surely lousy, but my results weren't half bad.

As I got more comfortable, I found myself becoming increasingly accurate and more and more able to manipulate my axis tilt. So, for instance, when I tried to play 5 board, I was able not only to get pretty darn close to my target but also to keep from hooking the ball too much despite all the extra revs, and I hit the pocket and carried.

I was also able to move in, readily generate more axis tilt, and get my ball to hook into the pocket and carry from an angle I wouldn't dream of playing with my normal one-handed delivery and thumbed release. During one stretch, I had seven strikes in a row and even managed to throw a two-handed backup ball to convert the 10 pin.

Yes, the lanes were easy, giving me a lot of area to play with. But I was still rather pleased with the result of my two-handed efforts. What's more, my back isn't sore today. I feel pretty good. I'm more and more serious about making the two-handed game part of my repertoire, crazy as that may be for a guy who recently turned 57.

Click here to read an earlier post with embedded video about my two-handed bowling.

Two-Handed Bowler Uses Thumb

I don't know why, but I assumed that all two-handed or twin grip bowlers threw their strike ball without their thumb. But as I listened to the commentary on PBA Xtra Frame this afternoon, I learned that left-handed PBA rookie and exempt two-handed player Cassidy Schaub bowls with his thumb.

I don't know why I'm so surprised by this. Yes, the ball comes off his hand very cleanly, and, yes, it has a million revs, just like Belmo's and Osku's, but Robert Smith can throw a million revs cleanly too. Nevertheless, I am surprised that Cassidy uses his thumb. And he used it to such good effect this week that he made it to the Round of 16 before finally losing to Brian Kretzer in seven games this afternoon.

I think we'll be seeing Cassidy Schaub on TV one of these days. Until then, check him out on Xtra Frame and in the video below.

An Argument Against Two-Handed Bowling

"As far the game today having 'fair standard conditions', like the dodo bowlers of the early 1900's could do with dodo balls, so can two-handed bowlers with the modern ball. And that contradicts the founding fathers decision that "all bowling balls must be evenly balanced." A component to the game they felt was necessary in order to have "fair standard conditions.""
--Ted Thompson, bowlingdigital.com

Ever since I saw Osku Palermaa showcase his two-handed or, as he calls it, "twin grip" style in the televised finals of the U.S. Open, I've been enthralled by it. When Jason Belmonte came along and won a national title with it, I became convinced that it was the proverbially "greatest thing since sliced bread."

However, not everyone shares my view of this technique. Some insist that it's a form of cheating. I've never understood why they think this, other than the fact that some people reflexively believe that anything that departs significantly from the mainstream modus operandi of a sport and appears to confer a significant advantage over conventional technique to boot can't be fair or right.

For instance, when Dick Fosbury started high-jumping backwards and even won an Olympic gold medal using this revolutionary technique, he and his style had their share of detractors. Yet, the "Fosbury Flop" is now the norm in high-jumping, just as two-handed bowling may be in the future if observations reveal that it's not too damaging to the body over the medium to long term.

Nevertheless, bowlingdigital columnist Ted Thompson has posted an article that at least presents some kind of rational argument against the unfairness of the twin-grip style. In his ungrammatically titled Are today's two handed bowler yesterday's dodo bowler? Thompson argues that, like the so-called "dodo" balls that were ingeniously used to advantageous effect by some in the early 1900's until the ABC outlawed them in sanctioned competition in order to standardize the game and make it fairer, the ability of a two-handed bowler to use balls drilled without thumbholes and throw them either right side up or upside down to circumvent ABC limitations regarding side weights and various tournaments' rules limiting the number of balls that can be used in competition, gives him or her an unfair advantage over bowlers who put their thumb in the ball.

I suppose this is an argument worth considering. However, if we accept it, then we'd also have to prohibit even one-handed thumbless bowling or palming, and I don't see that happening. Furthermore, one way to at least partially defeat the argument would be to require even thumbless bowlers to have thumbholes drilled into their balls. They would still be able to effectively turn one ball into two by throwing it with the thumbole above or below the fingers, as I have done to good effect at times when palming my ball, but I personally think this should be allowed. And even this could be prohibited by the governing body of a particular tournament, especially by one that limits the number of balls a participant can use during competition.

So, I really don't think Thompson's argument is very compelling. What do you think, not only about Thompson's argument, but about whether two-handed bowling should be allowed?

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.

The Mike, Osku, and Brian Show

Congratulations to Mike Scroggins for outlasting the other finalists to win title #8 and move solidly into third place in the Player of the Year race.

Yes, I know he missed two 7-pin spares today, but he still scored well enough to stay in the hunt through the first two "eliminator" matches and then beat Brian Kretzer in the final match.

A lot of people don't seem to like or, at least, respect Mike Scroggins much as a bowler, and I confess that I used to be one of them. Aside from my longstanding aversion to lefties in general, I didn't like Scroggins' simple, low rev, down-and-in style. That, coupled with his low key personality, made him someone I wanted to see everybody else beat, especially if "everybody else" happened to be right-handed.

Of course, the contradiction inherent in this is that Walter Ray Williams is my all-time favorite bowler despite the fact that he too has a simple, low rev, predominately down-and-in style and a low key personality. And so, for that matter, do I. Go figure.

But lately I've come to appreciate just how good Scroggins is and how effective his simple keep-the-ball-in-play game can be on a variety of conditions. Besides that, everyone says he's an extremely nice guy, and that goes a long way in my book of what's important. Mike Scroggins has quietly climbed his way onto my hallowed list of favorite bowlers. I'm sure he'd be overwhelmed with pride and joy to hear that.

It sure was entertaining in the beginning watching Osku Palermaa demolish the pins. I'm smitten with the two-handed style of Belmonte and Palermaa especially. It generates obscene power, and those two guys can harness all that power in miraculous ways. I was hoping Palermaa would win so that he'd receive an exemption and bowl on tour all next season as he told Randy Pedersen he would. I'm not sure how much his mistake of bowling what he thought was a practice shot during a commercial break in the second match and having it count may have upset his concentration, but, in any case, he struggled after that except for finishing strong after it was too late to matter.

I also want to take my figurative hat off to Brian Kretzer for getting as far as he did today. Kretzer is a what you might call a journeyman player on tour. Although he was a very successful amateur bowler whose noteworthy accomplishments included winning the International Eliminator tournament in Las Vegas for $100,000 in both 1997 and 1999, the United Arab Emirates Open (the world's highest paying amateur bowling tournament) in 1999, and being Bowlers Journal's Amateur Bowler of the Year in 1999, he's never won a tour title. His big, slow hooking ball just didn't seem well suited to PBA tournament conditions. So, approximately four years ago, he began learning how to throw a much straighter shot and used it to cash in 18 out of 19 events last season and make his way onto today's televised finals and finish a very respectable second.

I respect anyone dedicated enough to his craft to make such a big change at such a relatively late stage in his career. More power to him, and may he continue to make telecasts.

In my next post, I have a proposal to make about how the majority of televised finals might best be conducted in the future.

Another Two-Hander in Tomorrow's Eliminator Finals

Jason Belmonte is nursing a hamstring injury he sustained in last week's U.S. Open tournament and didn't bowl this week. But that didn't stop the other best two-hander in the world from making tomorrow's telecast. That's right, the extremely talented Osku Palermaa sliced and diced rack after rack this week to earn his way into tomorrow's final along with Mike Scroggins, Wes Malott, and Brian Kretzer. As you may recall, Osku was the first two-hander to make a PBA telecast, doing it as a 20-year-old in no less than the U.S. Open in 2004, and he performed very respectably on it even though he didn't win the title. He's an amazing bowler, and I'd like to see him do well.

Tomorrow's "eliminator" format is unusual in that it will begin with all four players bowling the first game together. The lowest scorer will exit, leaving the other three to bowl the second game. The lowest scorer that game will be finished, and the remaining two players will bowl for the championship.

It should be fun to watch, even if it looks like sole lefty Mike Scroggins may have the advantage of being able to "groom" the pair for himself in practice and, if he advances, in competition.