Bowling Bytes--4/10/10

~ My Top 10 Moments from the 09-10 Season -- "Each season surely has its memorable moments, but there were an abundance of stories spread across this year's Lumber Liquidators PBA Tour season. I'm sure that everyone has different ideas as to what their top 10 moments are, but I want to take the time to put my own "spin" on it."

~ PBA Action Continues Sunday on ESPN With PBA Experience Showdown Presented by BOWL.COM -- "The 2009-10 Lumber Liquidators PBA Tour’s regular season is over, but competition continues Sunday on ESPN with the first of two special events from the new International Training and Research Center located on the International Bowling Campus. Eleven of the sport’s top players and six United States Bowling Congress league bowlers will compete in the PBA Experience Showdown and the PBA Women’s Series Showdown, both presented by BOWL.COM, which will air on ESPN on Sundays April 11 and April 18 at 1 p.m. Eastern, respectively."

~ Travel warning issued -- "Bowlers competing in the USBC Women’s Championships in the Texas border city of El Paso are being urged to stay on the U.S. side, and not venture into Juarez, Mexico. That town has been beset by violence, mostly connected to Mexico’s drug gangs. Last month, three people with ties to the U.S. Consulate in Juarez were killed...Some have blamed the violence in Juarez for the big drop in entries for this year’s tournament. Others point to America’s economic downturn, the worst since the Depression, and some speculate that the switch to an all-handicap format kept some bowlers from entering."

~ Action: Rudy Revs -- "Despite his growing reputation, or perhaps because of it, Rudy Revs and the other shooters (the legendary Ritchie Hornreich being in the twilight of his remarkable career) were attracting action from all over the East Coast. Bowlers and railbirds would start streaming into Woodmere Lanes or “The Cage” late on Friday nights, and the jawing would begin… as if it had ever stopped. “There was a lot of arguing about doubles match-ups, challenges back and forth,” Rudy says. “There was a lot of B.S. and haggling.”

~ Ball Testing Video -- "HAVE YOU EVER WONDERED HOW Bowlers Journal International magazine tests monthly bowling ball releases? With a crowded marketplace and a myriad of lane conditions, it can be tough to describe ball reactions and deliver readers with the informative content they need to make solid purchasing decisions. But with a dedicated staff and a few laughs, we’re pretty sure that we provide some of the best ball reviews available today. Want to learn how we do it? Watch this video, then click here to peruse and compare our latest reviews."

~ Practice: Build your C game -- "Confidence will take your game to the next level. Here is a practice technique to help build your confidence.

~ Germany sets the tone at Nations Cup in preparation for the Men's World Championship -- "In preparation for the 2010 Men's World Championship three countries - Austria, England and Switzerland - as well as the host country of Germany sent their national squads to 52-lane Dream-Bowl Palace in Unterföhring, Germany for the Nations Cup 2010 April 9-11."

~ Leftie asks questions about track, symmetry, carrying the 7 pin -- "What’s the difference between a medium or high track? I’m a leftie. Which ball is better: asymmetrical or symmetrical? What can a leftie do to carry the 7 pin?"

~ Follow-Through Like a Pro -- "Try to imagine your follow-through as two motions, upward and outward. If you hit-up on the ball and follow-through with excessive motion past your ear to your back, the you are throwing more upward than outward..."

~ Youth bowlers embrace challenge of USBC Blue and White lane Patterns -- "The seemingly endless debate over so-called “inflated” scoring and its affect on bowling’s future may have come one step closer to resolution last month when Pennsylvania high school bowlers eager for a challenge took a shot at the USBC Blue and White lane patterns in their state championships."

Rob Stone "Rips" Jack Jurek

Love him or hate him, ESPN's bowling announcer Rob Stone sure makes an impression.

I started out not liking him at all because he seemed to know nothing about bowling and tried to fill the void with silly wisecracks. But he's grown on me over time as he's learned more about the game and developed a nice rapport with analyst Randy Pedersen.

I still long for the good old days of Chris Schenkel (although, to be honest, he didn't seem to know any more than Rob Stone about bowling, even after decades of covering the sport) or, better still, Denny Schriner, the bowling announcer par excellence. But I no longer want Rob Stone thrown off the telecast the way I did at first.

I'm amused by the love it or hate it reaction that bowlers seem to have to his coining the irreverent term "hambone" for four strikes in a row and to how it's caught on. It has even inspired About.com's bowling writer to post a series of recommended names in his blog for other strike strings.

Bowling "purists" seem to hate the expression, and the less serious seem to love and embrace it. I guess I'm one of the relatively rare individuals closer to the purist end of the spectrum who, while I won't use the term myself, don't mind other people using it. It's too silly for me, but it doesn't bother me a bit if others want to be silly.

Yet, I think the most amusing thing Rob Stone has come up with is the moniker he pinned on Jack Jurek. When Jurek appeared a few weeks ago on the telecast, Stone began calling him Jack "The Ripper" Jurek, and I don't think I've laughed as hard in years as I did when I heard that.

Now I don't know Jack Jurek personally, and I haven't even seen him bowl that many times on TV, but the overwhelming impression I've nevertheless formed of him and his game is that they're about as far away from "ripping" anyone or anything as anyone or anything could be. During Jurek's appearance in the final match of the USBC Masters in 2006, Randy Pederse said, "You look up 'nice guy' in a dictionary, there's a picture of Jack." And that's how he comes across to me.
What's more, unlike power players such as Robert Smith, Sean Rash, Jason Belmonte, and Tommy Jones. Jurek is a much more diminutive stroker of the old school variety. He's a very capable bowler, but his ball seems to nudge the pins over more than it rips them off the deck.

So, Jack "The Ripper" Jurek sounds about as playfully ridiculous as would Mike "The Ripper" Aulby or, for that matter, Wally "The Beast" Cox. Come to think of it, Aulby and Jurek kind of resemble one another in appearance and in the softness, albeit an effective one, of their games. Neither looks like he would or could so much as rip a fly apart much less rip apart pin racks. If you're going to call someone "The Ripper," how about Rudy "The Ripper" Kasimakis for the burly cranker with the intimidating demeanor and pin crushing power?

But Kasimakis' first name isn't Jack, and calling HIM "The Ripper" wouldn't have the delightful irony that leaves me in stitches every time I hear it that Jack "The Ripper" Jurek does. Does Rob Stone appreciate the incongruity of his creation? I don't know. I don't suppose it matters to those of us who do. Does Jack Jurek like his new nickname? I don't know the answer to that either. But I don't suppose there's anything he can do about it even if he doesn't like it. It's going to stick with him for the rest of his life, so he might as well join the rest of us and laugh out loud about it.