USBC 2013/2014 Video Retrospective

New USBC 300 Ring?

So many people are bowling sanctioned 300 games these days that the USBC may have to further devalue the ring they award for it, unless you work for Howard Stern and he foots the bill for the gold version.

Bowling League Secretary Displays False Scores

When I subbed in league earlier this week, a longtime acquaintance showed me a Lancaster, Pennsylvania league sheet he downloaded from League Secretary, the website that provides league and individual stats for bowling leagues nationwide. I was amazed by the averages I saw. One guy was averaging 268 for 21 games. Another was averaging 263 for 26 games. And there was plenty more where that came from.

However, these soaring averages, as spectacular as they were, were probably the least impressive thing on display. What shocked me even more were the prodigiously high series and game scores plastered across the sheet. Two guys had already bowled perfect 900 series, fifteen had bowled at least one 300 game, thirteen had bowled at least one 800 series, and the previous week's high scratch series was a paltry 878.

But, wait, it gets better! I also looked at the 268 average guy's individual season stats. In just seven weeks and 21 games of bowling, he had rolled eight 300 games. On week seven, he shot 280-300-300 for an 880 series. But that was just a warm up for his next outing, where he shot 300-300-300 for a 900 series. That's an 880 series, a 900 series, and five consecutive 300 games over two consecutive league sessions.

My first thought when looking at all of this should have been that it's impossible, that even if the top bowlers in the world were bowling league on those conditions, however easy they might be, they couldn't carry well enough to shoot scores like that. But these scores were in League Secretary, so I thought they must be legitimate, and my overriding thought was that I'd sure love to bowl a few games on those lane conditions just to see what I could do. I then proceeded to e-mail bowling friends of mine links to the League Secretary stats for this league and sit back and wait for an electronic avalanche of awed incredulity.

Instead, I got a phone call from one of those friends--Bob Brown. Bob, who incidentally shot an officially acknowledged 900 series in a tournament back in 1980, was so nonplussed by the scores that he called the bowling center supposedly hosting this incredible league and found out what was really going on. And now I know. These were scores from some kind of "bowling shuffleboard" league in which, as I understand it, players slide hockey-like pucks down a smooth table faintly resembling a mini-mini bowling lane and "knock down" electronic pins.

What I don't know is why these scores appear in League Secretary as real bowling league scores, with the 878 series listed as the top league score of the week nationwide. What's more, I wonder how many other leagues and scores appearing there may be bogus as well. It seems as though League Secretary needs to exercise a little quality control. Or is that their responsibility?

Well, at least the USBC hasn't been suckered. The guys who shot these stupefying scores aren't even listed in the member database. It seems as though these guys do only one kind of league "bowling," and it ain't what most of us call bowling.

Five of Bowling's Best Will Brave the Elements Tonight in the Finals of the 2012 U.S. Women's Open

I got myself into some trouble yesterday during BowlTV's live streaming of the final match play round of the 2012 U.S. Women's Open. I made some ill-advised remarks in the online chat window accompanying the bowling action in which I playfully questioned the intellectual capacities of those who planned and approved the holding of the televised finals outdoors in the fierce winds sure to be blustering under the Reno Arch this evening, and I got unceremoniously booted out of the chat and had my subscription to BowlTV revoked.

I concede that I could and should have expressed myself more tactfully. The powers-that-be behind this tournament are to be commended for seeking and finding a novel and exciting way to bring bowling to the public, and having Lynda Barnes, Stefanie Nation, Shannon O'Keefe, Missy Parkin, and, of course, Kelly Kulick compete in the stepladder finals of the most coveted and lucrative women's bowling tournament in the world under the semi-famous Reno Arch is nothing if not novel and exciting.

However, the point raised by my indelicate remarks is not entirely without merit. These outstanding female bowlers rose to the top of the 200 + elite player field by bowling superbly INDOORS at the National Bowling Stadium, and now you're going to put them OUTDOORS for the most important part of the tournament and force them to bowl not only against each other but against a wild wind and a whole host of other variables profoundly different from the ones they mastered to earn their way into the finals?

Well, obviously that IS what they're going to do, and I'm as eager as anyone to see what happens, even if, barring a trip to Reno to see it in in person this evening, we have to wait until next Tuesday to watch it on ESPN2 at 8PM Eastern. But is it the RIGHT thing to do? What do you think? Or do you want to wait until after you watch the tournament to weigh in?

You can read bowl.com's story on yesterday's match play and tonight's finals here, and you can view Matt Lawson's even better-than-always superlative rundown below.

Bowling Video--Lynda Barnes is Back

Lynda Barnes was flying high through the first two televised matches of last year's U.S. Women's Open bowled in the novel venue of Cowboys Stadium in Texas until Leanne Barrette-Hulsenberg nipped her in the semi-final match to go on to defeat Kelly Kulick for the coveted title. Sometime after that, although I don't recall how it happened, Lynda injured her shoulder and has quietly but steadfastly worked through months of arduous rehabilitation to return to the form that's made her famous.

Well, she's back with a vengeance and occupies third place in a stellar national and international field after the first two qualifying rounds of the 2012 U.S. Women's Open, and  Matt Lawson of the USBC neatly summarizes her impressive comeback in the video below.

Bowling Video--Jessica Baker Bowls 300 in 2012 U.S. Women's Open

In last year's U.S. Women's Open, over a dozen 300 games were rolled. I guess they really DO like to do everything bigger in Texas. I don't know if they all came in qualifying or if some were also rolled in match play. But only one perfect game has been rolled through the first two 6-game rounds of qualifying this year on the lower scoring conditions at the National Bowling Stadium in Reno, and former Wichita State standout Jessica Baker is the one who did it last night.

You can watch her final three impressive shots below, courtesy of  the USBC's Lucas Wiseman's camerawork, as he took time out from his one-man calling of the USBC's live streaming of the day's action to masterfully capture the moment.

Younger Bowlers Rise and Shine in Early Stage of U.S. Women's Open

In my previous post, I mostly pummeled the USBC, BPAA, and bowling industry in general for their lack of professionalism in covering the great sport of bowling. In this post, I want to give credit where it's amply due by sharing with you Matt Lawson's of the USBC's excellent video recap of the first day of qualifying in the U.S. Women's Open. Matt always does a tremendous job with these videos. What's more, it seems that bowling's female "young guns" are loaded for bear. Now, if only they had more venues to hone their skills even further and reap the rewards of their hard won excellence.

However, I'm still pulling for local girl Leanne to repeat.

Elite Bowling Coverage Should be Better

Reno is now hosting the 2012 BPAA U.S. Women's Open at the National Bowling Stadium. Leanne Barrette-Hulsenberg is defending her championship that she won last year in the novel venue of Cowboys Stadium by defeating Kelly Kulick in the final match. This year's televised finals, albeit shown on ESPN2 six days after the fact, will be held in the even more unusual venue of outdoors under the famous Reno Arch.

As you can see from reading entries such as this, I covered last year's Open with considerable enthusiasm. As a matter of fact, I blogged a lot here about the PBA, women's tournaments, junior tournaments, international adult and junior tournaments, and bowling in general for a couple of years.

But I finally began to lose my enthusiasm not for the sport so much as for the haphazard way the bowling industry itself seems to conduct and promote it. I figured if they didn't care enough to do a better job of promoting, covering, and fostering elite level bowling in this country and, as a result, people don't care that much about the sport to follow it, why should I bother to blog about it? Why even people who call themselves bowling fans seem to suffer from a serious enthusiasm problem, and very few appear to regularly watch bowling telecasts much less read blogs such as this one, so, again, why should I spend a lot of time writing blogposts when almost no one cares enough to read them?

As an example of my displeasure with the way the bowling industry is handling their sport, I posted the following comment just a few minutes ago to the USBC's Facebook wall in connection with their coverage of this year's Open. It echoes, to a considerable degree, this blogpost of mine from a while back. A PBA representative took private issue with that blogpost. He said the bowling industry is doing all it reasonably can to promote the PBA and bowling in general. What do you think?

Elite  women's and, for that matter, men's bowling is in a sad state in this country even as it seems to be growing in popularity in other parts of the world. I agree...that the PBA seems to be hanging on by its fingernails, and there's certainly no indication that any kind of women's professional tour will be coming back. And although many will disagree with me, I think part of the reason for this is that the bowling industry has not made as concerted an attempt as it might to publicize and popularize the sport but, rather, continues on with business as depressingly usual.

I'm not sure what it would take, but maybe if they hired the best PR and advertising minds to barrage the media with compelling commercials, human interest stories, and intelligent and entertaining treatments of bowling, rather than the occasional clownish parody, in television series and movies, more participants and viewers could be brought into the fold. As it is now, bowling and bowlers "don't get no respect," and they should, if people had any idea how challenging bowling really is at the elite level.

One thing I find so disheartening is that bowling seems to get so little respect even from bowling organizations and sponsors. For instance, the BPAA, God bless 'em, is sponsoring the U.S. Women's Open, yet they don't seem to be willing or able to get the finals aired live. We have to wait several days after the fact to see them, and, of course, by then only the most hardcore bowling fan will tune in because everyone else with any interest in the results but not enough to watch a seriously delayed broadcast AFTER learning the results will already know the results and won't bother. What's more, the USBC website's coverage of the tournament seems like a confusing maze. Their videos are great, and Lucas's herculean one-man coverage is to be roundly applauded, but where the hell are the results encompassing ALL the bowlers and not just the top 49? And why can't the BPAA and/or USBC, in the interests of fan interest, provide help to Lucas and the USBC website in tracking results as they occur instead of us having to wait hours to find out how the bowlers are scoring?

If even national bowling organizations and sponsors don't respect their sport enough to give it professional level coverage, how can they expect the public at large to respect it enough to follow it and participate in it? We need a real shakeup in the bowling industry in this country, or elite level bowling here seems all but doomed!

Bowling Bytes--5/6/10

Today we see how Walter Ray Williams Jr. fared in his first PBA Senior event and learn about the USBC SMART scholarship funds, a Michigan bowler's big game in the USBC Open, Bo Goergen's return to the Open this year, famed bowling writer Dick Evans' take on this year's USBC convention, a fancy new bowling center in the Ukraine, the good and not-so-good aspects of next season's Lumber Liquidators PBA Tour, and top coach Joe Slowinski's characteristically brainy and detailed analysis of the two-handed bowling style.

~ Walter Ray Williams Jr. Wins Senior Miller High Life Classic in PBA Senior Tour Debut -- "Recently-crowned Professional Bowlers Association Player of the Year Walter Ray Williams Jr. of Ocala, Fla., picked up where he left off at the conclusion of the 2009-10 Lumber Liquidators PBA Tour season in April by winning the Senior Miller High Life Classic Wednesday at George Pappas Victory Lanes. Making his PBA Senior Tour debut, Williams, the PBA Tour’s all-time leader in career titles with 47, notched his first Senior Tour win by defeating Keith Sharp of Orlando, Fla., 267-245 in the championship match..."

~ PBA Senior Miller High Life Classic--Match Play Rounds

~ USBC SMART scholarship funds transferred to new independent corporation -- "The United States Bowling Congress has created a new corporation dedicated to the management, protection and promotion of youth bowling scholarships. All funds in the USBC SMART (Scholarship Management and Accounting Reports for Tenpins) program have been transferred to the new entity called SMART Bowling Scholarship Funding Corporation. This new corporation is financially and legally independent of USBC, but will continue to use the SMART name. All scholarships previously earned through SMART remain in place with all benefits and eligibility protection for recipients continuing..."

~ Michigan bowler rolls 298 game at USBC Open Championships -- "Only a handful of bowlers each year find themselves in position to roll a perfect game at the USBC Open Championships. Chris Damon of Kimball, Mich., has been there twice in his seven tournament appearances but fell short of perfection on both occasions. Damon's recent attempt came in his final game of singles at the National Bowling Stadium on Tuesday night, but he left the 4-7 on his final shot and finished with the fifth 298 of this year's event. There have been 13 perfect games this year..."

~ On the Lanes with Bo Goergen -- "In the coming months, we'll talk with some of the best-known bowlers at the USBC Open Championships and get their thoughts on their time at the tournament and what it takes to succeed on the championship lanes. This week, we heard from 2009 Regular Singles champion, Bo Goergen, who tossed 32 out of a possible 36 strikes en route to games of 299, 299 and 264 for an 862 singles series last year in Las Vegas. His effort was the highest three-game set in tournament history. He added a 700 series in doubles and 628 in team for a 2,190 all-events total, which was third overall..."

~ Everything you didn't want to know about USBC Convention by Dick Evans -- "Trust is something that is earned and not granted automatic entry into our brains. It is especially true in bowling where the old gutter-ball shooters would flirt with the gutter on their strike deliveries but had trust that their timing would be perfect and the ball would end up the strike pocket. They all lived by the creed: "trust is a must."Their trust was well founded in most cases but I remember when a gutter shooter lost a PBA title because he hit his ankle with the ball, which rolled into the gutter, and he lost the championship game by a few pins. My beliefs about trust seeped into my brain at the USBC Convention April 30 when President Jeff Bojé pointed out how important trust is to the future growth of the United States Bowling Congress..."

~ Largest FEC in the Ukraine features Brunswick-equipped bowling center -- "The largest Family Entertainment Center (FEC) in the Ukraine, Entertainment World Cosmix, which is also one of the largest entertainment complexes in the entire territory of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), recently started its operation in the country's capital, Kiev. The entertainment facility was completed at the end of 2009 and spans more than 5,700 square meters. It offers visitors some of the most popular and modern leisure activities for the entire family to enjoy, making it the trendiest source of entertainment in the region."Cosmix" includes a pub, a pizza restaurant, a sushi-bar, a billiards hall and tenpin bowling. The bowling center features 20 Brunswick-equipped lanes with Vector® Scoring and Management System, GS-X™ pinsetters, Anvilane™ synthetic lanes, new Frameworx® furniture and the Authority22® lane maintenance system..."

~ Rocky Marciano for Ebonite (1955)

~ PBA 2010-11 preview: fizzling or sizzling? -- "IT’S SAID THAT SIZZLE sells the steak. But is it possible to create an enticing sizzle and produce an appetizing dinner with a limited supply of beef? As a case in point, check out the 2010-11 Lumber Liquidators PBA Tour. It buzzes with the promise of a $1 million Tournament of Champions — in which the winner will collect $250,000 — and a real breakthrough in television coverage of the U.S. Open: The winner is slated to earn a check for around $120,000 — after three days of live ESPN coverage. That’s a sizeable amount of bread (or steak, as the case may be) allocated by an organization nearly starving for sponsors and whose internal financial underpinnings have publicly become a concern. Measuring bang for the buck, the PBA’s desire for an attention-getting 2010-11 seems to be on track. But it is the result of some deft rearranging that attempts to make less money look like more...budget constraints will reduce total prize money awarded to players by about $1 million next season, while the new arrangement also will save the PBA about the same amount by reducing TV production costs and staff expenses...A closer look reveals next season’s “tour” barely meets the definition. It’s certainly not a pro bowling tour based on a perpetual city-to-city concept. Instead, it’s a compilation of traditional, though enhanced, majors, surrounded by a revised renewal of the World Series of Bowling and a strategically stretched-out playoff series at the end. Mix in a couple of other official tournaments and unofficial special events, and it adds up to 22 “unique” telecasts originating from eight locations — all subject to change, of course, until all of the plans are etched in stone..."

~ Two-Handed Bowling: A Brief Analysis of a Powerful New Bowling Form -- "In recent years, 2 bowlers with thumbless two-handed bowling styles have emerged as two of the most successful bowlers of our time. These bowlers always attract viewers due to their exciting ability to strike, strike and strike again. Osku Palerma, Finland and Jason Belmonte, Australia, can dominate a tournament with their exciting styles and high scoring games. In November 2006, Palermaa dominated the AMF World Cup, start to finish, to claim the title. In 2007, Belmonte won the High Roller as well as the World Tenpin Masters titles, defeating Chris Barnes along the way. Palermaa defeated Belmonte, this week, in the final of the Istanbul Open, in Turkey. More and more bowlers are attempting to emulate these two bowlers. In fact, in Hickory, NC, PBA great Guppy Troup’s children both use a thumbless release. In December 2006, Chaz Dennis (10 years, 2 months and 27 days) became the youngest bowler ever to shoot a 300 game approved by the United States Bowling Congress. With such success, coaches should review and analyze these styles. With this in mind, here is a brief analysis of this style. I will continue to develop an understanding of the 2-
handed delivery from a coaches’ eye..."

Bowling Bytes--4/29/10

~ Kulick takes 2010 USBC Queens title -- "Kelly Kulick proved she could beat the men earlier this year and Wednesday she came out on top against a field of the top women bowlers in the world, earning her second United States Bowling Congress Queens title. The Union, N.J., native climbed the five-player stepladder, winning four consecutive matches, and defeating top seed Tennelle Milligan of Arlington, Texas, 232-188, to win the Queens at the El Paso Convention and Performing Arts Center..."

~ "Mt. St. Marshall": The man behind the volcano that was -- "The car fire that firefighters squelched outside the Hilton Inn Lounge in Akron, Ohio, just up the block from Riviera Lanes where the next day a 21-year-old Marshall Holman would win the first of his two Firestone Tournament of Champions titles, raised no one from their seats that night. “They had stayed in their seats while the fire department extinguished a pretty good car fire in the hotel driveway,” writer Doug Bradford observed of the bowling royalty mingling in the lounge. The figures crowding the lounge after a final round of match play that Friday night were characters that defined an irreplaceable era of professional bowling — Billy Hardwick in his “rainbow trousers,” Dick Weber with his “ice cream suit” and the peroxide-brightened hair that prompted Tour pals to dub him “The Blond Fonz,” Earl Anthony chatting with the Ebonite execs whose contract offer would soften his resistance to “PBA School” in a few years. If any of them thought back to that driveway fire after Holman sealed his historic win at the 1976 Firestone Tournament of Champions and considered it a sign of things to come, they would quickly find that they were on to something — something the PBA Tour had never seen before. The fire Holman brought to the lanes the following afternoon would do more than raise people out of their seats; it would raise hell..."

~ Minnesota team back on top at USBC Open Championships -- "After an uncharacteristically poor spare-shooting performance left them just shy of the Regular Team lead at the 2010 USBC Open Championships, the members of Linds Lakers 1 of Minneapolis easily could've lost their focus on the tournament lanes. Instead, the group turned to 124 years of Open Championships experience and averaged more than 226 during doubles and singles to take over the top spot in Team All-Events with a 10,187 total, the eighth-highest in tournament history. Red Carpet Lanes of Greenfield, Wis., previously held the lead with 10,131..."

~ Hall of Famer Nancy Chapman dies at age 80 -- "Nancy Chapman, a member of the United States Bowling Congress Hall of Fame, passed away Wednesday, April 28, at the age of 80. The Oneida, Wis., native was inducted into the Women's International Bowling Congress (now USBC) Hall of Fame for meritorious service in 2002..."

~ USBC Convention opens in Reno, Nev. -- "The 2010 United States Bowling Congress Convention and Annual Meeting takes place this week with a theme of "Moving Forward Together." This year's convention will feature workshops that will cover such topics as growing membership, coaching and future initiatives. At the USBC Annual Meeting, delegates will vote on 24 proposed amendments related to bylaws, league rules and tournament rules. Additionally, delegates will elect four members to the USBC Board of Directors..."

~ It's down to four women in 12th Sinai International Open -- "Zandra Aziela, Malaysia, Mennat Soltan, Egypt, Shalin Zulkifli, Malaysia, and Cassie Staudinger, Australia, will battle it out for the women's title in the 12th Sinai International Open Bowling Tournament Thursday at International Bowling Center in Cairo, Egypt..."

~ Michigan Bowlers: Take Your Last Puffs -- "Saturday, May 1, 2010 is the beginning of a smokeless Michigan. At least in public establishments. As a resident of and bowler in Michigan, this will be one of the best days of my life. Cigarette smoke has always bothered me, and I will not be sad to remove cigarettes from the classic bowling smell: cigarettes, oil, fried food, stale beer. Instead, I'll return home from the bowling alley with a new and improved bowling smell: the same as before, but without the most offensive of the aromas..."

~ Tommy Jones: The Interview, Pt. 2 -- "Yesterday Tommy Jones discussed last season's struggles and why he will return to the Professional Bowlers Association spotlight in 2009-'10. Today, Jones goes farther back to the days when he spent Saturdays dreaming of the glory that his idols Marshall Holman and Mark Roth owned when he was growing up, explains how he developed his high-rev style, why the mantra "straight is great" continues to hold true in the era of the "rev rate," and much more..."

~ A How-To For Adjusting Ball Speed: The Importance of Ball Speed Change and a Research-Based Method to Change It-- "Many bowlers arrive at the Kegel Training Center with a strong desire to increase their rev rate. These individuals perceive higher revolutions as a panacea or the ultimate solution for improving their game. Yet, in reality, the ability to manipulate axis of rotation and ball speed would result in being able to alter their ball motion significantly more..."

~ Analyzing the lane graphs of the Hoosier Classic: What the data reveals about how the lanes will play (Coaching the Youth Bowler: Dug Barker--Bowling This Month, May 2010, pgs. 21-25) -- "...One of the items every team discusses before competition begins is the lane graph and charts as they apply to the team. This is the subject of this article. I am going to provide an overview of lane graphs and charts from the perspective of a collegiate coach..."