Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone! So today's entry will not be anything special due to an overwhelming pile of real life stacking up. TGIF bowling sucked, work is killing me, and I need to finish 3 articles that I have started writing.
Showing posts with label MMM. Show all posts
Showing posts with label MMM. Show all posts
Monday, March 17, 2014
Monday Morning Morphine
Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone! So today's entry will not be anything special due to an overwhelming pile of real life stacking up. TGIF bowling sucked, work is killing me, and I need to finish 3 articles that I have started writing.
Monday, March 10, 2014
Monday Moring Morphine
First off I would like to start by saying that Day Light Savings is a sham. We live in a 24/7 society these days, why the hell do we have to continue with this farce of an action? I know there are supposedly good reasons to keep it around, but in the grand picture of day to day life, in my humble and crippled mind, it can take a hike. Ok, now that I have that out of my system it's time to move on.
This past Friday in my TGIF 'beer' league, it was once again humbling. It is interesting that I have fewer problems on a Sport Shot than I do a TGIF House league. I can make all sorts of excuses about the number of plastic balls on the lane, carry down, original urethane equipment, or the high rev no thumb bowlers with reactive gear burning up the oil in eight frames. Point is, I need to be good enough for the most adverse conditions and that league certainly provides it. Friday provided those rough conditions and yielded me a weak 598. The interesting thing is how I got there. The first game was going dutch through the 8th frame trading off strikes on one lane and spares on the other. When the 9th frame rolled around, my ball hitched just a bit and went high leaving a 6-7-10, finishing with a 182. The second game featured me trying three different lines and just as many balls hunting for something that would hold and be out of the mess created on the right side of the lanes. A hunt and peck split filled 174 is all I could muster. In a move I hate to make, I grabbed my Hyper Cell, moved way left, lined up with the gutter cap, gripped it and ripped it through the lanes swinging just about the entire playable surface. Adding a dash of loft for good measure. Well if you are the mathematical type, you know that this move worked based on my final series and the previous two games. A solid 242 pulled me within two pins of what would have been a very welcome 600 series. So what did I learn? I learned that I need to force myself to get out of my comfort zone when things are not working out. Plain and simple, so I challenge each one of you out there, when you are practicing take some time to do the opposite of what you would normally try to roll. If you like going down the boards an in with a straighter shot, try moving deep left. If you normally are more comfortable reving up the ball and getting deep, how about moving out to the first 5 boards and breaking the wrist more to create a straighter shot. Bowling is about adjusting against adversity and change, no better way to arm yourself than knowing exactly what you are capable of in a time of need. Try it, you might surprise yourself with what you find.
Since there was no televised PBA action to report on, I watched a bit of the Music City Classic Women's Tournament. Now, all I was able to catch were the final two matches between Vanderbilt vs Fairleigh Dickinson and the finals match featuring Vanderbilt and Arkansas on USBC Bowl TV being streamed on Youtube. However, damn that was some good bowling. It was nice to see some familiar faces from the Team USA trials with their teams fighting for a win. Vanderbilt in the finals looked like a machine on a mission, never really allowing Arkansas to get comfortable in the best of seven match. The nail in the coffin was Vanderbilt going off the sheet with a Baker's 300 to take the point and the tournament win, 4-1 against Arkansas. The wild action however was not restricted to the championship pair. Right next door, as Vanderbilt was going into the 10th frame, Nebraska who finished 5th, also shot a 300 in their final game making the pressure unimaginable for sophomore All-American Robyn Renslow. Watching a 300 right next door, sitting on the front 9 for your own team 300, win it all situation, but with what looked like ice in the veins, Renslow systematically went up and crushed the pocket three times for one of the most memorable finishes of all time. Congrats to the Commodores for a great showing and win at the Music City Classic.
Monday, March 3, 2014
Monday Morning Morphine
As I say hello to Monday, I wish the I could just get an I.V. of coffee. It's cold, my back hurts, and I just cannot wake up! At any rate, Monday is here and I need my 'morphine', so here we go.
So TGIF didn't happen this week due to a scheduled break, so at the last minute, I floundered on entering a local tournament. I had myself completely talked out of it since I didn't want to focus on the tourney and then turn around and get on a plane Monday (today) for meetings in New York. Roll on Saturday morning and I find out that my meetings had been canceled. Going through my list of do it or don't do it, I decided not to roll the tournament because my mind just wasn't prepared for it. With my mental game being a bit shaky right now, the last thing I wanted to do to myself was spend a few hundred on a tournament that I didn't have a chance to money in. And it's not even really about the money, it's about the fact that I would look back on a poor showing and just become increasingly pissed off at myself. Next time... and I will be ready.
This week PBA League action featured the Silver Lake Atom Splitters and the Dallas Strikers dueling it out for a slot into the semifinal round. Chris Barnes for the Atom Splitters took on Norm Duke of the Strikes in the head to head match worth one point. Early on in the match, Duke just could not generate enough pin action to trip out the 10 and quickly fell behind Barnes who could only strike. Duke, the only player/manager of any PBA League team, quickly benched himself for the 14lb rolling Rhino Page, who is recovering from wrist surgery. The move wasn't to try to win the match, but to get an understanding how that 14lb ball and his repaired wrist would carry on the deck. What turned into a game where Page was pacing Barnes for a possible 300, it was not to be. Barnes went high in the 10th and left the nasty 4-6-7 split for a decisive 265-208 win.
In the second match, it was a fight for survival. Neither team could take over and just run away. The Atom Splitter's pair of Barnes and Bryon Smith and the team of Duke and Mike Machuga of the Strikes showed the viewers why spares and high pin count matter so much in competition. Trading punches of spares, sprinkled with a rare strike or two, it came down to the 10th frames with Smith needing to 9 count to tie or a strike to win. The ball off his hand looked a bit soft and proved to be just that as it hit the pocket leaving an 8 count for the one pin loss, 195-194.
With the points tied up 1-1, the triples match became the momentum match to swing into the finals which would be critical in taking the day. The Atom Splitters sent up a power house trio made up of Dom Barrett, Wes Malott and Tommy Jones, with the Strikers represented by the technicians of the game, Rhino Page, Amleto Monacelli, and Dave Wodka. Today was a day where power won out, strike after strike from the Atom Splitters prevented the Strikers from every really being in the match with a commanding 213-184 win.
In the final match, the Dallas Strikers had to win the Bakers game to snatch the win away from the Atom Splitters. Using the full roster of Duke, Machuga, Monacelli, Wodka, and Page against Barnes, Smith, Barrett, Malott, and Jones, both teams knew what was on the line. Like a slow rolling ball, the Strikers took up until the 7th frame to really get rolling full speed, which in a single game is a tough situation to recover from. However, it looked like the bowling gods were looking down and flashed the pins with a messy 2-8-10 split left by Jones in the 10th frame, cracking the door open just enough for a chance to pass the win over to the Strikers. Page and his 14lb ball stepped into the 10th frame needing to sheet out in order to pull out a one pin win, but today was not to be his day. On his first shot, the southpaw left a stone 7 pin giving the match and the passage to the semifinals to the Silver Lake Atom Splitters. 205-185.
Next up is the final elimination match up show casing the Philadelphia Hitmen lead by Bill O'Neill versus the Pittsburgh Jack Rabbits captained by Finalnd's golden bowling boy, Osku Palmeraa on March 23rd. It's going to be a good one!
Tuesday, February 25, 2014
Monday Morning Morphine (Better late than never)
Well this post is late and going to be short. My robbed recently and lost my laptop and all my traveling worldly possessions, so that has taken up my time and attention. So with that, here we go... the delayed edition.
TGIF proved to be a bit entertaining. What started the night was back to back 2-4-8-10 splits. Almost converted one, but two opens makes for a rough climb. The night ended with a 621, but based on the look I had on the lanes, should have been so much more.
In PBA action at the Masters we saw just about every single type of drama you could come up with on the lanes. And to that point, hats off to Jason Belmonte for not only successfully defending his title, but climbing up from the bottom of the ladder to win it all. I have to admit, going into the finals I was all aboard the E.J. Tackett express. He absolutely dominated the field of 64 taking the top seed to await his opportunity to win the Masters. Unfortunately, it was not his day. I will say this, that kid is something special and we will be watching him for quite a few years to come. Here are the stepladder results...
Match One - Belmonte def. Ciminelli, 227-214
Match Two - Belmonte def. Smallwood, 202-173
Match Three - Belmonte def. Haugen, 235-234
Championship - Belmonte def. Tackett, 221-177
Again, sorry for the short post. Back to trying to lick my wounds and get my life back together.
Monday, February 17, 2014
Monday Morning Morphine
Well boys and girls out there in bowling land, I am here to say that I am officially in a world class slump. I am too ashamed to report what my series was from the TGIF League and I proved once again that beer and bowling in this body do not mix. Nothing against beer and certainly nothing against bowling, but I should not have allowed myself to have too much liquid courage on the lanes. Especially when I had goals I was trying to achieve.
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| Hyper Cell |
In other news over the weekend, the defending champions of the PBA League, the New York City WTT KingPins took on the Motown Muscle. At stake was more than the single elimination match on the day, head coaches Carolyn Dorin-Ballard of the KingPins and her husband Del Ballard of the Muscle had a personal bet riding on the day. In the opening singles game between team captains, Pete Weber and Mike Fagan, Weber survived two big splits in the middle of the game to put the KingPins in an early 1-0 lead with a 232-225 win. Fagan converted the spare of the day, the 3-7-10 split, but it still wasn't enough to overcome the ageless Weber.
In game two, revenge was served. Motown’s Chris Loschetter and Fagan put together a run going strikes on the front eight to run away from John Szczerbinski and Weber, 268-214, to even the match at 1-1. Szczerbinski struggled to find carry, but looked solid in the pocket and at the line. All Weber could do was cover spares and be supportive off the bench.
Game three featured the Baker Trios with a Motown win over the KingPins. Mike Scroggins, Tom Daugherty and Brian Kretzer finished the game with five consecutive strikes to better a late rally by KingPins Scott Norton, Jake Peters and Stuart Williams in the game. The 247-234 victory over the KingPins vaulted the Muscle to a 2-1 lead.
In the final game of the match, the Five-man Baker was all or nothing, something that you didn't want to miss. The Motown Muscle struggled to get anything consistent going, getting only one strike in the first five frames to fall behind early. A late game 6-7 split by Scroggins in the seventh frame pretty much ended any chance of the Motown Muscle winning the day. Strike after strike by New York’s Williams, Peters and Szczerbinski opened up a 47-pin lead allowing Weber to casually just toss at the pins in the tenth frame for the easy win. With the final game being worth 3 points, the New York City WTT KingPins won the match 4-2.
Next up, Quarterfinal match three, pitting Norm Duke and the Dallas Strikers against Chris Barnes and the Silver Lake Atom Splitters on Sunday, March 2, at 3 p.m. ET. This one will be a fun match to watch!
Monday, February 10, 2014
Monday Morning Morphine
Let me start by saying I have been under the weather now for about a week. Feeling out of sorts is never conducive to great bowling and or even wanting to do anything during the day. That being said, my TGIF league was about as entertaining as a power drill to the forehead. Even not feeling well, I was absolutely solid at the line. My execution goal was to keep my head level during all phases of the shot, more importantly at the point of release at the line. That mission goal was achieved. Matter of fact, I only missed the pocket once all night. Oh and it was bad. I was rewarded with a power washout which resulted in an open. The other problem I suffered from was no carry. This has been a theme of mine for years. Ever since I broke my wrist I have been unable to get a good strong rev rate on my shot and am forced to find power and carry in other places, namely accuracy. So a night filled with sub par strike counts and lots of spares yielded me a very disappointing and weak 587. There were quite a few mental errors on single pin spares that can only be explained as 'reset and focus you dumb ass' syndrome. Lets be honest though, I would have rather been bundled up with a bowl of soup. However, as the old saying goes... I would rather have a bad day bowling than no bowling at all. So I sucked it up and rolled.
This weekend also marked the start of the 2014 PBA League Season. The L.A. X, loaded with the power of Jason Belmonte and lefty technician Parker Bohn III defeated the BROOKLYN STyLES, 4 points to 2. Even with the STyLES anchored with the venerable Walter Ray Jr and Sean Rash, they couldn't pull off the opening match win. The format of this single elimination league is a single Head to Head match, Alternate Ball Doubles, Baker Trio, each worth one point and a Five-Man Baker Team earning three points. In the singles match, we had a rematch of the Super Clash with Belmonte taking on Rash. This match would not provide different results. Rash left an early 4-6-7 split, failed to convert, and Belmo never looked back rolling a convincing 255-223 win. In the Alternate Ball Doubles game, Jason Sterner and Walter Ray Williams Jr. evened up the points score with a very close 238-234 win against Mika Koivuniemi and Parker Bohn III. With an open in the second frame for team X, this game came down to that miss. Once again proving that spares win games. The third game was a Bakers Trio match up where three players bowled alternate frames. Rash, Tom Smallwood and Williams represented the STyLES while the X's were armed with Belmo, E.J. Tackett and Andres Gomez. The STyLES came firing out of the gates and never looked back opening the game with the front 7, crusing to a 247-218 win taking a 2-1 lead. In an all or nothing final game to take the match, it all came down to the Five-Man Baker to earn three points. With all five team bowlers stepping on, the L.A. X team was made up of Mika Koivuniemi, E.J. Tackett, Andres Gomez. Jason Belmonte, and Parker Bohn III and the BROOKLYN STyLES represented by Jason Sterner, Tom Smallwood, Michael Haugen Jr., Walter Ray Williams Jr., and Sean Rash, it was not a match to miss. Coming down to the 9th frame, Belmo with his amazing power, struck setting up the foundation frame for Bohn. Knowing that it now comes down to execution in the 10th, Bohn delivered. With a solid 237-215 win, the L.A. X had taken the day. Their next opponent will be the winner of the much anticipated New York City Kingpins and the Motown Muscle.
Monday, February 3, 2014
Monday Morning Morphine
I wish it were the case that I shot in another TGIF, but sadly I didn't. As a little background and a major contributor to the situation I am in with my bowling, my job has me traveling all over the world. Even worse, it can be at a moments notice. It is not surprising for me to get a call Monday morning asking me to be in Amsterdam the following day. Before you start thinking to yourself that it would be cool to travel the world on someone else's tab, it is only fun for about a week or so. After that, it become just as much a part of your day to day as driving into work and being stuck in traffic. Living out of a suitcase, being crammed into an airplane for hours on end, and the worst situation of all... not being able to find a good cup of coffee. In any case, I take every situation I am in and try to turn it into a drill that I can apply on the lanes. Such as a pre-shot routine. The key to perfection is repetition. This philosophy can translate to just about any situation you are in that you want to become better at. Be careful though, I caught myself at conference about to get on stage and found myself wiping my left heel and folding my dinner napkin like I do my bowling towel. Funny thing is, no one in the room caught it.
So I guess that brings me to what is on my mind at the moment. I will start by saying that I am very proud of our sport. However, I have found that it is perceived quite differently depending on what part of the US or even the world you are in. For example, I was at a dinner event on Friday. As we were introducing ourselves to this small group of people we got off on the subject of what we were missing this weekend due to the conference we were at. This is small talk for frequent travelers, instead of how's the weather, it's what are you missing while you are away from home. At any rate, I mentioned that there was a tournament I was missing and I wasn't too happy about it because of my new resolve to my game. My comment took the group back a bit. One person even asked "Ummm is bowling a metaphor for something else... if you know what I mean". Although funny and I did laugh, I found myself energetically explaining that it was in fact competitive bowling. Catching myself before I went into full geek mode about it, the faces of the people around me told the whole story. it was a canvas of "you have got to be kidding me". Not wanting to insult me, the people that hadn't slinked away yet, made nice gestures to include themselves into the subject by telling a story about their kids birthday party and they went bowling or how when they were back college they would get drunk and try to throw the ball as hard as they could. So I did what I always do, chuckled and told a few non-bowler bowling stories as well.
As Saturday rolled in and another day of the conference was in full swing, I kept finding my mind wandering back to that moment. Then I started to compare it to all of the other times this had happened to me. I know that our sport has had the reputation of overweight middle aged men, and lanes with a permanent smell of beer. Paired with the out of beat crash of pins and the occasional yell at the rack, it is not a sport that has really been able to shake that persona. Those of us who are bowlers, we know the truth. It is an exciting thing to think about. A place that brings a smile to your face when you know that you have a chance to hit the lanes at the end of the day. And the people, the people that are just like you when you are there. They are like family or members in a special club. On top of that, you will find all walks of life. It is one of the few places where you can have a doctor, a mechanic, a fast food worker, factory lineman, a lawyer, a stay at home mom, and an owner of a company on the same pair of lanes. No one judging or bringing up the crap that society tries to pin people to. It's all about bowling. In some respects, I think it's the rest of the world that should take a cue from us. Sure there are people that we don't get along with, yes we get mouthy and competitive, but we also leave it on the lanes. Well for the most part. You know what I am saying. At any rate, the point that I am making is that overall, bowlers are a different breed of person. Evolved.
So Sunday for me was a day of sitting in a plane. Working my way back to Texas from Florida, making it home for the second half of the Super Bowl. Problem was that the game was pretty much over by the time I was able to turn on the TV. Even worse, I missed the very first Super Clash between Jason Belmonte and Sean Rash. No love lost between those two guys, that's for sure. It would have been great to catch those two head to head. Thank heavens for Xtra Frame and DVR, otherwise I would probably miss most of the best moments in sports. This match up, from what I understand, did not disappoint. Belmonte took game one, 258-238. The comeback kid Rash, edged the second game, 258-241, closing in on Belmonte's lead into the final match. With the lanes beginning to torch up at this point, the match came down to execution. Both bowlers left splits that could have tipped the scales in either direction, but the reigning player of the year, Belmonte, held on for a decisive, 244-222 win, and the overall match, 743-718. In addition to this great head to head battle, there were highlights from the 5th Annual Chris Paul PBA League All-Star and Celebrity Invitational. Chris Paul over the years has used his big NBA name and passion for bowling to assembled some of the best people inside and out of the sport for this great charity event. I highly recommend that everyone take some time to learn about his charity and check out how he has used bowling to get people involved. Aside from this being a great cause, the Super Clash and events like this are the things we need to help get bowling into household conversations. Spread the word.
Monday, January 27, 2014
Monday Morning Morphine
It feels like the weekends are flying by these days. Between TGIF league bowling on Friday night, my weekend "honey do" list around the house, and of course awesome PBA action on ESPN on Sunday. This past Friday at TGIF was one where you have a chance to execute what you practice, feel like you bowled great, but wind up with a humble 600 even. The goal was to transition my foot work and balance that I worked on in the middle of the week to my fun league that I get to apply it on. It's always good to have a league in the mix that you can just blow off steam, not freak out about not carrying a 230+ average in, but keep it real enough to make you execute your game. This one is exactly that. So what transpired was a great game at the line and lots of spares. Only one open on the night and it was the mental miss we have all made where you "know the first shot was great and you shouldn't even be shooting at this spare" shot. Well, I poo pooed a clean 30 because of a mental break in my temper. Now looking back at the night, I am more upset about missing a clean 30 than rolling the weak 600! As they say, it is what it is and this will help me "build character", not that I need any more of that.
At the Tournament of Champions this Sunday, it was shaping up to be a perfect storm, no pun intended. You had the field of Pete Weber, Dan MacLelland, Wes Malott, Dom Barrett, and the two handed phenom Jason Belmonte.The thing that stood out to me the most about this line up wasn't the power house list of major wins, or PDW attempting to defend his title, or even the fact that Jason Belmonte is taking his two handed game to a whole new level. It was that there was a great representation of bowlers from around the world. Three out of the five bowlers in the finales were from outside the United States. Dan MacLelland hails from Canada, Dom Barret from England, and Jason Belmonte from Australia. This shows that the recent feelings of bowling sliding into obscurity as a sport couldn't be farther from the truth. Bowling is becoming a true international sport at the highest competitive levels. The PBA is reaching the four corners of the world and showcasing talents that take an amazing level of dedication to achieve.
As the match got underway, PDW showed brash confidence in his pre-match interview, but that quickly faded as he struggled to get the pair under control with two opens and it wasn't until about the 7th frame that he settled into his shot. By then, MacLelland had a comfortable lead pounding PDW 259 - 211. In match two, Wes Malott stepped in to see if he could wrestle down the hot McLelland. It was shaping up to be a punch for punch match until the lanes started tightening up on MacLelland. He had been playing a straighter line and didn't have much room for error. That margin finally folded on him when he ran high with his shot and left the big 4-6-7-10 split in the fourth frame. Failing to convert, Malott turned into a strike machine to put MacLelland away with a convincing 248 - 199 win. Canada may have to wait for it's fist PBA Tour Title, but today showed why they have reason for their high hopes in a more than capable Dan MacLelland. Match three featured Malott moving up against Dom Barrett. The highlight of this match was Malott putting on a spare clinic and Barrett showing that you don't have to hit the pocket to strike. It's great to see competitive sportsmanship as Barrett went high into the nose of the rack for a strike and apologizing to Malott for it. Good show old chap. Malott on the other hand was in the pocket every single shot and left the 10 pin in just about every way imaginable. Calling his shot at one point in the game as the ball was on it's way, you could hear a faint 10 pin comment from Malott at the line and sure enough, the 10 pin stood firm in its place. In the end, this match showed why spares win games. Malott's ability to convert all of his 9 counts gave him a 205 - 202 win over Barrett.
With the final match ready to run, Belmonte was looking for some revenge from the 2013 loss he suffered from Malott at the U.S. Open title match. That 214-156 loss is something he will most likely never forget. However, today would yield different results. The match stayed anyone's game until the 10th frame. Like two titans in the ring of battle, both bowlers knew they needed to show up to force pressure and win. Belmonte up first in the 10th, rolled a 9 spare and a strike to put Malott in a position to strike on his first ball for a chance to win. In an all or nothing 10th frame, Malott balked, reset, and rolled a great shot. Unfortunately, like most of his previous game, it was a 9 count. With that, Belmonte sitting on the bench, had won the Tournament of Champions. Smoking the field all week long, it was a deserving and dominating finish for the two hander from down under. His one pin 219 - 218 win put that horrible performance at the U.S. Open far away. To put a cap on the day, Bill O'neal with the skills of a ninja, rewarded Belmo with a Barbasol pie in the face. Who says bowling isn't fun at competitive levels. Congrats Jason Belmonte on a great tournament and a solid win at the 2014 Barbasol Tournament of Champions.
Monday, January 20, 2014
Monday Morning Morphine
Nothing like a bit of Monday morning morphine to pump into your system as you reflect on the weekends events. My TGIF league was a challenge to say the least. Nothing like going into position rounds while fighting one of the worst weeks of allergies you can remember. Focusing on timing, balance, and not sneezing on your ball on the approach brings a whole new challenge to the game. None the less, I posted a weak 609, but was enough to pull 6 of 8 points. I guess my opponents were feeling sorry for me. On a positive note, the new SST Tanks were amazing. They felt like I had been wearing them for years they were so comfortable. I struggled with some slide issues early on due to finding the right combination of heel and sole (which ended up being H2/S10 for those keeping track), but overall I have to say that I am very impressed with how they feel and performed. Saturday passed in a medication induced fog, but Sunday gave me the chance to watch the PBA Regional Players Invitational Finals, PBA50 Tour Finals, and the Teen Masters Championship. Even though they were recorded telecasts, it's always fun to watch bowling. Well, for me it is anyway.
The RPI Invitational Finals kicked off the day with some familiar names in bowling as well as a few relatively unknown bowlers outside of their region. The great thing about these type of evens is that it isn't absolutely dominated by the PBA Tour players that you see week in and week out when matches do happen to be televised. Sure Chris Barnes (PBA Tour player since 1998) represented the Southwest Region, but posted a humbling 163 after running high on several of his shots. In the end, the unknown Ben Laughlin from Chandler, Arizona took the top prize of $6,000 and a PBA Tournament of Champions entry defeating Tom Daugherty of Wesley Chapel, Florida 225-187. Just goes to show you that anyone on any day can have an amazing run no matter who they are bowling against. Laughlin looked cold as ice on the lanes, not letting a rough start in the semi-finals phase him at all. Pushing through, posting a 222 and 225 the first time he had ever been on tv. Hats off good sir, you earned it!
The PBA50 Tour Finals followed up the RPI Invitational which looked like a who's who of bowlers that have truly shaped the sport and dominated the game. Pete Weber, Amleto Monacelli, and the great Walter Ray Williams Jr. made up the show. This amazing trio represent the heart of the sport covering just about every subject. Pete with his pedigree in the sport and his bad boy attitude, Amleto carrying the torch of the world on his back as the most prolific international bowler to ever hit the scene, and dead-eye himself, Walter Ray. The record holder for most PBA wins in the history of the sport. His 47 titles are a feat that many believe will never be broken. The match started with a playful PDW, noticeably missing his sun glasses, going up against the ageless Monacelli. Punch for punch the game was what you would expect out of the two great bowlers. The tipping point came when Weber rolled high for a 2-4-10 split. Converting it and forcing Monacelli to stay on the mark, it appeared to just fuel him bringing the match to a dominating 243-208 win. In the finals, a frustrated W.R. Williams Jr was trying his best to keep his game face on, rolling on a pattern he was obviously not a fan of, the PBA50 Cheetah. Strike for strike the finals match was everything you could have wished for in a head to head battle between two titans like this. Williams led most of the match with a slight margin before Monacelli made a late charge with a three-bagger heading into the 10th frame. In what can only be described as an epic break, Monacelli needing a strike to force a pressure crushing 10th frame for Williams, left the 4 pin on his first ball in and missed the spare to all but hand the win to his opponent. With disbelief on Williams' face, he knew he had just been given a gift by Monacelli.
The televised bowling day on ESPN was wrapped up with the Teen Masters Championship. In this unique format, the tournament is designed to level the playing field of insane oil patterns and the crazy technology that is embedded into the bowling balls of today. Each bowler is given a polyester (plastic ball) and a urethane and that is all they are allowed to use. In addition to that little twist, the finals pair were oiled at different lengths. The left lane held 36' and the right a mere 26' of oil. Also the volume was a throw back to the 80's with only 7ml. of oil. For all of you non bowling geeks out there, a typical house shot (THS) is in the range of 38'-40' with about 14ml of oil. The PBA and Team USA bowlers are normally on patterns that can range from 33'-47' and a whopping 26ml of wet stuff! Sorry, I get excited about the details... at any rate, to put it simply, these kids were pushed to be amazingly accurate with their game. In a rematch of the 2013 finals between Ashley Dunn of Palmdale, California and Greg Young or Viera, Florida, the two talented bowlers went at it again for another great show. The two game format came down to a single frame roll off after the two bowlers posted scores of 160-179 in game one and a 184-153 in game two. In the end, Young's strike bested Dunn's 7 count to take the tile and it's $64,000 scholarship for the second year in a row. These two have shown that the sport of bowling is going strong and has a bright future.
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