onefrombills
12-11-2008, 11:32 PM
Before we get to this week’s recap of the Cheetah Championship, I wanted to spend a few brief moments on the topic of Jimmy V Week. Although most of you probably associate Jim Valvano (who was a former NCAA-championship-winning college basketball coach, broadcaster and recipient of the ESPY’s first Arthur Ashe Humanitarian award) more with college basketball than with bowling, I ask you to bear with me because his influence has spread well beyond his own professional realm and has touched the lives of millions (including my own…profoundly) since his untimely death of cancer back in 1993.
In my case, I was in my office watching the PBA on ESPN in December 2004 and the Jimmy V Celebrity Golf Tournament aired on ESPN immediately after the PBA telecast. The show opened with an excerpt from Valvano’s 1993 ESPY acceptance speech that I had heard before but this time, for some reason, struck me like a bolt of lightning to my soul. There was something about the utter truth this man (who knew he would die just a few short months after the speech but still managed to carry himself with joy, grace and dignity despite this bleak prognosis) was speaking on the subject of life that inspired me to see how the very simple methods he related were the basic ingredients for success and happiness in my own life and in the life of every other person. I was so inspired, in fact, that I even wrote a book about it.
After hearing the speech that day, I had to hide from my family for about an hour lest they hear my uncontrollable bawling and think someone in my immediate family had died. But the tears were tears of joy and inspiration and from that moment on I decided to live my own life that way and to chase my dreams regardless of the difficulties and obstacles (and believe me, they have been many) that would block my path. I owe a huge debt to Jimmy V for this and I encourage you all to at least visit the Jimmy V Foundation website at https://www.jimmyv.org/.
OK. Now, how’s about we talk some bowling?
Since I’ve kind of burned through all of my usual allotted space for shenanigans (movie references, silly asides and tangential references) let’s just get right to the action, shall we?
The PBA must either be really listening or really committed to correcting bad situations very quickly (I believe both, personally) because before you could say “Women’s Series,” they rectified the situation I (and a large number of fans on the PBA message boards) mentioned last week re: the drawbacks of running the ladies’ match last.
There are a couple of things that are great about this change. First, as Randy shrewdly pointed out, is the advantage of bowling on fresher lanes to help the ladies score better (especially if Ken Simard or Robert Smith or Tommy Jones or some other inhuman rev-generating machine is tearing up the oil pattern in front of them). The second is that, even though I love the Women’s Series and women’s bowling, there is no escaping the fact that it is kind of the undercard for the main event, which is the men’s tournament…and running the match first gives Randy, Rob and the folks in the truck a good 15 minutes to work up the fan’s anticipation for the “main event” to a fever pitch.
As for the bowling, it was pretty darn good. Even though the ladies (Stefanie Nation and Carolyn Dorin-Ballard) seemed to take quite a while to warm up (although the new-look, non-hooking-gutter version of the Cheetah pattern is probably partly to blame) they got lined up for the second half of the match and began matching strikes, setting up a tenth-frame showdown. As you might expect, CDB showed her experience and squeaked out a 208-204 victory over Nation, who was looking for her second title this season and must be considered the closest contender to the thus-far dominant Michelle Feldman for ladies POY. After Nation flat-tenned to decide the match, Dorin-Ballard let her emotions go and, I would say, ultimately fulfilled Jimmy V’s advice to “laugh” (while picking up the trophy), “think” (while figuring out the tricky right lane) and “cry” (during the aforementioned realization of victory) at least once a day. Plus, it was nice to see CDB’s recent PBA Hall of Fame-inductee husband Del in the audience (with a cute sign for the couple’s daughter, no less).
Moving on to the men’s competition, I would guess that the lone righty on the men’s side, Jack Jurek, also fulfilled the “laugh,” “cry,” “think” criteria (although for entirely different reasons) in his quarterfinal match against Mike Scroggins. Jurek “thought” about why his ball kept hooking early for splits in the 2nd and 5th frames, “laughed” sarcastically about being down 63 pins through 5 frames and likely “cried” about his ugly ball reaction to the legions of hometown fans who came out to support him, as he ultimately bowed to Scroggins in a blowout, 235-175.
Match two saw the 2008-2009 TV debut of Patrick Allen, who, like Jurek also had to deal with a balky ball reaction following what looked to be a great start. After crushing three strikes to open the match, PA suddenly had a case of the early-hooks, getting away with a spare conversion of the 2-4-7 after a high hit in the 4th, then running into through-the-beak splits in the 6th and 7th. He still had a slight chance to win heading into the 9th after a ball change (to a less-hooking blue ball) but this one hooked too much as well, sending Patrick P-A-cking as Scroggins coasted into the final match.
This set up an all-lefty finale, pitting Scroggins (who, despite feeling underappreciated and underrated is fast making a case for himself as the current top lefty on Tour) against one of the PBA’s all-time greats (the 9th greatest, to be exact…at least according to the voters on the PBA’s 50 greatest of all-time feature), Parker Bohn III. Interestingly enough, Randy commented that he feels that Parker, like Scroggins, is actually an underrated player as well, a fact with which I would tend to agree, given that his 31 wins (prior to today) rank him 5th all time in PBA history with what still looks like a good number of years left in the tank.
And if greatness were purely a measure of bowling form, then Parker would probably have to be ranked first, for his impeccable balance and timing have to be one of the most beautiful, if not THE most beautiful, things to watch in the sport of bowling. Parker bowled a fantastic 242 in the title match, tossing 10 strikes and making just one poor shot (a 1-3-6-9 that he shakily converted). His other non-strike, in the 7th, looked to me like a case of the lanes changing (hooking more, to be exact) between frames, rather than a bad pitch. Scroggins, like his two previous opponents, finally ran into carry and lane transition issues and never really mounted much of a challenge, allowing Bohn to claim his 32nd career PBA title.
So why is Bohn so underrated, then? He certainly doesn’t suffer from the same issues that have prevented Pete Weber (rubbing voters the wrong way) from claiming a single PBA Player of the Year award during his amazing career. Bohn has two POY honors (the 1999 season and ‘01-’02 season) and four Steve Nagy Sportsmanship Awards, so he is certainly well-liked among voters and his peers. My guess would be that the conventional wisdom on Bohn these days is that he only does well when the left side has an advantage (his last win came on a show featuring all lefties) and that PA and Scroggins (and last year Rhino Page) have posted better records these last few seasons which, of course, happen to have been the period during which the voting was conducted. But the fact remains that the man now owns 32 wins and is one of the greatest ambassadors the sport has ever seen. I guess I’ll just have to live with his 9th place “all-time-great” ranking but I would bet that before he’s through, he’ll end up finishing even higher, most likely in the top 3 or 4, maybe even with an outside chance at numbers 1 or 2. Only time will tell.
Since I’m running long, here are just a few other items of note for this week’s show:
* Noticed the ladies bowled through the commercials. Maybe next time their match could be covered in its entirety and bowl through during some of the early men’s matches instead?
* I liked the old Cheetah pattern better (and not just because I averaged 230 on it in my PBA Experience League this summer…and a combined 180 on the other four patterns to bring the grand total to 190…niiiiiiiiice!)
* Cool trophy! I’d have to say next to the T of C silver cup and the Rolex Submariner in Medford, this one is my third most favorite!
* Rob Stone should sport the “Flock of Seagulls” hairdo next week as punishment for his knowledge of Air Supply’s greatest hits!
* Did you notice PA’s self-talk after Scroggs opened in the 4th frame? These guys (especially the great players) really do feed off of the negative energy of their opponents’ mistakes and use it to heighten their focus. They really are like sharks smelling blood!
* PA and Rhino singing Sweet Caroline! Say it ain’t so Rhino!
What did you think? Please e-mail me with your thoughts on this week’s show at jason@jasonthomasbowling.com and be sure to check out a new interview where I discuss my book “Livin’ the Dream". Also check out my other weekly blog as well as the special “The History of Bowling” episode of The Bowling Show at bowlersparadise.com.
See you next week!
In my case, I was in my office watching the PBA on ESPN in December 2004 and the Jimmy V Celebrity Golf Tournament aired on ESPN immediately after the PBA telecast. The show opened with an excerpt from Valvano’s 1993 ESPY acceptance speech that I had heard before but this time, for some reason, struck me like a bolt of lightning to my soul. There was something about the utter truth this man (who knew he would die just a few short months after the speech but still managed to carry himself with joy, grace and dignity despite this bleak prognosis) was speaking on the subject of life that inspired me to see how the very simple methods he related were the basic ingredients for success and happiness in my own life and in the life of every other person. I was so inspired, in fact, that I even wrote a book about it.
After hearing the speech that day, I had to hide from my family for about an hour lest they hear my uncontrollable bawling and think someone in my immediate family had died. But the tears were tears of joy and inspiration and from that moment on I decided to live my own life that way and to chase my dreams regardless of the difficulties and obstacles (and believe me, they have been many) that would block my path. I owe a huge debt to Jimmy V for this and I encourage you all to at least visit the Jimmy V Foundation website at https://www.jimmyv.org/.
OK. Now, how’s about we talk some bowling?
Since I’ve kind of burned through all of my usual allotted space for shenanigans (movie references, silly asides and tangential references) let’s just get right to the action, shall we?
The PBA must either be really listening or really committed to correcting bad situations very quickly (I believe both, personally) because before you could say “Women’s Series,” they rectified the situation I (and a large number of fans on the PBA message boards) mentioned last week re: the drawbacks of running the ladies’ match last.
There are a couple of things that are great about this change. First, as Randy shrewdly pointed out, is the advantage of bowling on fresher lanes to help the ladies score better (especially if Ken Simard or Robert Smith or Tommy Jones or some other inhuman rev-generating machine is tearing up the oil pattern in front of them). The second is that, even though I love the Women’s Series and women’s bowling, there is no escaping the fact that it is kind of the undercard for the main event, which is the men’s tournament…and running the match first gives Randy, Rob and the folks in the truck a good 15 minutes to work up the fan’s anticipation for the “main event” to a fever pitch.
As for the bowling, it was pretty darn good. Even though the ladies (Stefanie Nation and Carolyn Dorin-Ballard) seemed to take quite a while to warm up (although the new-look, non-hooking-gutter version of the Cheetah pattern is probably partly to blame) they got lined up for the second half of the match and began matching strikes, setting up a tenth-frame showdown. As you might expect, CDB showed her experience and squeaked out a 208-204 victory over Nation, who was looking for her second title this season and must be considered the closest contender to the thus-far dominant Michelle Feldman for ladies POY. After Nation flat-tenned to decide the match, Dorin-Ballard let her emotions go and, I would say, ultimately fulfilled Jimmy V’s advice to “laugh” (while picking up the trophy), “think” (while figuring out the tricky right lane) and “cry” (during the aforementioned realization of victory) at least once a day. Plus, it was nice to see CDB’s recent PBA Hall of Fame-inductee husband Del in the audience (with a cute sign for the couple’s daughter, no less).
Moving on to the men’s competition, I would guess that the lone righty on the men’s side, Jack Jurek, also fulfilled the “laugh,” “cry,” “think” criteria (although for entirely different reasons) in his quarterfinal match against Mike Scroggins. Jurek “thought” about why his ball kept hooking early for splits in the 2nd and 5th frames, “laughed” sarcastically about being down 63 pins through 5 frames and likely “cried” about his ugly ball reaction to the legions of hometown fans who came out to support him, as he ultimately bowed to Scroggins in a blowout, 235-175.
Match two saw the 2008-2009 TV debut of Patrick Allen, who, like Jurek also had to deal with a balky ball reaction following what looked to be a great start. After crushing three strikes to open the match, PA suddenly had a case of the early-hooks, getting away with a spare conversion of the 2-4-7 after a high hit in the 4th, then running into through-the-beak splits in the 6th and 7th. He still had a slight chance to win heading into the 9th after a ball change (to a less-hooking blue ball) but this one hooked too much as well, sending Patrick P-A-cking as Scroggins coasted into the final match.
This set up an all-lefty finale, pitting Scroggins (who, despite feeling underappreciated and underrated is fast making a case for himself as the current top lefty on Tour) against one of the PBA’s all-time greats (the 9th greatest, to be exact…at least according to the voters on the PBA’s 50 greatest of all-time feature), Parker Bohn III. Interestingly enough, Randy commented that he feels that Parker, like Scroggins, is actually an underrated player as well, a fact with which I would tend to agree, given that his 31 wins (prior to today) rank him 5th all time in PBA history with what still looks like a good number of years left in the tank.
And if greatness were purely a measure of bowling form, then Parker would probably have to be ranked first, for his impeccable balance and timing have to be one of the most beautiful, if not THE most beautiful, things to watch in the sport of bowling. Parker bowled a fantastic 242 in the title match, tossing 10 strikes and making just one poor shot (a 1-3-6-9 that he shakily converted). His other non-strike, in the 7th, looked to me like a case of the lanes changing (hooking more, to be exact) between frames, rather than a bad pitch. Scroggins, like his two previous opponents, finally ran into carry and lane transition issues and never really mounted much of a challenge, allowing Bohn to claim his 32nd career PBA title.
So why is Bohn so underrated, then? He certainly doesn’t suffer from the same issues that have prevented Pete Weber (rubbing voters the wrong way) from claiming a single PBA Player of the Year award during his amazing career. Bohn has two POY honors (the 1999 season and ‘01-’02 season) and four Steve Nagy Sportsmanship Awards, so he is certainly well-liked among voters and his peers. My guess would be that the conventional wisdom on Bohn these days is that he only does well when the left side has an advantage (his last win came on a show featuring all lefties) and that PA and Scroggins (and last year Rhino Page) have posted better records these last few seasons which, of course, happen to have been the period during which the voting was conducted. But the fact remains that the man now owns 32 wins and is one of the greatest ambassadors the sport has ever seen. I guess I’ll just have to live with his 9th place “all-time-great” ranking but I would bet that before he’s through, he’ll end up finishing even higher, most likely in the top 3 or 4, maybe even with an outside chance at numbers 1 or 2. Only time will tell.
Since I’m running long, here are just a few other items of note for this week’s show:
* Noticed the ladies bowled through the commercials. Maybe next time their match could be covered in its entirety and bowl through during some of the early men’s matches instead?
* I liked the old Cheetah pattern better (and not just because I averaged 230 on it in my PBA Experience League this summer…and a combined 180 on the other four patterns to bring the grand total to 190…niiiiiiiiice!)
* Cool trophy! I’d have to say next to the T of C silver cup and the Rolex Submariner in Medford, this one is my third most favorite!
* Rob Stone should sport the “Flock of Seagulls” hairdo next week as punishment for his knowledge of Air Supply’s greatest hits!
* Did you notice PA’s self-talk after Scroggs opened in the 4th frame? These guys (especially the great players) really do feed off of the negative energy of their opponents’ mistakes and use it to heighten their focus. They really are like sharks smelling blood!
* PA and Rhino singing Sweet Caroline! Say it ain’t so Rhino!
What did you think? Please e-mail me with your thoughts on this week’s show at jason@jasonthomasbowling.com and be sure to check out a new interview where I discuss my book “Livin’ the Dream". Also check out my other weekly blog as well as the special “The History of Bowling” episode of The Bowling Show at bowlersparadise.com.
See you next week!