onefrombills
12-19-2008, 11:31 PM
The last official PBA on ESPN show prior to the mid-season break was a holiday extravaganza featuring a number of early gifts (To: Rhino, From: Wes), lots of time with the kids (PB II, III, IV, V and VI?), some respect for our elders (Mark Roth clips and the man himself in the booth and tossing out the first pitch!) and a bunch of holiday cheer (Randy and Rob as giddy as a couple of guys who’d had a few too many egg nogs at the company party). The only thing missing was a Christmas tree (oil pattern, that is…this week we had the Shark).
The show got off to a nice holiday start with Parker Bohn III in the living room of his motor home kissing his kids goodbye as he headed off to work. It then cut to single-guy Rhino Page lugging a bag of heavy balls across the frigid parking lot wrapped in a Storm sweatshirt and stocking cap. It kind of reminded me of the first Rocky film in a way, and I thought it set up the drama of the competition to come very nicely.
After a strong intro segment outlining the day’s action (Randy and Rob looked to be in mid-season form, as they should, given the fact that it is now mid-season) the ladies once again kicked off the action with last week’s champ Carolyn Dorin-Ballard taking on Chameleon Championship runner-up Jodi Woessner. Jodi must have learned her lesson from that previous experience, because she looked as sharp as an ice skate in cutting through the icy oil of the shark pattern with the first six strikes of the match. CDB struggled through the first four frames but a ball change in the 5th sparked a turkey and gave her some hope. A stone-8 in the 8th (prompting a hilarious “whatever” comment from Dorin-Ballard) ended her hopes and Woessner coasted to a 247-189 win.
The win, combined with the prior runner-up finish, certainly proves that Woessner belongs with the talented sweet 16 ladies on Tour, and it also gives her an outside chance at winning the Women’s Player of the Year, which now seems to be a four-woman race between Michelle Feldman, CDB, Stefanie Nation and Woessner.
Moving on to the men, I have to say I was a bit surprised to see three lefties on the show again this week, especially considering the tournament was conducted on the Shark pattern. Since this pattern tends to force the players inside, you would think that since the left-side track area is much less worn than the right, they would have a distinct disadvantage, but I guess when you have the caliber of players like Parker Bohn III, Patrick Allen and tournament-leader Rhino Page, all now riding big waves of confidence after each bowled well last week, anything is possible.
The opening match pitted PA against PB and it turned out to be the best gift (for the audience, that is) of the day. Allen, restoring his usual swagger after last week’s TV appearance, was back to his usual self-talking, opponent-calling-out, crowd-pleasing self. Listening to PA tell himself to “dig in, dig in” on the left lane on key shots was awesome, especially when he kept following his own advice and ripping racks to keep himself in the match. The wicked ringing 7 he left after digging on one like Wolfman Jack on his first shot in the 10th cost him though, and Parker moved on to the semifinal with a 244-233 win.
With that, in stepped this week’s great right hope, PBA Player of the Year front-runner Wes Malott. After now making the show on four of the five pattern championships, Malott was finally rewarded with a beautiful ball reaction, great carry and an easy TV match. His 290 was one of the best games I’ve seen on TV in a long time and only a solid 10-pin in the first frame kept him from rolling the 20th TV perfecto in PBA history. Parker simply lost his carry and could only muster a 204 game, but I cracked up when he flat-7’d late in the game and sarcastically muttered to Big Wes, “Now I got you right where I want you!” But making the show on his least favorite pattern is a good sign for Parker and I’m sure we’ll be seeing him at least a few more times in the second half.
Heading into the title match I was fully convinced that Rhino Page, no matter how Rocky-like he appeared in the intro segment, was about to go in against an invincible opponent. Then Big Wes suddenly transformed from Clubber Lang to Chris Kringle and handed Rhino one of the biggest early Christmas gifts in recent PBA history. After Randy commented that Wes had added to his gaudy 11-in a row semifinal string with a bunch of strikes in the pre-match warm-up, he threw two shots wider than Oprah Winfrey’s new waistline in frames 1 and 2 for two nasty splits (one of which he converted). He then berated himself for not adding tape, then added two pieces (that’s a lot, especially since he uses white tape, which is much thicker than black) and threw a decent shot in the 3rd for a 10-pin…then flagged it. Ooops.
Rhino was having his own trouble, however, and spent the entire game trying to fine-tune his angle into the pins, resulting in a number of pocket hits but not a single double throughout the entire match. Malott finally righted himself after the sluggish start and had a chance to force Rhino to double in the 10th for the title by throwing one of his own. But guess who would show up in the 11th when he really didn’t need him most? Yep. That pesky ringing 10-pin that seems to be following Wes around the country again. All Rhino needed was a mark and good count to lock up his second victory and he got it, putting to rest any thoughts of a sophomore jinx and setting him up for a good second half of the season which will be loaded with lots of pretty major titles (three to be exact) to shoot for.
Other items of note? Here are a few:
Mark Roth saying that the key to becoming a good player for him was learning how to shoot spares? I guess it is important after all!
The final three in the PBA’s All-Time 50 Greatest Players will be Dick Weber, Earl Anthony and Walter Ray Williams, Jr. Who do you think will be #1? Performance-wise, I’d have to go with WRW, but impact-on-the-sport-wise it would have to be Mr. Weber for me.
What’s up with Parker’s cheat sheets? Looked like it was scribbled on a bar napkin! Leslie: Please add a spiral-bound notebook to your hubby’s X-mas list!
Randy to Rob: “Mark Roth wanted me to tell you that it’s called a four bagger.”
Rob to Randy: “I was surprised how many guys have won back-to-back titles. I mean, even Randy’s done it.”
Well, that’s all for this week (and for the first half of the PBA season) ladies and gentlemen. It sure went by fast! I hope you all have a fantastic holiday and New Year and I’ll see you next year when the PBA returns on January 6 from Reno!
The show got off to a nice holiday start with Parker Bohn III in the living room of his motor home kissing his kids goodbye as he headed off to work. It then cut to single-guy Rhino Page lugging a bag of heavy balls across the frigid parking lot wrapped in a Storm sweatshirt and stocking cap. It kind of reminded me of the first Rocky film in a way, and I thought it set up the drama of the competition to come very nicely.
After a strong intro segment outlining the day’s action (Randy and Rob looked to be in mid-season form, as they should, given the fact that it is now mid-season) the ladies once again kicked off the action with last week’s champ Carolyn Dorin-Ballard taking on Chameleon Championship runner-up Jodi Woessner. Jodi must have learned her lesson from that previous experience, because she looked as sharp as an ice skate in cutting through the icy oil of the shark pattern with the first six strikes of the match. CDB struggled through the first four frames but a ball change in the 5th sparked a turkey and gave her some hope. A stone-8 in the 8th (prompting a hilarious “whatever” comment from Dorin-Ballard) ended her hopes and Woessner coasted to a 247-189 win.
The win, combined with the prior runner-up finish, certainly proves that Woessner belongs with the talented sweet 16 ladies on Tour, and it also gives her an outside chance at winning the Women’s Player of the Year, which now seems to be a four-woman race between Michelle Feldman, CDB, Stefanie Nation and Woessner.
Moving on to the men, I have to say I was a bit surprised to see three lefties on the show again this week, especially considering the tournament was conducted on the Shark pattern. Since this pattern tends to force the players inside, you would think that since the left-side track area is much less worn than the right, they would have a distinct disadvantage, but I guess when you have the caliber of players like Parker Bohn III, Patrick Allen and tournament-leader Rhino Page, all now riding big waves of confidence after each bowled well last week, anything is possible.
The opening match pitted PA against PB and it turned out to be the best gift (for the audience, that is) of the day. Allen, restoring his usual swagger after last week’s TV appearance, was back to his usual self-talking, opponent-calling-out, crowd-pleasing self. Listening to PA tell himself to “dig in, dig in” on the left lane on key shots was awesome, especially when he kept following his own advice and ripping racks to keep himself in the match. The wicked ringing 7 he left after digging on one like Wolfman Jack on his first shot in the 10th cost him though, and Parker moved on to the semifinal with a 244-233 win.
With that, in stepped this week’s great right hope, PBA Player of the Year front-runner Wes Malott. After now making the show on four of the five pattern championships, Malott was finally rewarded with a beautiful ball reaction, great carry and an easy TV match. His 290 was one of the best games I’ve seen on TV in a long time and only a solid 10-pin in the first frame kept him from rolling the 20th TV perfecto in PBA history. Parker simply lost his carry and could only muster a 204 game, but I cracked up when he flat-7’d late in the game and sarcastically muttered to Big Wes, “Now I got you right where I want you!” But making the show on his least favorite pattern is a good sign for Parker and I’m sure we’ll be seeing him at least a few more times in the second half.
Heading into the title match I was fully convinced that Rhino Page, no matter how Rocky-like he appeared in the intro segment, was about to go in against an invincible opponent. Then Big Wes suddenly transformed from Clubber Lang to Chris Kringle and handed Rhino one of the biggest early Christmas gifts in recent PBA history. After Randy commented that Wes had added to his gaudy 11-in a row semifinal string with a bunch of strikes in the pre-match warm-up, he threw two shots wider than Oprah Winfrey’s new waistline in frames 1 and 2 for two nasty splits (one of which he converted). He then berated himself for not adding tape, then added two pieces (that’s a lot, especially since he uses white tape, which is much thicker than black) and threw a decent shot in the 3rd for a 10-pin…then flagged it. Ooops.
Rhino was having his own trouble, however, and spent the entire game trying to fine-tune his angle into the pins, resulting in a number of pocket hits but not a single double throughout the entire match. Malott finally righted himself after the sluggish start and had a chance to force Rhino to double in the 10th for the title by throwing one of his own. But guess who would show up in the 11th when he really didn’t need him most? Yep. That pesky ringing 10-pin that seems to be following Wes around the country again. All Rhino needed was a mark and good count to lock up his second victory and he got it, putting to rest any thoughts of a sophomore jinx and setting him up for a good second half of the season which will be loaded with lots of pretty major titles (three to be exact) to shoot for.
Other items of note? Here are a few:
Mark Roth saying that the key to becoming a good player for him was learning how to shoot spares? I guess it is important after all!
The final three in the PBA’s All-Time 50 Greatest Players will be Dick Weber, Earl Anthony and Walter Ray Williams, Jr. Who do you think will be #1? Performance-wise, I’d have to go with WRW, but impact-on-the-sport-wise it would have to be Mr. Weber for me.
What’s up with Parker’s cheat sheets? Looked like it was scribbled on a bar napkin! Leslie: Please add a spiral-bound notebook to your hubby’s X-mas list!
Randy to Rob: “Mark Roth wanted me to tell you that it’s called a four bagger.”
Rob to Randy: “I was surprised how many guys have won back-to-back titles. I mean, even Randy’s done it.”
Well, that’s all for this week (and for the first half of the PBA season) ladies and gentlemen. It sure went by fast! I hope you all have a fantastic holiday and New Year and I’ll see you next year when the PBA returns on January 6 from Reno!