PBA Summer Swing

[vdubtx]

Anyone keeping up with the PBA Summer Swing tournament happening this week?

Some local Dallas area bowlers are doing pretty well. The guy who drilled my First Blood last year is currently sitting in 8th place through 18 games for the Oklahoma Open. Currently sitting in 3rd for the Badger Open today.

Awesome to see some guys you know bowling so well.

[Aslan]

I noticed it on Storm's website calender. I tried to get more information on it but could only find the basics. I'm sure it's an event you need a PBA card to participate in, week long qualifying, maybe a TV event at the end for the finalists??

I wonder why they won't stream the qualifying events on the net.

[vdubtx]

I noticed it on Storm's website calender. I tried to get more information on it but could only find the basics. I'm sure it's an event you need a PBA card to participate in, week long qualifying, maybe a TV event at the end for the finalists??

I wonder why they won't stream the qualifying events on the net.

PBA Wolf Open - LINK (http://www.pba.com/Tournaments/Details/1943) Top 5 already set

PBA Bear Open - LINK (http://www.pba.com/Tournaments/Details/1994) Top 5 already set

PBA Badger Open - LINK (http://www.pba.com/Tournaments/Details/1995) Qualifying in progress

PBA Oklahoma Open - LINK (http://www.pba.com/Tournaments/Details/1998) Not sure exactly on this one.

PBA King of the Swing - LINK (http://www.pba.com/Tournaments/Details/1999) 4 title winners + wild card player stepladder.

They have been streaming all qualifying on PBA Xtra Frame. http://www.xtraframe.tv/pba/

[Aslan]

They have been streaming all qualifying on PBA Xtra Frame. http://www.xtraframe.tv/pba/

CaRP! Looks like that costs $70.

But...good to know! When I someday start bowling in these tournaments, I can let family and friends know to sign up for xtraframe so they can watch me dominate the bowling universe!!

[vdubtx]

CaRP! Looks like that costs $70.

But...good to know! When I someday start bowling in these tournaments, I can let family and friends know to sign up for xtraframe so they can watch me dominate the bowling universe!!

I'm not about to shill out $70 for it unless I am bowling in it either. I am content following along with the updated scoring on PBA and our local bowling facebook groups.

[tccstudent]

I know a at least 3 that are bowling in it.
I am cheering for Will Hoage

[vdubtx]

Keep eye on Anthony Lavery-Spahr, he is in top 5 right now.

[Hampe]

Looks like he dropped down to 12th.....but he's sandwiched between E.J. Tacket, Marshall Kent, Dom Barret, and Chris Barnes, so.....I can imagine he's still pretty proud of himself :)

[vdubtx]

Yep, looks like the 4th and 5th games got him. He was in excellent shape before those.

He has to be super stoked to be bowling in the top 18 over all 3 patterns though. That is quite an accomplishment.

He has a twin brother that was bowling in it as well. He is the nicer of the two though. The brother is a bit quieter. His brother was the PBA Regional rookie of the year I think 2 years ago.

[vdubtx]

Top 18 match play has started. Anthony won his first game against EJ Tackett 236-234.

Anthony is also the only of the 18 that is not sponsored by a ball company. That may change after this week. :cool:

[Hampe]

Wow....that's awesome. I was thinking that this morning; his is the only name I don't recognize in the top 18 :D

[vdubtx]

Here is the live scoring link if anyone interested.

LINK (http://www.pba.com/LiveScoring/RoundRobin_Game_Results.aspx?RoundID=2381&Game=2)

He is up against Sean Rash in game 2.

[Aslan]

THIS IS AWESOME!!

Forget that weird hyphenated guy...MIKA THREW A 300!!! Love me some MIKA!!

AND...Rash got hammered!! Now I just need Belmonte to lose and Mika to face Barnes in the finals and this will be the most awesome event ever!!!

[vdubtx]

WOW!! Through first 6 games of matchplay he is 6-0 averaging 248.67 for the round!! Woohoo!! Go Anthony.

[Jaescrub]

It's right in my back yard. I could not get tickets :(

[Aslan]

Dangit.

Belmonte is back in it and Barnes fell to 6th. Mika is barely holding on after that hot start.

[tccstudent]

Dangit.

Belmonte is back in it and Barnes fell to 6th. Mika is barely holding on after that hot start.Way to go BELMO

[Mudpuppy]

Watched part of the Badger last night - until I fell asleep into the second match. Anyways the intro that they have to this is really cool. I typically fast forward to the action but I find myself watching the intro.

[RobLV1]

After watching the Badger Championship last night, I have to ask myself, "What are they doing"? What is the purpose of taking the same amount of oil that is used on a 40' pattern, and stretching it out to 52'? Bowling center proprietors have to shudder on every shot when they watch professional bowlers lofting the ball 20' down the lane. That can't be good for the lanes, and it's also probably not too good for the young bowlers who look up to these guys who will undoubtedly go out to their home centers and try it for themselves.

[Amyers]

After watching the Badger Championship last night, I have to ask myself, "What are they doing"? What is the purpose of taking the same amount of oil that is used on a 40' pattern, and stretching it out to 52'? Bowling center proprietors have to shudder on every shot when they watch professional bowlers lofting the ball 20' down the lane. That can't be good for the lanes, and it's also probably not too good for the young bowlers who look up to these guys who will undoubtedly go out to their home centers and try it for themselves.

Rob what is the point in lofting the ball that far I always thought it was to delay the hook but why would you want to delay the hook on a 52 foot pattern? Was the pattern that beat up?

[RobLV1]

One of the competitors in the finals, Brian Valenta who is a two-hander who puts half of his thumb in the ball, decided that destroying the pattern was to his advantage because of his ability to throw this very shot. He did this by using a heavily sanded bowling ball during the twenty minutes of practice, causing everyone to have to move left a long way, and very quickly. Personally, I was happy to see that tournament leader Bill O'Neill was able to find a shot around the third arrow to overcome the pattern by coming directly up the back of the ball, to defeat Valenta in the final match. Our sport, at the professional level, is out of control with steroid bowling balls, ball reps, and stupid oil patterns. Personally, I'd like to see PBA matches contested on flat patterns like the Bear pattern last week, where players get no practice on the championship pair before game one begins, and the lanes are re-oiled between each game to keep it the same for everyone. As virtually everything is taped in advance anyway, the extra time to oil the lanes between games should not be a problem. This game of manipulating the oil has really got to stop IMHO.

[MICHAEL]

One of the competitors in the finals, Brian Valenta who is a two-hander who puts half of his thumb in the ball, decided that destroying the pattern was to his advantage because of his ability to throw this very shot. He did this by using a heavily sanded bowling ball during the twenty minutes of practice, causing everyone to have to move left a long way, and very quickly. Personally, I was happy to see that tournament leader Bill O'Neill was able to find a shot around the third arrow to overcome the pattern by coming directly up the back of the ball, to defeat Valenta in the final match. Our sport, at the professional level, is out of control with steroid bowling balls, ball reps, and stupid oil patterns. Personally, I'd like to see PBA matches contested on flat patterns like the Bear pattern last week, where players get no practice on the championship pair before game one begins, and the lanes are re-oiled between each game to keep it the same for everyone. As virtually everything is taped in advance anyway, the extra time to oil the lanes between games should not be a problem. This game of manipulating the oil has really got to stop IMHO.

MAKE it So, number 1!!! ( what tv series LOL) easy one.... Too much manipulating going on in THIS COUNTRY RIGHT NOW!!

[Amyers]

One of the competitors in the finals, Brian Valenta who is a two-hander who puts half of his thumb in the ball, decided that destroying the pattern was to his advantage because of his ability to throw this very shot. He did this by using a heavily sanded bowling ball during the twenty minutes of practice, causing everyone to have to move left a long way, and very quickly. Personally, I was happy to see that tournament leader Bill O'Neill was able to find a shot around the third arrow to overcome the pattern by coming directly up the back of the ball, to defeat Valenta in the final match. Our sport, at the professional level, is out of control with steroid bowling balls, ball reps, and stupid oil patterns. Personally, I'd like to see PBA matches contested on flat patterns like the Bear pattern last week, where players get no practice on the championship pair before game one begins, and the lanes are re-oiled between each game to keep it the same for everyone. As virtually everything is taped in advance anyway, the extra time to oil the lanes between games should not be a problem. This game of manipulating the oil has really got to stop IMHO.

Thanks for the explanation. I agree on the flat patters or the re-oils to often these guys aren't bowling on the pattern they are bowling on the break down. Giving players advantages or disadvantages that should not be there.

[Bunny]

One of the competitors in the finals, Brian Valenta who is a two-hander who puts half of his thumb in the ball, decided that destroying the pattern was to his advantage because of his ability to throw this very shot. He did this by using a heavily sanded bowling ball during the twenty minutes of practice, causing everyone to have to move left a long way, and very quickly. Personally, I was happy to see that tournament leader Bill O'Neill was able to find a shot around the third arrow to overcome the pattern by coming directly up the back of the ball, to defeat Valenta in the final match. Our sport, at the professional level, is out of control with steroid bowling balls, ball reps, and stupid oil patterns. Personally, I'd like to see PBA matches contested on flat patterns like the Bear pattern last week, where players get no practice on the championship pair before game one begins, and the lanes are re-oiled between each game to keep it the same for everyone. As virtually everything is taped in advance anyway, the extra time to oil the lanes between games should not be a problem. This game of manipulating the oil has really got to stop IMHO.


We were thinking the same things as we watched! No practice on the championship pair and re-oil between matches. Seems easy enough and more fair.

We were so rooting for Bill. We don't have anything against Valenta's style, it's just not something we can relate to.

Before Pete came out we wondered what he would try to do. Pete came up short so we wondered what Bill would do. I said that I wished he would just give it the "high hard one." My hubby said, "Fagan would do it." So when Bill came out firing up the 14-15 board we were stoked.

What an exciting match! Good stuff!!

[Aslan]

...they watch professional bowlers lofting the ball 20' down the lane. That can't be good for the lanes, and it's also probably not too good for the young bowlers who look up to these guys who will undoubtedly go out to their home centers and try it for themselves.

Great. Now that I've gotten rid of my loft it is going to be the new "in thing"?? :eek:

[Jaescrub]

I always look forward to what rob post. I'm on the fence about this yes it's sad to see that the lane is being manipulated by a bowler. And that he can use his practice time to adjust the conditions to be more favorable to his playing style. But on the other side of the coin it was fun to see someone be able to fight back and over come that. I guess it is what it is ;)

[RobLV1]

Something else that I didn't mention earlier, is the future of professional bowling, particularly as it relates to television. While the PBA has been trying for many years to make the telecasts appeal to NASCAR fans or wrestling fans with the bright jerseys, etc., I truly believe that the people who watch the PBA telecasts are primarily league bowlers. Now one of the big problems with a show like Tuesday's Badger pattern, is that league bowlers can't relate to it at all. When viewers can't relate, viewers stop watching. Somehow, the PBA needs to get bowling back to something that league bowlers can relate to, or, frankly, there will no longer be a PBA.

[Amyers]

Something else that I didn't mention earlier, is the future of professional bowling, particularly as it relates to television. While the PBA has been trying for many years to make the telecasts appeal to NASCAR fans or wrestling fans with the bright jerseys, etc., I truly believe that the people who watch the PBA telecasts are primarily league bowlers. Now one of the big problems with a show like Tuesday's Badger pattern, is that league bowlers can't relate to it at all. When viewers can't relate, viewers stop watching. Somehow, the PBA needs to get bowling back to something that league bowlers can relate to, or, frankly, there will no longer be a PBA.

Which part wasn't relatable?

[fortheloveofbowling]

Lofting the gutter cap out to 20 feet is something only a small percentage can do. Also the badger pattern itself at 52 feet is something that no one can relate to these days. The fall back shot is not something that we encounter at all anymore.

[Amyers]

Lofting the gutter cap out to 20 feet is something only a small percentage can do. Also the badger pattern itself at 52 feet is something that no one can relate to these days. The fall back shot is not something that we encounter at all anymore.

I figured the lofting was what he is referring to but wanted to be sure

[Mudpuppy]

It was nice to see Bill bring the ball inside and come up with the victory. No one else could come up with anything to compete with Mr. Loft. And the time that Belmo came from last seed to win was entertaining but to me it started to get outplayed and boring - I was routing for everyone except the last seed just to see something different.

I guess I didn't realize or pay attention that he was manipulating the pattern. I used to kind of do the same thing in league play but I wasn't manipulating it against other people - I really wasn't intending to manipulate the oil just on fresh oil I would use a sanded ball for game 1 and I would get better reaction in the oil - once it started hooking too much I would switch to a polished ball. But this seems a little different - he was intentionally trying to gain an advantage by screwing up other people's shots.

[Amyers]

It was nice to see Bill bring the ball inside and come up with the victory. No one else could come up with anything to compete with Mr. Loft. And the time that Belmo came from last seed to win was entertaining but to me it started to get outplayed and boring - I was routing for everyone except the last seed just to see something different.

I guess I didn't realize or pay attention that he was manipulating the pattern. I used to kind of do the same thing in league play but I wasn't manipulating it against other people - I really wasn't intending to manipulate the oil just on fresh oil I would use a sanded ball for game 1 and I would get better reaction in the oil - once it started hooking too much I would switch to a polished ball. But this seems a little different - he was intentionally trying to gain an advantage by screwing up other people's shots.

That was my issue with it if he had continued to throw that sanded ball that he was using in practice I wouldn't have had a problem with it but doing it just to manipulate the shot for yourself is bad sportsmanship in my opinion. I was glad someone beat him I don't know maybe Karma played a role.

[Mudpuppy]

That was my issue with it if he had continued to throw that sanded ball that he was using in practice I wouldn't have had a problem with it but doing it just to manipulate the shot for yourself is bad sportsmanship in my opinion. I was glad someone beat him I don't know maybe Karma played a role.

For sure. I used my dull sanded ball through at least 1 game. I wasn't trying to affect the lanes for other people I was just using the equipment that worked for me - yes it would soak up oil and eventually that allowed me to use my polished ball but I think it's a bit different than what he was doing. And I was doing it on a Friday night beer league not in the PBA, over.