If you watched the PBA Hall of Fame Classic, what did you learn?

[RobLV1]

Chris Barnes shot 258-254 to win the first two games, before shooting 169 to lose to Tommy Jones who shot 190. The shot had gone away. Then Jones comes back from his 190 game to shoot 300 to wine the title. What did you learn from watching this?

[SoonerSean29]

Speed control. TJ moved left and slowed down. Barnes should have stayed right and kept his speed up. Or, moved left with a "weaker" resin ball

[GrumpyCatFace]

It’s very deceptive to watch. TJ always looks like he’s just slamming the ball as hard as he can.

[boatman37]

***SPOILER ALERT***


If I was good enough to know that I would have been on the show with them but my gut tells me you needed to be inside where the urethane had been thrown. Oddly TJ struggled hard on the right lane (the lane where the urethane had been thrown) so Tang made him finish there. Turns out TJ figured that lane out. I like Tang and wanted him to win but once TJ had that 300 going I was pulling for him. And for the record Tang rolled a 237 or so so he wasn't shabby by any means. Just the luck of the draw.

[GrumpyCatFace]

Tang rolled two 300s in qualifying to get the top seed. He’s no slouch.

[boatman37]

Tang rolled two 300s in qualifying to get the top seed. He’s no slouch.

Saw that. Tang is on the Brad and Kyle youtube channel all the time. That's where I got to see his personality and want to see him do good (not that TJ doesn't seem like a nice guy either but I like seeing underdogs and newcomers do well). But they said in the video the other day that he had tied the record for 300's in a 7 game set with 2.

[ALazySavage]

I need to re-watch it since the first time I wasn't able to just sit down and really observe what was going on - more of watching people execute and score following.

(a) Make sure to have the live show record and not a replay or you may miss some of the telecast when they have to adjust the time due to it going over.
(b) We talk so much on these boards about the concepts of urethane, carry down, surface, etc. and this gives you a side by side example of the differences between urethane exclusive breakdown vs. reactive breakdown. Pros do break down lanes faster than us (rev rate, speed, accuracy), but watch how quickly this happens on the right lane.
(c) Barnes makes the comment of the show when he mentions getting to the spot. I'll pay more attention when I re-watch but when he misses big against Tommy Jones on the right lane I did notice that the breakpoint board was the same as the "ideal line" 3.9; so when he is missing this spot it isn't just left to right, but also back to front (a lane ratio length to width is 17.1 so the graphic will not correctly show depth). This is what I believe makes this shot so difficult (and Jones' feat even more impressive); at the point with all of the surface the fronts are torn apart but at the same time you really can't go with something that conserves energy because the pattern is so short you have to control the breakpoint. Additionally you can't stay right and throw it harder because you are just going to skate the breakpoint and come in light(especially if there is carry down [remember, professional bowlers hitting the same spot over and over with low flare urethane, high ball speeds, high rev rates hitting a very small spot on the lanes - this is not the typical league scenario]). What this appears to leave (and I'm not bowling on it so I can only guess like the rest of us) is a situation where you have to go around the shot on an over/under condition with equipment that isn't made to recover, not the scenario that lends itself to scoring.
(d) you give a professional a little bit of time they will most likely figure out the lanes... and this is a reminder when we are out there most likely there is a shot to be found - although we hear about the alternative a lot more.

All in all that was an amazing show and really gives a perspective of what can happen on the lanes.

[RobLV1]

Great response! To put it in a nutshell; Chris Barnes, one of the greatest bowlers of our time, shoots 258 to win, 254 to win, then 169 to lose! Tommy Jones shoots 190 to win, then 300 to win. Cannot help but notice how fast the lanes went to cr*p, and how these great bowlers were able to adjust... and they did it with barely a ball change. Maybe we should learn to adjust more, and cry less?

[Hammer]

Chris bowls a 258 and then a 254 and falls off the cliff with a 169. Is it just me or did it look like Chris wasn't adjusting to what the lanes were giving him. It looked like he stayed with the same adjustment and it killed him. He needed a ball change or go and play deeper. Maybe the ball he had wouldn't let him play deeper. Going from high games to a disaster game happens to all of us. I was pulling for TJ to make that 300 game. I was glad he won.