S&B Pro Shop Takes Lead in Team All-Events, 2nd in Team Event
Michigan’s S&B Pro Shop team took to the lanes this past week in the 2012 USBC Open Championships. They posted a team score of 3277, which was good enough for 2nd place at the time. This score has now been bumped down to 3rd. The S&B team took over the lead in the Team All-Events with a score of 9954. There have been a couple of close runs to their score, but it has been able to hold on to the top spot. The S&B Pro Shop team features several past champions, including Billy Orlikowski, Nick Wissinger, Mark Moore, Kerry Kreft, and Dave Ewald. The video of their team event has been posted.
Who do you think you are??? I AM!!!
In a somewhat embarrassing, but proud moment, Pete Weber showed his intensity while winning his 5th PBA US Open title. Weber defeated Michael Fagan in the final match, and did not hold back any excitement while becoming the first bowler to win 5 US Open titles.
1961 Brunswick Bowling Video
Does anyone remember the good old days? Maybe this video will bring you back. I am not positive, but it looks like this was recorded at Starlite Lanes in Grand Haven, Michigan.
Hudsonville Lanes 12 Game Marathon
Hudsonville Lanes in Hudsonville, Michigan is hosting a 12-game marathon tournament on Saturday, May 12, 2012. This is looking to be a big money event with $60 from each entry going into the prize fund. This is a singles event. ***MyBowlingBlog.com will be donating all of the proceeds from the site from now (January 30, 2012) until the day the event is run (May 12, 2012). This extra money will be added directly into the prize fund. It looks like DV8 bowling will be donating two balls for this event. One will be given as a prize to a bowler, while the other will be raffled off, with all of the proceeds going into the prize fund.
Now what you’ve been waiting for… The Important Details:
Payout – 1 in 5
Entry Fee – $85 ($24 Lineage, $1 Expenses, $60 Prize Fund)
Pots, Brackets, Super Brackets, King of the Hill 1-4, 5-8 games, and 4th/8th game doubles will be available.
Pattern – Modified House Pattern
There will be 15 minute breaks after the 4th and 8th games. Also scores will be tallied up during that point to announce high scores and low to cash scores.
MyBowlingBlog.com is currently working with the tournament directors on obtaining naming rights for this event.
***MyBowlingBlog.com makes most of its money through sales on BowlingBall.com. If you follow the links to BowlingBall.com through my site and make an order, 3% of that revenue generated goes to me. I will be donating all of the income generated from now until the tournament.
2012 USBC Masters TV Finals are Set!
After a week of qualifying and matchplay, the TV finals are set for the 2012 USBC Masters. Earning the top TV spot, going undefeated in match play was Chris Barnes. In Barnes’ final match against Mike Fagan, he finished with an 806 series to seal the deal. Fagan earned the second spot, with his only loss being to Chris Barnes. Having the toughest road to the show was collegiate standout Dan MacLelland. MacLelland lost early in match play, but bounced back and won match after match to earn his spot in the TV finals. Bryon Smith earned the last spot on the telecast. Bryon has been around the PBA for a while, but we haven’t seen much of him lately. This should be a great event, with four great bowlers. This event will air on ESPN at 12:30 PM on Sunday, January 29, 2012.
Lindenwood and Wichita State Win 2012 Blue & Gold Classic
Lindenwood University took home the men’s’ title in the 2012 Blue and Gold Classic with a 9 game total score of 10,005 (1111 Average, 222/man). Lindenwood edged out Saginaw Valley State University by 4 pins, as SVSU finished with a score of 10,001. Rounding out the top 5 included Robert Morris University, Morehead State University, and Wichita State University.
Lindenwood was led by Brad Miller, who finished 4th individually, posting a 9-game score of 2110. The tournament was led by Aaron Lorincz of SVSU with a 9-game total of 2146 (238.4 Average). Rounding out the top 5 were Marshall Kent of RMU (2nd, 2142), Jacob Kent of RMU (3rd, 2133), and Morehead State’s Mike Conn (5th, 2089).
Wichita State University led the women with a 9-game score of 9098 (1010/game, 202/bowler). They edged out Robert Morris University by 1 pin. Lindenwood finished in 3rd, with William Penn University and Florida State University in 4th and 5th.
Wichita State was led by Jazreel Tan (2nd, 1987). Katie Sexton from Robert Morris led all of the women with a 9-game total of 2030. The top 5 also included Amanda Greene from Lindenwood (3rd, 1899), Alejandra Mora from Robert Morris (4th, 1891), and Davenport University’s Reba Wilke (5th, 1856).
Gary Thorne to Take Over Broadcasting Duties for PBA
The Professional Bowlers Association has announced that Gary Thorne will take over for Rob Stone as the play-by-play voice for the PBA on ESPN. Randy Pedersen will stay on doing color commentary for the remainder of the season.
Rob Stone announced that he will be leaving ESPN for Fox Sports to announce soccer games. Stone will stay on for the remainder of the World Series of Bowling Events, as they have already been taped. ESPN chose Thorne to replace him for the rest of the 2011-2012 season. Gary Thorne is most commonly known as a hockey announcer, while doing work on several video games, including NHL ’12.
As I don’t know how much bowling knowledge Gary Thorne brings in, hopefully he can do a good job with PBA broadcasts. It showed time and time again that Rob Stone did not have much knowledge of our game and fans resented him for it. Hopefully Thorne will have a more positive impact on PBA fans and will be accepted as the announcer for our sport.
Belmonte Shoots 300 while advancing to PBA World Championship Finals
Jason Belmonte fired the 21st nationally televised 300 game during the PBA World Championship semifinal rounds. The 300 game earned Belmo a $10,000 bonus and helped him advance to the finals of this event. Belmonte defeated Brian Kretzer, Mike Fagan, and Josh Blanchard to advance out of the Mike Aulby division of the PBA World Championship.
Unfortunately, Belmonte’s 300 wasn’t the biggest “news” to come from the show this week. ESPN chose to magnify Josh Blanchard’s “incident” during the first match. Blanchard had his ball stick on his thumb as he approached the foul line. Because of this, it carried him across, where he slipped on the lane. Throughout the day, ESPN has revisited this event several times, on shows such as Pardon the Interruption, Around the Horn, and even SportsCenter. Am I alone where I think that this is ridiculous of ESPN? You have a guy do something that requires and extreme amount of talent, something that’s only been done 20 other times, meanwhile you focus on the poor aspects of the game. ESPN’s representation of our sport has amazed me. They treat our sport like we’re just a bunch of fat drunks, while they promote other “sports” like poker. While I’ve seen the Blanchard clip (embarrassingly titled “Epic Bowling Fail”) repeated over and over again on their network, I have yet to see one clip of Jason Belmonte’s 300 game. As far as I’m concerned, I think it’s about time the PBA packs its bags and finds a new network that will respect our sport, give it the coverage it deserves, and look to do more promotion of the sport than just sucking every dollar it can out of what it thinks their viewers need to see.
That’s just my 2 cents. If you have any other thoughts, I would love to hear them.
Wichita State Sweeps Las Vegas Invitational
The Wichita State University bowling teams swept the Glenn Carlson Las Vegas Invitational. The Shocker men and women both won the event. Webber International finished second in both the men’s and the women’s divisions.
The men’s side of the tournament was led by WSU’s Geoffrey Young with a 9-game total of 2092. Pikeville’s Lucas Hohnstein finished in second with 2013 and Weber State’s Kasey Kolczak finished third with 1965.
Over on the women’s side, Kim Yioulos from Pikeville College led with a 9-game score of 1932. Midland’s Katie Maher finished second with 1929 and WSU’s Jazreel Tan finished third with 1926.
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