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.
Jason Couch Wins PBA Mark Roth Plastic Ball Championship
The PBA Mark Roth Plastic Ball Championship took place this past week, at AMF Thruway Lanes in Cheektowaga, New York. The four TV finalists included Jason Couch, Tom Smallwood, Parker Bohn III, and Ryan Ciminelli. The first stepladder match had Parker Bohn III up against Tom Smallwood. Parker won a close match, 201-197, and advanced to face Ryan Ciminelli. In another close match, Bohn was able to win, 213-207, and advance to the final match against Jason Couch. Parker was not able to continue his success, and bowed out as Jason Couch overpowered him with a 219 game to beat Parker’s 175.
In winning the Mark Roth Plastic Ball Championship, Couch took home the $20,000 first prize and his 16th career PBA title. This title ended Couch’s 4 year drought and earns him a continuation on his exemption.
Norm Duke Wins U.S. Open
The U.S. Open took place this past week, concluding on Sunday, February 27, 2011. This event is held on the toughest of all of the PBA patterns, the flat U.S. Open pattern. The difficulty of this pattern was shown in the TV finals this weekend.
The first match had two former Collegiate All-Americans and Bowlers of the Year at Saginaw Valley State University in Bill O’Neill and Dan MacLelland. O’Neill was able to take over this match early and won decisively, 204-150. O’Neill went on to bowl against Ryan Shafer in the last Saturday night match. In a close match, Shafer was able to win, 193-183, as O’Neill left a split in the 10th frame. Shafer moved on to bowl against Mika Koivuniemi in the first Sunday match. Both bowlers scored well, but Mika was able to pull ahead and win the match, 236-222, and advance to the semifinals against Tommy Jones. Mika Koivuniemi continued to bowl well, as Jones struggled, and won the match, 241-158.
Mika Koivuniemi went on to face tournament leader Norm Duke in the finals. In a close match that went back and forth, it came down to the 10th frame. Norm Duke threw all strikes in the 9th and 10th frames to force Mika to mark in the 10th. Mika threw a great shot in the 10th, but left a 10 pin. All that was left was to cover the spare and get 8 pins on the fill ball. Off his hand Mika knew he had made a bad shot, as the ball fell into the gutter in front of the 10 pin. Norm Duke had won the match, 225-216, and the tournament.
After the match was over, both bowlers were visibly sick to their stomachs. As Norm Duke was happy to win, his feelings of sympathy toward Mika Koivuniemi strongly overpowered his happiness.
“I sat there stunned, shocked,” Duke said. “I knew I had just won the U.S. Open, but at that moment, my only thought was Mika had just lost. I was just like a fan watching in the living room. How could you not feel badly for him.”
“Mika will be fine, he’ll bounce back. He’s going to be our Player of the Year,” Duke said. “But he’ll never forget that one.”
In winning the U.S. Open, Norm Duke has won his 34th career PBA title and his 7th career PBA Major title.
Ciminelli Wins PBA Earl Anthony Memorial Classic
Patrick Allen bowled great all day, but did not have enough to beat fellow lefty Ryan Ciminelli. The TV finals started off with PA bowling against Tommy Jones. In a very tight match, Allen won 226-223, and went on to face Pete Weber. In another close match, PA defeated Weber, 212-206, and earned his spot in the finals against Ryan Ciminelli. Patrick Allen continued to bowl well, but Ciminelli was too much for him. Ciminelli won the match, 237-215.
Ciminelli, a former USBC Collegiate All-American at Erie Community College has earned his first PBA title by winning the PBA One-A-Day Earl Anthony Memorial Classic. Congratulations to Ryan Ciminelli!
This tournament was bowled on the Earl Anthony Pattern.
Mika Koivuniemi Wins 2011 PBA Tournament of Champions
Several records were set in the 2011 PBA Tournament of Champions this past weekend. Along with the highest prize in a PBA event with $250,000 for first place, the lowest nationally televised game in PBA history.
The telecast started with Mika Koivuniemi taking on Andres Gomez. Mika won a close match, 224-220, to move onto his next match against Tom Daugherty. Daugherty struggled to get going and never gave Mika much of a challenge. On the other hand, Mika Koivuniemi used his great ball reaction and ran the front 11 strikes for a 299 game. Mika won the match, 299 to Daugherty’s record low 100, and moved on to the final match against Tom Smallwood. Mika kept his scoring pace up, throwing 10 of 12 strikes for a 269 game, which was plenty to beat Smallwood’s 207.
In winning the PBA Tournament of Champions, Mika Koivuniemi earned his 3rd PBA major title and his 9th overall PBA title.
Chris Barnes Wins PBA World Championship
The PBA World Championship at South Point Bowling Center in Las Vegas, NV concluded this weekend. The opening match of the TV finals had Chris Barnes bowling against Osku Palermaa. Barnes was able to win the match, 246-176, to advance to the semifinal round against fellow former Wichita State University bowler Sean Rash. Barnes continued to bowl well and won 237-161 to advance to the finals against former SVSU bowler Bill O’Neill. Both bowlers rolled some big scores, but Barnes was victorious, winning 267-237.
Before this event, Chris Barnes had had some trouble bowling on TV. He had done great in the qualifying and matchplay rounds of several events, but couldn’t get over his “TV demons” and finish strong. Winning this event helped Barnes get over that. This is his 13th PBA title and now Barnes has won the “PBA Triple Crown” by winning the U.S. Open, Tournament of Champions, and now the World Championship.
Osku Palermaa Wins Shark Championship
Osku Palermaa came from the #3 spot in the TV finals to win the PBA GEICO Shark Championship. It looked as Jason Belmonte was going to run the table to win the tournament, but he ran into Palermaa in the third round. Belmonte started the TV finals against Mike Fagan, winning 248-223. Belmonte went on to bowl against Tom Smallwood. Belmonte was able to overpower Smallwood and won the match, 208-192, to move on and bowl against fellow two-hander Osku Palermaa. Palermaa won the grueling match, 182-176, and went on to bowl against tournament leader Dan MacLelland as the lanes continued to get tougher. Palermaa was able to win the match, 173-149, as both bowlers struggled on the tough lane conditions. This win gave Osku Palermaa his first PBA Title.
Yong-Jin Gu Wins PBA Scorpion Championship
South Korean Yong-Jin Gu rolled through the TV finals to win the PBA Scorpion Championship. Gu had to climb the ladder to earn the title. The first match had Yong-Jin Gu bowling against Canadian Dan MacLelland, who was an All-American and USBC Collegiate Bowler of the Year at Saginaw Valley State University. Gu won the match, 245-204, and went on to bowl against another SVSU standout, Bill O’Neill. Gu also beat O’Neill, 256-208, to move on to the semifinals against Australian Jason Belmonte. Yong-Jin Gu beat Belmonte, 233-208, and went to the finals against fellow South Korean, Jun-Yung Kim. Gu continued to bowl well, as he had done all day, and beat Kim, 236-224.
This is Yong-Jin Gu’s first PBA title. He had not bowled any PBA events prior to the PBA World Series of Bowling this year.
Scott Norton Wins PBA Chameleon Championship
Scott Norton led the qualifying and matchplay rounds of the PBA Chameleon Championship to earn a spot in the finals on ESPN. The first TV match had Sean Rash bowling against Osku Palermaa. Rash won the match 236-211 and advanced to bowl against Chris Barnes. Rash continued to roll through opponents and won the match, 227-175. Rash went on to bowl against Wes Malott in the semifinals and was able to win, 235-217. This earned him a spot in the finals to bowl against Scott Norton. Norton continued to bowl well, as he did all week, and won the match convincingly, 256-181. This win gave Scott Norton his first PBA Tour title.
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