Chris Barnes Gives Back in Chris Barnes Challenge #3
The third Chris Barnes Challenge ended a little differently than the first two. Dave Johnson was the winning bidder, at $400. Dave decided to let his 16 year old son Sean bowl in his place. Later in the week, Jimmy Johnson, the son of the late great Don Johnson, decided to get involved in the action. Jimmy put up his own $400 to challenge Barnes. Chris Barnes beat the other two with his score of 746. Sean Johnson had 566 and Jimmy Johnson had 580. Barnes ended up taking his $800 in winnings and donating it to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. Barnes handed the winnings over to the Johnson family, who have been doing a lot of help to raise money for the foundation. This is nothing new to Barnes, who has a son with juvenile diabetes. Chris and his wife Lynda are active members of the JDRF community in Texas.
John Szczerbinski Cute Picture Fan Page
It looks like the right people have gotten their hands on a picture of John Szczerbinski used for Junior Team USA purposes. Someone found the picture and has posted it on Facebook and created a group for the picture. The Facebook group can be found here. Even big name bowlers like Chris Barnes are fans and he has commented, saying “probably not the first time he has had a ball(s) on his chin!” Feel free to become a fan of the page and see how fast we can help make it grow!
Chris Barnes Challenge #3 Takes Place This Week
Chris Barnes has put himself out there again. The third Chris Barnes Challenge will take place this week, at Sequoia Pro Bowl in Columbus, Ohio. The challenge will take place on Saturday, March 6, at 5:30 PM Eastern Time. The deadline for entries is Thursday, March 4, at 9:00 PM. Barnes has put his $5000 offer up again and whoever can come closest to matching his bet will take him on for that amount in a 3 game total pinfall match. As of right now, the highest bidder is Dave Johnson with his bid of $400.
Jason Belmonte Takes Over Lead in U.S. Open
Jason Belmonte had a huge score of 1493 (+293, 248.83 Average) to take over the lead in the third round of qualifying in the U.S. Open. Belmonte’s final qualifying score was 4117 (+517, 228.72 Average). Qualifying second was David Beres with a score of 3939. Rounding out the top five were Andres Gomez (3920), Chris Barnes (3915), and Bill O’Neill (3914). The field will now be cut to the top 88 bowlers (25% of field) with the cut score being 3594 (-6, 199.67 Average)
The remaining bowlers will bowl 9 games on Friday and cut to the top 24. After cutting to the top 24 bowlers, the remaining bowlers will bowl 24 games of match play Friday night and Saturday.
Bill Scheid Rants About Chris Barnes
Apparently Ebonite International president Bill Scheid is not very happy with how Columbia 300’s biggest name bowler, Chris Barnes, has been bowling once he makes the TV finals. As we all know, Barnes bowls well in almost every event, but has a history of not being able to finish out a tournament once he reaches the finals. Here is a video that someone made showing how Bill reacted to the situation. FYI – This is not a real video of Bill Scheid, but it is one of the funniest videos that I have seen in a long time.
Update (2/25/10): Unfortunately, this video has been removed from YouTube. (Possibly under pressure from Ebonite International, who knows…)
Update (2/28/10): The video has been re-posted. The video was edited to remove some parts that were seen as “very insulting.”
Barnes Wins in Second Chris Barnes Challenge
Back in December, Chris Barnes took on Derek Hartnell in the first Chris Barnes Challenge. Hartnell came from behind to beat Barnes and win the $3200 on the table. This time Barnes took on Shawn Lee from Centennial, Colorado. Lee didn’t have as much luck as Hartnell. Chris Barnes posted a 590 series to beat Shawn Lee’s 480 and win the $2000. Both bowlers had problems playing the lanes, saying that they had to play each lane differently. Barnes used this to his advantage and says that it was also good practice for next week’s U.S. Open.
Bidder Found for Second Chris Barnes Challenge
The second Chris Barnes Challenge presented by Columbia 300 will take place this Saturday, February 19, 2010 at 9:00 PM Eastern Time. Shawn Lee of Centennial, Colorado put up a bid of $1000. Shawn Lee’s $1000 bid will be matched by Chris Barnes in a three game total pins match. Shawn is a former collegiate bowler from the University of Nebraska, so he knows all about bowling under pressure on difficult patterns. Good luck to both bowlers!
Second Chris Barnes Challenge Set to Take Place
The second Chris Barnes Challenge is set to take place on Saturday, February 20, 2010 at 6:00 PM Eastern Time. Chris Barnes will take on the highest bidder (Up to $5,000). This event will take place at Brunswick Zone-Wheat Ridge in Wheat Ridge, Colorado. Challengers have until 7:00 PM Eastern Time to post their bids. The match will be aired on PBA Xtra Frame.
The first Chris Barnes Challenge took place in Wichita, Kansas in December of 2009. Derek Hartnell was the winning bidder and bowled against Barnes. Hartnell won the match and the $3,200 ($1600 each).
Walter Ray Wins USBC Masters
Walter Ray Williams, Jr. has won his second career USBC Masters title. Walter Ray defeated top qualifier Chris Barnes by a score of 290-217. His first Masters title also came at the hands of Chris Barnes, in 2004. Walter Ray now has eight major titles, tied with Mike Aulby and Pete Weber. Earl Anthony is the only bowler with more, which he has 10 major titles.
To start of the TV finals, Ryan Ciminelli took on Mike Scroggins. Ciminelli won the match, 246-229, and went on to take on Walter Ray Williams, Jr. Walter Ray won that match, 258-224, to go on and face Chris Barnes. In winning the Masters, Walter Ray also takes home $50,000.
See which equipment the pros were using on my InTheBag page for the USBC Masters.
Chris Barnes Earns #1 Seed for USBC Masters TV Finals
Chris Barnes went undefeated in matchplay this week to earn the #1 seed for the TV finals of the USBC Masters. Barnes defeated Walter Ray Williams, Jr. to earn the top seed. Walter Ray earned the #2 seed by winning all of his matches until facing Barnes. Ryan Ciminelli and Mike Scroggins earned the #3 and #4 seeds by winning their ways out of the losers bracket.
In the opening match of the stepladder TV finals, Ciminelli and Scroggins will face off. The winner of that match will go on to bowl against Walter Ray Williams, Jr. This winner will face Barnes in the final round.
