Edwards took in the U.S. Open ESPN telecast – which garnered a 25 percent increase in viewership over the 2011 U.S. Open telecast – during Sunday’s rainout of the Daytona 500.
Weber defeated Mike Fagan 215-214 in the title match last Sunday for a record fifth U.S. Open title at Brunswick Zone-Carolier in North Brunswick, NJ, surpassing his father Dick Weber and Don Carter who won the prestigious tournament four times.
“I got into that a little bit,’’ Edwards said. “It was inspiring. He had to throw a strike, and he did, on his final throw. He won his fifth [U.S. Open] title. Pretty cool.’’
What Weber called “the biggest win of my career” also took the national media and PBA’s electronic communication platforms by storm as well. Other media hits included extensive follow-up coverage by ESPN including air time on Around the Horn, Pardon the Interruption, SportsCenter (Weber’s win was No. 5 on SportsCenter’s top 10 plays), ESPN News and an upcoming interview on ESPN2’s “Dan Le Batard Is Highly Questionable” show.
Pardon the Interruption co-host Tony Kornheiser got a kick out of Weber’s new catch phrase of “Who do you think you are? I am!” during the telecast after throwing the winning shot. ESPN Classic will rerun the historic 69th U.S. Open Monday, March 5 at 11:30 p.m. ET.
Associated Press Stories ran in major newspapers across the country including the New York Times, Washington Post, Newsday, St. Louis Post-Dispatch and USA Today.
Video of Weber’s performance was also featured on AOL, CBS, Yahoo, FoxSports, Deadspin and Huffington Post sites among others.
Weber’s reaction after throwing a strike on the final ball to win has attracted more than 500,000 hits on YouTube in less than three days.
Online bowling channel Xtra Frame on pba.com received a 25 percent increase in subscriptions and pba.com traffic nearly doubled its highest traffic in the last six months.
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