Team GEICO with Lumber Liquidators Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) stars Patrick Allen, Mika Koivuniemi, Mike Wolfe, Brad Angelo, reigning Player of the Year Wes Malott and 2007-08 Player of the Year Chris Barnes took home the $108,000 first prize by winning the GEICO PBA Team Shootout hosted by Six Flags.
Team GEICO, which advanced to the championship round with a 6-2 match play
record, swept the three-match championship round which consisted of singles,
Baker format doubles and Baker team matches. The singles and doubles contests were worth one point and the team event two points.
In the opening singles round, Barnes defeated Team Bayer’s Rhino Page, 224-189, after Team Bayer (Page, Tommy Jones, Michael Fagan, Bill O’Neill, Sean Rash and Jason Belmonte) earned its way into the championship round when Team GEICO defeated Team Lumber Liquidators (Parker Bohn III, Walter Ray Williams Jr., Pete Weber, Norm Duke, Steve Jaros and Mike Scroggins) in the final round-robin match, 206-205.
Bayer and Lumber Liquidators finished match play with 3-5 records, but Team
Bayer won the total pinfall tie-breaker. In the one-game doubles round where players alternated frames, Wolfe and Koivuniemi defeated Jones and Australian two-handed phenom Belmonte, 210-194.
Team Bayer’s only hope was to win the team match to force a 2-2 tie and a
roll-off, but the future stars team fell short, 221-207. Barnes sealed the win
for Team GEICO by striking on the first ball in the 10th frame.
“From early on in the tournament we worked well together,” said Barnes, GEICO’s captain. “With this team it was tough to make any bad calls in regard to determining a lineup that would match up with various (lane conditioning)
patterns. Patrick (Allen) not only bowled well, but was very helpful in making
some of those decisions.
“We all knew it was very important to get off to a quick start and get as big a
lead as possible in each game with the ‘Endless 10th Frame,’” Barnes continued.
“If the other team earned that bonus you wanted to make it very hard for them to catch up.”
The novel “Endless 10th Frame” gave teams that were behind in matches a chance to catch up with bonus strikes. While the bonus system came into play in a few matches, it didn’t impact the eventual outcome.
The GEICO PBA Team Shootout consisted of 12 round-robin, Baker-format matches leading to the championship round. The third annual made-for-TV event televised by ESPN was conducted outdoors on specially-constructed lanes at the Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson, N.J.
Monday, July 13, 2009
Friday, July 10, 2009
Roto Grip Nomad Contest
The Roto Grip introduction of their new Nomads includes a contest to win a new Nomad. Click the picture and you will be redirected to the Roto Grip website.
New Exec Director of BPAA Named
The Bowling Proprietors' Association of America (BPAA) announced today that it has appointed Steven D. Johnson to serve as its Executive Director, effective August 3, 2009.
In this role, Johnson will lead association efforts to help the $10 billion bowling industry build upon its resurgence in popularity and maintain continued increases in consumer participation through a strategic vision that includes further domestic and international growth, as well as expanded partnership marketing and nonprofit initiatives.
In this role, Johnson will lead association efforts to help the $10 billion bowling industry build upon its resurgence in popularity and maintain continued increases in consumer participation through a strategic vision that includes further domestic and international growth, as well as expanded partnership marketing and nonprofit initiatives.
Thursday, July 9, 2009
AMF Introduces New Balls at BowlExpo
The new AMF Sideways starts with symmetric core technology generating Radius of Gyration (RG) of 2.56 (in 15#s) with an RG Differential of 0.055. The Blue/Silver cover of “F 75” reactive resin is finished at 600 grit sandpaper with 2000 grit polish. AMF describes the high performance Sideways as extreme skid/flip.
The new mid price AMF Clutch wraps an Asymmetric Core, of 2.56 
RG, with RG Differential of 0.044. The Navy/Gold coverstock “F55” Reactive resin is finished at 4000 Abralon with Buff.
The ne
w AMF Smoke is a combo of balls joining the Angles and Orbit Extremes in the Entry Level category. Featureing three piece symmetric cores with a high RG of 2.67 and Differential of 0.024 with flare potential of 2-3 inches (obviously driven by bowlers rev rate), the Smoke billows in a green/black or purple/red cover color. Coverstock is “F28” Reactive resin, finished with 600 grit sandpaper with 2000 Grit Polish.
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Champs Crowned in USBC Woman's Event
After 100 days, the 2009 United States Bowling Congress (USBC) Women’s Championships came to a close at the National Bowling Stadium in Reno, NV on Sunday. A total of 8,330 fiveplayer teams competed.
Together Once Again of Keller, TX, found itself in familiar territory, claiming the title in Classic Team event for the second straight time in Reno. Together Once Again totaled 3322, the third-highest team series in tournament history.
Michelle Feldman of Auburn, NY, took home the Classic Singles crown by firing the highest series in Women’s Championships history. She put together games of 279, 249 and 288 for an 816 series on April 24. Kendra Gaines of Orlando, FL,
previously held the record with 812, rolled during the 2000 tournament, also in Reno.
Feldman, who won two Professional Bowler's Association (PBA) Women’s Series events this season, became just the fourth bowler to roll an 800 series at the Women’s Championships.
USBC/WIBC Hall of Famer Robin Romeo of Newhall, CA, also accomplished the feat this year, tossing an 805 series the same week to help her team to a runner-up finish with 3286.
Romeo’s momentum carried over to doubles and singles. She added 689 in doubles and 678 in singles and helped her to the Classic All-Events title. She finished with a 2172 all-events total, the second-highest in tournament history. Only Leanne Barrette-Hulsenberg of Elk Grove, CA, has posted a higher number, shooting 2231 at the 2005 event in Tulsa, OK.
Look for a full report in the August issue of Bowlers Journal International.
Together Once Again of Keller, TX, found itself in familiar territory, claiming the title in Classic Team event for the second straight time in Reno. Together Once Again totaled 3322, the third-highest team series in tournament history.
Michelle Feldman of Auburn, NY, took home the Classic Singles crown by firing the highest series in Women’s Championships history. She put together games of 279, 249 and 288 for an 816 series on April 24. Kendra Gaines of Orlando, FL,
previously held the record with 812, rolled during the 2000 tournament, also in Reno.
Feldman, who won two Professional Bowler's Association (PBA) Women’s Series events this season, became just the fourth bowler to roll an 800 series at the Women’s Championships.
USBC/WIBC Hall of Famer Robin Romeo of Newhall, CA, also accomplished the feat this year, tossing an 805 series the same week to help her team to a runner-up finish with 3286.
Romeo’s momentum carried over to doubles and singles. She added 689 in doubles and 678 in singles and helped her to the Classic All-Events title. She finished with a 2172 all-events total, the second-highest in tournament history. Only Leanne Barrette-Hulsenberg of Elk Grove, CA, has posted a higher number, shooting 2231 at the 2005 event in Tulsa, OK.
Look for a full report in the August issue of Bowlers Journal International.
Bill Taylor Dead at the Age of 84
from "Bowlers Journal International" e-Bowler Newsletter
Bill Taylor, the groundbreaking ball driller, instructional icon and the man who tilted at some of the industry’s biggest windmills, died on his birthday June 30 in Monrovia, Calif. He was 84.
Taylor was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease in March, although his family first noticed signs late last year. At least one family member said he died because of complications from the disease, including kidney failure.
Taylor was a thorn in the side to most of the American Bowling Congress hierarchy, but was always ready to back up his arguments with documentation
and research. He first gained widespread notice when he published two pamphlets about what he called “super soft conditions” in the early 1960s, and was described at various times as a genius, pest, savior, gadfly, savant and opportunist.
He was voted as one of coaching’s “pioneers” by Strike Ten Entertainment,
and was recognized as such at Bowl Expo 2009.
Bill Taylor, the groundbreaking ball driller, instructional icon and the man who tilted at some of the industry’s biggest windmills, died on his birthday June 30 in Monrovia, Calif. He was 84.
Taylor was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease in March, although his family first noticed signs late last year. At least one family member said he died because of complications from the disease, including kidney failure.
Taylor was a thorn in the side to most of the American Bowling Congress hierarchy, but was always ready to back up his arguments with documentation
and research. He first gained widespread notice when he published two pamphlets about what he called “super soft conditions” in the early 1960s, and was described at various times as a genius, pest, savior, gadfly, savant and opportunist.
He was voted as one of coaching’s “pioneers” by Strike Ten Entertainment,
and was recognized as such at Bowl Expo 2009.
GEICO PBA Team Shootout
The GEICO PBA Team Shootout Hosted by Six Flags heads down the
homestretch this Sunday when the championship rounds of the made-for-TV
event air beginning at 1 p.m. Eastern on ESPN. The winning team will share in
a $108,000 first prize.
After week 3, Team GEICO (Chris Barnes, reigning PBA Player of the Year Wes
Malott, Patrick Allen, Mika Koivuniemi, Mike Wolfe and Brad Angelo) clinched a
berth in the championship round with a 5-2 match play record.
Sunday’s opening telecast will be the final round-robin match that will
determine whether Team Lumber Liquidators (Parker Bohn III, Walter Ray
Williams Jr., Pete Weber, Norm Duke, Steve Jaros and Mike Scroggins) or Team
Bayer (Tommy Jones, Rhino Page, Michael Fagan, Bill O’Neill, Sean Rash and
Jason Belmonte) will advance to the championship round to battle Team GEICO
in a series of singles, doubles and Baker-style team matches.
Team Lumber Liquidators goes into the final round robin match vs. Team
GEICO with a 3-4 record while Team Bayer has concluded the round robin
portion of the event with a 3-5 record. Team Lumber Liquidators would advance
to the championship round with a win over Team GEICO. Should Team Lumber
Liquidators lose that match, thus leaving them with an identical 3-5 match play
record as Team Bayer, a total pinfall tie-breaker will be used. In that instance,
the team with the highest actual team pinfall over the round robin portion of the
event will advance to the championship round.
Throughout the tournament, all three teams bowled on a variety of PBA lane
conditioning patterns with the top two teams based on match play record
advancing to the championship rounds.
Conducted outdoors on specially-constructed lanes at New Jersey’s Six Flags
Great Adventure theme park, three of the best teams ever assembled competed
in a Baker Scoring System format which requires five members of the team to roll
two frames in one game combining for one score.
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