What's in a bowling ball? Gil Sanchez Gil Sanchez, for the news & messenger Published: December 30, 2009 Updated: December 30, 2009 Christmas Day has come and gone, and tomorrow we start a brand new year.

IF YOU DRIFT too far to your right on the approach, miss your mark by a few boards and don't have enough action on the ball, you'll have to hope to crossover for a Brooklyn and hope you aren't left with a lily or a sleeper.

IF YOU DRIFT too far to your right on the approach, miss your mark by a few boards and don't have enough action on the ball, you'll have to hope to crossover for a Brooklyn and hope you aren't left with a lily or a sleeper.

Since you liked my Top 10 PBA Stories of 2009 so much, how about we kick it up a notch and do the same thing for the entire decade?

Yes, the first decade of the new millennium is about to be history and, for me, it's a bit of a full circle moment. That's because when the decade started, I'd just bought an engagement ring for my fiance and had just taken a job working for...drum roll please...the "new" PBA! Now, at the end of the decade, I've recently taken a job working for the PBA and just bought a bigger diamond (that I can barely afford...did I mention I'm working for less money now than I made when I started with the PBA?) for my wife for our ten-year anniversary.

Of course, with all the stuff that's happened over the past ten years, I'm much more likely to make a big mistake on this list either by omitting some important event or ranking the ones I do include in the "wrong" order. Oh well, if there's one thing that ten years of marriage has taught me, it's that being wrong usually happens more often than not (or always, in cases when the person on the opposite side of the argument is your spouse). Before I get into too much trouble now, here's my list:

#10
PBA and ESPN establish regular Sunday afternoon time slot
Yeah, so it's up against the NFL, but who else can consistently grab a .6 to a 1.5 rating consistently against the No Fun League juggernaut? The answer? NO ONE!

That's why the PBA on ESPN has become a solid Sunday staple for the total sports network, and why the network's been so willing to sign off on so many great made-for-TV spinoffs like the Roll to Riches, the Six Flags Summer Series and the King of Bowling.

The other great thing about the PBA on ESPN every Sunday is that, like the NFL, it is better positioned to take advantage of a large number of viewers watching at an appointed time. Ask any TV exec and they'll tell you that the key to building a show's following is a consistent time slot. For 10 years, the PBA has had just that, thanks to it's partnership with ESPN.

#9
PBA.com utilizes web as broadcasting vehicle with Strike Pass, (now Xtra Frame)
True story: I spoke with Chris Peters about "webcasting" on a Friday night back in 2000, and when he came into the office the next Monday he had it all figured out. A few months later, the PBA was one of the first sports leagues to be broadcasting it's events live over the internet.

Like just about every other league, the PBA and its die-hard fans experienced many bumps along the road, and subscriber levels went up and down like the needle on a California seismograph.

But with the World Series of Bowling, the PBA rolled out a product that worked flawlessly, looked fantastic, and gave fans more bowling coverage than they could ever possibly hope to watch (not without costing them their job, marriage or social life, that is). And guess what? Fans are flocking back like ladies behind Brian Voss' pair.

#8
Kelly Kulick becomes first woman to earn PBA Tour exemption
The folding of the ladies professional tour in 2003 was undoubtedly one of the worst stories in all of sports during the past decade.

But it did lead to the PBA opening its membership to women, who took little time in proving their ability to compete with the men on an equal playing field.

In 2006, a 29 year-old three-time Collegiate Bowler of the Year named Kelly Kulick qualified for an exemption to compete on the PBA Tour during the 2006-2007 season. Juggling an unbridled schedule of interviews and media requests wherever she went, Kulick competed admirably, cashing in 17 of the 19 events in which she bowled. Although her performance failed to earn her another season on Tour, her story and her accomplishments inspired women, men, girls and boys for an entire season.

#7
Pete Weber’s romp through the media
The first official season of the "new" PBA...let's be honest...was not going so well heading into the Great Lakes Classic in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The scores were down in the dumps (thanks to a new commitment to "Sport" compliant oil patterns), the players were visibly nervous on TV (thanks to a heap of expectations and pressure not to disappoint) and Koko Taylor had taken a metaphorical butcher knife to the National Anthem in Peoria just one week after 9/11.

Enter Pete Weber and his sunglasses. Sporting a new look and the same old attitude, Weber absolutely electrified the crowd on hand and on TV with a 299 game. Of course, many players had bowled 299 on TV in the past (and even 300 for that matter) but the way in which Weber did it was more performance art than bowling. He fist-pumped, he shouted, he ran out shots, he yelled at the crowd, and he introduced what I believe is the first official "finish move" that any bowler in history has ever "trademarked."

Running off to the right after a strike on the left lane, Weber slid toward the audience, put his hands up high, then thrust them down, slapping the front of his thighs just adjacent to his crotch, before spreading his arms back open wide with his palms facing the ceiling. The move (to the dismay of puritanical PBA fans who've always complained about anything that would "further degrade the image of bowling") was later dubbed the "crotch chop" but, after the win, as if to put an exclamation point on the entire magnetic performance, Weber uttered the now famous line, "I'm back and I AM P-D-W."

ESPN's Sportscenter ran highlights of every TV finals of every tournament for the rest of the season and PDW appeared on just about every major sports talk program for the next several months, gaining more media attention for the PBA than it had experienced in years.

#6
The deaths of Earl Anthony and Dick Weber
The PBA has produced no two stars bigger than Anthony and Weber and, to our misfortune, we lost both in a span of less than four years.

In 2001, the news of Anthony's death from an accidental fall shocked not just the bowling community, but the world, and received coverage in Newsweek, Time Magazine and countless other major media outlets. The all-time titles champ (at the time) was one of the great ambassadors of the sport, and a tournament was immediately named after the legendary lefty, which is still on the PBA Tour schedule today.

Just four years later, the the world lost another bowling giant in Dick Weber, who was the man who probably had the most to do with the growth of popularity in bowling in the '50's, '60's, '70's and beyond than any other person in the sport.

Like Arnold Palmer in golf, Weber brought an aura of class, grace and elegance to a sport that people often looked down upon and, because of his tireless efforts to promote bowling throughout the world, it is often said that every player should donate a portion of their winnings to Weber just for the opportunities that he created for bowling to even exist at the competitive level. There will never be another one like him again.

#5
All-Exempt Tour
Does anyone still remember the days when any old 200 average bowler could plunk down their $500 and step onto the lanes to compete against Walter Ray, Duke, Voss and Weber for a PBA title? Those days ended in 2003 when the exempt Tour was instituted by the Steve Miller-led PBA.

Since the change was made, all standard PBA events now consist of a 64-player field (each receiving a guaranteed check) made up mostly of exempt touring players, and a handful of qualifiers and/or special invitees. While some detractors saw this as "taking away a lot of players' dreams" others saw it as preventing a lot of yay-hoos (like two MIT guys who averaged 130 in the U.S. Open in the early part of the decade) from mucking up the quality level of the competition. Plus now, to make it on Tour as an exempt player actually means you've achieved something (just ask guys like Tom Smallwood and Ryan Ciminelli). Or as the colorful ex-PBA CEO Miller once famously said, "If you don't like it, don't bowl."

#4
50th Anniversary gala brings together the 50 greatest players in PBA history
When players of the stature and experience of Johnny Petraglia and Del Ballard Jr. say that an event is the "greatest thing they've ever been a part of in bowling," it must be something pretty special. That's exactly what happened at the 2008 Tournament of Champions, where the PBA threw a party to celebrate the 50 greatest players in Tour history to commemorate the PBA's 50th year in existence.

Nearly every last player named to the 50 greatest list (plus numerous writers, past employees, TV personalities and other luminaries) were in attendance at the black tie affair, which took place in Las Vegas during the T of C.

Earning top honors as the greatest of all was the late Earl Anthony, who edged Walter Ray Williams Jr. in a vote by the sport's most respected journalists. It is about as unlikely as the sun not rising tomorrow that such a gathering of bowling greats will ever be seen again.

#3
Walter Ray breaks Earl’s all-time titles record
After chasing the legend for more than two decades, the great Walter Ray Williams, Jr. finally surpassed Earl Anthony's record of 41 career PBA titles.

With a commanding victory over Pete Weber in the 2006 Dydo Japan Cup, Williams became the PBA's most prolific winner with his 42nd career win. After the win, Williams said, "You have to have breaks along the way any time you win out here...fortunately I had a lot of good breaks this week. It was kind of silly." Yeah, and even though the man himself is too humble to say it, it may also have had something to do with the fact that Walter Ray has been really, really good for a really, really long time.

#2
Denny’s becomes PBA Tour's first title sponsor, followed by Lumber Liquidators
In this day and age, everything from sports stadiums to space on the windshields of folks' personal automobiles are sold to sponsors. In 2005, the PBA Tour joined the club with Denny's as its multi-million dollar suitor.

The ubiquitous restaurant chain seemed a perfect fit for the Tour and sponsored the league for three seasons before wholesale flooring chain Lumber Liquidators picked up the torch as title sponsor in 2008.

The jury is still out as to which sponsor put out the better bowling-themed TV commercial. Is it Walter Ray Williams Jr.'s famous "egg-drop" Denny's spot? Or those cute Lumber Liquidators ads featuring Parker Bohn III and his wife Leslie? Only time will tell I guess.

#1
PBA purchased by ex-Microsoft execs
And the biggest PBA story of the past ten years is one that actually occurred in the first year of the decade (makes it kind of like a movie winning the Best Picture Oscar after being released in January...a rare feat indeed). This story is so big, that if it weren't for this one, NONE of the other nine (plus any of the other ones that I am no doubt neglecting) would have even taken place.

Yes, I'm talking about the purchase of the PBA (and rescue from imminent bankruptcy) by three ex-Microsoft execs from Seattle in 2000. Led by bowling fan Chris Peters, the high-net-worth triumvirate purchased the league and, with the help of a few ex-Nike sports marketing executives, began rebuilding the PBA to meet the demands of an audience that demanded so much more entertainment value than it had when the league was formed back in 1958.

Ten years later, the PBA is still here, chasing the new owners' and leadership group's stated mission of becoming the next global emerging sport. But more importantly for us fans of the PBA and the sport of bowling, without the Microsoft guys stepping in, we'd have to (gulp!) find something else to do on Sunday afternoons (church? ick! football? even worse!) during the winter and early spring. And for that they've definitely earned the top spot on my and, no doubt, every other bowling fan's list.

Well folks, that's all for me for the year and the decade. But fear not fellow bowling junkies, the second half of the Tour season is less than two weeks away and that means lots more live coverage on pba.com, Xtra Frame and ESPN. Happy New Year everyone!

Since you liked my Top 10 PBA Stories of 2009 so much, how about we kick it up a notch and do the same thing for the entire decade?

Yes, the first decade of the new millennium is about to be history and, for me, it's a bit of a full circle moment. That's because when the decade started, I'd just bought an engagement ring for my fiance and had just taken a job working for...drum roll please...the "new" PBA! Now, at the end of the decade, I've recently taken a job working for the PBA and just bought a bigger diamond (that I can barely afford...did I mention I'm working for less money now than I made when I started with the PBA?) for my wife for our ten-year anniversary.

Of course, with all the stuff that's happened over the past ten years, I'm much more likely to make a big mistake on this list either by omitting some important event or ranking the ones I do include in the "wrong" order. Oh well, if there's one thing that ten years of marriage has taught me, it's that being wrong usually happens more often than not (or always, in cases when the person on the opposite side of the argument is your spouse). Before I get into too much trouble now, here's my list:

#10
PBA and ESPN establish regular Sunday afternoon time slot
Yeah, so it's up against the NFL, but who else can consistently grab a .6 to a 1.5 rating consistently against the No Fun League juggernaut? The answer? NO ONE!

That's why the PBA on ESPN has become a solid Sunday staple for the total sports network, and why the network's been so willing to sign off on so many great made-for-TV spinoffs like the Roll to Riches, the Six Flags Summer Series and the King of Bowling.

The other great thing about the PBA on ESPN every Sunday is that, like the NFL, it is better positioned to take advantage of a large number of viewers watching at an appointed time. Ask any TV exec and they'll tell you that the key to building a show's following is a consistent time slot. For 10 years, the PBA has had just that, thanks to it's partnership with ESPN.

#9
PBA.com utilizes web as broadcasting vehicle with Strike Pass, (now Xtra Frame)
True story: I spoke with Chris Peters about "webcasting" on a Friday night back in 2000, and when he came into the office the next Monday he had it all figured out. A few months later, the PBA was one of the first sports leagues to be broadcasting it's events live over the internet.

Like just about every other league, the PBA and its die-hard fans experienced many bumps along the road, and subscriber levels went up and down like the needle on a California seismograph.

But with the World Series of Bowling, the PBA rolled out a product that worked flawlessly, looked fantastic, and gave fans more bowling coverage than they could ever possibly hope to watch (not without costing them their job, marriage or social life, that is). And guess what? Fans are flocking back like ladies behind Brian Voss' pair.

#8
Kelly Kulick becomes first woman to earn PBA Tour exemption
The folding of the ladies professional tour in 2003 was undoubtedly one of the worst stories in all of sports during the past decade.

But it did lead to the PBA opening its membership to women, who took little time in proving their ability to compete with the men on an equal playing field.

In 2006, a 29 year-old three-time Collegiate Bowler of the Year named Kelly Kulick qualified for an exemption to compete on the PBA Tour during the 2006-2007 season. Juggling an unbridled schedule of interviews and media requests wherever she went, Kulick competed admirably, cashing in 17 of the 19 events in which she bowled. Although her performance failed to earn her another season on Tour, her story and her accomplishments inspired women, men, girls and boys for an entire season.

#7
Pete Weber’s romp through the media
The first official season of the "new" PBA...let's be honest...was not going so well heading into the Great Lakes Classic in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The scores were down in the dumps (thanks to a new commitment to "Sport" compliant oil patterns), the players were visibly nervous on TV (thanks to a heap of expectations and pressure not to disappoint) and Koko Taylor had taken a metaphorical butcher knife to the National Anthem in Peoria just one week after 9/11.

Enter Pete Weber and his sunglasses. Sporting a new look and the same old attitude, Weber absolutely electrified the crowd on hand and on TV with a 299 game. Of course, many players had bowled 299 on TV in the past (and even 300 for that matter) but the way in which Weber did it was more performance art than bowling. He fist-pumped, he shouted, he ran out shots, he yelled at the crowd, and he introduced what I believe is the first official "finish move" that any bowler in history has ever "trademarked."

Running off to the right after a strike on the left lane, Weber slid toward the audience, put his hands up high, then thrust them down, slapping the front of his thighs just adjacent to his crotch, before spreading his arms back open wide with his palms facing the ceiling. The move (to the dismay of puritanical PBA fans who've always complained about anything that would "further degrade the image of bowling") was later dubbed the "crotch chop" but, after the win, as if to put an exclamation point on the entire magnetic performance, Weber uttered the now famous line, "I'm back and I AM P-D-W."

ESPN's Sportscenter ran highlights of every TV finals of every tournament for the rest of the season and PDW appeared on just about every major sports talk program for the next several months, gaining more media attention for the PBA than it had experienced in years.

#6
The deaths of Earl Anthony and Dick Weber
The PBA has produced no two stars bigger than Anthony and Weber and, to our misfortune, we lost both in a span of less than four years.

In 2001, the news of Anthony's death from an accidental fall shocked not just the bowling community, but the world, and received coverage in Newsweek, Time Magazine and countless other major media outlets. The all-time titles champ (at the time) was one of the great ambassadors of the sport, and a tournament was immediately named after the legendary lefty, which is still on the PBA Tour schedule today.

Just four years later, the the world lost another bowling giant in Dick Weber, who was the man who probably had the most to do with the growth of popularity in bowling in the '50's, '60's, '70's and beyond than any other person in the sport.

Like Arnold Palmer in golf, Weber brought an aura of class, grace and elegance to a sport that people often looked down upon and, because of his tireless efforts to promote bowling throughout the world, it is often said that every player should donate a portion of their winnings to Weber just for the opportunities that he created for bowling to even exist at the competitive level. There will never be another one like him again.

#5
All-Exempt Tour
Does anyone still remember the days when any old 200 average bowler could plunk down their $500 and step onto the lanes to compete against Walter Ray, Duke, Voss and Weber for a PBA title? Those days ended in 2003 when the exempt Tour was instituted by the Steve Miller-led PBA.

Since the change was made, all standard PBA events now consist of a 64-player field (each receiving a guaranteed check) made up mostly of exempt touring players, and a handful of qualifiers and/or special invitees. While some detractors saw this as "taking away a lot of players' dreams" others saw it as preventing a lot of yay-hoos (like two MIT guys who averaged 130 in the U.S. Open in the early part of the decade) from mucking up the quality level of the competition. Plus now, to make it on Tour as an exempt player actually means you've achieved something (just ask guys like Tom Smallwood and Ryan Ciminelli). Or as the colorful ex-PBA CEO Miller once famously said, "If you don't like it, don't bowl."

#4
50th Anniversary gala brings together the 50 greatest players in PBA history
When players of the stature and experience of Johnny Petraglia and Del Ballard Jr. say that an event is the "greatest thing they've ever been a part of in bowling," it must be something pretty special. That's exactly what happened at the 2008 Tournament of Champions, where the PBA threw a party to celebrate the 50 greatest players in Tour history to commemorate the PBA's 50th year in existence.

Nearly every last player named to the 50 greatest list (plus numerous writers, past employees, TV personalities and other luminaries) were in attendance at the black tie affair, which took place in Las Vegas during the T of C.

Earning top honors as the greatest of all was the late Earl Anthony, who edged Walter Ray Williams Jr. in a vote by the sport's most respected journalists. It is about as unlikely as the sun not rising tomorrow that such a gathering of bowling greats will ever be seen again.

#3
Walter Ray breaks Earl’s all-time titles record
After chasing the legend for more than two decades, the great Walter Ray Williams, Jr. finally surpassed Earl Anthony's record of 41 career PBA titles.

With a commanding victory over Pete Weber in the 2006 Dydo Japan Cup, Williams became the PBA's most prolific winner with his 42nd career win. After the win, Williams said, "You have to have breaks along the way any time you win out here...fortunately I had a lot of good breaks this week. It was kind of silly." Yeah, and even though the man himself is too humble to say it, it may also have had something to do with the fact that Walter Ray has been really, really good for a really, really long time.

#2
Denny’s becomes PBA Tour's first title sponsor, followed by Lumber Liquidators
In this day and age, everything from sports stadiums to space on the windshields of folks' personal automobiles are sold to sponsors. In 2005, the PBA Tour joined the club with Denny's as its multi-million dollar suitor.

The ubiquitous restaurant chain seemed a perfect fit for the Tour and sponsored the league for three seasons before wholesale flooring chain Lumber Liquidators picked up the torch as title sponsor in 2008.

The jury is still out as to which sponsor put out the better bowling-themed TV commercial. Is it Walter Ray Williams Jr.'s famous "egg-drop" Denny's spot? Or those cute Lumber Liquidators ads featuring Parker Bohn III and his wife Leslie? Only time will tell I guess.

#1
PBA purchased by ex-Microsoft execs
And the biggest PBA story of the past ten years is one that actually occurred in the first year of the decade (makes it kind of like a movie winning the Best Picture Oscar after being released in January...a rare feat indeed). This story is so big, that if it weren't for this one, NONE of the other nine (plus any of the other ones that I am no doubt neglecting) would have even taken place.

Yes, I'm talking about the purchase of the PBA (and rescue from imminent bankruptcy) by three ex-Microsoft execs from Seattle in 2000. Led by bowling fan Chris Peters, the high-net-worth triumvirate purchased the league and, with the help of a few ex-Nike sports marketing executives, began rebuilding the PBA to meet the demands of an audience that demanded so much more entertainment value than it had when the league was formed back in 1958.

Ten years later, the PBA is still here, chasing the new owners' and leadership group's stated mission of becoming the next global emerging sport. But more importantly for us fans of the PBA and the sport of bowling, without the Microsoft guys stepping in, we'd have to (gulp!) find something else to do on Sunday afternoons (church? ick! football? even worse!) during the winter and early spring. And for that they've definitely earned the top spot on my and, no doubt, every other bowling fan's list.

Well folks, that's all for me for the year and the decade. But fear not fellow bowling junkies, the second half of the Tour season is less than two weeks away and that means lots more live coverage on pba.com, Xtra Frame and ESPN. Happy New Year everyone!

December 30, 2009

People are askin' me all the time about why I put down challenging oil patterns with me lane machine. Ya know why? It's because I want to see bowlers give it their full bhoona. I don't like to reward people for poor shotmaking. Bowlers accustomed to easy shots and that don't have the skills a good bowler should have can be made to look like a bunch of haddies.

Let's take the Scorpion Championship and Chameleon Championship as an example. On the telly it surely looks like those gents should have eaten their Wheaties, because from those two TV shows only came three 200 games TOTAL. And two of those came from the lasses! People were on the PBA Message Boards (www.pbaforum.com) and had their haw maws all in a twist about the low scores. Those folks didn't focus on the fact the two gents who won, Mike Devaney and Bill O'Neill, bowled the smartest. They made good quality shots, they played the lanes to stay out of trouble, made their spares, and took advantage of mistakes the other bowlers made. Those tough lanes also kept that pesky Rob Stone from using that blasted "hambone" phrase...aye! that makes me want to leave a big puddle of hilda on his lap!

All I'm trying to say as a laneman is that the brammers on the exempt tour are the best in the world, and they don't need any help knocking down pins. Whether they average 260 or 160, whoever bowls the best that day will normally prevail.

Austin McFreehook is an ex-golf course superintendent who was kicked out of the R&A for getting into a heated public dispute with Jack Nicklaus over the proper way to drop your golf ball after hitting into a hazard. He's now a lane man with the single-minded goal of upholding the purity of the sport of bowling.

SEATTLE, Wash.  – The Professional Bowlers Association returns to action Jan. 12-17 with the Earl Anthony Memorial at its new home - Earl Anthony’s Dublin Bowl in Dublin, Calif. It will be the first PBA national stop in Dublin since 1992, and it will serve as a special tribute to the player selected as the No. 1 bowler in PBA history during the PBA’s 50th anniversary season earlier in 2009.

The Lumber Liquidators PBA Tour Earl Anthony Memorial, and PBA Women’s Series Earl Anthony Memorial, will bring the best in men’s and women’s bowling to northern California. The finals of both events will air live on ESPN at 1 p.m. Eastern (10 a.m. Pacific) on Sunday, Jan. 17.

“Susie Anthony (Earl’s widow) is thrilled to have the tournament return to the center that bears Earl’s name,” said Ted Hoffman, managing partner of Earl Anthony’s Dublin Bowl. “We’ve hosted a PBA West Regional tournament bearing Earl’s name for years, but it’s really nice to have the national tour coming back. We’re all excited. Our staff is pumped.”

The tournament will include pro-am squads on Saturday, Jan. 16, where are men, women, senior and youth league bowlers will have a chance to bowl with the stars of the PBA Tour.

Wes Malott of Pflugerville, Texas, will seek his third consecutive Earl Anthony Memorial men’s title. He defeated Rhino Page of Dade City, Fla., 255-193, to win the 2008 Anthony title and he won the 2009 title by defeating Tommy Jones of Simpsonville, S.C., 239-201, for the title. Both events where held at Lava Lanes in Medford, Ore. Malott went on to win PBA Player of the Year honors for 2008-09.

Wendy Macpherson of Henderson, Nev. – who launched her Hall of Fame career as a youth bowler growing up in nearby Walnut Creek, Calif. – will defend the Women’s Earl Anthony Memorial title she won last January, rallying in the final frames to upset Stefanie Nation of Arlington, Texas, 199-184. The Anthony Memorial will be the final PBA Women’s Series presented by BOWL.COM singles event of the 2009-10 season.

Competition will get underway on Tuesday, Jan. 12, with men’s and women’s Tour Qualifying Rounds. Non-exempt bowlers will bowl seven games to try to qualify for the 64-player Exempt Tour and 20-woman PBA Women’s Series fields.

Also in the Exempt Tour field will be PBA Hall of Famer Wayne Webb of Sacramento, and former PBA Exempt Tour competitor Tony Reyes of San Bruno, who were granted Commissioner’s Exemptions to bowl in the Anthony Memorial.

Mike Shady of Ripon, Wis., was the winner of the last PBA Tour stop at Dublin Bowl, but he is no longer active on the national tour. Prior to 1992, Dublin Bowl hosted nine other PBA Tour events.

PBA EARL ANTHONY MEMORIAL SCHEDULE

Earl Anthony’s Dublin Bowl, Dublin, Calif., Jan. 12-17 (all times Pacific)

TUESDAY, JAN, 12
8 a.m. – Lumber Liquidators PBA Tour and PBA Women's Series presented by BOWL.COM Tour Qualifying Round (7 games)
WEDNESDAY, JAN. 13
10 a.m. – PBA Tour Round of 64 Round, (7 qualifying games)
5 p.m. – PBA Women’s Series Round of 20 (7 qualifying games)

THURSDAY, JAN. 14
10 a.m. – PBA Women’s Series Round of 20 (7 qualifying games)
5 p.m. – PBA Tour Round of 64 (7 qualifying games)

Cut to top 28 PBA Tour players; top four qualifiers earn byes into the Round of 16

Cut to the top 8 Women’s Series players
FRIDAY, JAN. 15
9 a.m. – PBA Tour Round of 28 (best of seven games)
2 p.m. – PBA Women’s Series Round of 8 (best of seven games)

2 p.m. – PBA Tour Round of 16 (best of seven games)
7 p.m. – PBA Women’s Series Round of 4 (best of seven games; two winners advance to Sunday’s ESPN TV finals)

7 p.m. – PBA Tour Round of 8 (best of seven games; four winners advance to Sunday’s ESPN TV finals)

SATURDAY, JAN. 16
Pro-Am Events and PBA Fan Day
9 a.m. - Youth Pro-am
11:15 a.m. - Senior Pro-am
1:30, 4:30 6:45 and 9 p.m. – Adult Pro-Am squads

SUNDAY, JAN. 17
10 a.m. - Live ESPN television finals

Ryan Shafer of Horseheads was one of 14 bowlers nominated for the Male Bowler of the Decade, with the nominees selected by US Bowler magazine.

The PBA's Deputy Commissioner and COO Tom Clark recently answered a list of questions from fans regarding the World Series of Bowling.

The complete transcript can be found at the following link:

http://pbaforum.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=822218&gonew=1#UNREAD

2009 has just about come and gone and the PBA Tour is about to kick off the second half of the 2009-2010 season, but it's always nice to look back at some of the best moments from the past year...and maybe even rank them. 10 always seems like a good, round number and, of course, is symbolically represented by a full rack of pins (what's golf's excuse for doing a top 10 list, eh? Shouldn't they have to do 18?)

At any rate, here's my unofficial Top 10 list for 2009, ranked somewhat in order of "big"-ness.

#10
Chris Barnes makes 7 out of 10 shows to close out 2008-2009 season
The always-consistent Mr. Barnes got off to a bit of a rough start in the first half of the defense of his 2007-2008 PBA Player of the Year season.

Come January, however, he began to light up the lanes starting with a 4th place finish in the National Bowling Stadium Championship. After the USBC Masters, Barnes cranked it up a notch, finishing 3rd, 5th, 1st and 1st the next four weeks, to put himself in position to steal Player of the Year from season-long front-runner Wes Malott.

A bone-crunching stone 8 in the semifinal match of the season-ending U.S. Open ended the dream however, and Barnes ultimately finished third behind Malott and Duke for year-end honors. But it was another solid year for the man from Texas, who is still the unofficial "best bowler on Tour" according to his fellow players.

#9
Carolyn Dorin-Ballard tosses 20-bagger in Women's Series Showdown
What do you do to top a legendary career and yet another successful season on the PBA Women's Series presented by USBC tour? How about you throw more strikes in a row on TV than anyone (man or woman) in the history of the sport?

That's what CDB did during the finals of the season-ending PBA Women's Series Showdown at the Kegel Training Center, steamrolling her opponents to claim the $25,000 top prize. The guys on the men's Tour were probably just glad they had their own separate show.

#8
Patrick Allen wins two nail-biters in Nevada
After struggling through much of the first half of the 08-09 season, PA arrived in Nevada with a few scores to settle.

First in Reno at the National Bowling Stadium Championship, the colorful lefty took on all-time titles King Walter Ray Williams, Jr. in the final. Williams needed just strike and nine-spare in the 10th frame to win and, after getting the first, Allen probably assumed it would be a runner up finish. But WRW's second pitch in the 10th was DOA and left a pocket 8-10 split to hand the title over to PA.

As if that drama wasn't enough, Allen was involved in yet another incredible finish two events later at the H&R Block Tournament of Champions in Las Vegas. His good friend and roommate Rhino Page pushed his buddy to the limit, carrying a possible 279 game to the 10th after PA sat on the bench with 267.

Needing the same fill in the 10th as Walter Ray in Reno, Page also got the first, then sailed one wide for a disastrous four-count and 263 score. Although Allen had two more trophies on the mantle, those two probably also earned him a few premature gray hairs as well.

#7
Rhino Page rolls first televised 300 in Japan Cup
It wasn't all heartbreak for the man they call Rhino in 2009. After bouncing back from his loss in the T of C with a win in the Lumber Liquidators Shark Championship, Page headed to the Japan Cup and qualified for the telecast.

In his quarterfinal match, Page ran the table and threw twelve straight bombs for the first televised 300 game in the event's long history. The 300 was also worth a $100,000 bonus, which Page was not even aware of until his good buddy Allen told him after the match.

#6
Michael Wilbon calls out Wes Malott on PTI
In the midst of a dominating season, Wes Malott ran into some controversy when he decided to skip out on the PBA's inaugural GEICO Plastic Ball Championship.

The folks at PTI found an interview that had Wes criticizing the concept and Wilbon, an avid bowler, jumped all over the Big Nasty like a gold-digger at a Tiger Woods autograph signing. After hearing the digs, Malott fired back following another win, and the two hooked up for a grudge match to settle it all during the King of Bowling.

Turned out, Wilbon was the only one to beat Wes during the five-week series, albeit with the help of a hefty 50+ pin handicap and Wes' use of a plastic ball. But the ESPN personality walked away with a newfound respect for pro bowlers and the sport of bowling.

#5
Norm Duke fails in attempt to capture fourth straight major
This story wasn't about Norm's failure (he failed to make match play in the H&R Block Tournament of Champions in Las Vegas) nearly as much as it was about the magnitude of the accomplishment in just getting to that point.

Unlike other sports like golf and tennis, major bowling tournament wins seem to be much more difficult to amass, with the all-time leader sitting on 10 (Earl Anthony).

So Duke winning three straight (the World Championship twice, with the U.S. Open sandwiched in between) was one of the most amazing feats ever accomplished in the history of the sport. The fact that Duke was inducted into the PBA Hall of Fame the same week he was going for the fourth consecutive was therefore, pretty darn appropriate.

#4
World Series of Bowling makes debut
For the first time ever, the PBA conducted a string of events in a single city (Detroit) in order to attract the greatest bowlers from all throughout the world (not just the U.S.).

Although hard-core fans fretted over losing TV ratings due to events appearing on tape delay (a worry that didn't come to pass once the ratings actually came in), the WSOB indeed brought the largest influx of international talent ever seen on the Tour, in addition to a number of other significant fan benefits.

The best part of the WSOB may have been the wall-to-wall coverage provided by Xtra Frame, which broadcast more than 100 hours of live bowling action in addition to a nightly highlight and interview show called PBA: 39x60. Every fan who ponied up their $7.99 per month, totally got their money's worth for those six weeks in August/September, plus all of the additional coverage that followed once the shows began airing on ESPN.

#3
Wes Malott dominates King of Bowling with two perfect games
Despite dominating the Tour for the entire season, Wes Malott had to sweat out the PBA Player of the Year race until the final match in the season-ending U.S. Open, where both Norm Duke and Chris Barnes had chances to surpass him with a win. Mike Scroggins prevented that from happening, but Malott more than proved his worthiness during the five-week King of Bowling Series immediately following the season.

Taking on winners of semifinal matches pitting top 10 players against one another each week, Malott averaged an eye-popping 272.6 for his five-week run, posting an average margin of victory of more than 40 pins a game. He also electrified the crowd on hand and the viewers at home with two 300 games in the last three weeks of the series. King of them all, indeed!

#2
Jason Belmonte quiets critics after receiving Commissioner's exemptions
I guess coming in as the top amateur in the world and then leading the PBA World Championship qualifying by more than 300 pins doesn't get you as much as it used to. Because when PBA bigwigs floated Belmo two Commissioner's exemptions into a couple early-season events after the WC, fans and fellow players went nuts, crying that the two-handed Aussie sensation hadn't earned them.

Fast forward to the Bowling Foundation Long Island Open, where Belmo slummed it in the TQR to earn a spot in the field, then proceeded to qualify second for the stepladder TV finals. After knocking off Bill O'Neill in the semis, Belmonte cruised by tournament leader Mike Fagan for the title, earning a full exemption for the 09-10 season and leading to a barrage of national media coverage. The classy Aussie has never rubbed it in the critics' faces, however, and looks to be one of the most fan and media-friendly players the Tour has seen in some time.

#1
Tom Smallwood goes from zero to hero
Heading into 2009, Tom Smallwood had just been laid off from his job at GM and had no idea what he was going to do to feed his wife and kids. Dusting off the old bowling balls, he decided to give the Tour a shot by bowling Tour Trials. He finished 3rd and won a spot on Tour.

Then, he did the unthinkable...he was instantly competitive on Tour, making a show in the Scorpion Championship (where he finished T3), and qualifying for the live finals of the PBA World Championship in December.

After knocking off Bill O'Neill in the semis, the only thing standing in the way of Smallwood's storybook ending was...reigning PBA Player of the Year Wes Malott, of course. Smallwood bowled an excellent game and, needing a strike on the first shot in the 10th, threw a perfect one to complete the Cinderella story and become the PBA's World Champion.

Media flocked to the story...can a Hollywood film be far behind? My pick to play Smallwood is another Tom...Cruise that is!

Well, that's my own personal list of the best PBA stories of 2009. What do you think? Did I miss any great stories or maybe put these ones in the wrong order based on importance? Will 2010 be even better? Bowling fans can only hope for as much, because '09 was almost as good a year as it gets!