Professional Bowlers Association

In very few professional sports does Player of the Year boil down to one game.  However, for two consecutive years on the PBA Tour, Player of the Year has come down to the final game of the final tournament.  And Mike Scroggins has been on both sides of the fence.  Well, it’s really a three-sided fence.  He defeated Norm Duke in the final of the US Open to gift wrap Player of the Year for Wes Malott in 2009 when all Norm needed to do was beat Scroggins to earn it for himself.  This year, he played the Norm Duke role and Pete Weber beat him to gift wrap Player of the Year for Walter Ray Williams, Jr. 

I say gift wrapped because I don’t know of a better gift to give to another bowler than Player of the Year.  Sure those guys bowled great to get themselves in that position, but when it’s crunch time and you end up relying on someone else to get you to the finish line victorious, it’s a gift. 

It’s become pretty clear that the best way to win Player of the Year is to leave it in the hands of someone else on that deciding Sunday.  And for helping your fellow player, you are rewarded with a tournament title.  Not a bad bounty at all. 

Ironically, one of my first blogs this season was about the Motor City Open, which focused on the age-defying accomplishments of none other than Walter Ray Williams, Jr. and Pete Weber.  And here we are at the end of the season talking about Walter’s 7^th PBA Player of the Year award and Pete Weber’s 35^th PBA title. 

This season-ending tournament also brought to an end one of the most disappointing years for number one seeds heading into the stepladder final.  The top seeds this year went an astonishing two for eight.  Or look at it this way; 25% of all number one seeds were able to win while 75% of them lost.  This is worse than the NFL’s coin flip problem in overtime and they just changed that rule.

Generally, it would be hard for the PBA to get away from the one-game roll-off with only a 90 minute broadcast each week, but as I’ve said before, we don’t ask Tiger Woods to come back on Monday to play 2^nd place in a one-hole playoff.  One, Tiger’s been a little busy these days, and two, he won the tournament by scoring the best over 72 holes of play. 

When you consider this specific tournament (called the Marathon for a reason) forced players to bowl a whopping 53 games over the course of the week, it’s strange to ask them to come back on Sunday for a 100-meter dash to the finish.  Sure, it’s exciting, but it in some ways, it belittles the work they’ve put in over 53 games.

Here’s the thing, over those 53 games, we saw the cream of the crop rise to the top.  Five of the top seven players were former Players of the Year.  Your number one seed was vying for his first POY award and your number two seed is remarkably the only player among the top 10 of the 50 greatest players of all time not to have a POY award.  No matchplay, no bonus pins, no gimmicks.  Just bowling for 53 games on seven conditions. 

THE BIG FOUR

1. A season of firsts.  Too many to name. 
2. My two favorite performances on television this year came from a couple of cagy veterans.  Pete Weber this past week and Brian Voss in the doubles tournament.  Those two know how to put on a show. 
3. The PBA Senior Tour is about ready to kick off and there is a newbie coming to play.  I’ll be curious if there is any fraternity-like initiation process for Walter Ray. 
4. Last Sunday, my PBA Experience League closed up shop for the 2009-2010 season.  We sanctioned 71 bowlers with 14 of those being youth bowlers.  A 19% increase over the previous year.  I personally ended the season with a disappointing 198 average for 64 games over 16 weeks on 10 different patterns.  Proof that taking the summer off hurts, my first eight weeks I averaged about 188 for 31 games.  The last 8 weeks I averaged 208 for 33 games.  Needless to say, I will be in the bowling center THIS summer. 

MY LAST TOP TEN FOR THIS SEASON (Most recent finish in parenthesis)

1. Walter Ray Williams, Jr. (6^th)  There is one accomplishment he doesn’t have and that’s Senior PBA Player of the Year.  Good Luck!
2. Mike Scroggins (2^nd) Probably the most underrated player on tour.  He flirted with winning Player of the Year. 
3. Bill O’Neill (20^th) What a great year.  First title and first major. 
4. Chris Barnes (4^th) Probably about as good a year as you’ll have without claiming a title. 
5. Pete Weber (1^sT) Since January, he’s had five top 10’s.
6. Wes Malott (5^th) Three shows in his last six tournaments. 
7. Tommy Jones (7^th) I think Jones is on the verge of another POY season. 
8. Jason Belmonte (25^th) Two runner-up finishes this year, but in his first full season on Tour, proved he will be around for a while.
9. Mike Fagan (128^th)  Pretty sure he withdrew from the Marathon, but in a year where he snagged his first victory and finished 2^nd in another, Mike is one of the elite players on tour.
10. Rhino Page (124^th)  Another bowler to withdraw.  No shame in that.  It’s been a long season and Rhino managed to find the winner’s circle early in the year.