I’m kind of liking this top 10 list thing, so here is yet another one. This one comes as we get ready to kick off the official second half of the 2009-2010 Lumber Liquidators PBA Tour season, and has to do with the great moments you missed if you weren’t an Xtra Frame subscriber.
As you might have heard, Xtra Frame’s coverage was one of the biggest success stories during the inaugural World Series of Bowling, and subscriptions are up more than 25 percent since the start of the season. We’ve also got a huge amount of live programming coming up in the next 10 weeks (CLICK HERE FOR THE LATEST LIVE PROGRAMMING SCHEDULE) so, if you’re a bowling fan and you’re not paying the measly $7.99 a month to subscribe, then I suggest you skip two Starbucks lattes a month and get yourself a subscription. If you don’t, then you’re likely to miss a bunch more moments like these ten from the first half of the season:
#1
O’Neill and Page Tie at Motor City Open
This amazing moment occurred the very first week of the new season. Rhino Page and Bill O’Neill were tied to the pin for the fifth and final TV berth heading into the position round. One player (Osku Palermaa) fell out of the top five, while another (Tommy Jones) stormed into the top five with a very timely 300 game. That left these two young stars fighting tooth and nail for one final spot on TV.
First Rhino had a chance to lock up the match but left a big four in the 9th. He recovered by doubling in the 10th, but his short count on the fill left the door open for O’Neill to grab the spot. A 4-pin on his first shot in the 10th forced him to spare and strike to keep the two tied, and he threw a dead perfect strike to send the two players into a sudden-death one-game roll-off for the show. O’Neill prevailed, but the real winners that night were Xtra Frame fans.
#2
Mika Flags 10-pin to Lose Match
The very next tournament after Motor City was the Cheetah Championship and this Round of 28 match supplied the drama this time. England’s Stuart Williams took on the big Finn and held a 3-2 lead heading into game 6. After Williams finished with 191, Mika needed just a mark to send it into a decisive game 7 and left what looked like a harmless 10-pin.
But something as rare as a solar eclipse happened, and Koivuniemi sailed his spare ball wide right to miss the lone pin and lose the game 191-189. Williams’ shocked expression was priceless (it was at least worth $7.99 a month) as Mika sat slumped in the corner in disbelief.
#3
Page and Malott Go the Distance for Shark Show Berth
Possibly the most fashionable rivalry in bowling today is the matchup between Page and Malott. Building a recent history of facing one another in key moments over the past two seasons, these two appear to be friendly off the lanes, but look more like two dogs chasing after the same piece of meat on the lanes.
In this particular duel, both players were looking for the final spot on the Shark Championship telecast, and something had to give. Page, after winning the Viper Championship playing up the gutter, impressed by playing inside fifth arrow in this one, and had a chance to force the reigning Player of the Year to strike in the 10th to make the show. A nasty ringing 7-pin cost him that chance, and Wes coasted into his first show of the season.
#4
Monacelli Outlasts Gomez with Bold Move
When the telecast of the Chameleon Championship aired on tape, producers decided not to even show the match because of the pain Amleto Monacelli was experiencing. The reason for that pain? This epic seven-game duel against fellow South American Andres Gomez.
The Hall of Famer and the International star hooked up on a particularly nasty pair and went back and forth for seven quality games. With his sixth-arrow reaction fading, Monacelli made a huge move right in the middle of the climactic game and strung a clutch five-bagger to pull out a 210-180 win. The gutsy move showed once again why Monacelli is one of the Tour’s greatest champions, and proved that he was more than worthy of the special exemption he received for the World Series of Bowling.
#5
Kulick Defeats Johnson in Shark Shootout
If this were a boxing match, it would’ve been Ali/Frazier 2. It started with Liz Johnson blitzing Kelly Kulick with 261-279 out of the gate to jump ahead 2-0 (even though Kulick rolled 236-258). Kelly then took the next two to even up the match before Liz uncorked a big 265 to go up 3-2. Kelly then took game 6 243-224 to set up a deciding game 7.
The final couldn’t have been much better, as both ladies had huge scores heading into the 10th. Trailing by 11, Kulick went nine-spare nine in the 10th for 246, and assumed that her week was finished since Johnson needed just a mark to move on to TV. But an inexplicable tug through the nose left a 6-7-10 and Johnson ended up losing 246-240. Kulick went on to win the tournament for her second Women’s Series title at the WSOB.
#6
Machuga Defeats Fagan 300-289
In the Pepsi Red, White and Blue Open presented by USBC pins and scoring records were falling like the value of the U.S. dollar. During the evening session on Thursday, Mike Machuga was lighting up the lanes on his way to the 32-game all-time scoring record, while Mike Fagan was inching his way up the leaderboard with hopes of making the telecast.
When they met in front of the Xtra Frame cameras they put on a striking clinic, both starting with the front nine. Machuga finished first and nailed the perfecto, giving Fagan a chance to become just the fifth duo in PBA history to tie a match with 300. The smooth righty got the first, but rung a 10-pin in the 11th to come up just shy with 289. What’s a guy gotta do to get 30 bonus pins out here anyways?
#7
Derek Hartnell Defeats Chris Barnes
In case there wasn’t enough going on in Wichita the second week in December, Xtra Frame debuted the inaugural edition of the Chris Barnes Challenge presented by Columbia 300. Taking on Barnes with a top bid of $1,600 was collegiate standout Derek Hartnell, who agreed to bowl one of the Tour’s best in a straight-up three-game action match for $3,200.
After Barnes accelerated out to a 71-pin lead heading into the final game, the youngster jumped left and started striking. The move caused Barnes’ line to burn up and the veteran tried to hold on for dear life as the extremely pro-Hartnell crowd pinned the decibel meter to the max, rooting for their boy. In the end, Hartnell emerged victorious, setting the stage for more CB Challenge events down the road (four more are currently being planned for the second half). Was Barnes actually beaten, or was he pulling the classic “hook ‘em in” move to bait future challengers in the weeks to come? Only one way to find out…watch!
#8
Smallwood Burns Up Duke’s Shot
Before Tom Smallwood was a big, fuzzy GM-laid-me-off-now-I’m-the-PBA-World-Champ media darling, he played the villain in the Scorpion Championship Round of 8 against fan favorite Norm Duke. Duke was coming off a dominating 4-1 victory over Ryan Shafer, averaging over 250 playing up the 1-2-3 boards.
Smallwood evidently decided that if Norm was going to beat him, it would be from a different part of the lane, as he proceeded to throw a sanded Jigsaw up the 1-2-3 boards for 10 minutes during practice. Norm’s gutter shot never developed and, forced to play in the track area with Smallwood, Duke succumbed (although only after leaving a nasty shaker-7 in the 10th that would’ve won him the match) in seven games. The debate that ensued between Jeff “The Bowling Doctor” Mark and Jason “Uncensored” Thomas on PBA:39x60 the following day was also a hoot.
#9
PA Shoots 300 to go from 5th to 1st
This moment is again from the Pepsi Red, White and Blue Open presented by USBC and came in the final game of match-play. Having already broken the record for perfect games in a tournament, Patrick Allen decided to add one more to the total during the position round.
The field's 31st 300 of the week vaulted the colorful lefty all the way from 5th to 1st, giving him a bye in the first round of the telecast. Although he would ultimately lose to eventual champion Mike Scroggins, Allen served notice that he is ready to make another strong second-half showing after a knee injury thwarted his performance in Detroit.
#10
Page Converts Big Four
And our last big moment from the first half of the season was again delivered by Rhino Page, this time during the Round of Super 16 in the PBA World Championship. Battling Mika Koivuniemi in a tight game 7, Page left the “impossible” split in the 3rd frame and looked like he would be even in the match. As Jeff Mark switched camera views, we caught Page heaving his yellow spare ball at the 6-10, which bounced out of the pit and into the 4-7 to keep Page’s lead in tact. The standing room only crowd went nuts and the conversion is just what Page needed to propel him into the next round, where he again won to qualify for the show.
There were, of course, many, many more great moments covered on Xtra Frame during the first half of the season (and if you subscribe, you can still watch these ones because they're all archived on the site), not to mention all of the additional bonus coverage, interviews, features and Pre- and Post-game shows leading into and out of the weekly ESPN telecasts. More than 100 hours of live coverage were offered during the World Series of Bowling alone, and more of the same is on the schedule for the second half, which commences this week in Dublin for the Earl Anthony Memorial Classic. If I weren’t already covering it from behind the camera myself, I’d be watching at my computer with the rest of you!
For more information on becoming an Xtra Frame subscriber, click here.
