With the PBA season getting underway next Sunday (December 4) on ESPN with the World Bowling Tour Men's and Women's Finals, televised pro bowling is finally here once again!
CLICK FOR FULL 2011-2012 TV SCHEDULE
Just like American Idol does for singing, the annual process of determining who is the world's next big star on the lanes is what the PBA on ESPN is all about. Except in bowling, there's definitely an "X" Factor that takes on an entirely different meaning!
For those of you who may have forgotten where we left our heroes after the hot and heavy GEICO PBA Team Shootout last summer, here is a quick refresher:
REFRESHER #1
Jason Belmonte and Sean Rash did not like each other very much. (See the link above.)
REFRESHER #2
Mika Koivuniemi was the best bowler in the world - but Jason Belmonte won the Best Bowler ESPY award.
REFRESHER #3
The World Series of Bowling was to again kick off the season with a number of new changes, including:
1) Four animal pattern championships (instead of five).
2) A new PBA World Championship format, where 16 players (instead of just 8) qualified for TV.
3) Three all-new TV events: The Carmen Salvino Classic, The Mark Roth/Marshall Holman Doubles Championship and the Pepsi Elite Players Championship.
4) 14 ESPN shows that will air throughout the season (i.e. not consecutively as they were last year - see TV schedule link above).
Xtra Frame covered all of the action (and I mean ALL - I've still got the bags under my eyes to prove it!) leading up to the TV tapings, so if you've got a few weeks to kill (literally), feel free to start watching the archived coverage here. In the meantime, let's reveal the aforementioned WSOB storylines to watch for over the next few months.
RASH vs BELMONTE
After firing off a number of salvoes at one another in Chicago last summer and over the next several weeks, apparently all these guys did during the off-season was work on their bowling games so they could beat the hell out of each other on the lanes once the Tour started up again.
After dominating the animal pattern qualifying rounds so completely that they were paired together in the numbers one and two positions for the Round of 16 three times, these two archrivals had to spend a lot more time in one another's company than they might have otherwise planned. Can you say, "awkward?"
After a silly flap over a scorecard issue during the Chameleon Open, Hat-monte and Mc Rash finally decided to settle their differences and agreed to move on, putting their animosity for one another aside to focus on bigger and better things. But their bowling was so darn stellar that what originally started as a rivalry that every true bowling fan hoped (but no doubt never thought would happen) would materialize on the lanes, actually did for once!
Rash and Belmonte both qualified for eight out of a possible 10 shows (and Rash missed one more by just six pins to who else? Belmonte!). I think the only one they missed was the WBT Women's Finals - because neither had the right, uh, equipment. (Yes, I agree that was a completely tasteless joke but I couldn't resist).
But the point I'm trying to make here is this: if you were looking forward to seeing Belmonte and Rash bowl one another after their intense incident last summer and never thought it would happen, you should be thrilled to know that you were dead wrong and will now get a chance to see them go head-to-head more times this season than you can shake a stick at (starting with this Sunday's World Bowling Tour Finals telecast).
USA vs THE WORLD
Although this made-for-TV event was not on the docket for this year's batch of WSOB shows, it was definitely a huge theme at this year's event. With an even larger contingent coming to Las Vegas from outside the United States, the internationals not only proved that they belonged, but actually made the case that the best bowling talent in the world may actually reside outside of the New World.
Heading into TV, the international players accounted for 23 of a possible 48 TV spots for all of the singles events. Considering they made up about a quarter of the field, this suggests that the ones who were there, were awfully good players. In fact, no less an assessor of bowling field strength than Chris Barnes even said that this was easily one of the strongest fields he's ever bowled against. And he's bowled against some pretty good ones.
POWER vs FINESSE
When the great Mark Roth ushered in the power game three decades ago, most bowling experts thought it was a mere matter of time before ultra-power players were utterly dominating the sport. Thanks to reactive resin bowling balls however, finesse players received a long stay of execution and have been able to not only compete, but dominate the sport until recently.
Last year's World Series clearly showed that power players now possess a distinct advantage because there is simply no way around what they do to the lanes, especially when the tournaments progress longer and longer over a greater number of games. This year, the balance shifted even more in the favor of the power players, with bowlers like Sean Rash, Jason Belmonte, Osku Palermaa and Dom Barrett dominating the standings throughout the tournaments.
And for those of you who feel that these power players are sacrificing accuracy in pursuit of a few measly messengers, simply take a gander at the CATS numbers for Jason Belmonte during one of his TV performances. This guy is like Earl Anthony throwing it 21 mph with a 580 rpm rev rate! The pins (and his less-manly opponents) have no chance!
CLOSING THOUGHT AND A VIDEO PEEK!
The 14 WSOB shows that will air on ESPN over the next few months were filled with intense rivalries, perfect games (yes, plural), clutch split conversions, energetic crowds in a fabulous arena setup and went a very long way toward establishing who the best bowlers in the world are at this moment in time. If you choose not to watch them (and by the way, all of the telecasts this year will be presented in HD), you're guaranteed to miss out on something special.
And even if you know the results, remember this: if you weren't there, you didn't see anything. But if you're still not excited, then maybe this promo I put together from footage I shot during the shows might change your mind: