Professional Bowlers Association

There is a lot to talk about in professional bowling and a tremendous opportunity to light up the social network over the next few weeks through July 9.
 
There are three brand new oil patterns, the 52-foot Badger, the 32-foot Wolf and the 40-foot Bear.
 
The “Greatest Bowlers in the World” return to Milwaukee, Wisconsin for the 2013 GEICO PBA Summer Swing May 19 – June 2.  For the first time the PBA will use three different venues in one tournament featuring AMF Waukesha, AMF West and AMF Bowlero.
 
CBS Sports Network will present the GEICO Summer Swing Tuesday evenings at 7 p.m. ET beginning June 11 through July 9.  Dave Ryan will join PBA Hall of Famer Randy Pedersen in the broadcast booth.
 
As the GEICO Summer Swing rolls on, let us spread the word and talk about it on Twitter #SummerSwing. The events, the format, the new lane conditions, the field, the wood surface at AMF Waukesha, the PBA Player of the Year race, CBS Sports Net, the return of Dave Ryan, the scoring paces, the winners and those who fail to win.
 
All of us, PBA, industry, partners, players, fans, Xtra Frame subscribers, friends, family together can take to Twitter, follow the scoring on PBA.com, watch the LIVE online Bowling Channel coverage and look forward to the CBS Sports Net shows.
 
Please join us, we will see you for Opening Day on the GEICO PBA Summer Swing with the PBA Badger Open May 20 from AMF Waukesha Lanes in the settee, LIVE on Xtra Frame and online via Twitter.
 
PBA Executives
  
Tom Clark – Chief Operating Officer, PBA Tour Commissioner
@ClarkPBA

 
PBA Staff
 
Janay Haggerty – Event & Community Relations Director
@onecapper22
 
Mike Jakubowski – Cross Marketing & Multimedia Specialist, Xtra Frame Producer
@SoyMikeJ
 
Jason Thomas – PBA.com Editorial Director, Xtra Frame Technical Producer
@TheBowlingGuy
 
Dave Schroeder – TV Producer, Xtra Frame Coordinating Producer
@dschroeder13
 
PBA Ambassadors
 
Mark Roth @MarkRothBowling
 
Television & Online Webcast Partners
 
ESPN @ESPN
ESPN PR (Tara Chozet) @TaraESPN
CBS Sports Network @CBSSportsNet
Neulion @NeulionIPTV
 
PBA Television Announcers
 
Lon McEachern @lonmceachern
Dave Ryan @DaveRyno12
Randy Pedersen @RandyPedersen1
Kimberly Pressler @MissPressler
 
 
PBA Players
 
Dick Allen @TypicalHB
Tom Baker @thebakes300
Chris Barnes @ChrisBarnes_PBA
Dom Barrett @dom_barrett
Jason Belmonte @JBelmo
Josh Blanchard @JB_bowling
Nathan Bohr @NBohr300
Jesse Buss @Jbuss300
Dino Castillo @rcast1007
Ryan Ciminelli @RyanCiminelli
Mike Fagan @Mike_Fagan
Andres Gomez @andres823
P.J. Haggerty @fistpump5
J.T. “Action” Jackson @jtactionjackson
Jack Jurek @JohnJurek
Mika Koivuniemi @PBAMika
Kelly Kulick @KellyAKulick
Martin Larsen @LuckyLarsen
Chris Loschetter @CLoschetter
Michael Machuga @MikeMachuga
Dan MacLelland @DMaclelland
Wes Malott @WesMalott
Amleto Monacelli @AmletoMOficial
Scott Newell @SNewellPBA
Scott Norton @Norton_Bowling
Bill O’Neill @Bill_ONeill
Rhino Page @RhinoPage300
Osku Palermaa @OskuPBA
Jake Peters @Jakey_Boy879
Sean Rash @Sean_Rash
Ildemaro Ruiz Jr. @ildemaroruiz
Ronnie Russell @russell2bowl
Mike Scroggins @mscroggs300
Brett Spangler @MOTIVnation
Jason Sterner @jason_sterner
John Szczerbinski @john_szcz
Brian Valenta @BValentaDuece
Lee Vanderhoef @cliffleeVandy
Johnathon Van Hees @JVH5
Lonnie Waliczek @lonniewal
Pete Weber @PDWBowling
Randy Weiss @rando300
Stuart Williams @Stu900
Dave Wodka @DaveWodka
Mike Wolfe @PBAWolfe
 
Product Registered Companies
 
Storm @Storm_Nation
Storm (Louie Wemett) @LouStorm11
Storm In The Bag (Del Ballard Jr. & Randy Pedersen) @Storminthebag
Motiv @MotivBowling
Ebonite @EboniteBowling
Hammer @Hammer_Booth @BowlHammer
Brunswick (Chuck Gardner) @ChuckGardner1
DV8 Bowling @dv8bowling
Columbia 300 (Bugsy Kelly) @BugsyKelly
Gemini Jerseys @G2Gemini
Roto Grip @BowlRotoGrip
Roto Grip (Chris Schlemer) @SchlemerReport
EFX Performance @efxusa
Turbo Grips @TurboGrips
Vise Inserts @ViseInserts
Track Bowling @TrackBowling
 
Sponsors
 
Barbasol @BarbasolShave
Jack Links @JackLinks
GEICO @GEICO
Sands Regency Reno @SandsReno
Teen Masters @teenmasters
United States Bowling Congress @USBC
 
 
PBA League
 
Terrell Owens – Owner, Dallas Strikers
@terrellowens
 
Chris Hardwick – Owner, Silver Lake Atom Splitters
@nerdist
 
Billie Jean King – Owner, New York City WTT KingPins
@BillieJKing
 
Kevin Hart – Owner, Philadelphia Hitmen
@KevinHart4real
 
Jerome Bettis – Owner, Motown Muscle
@JeromeBettis36
 
Jessie Williams – Owner, BROOKLYN STyLES @BR00KLYNSTyLES
@IJesseWilliams
 
LaMarr Woodley – Owner, Pittsbugh JackRabbits
@LaMarrWoodley
 
Chris Paul – Owner, L.A. X
@CP3
 
 
Media & Bowling Media
 
Above180.com (Joe Cerar & Tim Burg) @above180
About.com Bowling (Jef Goodger) @aboutbowling
11thFrame.com (Jeff Richgels) @riggs7465
Bowlers Journal @BowlersJournal
Bowling This Month @btmonline
Bowling News (Tony Franklin) @bowlingnewsnet
SportsRadio 1250 (Steve Fifer) @sparkyradio
International Bowling Media Association @IBMA_Media
Scott Salem @scottthebowler
BowlingFans.com @bowlingfans
Gianmarc Manzione @GianmarcManzion
InsideBowling @InsideBowling

 
Venues
 
South Point @southpointlv
Lucky Strike @luckystrike

It’s Opening Day for the PBA50 Tour on Monday, April 15.
 
Formerly known as the PBA Senior Tour, PBA50 – a professional tour for players 50 and over, will compete 11 times during the 2013 season in 9 title tournaments and 2 majors from April 15 in New Port Richey, Fla. to August 21 in Welch, Minn.
 
http://www.pba.com/Tournaments/SeniorTour/
 
Along the way, a season-long point competition will qualify the top three players for the televised PBA50 Tour Finals which will be a stepladder event conducted during the 2013 PBA World Series of Bowling V at South Point in Las Vegas, Nev. this November.
 
Xtra Frame, the online Bowling Channel will provide LIVE coverage of the PBA50 Tour this season, starting with the season’s opening events in Florida – the PBA50 Pasco County Suncoast Open benefitting Wounded Warriors April 15-17 from Lane Glo Bowl in New Port Richey and PBA50 Sun Bowl in The Villages presented by Hammer April 21-23 from Spanish Springs Lanes in The Villages.
 
https://www.xtraframe.tv/pba/secure/registerform
 
Follow the PBA50 Tour this season wherever you are.  Download the online Bowling Channel’s FREE mobile apps and watch the stream on Android and Apple mobile phones, tablets and iPads.
 
+Android http://bit.ly/ZwKdYN +Apple http://bit.ly/YDA0Nu
 
Bill Beach won the very first PBA Senior Tour event in 1981. That same year Pete Weber won for the first time on the PBA Regional Tour.  Fast-forward to 2013, Weber reaches the half-century mark after claiming his second career PBA Tour Triple Crown and is ready to take on familiar rivals.
 
Weber joins fellow PBA Hall of Famers Tom Baker, Dale Eagle, Amleto Monacelli, Johnny Petraglia, Wayne Webb, Mark Williams and Walter Ray Williams Jr. in what promises to be great competition on the PBA50 circuit.  In addition PBA50 features a talented crop of players including 2-time PBA50 Player of the Year Ron Mohr with players that enjoyed only a limited career on the PBA Tour.
 
Also, always be on the lookout for PBA50 eligible players 60 and over, the “Super Seniors”, never underestimate the experience factor, determination and the ability of professional bowling’s greatest ambassadors.
 
Follow the 2013 PBA50 Tour this season with coverage on PBA.com, PBA Facebook and PBA Twitter. Come and see the show when the PBA50 Tour comes to your town with ProAms and during the tournaments.  The best way to keep up is with LIVE coverage on the online Bowling Channel, Xtra Frame.
 
https://www.facebook.com/ProfessionalBowlersAssociation?ref=ts
 
https://twitter.com/PBATour
 
The road to the PBA50 finals from the PBA World Series of Bowling V begins April 15.  Join us on Opening Day, you know darn well Pete Weber won’t miss it.

This debate is one that the fans of any sport continue to have ad nauseam. Ironically, the argument comes up as one of the greats adds another trophy or accomplishment to their storied careers. As you know, Pete Weber won his 2nd ever TOC when he defeated Jason Belmonte to win this year's Barbasol PBA Tournament of Champions. As I watched the telecast and how the TV pair was breaking down, I honestly couldn't see anyone having a better chance to win than Belmo. Call me crazy, but any telecast with both Belmo and Osku on it is going to end up being a contest of who can strike from the furthest point left on the lane. When reigning PBA Player of the Year Sean Rash seemed to be running out of room to the left in the semifinal match against Belmo, it seemed as if PDW would've been doomed to suffer the same outcome.

But come on, we are talking about PDW bowling for a major title. And after watching him dismantle Belmo, it only further cemented in my mind that he is beyond a shadow of a doubt the Greatest Of All Time.

One could make the same arguments for the late Earl Anthony, Walter Ray Williams Jr. and a handful of other great bowlers through the years. And while the two men I just mentioned may possess more accomplishments on their resumes, none of them have overcome what PDW has. He has had to battle things in his personal life that have destroyed the lives of many athletes. Yet he has persevered. He also had a father who not only could hold his own in this debate, but was also the greatest ambassador our sport has ever had in Dick Weber. No player in the history of our sport, or many others, has had a greater shadow to overcome to establish their own legacy to rival or exceed what the other has accomplished. Pete Weber has done this. He sits tied for 3rd most victories in tour history, tied for most major victories, and has the most regional titles in PBA history. No name is more synonymous with greatness in bowling than the Weber name.

Forget the fact that he has never won a Player of the Year award. In all reality there are many years the voters kept him from having that honor. When its all said and done he will have the best title of all...and that's the greatest bowler ever.

This Sunday at 1pm ET on ESPN, competition in the PBA League will resume with Round 2. The show marks the second installment of the historic team competition, and also features a new format that will be used over the next four rounds of PBA League competition. Here is how it works:

OVERVIEW
The upcoming PBA League telecasts will be expanded to two hours (hooray, more bowling!), and will feature three distinct segments.

SEGMENT 1 - CLASH ROUND
The first part of the PBA League telecasts will consist of an exciting new "Clash Round", featuring 11 different players. Each team will have a specific number of players representing their teams (determined by final qualifying position - the higher the team finished in the standings, the more players they get in the Clash Round). The format is a one-ball roll-off where each player will throw a shot, with the lowest scorer (or scorers in the event of a tie) eliminated. The last remaining player's team will gain a spot in the baker-format team stepladder finals, and will join the three teams who qualified through the preliminary qualifying rounds (all of those rounds are currently available to watch on demand on XTRA FRAME). 

SEGMENT 2 - TEAM STEPLADDER FINALS
Three baker-format team matches will determine team points earned for that week's telecast. The points earned over the five rounds of the PBA League will determine the four finalists for the Elias Cup, which will crown the PBA's first team champion. Here are the current standings after Round 1:

1, BROOKLYN STyLES (owner Jesse Williams), 18 points.
2, New York City WTT KingPins (owner Billie Jean King), 12.
3, Motown Muscle (owner Jerome Bettis), 9.
4, Dallas Strikers (owner Terrell Owens), 8.
5, Silver Lake Atom Splitters (owner Chris Hardwick), 6.
6, L.A. X (owner Chris Paul), 5.
7, Philadelphia Hitmen (owner Kevin Hart), 3.
8, Pittsburgh Jack Rabbits (owner LaMarr Woodley), 2.

SEGMENT 3 - SINGLES FINAL
Each PBA League telecast will conclude with the title match between the two finalists for that week's Classic qualifying and match play rounds. Round 2 will feature the Carmen Salvino Classic finalists (D.J. Archer and Andres Gomez), Round 3 the Mark Roth Classic (Michael Haugen Jr. and Scott Norton), Round 4 the Don Carter Classic (Wes Malott and Jason Sterner) and Round 5 the Earl Anthony Players Championship (Sean Rash and Scott Norton). So not only will these shows feature exciting and historic team competition, but they will also crown a PBA champion!

CLICK FOR COMPLETE PBA on ESPN TV SCHEDULE

So, after this Sunday's PBA World Championship finals we'll have made it through the first leg of this newer, longer, PBA Tour season - and I have to say the shows have been pretty impressive from both a production and competition point of view. We've seen some new faces making their first appearances on a PBA telecast, some familiar faces, and at least one player who redeemed himself after his first telecast was arguably one of the most bizarre TV matches I've ever seen.

That player is Tom Daugherty, whom you might remember being on the losing end of the most lopsided match ever televised when he lost the semifinal in the 2011 PBA Tournament of Champions to Mika Koivuniemi 299-100. Tom shook that off and won the Bowlers Journal PBA Scorpion Championship by doubling his 100 game to win over Osku Palermaa 200-182.

We had our first bowler from the Middle East qualify for a PBA telecast, when Fawaz Abdulla of Bahrain made the stepladder finals for the PBA WSOB Chameleon Championship. He also may have put on one of the gutsiest performances I've seen in recent years, having to battle gout in his right foot - and the pain that accompanies it. While he fell short of his ultimate goal, he showed his toughness as a competitor and that his game is good enough that he could one day return to fight another day for his first PBA title. Scott Norton came out on top when a stubborn 10-pin left by Jason Belmonte handed him his second PBA tour title, coincidentally on the same Chameleon pattern he won his first title on.

We also had two players return to the winners circle. Bill O'Neill ran the stepladder to bring home the Alka Seltzer Plus Cold Cheetah Championship by defeating top seeded Mike Wolfe in the title match by a score of 243-192. Brad Angelo returned to the winners circle by defeating arguably the hottest bowler on the planet, Mika Koivuniemi, 233-232 in a tightly contested match that saw Mika make an uncharateristic mistake to cost him the win.

All in all, with the exception of O'Neill's dominance over Wolfe in their match, we have seen some rather exciting and tightly contested title matches in this rendition of the Geico PBA World Series of Bowling. Be sure to tune in to catch the World Championship telecast as I can only imagine there will be more excitement coming from that show.

Top 10 Rankings

Ya know, it has been a while since this writer has taken the time to throw this list together. I'm sure that many of the names will be the same (as the cream will always rise to the top). Having said that, here we go...

10. Dan McClelland

Dan qualified 4th overall for the World Championship and always seems to be lurking around the top portion of the field. Dan is one of the young guns who you will be seeing a lot of in the coming years and will find his way to many titles in the future. His first title is just a matter of time.

9. Chris Barnes

I'm shocked to be putting one of the best in the world this far down the list, but after failing to make any of the five telecasts during the WSOB and qualifying 48th, Chris would probably tell you himself his performance was far from what he has grown accustomed to. Chris did, however, win the finals of the 2012 World Bowling Tour beating his roomie Mika. With the Winter Swing approaching, I'm sure he has taken the time to evaluate things and will figure out what he needs to do to return to the top of this list.

8. Tommy Jones

TJ was the 2nd highest qualifier after the four animal pattern qualifying rounds were contested in this year's WSOB and just missed the PBA World Championship finals by an agonizing 9 pins. It's been too long since this superstar has hoisted a trophy, but if history shows us anything its that when he gets hot he wins in bunches and bunches.

7.  Chris Loschetter

Still waiting to take home that elusive first tour title, Chris came out with guns blazing at the WSOB this year. He only made one show in the Alka Seltzer Plus Cold Cheetah Championship and, if it wasn't for those pesky 9 counts he very well could've been the player running through the stepladder to get the win in place of eventual champion Bill O'Neill. He also was the 4th highest qualifier after the animal pattern events, eventually placing 8th in the World Championship. Chris continues to get better and better, and while his string of consectutive tournaments entered without a victory is still going, don't expect that to last for too much longer. One might say you could compare his career to that of Jack Jurek, who has long been a solid player on tour but took quite a while to get that first title.

6. Scott Norton

Let's be realistic, being a left hander on tour these days hasn't been as "beneficial" as it may have been in years past - for many reasons. Norton was the top left handed qualifier during the World Championship qualifying rounds and is on a short list of left handers to have won more than one title over the last few years. He did his part in forcing Belmonte to strike in the tenth to beat him, and the emotion that poured out of him after Belmo's 10-pin stood was a memorable sight to see. By winning again, Norton has cemented himself as a force to be reckoned with out on tour, and I'm sure that we'll be seeing a lot more of him in the future.

5. Mike Fagan

The Argyle Assassin had a solid WSOB, and made the TV finals for the WSOB Viper Championship, losing his match to Mika Koivuniemi. I'm sure when the season comes closer to the end, Mike's name will be back in the discussion for this year's Player of the Year race, because he just always seems to be consistently near the top when the tournament is on the line.

4. Bill O'Neill

One might say last season was a disappointment for The Real Deal, even though he did finish in the top 8 on the PBA points list. He quickly put his name back up towards the top of this list with his win in the Alka Seltzer Plus Cold Cheetah Championship. It sure does seem that if he has the chance to get locked in during a stepladder TV final, he usually finds a way to win.

3. Mika Koivuniemi

Mika has been nothing but dominant in recent months, winning across the globe in the World Bowling Tour and WTBA events. He recently won in Qatar which was his 10th PBA title, but also the 19th different country he has won in. The Big Finn is going to continue to make noise throughout the year as the PBA continues to travel the globe.

2. Jason Belmonte

Scary as it is to realize this, Belmo keeps getting better and better. He was a 10-pin away from winning the Chameleon Championship title, and also finished 3rd in the Scorpion. He's also locked in to the title match for the first major of the season when the World Championship telecast takes place Sunday. He seems determined to keep his name in the hat for this year's POY race, but like Ric Flair once said, "To be the man you have to beat the man." And the man right now is...

1. Sean Rash

The Man. Sean may not have left the WSOB with a title again this year, but continues to show that he is simply the best player in the world at this time. His rivalry with Belmo brings back memories of years past when you would see Roth and Holman on ABC what seemed like every week. Sean doesn't seem to be slowing down any this season, and looks ready to defend his Player of the Year status til the bitter end.