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Bowling Tragic
JASON THOMAS UNCENSORED - These Guys Aren't Just Good, They're Scary
#1 – Tour players throw it better than you.
You think you throw the ball pretty decent? How many shots a game can you literally walk away from immediately after feeling the ball come off your hand and know with 100 percent certainty that the ball’s going to strike? When I bowled league the other night, that happened to me exactly once in three games…and I’m a 220+ average league bowler!
With the pros, it’s probably between five and seven times a game. And on the ones they miss, you’re talking about a board off at the arrows (16 feet away)…maybe two or three on a really wild pitch. That’s not to mention how consistent their tilt and rev rates are. The best players get out of the ball the same almost every time, with near-perfect direction, speed and rotation. It’s no wonder they only need a small fraction of area before they start lighting up the scoreboards like a pinball machine!
#2 – Tour players know their equipment.
If you know a little about bowling balls, you know that, at minimum, to be fully prepared you need one that hooks a lot for oil, one that goes fairly straight for dry lanes and one for in-between (hence the popularity of three-ball rolling bags). A lot of you probably ask, “Then why does Chris Barnes need 30 freakin’ bowling balls?” Here’s why:
The ball is merely the tool that the player uses to knock over pins. When you hear a player talk about “matching up”, what they’re saying is that the ball they’re using gives them the greatest possible area on the lanes, as well as the best possible angle into the pins to maximize the possibility that they’ll knock down all ten pins. The problem for the pros is, with all the high-rev rate players on Tour, during qualifying the lanes change (sometimes significantly) about every three or four frames. This requires the players to vigilantly track their ball reaction (put simply, the path the ball takes to the pocket) and to not only stay on top of, but even anticipate when the lanes are going to change in order to continue striking and to avoid taps and costly splits.
The role bowling balls play in this rapid transition is that players not only need to have different balls, but they need to have each of them catalogued in their brains with different options for how each is different from another so that what the player is seeing out on the lanes can be matched with a ball solution quickly and effectively. To use Barnes as an example, if you talk to him before a block, he already has a plan of attack in terms of which balls he expects to go to based on his knowledge of the oil pattern, surface and most importantly, which players he will be following as he moves throughout the bowling center. The thing that makes Barnes great, though, is that he’s always willing to make alterations to that plan if what he’s seeing doesn’t match up to what he was expecting. That’s where all those extra balls come into play…because if he sees something different, he usually knows exactly which ball in his arsenal to go to that will help him best take advantage of what is currently out on the lanes.
#3 – They know how to set up the lanes for themselves in match-play.
I always thought this one was a bunch of BS and always favored the philosophy of just playing the lanes as they were. After watching the World Series, I’ve concluded that that would be the mentality of a guy who goes out 0-4 in the Round of 32. Tour players absolutely manipulate the lanes for themselves, and also absolutely have a huge impact on how their opponents play the lanes (except in the case of lefty versus righty match-ups of course.)
Some players (like Duke) are better at it than others, but even Norm can be outfoxed (as was the case in his Round of 8 Match in the Scorpion Championship against Tom Smallwood). Here’s how it usually works:
Players come to the pair with two triple ball bags. One bag contains “setup balls”, and the other contains balls that the player is likely to use during the match. The player uses the 10-minute warm-up time to throw as many shots as possible in the area where he wants to create a dry patch on the lane. That means he doesn’t hit the reset button and doesn’t care too much about what the ball is doing or how many pins he knocks over. Sometimes, the player will try to keep the ball in a certain zone by throwing something that hooks extremely early and then stops in the pocket. Sometimes, he’ll allow the ball to cross over the headpin. Each strategy yields different results (the former is usually to set up the line for himself, while the latter is usually to wipe out a zone for another player). Then, with two minutes left in practice, he lines up with the first ball he plans to use in the match.
This strategy is very much a controversial one on Tour. Some folks feel that it is unfair and that the lanes are meant to be played as they are. Others feel that bowling is a competition and that players need to do whatever is in their power to win. Of course, the truth is probably somewhere in between, since, although you can set up the lanes, you still have to outscore your opponent, who may just end up having a better reaction thanks to your shenanigans than you end up having!
#4 – They know how to manage their emotions.
When you watch the pros, they look very different on TV than they do in qualifying, which is very different than the way they look during a best-of-seven match. The rhythm of a bowling tournament is very specific: in qualifying, you’re trying to knock down the most pins (not beat a single opponent), so a clinical, even-keeled attitude almost always works best. This is because this approach allows players to think clearly about how to maximize their score, which is imperative when you’re playing against a cut number which renders everyone basically equal (with the exception at the World Series of the players who earned byes into the Round of 16 as top-4 qualifiers) after qualifying.
When the players move into match-play, they very obviously ratchet up their intensity level. This is because the name of the game in best-of-seven is winning games, and your opponent’s assessment of your performance is very much a part of the equation that goes into determining how he/she will play the lanes and try to beat you. That is why a player like Norm Duke, (who I feel is the best in the world at managing his emotions) will almost never express negative emotions during a match (he doesn’t want his opponent to know how much he might be struggling). But when he throws a key strike, you can bet he will pump his fist to let his opponent know that the pressure is on.
On TV, this intensity is ratcheted up even more, because the players are in such a desperate sprint (a one-game match) that all caution goes to the wind. Even usually low-key players like Michael Fagan can become emotional on television, because that is where winners are made and lost and ultimately, is the reason why the top players play the game.
This point was driven home for me at the World Series when a reporter, who usually doesn’t cover bowling, was about to write a story on how boring bowling is after watching a qualifying round. She asked, “Doesn’t anyone ever show any enthusiasm?” To which I replied, “Come back and watch the match-play this afternoon.” After Rhino Page converted the 4-6-7-10 during game seven of his match against Mika Koivuniemi and she saw Rhino’s fist-pumps and heard the standing-room-only crowd roar and buzz for several minutes, she had changed her mind.
#5 – They treat it as a job.
The pros on Tour take tremendous pride in what they do, and most are indeed perfectionists. If the majority of America’s executives, managers and work force took as much pride in their job and career performance as PBA Tour players do in their bowling, there’s no doubt that our country would not be in the recession from which it is currently beset.
Despite that, the players on Tour also understand how lucky they are to have the opportunity to do something they love for a living. It makes for a very fun and enjoyable environment in which to do your job. Hopefully, as awareness in how great these players are at what they do grows, the opportunities for them to earn what they truly deserve to earn will grow as well. So, the next time you have a chance to get out and watch these players in person, I urge you not to miss out. It’ll not only give you a new perspective on how to improve your own bowling game, but may also even inspire you to achieve in other areas of your life.
#1 – Tour players throw it better than you.
You think you throw the ball pretty decent? How many shots a game can you literally walk away from immediately after feeling the ball come off your hand and know with 100 percent certainty that the ball’s going to strike? When I bowled league the other night, that happened to me exactly once in three games…and I’m a 220+ average league bowler!
With the pros, it’s probably between five and seven times a game. And on the ones they miss, you’re talking about a board off at the arrows (16 feet away)…maybe two or three on a really wild pitch. That’s not to mention how consistent their tilt and rev rates are. The best players get out of the ball the same almost every time, with near-perfect direction, speed and rotation. It’s no wonder they only need a small fraction of area before they start lighting up the scoreboards like a pinball machine!
#2 – Tour players know their equipment.
If you know a little about bowling balls, you know that, at minimum, to be fully prepared you need one that hooks a lot for oil, one that goes fairly straight for dry lanes and one for in-between (hence the popularity of three-ball rolling bags). A lot of you probably ask, “Then why does Chris Barnes need 30 freakin’ bowling balls?” Here’s why:
The ball is merely the tool that the player uses to knock over pins. When you hear a player talk about “matching up”, what they’re saying is that the ball they’re using gives them the greatest possible area on the lanes, as well as the best possible angle into the pins to maximize the possibility that they’ll knock down all ten pins. The problem for the pros is, with all the high-rev rate players on Tour, during qualifying the lanes change (sometimes significantly) about every three or four frames. This requires the players to vigilantly track their ball reaction (put simply, the path the ball takes to the pocket) and to not only stay on top of, but even anticipate when the lanes are going to change in order to continue striking and to avoid taps and costly splits.
The role bowling balls play in this rapid transition is that players not only need to have different balls, but they need to have each of them catalogued in their brains with different options for how each is different from another so that what the player is seeing out on the lanes can be matched with a ball solution quickly and effectively. To use Barnes as an example, if you talk to him before a block, he already has a plan of attack in terms of which balls he expects to go to based on his knowledge of the oil pattern, surface and most importantly, which players he will be following as he moves throughout the bowling center. The thing that makes Barnes great, though, is that he’s always willing to make alterations to that plan if what he’s seeing doesn’t match up to what he was expecting. That’s where all those extra balls come into play…because if he sees something different, he usually knows exactly which ball in his arsenal to go to that will help him best take advantage of what is currently out on the lanes.
#3 – They know how to set up the lanes for themselves in match-play.
I always thought this one was a bunch of BS and always favored the philosophy of just playing the lanes as they were. After watching the World Series, I’ve concluded that that would be the mentality of a guy who goes out 0-4 in the Round of 32. Tour players absolutely manipulate the lanes for themselves, and also absolutely have a huge impact on how their opponents play the lanes (except in the case of lefty versus righty match-ups of course.)
Some players (like Duke) are better at it than others, but even Norm can be outfoxed (as was the case in his Round of 8 Match in the Scorpion Championship against Tom Smallwood). Here’s how it usually works:
Players come to the pair with two triple ball bags. One bag contains “setup balls”, and the other contains balls that the player is likely to use during the match. The player uses the 10-minute warm-up time to throw as many shots as possible in the area where he wants to create a dry patch on the lane. That means he doesn’t hit the reset button and doesn’t care too much about what the ball is doing or how many pins he knocks over. Sometimes, the player will try to keep the ball in a certain zone by throwing something that hooks extremely early and then stops in the pocket. Sometimes, he’ll allow the ball to cross over the headpin. Each strategy yields different results (the former is usually to set up the line for himself, while the latter is usually to wipe out a zone for another player). Then, with two minutes left in practice, he lines up with the first ball he plans to use in the match.
This strategy is very much a controversial one on Tour. Some folks feel that it is unfair and that the lanes are meant to be played as they are. Others feel that bowling is a competition and that players need to do whatever is in their power to win. Of course, the truth is probably somewhere in between, since, although you can set up the lanes, you still have to outscore your opponent, who may just end up having a better reaction thanks to your shenanigans than you end up having!
#4 – They know how to manage their emotions.
When you watch the pros, they look very different on TV than they do in qualifying, which is very different than the way they look during a best-of-seven match. The rhythm of a bowling tournament is very specific: in qualifying, you’re trying to knock down the most pins (not beat a single opponent), so a clinical, even-keeled attitude almost always works best. This is because this approach allows players to think clearly about how to maximize their score, which is imperative when you’re playing against a cut number which renders everyone basically equal (with the exception at the World Series of the players who earned byes into the Round of 16 as top-4 qualifiers) after qualifying.
When the players move into match-play, they very obviously ratchet up their intensity level. This is because the name of the game in best-of-seven is winning games, and your opponent’s assessment of your performance is very much a part of the equation that goes into determining how he/she will play the lanes and try to beat you. That is why a player like Norm Duke, (who I feel is the best in the world at managing his emotions) will almost never express negative emotions during a match (he doesn’t want his opponent to know how much he might be struggling). But when he throws a key strike, you can bet he will pump his fist to let his opponent know that the pressure is on.
On TV, this intensity is ratcheted up even more, because the players are in such a desperate sprint (a one-game match) that all caution goes to the wind. Even usually low-key players like Michael Fagan can become emotional on television, because that is where winners are made and lost and ultimately, is the reason why the top players play the game.
This point was driven home for me at the World Series when a reporter, who usually doesn’t cover bowling, was about to write a story on how boring bowling is after watching a qualifying round. She asked, “Doesn’t anyone ever show any enthusiasm?” To which I replied, “Come back and watch the match-play this afternoon.” After Rhino Page converted the 4-6-7-10 during game seven of his match against Mika Koivuniemi and she saw Rhino’s fist-pumps and heard the standing-room-only crowd roar and buzz for several minutes, she had changed her mind.
#5 – They treat it as a job.
The pros on Tour take tremendous pride in what they do, and most are indeed perfectionists. If the majority of America’s executives, managers and work force took as much pride in their job and career performance as PBA Tour players do in their bowling, there’s no doubt that our country would not be in the recession from which it is currently beset.
Despite that, the players on Tour also understand how lucky they are to have the opportunity to do something they love for a living. It makes for a very fun and enjoyable environment in which to do your job. Hopefully, as awareness in how great these players are at what they do grows, the opportunities for them to earn what they truly deserve to earn will grow as well. So, the next time you have a chance to get out and watch these players in person, I urge you not to miss out. It’ll not only give you a new perspective on how to improve your own bowling game, but may also even inspire you to achieve in other areas of your life.
