As I sit here recovering from a pretty much towel waving-free Sunday afternoon some weeks go, the thought crosses my mind: my team was one game from a Super Bowl. There was a lot more towel waving in the last four months than there was the last three years. But, this 'one for the thumb' wait has been a quite the 25 year process. Oh, well.

     Now as promised, on to another edition of Pro Shop 101. When you see the guys on TV throwing it pretty hard, what you may not see is the ball's revolution rate. It is hard to see this with top local players even in league play, but the rev rates are deceptively impressive. Those frequent pro shop customers looking for more revs usually ask for a high hooking ball. After awhile this ball may not be used as much because it hooks too much, so it get thrown faster. Most league players tense muscles in the arm, causing the ball to have actually less revolutions down the lane. The key is here to still swing the ball from the shoulder and not the elbow, forearm, or wrist. A second key is to keep the timing in sync while throwing a fast pace. This alone can be a major sticking point. If you want to try this, you should have a trained eye observe your progress, especially if you have never had a lesson or tried to break down your own approach. You must keep the feet and armswing working together at the same pace, slow or fast speed. Many try to get the ball going faster and not the feet, so it feels like you are falling out of a chair at the foul line. A loose armswing actually gets your thumb to exit earlier allowing the hand more actual movement around the side of the ball for more side roll, a.k.a, more movement at the backend of the lane. If you've wondered how some players seem to have a wider area at the pocket to strike, this is a major reason.

     In a related note, what is another benefit of a loose armswing. You can get pins to bounce freely into other pins from just about anywhere. Those of you who saw my 7-10 pickup at the December 8-gamer or Walter Ray Williams, Jr.'s 4-6-7-10 first-ever-on-TV Big Four conversion as I write this are prime examples (heck of a shot). I know if the armswing is as muscle free as possible, the ball with less traction slows down much slower than a high friction ball. So you too can trip the 4-pin, throw messengers across at the 10-pin on those light-pocket strikes, and yes, even out of the pit to pick up the supposedly impossible splits. (Where's my patch, Gary?) But hey, what do I know? Four 7-10's picked up so far....oh, well.

     I can remember some time ago when PBA Hall of Famer Dick Ritger won his 20th PBA title. My buddy Bo Burton remarked that Ritger was criticized by some media members for not winning a major. That may have seemed a bit terse, even in today's era. That thought occurred to me as Parker Bohn III won his 30th PBA title. Yes he has won several majors, but more importantly, he may be the last PBA player to reach 30 titles. Brian Voss won his 23rd just before Christmas while Norm Duke captured number 22 in Atlanta Super Bowl Sunday, but both are in their early 40's now. Looking at the numbers, 20 may be tough to hit in the near future. WRW is at 40, Pete Weber is next with 31, Bohn at 30, but after Duke it thins out considerably. Amleto Monacelli is next on the active list after Duke at 18 titles, both Jason Couch and Danny Wiseman follow with 11, and Tom Baker has 10. Why are the numbers like this? Obviously it is tough to win, but why are most of the current crop in the single digits? Remember, most of today's younger current stars did not come out on tour until their late 20's if not almost 30. Their years getting acclimated to tour life took place much later than the previous generation. The worldwide amateur megabuck tournament scene loomed very large in the late 1980's until about five years ago. These guys could earn six-figure incomes bowling maybe six times a year for a couple weeks at a time. Side pots and brackets were also a cash cow for these guys, adding to the allure. So why travel for weeks at a time with only $20 to $40 thousand on top against a much higher level of competition? The PBA at the time was starting its downward spiral with the old ownership and a huge loss of ABC-TV revenue from $3.5 million to $750,000 from 1994 to 1995. That's when the network pushed back the Saturday Chris and Bo show from January to March. With that in mind, why jump to a sinking yacht from a cruise liner? This past summer on the Chicago's North Side, a big deal was made about Cub pitcher Greg Maddox being one of the last pitchers to reach 300 career wins, more or less a free ticket to the Hall of Fame. Tom Glavine is next in line and could reach that number in the next couple of years. But who is next after that??? Anybody winning 30 or even 20 PBA titles may never happen again. Winning 10 used to be like 300 wins in baseball, a free ticket to the PBA Hall of Fame. The current young star group is topped out at 6 titles, including Steve Jaros, and he's been out there since the mid 80's. More players, oil patterns, and travel are definitely factors.

     That's it for this month as we start up year number eight for this piece here in the WCS. (One year for each my regular readers, how nice.) Coming in the April JPA, our second-annual first hand look from the PBA World Championship in Taylor, Michigan. The 2004 stop was the last before the all-exempt tour which began this fall. A lot of marginal tour players were bidding others farewell while talking about future employment plans. Deep and sobering thoughts for some, bidding opportunities for others. There may be a chance to find out what happened to those relegated to weekday jobs and weekend regional. Stay tuned.