Funny things happen at the deadline for this column. Sometimes there topics must be fully researched, like my Top 25 TV Moments list. Other times, something unfolds right before my eyes. An unexpectedly pleasant surprise occurred during my recent jaunt to Corpus Christi for the USBC Open Championships. I got to watch a team make a run at the top of the team tournament. A serious run. The type of run with two bowlers having the first eight strikes in the same game. The type of run with a crowd gathering in the last three frames with cell phones calling members of the current first place team with possible bad news. The type of run with the anchor striking out in the tenth to solidify the second place team total. And all I did was watch. Well, it was a bit more than that. As part of one of four Bowlers' Universe teams, we knew they were the "A" team. They had bowled this tournament the last several years and had some decent finishes. I was on the other team on the same pair playing the lanes as we had agreed was best for all; start outside and wear in that area, creating a drier spot to roll the ball through to increase pin carry. If it was done right, fasten the seat belt and hang on for the ride. The chance to win one of the most difficult and most prestigious team tournaments doesn't happen every year. Just ask the T and C boys, who won this just five years ago or the '77 Rendel's team. One year you can't help but strike, some years strikes are not that easy, and others you'd rather forget. After both teams on Lanes 29 and 30 opened with 1090 and 1020, that part of the pattern we were playing began to wear the way we had hoped. Lead off Mike Sopper and anchor Tom Carter started to string strikes. To start the game 2, Bowlers' Universe #1 had the first twelve balls strike. Sopper had the front eight strikes for 263, while Carter had the front nine for a 279, a 1217 team total for a two game total of 2307. The pattern was holding up so far and my team had a respectable 1041

     We were still playing by the gutter while knowing at least one more ball change and/or stance adjustment. From this point, we knew there very well could be a new team in the lead in the next 90 minutes. Sopper continued striking, Carter cooled a bit while the Barker, Cetwinski, and Wolfe picked up the pace. Going down to the tenth frame, they needed three of the five to strike out to take the lead. After the first four, only one had struck out, so second place was now the goal. With damaged knee and a ever-increasing crowd behind our pair watching, Carter took a bit extra time and got the first one that would make it official. Just like TV bowling used to be, the cheering started the moment the ball hit the lane. Strike. Second place was theirs. The next two put the total 36 pins past third, but only 25 pins off the lead. The 3472 total would have won in all but five years of the century-long history of this tournament, but this is one of those years. My team missed the thousand total the last game for a respectable 3027, something between 200 and 250th place was the estimate for our finish. During the next hour, the enormity of what we just saw began to hit each of us. Needless to say, dinner that night tasted really, really good. A handful of teams going through the tourney the next few weeks could snap off that total, but to watch a team on my pair of lanes post the number they did was one of my fun moments at this little activity.

     It was also good to see another local team take over second in its' division. C & S Bowling Supply of Plainfield rolled a 2946 total in the Classic Division of the Women's Championships and the newly-refurbished National Bowling Stadium in Reno. With only one other team in all five divisions breaking the 3000-pin total, chances are pretty good that the score will stand up. Tip of the hat, ladies, you've earned this one. Strike 3 of Glendale, Arizona holds the Classic division lead with 3026. Both Women's and Open Tournaments end July 2.

     The PBA announced its awards for the 2005-06 season June 1 and to no one's surprise Tommy Jones, Simpsonville, SC, was named Player of the Year. Yes, I know Norm Duke made a bunch of shows. How many did he win? Just one. Jones won four times, including the grueling U.S. Open and now has eight titles in the last two years. Jones finished 2nd in last year's voting to Patrick Allen. Only 28 years old, we may have yet to see what this talented player can do on the PBA Tour.

     And then, there's the PBA Tour Trials. A whole column could have easily been written on all the story lines, but here's a couple that are harder to find. Chris Hayden skips a tournament three years ago. Turns out the extra points would have given him an exemption for the following year. After the first two days (18 games), he is only averaging 204. Then he proceeds to average 241 his last 27 games to get within 130 of the lead, finishing 4th overall. Then you have Richie Wolfe, who made a handful TV finals dating back to the late '80s. Many thought his better days were well behind him. Toss in Del Ballard, Jr. who came within two frames of not having to bowl these Trials, finishing second to Richie Allen in the Motel 6 Classic in January. This master of the urethane era and future PBA Hall of Famer has made the transition into the resin era and will be around for another spin of the big wheel at the age of 42. And finally, there's Kelly Kulick. She was eighth going into the final day of last year's Trials, before the Cheetah pattern claimed another victim. But this year was a much different story. Each nine-game block was higher than the previous, with the Cheetah pattern her best overall, averaging 232. Will she tire this year of answering the same question at each stop, "What's it like to be the first exempt female on the PBA Tour?" I don't think so. She has a level head on her shoulders, never assuming greatness, similar to a Ryne Sandberg or Harold Baines. Women's U.S. Open winners and three-year Team USA member generally do possess that quality.

     With golf being way ahead of bowling in the media pecking order right now, Michelle Wie is getting more attention no matter what she does. At the moment, however, she needs commissioner's exemptions to get into PGA tour events. Kulick is now exempt on her sports' men's tour. And Wie didn't make it past her local the men's U.S. Open qualifier. But in case you missed it, Kulick is exempt on her sports' men's tour.