Already Week 2 is in the books and two games on the ESPN telecast have been been close-call perfect games, meanwhile some others have looked downright bad. Why is this? Couple of reasons would be first, the oil patterns play differently depending on how many bowlers are one each pair of lanes. In qualifying, you have 3-5 players on each pair with varying styles and ball rolls. Match play and the TV finals offer only two per pair. If different-styled players are on a pair, the wear area is on a different spot width-wise and length-wise down the lane. What was a hook spot in qualifying may have become a really touchy slick spot offering at best a very unpredictable ball path to the pocket. Adjustments at this point separate the average league player from the tour player. Moves of more than 10 boards and three arrows are common, while the league player may find changing balls or waiting for the hang spot to disappear. Another factor not commonly known yet is the lane surface. New, older, wood, and synthetic are factors in themselves and further subdivisions. These days, we are discovering the older synthetic lanes installed in the '70's and '80's are also developing tracks, or worn areas, as well. Some houses have already installed a newer generation of lane surface j for that reason. Last forever? Ah, no. Remember, they said the same thing about artificial turf and look what happened since

     These newer synthetic lanes are also much harder and smoother than their older counterparts. Depending on the existing oil pattern, a ball could slide much longer and hook much harder. Today's equipment certainly does that, so watching subtle changes in the roll of a ball do help adjusting one's line quickly, rather than leaving a nasty split right in the middle of what could have been a healthy string of strikes. So what does that mean for either player? Like learning how to play Pac Man twenty-five years ago, there are patterns to follow. Every couple of frames on a given lane, a move takes place. It depends how you roll the ball and what board you stand on to start. How many boards and how often you move is trial and error, but once you try this in league or a tournament, you might be surprised how often those potholes in the score are avoided.

      PBA Midwest Regional is off until March 2006 after the Cedar Rapids stop in early November. Jeff Richgels experienced a career rejuvenation of sorts at age 43 with 3 tourney wins and is the front-runner for MWPBA Player of the Year. This year's breakout player was David Beres, starting the year winning his berth in the 2006 Tournament of Champions by claiming the 2005 Regional Players Championship in Merrillville, Indiana, staged before the 2006 Tour Trials. His consistent top 8 finishes while leading the points list most of the summer make him a another contender for the honor. As usual, Jeff Carter finished another strong year with one win and the lead in points for the 2006-07 tour exemption. (Dale Traber won the points title last year). Keep in mind, the points season is April 1-March 31 and there is a regional scheduled for the third weekend in March, so everything is not finalized...yet.

     A sensitive subject this summer on the regional tours has been the oil patterns themselves. Entries in the Midwest Region were noticeably down from July forward, and some have pointed at this as one of the many factors involved. Mostly, they scare away the dozen or so house bowlers we used to get for every stop. But why you ask? That, my friend is the answer to a question Regis Philbin asked a few years ago. Here it goes: These days, there are millions of one-house wonders (a.k.a. house rats) who unknowingly blend their games to the super-easy oil patterns and charateristics of such centers. When the tour comes to town, those same physical habits built into their games become their downfall, often banishing them to the bottom half of the standing sheet. One good example was a regional in Champaign this summer. I will not reveal his name, but if he reads the internet version of this column, I hope he learns and continues to improve. Anyway, his pin carry was not that good and noticed some physical flaws that become magnified out on tour oil patterns which work all too well on house patterns. I then looked up to notice the name on the scoresheet. It looked familiar and wondered where I saw it before. Turning to glance at the house honor score board, there was the same name with at least FIVE 300's next to his name for this past season alone. He was well into fry-mode by the time I saw the struggling, but I didn't say anything (can't-we have a no coaching during competition rule). In this case, the jump from better house bowler to regional pro is wider than it used to be. But then again, it's not that way in all cases. In some houses, you may have 5 to 10 bowlers on par with the regional pro. But I can tell from being out here since the '80's, yes, it is a wider gap than it's ever been.

     The ESPN telecast has a different flow this year. It's not as choppy as in the last few years. The overall pace of the show is much easier to watch from beginning to end. My favorite new feature is the overlapping effect of one player's ball track super-imposed on top of the other. Up until this year, the only way to show contrasting styles during the match was to do a split -screen using the camera directly behind the right lane. This is helping Randy Pedersen describe the ball path differences without taking two or three frames, which I'm sure was driving the producer/director nuts, because the flow of the show was getting bogged down. More comments will follow as it warrants. In the December JPA, we will break down the Chicago area tour swing with the USBC (formerly ABC) Masters in suburban Milwaukee, the Greater Chicago Classic at Hawthorn Lanes in Vernon Hills Thanksgiving week followed by the BowlersParadise.com Classic in Hammond following week.