Talk about all the luck. The September JPA featured a bit on what to watch for on the PBA shows this year, especially techniques using shoulder torque and releasing the ball down the ramp. Personifying this is none other than Robert Smith, who won the first Tour stop of the year with a smoother release than previously seen in the last few years. If you saw that first show, you saw the down-the-ramp look with the thumb releasing before the fingers rotate the ball as it starts down onto the lane. Guess who I was paired with in the qualifying round? It was fun to see this newer release used close up and gives him more length with even more unbelievable backend. At times, the ball would get to the 50 foot mark before flipping over and either carrying a light pocket hit or allowing the 6-pin to hit the kickback before toppling the 10-pin. The ball just broke much later than others around us that day. One thing that has become pretty clear is this style trends to work better after the pattern has a few games rolled. Fresher patterns provide too much snap on the backend, giving this style either too much reaction or not enough. Look at it this way, PBA oil patterns are 35-43 feet in length. If his ball is breaking at 45-50 feet, he needs more time for more balls rolled down the lane to create a more stable breakpoint. The rest of us have an easier time until the pattern begins to burn out, mostly from the 30 foot mark and beyond. Balls rolled begin to hook just a few feet earlier, causing a decrease in entry angle, and something else not mentioned before in the bowling media. At this point, the ball begins to slow down too soon, weakening its hitting power.

     If you have wondered why tour players look like they are rolling the ball faster than league players do, well, they are. This gets a bit scientific, but I'll give it a shot because it is a very important point not well known outside tour circles. Looking at the oil patterns on the PBA website (pba.com), you will notice each pattern has a 2003-2004 version. The patterns were tweaked and slightly changed during the summer for whatever reason they chose not to disclose. Those knowing how to interpret the graphs and lane machine settings along with knowing the lane surface can tell not only where to start, but other styles will start and where a given player may move after a set amount of games. This year's patterns are playing as though there is less oil within the 15-30 foot area, causing any ball to slow down sooner and hook sooner. So this gives the harder throwing player an advantage over those using more traditional methods. Look who what style is making TV show appearances. Either a hard thrower, like Mika Koivuniemi, or a higher revving player, like Jason Couch is bowling on Sunday so far this fall. Notice Walter Ray Williams, Jr. hasn't been seen on a show through the first four weeks like Parker Bohn was last year after his Bowler of the Year season. It's not that his game is bad, but his style does not naturally match up to this years oil patterns. Walter has bowled well, but just barely made the cut to either Round Two or the Round of 32 in the first few stops. Once he figures out the adjustments, he may make three or four shows in a row. The same thing applied with Pete Weber two years ago. Once he changed his pushaway, he won a couple of times, including that great 299 game in Grand Rapids. Ball speed is even more critical than before. Don't forget, it has to have plenty of revolutions, too. (Check the October JPA about shoulder torque)

     It's also tougher to make numerous shows consecutively now with the new format. Rather than running a marathon in qualifying and match play, it is now a series of 100-yard sprints. If one of those sprints doesn't go well in the Round of 32 or 16 matches, you're week is over. One may run into a player with a hotter hand or whose natural style plays better on a given pattern. That's what makes these guys so good. They can roll the ball different ways on different patterns on different surfaces to get the best results possible.

      As you may have noticed, more than a couple lefties have made the shows recently. Remember last year? Not many lefties bowled for titles. Their ball reactions were very inconsistent from week to week, more than likely due to too much oil on their side of the lane between 15 to 30 feet. That would cause a ball to squirt out of the end of the pattern. Without the traffic that the right-handers have on their half of the lane, the left side never has a shot develop over the course of a qualifying round. This year with less oil, a shot begins to develop sooner, thus more lefties making deeper trips into the bracket rounds. The right side with less oil breaks down sooner, no matter which style plays the pattern, straighter players or crankers. Most of the righties making trips to the Round of 8 are those power players who can generate the speed to get the ball further down the lane. So lefties have the advantage right now. Let's see what happens on the next few shows if this trend continues.

     At press time, there was no further news on the PWBA purchase. We'll keep an eye on that story and pass along as they are made known.

     Next month, we'll go over some of the Top 25 TV Moments with a more in depth look, not quite a 'Behind The Music' look at how some of these unfolded. There are some great stories behind what unfolded on camera in front of millions of viewers.