Still Alive...

Well, I've returned from the dead. Never fear, I will be your ultimate source of bowling information once again! Luckily for you, the PBA is in its off season so I will talk about lots of other interesting stuff too! However, it is all far too exciting for a monday night, so you will have to come back soon when I have more time to contribute. In fact, tomorrow night is league night, so that will be a great time to talk about inflated scoring and drunken bowlers. ttyl.

Sunday

Ok well I didn't get to talk about this week's action yet, but I'll make a quick prediction for the show today. This week is the "Shark"pattern, which means bowlers will be standing way left and keeping the ball inside. It's very similar to a reverse block. Scores have been extremely low all week, so there may be pin-carry issues. In the first match, Mike Devaney faces off against newcomer John May. I have never seen John May bowl, but he is fighting to make the top 40 and keep his exemption for next year. It's gonna be a tough match for him because Devaney has been dominating all week and I see Devaney winning this one with some key strikes.
In the second matchup, Bill O'Neill takes on Chris Barnes, who is making his second straight TV appearance. Barnes is coming off one of his typical chokes last week, and this week will be no different for him. O'Neill will take command of the match early and Barnes will lay down easily.
This brings us to the title between Devaney and O'Neill. This will probably be a low-scoring affair and whoever leaves less splits will take it down. In my opinion, Bill O'Neill will conquer and win the first title of his career. So there you have it. Stay tuned for postgame analysis after the show.

11th Frame

Well, yesterday and today were quite busy so I didn't have a chance to comment on my Sunday predictions until now. I was satisfied with how everything played out: Mike Edwards took Chris Barnes down to the wire and definitely had the best look out of all the players. He basically gets rigged every time he makes TV. The Pa-Mika match was pretty ugly, and a late charge by Allen was not enough. I was 2-0 prediciting these two matches.
Thennn the title match between Barnes and Mika. Well, the lanes did exactly what I thought they would do, however the players did the opposite. I thought Barnes would capitalize in that environment, but instead he turned into his old self and had some key open frames. Mika took full advantage in the late frames and had it won easily in the 10th. Very impressive win for the big Fin. I promise to do better next week. I'll post some hypotheses tomorrow about the upcoming week based on previous weeks and the Qualifying Round.
I also was right about the Super Bowl, but that was basically a no-brainer. Rex Grossman joins the list of big-game duds and Peyton Manning wins his first(and probably last) championship. The Psychic Madman, Jim Karol, predicted the Bears would win by more than 7 points. He recently came to TCNJ and tries to pass off magic tricks as acts of prediction and coincidence. Well, I was right and he was wrong about the SuperBowl... and I'm practically braindead. Now, it's time for Poker After Dark. Good Bowling.

Predictions

There's still over an hour left until the live PBA finals today. In one match-up, we have Chris Barnes vs. Mike Edwards. Apparently, Mike Edwards hasn't won since 1994, so he's still in the search for title #2. Chris Barnes has been doing pretty well this season, but has yet to break through and dominate a TV show. He made a strong showing against Wes Malott in the finals earlier in the season, ultimately getting screwed on a 7-pin I think. Last year, he was in a similar situation before taking the final two huge events of the season(and pocketing some a nice sum of money.) This will be tough matchup, but I think with Barnes's versatility and ability to turn it on at moment, he will overcome Mr. Edwards in the final frames.
In our other matchup of the day, Patrick Allen and Mika Koivuuinuuivumeioami square off in a match that can either be very exciting or very boring. PA vs. Mika has been a fun rivalry ever since it came down to a roll-off between them a few years ago(US Open?) Allen was the eventual winner of that one, however Mika has always been known as the lefty killer on television. As of late, the lefties have been getting the best of him, but look for him to get revenge today. The lefties have had more trouble this week and if Mika is able to throw it straight and hard, it will be no contest. I say Mika dominates this one.
This brings us to Mika vs. Barnes for the title. By this point, the lanes will have changed and bowlers will be trying to keep up with the transitioning. Because of this fact alone, I feel the much more versatile Barnes will have the advantage and stay in command. Whenever Mika is forced to experiment, he'll end up leaving a costly bucket or something of that nature. While the scores will be high today, Barnes will be the highest and he'll take home the trophy after bowling extremely well the entire week. Winner: Barnsy

Highlights of the week:
Tommy Delutz being up 3-2 against Tony Reyes, shooting 816 the final 3 games, and losing.
Sean Rash making an incredible comeback in the second half of the round of 64 to make match-play.
Tim Criss getting to match-play as the #1 seed and losing to the #32 seed for the second time this season.
Nice runs by Del Ballard, Dino Castillo, Edward Van Daniker, and Mike Edwards.
Me having all 6 starters (and 9 out of 10 members) of my fantasy team make match-play. Very Impressive.

That about does it for this week. I'll write again after the show with comments. Also, Colts will win in a landslide. Peace.

Welcome to the Lanes

There are a many problems in the world. Wars, religion, political correctness, Rosie O'Donnell, etc... these are just the tip of the iceberg... the iceberg of evil. Somewhere deep within this iceberg is the mysterious land of blogs. Yes- blogs- where any idiot can write stupid crap. And we can all agree there is no shortage of idiots on the world wide web. Oh yes, there are too many blogs and too much meaningless information floating around the world every day. Perhaps the worst sin of all is that there are no bowling blogs. Well, no easily-findable bowling blogs at least. But that's alllll going to change with a little help from me. You see, for those of us who have discovered the world of bowling, we have insight into one of the greatest unknown treasures. There is no other sport quite like it. You can do whatever you'd like: enjoy it, do it yourself, argue that it's not a sport, or build a lane in your basement. However, if you choose to come here, then you choose to hear everything that's going on in this crazy world. So rent some shoes and grab a ball that's not too heavy because you're in the best house in America.