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Ask the “Blazing One”???
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259 posts in this topic

On 6/6/2018 at 12:40 AM, blazingbob said:

When I was younger I always wanted to be a professional bowler

I was just average but loved bowling... i was in the same league every Wed night for 30 years until my knees started giving out ...i applaud you for trying to make the tour  !!

i also loved watching pro bowling on TV every Saturday back in the day ,, with announcers Chris Schenkek and also with Nelson Burton Jr....

the PBA tour (and bowling itself)_ is on life support these days... what happened ??

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3 hours ago, 1950's war comics said:

I was just average but loved bowling... i was in the same league every Wed night for 30 years until my knees started giving out ...i applaud you for trying to make the tour  !!

i also loved watching pro bowling on TV every Saturday back in the day ,, with announcers Chris Schenkek and also with Nelson Burton Jr....

the PBA tour (and bowling itself)_ is on life support these days... what happened ??

The legendary Johnny Petraglia lived two houses down from me when I was a kid.

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8 hours ago, 1950's war comics said:

I was just average but loved bowling... i was in the same league every Wed night for 30 years until my knees started giving out ...i applaud you for trying to make the tour  !!

i also loved watching pro bowling on TV every Saturday back in the day ,, with announcers Chris Schenkek and also with Nelson Burton Jr....

the PBA tour (and bowling itself)_ is on life support these days... what happened ??

I currently am bowling in two leagues,  average 223 in one,  216 in the other.  

The problem with bowling is basically the houses have made the shots too easy because bowlers like higher scores.

Shots are easier,  equipment is made to take a lot of work out of learning how to bowl.  Much like CGC takes learning how to grade out of the equation.  

The PBA tour has gone through many owners,  it is primarily a blue collar sport and unfortunately does not have the ability to draw crowds like Golf, etc.  It has managed to get back on TV.

The other issue is that bowlers don't exactly have the "image" of being athletes. 

Just bowling 8 game qualifying and then coming back at 8AM for 8 more games before you even qualified for the stepladder finals was a lot of work. 

As with any sport it is a lot harder then it looks.   

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6 hours ago, blazingbob said:

I currently am bowling in two leagues,  average 223 in one,  216 in the other.  

The problem with bowling is basically the houses have made the shots too easy because bowlers like higher scores.

Shots are easier,  equipment is made to take a lot of work out of learning how to bowl.  Much like CGC takes learning how to grade out of the equation.  

The PBA tour has gone through many owners,  it is primarily a blue collar sport and unfortunately does not have the ability to draw crowds like Golf, etc.  It has managed to get back on TV.

The other issue is that bowlers don't exactly have the "image" of being athletes. 

Just bowling 8 game qualifying and then coming back at 8AM for 8 more games before you even qualified for the stepladder finals was a lot of work. 

As with any sport it is a lot harder then it looks.   

Let me add that some people have to travel greater distances to get to a bowling alley because there are fewer. Can make it challenging for recreational bowlers. We lost some great alleys. 

I remember the great days of the PBA back in the 80s - ABC coverage on Saturday afternoons. There was a time when the Firestone Tournament of Champions was one of the best sporting events to watch. We knew who Earl Anthony was...Mark Roth... 

Bob- ever bowl a 300 game?

 

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8 hours ago, 1950's war comics said:

i remember him bowling one of the first 300 games on live TV !

Petraglia had that one incredible year when he won all the major championships. I remember him constantly traveling about - he had 1- 2 guys who would travel with him in a cool van. Must have been tough to do all that traveling on the road. I also remember seeing his trophy room- incredible. Recently saw him bowl on ESPN for a senior event- has to be in his '70s - and you can see the technique of a master of the game. One of the greats!

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2 hours ago, bronze johnny said:

Let me add that some people have to travel greater distances to get to a bowling alley because there are fewer. Can make it challenging for recreational bowlers. We lost some great alleys. 

I remember the great days of the PBA back in the 80s - ABC coverage on Saturday afternoons. There was a time when the Firestone Tournament of Champions was one of the best sporting events to watch. We knew who Earl Anthony was...Mark Roth... 

Bob- ever bowl a 300 game?

 

3 official 300's,  couple of 800 series.  300's are not what they used to be but it is still cool to bowl one

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2 hours ago, blazingbob said:

3 official 300's,  couple of 800 series.  300's are not what they used to be but it is still cool to bowl one

Spoken like a guy who's upgrading his collection from 9.4s to 9.8s.

"9.4's are not what they used to be but it is still cool to own one."  :baiting:

Edited by Sweet Lou 14
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5 hours ago, bronze johnny said:

Petraglia had that one incredible year when he won all the major championships. I remember him constantly traveling about - he had 1- 2 guys who would travel with him in a cool van. Must have been tough to do all that traveling on the road. I also remember seeing his trophy room- incredible. Recently saw him bowl on ESPN for a senior event- has to be in his '70s - and you can see the technique of a master of the game. One of the greats!

Johnny Petraglia is a great competitor.  I've bowled regional tournaments at his house out in New Jersey.  Tough but fair lane conditions.  He has come to a few houses on Long Island when he was promoting some new equipment.  It is fun to watch a guy make it look so easy.  

Just like anything else it took years of practice for him to make the same shot over and over.  Never saw him falling all over the place,  missing a mark by a mile.  He learned the game,  he knows how to execute. 

Which is the same as other things you do in life.  Being willing to be taught,  learn,  practice until you can do the same thing over and over again without overthinking.

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On 1/17/2019 at 8:35 AM, blazingbob said:

3 official 300's,  couple of 800 series.  300's are not what they used to be but it is still cool to bowl one

Congrats on that! Still a feat. My grandfather threw two 300's back in the 50's in league play. I'll have to take a picture of the trophy he got from the ABC. It has a clock in it!  :foryou:

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On 1/19/2019 at 12:24 AM, PopKulture said:

Congrats on that! Still a feat. My grandfather threw two 300's back in the 50's in league play. I'll have to take a picture of the trophy he got from the ABC. It has a clock in it!  :foryou:

ABC trophies/rings from back in the 50's are highly collectible !!!

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they used to have midnight no-tap back in a local house in the 80's and it was packed .. i threw a hard and straight ball back then and was pretty good at getting nine pins ... i only won the jackpot once but it was $300 dollars and that was a lot of money to me back then....

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