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by Randy OoneyMy Nickel’s Worth by Randy Ooney
“I Don’t Believe What I Just Saw”
These famous words were first uttered by Vin Scully after the Limp off home run launched by Kirk Gibson against Dennis Eckersley in game one of the 1988 World Series. But I had occasion to revisit the phrase last Sunday watching the NBS World Championship from Reno.
The National Bowling Stadium in Reno is definitely a landmark, where I have not fared well in my 45 games there. Nevertheless, Reno is a fun place to visit for low stakes gamblers and buffet munchers like myself to play once in a while. But just to mess with the minds of the PBA players with the billboard bowling shirts, this past week they decided to lay out the Long oil Shark pattern on the left lane, with the shorter Cheetah pattern on the right. I’m sure some guy from Chicago named Peterson probably thought of it. Most players used a different ball for each pattern, and surprisingly the commentators made references to the ball choices during the telecast. Patrick Allen worked his way up the stepladder with three decent games to face Walter Ray Williams Jr. in the final. Patrick had two extra doubles and a 22 pin lead before a seven count in the ninth frame left the door open.
Meanwhile, Walter had elected to finish on the Cheetah pattern, and it proved to be a good choice, because he left a couple of weak ten pins and a 2-4 combination on the Shark pattern but was perfect on the shorter oil, and entered the tenth working on a double. Needing two strikes in the tenth for a win, or strike 9 spare for a tie, he labeled his first shot in the tenth for his fifth consecutive strike on the right lane. The next ball looked as good as the first five, but when the ball hit the pit, the 8 and 10 pins were still standing. So Patrick backed into the title, and Walter was left muttering something about putting the pins on spot. I think he was looking for one of those red socks to throw on the approach to challenge the spot of the pins. Sorry, Walter, but that’s a different game. Fortunately, bowling has not gotten to the challenge replays yet. Anyway, in the tenth frame it would have to be called from the booth.
Safe to say we’ve all had games where a solid 10, stone 8, or a freak 7-10 has cost us a match in league or tournament play. Over time, I suppose the breaks go both ways, but it’s quirk of our sport; when you roll a round ball toward 10 wooden objects shaped like Coke bottles, anything can happen, and usually does.
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