Ok, it's late, and I've had about four hours of sleep in the last 24, so this is gonna be brief, seeing as how I'm only gonna get 5 tonight so I can go back and have some more fun tomorrow! There's too much to tell, so I'll hit the main highlights and save the rest for a wrap up tomorrow. First of all, I went with Ron Bahr, his wife, and her daughter. Her daughter is 14, and all too cute for her own good. Naturally her mom took her around getting autographs. This is all aided by the fact that we know Bob and Rick Benoit, so since Rick is a Brunswick ball rep and knows ALL the pros, Ron and his wife have become acquainted with a few of them. Anyway, after the first squad, which saw a 300 game by a younger bowler by the name of Ryan Smith, we retreated to a lounge area. We thought it was going to be packed, but we were virtually the only ones in there. Dave D'Entremont stopped in for a drink and to chat with a bowler I didn't recognize. Del Ballard also came in later. Ron's wife (Kristi, her daughter's name is Jessie) and her daughter joined us after getting quite a collection of autographs on a bowling pin and in a yearbook. A few minutes after we sat down, a man approached Jessie and asked, "Did you get all the autographs you wanted, or are there a few that you haven't gotten that you'd especially like to get?" Kristi and Jessie are pretty big Tommy Delutz fans, so they mentioned that they hadn't gotten his yet, but were planning to before the round of 32 started. Kristi then asked the man if he was with the PBA. He answered with, "Why yes, my name is right here in the book." He opens the book and points to his name at the very top on one of the first pages. Steve Miller, President and CEO of the PBA. Then he mentioned working for Nike, and hiring the man that happens to be on the front of this month's Bowlers Journal, who used to work under him at Nike. Can you say un-FREAKING-believable? He signed Jessie's book and the pin. Now, she's got signatures from Walter Ray, Amleto, Patrick Allen, Doug Kent, Chris Barnes, Lonnie Waliczek, Mike Aulby, among others, but how rare is that autograph she got from Steve Miller? And HE approached US.
Anyway, after that, we went out and hung around to watch those that didn't make the cut practice before the round of 32. In the middle of this all, Jessie and Kristi somehow started talking to Michael Haugen Jr. Seriously, he has got to be the BEST class act in the PBA. He started talking to them like they were old friends, and also to me and Ron. Jessie went down to watch most of his best of 7 match against Robert Smith, and in between shots, he'd come right over and sit down in front of Jessie and just talk to her about stuff. He drew a bit of bad luck by bowling Robert, they were both shooting 240+ scores every game, and Michael seemed to be on the short end of them. He shot 254-257 two of the games, and lost both of them, one to a roll off, and the other to a 286. Anyway, for one of his games, he sat down and asked Jessie, "So what ball do you think I should use, the blue one or the black one?" Jessie said the blue one cause she liked that color best, but she didn't know what the balls did, and didn't want to mess him up. He replied, "Tell you what, I'll use the blue one on the left lane, and the black one on the right lane." He then proceeded to do just that and win the game. However, it was short lived as he left a 7-10 in the middle of his last game and lost the game by 3 pins as well as the match. He then stuck around and talked to us for awhile while everybody else were finishing the last couple games of the match play. You wanna talk about the nicest friendliest guy you could hope to meet. Acted like he had all the time in the world, was enthusiastic, initiated conversations in between games (when he was still bowling), and even came halfway across the house to say a few words and tell us how he was doing. Kristi and I were watching Tommy Delutz (who bowled incredibly in the round after an opening game that he won 269-268, striking the last 7 shots to win after his opponent had already finished the game), and Jessie was torn between who she wanted to watch. Michael and Robert were bowling on 9 and 10, and Tommy was bowling on 25 and 26, I believe. After everything was done, Jessie wound up with his autograph in the yearbook and on the pin, the signature shirt that he wore during the tournament (that he signed also) and he gave Kristi his email address. Even talked a little philosophy about things before we left. Lol, I know I said I was gonna keep this short, so now that I'm falling asleep, I'll cut it off. Needless to say, it's an experience. Jessie was pretty nervous about most of it. I don't get star struck at all, I don't really know why, cause I used to have a pretty bad case of it, but it's nice to talk to somebody that's been on tv without stuttering like an idiot, lol. Can't wait to go back tomorrow. Oh, one more thing. I was never too fond of Voss's "acting" (lmao, needs schooling) last year, but after watching him today, I have to say that Voss is indeed "boss." I'd wager to guess that half the field played outside first arrow all the way down the lane, and EVERY single one of them had a breakpoint outside 5. Bob Learn rode the 2 board all the way down. Voss played 3 all the way down. Lonnie Waliczek had a breakpoint at 3. Michael Fagan had a breakpoint of 2, and nearly shot 300 (front nine). However, I did see quite a few gutter balls. But man, when you talk about shot after shot that close to the channel, snapping back at the last instant without rolling out, that's something to SEE.
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Cocky? I'm not cocky. I'm the proud owner of a 280-742 set with a White Dot. So, who wants to touch me? . . . . . . . I SAID WHO WANTS TO F*#%!&G TOUCH ME?!?!
Man! I'm like the white Larry Bird!
