E-dition No. 952 Sunday, May 21, 2017
Editor: Bob Johnson (bjibob@aol.com)
Opryland Is Sold Out; Other Options for Bowl Expo Attendees
If you’re planning to attended BPAA’s International Bowl Expo next month in Nashville, Tenn., and have not yet made your room reservations, you will not be staying at the event’s host hotel, the Gaylord Opryland Resort.
That property is completely sold out, and if you go to the Bowl Expo website (bowlexpo.com), you’ll find a list of properties near Opryland. However, several of those are near capacity, so it would be wise to book rooms as soon as possible.
There also are several hotels adjacent to the Nashville airport, and while they generally offer lower rates, staying at them would require either renting a car and paying for parking at Opryland ($29 per day), or catching a taxi or other form of transportation to and from the resort.
The early sell-out was caused by unexpectedly high (although certainly welcomed) registration for Bowl Expo, as Nashville is located within easy reach of major cities in the East and South.
“The 2017 show is shaping up to experience greater growth than in the last two years combined,” said BPAA’s Executive Director, Frank DeSocio, who called the Expo’s trade show “off the charts” with exhibitors introducing “new and innovative products.”
The convention runs June 18-22, with Shaquille O’Neal delivering the keynote address, and Martina McBride and Asleep at the Wheel performing at the week-ending Club Xpo social event.
PBA Returns to Reno for 2017 World Series of Bowling
For the third consecutive year, Reno and the National Bowling Stadium will host the world’s premier international bowling showcase when the 9th annual edition of GEICO’S PBA World Series of Bowling takes place Nov. 7-19.
WSOB IX, presented by Eldorado Resorts Reno properties – Eldorado Resort Casino, Silver Legacy Resort Casino and Circus Circus Reno – in cooperation with Reno Tahoe USA, is expected to attract a capacity field of 185 PBA members from more than 20 countries to compete for shares of an estimated $700,000 in prize money and five PBA Tour titles in nationally-televised ESPN finals.
The PBA members-only event, with an all-inclusive entry fee of $1,000 that covers all five PBA Tour events, will include the PBA Cheetah, Chameleon, Scorpion and Shark Championships, plus the PBA World Championship, the final major championship of the 2017 season.
The World Series, which always plays a significant role in PBA Player and Rookie of the Year competitions, will again feature the PBA’s most comprehensive test of versatility, using the composite 60-game qualifying totals from the four animal pattern events to determine the five players who will compete for the $60,000 first prize in the World Championship finals. In 2016, E.J. Tackett’s World Championship victory propelled him to PBA Player of the Year honors.
In addition to the five PBA Tour events, the World Series also will host the 5th annual PBA Challenge Series, inviting the top players from PBA50 and PBA Regional programs to participate in the WSOB program. The PBA Regional points leaders in the East, South, Central, Midwest, Southwest, West, Northwest and Japan Regions, as of the Oct. 15 qualifying deadline, will receive WSOB and PBA Challenge Series invitations. The top eight players based on PBA50 Tour points will be determined at the conclusion of the PBA50 Tour season on Aug. 12.
The 2017 World Series will get underway earlier than it did in 2016 to avoid a conflict with the World Bowling Men’s World Championships, which is scheduled to take place in December.
Qualifying will involve two-five game blocks on freshly-oiled conditions – one squad with five players per pair – and one in six entrants will cash in each animal pattern event. Combined 40-game qualifying totals from those four events will determine cashers who will advance to the final 20 games of PBA World Championship qualifying Nov. 13-14. The top 16 qualifiers in each of the four animal pattern events will then bowl single-elimination match play rounds Nov. 15-16 to determine the ESPN finalists in each event.
The 40-game qualifying totals for the four animal pattern championships also will serve as the basis for selecting the five American and five international players who will compete in a special USA vs. The World team event at the end of WSOB IX.
All ESPN finals are scheduled for Nov. 18-19 for delayed telecast on ESPN, but all shows will be live-streamed on ESPN3 and the WatchESPN app as they happen. The ESPN telecast schedule will be announced at a later date.
Entries for the World Series will be accepted on pba.com beginning July 10. All players are required to stay at one of the three Eldorado properties: Eldorado, Silver Legacy or Circus Circus Reno. Room reservation information will be announced soon.
All preliminary rounds of WSOB IX will be covered live, exclusively on PBA’s online bowling channel, Xtra Frame, as well as via live scoring on PBA’s official website, pba.com, and all outlets included as part of the PBA Network.
To view the complete World Series schedule, click here: http://www.bowlersjournal.com/world-series-of-bowling-returns-to-reno-november-7-19/.
Other News You Can Use…
* Crafty strategy and clutch shots at every critical turn helped the Shipyard Dallas Strikers successfully defend their L.L.Bean PBA League Elias Cup title in a hotly-contested battle with the local-favorite L.L.Bean Portland Lumberjacks at Bayside Bowl in Portland, Maine. Led by player-manager Norm Duke, the Strikers won the singles, trios and five-player Baker format matches for a 5-1 victory over the Lumberjacks. More: http://www.bowlersjournal.com/dallas-strikers-repeat-as-l-l-bean-pba-league-elias-cup-champions/.
* Like any athlete, each time Kelly Kulick competes, there is the hope that everything will align physically and mentally, and a clear-minded focus will result in a successful outing. The reality is that those days are rare, so when the lane condition at the 2017 PWBA Fountain Valley Open allowed Kulick to play to her physical strengths, she was able to capitalize on the opportunity and offset the fact that she wasn’t feeling as focused as she was at this point in past PWBA Tour seasons. The 38-ft. oil pattern at Fountain Bowl in Fountain Valley, Calif., allowed Kulick to open up the lane and attack it in a left-to-right fashion, and being in her wheelhouse helped her get more comfortable with each round on her way to the top seed for the televised portion of the event. She will be joined on the show by No. 2 seed Verity Crawley, No. 3 Liz Johnson, and No. 4 Cherie Tan. More: http://www.bowlersjournal.com/kulick-earns-top-seed-for-tv-at-2017-pwba-fountain-valley-open/.
* The eight bowlers who will represent the United States at the 2017 World Bowling Senior Championships this summer have been selected by the Team USA coaching staff. The World Senior Championships will take place in Munich from Aug. 13-20. More: http://www.bowlersjournal.com/team-usa-selects-roster-for-2017-world-bowling-senior-championships/.
* Las Vegas will be the destination for three United States Bowling Congress senior events for 2018, with the National Bowling Stadium in Reno, Nevada, also serving as host for an event. Details: http://www.bowlersjournal.com/las-vegas-to-host-senior-masters-senior-queens-in-2018/.
* Five-time PBA Tour titlist and current PBA50 competitor Bob Learn Jr. has accepted a position as head bowling coach at Martin Methodist College in Pulaski, Tenn. Martin Methodist, an NAIA program, competes in the Mid-South Conference. Learn, who has extensive experience in the coaching ranks, is one of more than 30 PBA members who are actively involved as a collegiate or high school bowling coach.
* The guest this week is former PBA Tournament Director and award-winning bowling writer Johnny Campos. To listen to the interview, go to: https://kegel.squarespace.com/phantomblog/2017/5/17/johnny-campos-phantom-radio.
* CONTACT: Please send business news, event information, etc. to Bob Johnson at bjibob@aol.com. For breaking business news, visit bcmmag.com or bowlersjournal.com. BJI Cyber Reports are now archived at bcmmag.com.
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