Video News Service to feature local bowling news in the fall
By Mike Pettinella
Special to Video News Service
The Professional Bowlers Association Tour made its way to the eastern part of the United States over the weekend with the PBA Tour Finals – a special event featuring the eight bowlers with the highest point totals earned through competition over the past two seasons.
Steel City Bowl & Brews, a retrofitted 24-lane center in Bethlehem, Pa., hosted the tournament, which was broadcast live on CBS Sports Network on Saturday and Sunday afternoons.
Longtime bowling writer Mike Pettinella of Batavia was on the scene for Friday night festivities — which included practice sessions (and time to talk to the competitors) and a meet-and-greet autograph session that drew about 300 fans – and for Saturday’s two shows.
Pettinella will be bringing his weekly Pin Points bowling column to Video News Service for the 2024-25 season while also posting weekly scores from Genesee Region USBC league play and tournament highlights in print and video formats.
Watch for more details in August.
Following are some observations from the PBA Tour Finals, which was won by 27-year-old two-hander Anthony Simonsen of Las Vegas, Nev. Simonsen turned back Marshall Kent of Clarkston, Mich., 40-38, in a ninth and 10th frame rolloff after each bowler had won one game in their two-game match.
The victory was worth $30,000 for Simonsen, who now has 15 career PBA titles. Kent picked up $15,000 for placing second.
Jason Belmonte and Bill O’Neill placed third and fourth for $8,000 each, Kyle Troup and Jakob Butturff were fifth and sixth for $6,000 apiece, and EJ Tackett and Packy Hanrahan were seventh and eighth for $5,000 each.
For more on the actual PBA Tour Finals competition, go to www.pba.com.
Rochester resident Justin Wyman (at right) provides technical and logistical support for the Professional Bowlers Association Tour events. (Photo by Mike Pettinella)
ROCHESTERIAN HAS KEY ROLE BEHIND THE SCENES
While he said he doesn’t have a specific job title, Rochester’s Justin Wyman is a major player when it comes to what takes place behind the television cameras.
Wyman, who opened 12 X Tech LLC pro shop on Hylan Drive in Henrietta in 2022, has been working for the PBA for seven years.
“We do the set design and construction, and control the graphics during the show,” he said. “We also do the venue scoring and some of the supporting infrastructure like the announcer and camera platforms. There’s a lot to it.”
He said he logs thousands of miles on the road, transporting equipment to the various tournament locations.
“This is the last PBA show until the (PBA Elite) league in September (in Portland, Maine), but next weekend, I’ve got to go to Indianapolis for the U.S. Women’s Open, and then in July to the Junior Gold (in Detroit) and then in August to the women’s tour championship (in Allen Park, Mich.),” he said. “We get a break from October through December, but that’s when we go through all the equipment to make sure everything is in good shape.”
A Penfield native, Wyman, 41, said he got involved in the bowling business in 2002 after he met Batavia native Ray DiSanto Sr., who owned Bowlers World pro shop in Rochester.
Jason Belmonte of Australia, the PBA Tour’s most dominant player over the past 15 years, says those who contend his best days are in the past only serve to motivate him to achieve more. (Photo by Mike Pettinella)
JASON BELMONTE RESPONDS TO SOCIAL MEDIA CRITICS
Jason Belmonte, one of the first to use the two-handed style, acknowledges that he sees comments on social media questioning whether he can still win on a regular basis. While coming close in 2024, he failed to win a tournament after racking up two victories in 2023 and five in 2022.
“Look, I’ve been very polarizing my whole career. When things are going great, they like to fire stones at you to try to pull you down, and when things aren’t going great, they like to kick you,” he said. “So, every step along my journey in my career, there’s always been a group of people that have made it more difficult.
“And I think, if anything, it toughens me up, creates a bigger challenge for me mentally and – with 31 titles and 15 majors – I feel like I’ve been able to climb those mountains that they lay in front of me every time. If they say it, it’s just my job to go out there next year and tomorrow to prove to them that I’m right where I’m supposed to be still.”
When asked if he thinks about joining the PBA Senior Tour in 10 years (when he will be 50), Belmonte said he won’t be taking that route.
“I have no intentions of rolling one ball on the Senior Tour,” he said. “It’s a long way to come over here. I’ve been traveling, not just here to the U.S., but around the world since I was 16 years old. I can tell you by the time I’m 50, the last thing I want to be doing is traveling back and forth to the USA for any Senior Tour stuff.”
He said that when he gets closer to 50, he will concentrate more on the major events – Masters, World Championship, Tournament of Champions, Players Championships – “and not really bowling in any of the small stuff.”
Batavia bowling writer Mike Pettinella, left, with EJ Tackett, the reigning PBA Player of the Year who is the favorite to claim that title again in 2024 after winning two tournaments, including a major, and leading the tour in points, average and TV appearances.
EJ TACKETT TALKS ABOUT HIS ROAD TO THE TOP
Without a doubt, EJ Tackett is getting the most out of his 5-foot-7, 145-pound body. The Ossian, Indiana, resident has one of the highest “rev rates” – number of RPMs on his bowling ball – on the PBA Tour and he’s not a two-hander.
“I’ve always been a very small person and since I play golf, too, I had to figure out ways to create power,” he said. “Luckily, I was able to bowl and bowl and bowl. My dad taught me fundamentals and I took it from there.”
So, while growing up in a bowling center owned by his parents, Tackett, now 31, developed a style that has enabled him to capture 23 PBA titles, including five major tournament championships, in 12 years.
Tackett explained that the release of contemporary bowlers differs from those of years ago.
“Today, we’re releasing the ball in a downward motion (called the yo-yo release) where in the past, bowlers were taught to hit up on the ball,” he said.
He also said that he believes that changes to the bowling shoe have contributed immensely to the evolution of the game.
“Shoes today have interchangeable heels, which enable bowlers to plant at the line and get the leverage needed to have a powerful release,” he said. “Old-school bowlers are still sliding when they let go of the ball.”
Tackett has been on the MOTIV bowling staff since October 2012.
When asked why he signed with the Muskegon, Mich., company, he replied, “because of the way Brett Spangler (the company’s PBA staff manager) treated me when I was in high school and then, later, at the U.S. Open in 2011.”
“He just treated me really good. And then when I decided to come out on tour, I called him. I said, ‘Brett, would MOTIV have any interest in signing me?’ He goes, ‘Yeah,’ and I had a contract in 45 minutes — and I’ve thrown every shot as a professional with a MOTIV ball.”