The Man Who Broke Bowling

July 1, 2023 9:13 AM

Jason Belmonte’s two-handed technique made him an outcast. Then it made him the greatest—and changed the sport forever.
posted by Etrigan (29 comments total)

Went bowling yesterday and...well, I just sent this article to my two sons, one of whom might really benefit from reading it.
posted by wenestvedt at 9:21 AM on July 1, 2023 [3 favorites]

Relevant Parks and Rec episode.
posted by interogative mood at 9:41 AM on July 1, 2023 [11 favorites]

Loved this glimpse into the current state of the sport. I watched bowling on TV when I was a kid, because it was on. Always enjoyed it. This makes me want to follow it again.
posted by Well I never at 9:57 AM on July 1, 2023 [2 favorites]

Through 60 games over six days[...]

I hereby retract everything I've ever said about pro bowlers.
posted by MrBadExample at 10:00 AM on July 1, 2023 [8 favorites]

I hereby retract everything I've ever said about pro bowlers

I was really struck by this schedule as well.
posted by Well I never at 10:00 AM on July 1, 2023

a booth in a Bowlero in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin

Wait what, this alley is down the road from me
posted by Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug at 10:19 AM on July 1, 2023 [7 favorites]

It makes sense we’d have professional bowling tournaments here, I just don’t remember hearing about them for years

https://www.jsonline.com/story/sports/2023/04/20/pba-tour-world-series-of-bowling-continues-at-bowlero-wauwatosa/70129958007/
posted by Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug at 10:21 AM on July 1, 2023

Metaphorically, Baker says, Belmonte is still playing the same instrument, just with different artistry: Jimi Hendrix on the guitar instead of Chuck Berry.

Jeff Healey, surely.
posted by flabdablet at 10:37 AM on July 1, 2023 [4 favorites]

Thanks for posting this. It’s a fascinating look at a sport I thought I wouldn’t be interested in reading about.
posted by wittgenstein at 10:40 AM on July 1, 2023 [2 favorites]

That was a fun read.
posted by davidmsc at 10:50 AM on July 1, 2023 [2 favorites]

Being a pro bowler is physically grueling. From qualifiers to finals they bowl 60+ games, sometimes bowling first shift at 7am after finishing 3rd shift after midnight from the night before. They tape up their fingers and thumbs so much from torn fingernails, ripped callouses and their skin sometimes just splitting. Blown knees are common, especially for the bigger guys (which is why you see shorter, trim men have greater longevity in the tour, like Belmo, Pete Weber, Norm Duke and others).

Take this weekly tournament schedule and do it 6-7 months of the year, sometimes going from Wauwatosa one week to North Brunswick, NJ the next. Plus their sponsorships require them to be at events (Bowl Expo just wrapped up yesterday in Orlando) and do other marketing activities, which also amounts for some to an additional part time job. A lot of them go in and off the tour to work regular jobs at a Home Depot or running a pro shop and drilling balls. Then there’s also practice, because after all they are competing at the top of their sport.

People love to dunk on pro bowlers, so much so that it’s even become a cultural touchstone (think Bill Murray in King Pin). But it’s a very tough gig where only a few do very well.
posted by slogger at 10:51 AM on July 1, 2023 [13 favorites]

Fuck it, Dude. Let's go bowling.
posted by xedrik at 11:00 AM on July 1, 2023 [5 favorites]

I'm pretty impressed he can bowl like that.
posted by jenfullmoon at 11:16 AM on July 1, 2023

Say what one might about GQ, they have some fantastic writers. Thank you for posting this. I really enjoyed it. :)
posted by ZakDaddy at 11:29 AM on July 1, 2023 [2 favorites]

a booth in a Bowlero in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin

Wait what, this was like my first job as a teenager.

That's Lane Captain to you, good sir!
posted by Tunierikson at 11:29 AM on July 1, 2023 [3 favorites]

I don’t know, I used to go bowling with my father most Sunday afternoons from ages 10-13.

I was kind of obsessed with throwing things from about 3, and a bowling ball was another thing to throw, and I could throw it pretty hard - quite a bit harder than my father did, or than many adult men did.

But I was very erratic, and if I threw a game that broke 200, I was more than likely to barely get to 100 the next. I never bowled more than ~220, and did not get much better over time.

In retrospect, those Sunday afternoons have qualities of nightmare; coming in from very bright Colorado Springs early afternoons in a context of dry cactus, yucca and dessicated grass around the big, isolated bowling alley with its timeless indirect fluorescent lighting, chilly air conditioning, and oppressive pervading odor of foot powder. And the games themselves are very much embodiments of the repetition compulsion: the same exact thing over and over and over again without end, Amen.

It didn’t make me closer to my father, more because of my limitations than his because I think he longed for more of a connection and he was a good-natured, loving human being. I never set foot in a bowling alley after the last time we went, which I cannot remember a single thing about.
posted by jamjam at 11:48 AM on July 1, 2023 [10 favorites]

My interest in PBA bowling pretty much started and ended right when Belmo joined the tour, so I recall him as a young guy throwing huge bombs but lacking in finesse. This article captures pretty well how hostile some people in professional bowling were towards him, partially because at that time I feel like the sport had kind of an "eat your young" attitude. The PBA sports media wanted to turn him into a bit of a "Wild Thing" kind of star but in interviews it was clear he was very nice and a bit goofy 🤣 it's cool to see he's still playing at a high level and hopefully will be one of the elder statemen of the modern game.
posted by muddgirl at 12:22 PM on July 1, 2023 [1 favorite]

If you’re not impressed, if you happen to think that because you can fire a 250 at your local Bowlero, you can compete on the PBA Tour, let’s make one thing clear. Your local lanes are oiled in a way that helps turn misses into strikes, and when coupled with recent advances in bowling ball technology, have produced an abundance of 300 games among amateurs. But the oil patterns on the tour, unlike those at your local house, are devilishly difficult: the comparison is akin to logging a hole in one at your local putt-putt course, the contours guiding the ball toward the hole, versus sinking a downhill double breaker at Augusta. In other words, there is no comparison

This is wild
posted by chavenet at 12:29 PM on July 1, 2023 [10 favorites]

This is wild

They kind of allude to it later, but also, the oil patterns in the lane shift throughout a tournament, and even over the course of a game, especially with the hooks and bombs that professionals throw. So even if you're a really good bowler, if you're not sensitive to how the lane itself is changing, you're going to get less good in real time.
posted by Etrigan at 12:44 PM on July 1, 2023 [4 favorites]

Mute the terrible music but here's a video of multiple bowls from different angles.
posted by Nelson at 1:46 PM on July 1, 2023 [4 favorites]

Two handed bowling? Sure, as long as you still have enough zip for the crotch chop.
posted by Sphinx at 2:00 PM on July 1, 2023

Diagrams of oil patterns. The differences can be quite subtle, but because there may be more than one used on the lanes in a tournament, and the oil cannot be touched for the length of the tournament, there's probably some tricky variables when it comes to trying to repeat a throw.
posted by rhizome at 2:22 PM on July 1, 2023 [5 favorites]

I learned a very important lesson when I took a bowling class in college. We were required to take one PE class, and since I already bowled, I thought it would be an easy A. My roommate and I took the class, and rolled between 180 and 220 all semester. We both received C's in the class. Two of the girls we knew in the course got A's. One night at the bar I asked her how she earned an A. She grinned and told me the secret of college grades.

"Both of you guys started good, and stayed good all semester. We tanked the first round, and gradually increased our scores. We "showed improvement" through the whole class, which earned us an A. I've been bowling since I was six, and could beat anyone in that class. But if they're going to make me take a PE class, I might as well get an A."

So she convinced the coach he was a good teacher, and earned an A. The coach spotted me as a guy that just wanted to drift through the class.
posted by Marky at 3:01 PM on July 1, 2023 [30 favorites]

PBA Televised 300 Game #35: Jason Belmonte
posted by chavenet at 3:50 PM on July 1, 2023 [2 favorites]

Relevant explainer on the oil patterns SLYT
posted by SonInLawOfSam at 9:16 AM on July 2, 2023 [2 favorites]

Years ago when discount night games were $1 my college group would go play a few times a year at one of the local alleys that had the last 2 lanes out of 32 oiled in a professional pattern rather than rec patterns.

There was a guy who played professionally who was at those lanes almost every night bowling respectable but not outstanding games and he'd play anyone for $10 a game, double or nothing. Guys, and it was almost guys of course, who thought they were hot shit on the regular lanes would get handily beat playing the professional lanes. Sometimes 3-4 games in a row. It was pretty funny to watch.
posted by Mitheral at 1:27 PM on July 2, 2023 [2 favorites]

sometime pre-pandemic, i was at a local sports bar, and it was a slow day. They put on pro-bowling, and it was actually great to watch.

A few fun things about watching
* its not directly head to head, just individual skill
* there are no goddamn referees
* most likely not getting CTE or tearing achilles
* pro-bowlers seem to have a particular style and sense of humor, see Kyle Troup:
posted by lkc at 4:18 PM on July 2, 2023 [1 favorite]

I'm the son of an avid team bowler who enjoys the occasional game, but I have never heard of oil patterns before.

Also, Marky, that explains at least one and maybe two of the entries on my college transcript.
posted by Halloween Jack at 6:12 PM on July 2, 2023

I discovered Kyle Troup some years ago through some sequence of events, probably flipping past a tournament and going "what the actual heck?" Turns out it runs in the family (yes his dad goes by "Guppy").

Kyle is also a two-hander, and random internet comments suggest he's better than Belmonte at certain aspects of the style. Fun fact: if you don't use your thumb for throwing, you can't have a hole for it drilled into your ball.
posted by rhizome at 9:51 PM on July 4, 2023