Gone are the days, at least temporarily, that I can spend a week at a tournament soaking up the ambiance thanks to the kids being in water polo, violin, and a host of other activities. But thanks to relatively clear freeways Friday afternoon, we spent the last squad of matchplay at Fountain Bowl.

First, thank goodness the PBA keeps Orange County "retro" with a 24-bowler round robin and a five-person telecast. There is nothing more exciting than watching the matches just right of the 1st v. 2nd match to see who can still fight their way into the show.

It's always amazing how much local talent shows up to root the guys on. We always see people there from SoCal we don't see any other time.

Thoughts on the show: While my daughter has been attending the Orange County tournament since her infancy, this was the first time we took her to the telecast. I'm not much of a morning person, but we were on the road by 7 and standing in an already impressive line by 8 am. We were seated in the second row, and
next time I'll bring a few telephone books just so I don't have to try to keep her in my lap to see over the shoulders of grown men. Of course, Carmen Salvino needs face time, but I actually appreciate having some feeling in my legs.

Mike Scroggins earned my respect this morning. While he's not the most exciting guy on tour, he gradually earned the support of most of the crowd and I felt the air get sucked out of the room when he doubled to shut out Weber. The smart alecs that were yelling "Denied!" every time he let go of the ball were surprisingly silenced there, and after the telecast, Scroggins related his own [censored] Weber memory after winning the Baby Ruth Open. Through tears, he related how he got to the next stop and there was [censored] with all the newspaper clippings he could find. The crowd patiently waited for Mike to finish, because once he got emotional, it was pretty hard for him to finish, but it was a very classy way to finish his thanks to the tournament's namesake after he'd thanked the hosts and the crowd.

Kirk Von Kruger told the crowd to stick around and the bowlers from the telecast would sign autographs--pretty nice since they all had to head out to Vegas for the doubles event ASAP as their practice started at 4pm.

We said goodbye to the guys and I've been emailing friends since I got home. If there were a way to get to Vegas this week...sigh. The good news is that at least one of my son's preferred colleges doesn't start until the week after this event, so if they don't change the dates and that's where he attends, we'll spend the entire week down there next year like the old days.

I was rooting for PDW to win vs. Scroggins, not for any other reason , but Pete winning a tournament named after his Dad. Mike Scroggins bowled very well, and deserved to win. That was a nice story on [censored] Weber saving the newspaper clippings for Mike after Scroggins won the Baby Ruth Open. It was also pretty cool to see a bowler win a tourney with Roto-Grip equipment too.

Scroggins! Scroggins! Scroggins!

Been a fan of his since he first won a few years ago. I love the way his face gets red right up to his former hairline.

The [censored] Weber open is always fun because of the oldschool oil patterns they use, it is really a throw back event unlike any other. Last year they used the strip pattern, this year it was a modified reverse crown.

My hat is off to Scroggins for bowling as well as he did, that was very impressive after how hard the lanes started off.

I recommend for anyone who aspires to bowl at a higher level to get out and watch a tour event, just watching these guys bowl is a treat unto itself.

There was no way they could have put out the pattern they used last year. The acrimony they created using that bordered on ridiculous.

I missed the show but i watch it when they put it on xtra frame in a few days. Though saw Scroggins won. Part is back on Scroggins. He finally broke his lossing streak on TV. Did he covert all his single pin spares? I know he was having trouble with those on TV his last few trips on the telecast..

What single pin spares? He hardly shot spares through the first three games, can't remember much about the last game. I believe he did convert all his single pins, and I would say most of his multiples which wasn't many.