The following podcast is brought to you exclusively by the Arad Rob Radio Network.
This is PBA Champion Kyle Trup and you're listening to Straight Up five with Johnny
Petrakleia Junior. As you know, JP Jr. Used to be introduced as
a sexiest man in bowling and now the world. But he doesn't have the
best hair in the world. I do, Sorry, Bud, but you
know the deal. Pick it out, fear the fro baby. Welcome to
Straight Up five Johnny petra hard hitting, in depth, cutting edge look into
the world of bowling. This podcast will not only cover all things bowling,
but will also give you a raw look into real life issues. You'll get
unfettered access into the mind of one of the most gifted bowlers of this or
any other generation. So without further Ado, Let's introduce you to the host
of the show, Brad Rob, Rob Francois, Rob Rob Francois, doctor
Ocho, Doctor Ocho, and the incomparable Johnny Petraglia Junior. Johnny Petralia jor.
Hey, guys, looking back to Straight Up five with Johnny Petraglia Junior.
This is episode number eighty seven. I am still your host, Rad
Rob Rob Francois, damn right, I do. God, there's just nobody
better Nico. What's going on? Brother? Welcome, welcome? You have
a headache? Well, every time I have to talk to ohow though,
I have a headache too, irregardless, Sorry, that's an inside joke.
Let's introduce my first co host. He is the man with the shiniest mask
in bowling. He has the largest arms in all of Ochoville. He is
the resident doctor of Straight Up five, the one and only doctor Ocho.
Good evening, sir, Well, I see your biceps suck uh and it's
on wide angles. So I don't know what's going on. It's something wrong
with the screen. Maybe maybe your arms are just too big. I mean
probably Welcome to Straight Up five with Johnny Ben trying to junior, I am
Rob Rob Francois, that's all going on? No? No, I mean,
how you doing? Man? I haven't seen you in that so I
don't even have a fun league story. I had to go to a wedding
and depart my league. Oh you got married? Who nobody you knew?
You got married to my eighth wife? Sure? Six eight depends, okay?
Anyway. Also joining us is the man that there's nobody here. No,
that's it, it's just us. You didn't give me a memoro.
Shit. There is usually somebody sitting next to doctor Rocho who happens to be
what that sexy guy right there, the sexiest man of the world, Number
seven in your program, number on in your hearts, the one and only.
Oh, he's sitting there right there. You know who he is.
It's up, JP, it's me. It's good to see your brother.
It's me. It's j P. That's it. Life is good right now.
Pleasure to see you, rad rob as always. Pleasure to see you,
mister Tiberius. Yes, o, Joe. Let's I got a little
housekeeping to do before you bring in our special guests. And I'm super excited
for our special guests. But I got my MRI I results back, and
I kind of need you to to explain some of this doctor term stuff real
quick, if you don't mind. Did they use the words guerrilla in any
of the terminology? Uh? No, sirt, No they did not.
Good. Good, Then they're doing their job properly, I think. Okay.
Uh. The flexor and extens or tendon scene about the ankle joint are
unremarkable without evidence for tendinopathy, tenolscinomitis, or tear, you're literally faking everything.
Okay, the medial and lateral ligamentous complexes are intact. Without signal abnormality,
you're faking still. The sinus tarsi is normal. The tarsal tunnel is
unremarkable. So that's what I thought. That's the high ankle spring. It's
whether the tarsal tibial junction is when that gets disrupted. Usually people roll their
ankle and it's the fibular fibular talent, not even the fibular taler. It's
the fibular canarian form junction. So you don't have that full on articulation.
That's why it's easy to roll it outward. When you roll inward and hit
the tibial talar junction, that's the high ankle spring. So you've been you've
been a lingerer, is what we ca all except I put you put purple
dye on your skin because you did bruise. I did see that you weren't
lying. Uh. There is no bone marrow edema. There is no fracture
or dislocation. There is no tableau taller typically tower. That's what I was
just talking about. There's there's no joint effusion, the plantar fascia is intact.
The Achilles tendont is normal in size. There is non specific edema within
the subcutaneous fat around the ankle. Apparently I just have fat cankles. If
you're swelled up in your cankel area right, we're talking about his cankels right
now, high gabriella. They might not have been cankles. They might have
been just regular like fankles. Oh hell no, theude, they're they're cankles.
There were fat ankles. They were I don't know where my calf starts
and and and my my ankle begins. So that's just you're you're good,
You're good. That was the high ankle spring condition was what I was looking
for. I thought you're gonna send me the report so I could pretend like
anyone else. But you put me on the spot and I didn't prove.
I knew what I was talking about, which puts more pressure on me,
which I thrive on, especially when I'm shooting a ten pin with nothing on
the line. I knew you would pull out, I mean pull through,
very nice, rob. When I was a weak I thought that was pretty
good. That was weird, he wrote that in there, like on his
notes a week ago, Johnny, I got a little video package to play
about our special guests. But I know this guy is one of your favorites.
Just just a quick word about what what mister learned means to you.
Well, I met I met Bob when I was nine years old, So
imagine like nineteen let's call it nineteen ninety three, nineteen ninety two. But
this was a time that my dad wasn't making a lot of shows. So
when my dad made the show an Eerie at East Way Lanes in nineteen ninety
six, it was Easter weekend and I had the choice of either going to
Disney World with my mom and my sister or to Eerie, Pennsylvania to watch
my dad bowl in a tournament. And I made the executive decision at that
age to go watch Dad bowl because that's really where my heart was, even
over Disney World. Nowadays, i'd probably go to Disney World first, but
at that time, sounds it going to be a little more opposite. Yeah,
well you would think, but that was I kind of fell in love
with Bob. I love the holding the ball with one arm at the start.
I love the leg speed, I love the full blown commitments, every
single shot that he always throws, and through all that, through dinners,
throughout the Johnny Patragli Open because Bob made the show a couple of times at
Carol leer Lane's in North Brunswick. Bob has always been not only a great
ambassador to the sport, but a great father figure to me. So I
have a very deep emotional connection with him, and I was thrilled to death
that you Rob went out of your way to get somebody of this stature on
this show. So first off, kudos to raw for bringing for bringing tonight
as as most of our guests are usually from Rob, but uh No,
to tell you the truth, dude, Bob has always been the most down
earthed real person I've ever met, and it's just an absolute honor and pleasure
to be able to pick his brain for a little while tonight. And I'm
really I'm looking forward to this show as much as having mister Schaeffer, mister
Buttriff and my dad and anybody else, anybody else has been on this show.
This is going to be another Marshall Kent giving us, giving us inside
it kind of just it adds to the legacy that is the sport of bowling.
Having somebody like like Bob on the show and really really looking forward to
it's an I dude, and again, Rob, thank you so much for
going out of your way to get him on tonight. So this is going
to be a great show. You are welcome, my friend, and uh
he us on the phone while you watch the damn game. Jesus. It
wasn't even a question when I asked him to come on, and he was
just very gracious. So we got about two and a half more minutes to
blow smoke up with that before I bring him on. So here is a
highlight package from the incomparable Bob lar and Jr. Let's do it, and
Dell Bower says it's over, but there's still a potential for baller calls.
But I don't think Lern will send it that why he's a possible two fifty
five. All right, give us Shanno Toomer Trouser hitch go ahead, six
shooter there. It is not to be the night to day though. You're
right this and I'll take the Bob learns Jr. Spend a lot of time
on it till almost a decade. He has learned the dogs and he's got
a little picking laugh here for only his most prolific three hundred board potential,
two fifty five year Eric Garci people and Harry Bensilhida for dating with joy.
You look at that. Any kind of hit, you'll get a strike a
dog that's great. Been a fifty four thousand dollars handshake there that's got a
second highest paycheck to a winner on our tour. Why here. I mean,
it's been a strange day, but don't expect anything. As Adro Perry
said here many years ago, we have met the anime and they are ours.
Okay, congratulations Bob Larn Yeah, any kind of a mark. Bob
Learns been making very good shots. The last couple of frames. He's left
the soft tenpin. You know, with all the pocket the only thing that
can get in is way as a solid seven to ten. Right now here
it comes. They're the strike five. There's your champion with a herege strike
in the tenth frame, and Bob Learn is your champion of the US Open.
Wonder how is Bax fillling right now? Is the slides right down?
There's Stacey and Brittany. And that's right, Daddy just won the big one.
I don't know, my first one's always special, but this has to
rank up there because Bob has gone through a tough time over the past couple
of years. Weally had this is a this is a major title. This
is certainly going to be this week as he came through the clutch. Please
welcome to the show. Good evening, Bob. Thank you for waiting for
so long to get on here, but we just had you, and thank
you for joining us tonight. How are you hey, guys, good seeing
you. Thanks for having me on. Absolutely, we were so blessed to
have of your stature on the show. John, As Johnny put early in
the beginning, he's a big fan of you. I know Ocho is also
a giant fan of you, Bob. But we can't thank you enough for
being gracious with your time. Oh I'm looking forward to you guys. JP.
It's been a while, but yeah, I mean what you were talking
about growing up and being around a tour and yeah, we had a good
relationship, always hanging out talking. You always had, you know, something
nice to say and always questions about this or that. So you know,
we did get we get some good quality time together when we were out there
when you were younger. Yeah, we sure did. That's some good style.
Yes, I guess they started off. Brother. I mean, you
can lead the first question or however you want to go. It's just I
told Bobby, like the freestyle here and we'll talk about his career in his
early life, but you can kick it off. Oh yeah, definitely.
So I'm obviously going to start with questions that I have now that I'm almost
forty. And my introduction to the PBA started when Dad made the National Championship
Show when he bowled Histree hundred for one hundred grand at Imperial Lanes in Toledo
in nineteen ninety four. So that was the first time I heard I ever
heard my mother scream in the kitchen you have fifth You're gonna be on ABC
tomorrow and this and that, YadA, YadA, YadA. So that was
really what jump started me. That was around the time that I was throwing
like ten or eleven pounds with the resin rhino ries, fire quantums, whatever
you want to call whatever ball was. But in nineteen ninety six, during
Easter Week, Bob, the first thing I want to ask you is during
that show they did a kind of like a Q and A where they they
brought us into your home, you Stacey Brandon, Brittany, they brought us
to your house. It looked like you were just building a new home,
like we were still doing the landscaping. The house is beautiful, and this
and that. And the last question or the last thing that Shankle says to
you in that interview is if your fifty second three hundred happens to come on
the show tomorrow, what would that do for you? And your answer was
something along the lines of bowling a national televised three hundred on ABC, that
would be great. That will be like the culmination whatever you said. So,
I guess my question is, is, as an outsider who's never bowled
in front of his hometown crowd in a stage like that thirty grand on top
front the hometown crowd, Flagship Open, one of the most prestigious regular tournaments
the PBA had to offer at that time, did you feel different like in
warm up that day, Like there's been days that I and anybody else that's
in this chatter that's watching, like you know you have the nuts, Like
I get that, but like it's got to be. There had to be
some kind of a thought problem, whether it was how much you were chewing
your gum or sitting in the exact same spot. Can you just kind of
walk us through the a feed that I personally don't think we'll ever be matched
by anybody for as long as the sport exists. Can just talk us through
that day just to start, well, Obviously, I was pretty excited after
the last game the night before, knowing that I made the show, so
I wasn't sleeping very much that night. So one thing I was I was
kind of tired going into the show, but excited during warm ups. Actually,
the left lane was giving myself in Randy Peterson some problems. We kept
washing out on it. There was a hang spot on the left lane,
and so quite honestly, I really wasn't looking at it like this is going
to be just an amazing day throwing strikes NonStop. It was more about,
Wow, Okay, I finally made a TV show in front of my hometown
crawd and now I just don't want to embarrass myself. I got to figure
out what to do on this left lane and see if I can at least
sell to two twenty or so. That was honestly the mindset going in,
and it helped me throughout the day because that really never left in my mind.
I was I was always still trying to feel like, you know,
every shot, just get up there and execute. It wasn't like, hey
man, just throw wherever we want. You know it's gonna it's gonna work
out for you. It really kept my focus, and honestly, I switched
the ball with three shots left in practice that actually saw the left lane and
it disappeared in my handspot. So I'm like, okay, I'll go with
this ball going into the first game. Obviously, I already know I have
to against your father, who's you know, hall of famer if I if
I beat him, then I have to bowl against John Maza, an amazing
player on tour, and future Hall of Famer Parker Bone. It's a murderer's
row. You have to face me. Okay, it doesn't get any easy
year, obviously, Boby, no continue because everybody knows you threw the RPM
swirl on the show. What ball were you throwing before you switched to that
when you were washing out on the left lane? Well on them, I
was throwing an RPM swirl. I had had four of them drilled up for
the show. The one that eliminated the hankspot was one that just read earlier,
so then I got to face up before it saw that spot. And
then going on to shoot three hundred. First game, there was a replay
of that interview that you talked about at my home and we sat probably it
felt like fifteen minutes. They came out with a check and made a presentation,
blah blah blah. Finally get back to bowling and I start off with
a flat ten pin and I kind of felt like, Okay, maybe I
just didn't throw it. Ask Chris strike come back and left another flat ten
pin. I was like, no, I think that one a lot better.
So we went into commercial break and my wife was like, what are
you doing? I'm like, what do you mean when I'm doing the shot
three hundred? He's mad and he goes, yeah, but I mean you
want to win this, right, I go yes. He goes, well,
you got to figure something out of here. He goes, you just
left two tempens and I left lane and I said yeah, I said the
first one, I probably didn't throw it so good. And I said the
last one I did. She goes, well, you know, make a
decision. I said, you mean making decision? He goes, well,
should you change the balls? I'm going I'm thinking, I go, actually,
I do need to change the ball because the ball was facing up early,
obviously too early at that point. I switched balls in the fourth frame
and I struck out masa seventy and I continue to throw that ball at the
remainder of the day. So it was two balls that I threw during that
that show. So it's remarkable that I didn't know either. Yeah, I
mean either that's the different right, like you said, four different correct,
just more continue. I mean, who knows Bob better than staysy. I
mean she obviously knows where his brind's at and knows what his thought process.
It's just like my mom with my dad there, or anybody else that has
somebody that their entire life is dedicated to their relationship with their spouse. I
mean, it's badass. So you went to one. She convinced me to
make the change. Was it a little bit more angular, Bob, that
it was a little bit more poppy down, more continual? Exactly? Wow,
I can't believe I never knew that Dad definitely does all. I guess
I never really we always seem to learn new things on the show that that
don't usually come out. And I mean, how remarkable is it to not
only shoot three hundred but against literally one of the top five bowlers of all
time and Johnny Petragli It's just, uh, it's a dream come true.
It's it's it's we talked about Ron and Schaeffer last week, like it's a
Disney moment, like that could be a a Disney movie like that just not
only did you shoot three hundred, but you may be the only one that
ever shoot three hundred actually win the entire tournament? Is that right? And
also quick my wife helped me refocus, right, So yeah, I mean,
I guess I was kind of like, wow, you know, one
hundred thousands an awesome day, and she's like, the day is not over.
Let's remember if he didn't shoot three hundred, he probably wouldn't have won
because Johnny shot, what did your dad shoot? Dad shot to Dad's six
been in the seventh frame for two seventy nine, So if he doesn't shoot
three hundred, he don't even have vacant me. We're not even close.
We're not even close to the culmination. So my next question, let let's
get past the one hundred grand, because typically when somebody bowls that that that
many figure a game on TV, usually the next game is adrenaline dump kind
of thing. Exactly. Dad lost to Dell Trader one eight in Toledo.
Mike Alby obviously bowled his against Obie against Ozio in the title match, didn't
have another game bob andoit bold his. So you are the eighth ABC three
hundred at that point and one of only I believe four guys or five guys
if you include Rhino's Japan Cup that actually did it for one hundred grand.
But here's the thing. That was the last one I think, aside from
the three hundred Bob is and it was yes, And aside from the three
hundred, the biggest thing for me was not the adrenaline dump. It was
what you did the next three games that because you were talking about Maza Spare
Strike Spare two seventy two sixty eight, needed double nine in the tenth,
you needed the first hit in the tenth on your three hundred to be Dad.
And now you rolling into Parker where you struck eleven times for two eighty
to beat Parker by a pin. So now let's let's keep going here.
My I've always had this question. I'm going to ask you, because it
is my show. The gum you were chewing, how much flavor did it
have left or did you change change with it, change the balls gum in
his mouth? And the reason I'm asking about the gum is like, sometimes
when I'm in dead stroke, and again I've never been at that level,
I'll chew the same piece of gum, or I'll lean on the same chair,
or I'll wipe my shoe the saint just to keep my rhythm going the
same way, imagining what I'm doing in front of me and all this ship.
I'm just curious, did you change pieces of gum? No? Same
a rock by the time that show that should I couldn't. I just I
could get to the place where I was going to get rid of it.
I'm like, no, this is going to good. Just keep going that
piece of gum. So now now we're in the title match against Randy Peterson,
and Randy throws the first eight count on the entire show for all of
our viewers. By the way, in this show, Game one was learned
three hundred dad to seventy nine, Game two was learned to seventy masat two
sixty eight, Game three was learned two eighty PB three to seventy nine,
and the title match learned to seventy nine against Randy's two fifty seven, and
Randy had the only eight count on the show and the eclipse. The previous
record set the year that one of our former guests, Danny Wiseman rando ladder.
I'm not rand the ladder up the last three matches and I think it
was something like eighty seven or eighty eight total strikes thrown something crazy. But
like Bob, you needed every hit in every game as much en route averaging
two eighty two point three for four games in front of the home crowd.
Do you still do you ever watch that show? Do you ever think about
what you did? Do you ever look back and say, excuse my language,
how the fuck did I do this? Like? Do you ever like
go back and realize that for the rest of bowling history, everybody will always
remember what you did at the Civic Center Easter Weekend in ninety six. You
know, when it was over that day, I'm like and people started talking
about Mike. I honestly was so focused I didn't even realize truly what was
happening. As far as my scoring. I just I knew that I was
in, you know, going to tenth and needing hits. But I really
wasn't tracking score. I was just focused, like I said, every shot,
staying in the process. But looking back at it, yeah, I
was like, Okay, So when I was a kid, I would just
you know, I'd sit and just kind of just for the past time.
I would just start filling out some score sheets, you know, and just
imagine I'm throwing this massive, you know, set, and then I'm going
to give myself a spare here strike say right, you know, as soon
as you know as a kid. But I never averaged two eighty three even
when I was right in so I still have, you know, but I
have watched I said, needed to average it three. You get bounced in
the second game, That's what I mean. That has to make it so
much harder. It's not that it's the hits. It's like, oh,
I need this to not only win, but then to continue this crazy record
street going. Well, you know, it also is what made it so
fun. To do right. I'm in front of my hometown crowd. I'm
getting an opportunity to perform into tense, strikeout everything that you've ever wanted to
do. Right. So if you're if you're going to win a tournament,
you want to strike to win it. You don't want to say, oh,
let me just you know, not blow it here. And and all
I need is a spare. You want to go up there and have to
throw one, you know. And so I had that opportunity of three three
games in a row to do that, and then also to do it in
front of my hometown crowd. And you know, as a kid, there
was no Eerie Open, but it was something that I had practiced plenty of
times. And then my practice was always striking out in attempt to win the
ear Open, years before it would ever become a reality. And so I
had played it so many times, you know, in my head, and
had played out that role play so many times that honestly, I felt like
I was just going through and reliving, you know, those those moments that
I practiced so hard for when I was younger, and and you know,
it's just living it out, rob Bob. Sorry, I was gonna say,
Rob go first before I asked Bob. I mean, I just want
to comment on like Bob, you literally could have thrown like four or three
hundred games on the show, like you were in the zone so much.
It's I mean, christ Belmo's great. You know, there's been so many
great bullers before, during, and after, but I can't wrap my head
around how many strikes you actually threw. Like, like Johnny said, it'll
probably never be done again. So I mean, talk about being in the
zone, dude, like you were, you were on another level. It
was. It was definitely a day that is going to be hard to replicated,
simply because transition in today's game is so much greater. So to be
able to stay, you know, locked in for that long. One thing
was I had bolt uh left left handers the first three games, so I
was bowling with my only under my own transition true and uh and a ball
that was actually not that strong of a ball, So I wasn't getting anything
that you know, would would create you know, big issues. A trip
four was my It was kind of like, okay, I need to move.
Whereas if I would have something more aggress in my hand, I could
have been a big forwar at any time. So there's a you know,
a lot of things went right that day, A lot of things aligned that
day. And you know, I don't know, I've seen it three times,
maybe four. I've watched it in its entirety, but of course I
catch clips that people post, you know, and like just like maybe the
ninth and tenth frame or something of the three hundred game. I've seen that
a number of times, but maybe I need to watch it more, you
know, kind of get back into that. You know, I certainly,
certainly is great. I'm grateful for it to have to have a day like
that. Obviously, you got to get such goosebumps watching that that though.
Even the clips. Espano put a clip up and like it's like between the
crowd and the reaction the shot, it's like it's it makes the hairs on
your backstand up, you know what I mean. There was so much energy
in that Civic Center. I mean, you can actually when I watch it
again, you can feel it in that show when you're watching it. But
I can, I can honestly say this, there wasn't one shot I threw
that day that I was nervous. I felt totally relaxed. On every shot
everything I had. Everybody was so committed and when and when you did miss
us by this, like whether it was a pinch speed or a pinch inter
route. Bob. Now, I'm going to ask you the question that's probably
on a lot of people's mind because it's another thing we've only seen once to
this day on national television, and back then we didn't have the multiple camera
angles that we have now. What happened in the second frame in the Parker
match when you shot that ten pin on lane four in the Civic Center,
when Johnny Campos gave you the shot over what happened down lane? So,
first of all, it was the very first week that they've ever allowed people
to sit down lane. That was the first time ever I was I was
in the middle of my approach and a gentleman, the guy they announced it
as being some woman some lady stood up, but it was a guy that
stood up and he was standing, uh maybe three quarters the way down the
lane, right almost where the end of the seating was. He stood up
and he leaned over like to see the tempin in the middle of my approach,
like it's I'm almost the top of my swing and I'm like, what
is this guy doing? And I wish I wouldn't have flinched. I just
missed it. But I mean I was just like, what you know,
cause you just that just never happens, right. Parker is the one that
says, I turned around. Parker, I go, wow, that's unbelievable.
Somebody would stand up and he goes, you're right. He goes,
no, you're getting that shot over, he goes, because we had rules
of back then, we had rules in play where the flag, you know,
the banners fell, or even a pin topple that was in your you
know, in your view or definitely could have caught you. People gett shots
often based off of some of those things that happened Deck James or whatnot to
drop pins or whatever. So it was in the rules. Uh, And
it was Parker that called for it, not myself. I was in disbelief
that somebody had. He still says that to this day that he was the
one that told Johnny campbells absolutely let him do it again. But again I
can also say I would have done the same for anyone else to in that
situation. I would have for sure wouldn't have it on the show. If
you were an asshole. We know you would do the same, So I
didn't know Guy was right. I didn't recognize it or anything. He still
talks about that to this day and then, and I mean, obviously,
I just wish there were more cameras so we could have seen it, like
the same way we always see Pete Webber yelling at something off to the left
of the right. But yeah, you never get you never get done by
anything. I mean, I watched you bowl for Senior Team USA with a
broken wrist and you decide to stay and throw darts at the headpin because you're
that kind of a person. So I feel like it's very important at least
for our viewers to understand exactly what happened there and the fact that not you,
the tournament director and your opponent were the ones that said, no,
he's gonna shoot this again. It's I know, a lot of assholes may
have been like, oh, he's in his hometown crowd. They're trying to
make sure that he doesn't ye. Meanwhile, he still won the game by
a pin because you're through the next ten. And to me, it was
always one of the main reasons why I love with you as a bowler.
I always knew the kind of person you were, how really you were,
and for everybody in the chat, that's what happened. Just so y'all know
there we lost them. Yeah, So go on to that story. The
very first tournament of the following season was a Japan Cup in September and in
the fall, i should say, and before that we had the Korea Cup.
Well, we go to Seoul to bowl this Korea Cup and the gentleman
who was the organizer of the event comes up to me and he's laughing,
Hey you remember me, I go and I don't. He goes, I
stood up when you were shooting at the tentpin and he was laughing about it.
And I'm like what, he goes, Yeah, it was me.
I'm like this one, it's not funny, but uh, he goes.
He was there to watch the show because for the first Korea Cup that they
were having, he was deciding if this is something that they could do in
Seoul for the for the Korea Cup. So it was a guy who he
was our customed to our TV shows, right, He just he was just
an organizer from Korea coming over to let to see the show. So that
explains a little bit of how it happened, but one of the odds of
that. That's sorry, Rob, We're having a little bit of an internet
connection issue over here, So I apologize for for leaving mid sentence, but
I called the talent and what Bob just said, and again, it was
just very important to me to you know, nowadays, everybody has access to
everything, and they'll want to voice their own opinion, but I like hearing
it from, you know, the mouth of the person that was there,
and I just I know Bob would never take a reshot on his own.
And I love knowing that that history is history. There is no asterisk,
there is no nothing. He beat one of those in the world by striking
out in the ten frame after throwing all of them after the interference call performed
by Johnny Campbell's by a crazed fan, which I wish we had more of.
I wish there were more people that couldn't sit in their seats when something
like that, something that magical is happening on the bowling lanes, and again,
I mean just goes to show man like think about the amount of people,
the amount of people in the eery Pa area, I mean collectively over
the two years between Wiseman's win and Bob's win, there was over twelve thou
people in that arena. I mean everybody wanted the greatest bowlers in the world
in the greatest part of the country when it comes to bowling, I mean
rivaling Florida, the Northeast. I get all that, Ohio, I mean
close enough, obviously being an eerie. But to me, it's just that
day. My dad always says to me, and I'm gonna get a little
bit mellow right now. And I'm relating this to bowling because bowling is my
life. Somebody else who's in the chat can probably relate this to points in
their life. But like when the plane hit the towers on nine to eleven
my birthday, my mom and dad said, you'll remember this until you're dead,
the same way they remember when Kennedy was assassinated. Right in the bowling
world, I will always remember Bob's performance. I'm sorry, I'm talking like
you're not even I'm going to roll with this real quick, but it was
I bowled seven ninety two in the league last night. Just to put this
in perspective, seven ninety two I would have got swept by Bob, and
then I would have had to bowl another game, and had I bowled three
hundred, he still would have gotten me by forty. And that's on my
local house shot, in my home bowling. He decided to be like,
you know what, I'm going to do it for an extra one hundred and
thirty grand in front of everybody that came here to see me on the biggest
stage bowling offer. So I wanted a gum. I want to know about
out the reset, I want to know about the thought process. I want
to know about the bowling ball. You know what the body you're feeling is.
To me, it's the sexiest thing in sport. It's like talking to
what's his name that the home run for the Giants that or Carl Bobo Thompson,
you know, Like to me, it's it's it's the exact same thing
to me, because to me that this is my sport and this is like
and we have a legend here that's done something that nobody will ever do again.
I promise you, nobody will ever bowl for higher games and nobody went
in front of their hometown crowd again. It'll never happen again. Apparently they
are having Apparently they are having internet issues, but that day honestly is just
it rights itself like you and you you, you couldn't make that up.
Like everything that happened on that day, hometown crowd bullying as well as you
did against the little literal legends that you did can't be replicated, and I
don't think it could be duplicated. Let's get Johnny back in. It's just
it's just amazing that everything aligned on that day for you, like in the
perfect place, your hometown. Nobody, anybody outside the sport wouldn't even be
able to wrap their head around everything that you were able to accomplish that day.
So the fact that you were so even keel and not nervous through the
whole thing, just it was a perfect day, Like literally a perfect day
that anybody in any sport wish is that they would have. Yeah, I
mean I again, I look back at it just like I was completely blessed
by it, right, Yeah, to be able to have a day like
that, You know, I haven't I haven't really told anybody this, but
when I got done with that show and was talking to you know something,
the Chris Shankle came up to me and he goes, Bob, I just
want to tell you that is the single greatest performance I've ever experienced in sport.
Chris shank who covered every everything. Yes, yeah, when he said
that to me, I had, I had, you know, definitely goosebumps.
But that's when it really hit. That's when it really hit. And
what we saw on a couple of your wins, Bob, is you having
you know, tears in your eyes, Like it was just so cool to
see how much it actually meant to you to win those titles as yourself such
you had such a love and passion for the game. I loved as a
fan seeing that emotion come out of you. Can you kind of explain what
those moments meant to you by winning those titles? Well, I mean,
you know, I'm not a lone in this. I mean there was a
lot of guys that are so passionate about bowling and and and playing at the
highest level and it's something that you practice for something that you want to achieve.
But some some of those moments were you know, monumental. I mean,
winning the US Open, you know that is that's that's the one you
know that's going to bring a tear to your eyes if you're if you're that
you know, that committed to something, you know, doing that in front
of my hometown crowd, I would have to say those are maybe more tears
of joy than anything. But yeah, it definitely, you know, I
could be an emotional guys. You know, I'm very fierce in an aggressive
in how I play sport, any sport. But you know, the feelings
come out at the end when when you actually have been able to accomplish something
that you know you've been going for for so long and only dreamt could happen,
and to you prove that you actually can, you know. And the
first first title was certainly that I had some runner up finishes. I'm like,
is this ever going to happen? And then it did and I'm like,
honestly, it was a fleeting moment. I'm like, this is it.
This is what I waited my whole life for. That's what I was
I don't know, afraid of or or you know, we're thinking I could
never have And you know that was the probably the the thing I left with
on my first win was Godly, that was it, you know, because
it was so it's so it's so far removed. I was never able to
obtain that, And then when it happened, I was just like, Okay,
well, if that's it, then we can do this again. You
know. So I was just you know, as a kid living in a
small town who happened to have lived close enough to a Boone center that he
could walk, and who who couldn't think about anything else on Monday in school.
But to be able to go bowl my three games on Saturday morning,
you know, it means a lot. It means a lot to be able
to take it and and do it for a life, you know, life,
a whole lifetime. Johnny, you still are you frozen or you're still
there? I think he's frozen. I think Socho's biceps blocking the Wi Fi
I think so too. Yeah, you may have to move positions he might
be blocking. It's funny. We had Ryan Schaeffer on last week and there's
you know, there's a connection between you two. Number one you beat him
to win your last title in Japan. Uh number two, you both need
to win his first YEP and you both want the US Open. So it's
kind of It's kind of funny how you guys have a connection. Were you
guys friends when you're on tour. Yeah, well you know, yes,
yes you were. He he where I grew up, where he grew up,
wasn't that far you know, away from each other, so you know,
you tend to gravitate towards those people because you see him more often,
right right, Uh, but yeah, we've always been good friends. He
a little more outspoken than I, but you know, but you know what,
h I love him, and uh we find ourselves, you know,
at the end of the day in a similar place as well with the title
count and uh yet you know when you look at lifetime rnings and all,
we're you know, uh, toward the top, and yet the title count
is what has been keeping us from the PBA Hall of Fame. So you
know, I know that we have that similar feeling of like, you know,
how many seconds can you have and not and not not be a consideration,
you know, right, no kidding especially Yeah, I mean you both
had quite a bit and you guys were pretty prolific in the in the regional
so I'm sure you guys crossed paths and on the regional tour before all.
Yeah, so that's that's really cool and needs the hell of a guy.
And you're You're right. He is. He is pretty unspoken, but he's
very entertaining. Where did the one handed style come from? Well, I
mean there were a few people that had had done it right. You had
Carmenseelvino. You had Wayne Webb, who was just Player of the Year a
couple of years prior to me going out on tour. That's right, all
right, he was. He was one armed at that time. But honestly,
the person I was trying to imitate and how I wanted to throw the
ball was Marshall Holman, even though roth was right up there as far as
who I loved. But Marshall Holman held the ball down but just had his
other hand on it. And when I did that, I just felt uncomfortable
with my shoulder being so, you know, so much in front that I
left it off and and just base. If you would trace my swing from
the side and Marshall's, it was almost identical. It was something It was
just like watching YouTube today and trying to emulate someone that you can get pretty
close to doing that, and it was it was really that. It was
just that I was trying to do what Marshall did. You know, how
he unloaded to the lane was completely different than the other guys, and uh,
that's what I was trying to do, and I was just able to
do with one with one with one arm. That's really cool. And again,
like Ryan Schaeffer said too, like he he won to emulate Roth with
you know, the way he cranked it. But I mean he was a
huge Marshall home and fan as well. And another Team Brunswick member, Brionna
Klemmer was in chat and she obviously holds one arm mount to the side,
so it's a kind of a variation of what you did and it helped her
with their balance. But uh, that's uh, Johnny. We were talking
as you got as you were gone about I was similarities, the similarity between
Bob and and Ryan Schaeffer. How Bob beat Ryan when his first seat,
Ryan beat Bob to win his first and then Bob beat Ryan to win his
last, and they both want the US Open. They both lived near each
other, and they crossed paths over the years and the regional tour and pro
tours. So it's funny that we have back to back guests that have like
such a synergy in that connection together. Yeah, he still has here.
We are very very sorry for our connection at this point. We've got it
back now. But the question I was trying to ask Bob, and I'm
sorry if you guys answered this already, But Bob, what was what has
been your favorite moment in bowling other than the historic day that will never be
matched? That was the question I was trying to ask. We don't know
if we got caught off before. We're not sure. We kind of frozen
again again to all of our viewers. We're so sorry for that, Rob,
thanks for holding down the ford while we were gone. But Bob,
I really want to ask you that question because, like, for instance,
I'm only going off my dad right now. My dad's favorite bowling day in
his life was winning and not fil championship, but his number one was the
Nationals running Bowl to three hundred. You know, you got to make up
for the two ninety eight from the Long Island Open. You got to have
mom there, he got to come home and like see everybody a carolier the
next week. Do you have a favorite moment in your bowling career other than
the flagship? Yeah, it was throwing that strike in the tenth for the
US Open. In that clip, you can see I kind of ran ran
it out and went right to my back that is, and you couldn't hear
it, but it was a lot of I've ever screamed in my life,
I think when I was on my because every pin was in the pit.
The second the ball hit the goddamn ed beend, it was east. Yeah,
And you know, going back to those moments where you want to throw
it great when you need it right and you know, like they said you
need a mark, but it's same time in my mind, I'm like,
I need to seal the deal, s the deal right and couldn't couldn't have
thrown it any better for the US Open, And so you know, those
are just those those those moments that you just you know, you you you
you like why you've been involved with this game and why you're trying to now
pay it forward to the youth, with with the camps, with with everything
you do forget Team USA. We already know that where your heart is,
but you've always kind of been the guy that that pays it forward and you're
just a not only a fan of the game, but you're a fan of
the future of the game. And although we're all nuts, we only bring
people on this show that have hearts like yours, and it's an absolute pleasure
and honor to watch you doing what you're doing now in case you want to
tell everybody here exactly what it is you do now with just as much as
possible. I travel almost every weekend doing clinics, and I bring along a
lot of the well known younger pros with me, and and honestly, the
hope is that getting them on board with doing it and and basically doing the
same thing and afford you know, people can learn so much from the experience
that these players have and to be able to share those experiences, I mean,
that's like gold for a lot of the for a lot of people that
are looking for some help. Like this coming weekend, I'll be at Langley
Air Force Base and I got EJ. Tackett and Shannon o'keeith coming with me.
So those are some pretty good players to have with you. Who were
they? I've heard of them, I think, so I already know when
we get to these people are gonna have a great time, right because they're
going to be you know, getting to cee EJ throw the throw ball,
and you know, obviously Shannon, who's a great coach, and EJ a
really good job coaching. That is the Other thing is that I don't just
have anybody go with me. It truly has to be someone that's interested in
coaching and helping. And I've had a few come along with me and and
find out, you know, in the first time out with them that maybe
they weren't cut out for that, and so that was it. I just
never take a self player to do that too. It takes somebody who's very
selfless rather than you know, someone who I don't know, maybe still has
a bit of an ego or something. But because paying it forward is more
than that, you're giving up your own self. Really, you know,
you're you're you're basically breaking down your walls to and that's you you. You
do find out very quickly. I bet you know what Bob before you answer
that. And Rob, I'm sorry to cut you off, but I do
have a question because we talk about this every week, Bob, And I'm
gonna just be blunt here real because he's never blunt ever, No, never,
I've never seen it. Yours is unfettered. Your physique since ninety six,
you've trimmed down at the waist, You've gotten a little bit bigger up
top. You've obviously given a ship about your longevity, which is why you're
still so prominent these days, right, is only becoming more of like an
athletic sport finally for once. And the reason you're still your decision to follow
that. Like what am I trying to get out here? You're trying to
say is that is it just that anybody who has a good skilled kid,
dude? But do you have to actually take care of yourself physically? I
mean, I'm forty. Everything wants to go down. O Cho's sixty five,
ageless and timeless, you know, but like there has to come a
point where like the knee bend doesn't go up, there is the shoulder doesn't
go back. You You've always been a leg bowlder. You get your speed
from your legs. Your back swing has never gotten higher and right, and
you slide and you're always committed at the bottom. Do you have any tips
for people that are either getting into the sport or getting a little bit older
in the sport, Not old, just older in the sport Because you've always
been powerful at the bottom. You've always to me your speed and your awesome
as has always been generated by your lower half. Is that is that cool
to say? No, that's true. Yeah, So what are you doing
as you get a little bit older to maintain that lower half? Your crouch
at the line, you're a little bit forward, you got one hand on
the ball. You're like, what are you doing to keep yourself in tip
top bowling shape? Well, I can honestly say, in the last year
or so, I need I need to get back to working at it.
But uh, a little to try to set my right wrist, and it
keeps you from doing some of the things I like to do as far as
lifting and whatnot. But listen, I've been very fortunate because there's a lot
of guys that weren't as aggressive with their legs and going into their knee bend
and all that and uh and you know, had injuries with their knees their
hips, and I just haven't. I was always very athletic when I was
young, and I've never wanted to sit. I like to be doing something
all the time. And I've been fortunate enough that I'm sixty one now and
I'm telling you my and it's probably changed as soon as I say it,
but my legs, my knees, my hips. Nothing. Don't say,
don't get all right, but I mean I've just been fortunate that way.
I still run at a very high clip. I can run fast still.
In fact, my kids when on my college to go what was that?
I go, what do you mean to go? I mean just run in
like, yeah, but you were running, you were running. I'm like,
yeah, I know. But so I've never really lost that. It
hasn't been anything that I've had to truly focus on. Even though my legs
are my key, I haven't had to do anything excessive with them. I
still still find myself in a pretty good place with a you know, as
far as that goes. I'm sorry to cut you off, but I've totally
interrupted Rob for like the last thirty minutes, and I have to send it
back to our gracious hosts. Rob. I'd assume I had you have something
to talk to miss to learn about. Well, I promise it's all right,
it's all right. It's it's still your show, So I mean,
it's it's all good. I did have a couple of questions, but Johnny's
rambling just kind of made me forget about what. I'm good you probably he
probably hit it anyway, though that's the other thing. No, I'm just
gonna say through six degrees of separation. I was actually at Mohagan Sun when
you won that event because I lived just north of Hartford and Bradley Bull was
my home ball so I knew they were coming to the casino and I love
Mohagan Sun like it's still one of the coolest casinos ever, and I haven't
I live in Tennessee. Now, I kind of missed going back there,
but it's just it's just kind of weird how things work out and how people
end up getting connected. But yeah, I was there to watch you win
that event, so it was it was really cool to see that in person.
Well, and you know, as a and at that time I was
with a MF. AMF was sponsoring it. It was also a lot going
on there because AMF was at that time looking to get out of the boling
ball business. And even with that win, it didn't say that, but
I had thought, you know, winning this, well, you know,
they kept on some guy named Dick Weber. I don't know if you ever
heard of him, but they kept him hunt as an ambassador who was an
amazing person to work with and travel with. Got to do a lot of
travel with him, both in Europe and Asia and watched him do his magic.
And so I learned a lot from being around Dick Weber as well.
That's that's really cool. And obviously everybody loved Dick Weber. I don't think
anybody outside of the sport, even in the sport, had anything bad to
say about him. Who were some of your favorite bullers to watch? Like,
were you a fan of bullying as a kid, did you watch bullying
on TV? Who did you love to see on TV or follow? Or
do you just love bowllying in general? Well, I don't know anyone honestly
who doesn't remember why we were sports right, and and everybody did watch bowling,
whether they were bullers or not. It was just, you know,
it was a lead into wilettle sports is what people do something, man,
That's what it was exactly. So you know everybody did it. Of course
I did it. When the show was over, there was enough time to
run over the bowling center and get two games in before they oiled for legs,
so that I could imitate whoever bowled well that day, you know,
do my best limitation. You know, someone need to work on maybe I
could do that. Maybe that's better for me, you know. So yeah,
I was tuned in every week. I mean I I couldn't wait for
it, just like I couldn't wait for Saturday morning to bowl my junior league.
You know. But I see, you know, even people now that
I do lessons where they're like, oh man, I just even as a
kid, even though I did bowl back then, I used to watch bowling
all the time on TV. And that's how it was. It was it
was just what you did on Saturday. Yeah, it is. It absolutely
wasn't. I mean, you know, just my mom worked at Bradley Bowl,
so I was around there quite a bit, and you know, I
love hanging around. When the tour came in, and he used to be
one of the one of the top tour spots for a while. Well it
was big because you had to win there if you wanted to go on to
the tournament champions last tournament going in. Yep, yeah, that's absolutely right.
So it was cool for me to kind of see a lot of the
guys that I saw on TV, you know, like Marshall Holman, Bob
you know. I got to talk to Chris Shankle, who was such a
nice guy. It smoked like a chimney, but I mean he's yeah,
yeah, yeah I did, but uh I forgot that was the great thing
is honestly, I mean I did like watch watching Holman. I just thought
because how he did things were was just different. But I also, you
know, liked watching so many others. To watch someone as precise as Earl
Anthony throw bon ball, yeah, I mean I could honestly say I watched
him week in week out and never saw that guy cheetah shot not once.
I never I mean, how does that happen? I never saw him do
it once? And uh I still have him in my mind. He's the
greatest bowler I've ever seen, bold because he was just when they call him
Dune's day machine. He he was that. He wasn't you know, it
wasn't yeah like a Homan to watch with energy and you know Johnny p had,
you know, he was energetic when he when he bowled, he just
went about his business. But the way he did it was just like this
guy is different. He's from another planet. He was smooth man, he
was a stone could killer dude. He was ice cold. Yeah for the
convo, But who's the best bowler. You've ever seen bold, That's what
he's about. So the best I've ever seen in their prime. Yeah,
you. Wayne Webb was actually pretty damn good. He really was. He
could do a lot right, He could do a lot of different things about
brainwall. I would see him come in and scores were like, you know,
nothing, and he came into the shoot two on a rover like like
nothing, but you watch the ball and he was able to trick it up
and do different things with all A lot of guys didn't have as many tools
in the back and you know, so he was definitely impressive when he when
he was blowing, well, I tell me zone. Oftentimes on this show,
I try and tell our novice viewers everybody has a place that they migrate
to. Like for instance, me, my right foot goes to twenty seven
twenty eight on the approach, whether that's thirteen twelve or fourteen at the arrows
going out to eight seven six. Oto targets with his right foot. He
likes to go off the crack. I mean, like, where is your
zone? Do you have one? You know, that's really interesting question because
I never felt like I really did well. You were great from in and
great from out. Yeah. I mean I've one page from all those angles
and made shows from those angles. I would think that later, as I
got a little older, I became better really just playing right on the gutter
as much as people knew me for a cooking ball, I could throw it
really firm and keep it online playing out really well. It's because I worked
on it so much, because Walter ray Wims kept running me over every Friday.
I'm like, I gotta get better at doing this, you know.
And then I had practiced so much it became my favorite way to bowl.
I asked you this because ironically, I talked to my dad about this a
lot, and my dad won most of his titles playing the gutter, like
flaming it up the gutter with rubber, your thing, whatever it was.
And nowadays, ever since ninety four, my dad wants to curve the ball.
He wants to hook the ball. Yeah, And I'm like, Dad,
just go back to the gutter, like throw a spy, throw a
raw hammer, throw a purple irrothan He's like, you can't do that anymore.
Dad wants to curve it now. So when all the lefties are out
and Dad has a little bit of push in. He's like, oh shit,
I got the nuts from the fourth arrow and your polar opposite. It's
crazed. So again, to all of our viewers, there is no Bob
back me on this. There is no right way to bowl. You got
a bowl with Arnold Palmers. You're never gonna have your best game. You're
never gonna have the same game you had yesterday. You may have it for
like a streak of four or five weeks, but you have to play what
you have in front of you. And it sounds like to you, throwing
it that way or forward or firm is the same way my dad feels when
he can play the fourth rough Is that Is that kind of like a fair
assessment? Yeah, I well, you know, I know from my own
standpoint, being aggressive is where I like to be. So being able to
stay firm and play out actually is more comfortable because I use my legs and
whatnot. And for your dad, he likes, he likes that. He's
a touch, touch guy, you know, like you know, he's he's
just he's But I've only known him. I've always known him as being more
to the soft side. And that's a lot to do with you know,
some of the guys who have success like Mike Alby and stuff back during that
time, you know, so that's probably what got him to start doing that
as well, to be able to conform to what they were going on,
you know, so they're bowling on tour is all about timing. If you
go out to the right time, I mean, your game plays to it,
then you have success. And there's so many guys that went out there
that were amazing bowlers that went out at the wrong time. Bob. My
last question before I give it back to rad Rob, I asked everybody that
ever comes on our show. I know it's a shitty question, but what's
your favorite bowling ball of all time? Well? Yeah, that's a hard
one, right, that really is a hard one. Take your time.
Well wait, I mean if you don't say that, I can honestly say
my favorite ball that I that I can remember when I was younger was the
Johnny p Lt forty eight growing up on Locker, growing up on Lacker,
throwing rubber, right, that's what I did. Uh So, yeah,
that's that's a big one. In the nineties when I was having a lot
of my success, I would say that the Process one and two, which
were red not white. There was cherry colored those balls. I used a
lot of those back and the white one, the white white that was due
to Kakapoo families. I mean, yeah, what did uh how much had
resin changed the game? Like people talk about how great you know that the
teal runner pro was and and the quantum and all that, But I mean,
like that had to be one of the most revolutionary things that happened,
since you went from rubber to plastic to in your thing and so on.
How how big was it and how much did it changed the game in the
nineties, Well, how we applied uh, rotation changed a lot so to
get plastic balls and rubber balls and regular earthane balls to react or respond more.
You did that by hitting up on the ball. You actually got that
ball to read earlier by doing that and created hook. Once we had reactive
That's one thing that would kill you is it would create uh, you know
a lot of inconsistency in your breakpoint. So getting the ball in the lane
being cleaner at the bottom then became much much bigger, and so there was
a lot of guys that got caught in that transition that still were hitting up
on the ball that still were doing things that you know they did so well
before reactive, and it took them a while or too long, some of
them to be able to adapt to changing that. You know, it changed
everything. I mean your range of motion became you know huge. Where you
had this, now you have I don't have enough room on a stream,
right, and a great question. This is a great question. I'm going
to use you as as the example. You won the light and something your
thing right, your thing, your thing. I want to be the lanes
open because you're from this arrow to this hour, you're moost three hundred's ever
obviously Parker may that everybody was chasing for a long time, But you've always
been comfortable on both sides. So I guess my question is I'm kind of
the same way. If I'm on the rail with plastic, you can't beat
me, and if I have holed from the fifth arrow, you also can't
beat me, at least at the league level. But like, when do
you favor do you favor jamming it up the gut or do you favor slowing
everything down and like whipping it from inside? Like what what do you want
to do when you're out there? Well? Ones eat. I mean,
if I go firm from out, it's much easier to control the pocket.
Right. The transitions when I hook the ball and go pair to pair are
all over the place. So I mean, in today's world, if I
can stay square to the lane at least early in the day, I try
to, because transition from pair to pair, it's it's a it's a crap
shoot. You know, you got guys playing the lanes all over the place.
They're not necessarily playing the pattern. And I'm referring it's worse on the
on the Young tour. They like to move in and just burn a spot
and just hit it harder. You know, they're not even adhering to what
the what the pattern is built for, right, but they all do it,
so you know they kind of work together in that. But this on
the Senior tour, you know, it's different. The ratios are different,
the patterns are different, and so software is usually better than firm. So
it really is. I mean, there's not there's not a great answer to
that. But if I had my my choice would be straighter is greater,
not having to deal with much change when I go from pair to pair.
Now, I don't want to get you in any heat with any with anybody,
Bob. But obviously, you know, there's been controversy about certain balls
in the last years, so and right now, the Purple Hammer seems to
be the big focus. Being a member of the Brunswick family. Uh.
Number one, what do you think about the Purple Hammer? Do you think
it's one of the greatest balls ever? Number two? Why do you think
the USBC or the PBA maybe out to get rid of it? What's your
what are your thoughts on that whole situation? That's uh, yeah, well
listen, I do have to say that I can't remember when they made a
rule that was specifically targeting one by when Reactive came out, they should have
done it and didn't. Yeah, well that's true. Let them go,
Let them go, let them go. So when it comes to the Purple
I mean, you have guys that are dominating with it. Nobody can replicate
it, and and realized that this wasn't a Brunswick thing until they acquired hammer,
Ebonite and brands of ebonite, so you know, but it was still
it was dominant then and it remained dominant and nobody could really figure out,
you know, how to how to create a ball like that. Now,
as far as the rules go with the p BA, rules were very simple
when I was on tour in the early days. One when you were getting
the ball drilled, you'd go in and check it in. They'd so to
be cleared. They would the meal hole in, they checked the in and
out outer the hardness of a ball. They'd weigh it and let you know
that it, you know, met specifications. If you brought that ball back
after qualifying and it was below what the hardness should be, they would let
it sit. They'd give it a period of time. I think it was
forty five minutes, and then they would check it again and if it didn't
pass, then you know you're in trouble. But the rule was the rule.
So if you have a hardness rule, then that should be the rule.
So if you have a ball that's reading above that hardness, then it
should be in play. If you have a ball of falls below it,
very simple, take it out of play. Why would you go after And
now this happened with Storm products as well. You know they went after a
lot of their a lot of their stuff all at once. It was a
blank It was a blanket rule. Right. Take all these guys are out.
These guys can't throw these balls. Well, if the ball was within
you know, specifications and it should be able to be used or in play,
just like balls now can't be two years old that are reactive. If
you want to bowl a national tour, there's a life. There's a life
to that as well, not just your thing. So why I mean,
you know a lot of guys sat on older stuff, not because of hook,
more because it gave them control that other balls, and today they're so
big. I mean, I'd like to go back to some of the stuff
that's a little calmer. You know. I've held on to somebody just for
that and now they're taking that away. So whose advantage is it to take
that away? I really don't understand that rule. Again, if we check
balls every time when we got done bowling, the ball made made it by
hardness rules, then you can you can bowl it if it's illegal, if
it doesn't mean the specifications and his story. Yeah, there's been a lack
of transparency from the USBC and the p b A about about why they're doing
what they're doing. So we just try to ask, you know, whoever
we have on the show, their their general thoughts on it, But it
just seems strange at least, and I know the storm went through, but
now like the focus is is the purple and but on that though, you
have had guys that have had so much success with the purple, Troy Lint
being one of our our good friends here on the show and always in the
Chad, who's who's here watching? You're both on the PBA fifty tour.
Can you kind of put into words like the run that that Troy had this
year? Well, now I know why I was beating me son of them.
Now listen, he's he's a great player, and he had a great
season all and he's a hard worker. So I mean that's a that's a
great recipe for success. Right, Well, I'm happy for Troy for a
long time, well against him for a long time. He's always been a
really good player. Yeah he has, and and Troy is ready to like
find himself, which he has been for a long time. And I think
on top of that, because let's be honest, forget the purple ball,
he'll kick ass next year without the purple wall. He was allowed to.
He may leave more nine counts, he may leave. This is not but
I feel like Troy is the wrong person here because Troy has dedicated his entire
life to bowling, just like Bob. They go to stops with the intention,
the intent to win, the intent to get the biggest check, and
they go there with a purpose. And to me, maybe the purple ball
help. But Troy decided, at fifty five years old, I'm gonna be
so sober right now and go out there and kick ass. I'm going to
room with the guys that are better than me, the guys that have done
more than me. I'm gonna associate myself with the people that are better than
me, and I'm going to learn how to be like them. That's the
kind of brain Troy, and that Bomb has always been miss talking about you,
and it's it's very sexy to me to watch that kind of ship with
all the respect, you know, like I don't want to get take the
purple ball and fucking shove it out of my ass for all, for all
I care. I don't give a ship doesn't mean shit if you're into that.
If you're if you're into that, you never know, call me and
or just message yeah. But the unfettered is is totally with what Bob just
said, is this is a fun sport. Guys, we have somebody like
this gentleman on this show, and guys like Troy and Bob representing say because
this is a fucking sport that we all love and the reason we I'm losing
it. I'm losing it. I'm losing it because you know me, because
I'll be a skill that's all at me. Help me, help me,
help you help me. Bob, We're gonna say a conversation because we're all
very passionate. I guess Bob real quick. Our next my room with him
the year that he threw the Nate three shows of the World series in twenty
ten. Ryan hates your thing. He hates it, doesn't want to throw
it anymore, even though he's like the new age cultivator of it. It's
these are like, I think we're looking at the senior version of Ryan Stimonelli
and Troy or like, let's call him Jason Gouch. Let's call Troy the
younger version of a Jason Couch, and let's call Ryan similarly, the future
Robert Smith. They're not just generic. This is not Scott Deavers, this
is not Mike Scroggins. I love them both but like you know, Bob,
you've both against them. This is like Patrick Allen learning how to not
hammered at the bottom and then come win four hundred grand in a single season.
To me, those two guys are trying to figure out the game the
same way you have. And I have a little bit of a partial,
you know, like I can't I can't let go of it, you know
type shit? Is that cool? Yeah? Yeah, I feel a bit
passionate, and don't ever argue with somebody that's passionate. Is there in the
chat that has questions for Bob before we let Bob go, Rob, do
you have any questions? I want to I want to stop digging his brain.
But like my last comment of this, Bob, since I was twelve
years old watching you do that with that RPM swirl, I'm always in your
corner. I love you to death. You've always been a great man,
Stacey, Brandon, Brindy, love your entire family and you're just the best.
Dude. Thank you so much for being here. I dude, guys,
thanks for having me on, Rob. Thank you. I had one
just follow up kind of question on the alternate side on the on the national
tour this year, Une. People have another question I'm not doing so you've
been talking the whole time. Yeah, right on the national tour. Can
you kind of describe how EJ did this year? And I know your friends
Lim and it had to be cool to see the success that he had this
year, but yeah, it's it's remarkable that we see in both tours dominant
runs. And you know, we talked about a few weeks ago if EJ
had the number of tournaments you guys had on a national tour back in the
eighties and nineties, who knows what what what what he would have done.
He may have eclipsed what Roth did. But just kind of describe how fun
it was to watch EJ this year and put into historical perspective, you know,
the success that he had. That's a good question. I mean,
first of all, when you when you know the level that he's playing against,
right, how good those players are, and every single week he's leading.
It wasn't like he was trying to get there. He was just dominating.
And and you know, first of all, obviously throws it pretty amazing,
and second of all, he's not afraid to let go of it,
and when he sees what he likes to see look out. So the thing
is when he sees it, try to outstrike that guy right and to see
it. And he was able to strike better than anybody. And historically,
yeah, you're right, how many weeks did they get the Bowl in compare
comparison to what we had? There's this flip side of that, though,
is can you bowl forty two games, you know, every week making the
finals over thirty weeks? Can you hold up? You know? Because even
back then when you had the hardiest of players, they would have to take
a week here, a week they're off back then in the game. Now
with the power that these guys possess, you know, can can you hold
up as well? Under that? But amazing to watch? I love watching
them ball. It makes it look easy, and you know, the hard
thing for him is much like like anyone who's had a three hundred on TV,
getting ready to come out start a new season and try to live up
to a season that really, I mean, it's a once in a lifetime
season. You know, how can you live up to it? Probably not,
and that's fine, but it's hard not to put that pressure on yourself,
you know, to come out and try to say this you know,
this year may be just as great. And I feel bad for Simo because
hell, he was in top five just but every week too. And I
mean you could tell that he was getting frustrated during the season because he's thinking,
what the hell else do I have to do? This guy's on top
every single week. I'm bowling my ass off as well. I mean,
it was just kind of cool to see how everything just kind of came out
this past season. It was just it was fun to watch. It was
and there again, there was a lot of a lot of great players at
the top there, so I mean he was I mean, he was obviously
running and not looking back, but there were people chasing him. But at
the same time, he had some great players, right, you know,
willing to take that spot if if he would relinquish it, and he just
would right right. My final question, Bob, and we've asked past guests
about this, obviously, Jason Bulmoni changed the game when he won as much
as he did with the two handing style. He wasn't the first one to
do it, but he was the first one to have that much unparalleled success
with it. And now he kind of spawned a whole new generation of kids
that ball two handed into which maybe ten, fifteen, twenty years from now,
you may not see that many one handed bullets anymore. They may all
be two handed, likely like Brian Voss. Brian Voss has had a problem
with it. He's been very outspoken about it, and I kind of get
where he's coming from. But where do you fall on that? Do you
think the future is two handed? Why do you think there's so many detractors?
What a great question, rob great quest. So when it comes to
the one handed delivery, you know, there's a lot of practice that goes
into being able to relax the thumb and then you know, have enough time
with the fingers right and create reverrae. And it's an art form. Really,
you have your great days or when that's just going flawlessly. Your bad
days is when you cannot seem to clear as good as you as you otherwise
would. So that is one side that is obviously, you know that's that's
a huge benefit for two handers. The other is obviously they can create higher
reverrae. And the thing is people can pick up one handed bowling and work
at it, and I can have a two hander to do the same and
a two hander will go from here to here in a very short period of
time, and so it's a huge advantage. There's gonna be more people doing
it, and you have to embrace it at this point because it is it
is what it is. You're not gonna be able to stop it, you
know, you know, and I know John Johnny's dad, he always says
this, Each generation learns from the one before it. That's why they get
better. The reason why too handed became a thing is because there was a
power game that was developed generation before that that was more powerful than the game
was played before that. So it's a progression and how that, you know,
that gets translated. Power became a bigger part of the game, and
two handed bullying was an easier way to achieve it. And there's gonna be
there's good. There's amazing two hands that we haven't seen yet. But it
all really came to the forefront because of Jason Bamonte. Chuck Landy did it
back in the I don't know, maybe late eighties, early nineties, somewhere
in there. He was doing it. He didn't have the rev rate,
but he was doing it too hand and nobody could play then true so it
didn't matter and he wanted some agion oles and stuff. Yeah, I'm gonna
pay a little homage to oh Scoop p Lerma because he was the first two
hend or I ever saw in the old four US er in one of the
matches. That was the first I will I will tell you this. I
I bowled him. I bowed him the eighth game Thursday night. I mean
they were they were hooking, you know, us open you don't, you
know, as we've seen over the years, left left gut or nothing left
on the lane. And I'm bowling, I'm bowing Osco and I can I
can still throw it pretty darn hard, and I can still get on it
pretty good back then. And I'm bowing against him and I shoot like one
ninety, just give it all I got And She's to forty two at me,
and I'm going, oh my god, what the foll could you stop
this? Right was going like, oh my god. Also, and I'll
be honest at that moment, I thought, having seen Belmont and seeing him,
I thought he was the guy. I'm like, this guy, Holy
cow, He honestly is the most powerful bowler I've ever seen ball. If
you watch him on video. I mean, he's just close to his ankle,
he's so far underneath the ball at the point of release, yet he
starts amazing, amazing absolutes. But the one thing that Jason became better at
was manipulating mid lane touch. There's I mean, you know, he took
away some of his power and created a better touch and be able to manage
the lane better. Oscu. I love watching the throat, love him shredding
pins, but I really always hoped. I always hoped for more success because
I thought he was just a tremendous athlete. You and I can take Ostu
to any action match, on any house shot that will win a new house,
and then ye, the messenger comes back twice. I forget you,
Yes, get away. I was gonna say, we're close to running out
of times. So if there's any questions in the chat, you know you
guys want to ask Bob real quick. But uh, I think most people
have always want to know who your favorite opponent was. Do you have anybody
you always look forward to bullying against or was there anybody that you feared?
Well, obviously, if I look at my record, I feared anybody that
bowled me in the title because she too fifty or better at me. So
that was the thing the matter what I did. Uh No, who do
I really for to? You know? Going back to my very first TV
show, I mean having watched Roth and Holman bowl when I was growing up,
and my first show was the World Open and I don't know eighty four
and my first matches against Mark Roth. Wow, and if I beat him,
I have the whole Marshall Holman. So it was like a day of
all days for me just to be in that in that place, right,
they were still in their prime and here I was just trying to find my
place in the sport. And I mean that was really a really memorable moment
getting a bowl on TV against that guy who was so dominant over the years.
I would say the one that I really did have trouble beating, uh
would be would be Duke. Yeah. I always you always seem to have
my number, and uh, I would say he was my hardest opponent.
We do have a question from Jeff Skyers Bob any other colleges approach to you
about coaching, especially here in Florida. Well, I loved college coaching and
I do want to do it again. I did have a few that reached
out. They were in places that were remote and not any place that I
could convince myself or my wife to move to to take on the role of
coach. But I really do hope I have another opportunity at it. We
enjoyed it, both my wife and I coached at Martin Methodists and then UT
Southern and and we had a great time doing it. I can't I can't
see myself not trying to do it once again, right right? Are you
looking forward to TMUSA competitions coming up? Well, I'm always I'm always,
of course looking forward to it. I was looking forward to coaching in Kuwait.
Myself and Brian were going to be over there for nineteen days coaching the
men's and women's team in the Paralympics, but we withdrew from that event for
a number of reasons. So this time it's going to be the seniors alone
going to Colombia. I'm not on the squad to bowl. I did not
at Anamian even to try to bowl for him, but I would have loved
to coach him. I would have loved to Kelly Kulik is going to be
going over there to coach those teams. But yeah, I mean, there
is no greater honor than to be able to put the shirt on for no
money, no money, There's nothing at stake there, right except for pride,
pride being able to represent your country. You just can't. You can't
say enough about what that means. Very first time I got to do it,
Johnny p was on the team and he bowed amazing. By the way,
when Johnny was talking about me having a broken wrist, that was my
first shot at bowling for TSA. We weren't eligible when I was younger.
We weren't allowed to bowl as storing players, so it was really my first
opportunity as a senior to do it. But yeah, great honor. It's
the closest thing you can get to, you know, representing your country and
the Olympics, which we've discussed adding ausing here on the show as to why
it'll probably never be in the Olympics because of the different variations between lefties and
righty's laying conditions, breakdowns, balls, and you know, you can't you
can't have an even playing field for everyone. It came close, I believe
in the mid nineties, somewhere around ninety four ninety five, it was upper
vote and never passed. But in your opinion, you don't think you'll ever
become an official sport. I mean, we got break dancing for crying aloud,
but we can't get bowling in there. So do you think it'll ever
happen? Is there any way that they could try to make it even for
everybody? Well, actually, when when they when they have reasonings for it,
they claim that that falls quite quite a ways down the list. But
that being said, when we were in Japan, being that Japan was so
competitive in bowling and the host country has an opportunity to choose a couple of
sports that they that they want added to the Olympics, and they chose surfing,
And uh, I was I really, I really I couldn't believe it.
There was a great effort to try to get us into the Olympics in
Japan. They're highly competitive, they would definitely have made runs for medals,
and they chose surfing over us. So I would love to stay optimistic and
say it'll happen one day. But that's that that I thought was just a
golden opportunity for us to get there, and we did. Yeah, I
absolutely agree with that it's unfortunate. It's the second most you know, participory
sport you know there is, It's just I don't know. It's the things
that they allow in there that are not sports, like break dancing. Uh,
just kind of boggles my mind. All right, Johnny, anything you
want to say as we wrap it up here, we we are out of
time, as they say, I would just like to say thank you to
one of my childhood idols for being here tonight. And I'm still suck on
the eleven twenty nine with all due respect, I mean, everything else is
to me. Anybody that has the balls to do that, and the maple
moxie has ran he would call it these days or what Bo Burton said back
then, like just to be able to converse with somebody who I've admired for
the last almost thirty years. I'm almost forty. I mean, just just
said, to be in the presence of this and to know that our gracious
host, Rad Rob Francois, is the reason that he is here. I
wouldn't trade this day or this hour and a half ending of my life.
And I hope everybody in chat really appreciated everything that happens. It would mister
Learn and Bob, please send my love to your entire family and thank you
so much for being here. Dude, all thanks for having me. Remember
that, dude, I'll look forward to that we get together again and hang
out a little bit, right. And I apologize, sir. I apologize
for their internet signal too, Bob. But yeah, I just want to
echo what Johnny said. It's uh. As a life flung fan of the
Sparta been bowling since I was six years old. I'm forty seven now,
watching you and the Greats on TV. And to have the ability to have
technology now to where we can talk to our heroes that we watch growing up
is It's something that's never lost on me and I'll never take it for granted.
And I do appreciate you coming here and talking with us, and we
would love to have you on in the future. Well, thank you,
thank you again honestly for having me on. I enjoyed it. It's great
to be able to bring up some of those great memories and talk about things
that you know. We're again, we're all passionate about it. We all
have the same love for the sport and we've all gotten to play at a
great you know, at a higher level and we got so much out of
it. Right, look what bullying has done for us our network of friends.
You know, you cannot explain to someone who does a bowl what it
feels like to impart rotation out of bone ball and live until that ball goes
through the pins. It's still still connected to you and you just can't explain
that. But everybody that's sitting out here and everybody that's commenting, we know,
we know what that feels like. You know, it's a it's a
special thing and I'm glad that I get to share it with others, and
uh, I feel like I'm not the odd one out. Have you guys
on talking about things. It was awesome opportunity. So thank you. We
couldn't be happy to have you and everybody in chat, I'm assuming feels the
exact same way about. Thank you so much, sir. All Right,
guys, so next time, all right, Thank you sir. Have a
good night, you too, Wow, Johnny. Yeah, we We've not
to take away from anybody we've ever had on this show. It just seems
like each week gets gets better and better, like that was on our show
is Rob You know this as well as oh show and myself. We got
to talk to bowlers at a personal level. We shit that. We don't
want to talk about vowels and paps and fucking link Fuck all that noise,
right, fuck that noise. We want to talk about what you're thinking about
in the moment, especially because and that's why Bob loves the kids so much.
They'll learn that, they will, they'll get it at some point.
But the kids need to know what it feels like to be in that moment.
And whether it's in league, a greg TAC tournament, a supports shot
of this erect league, doesn't matter. The kids need to know what it
feels like at the pinnacle of the sport of like what it feels like because
any pro will tell you in any sport, if they've experienced something once,
they know what not to do the next time, right, right, And
that's usually what our guests tell us. Case important, Ryan Schaeffer last week.
He's made the TV show fifteen times in a major, but he's only
got six titles. Right, He'll tell you what not to do the same
way Bob will tell you exactly why you got reshoot, that's fair, what
he was thinking. They'll tell you his fucking gum was really really hard after
chewing it for two hours. Like that's the real shit that we bring you
up, straight up five And those are the guys we bring in. And
obviously how our fans or people in the chat that people listening to us are
all kind of like us. Qu're crazy, Yeah, we're a little bit
stupid, yeah, but we're also really real. And thank you so much
for not only getting Bob on tonight but being a gracious host and just would
not be possible without somebody like you. That that means a lot to me.
And you know, what Bob said at the end will probably stick with
me forever, just like the passion that he has for the sport and how
happy he gets describing just throwing a bowling ball and waiting to see the reaction
he gets with the pins, And you know that gives me goosebumps, dude,
just hearing that a guy that's been doing it for so long still has
that kind of love and passion for the sport like Danny. Danny loves his
you know, he's got his whole trophy, Like he still has that passion
for the sport even though he can't do it as well. Or as much
as he used to. But it's like there's nobody like bowlers too. There
is nobody on this earth like bowlers. They're they're a different breed. They're
the most down to earth people. And and I don't think, like he
said, nobody else will understand it unless they've done it. If I was
Bob Learn or somebody like that, I would buy a tour bus and I
would invite all the fans on my bus every week, right. I would
make it a take, you know, yeah, because we are rock stars
in our own world. And someday, somehow this sport will get the recognition
because of guys like Bob Learn. It has to. Yeah, I couldn't.
I couldn't have said that any better. Next week, as you alluded
to, we have the Ryan Express coming on, Ryan Siminelli coming off his
huge win in the PBA League with the Waco Wonders. Dude, we just
keep talking about our show. I'm gonna rip that son of the Gun's brain
like there's no tomorrow next week. Yes, I know you are. I
don't know how I'm gonna keep topping this week after week, but we'll try.
God damn man, We're on a pretty good run right now for the
dr O show. You can find him at the dr on Twitter. You
can find me at what is It a Round? Jpjr at jp j R
zero seven, and I am at rad rob Gaming, and we are also
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audio feed, which, as Ocho would say, you can find the podcast
literally anywhere, especially in his pool. He finds podcasts all the time.
Before we go, you have to give a shout out to Norm Adams because
he showed up late. But give me a little Norm Adams down here.
Norm it's one of the best men I've ever met. Anybody that's looking for
a handsome gentleman that will take care of you in any aspect, Norm Adams,
that's the man. Love you, bro, and rich k I just
got he's here as well. Thanks for showing up, guys, Love you
homie. And everybody else in the chat. We sorry got sucked into Bob
learned tonight, but we had to, so Rob sign us all baby for
Doctor Roache and JPJ. Love you, Bro, Love you guys so much,
thanks for being here, Thank you for being here. Thank you so
much that We'll be back next week with the Ryan Express, Ryan Simonelli seventies
to eight pm. Sorry sorry, seventh Central, eight Eastern right here on
the Red Rob Radio Network, and Johnny patrekli is sexiest page in Facebook.
We'll see guys next week. Take care. Thanks for listening to this edition
of Straight Up Five with Johnny Petreglia Junior. You can follow the show on
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