The championship match between Walter Ray Williams Jr and Patrick Allen features an extremely bad break. It took place in 2009 at the National Bowling Stadium Championship. However, was it really as bad many remember it to be?
Today we breakdown the entire match and find out whether Walter Ray really did experience a brutal break, or whether it was actually just a bad shot.
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31 Comments
I think it’s both it could have just flat ten instead of the 8 pin and the 10 pin but if you bowl you know that a flat 10 is a bad shot so I think it is both.
“No! Oh my god it’s a loser! He just lost the tournament!”
-the announcers at the 2009 National Bowling Stadium Championship
I'm sorry but you lost me at "they would be trying to play the lanes the same way." Name one dual pattern television final in recent history where the lanes were played the same, just with different balls, MUCH LESS one with 9' difference between the patterns. Even the players championship, broadcast last weekend, shows all 12 players throwing very different lines on the short and long patterns. In fact, Simo was using the SAME ball on both lanes, just with drastically different lines to pocket.
Yep, definitely not a great shot. Should've been the 8 or the 10, but both was pretty harsh.
In bowling nothing is certain. I have seen way worse shots strike.
Yes the ball hit light, yes it deflected, but that does not automatically mean 8-10.
Last night in league a player was using a brand new shiny 10 lb house ball and throwing it right up the middle.
That ball deflected off the pocket every time he hit it and he either got a strike or 9 and never left any 8-10's.
As my New Jersey chops-busting pals would have said, WRW was "making orange juice" on that last shot. (Squeezing it).
I believe 8-10 splits happen from using A-symmetric bowling balls, the ball is way too early and doesn’t have the correct angle through the pins, unless you hit it high flush. Symmetric is the way to go, imo.
This is one of those videos that shows how much bowling has changed in the last 20-30 years. Revs certainly aren’t everything. There are 500 rev league bowlers that are terrible. However, revs don’t hurt. When you consider the EJ Tackets and Belmos of the PBA (guys with 500+ revs, deadly accuracy, and high ball speed), these type of carry issues just don’t occur NEARLY as often.
I’ve tried to explain this concept to older bowlers who began their bowling journey in the 90’s or before. It’s not just about where your ball enters the pocket. It’s about entry angle, breakpoint, how/where the core flares, where the cover picks up front to back, revs, ball speed, and a million other factors.
You aren’t gifted a strike just because you found the pocket, that’s only 50% of the equation. If you don’t believe that, throw a 15lb house ball with no revs dead flush and watch it exit the deck behind the 6 pin – leaving a 5 , 5-10, or 8-10 on nearly every shot.
It was a little high, and the ball deflected kinda weird. So, I’d say it was a bad shot with incorrect speed and rotation.. Not bad enough to leave the 8-10… So, a bit of both.
brother absolutely love the analysis. Keep the content up I will continue to support
It was a bad break, in only that he would've got 9 on that 49 out of 50 shots. This wasn't even the 1st time WRWJr. left an 8-10 to lose a title; he did it in 1986 and possibly again later. The '86 one wasn't flush though; he went light and had a 2-8-10 then the 2 fell. Anyone who wants to see a bonkers crazy match, watch the finals of the 1986 King Louie Open. It was a back-and-forth gift-giving extravaganza.
If I rolled it it’s bad luck… anyone else just a bad throw lol
Ball came in ever so slightly light, but it wasn’t a bad shot. Certainly not bad enough to leave 8-10.
Ball was definitely flat and dead.
I've said it once I'll say it again. Keep up the good work. I very much enjoy these videos.
Allen is the pro at my local alley and actually drilled my bowling balls. I've mentioned this game to him before and he just kinda laughed. He knows how insane that last throw was. Real cool guy.
8-10 maybe rare for PBA Pro's but I've left a few, had an all spare game going on but instead of throwing it a little wide I tried for a strike and left the 8-10.
Just curious.. But how did PA had hammer and storm patches at the same time back then?? 😮😮was that a thing??
I like how you did this….the new generation of bowlers don't understand how important entry angle is…..
KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK…
Do a video on how many ways a 10 pin can be left….
That ball deflected way too much. Walter Ray may have amped up the speed on that shot.
I bowled on the original Cheetah pattern in Reno as a youth and it was crazy. If I used my normal axis rotation anything inside of like the 1/2 board was going through the face or worse (And it had to be at the right distance down lane). There were lots of gutter balls and shots that would just take out the 7 pin as a right hander. Nobody even had thought to try urethane and by the end a good portion of us were just trying to launch the ball straight at the head pin.
This was a bad break just in the sense that it was WRWJ one of the best ever on short patterns and you wouldn't have expected him to leave a split in a situation where he needed a strike to win or 9/ to tie. This is more or less explained by PA and Randy's reaction to the leave.
Walter through that ball like garbage period.
My favorite bowler is Wes Malott
8-10 is never a bad break, just a poor shot. 20 mph end over end roll and 350 rpms does that to u.
Choko Barnes.
I’m one of Walter’s biggest fans. He has had so many 2nd place finishes which could have gone the other way, it’s staggering to think about how many more titles he could have.
That being said, this was a light and flat hit all the way. DOA. He gets no sympathy on this one.
It perhaps could have been fast,making it flatter than a witches tit
I should add that we've all struck with worse,if he hits lighter perhaps he gets a mixer strike,on another rack this may have thrown the 6 into the wall early to rebound into the 10
You obviously don’t know shit. 8-10s used to be part of the game before howitzer bowling balls.
He over threw it. simple. You can visually see the speed difference between the 2 shots in the tenth. Adrenaline got the best of him.
I joke that WRW's 8-10 was what killed MoRich