Congrats to Rich Orf for winning the Gran Prix tournament at St. Charles of the weekend. It was bowled on the hardest of hard conditions, 40 foot flat pattern, like the US Open.

Which gets a BIG salute to tournament director Reynold Blondin. This is the 29th season of Gran Prix Tournaments. What's different and new is that the Regular Division (all ages can bowl) events are all bowled on Kegel Challenge Series patterns, harder than a house shot but a bit more forgiving than the PBA patterns. 

The senior Gran Prix Tournaments still bowl on easier house patterns. I find that ironic - older bowlers complain scores are off the charts with resin reactives, and that young bowlers aren't as good as they were at the same age.

But more often than not, bowlers choose to bowl on the easy china but wonder why, when they go to the USBC national tournament, can't average more than 175.

Reynold Blondin gets 4 hambones (is that 16 strikes in a row?) for providing us the Gran Prix Kegel Challenge Series. You'll have to watch the PBA telecasts to find out what a hambone is, if you don't know.

So how good is this format? Reynold's tournaments are getting 40 entries and more each time. The PBA this year started marketing its PBA experience tournaments. They are a bust - many got ZERO entries and others were just cancelled for lack of interest.

Reynold gets it. The PBA doesn't - although they are trying.

 11/09/2008 GPT-St. Charles Classic - St. Charles Lanes

Stepladder Finals 

Yarbrough Tony          191   Williams Jeff              208
Wedemeier Mike        216   Williams Jeff              203
Flanagan Mike            220   Wedemeier Mike       267
Orf Rich                        216    Wedemeier Mike       180

Bowler, Hometown                                             Prize     10 Games  

1 Orf Rich, O'Fallon, IL                                       $  750.00  2173     

2 Wedemeier Mike, O'Fallon, MO                     $  375.00  2104     

3 Flanagan Mike, St. Peters, MO                      $  250.00  2143

4 Williams Jeff, Cape Girardeau, MO              $  200.00  2034     

5 Yarbrough Tony, Rogersville, MO                  $  180.00  2087 

6 Stiegemeier Dwayne, St. Charles, MO         $  160.00  2027 

7 Rau Randy, Belleville, IL                                 $  145.00  2002 

8 Hendrixson Ned, St. Louis, MO                     $  135.00  1987 

9 Hargrove Brian, Imperial, MO                         $  125.00  1986 

10 Marable Bob, Pagedale, MO                        $  115.00  1973 

11 Patterson Jeffery, Belleville, IL                    $  110.00  1954 

12 Bohannon Tom, Forsyth, MO                       $  105.00  1952 

Top Senior - Wolff Dale, Wildwood, MO (Senior)   $   70.00  1855 
               
           Visionary Bowling Ball Winner - James Propst

           Trio Bowlers Supply accessory kit winner - Troy Goettel  

If Dick Weber were alive today, he'd be cussing up a storm.

That's because the International Bowling Hall of Fame and Museum, located on Dick Weber Lane in downtown St. Louis, closed its doors forever this afternoon forever in the Gateway City.

The closing isn't a surprise - that was announced this summer. Did you know the exact day it was closing? If so, you're more in-the-know that yours truly.

The powers-that-be in bowling closed the door on communication about the Hall of Fame after announcing its move.

I saw no advance notice the exact closing day and found out about it today when in the car, heard Bob Hamilton report it during hourly news on KMOX radio at 4:07 p.m.

The Hall and Museum locked its doors for good in St. Louis seven minutes earlier.

I'm angry. I wanted to go one last time. My mother, who used to bowl years ago, wanted to go before it moved. OK, it's my fault for not picking up the phone a few weeks ago to call and ask their staff the closing day.

But their lack of communication highlights again the problem with bowling - lack of information. Maybe the date was announced. But if it was, it sure was a big secret because it wasn't done enough.

We just ended a presidential election and the biggest complaint is that people were tired of hearing and seeing the same message repeated daily.

Well you know why a message is repeated? To make a person remember. Name a top soft drink. Chances are you'll say Pepsi or Coke. Name a top fast food restaurant. You'll most likely say McDonalds. Name a popular car brand. You'll get a variety of answers for this one, such as long-time GM lines like Chevrolet. Ford, Chrysler, Toyota and Honda will get a lot of mentions. I wouldn't expect anyone to identify Hyundai or Daewoo as a top-of-mind brand recall.

What they all have in common is they repeat their brand name over and over until it is indelibly etched in our memory. Bowling doesn't do that. And because of it, people forget. And when people forget, they don't participate in bowling like they could.

For that, I promise as editor of the Bi State Bowling Times to be more informed then let you know what's going on in the world of bowling.

If there's a positive for the Hall and Museum's move to Arlington, Tx., it's a destination for me when it opens in 2010. I grew up in nearby Fort Worth before moving to St. Louis in 1965. Hopefully my mother will still be alive at 88 to join me on that trip.

Finally, Dick Weber Lane remains on Walnut St. between 7th and 8th St. But is it appropriate for the block to be named after him when there is no bowling monument there?

I have a solution. Erect a small building on the block and put a couple of lanes inside for people to use like a park. Bowling lanes on Dick Weber Lane has a nice sound. And it'll be an infrastructure improvement to the area with Lake DeWitt (named after St. Louis Cardinals owner Bill DeWitt), a.k.a. Ballpark Village, next door north of Busch Stadium - now going on its fourth year behind schedule.

Given that development's well-publicized problems getting off the ground, maybe bowling's problems aren't as severe as we think.

Welcome to the Bi State Bowling Times group - dedicated to promoting bowling by publicing events and news about the sport in the area.

St. Louis is rich with bowling heritage. It has been tarnished a bit with the loss of the Bowling Hall of Fame and Museum which is moving to Dallas - and I believe that this is the last month it will be open so please, visit one last time if you haven't been there.

The only way this group will be successful is for you to participate and to let others know about it. Community groups grow very quickly so please help out.

There are a lot of great featurds on my.stltoday.com for the group, so let's use them all.

Thank you and look forward to your participation.

Scott Simon