Bowling Highlights Column 1-4-13

Fans Rank Weber Win Top Story  

       

  As we welcome bowling fans to 2013 major news from the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) is the announcement that more than 2.3 million fans visited pba.com, the official website of the Professional Bowlers Association, during 2012 and based upon the number of visits and these fans ranked Pete Weber’s historic fifth U.S. Open title as the 2012 year’s top story. 
  According to statistics gathered pertaining to pba.com, PBA fans visited the website just over 6.1 million times, with 2,354,715 unique visits. A total of more than 20.3 million pages were viewed during the course of the year. The most-frequented pages, in order, were the home page, PBA Regional Tours page, PBA Player Profiles page, and PBA Tour tournament information page. 

  The most-visited news stories on pba.com for the year were: 

1)    Pete Weber’s fifth U.S. Open title to surpass the record he shared with his late father Dick Weber and his late father’s famous Budweiser teammate, Don Carter. Pete Weber’s post-victory exclamation, “Who do you think you are? I am,” also added to the legacy of his record title.

2)    Former PBA Tour competitor Tony Reyes’ tragic death after an automobile accident in late September.

3)    The PBA’s announcement of its “super-sized” 2012-13 season, expanding the PBA Tour season to 14 months to allow the PBA to return to calendar year scheduling effective Jan. 1, 2014.

4)    Rhino Page’s selection as the No. 1 player picked in the inaugural PBA League Draft.

5)    Kamron Doyle locking up a “cashing” finish in the U.S. Open at age 14, making him the youngest player ever to cash in a PBA Tour event (his earnings were deposited in his scholarship account).

6)    Mike Fagan secures the top rung for the U.S. Open stepladder finals over Australia’s Jason Belmonte, Ryan Shafer and Pete Weber.

7)    The media coverage surrounding the U.S. Open, reaching millions of newspaper readers, internet followers and social media fans, became one of the year’s biggest stories.

8)    Chris Barnes earning the top berth for the Alka Seltzer Plus Liquid Gels USBC Masters finals.

9)    Norm Duke wins PBA Detroit Open for his 35th career title.

10)  Eugene McCune successfully defending his PBA Cheetah Open title.

11)  Historic team bowling concept to debut with 2013 PBA League.

12)  Chris Barnes bowls 300 one game too early as Jason Belmonte wins Shark Open.

13)  Mike Fagan defeats Chris Barnes to win first major title in Alka Seltzer Plus Liquid Gels USBC Masters.

14)  Sean Rash ends five-year title drought in winning PBA Tournament of Champions.

15)  Ryan Shafer leads U.S. Open; Missy Parking becomes first woman to make match play finals.

16)  Two-handed stars Jason Belmonte, Osku Palermaa eliminated in Dick Weber PBA Playoffs.

17)  Mike Wolfe averages 253 to earn top berth for Cheetah Championship finals.

18)  Jason Belmonte keeps PBA World Series of Bowling IV “three-peat” hopes alive as top qualifier for PBA World Championship.

19)  Comedian/podcast star Chris Hardwick joins lineup of PBA League celebrity owners.

20)  Original PBA superstar Don Carter dies at age 85.

                            

PHOTO of PETE WEBER