PBA Spare Shots

PBA.COM TRAFFIC UP DRAMATICALLY DURING PBA WORLD SERIES OF BOWLING
Internet traffic following the second PBA World Series of Bowling, underway at South Point Bowling Center is Las Vegas, is up dramatically over its first week last August in Allen Park, Mich.

After the first week of competition in Las Vegas, the statistical comparisons included:
No. of Visits to pba.com: 317,744 vs. 211,987 in 2009.
No. of Page Views: 1,605,524 vs. 1,618,600 in 2009.
No. Pages per Visit: 5.05 vs. 7.64 in 2009.
Average Minutes on Site: 7:01 vs. 6:38 in 2009.
Unique Visitors: 123,714 vs. 78,438 in 2009.

“We have had more than 100,000 additional hits in 2010,” said PBA Director of Brand Marketing and Licensing Tim Morelli. “Our page views and pages per visit have dropped a bit, but that is likely due to putting more relevant information closer to the home page this year.

“The more telling statistic is that people are spending an extra 30 seconds on the site despite the drop in pages and page views, so they are reading more and/or staying on the site longer. But most important, there have been 45,276 more unique visitors checking out pba.com in the first week of the 2010 World Series compared to last year. That’s a 57% increase.

PBA STARS HEAD TO ENGLAND FOR 2010 WEBER CUP
Following the PBA World Series of Bowling, PBA stars Pete Weber, Chris Barnes, Tommy Jones will join U.S. team captain Tim Mack at the Barnsley Metrodome in Yorkshire, England, for the 2010 PartyCasino.com Weber Cup Nov. 12-14, where they will take on a European team composed of Finland’s Mika Koivuniemi and captain Osku Palermaa, and England’s Dominic Barrett and Paul Moor in a “Ryder Cup” style competition.

According to the World Bowling Writers Newsletter, the format for the 2010 PartyCasino.com Weber Cup will consist of singles, doubles matches and a four-man Baker team match. The Europeans are the defending Weber Cup champions. The Weber Cup is named in honor of the late great Dick Weber.

FAGAN WINS FINAL WORLD SERIES TUNEUP IN LAHTI, FINLAND
Just before heading to Las Vegas for the PBA World Series of Bowling, Mike Fagan of Patchogue, N.Y., won the Ebonite Lahti Open at Lahti Bowl in Finland. Fagan, who qualified fourth for the four-man stepladder final, defeated Finland’s Juhani Tonteri, 267-190; England’s Dominic Barrett, 235-152, and Denmark’s Mai Ginge Jensen, 247-207, for his third European Bowling Tour title.

FORMER EXEMPT PLAYER JASON QUEEN WINS MIDWEST/CENTRAL REGIONAL TITLE

Jason Queen of Forsythe, Ill., the 1997 USBC Masters champion and a former PBA Exempt Tour competitor, won his 13th career PBA regional title in the Midwest/Central Region’s Classic Lanes Open in Memomonee Falls, Wis., on Oct. 31, nipping Nathan Michalowski of Burlington, Wis., by a single pin.



Queen finished the 20-game total pinfall event with a 6-6 match play record and a total of 5,158 pins, including match play bonus pins, to win $2,400 and his first PBA Midwest Region title of the year. Michalowski was 10-2 in match play and finished with 5,157 pins.


MRS. BARNES WINS AUSTRALIAN WOMEN’S MASTERS TITLE
While husband Chris Barnes was battling the field in the PBA World Series of Bowling in Las Vegas, bowlingdigital.com reports wife Lynda Barnes was in Sydney, Australia, where she defeated fellow former PBA Women’s Series competitor Wendy Macpherson of Henderson, Nev., 234-203, 146-204, 188-145, 210-169, in the best-of-five-game title match to win the Australian Women’s Masters title. Barnes, from Double Oak, Texas, won a first prize of roughly $US14,650.

NEW PBA MEDIA GUIDE GOES LIVE ON PBA.COM
Bowling fans as well as members of the bowling news media can find an all-new online version of the PBA Media Guide under the "Resources/Press Room" tabs on pba.com. The new version of the Media Guide provides the news media as well as fans with a up-to-date resource for bios on PBA players, comprehensive lists of PBA records and past champions, lists of award winners and hall of famers, and much more.

By converting the PBA Media Guide to an online tool, records and player performances can be updated after every event so the most current reference materials possible will be a mere mouse click away.