Saturday, November 29, 2008

Missy on ESPN this Sunday, Nov. 30th at 1 pm EST


Missy qualified for the LIVE ESPN finals of the CLR Carmen Salvino Scorpion Championship to air this Sunday, Nov. 30th at 1 p.m. EST (10 am westcoast time)!


Missy qualified 2nd after a grind out match play finals going 3-6 in Friday's round robin match play. Missy shot a stellar 221 in the position round game to remain ahead of Carolyn Dorin-Ballard and Liz Johnson, clinching the final TV spot.


Be sure to tune in to ESPN Sunday, Nov. 30th at 1pm EST for the LIVE championship match in which Missy will face Michelle Feldman for the title!


For the full story on pba.com, click here.

Friday, November 28, 2008

Missy Leads Qualifying at PBA CLR Carmen Salvino Scorpion Championship Women's Series


Missy Bellinder led qualifying at the PBA CLR Carmen Salvino Scorpion Championship Women's Series in Vernon Hills, Ill. on Thanksgiving Day. Missy shot +552, averaging 239.43 for the 14-games of qualifying.


Be sure to watch LIVE scoring on www.pba.com as the round robin match play finals start tonight at 6pm CT. The top two bowlers advance to Sunday's ESPN TV telecast.


For the full story on pba.com, click here.

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Week Break at Home!












Hello!

This past week was the first time I've been home since the PBA Tour started in mid October. So needless to say it was nice to be back home in the sunny Southern California weather.

In the short amount of time that I was home, I was actually pretty busy (but in a good way).

I was able to meet up with my good friends from England - Zara Glover, Barbara and Toby, all of whom happened to be flying through the L.A. area while on the way back home from the QubicaAMF Bowling World Cup. We went to Surf City USA - Huntington Beach and had lunch on the pier. We saw dolphins, which is a pretty common sight from the HB pier.
I managed to visit my other favorite place - Disneyland! It was awesome because Disneyland already had all of the Christmas lights up and that is my favorite time of year at the park. Check out the pictures!

My family and friends also came over to my house for an early Thanksgiving dinner complete with all of the trimmings and my personal favorite - pumpkin pie! We celebrated the holiday early since I will be in Vernon Hills, Ill. for the CLR Carmen Salvino Scorpion Championship during the week of Thanksgiving. There were 16 people in all at the dinner and it was great to be able to see all of family and friends.

While I was home I also managed to drag my best friend Scott Norton down to SoCal from the Bay area to bowl in the WWPB mixed doubles tournament at Mission Hills Bowl with me. Scott bowled phenomenal! In the 9 game qualifying block, he shot 300, 246, 300 and 300 in games 4-7 and averaged 250.8 for all nine games. It was a real treat to watch! Needless to say we were leading after qualifying at +579 (thanks to my partner).

Then in the 12 game round robin match play finals, we started off really slow having every team shoot their best game at us, which hurt our bonus pin effort (10 pins for the individual win and 30 pins for the team game for a total of 50 pins per match). But after the first six games, Scott and I came back after the break on fire, winning every team game and nearly all of the bonus pins. We shot 567 in game nine (Scott shot 289 and I shot 278) to get back in the hunt for first place.

Then, in the position round game we were seated 1st and were 62 pins ahead of Wendy MacPherson and Dave Wodka. With both Wendy and Dave striking at will to start the match, it was looking to be a really close fight. Then Scott and I pulled it out stringing clutch strikes in the middle to end of the game ultimately shooting 528 (Scott shot 280 and I shot 248) to win the tournament! Our trophies were awesome! They were paintings. Check out the pictures! For complete results check out http://wwpb.com/

I wish everyone the best Thanksgiving holiday! Have a great week and try not to go too crazy over the holiday sales!

Life on the PBA Tour











Hello Everyone!

I'm really sorry that I have not been blogging on my website on a consistent basis, but I'm hoping that will change as of now. However, I hope all of you have been checking out Missy's Memo on pba.com! Check it out every Tuesday!

Just to recap how life on the tour has been going thus far, one word truly summarizes it - BUSY! With not only bowling in the women's series events, but also working for the PBA doing PR, I've had little time left to myself, to say the least. However, staying busy is not a new thing for me, so it's o.k.

Here are a few highlights from the PBA Tour thus far:

PBA World Championship - Wichita, Kan.
  • Doing a million interviews on Xtra Frame is always fun! The event marked my first time interviewing the PBA players, and I'm not going to lie I was a little nervous, but I think they are getting better now. Check them out!

  • Seeing Norm Duke make PBA History by becoming the first player to win three consecutive Majors on the PBA Tour was an awesome sight! Check out my exclusive interview with Norm!

Pepsi Viper Championship - Omaha, Neb.

  • Halloween was really fun, even though I failed to make the cut to match play. After the night block was done bowling, a bunch of us went to Scary Acres - an outdoor haunted attraction that was seriously in the middle of no where (which made it even scarier). The outdoor scare fest was complete with a corn maze, haunted house, really scary maze outside in the woods with guys carrying chainsaws and a haunted castle.
  • The welcome dinner charity event that Thunder Alley hosted was really fun and it was a great way for the players to mingle with the center staff and help raise money for the charity. (Pictured above with PBA exempt players Michael Haugen Jr. and Jason Sterner)

  • The venue - Thunder Alley was absolutely gorgeous and was arguably one of the nicest bowling centers I've ever been in, complete with a food court, full sports bar/restaurant, huge game room similar to Dave & Busters, Lazer Tag and Go Karts.

  • It didn't snow! However, I heard that Omaha got 36 inches of snow the week after we left. Yikes!

Lake County Indiana Golden Anniversary Championship - Hammond, Ind.


  • Watching the Senior PBA players compete on TV again for the first time since 2001. It was great seeing the Senior bowlers compete alongside the PBA Tour.
  • When I had to interview Hugh Miller after he lead qualifying in the senior event, he said "I haven't seen you since you beat me at that PBA regional you won in Pacifica!" My response - "Hi! Can I interview you please???" (A little awkward, lol!)

  • My roommate Shalin Zukifli cooking shrimp curry and shrimp fried rice in our hotel room using a small cooker and still making a feast of food. It was really good! (Picture above)

Ultimate Scoring Championship and Chameleon Championship - Taylor, Mich

  • Driving in the snow for 4 hours from Hammond, Ind. to Taylor, Mich. which was only the second time EVER that I had driven in the snow. But we made it there safe and sound. (Picture above)

  • Seeing the large crowds at the bowling center during the entire week, which exemplified the big bowling area that Detroit has always been.

I promise to write a blog at least once a week with more in depth details of the week on tour. Be sure to stop by and check them out!

Thanks for reading and enjoy the pictures!

Saturday, November 1, 2008

Missy's Memo #3


Last week, the 50th Anniversary of the Lumber Liquidators PBA Tour kicked off in style. Many memorable events, a widely diverse field, new faces and an historic ending summed up the entire week. I was personally on-hand to witness Norm Duke in his historic quest to capture three consecutive Majors, becoming the only person in PBA history to accomplish this feat.

After interviewing him several times throughout the week, I got an inside perspective on the thinkings and mental game of one of the greatest players in our sport. You see, Duke never once was thinking about making history. He wasn’t thinking about defending his title. He was thinking about winning and winning on bowling’s biggest platform – a PBA Major.

“I’ve made history a few times as a by-product of not thinking about it (making history). When you get ahead of yourself, that’s when you lose your focus,” said Duke.

I was also intrigued to find out Duke’s culmination of what makes a great player.

“Great players don’t just win titles. I have the mindset that you define your career with Major titles,” Duke said. “Great players will go down in history as players who have the ability to win Majors.”

In talking to Duke, you find out that he is a very humble individual. We reminisced about his early career when he won a title at the young age of 18, beating the great Earl Anthony in his first match on TV, in route to the title.

“Everyone wanted to beat Earl (Anthony). He was just that good, that he became a target,” said Duke. “So I told my mom that I was going out on tour and that I was going to beat Earl. Then when I ended up beating Earl on TV, with my mom sitting in the front row, it’s a memory that I’ll never forget,” added Duke.

So I slyly asked Duke, “You do know that you are now that target? People now say I want to go out on tour and beat Norm Duke!”

“I don’t see myself that way. I don’t regard myself as being in the same category as Earl. I know that people get excited to see me and bowl with me, which happened just this week in the pro-am. But in reality I’m just a person who gets to do what I love for a living - bowl,” added Duke.

Last week’s accomplishment brings Duke’s total number of PBA titles to 30 with six Major wins, ranking him tied for fifth with bowling legend Don Carter on the all-time Majors list.

If you followed the results all week, you saw that Duke didn’t get off to a great start in qualifying. With a lower-scoring second block and just out of the projected cut to 53, Duke needed a big final set on the third day of qualifying to advance to the casher’s qualifying round (block four). From that point on, he got serious shooting +174 in block three, advancing to block four of qualifying in 23rd position.

“Yesterday I had a bad day (block two) and today I could have been eliminated. My game plan was to have a good enough round to not have to look at that cut number. My goal was to be proud of my play and that wasn’t the case the past two days (block one and block two). I’m still not up to my expectations. My sights are going to be on getting to the top eight, while keeping 40th (cut number to match play) in mind. I want to be here until the end.”

And that he did! Duke opened up with an 816 the first three games of block four, shooting +362 for the 9-game block, finishing 2nd going into match play. After receiving two byes in match play for finishing in the top eight after qualifying, Duke then went 8-1 in his matches, nearly shooting 300 in game three of the Super 16 Round. Then the very next game, he threw three clutch strikes in the 10th frame to sweep Mike Scroggins shooting 278-277.

You could see the determination in Duke’s eyes. At the verge of nearly being eliminated from the tournament, Duke then put things in high gear and never looked back. The TV show was a mere sample of Duke’s greatness. I was fortunate enough to witness and hear it first-hand.


Also, check out Missy on Xtra Frame throughout the PBA Tour season with exclusive interviews and behind-the-scenes action. http://www.pba.com/xtraframe/