The Mini Eliminator has become a major world wide bowling attraction
02/10/06
LAS VEGAS, Nev. -- The Mini Eliminator has become a major world wide bowling attraction in five short years. Some how Pinacle Events founder and president Steve Sanders has put together a megabuck tournament that has taken on Super Bowl status among megabuck tournaments.
Here are some of my reasons for such glowing comments about the Super Bowl Mini Eliminator Tournament now being contested at The Orleans Hotel.
This tournament, unlike most bowling tournaments is open, to almost everyone. You can spot down the 72-lane concourse such great American pro bowlers as Wendy Macpherson, John Petraglia (pictured left) and Liz Johnson and elite world amateur champions like Lasse Lintilä of Finland, Shalin Zulkifli (right) of Malaysia and Paul Moor of England.
They and the other bowlers, with more and more hailing from foreign countries, have made the pilgrimage to Las Vegas and The Orleans Hotel. Most have come with the hopes of winning the $50,000 top prize during the finals Sunday of a tournament that started 10 days earlier.
Or perhaps they have their hearts set on winning money in one of the five divisions that include age 39 and under division, the 40 to 49 division, the 50 to 59 division, the 205 under division, plus the main open division.
The approximate 1,400 bowlers, many of whom reenter because the reentry fee goes down and the potential prizes go up are shooting for a total prize fund estimated at about $1.4 million.
And there are things to be learned if want to improve while you are winning money. Brunswick will be given away about 1,200 balls during the competition and they come complete with custom measuring and drilling.
Dexter shoes is ready and eager to show all bowlers how they can improve their approach, slide and leverage at the foul line by selecting the correct footwear for the ever changing bowling approaches across the world.
Turbo 2n1 Grips has been demonstration one of the modern technology advancements that would have done wonders for former great bowlers like Tom Hennessey and Mark Roth.
In the old days bowlers would tear up their thumbs in long format tournaments, which was pointed out in the old bowling movie called the DREAMER where the hero of the story dug a hole in a baking potato and inserted his swollen thumb in hopes of curing his thumb problems by the next tournament.
The inaugural $100,000 MoRich Mixed Doubles National Championship would have been a dream bet for anybody who likes to wager on longshots.
They stopped bowling competition during the Super Bowl and The Orleans set up a special Texas Hold-Em Poker tournament for the bowlers who were not in love with the Super Bowl game. They had TVs showing the football action and sub sandwiches and other goodies for all the bowlers and their families.
Going into the Mixed Doubles competition the oddsmakers probably would have considered Tennelle Milligan and Ricky Corona or Ann Marie Duggan and Bill Hoffman or Liz Johnson and Dave Guindon or Kelly Kulick and David Haynes or Missy Bellinder and David Haynes among the possible betting favorites.
But the winners of the $10,000 championship were Laura Hardeman and Steven Smith, a pair of virtual unknown bowlers outside the San Diego area. And they beat a pair of bowling heavyweights in the form of Macpherson, the 1990s pro woman bowler of the year and Paul Renteria, a megabuck champion.
If the doubles competition had a weak point it was the fact that not enough women bowlers were available for the male bowlers who were seeking partners.
But once word spreads that the title was won by two so called lightweights instead of two bowling heavyweights then I am sure that the second annual MoRich Mixed Doubles National Championship event will flourish.
Unfortunately, there are too few events world wide these days where women are not only eligible to compete but are welcome.
I no sooner wrote that than Herbert Bickel, probably the most knowledgeable bowling figure in the world through his Bowlingdigital.com Website on the Internet reminded me that even women bowlers are welcome on The European Tour but they are given an eight pin handicap in every game while shooting for a lot of Euros.
Early indications point to about 50 bowlers from 50 nations competing at The Orleans and they are more than holding their own.
I scanned the daily news releases being put out by media director Jim Goodwin and I discovered that Bruno Diaz from Puerto Rico, Bart Reitsma of The Netherlands, Akiko Takeuchi of Japan, defending Mini Eliminator Lasse Lintilä of Finland (pictured), Paul Moor of England, Zara Glover of England and Johann Nietsch of Liechtenstein were among the leaders during the opening rounds of the Mini Eliminator.
I have no idea about how big of an impact that bowling in general and the numerous events run by Steve Sanders have had on the impact of the growth of The Orleans Hotel/Casino but I have seen this minor complex located on Tropicana Ave. about two miles from the famous Las Vegas Strip but I do know that The Orleans has grown into a 1,800 plus room hotel with a giant all purpose arena.
If bowling was not a key ingredient then why would all the new Coast properties featuring large bowling centers in their hotel/casino attractions? There is no question that Las Vegas is the gambling capitol of the world and also the bowling Mecca of the world.
Column
By Dick Evans
LAS VEGAS, Nev. -- The Mini Eliminator has become a major world wide bowling attraction in five short years. Some how Pinacle Events founder and president Steve Sanders has put together a megabuck tournament that has taken on Super Bowl status among megabuck tournaments. Here are some of my reasons for such glowing comments about the Super Bowl Mini Eliminator Tournament now being contested at The Orleans Hotel.
This tournament, unlike most bowling tournaments is open, to almost everyone. You can spot down the 72-lane concourse such great American pro bowlers as Wendy Macpherson, John Petraglia (pictured left) and Liz Johnson and elite world amateur champions like Lasse Lintilä of Finland, Shalin Zulkifli (right) of Malaysia and Paul Moor of England. They and the other bowlers, with more and more hailing from foreign countries, have made the pilgrimage to Las Vegas and The Orleans Hotel. Most have come with the hopes of winning the $50,000 top prize during the finals Sunday of a tournament that started 10 days earlier.
Or perhaps they have their hearts set on winning money in one of the five divisions that include age 39 and under division, the 40 to 49 division, the 50 to 59 division, the 205 under division, plus the main open division.
The approximate 1,400 bowlers, many of whom reenter because the reentry fee goes down and the potential prizes go up are shooting for a total prize fund estimated at about $1.4 million.
And there are things to be learned if want to improve while you are winning money. Brunswick will be given away about 1,200 balls during the competition and they come complete with custom measuring and drilling.
Dexter shoes is ready and eager to show all bowlers how they can improve their approach, slide and leverage at the foul line by selecting the correct footwear for the ever changing bowling approaches across the world.
Turbo 2n1 Grips has been demonstration one of the modern technology advancements that would have done wonders for former great bowlers like Tom Hennessey and Mark Roth.
In the old days bowlers would tear up their thumbs in long format tournaments, which was pointed out in the old bowling movie called the DREAMER where the hero of the story dug a hole in a baking potato and inserted his swollen thumb in hopes of curing his thumb problems by the next tournament.
The inaugural $100,000 MoRich Mixed Doubles National Championship would have been a dream bet for anybody who likes to wager on longshots.
They stopped bowling competition during the Super Bowl and The Orleans set up a special Texas Hold-Em Poker tournament for the bowlers who were not in love with the Super Bowl game. They had TVs showing the football action and sub sandwiches and other goodies for all the bowlers and their families.
Going into the Mixed Doubles competition the oddsmakers probably would have considered Tennelle Milligan and Ricky Corona or Ann Marie Duggan and Bill Hoffman or Liz Johnson and Dave Guindon or Kelly Kulick and David Haynes or Missy Bellinder and David Haynes among the possible betting favorites.
But the winners of the $10,000 championship were Laura Hardeman and Steven Smith, a pair of virtual unknown bowlers outside the San Diego area. And they beat a pair of bowling heavyweights in the form of Macpherson, the 1990s pro woman bowler of the year and Paul Renteria, a megabuck champion. If the doubles competition had a weak point it was the fact that not enough women bowlers were available for the male bowlers who were seeking partners.
But once word spreads that the title was won by two so called lightweights instead of two bowling heavyweights then I am sure that the second annual MoRich Mixed Doubles National Championship event will flourish.
Unfortunately, there are too few events world wide these days where women are not only eligible to compete but are welcome.
I no sooner wrote that than Herbert Bickel, probably the most knowledgeable bowling figure in the world through his Bowlingdigital.com Website on the Internet reminded me that even women bowlers are welcome on The European Tour but they are given an eight pin handicap in every game while shooting for a lot of Euros.
Early indications point to about 50 bowlers from 50 nations competing at The Orleans and they are more than holding their own.
I scanned the daily news releases being put out by media director Jim Goodwin and I discovered that Bruno Diaz from Puerto Rico, Bart Reitsma of The Netherlands, Akiko Takeuchi of Japan, defending Mini Eliminator Lasse Lintilä of Finland (pictured), Paul Moor of England, Zara Glover of England and Johann Nietsch of Liechtenstein were among the leaders during the opening rounds of the Mini Eliminator. I have no idea about how big of an impact that bowling in general and the numerous events run by Steve Sanders have had on the impact of the growth of The Orleans Hotel/Casino but I have seen this minor complex located on Tropicana Ave. about two miles from the famous Las Vegas Strip but I do know that The Orleans has grown into a 1,800 plus room hotel with a giant all purpose arena.
If bowling was not a key ingredient then why would all the new Coast properties featuring large bowling centers in their hotel/casino attractions? There is no question that Las Vegas is the gambling capitol of the world and also the bowling Mecca of the world.