By Mike Iaconelli
My World aired with the show where I went fishing and bowling with PBA Players Championship winner, Kyle Troup. That title earned him prestige in his sport and $250,000. Bowling has come a long way since I bowled as a teenager drinking cheap, warm beer and eating cold pizza. I’ll tell you that!
Anyway, we started off the first day at the Jersey Shore fishing for four species of fish — a flounder/fluke, a striped bass, a tautog and a sheepshead. We launched from Bay Front Marina in North Wildwood, New Jersey. We call it the Jersey Shore.
Conditions were tough. There was a major storm on the way, it was a hurricane. The winds were howling so bad that it was hard to stay in the boat. The tide was coming in faster than expected and the current was strong. Add to that the fact that the water was getting dirty.
We fished as a team for 6 hours. Despite the conditions we caught all four species. I caught two and Kyle caught two. I’ll tell you more about how we did that in a minute. Right now, though, I want to talk about our bowling.
We bowled at Island Bowl in Wildwood, New Jersey. At first, he said he wanted me to roll a few balls to see what my technique and style looked like. I knew, and Kyle soon discovered, that I have no technique, much less a style.
Kyle is a two-handed shovel-type bowler. There are only eight professional bowlers who do it that way. He said he thought I could do the same with a little instruction. He took me to the pro shop. They found a ball that suited me, drilled it to meet my finger size and we were off to the races. It didn’t take long for me to get the hang of it. Actually, I thought I was pretty good.
Towards the end of the day we bowled one game against each other. He spotted me 100 pins. I still lost. So much for “thought I was pretty good.” I did get to keep the ball, though. I think I’ll put it near my fishing trophies. I had that much fun.
It’s always been interesting to me that to be the best at anything you have to dedicate your total being to it. That’s what he does. He said he bowls 40 or 50 games a week, and that doesn’t count practice.
One of the most impressive things I noticed about him is how his ball travels down the lane. It goes in a giant arc. You’re sure it’s going into the gutter. It never does. It curves back towards the pins and runs right into them. It sounds like a bomb going off when it hits them.
Check out Kyle’s surprising finish to the show! (Right Click, Open Link on image)
