In a dramatic finish to the championship match yesterday, the legendary PDW (Pete Weber) captured his 5th US Open title in a one-pin victory over Mike “The King of Swing” Fagan, with a clutch strike on the final ball to propel him to the 215-214 victory. For those who missed it, here’s the title match courtesy The PBA Rebroadcast YouTube Channel:

So why am I talking about a bowling event on a childfree blog? Well, truth be told it fits here, because of something that happened during the entire TV finals.

A number of times PDW blew up on someone in the audience for moving around during his approach. For those of you who aren’t bowlers, you have no idea how distracting that is. That’s why you’re not supposed to begin your approach until after the bowlers on the neighboring lanes have completed their shots. Even a little bit of motion out of the corner of your eye can really throw you off, and when a $60,000 check was on the line, I think he had every right to get angry over it.

Come to find out later (reading the comments of one individual who was in the gallery on another blog) that the culprit was a little kid that was in like the front row of the gallery, right in the peripheral vision of the bowlers. I think it goes without saying that little kids are squirmy and can’t sit still for more than about 2 minutes. So why the HELL would you bring a little kid to the US Open? Do you seriously think they’re interested in professional bowling? Unless they’re just a bowling prodigy or come from a family of professional/serious recreational bowlers, I highly doubt they’d be remotely interested in watching a bunch of old guys bowl. Bowling isn’t a “spectator sport” so to speak, it’s a “genteman’s sport.” Not super exciting to watch unless you’re REALLY into bowling, like me or other hardcore bowlers/fans.

I think this is a prime example of parents bringing their kids to a place that’s inappropriate. If anything, there was a whole space behind the bowlers that they could have gone where they would have been out of view of the competitors. What’s so hard about that? Why couldn’t they have acknowledged PDW and just moved somewhere that it wouldn’t be an issue. It’s not that big of a deal, well, if you think a little kid has any place in the audience at a pro bowling tournament.

I don’t know. I have mixed feelings about this. Parents should know kids can’t sit still. I think the appropriate course of action would have been to move, but that’s just me. I guess I blame the parent as much as the kid in this case, the same way I blame parents for not teaching their kids bowling etiquette (like I’ve complained about on this blog before). Whatever the case, I might be one of the few siding with PDW on this matter, but I am.

What do you think?