More of my conversation with pro bowler E.J. Tackett

In my last column I mentioned that a high school classmate hooked me up with E.J. Tackett for a phone interview. The PBA Touring Pro graciously answered my many questions. Last week I told you how he got his start on the tour and broached a few other topics.Now it's time for more of our conversation.The idea that the two of us could have anything in common was almost laughable, but I did ask him a few questions that might produce some common traits. After all I was a league bowler for some four decades. One of those questions involved the number of bowling balls that E.J. owned.His response did not catch me off guard necessarily, but it did prove that we do not share much on this topic. His answer was simply "hundreds" and yes that is plural. Triple digits times however many tops my total. One commonality though is the word triple. In 40 years of league bowling I owned exactly three bowling balls. The way I described my bowling balls to anyone that would listen was a black one (Johnny Petraglia LT-48), a gray one (Ammo) and a purple one (Track).Perhaps as big a difference in our situations other than the sheer numbers, is the fact that I bought all mine. His were given to him by the manufacturers. Not only did they provide the balls, but they paid him to use and endorse them.One of the cool perks of being really good at what you do.Another question that I thought people might be interested in is the number of perfect games that E. J. has bowled. I figured it would be more than me since I don't have to take my shoes off to count my 300's. In fact I don't have to use my fingers either as I have never thrown a perfect game in my life!The answer E. J. gave me surprised me as he quickly pointed out that he has no idea. What he did say was that though perfect games were always nice, they didn't necessarily win tournaments. To him it meant that he was plus 100.I actually understood that comment. When pro bowlers begin qualifying at a tournament their progress is recorded as plus or minus from 200. Bowl a 210 in your opening game and you are +10. Add a 235 in the next one and you are now +45. The highest figures will make the cut.He did however try to estimate the actual number and this is cool. By the time he reached the tour he had probably 40 to 50 on his resume. The tour does keep track of perfect games rolled in their events and he guessed he had another 35 or 40 there. Add in regional tourneys and he estimated he has around 100 of them. Whatever the final tally would be, that's how many more he has than me!I was curious if he had any close friends on the tour that he might room with at tournaments. He did say that the tour members are a close knit group and his brother Zac is a member. So picking just one would be difficult, but he did have a specific name.When E. J. first joined the tour he was befriended by Ronnie Russell a touring pro originally from Marion, Indiana. "He took me under his wing, showing me that ropes. Even though he is quite a bit older than me, he was in my wedding." In fact he confided that other than family, much of his wedding party was made up of bowlers.When I checked on Russell's biography I found out that he is 43 years old. That made E. J.'s "quite a bit older than me" comment a bit of a heart breaker for me. Ronnie Russell is nearly 30 years YOUNGER than I am!One of the more complicated aspects about the sport of bowling – at least for me – was trying to figure out oil patterns. In my career as a league bowler the only time I had any knowledge of oil was if I found it on my ball after throwing it down the alley. If I could see it on the ball, I knew the ball would not break as much, again at least for me.So I asked E. J. what the secret was to deciphering oil patterns. I know the PBA tournaments use different type of oil patterns and asked him if he had a favorite. His discourse on the difficulty in determining the characteristics of the oil on a given lane was lengthy, but also fascinating.The biggest takeaway for me about what he said was that it is almost impossible for most bowlers to figure out what's going on. There are a lot more variables than I realized. E. J. talked about the viscosity of the oil, the age of the lanes and even the humidity in the building. He said that you could put the same oil in the same machine and take it to another house and have a different condition.The pros are so much better at figuring out oil conditions than amateurs, but even E. J. Tackett admits that there are so many variables that it's tough. As for the question about a favorite pattern he had a quick answer. "Whichever one I can throw the most strikes on – and that varies from day to day."I have one more column on my conversation with E. J. Tackett. Tune in next week as my final piece should convince all of you that he is not just a PBA bowler.He is a PBA star!