This is the live blog of the second squad of the 2009 PBA Regional Players Invitational/Tour Trials.

(Note: These links no longer work.)

To read the first squad blog, go  here.

To read my preview story, go here.

Mobile users can access the blog with commentary here.

Mobile users can access the blog with updated scores here.

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It's difficult to find adjectives to properly describe what happened with the lane conditions for the first day of the PBA RPI/Tour Trials.

Bizarre. Surreal. Tragic.

I've seen some amazing things happen with lane conditions in my many years as a pro bowler.

One time, Rich Weber got interrupted and forgot to oil one lane on A squad at a PBA Midwest Regional so he did the same thing for B squad.

Another time a machine issue prevented the middle few boards of the lane from getting any oil on A squad. Rich did the same thing for B squad and the finals.

But what happened Tuesday at the National Bowling Stadium went beyond any of that, both in scope and significance.

Two PBA lane men using separate machines split the chore of oiling the lanes at the Stadium. One of them correctly put out Cheetah on the high half of the house. The other, unfortunately, put out Chameleon on lanes 1-38.

The screen of the A-22 lane machine shows the pattern name in relatively small letters that all run together, and with both starting with "Ch" and ending with "09" the mistake was made.

Some bowlers noticed something amiss on the low end in the 15 minutes of practice before the squad and contacted one of the regional directors, who went to the lane man, who assured him the right pattern was put down.

That lane man had walked across the back-ends of the lanes after oiling as a check and did not notice the 4-foot difference between 1-38 and 39-78 (not all pairs were used).

This is the one area where I feel PBA dropped the ball: Practice should have been halted immediately when bowlers said something clearly was wrong and the lanes checked. They then could have been re-oiled before anyone had started.

But hindsight is always 20/20.

The lane man's mistake was an honest one. As human beings, we all make them. There was no conspiracy or anything else nefarious here — just a simple mistake.

Sadly, it taints this event to a degree.

While everyone hit both patterns on Tuesday, it wasn't equal. Those who bowled later on the Chameleon lanes knew by then that something was up — many, many players came up to me and said they were sure Viper was on the low end. (Cheetah is 35 feet, Viper 37 and Chameleon 39.)

Ken Simard was a notable good player who started with a 131 on Chameleon. I can understand how Cheetah is in your mind and it's difficult to adjust radically — especially after a 2-hour practice session earlier in the day on Cheetah.

Perhaps because of the knowledge issue, the Chameleon scores tended to go up as the day wore on, while Cheetah scores did not.

In addition, three pairs of bowlers bowled 4 games on the Chameleon lanes and just 2 on the Cheetah (and vice versa, obviously).

What happened was determined by the PBA after the squad was over. And to their credit, PBA officials were completely transparent about the issues with the players.

Many ideas about what might be done were discussed and considered.

The most considered one was to have the Chameleon squad start with the same lane cross and put Cheetah down on the first 38 lanes so the pair flips would equal out.

I tossed up the idea of offering refunds and withdrawals to those who bowled an unequal number of games on the two patterns.

Ultimately, John Weber, who runs the regional and senior tours, made the call to just go forward with the event with no accommodations made.

"It's what we've always done in the PBA," Weber said Tuesday night. "Mistakes have been made and we've gone forward."

I've known John for a quarter century and he has just as much character and integrity as his legendary father. What happened hurt him badly. He knows how awful it is.

Don't think for a minute that the PBA officials don't care about what happened here!

UPDATE: At first, I thought Weber made the right choice.

But in hindsight, I believe the Chameleon squad should have had lanes 1-38 oiled with Cheetah and the same crosses used as the Cheetah squad.

That is the only way all of the bowlers would bowl six games each on all five patterns.

There are 24 games left. These guys are pros who must accept what happened and deal with it as best they can.

As one said to me last night: "If there are 50 guys here who are so fried by this that they are done for the week then that's to my advantage because I'm not going to let it get to me."

The sad thing is that this is not just a tournament — this event determines careers for players with the fact that seven exemptions are available for the 2010-11 PBA Tour.

But what else can PBA do now?

If you have ideas share them — I will allow comments on this topic on the rest of my live blogs this week, but I will use my moderator powers to keep the discussion to a high level. I will not post comments that are simple attacks or name calling. And we do not post profanity on our websites at Capital Newspapers so anyone who goes there I likely will just ban.

Here is the press release from squad 1 by PBA:

Wisconsin's Beres Holds Early Regional Players Invitational Lead

235.6 average on Cheetah pattern good for 24-pin edge of Maryland's Hall

RENO, Nev. (Dec. 15, 2009) — Dave Beres of Waukesha, Wis., averaged 235.6 on the Professional Bowlers Association's Cheetah lane condition pattern Tuesday to take the early lead in the Sands Regency Regional Players Invitational at the National Bowling Stadium.

Beres, who qualified for the event in the PBA Midwest Region, held a 24-pin lead over Bobby Hall II of Landover, Md. David Anthony of Austin, Texas, was in third place with 1,367 pins.

"The high end (of the Stadium) definitely seemed to hook a little bit more off the gutter," Beres said. "Once we made the flip to the low end, you couldn't get the ball back to the pocket like you could on the high end, so I moved everything in about three or four boards on the low end and kept everything straight.

"I feel pretty good going into tomorrow if that's the way the lanes are going to play," he added. "I shot 120-over for the last three games. I was joking with (fellow PBA Midwest competitor) Jeff Richgels, it wouldn't surprise me if the low end was conditioned with the Viper pattern, so I'm comfortable going into tomorrow with that reaction I had today."

The complete field will bowl six-game rounds on the PBA Viper and Chameleon lane conditioning patterns Wednesday, and two additional six-game rounds on the Scorpion and Shark patterns Thursday. The tournament standings will be based on 30 games, actual pinfall.

The PBA Regional Players Invitational is open only to players who finished among the top 25 in competition points in their respective regions. In addition to a $7,500 first prize and a berth in the 2010 PBA Tournament of Champions for the winner, the seven players also are competing for PBA Tour Exemptions for the 2010-11 season.

SANDS REGENCY PBA REGIONAL PLAYERS INVITATIONAL

National Bowling Stadium, Reno, Nev., Dec. 15

FIRST ROUND (after six games, Cheetah pattern)

1, e-David Beres, Waukesha, Wis., 1,414

2, e-Bobby Hall II, Landover, Md., 1,390

3, e-David Anthony, Austin, Texas, 1,367

4, e-Chad Kloss, Greenfield, Wis., 1,361

5, e-Daniel Patterson, Buffalo, 1,353

6, e-Gregory Thompson Jr., Dayton, Ohio, 1,353

7, e-Shawn McKee, Concord, N.C., 1,348

8, e-Thomas Hess, Urbandale, Iowa, 1,336

9, John Oliva, Simi Valley, Calif., 1,333

10, e-Riga Kalfas, Florence, Ky., 1,331

11, Kurt Gengelbach, Carrollton, Texas, 1,327

12, e-Chris Wimpey, Aurora, Colo., 1,323

13, Eric Forkel, Las Vegas, 1,316

14, e-Scot Archabal, Boise, Idaho, 1,315

15, e-Brian Thompson, Flat Rock, Mich., 1,314

16, e-Trey Field, Metairie, La., 1,309

17, Ernie Schlegel, Vancouver, Wash., 1,306

18, e-Chris Warren, University Place, Wash., 1,302

19, e-Jesse Buss, Wichita, Kan., 1,298

20, e-Jeff Frankos, San Francisco, 1,296

21, Kevin Croucher, Grants Pass, Ore., 1,293

22, e-David O'Sullivan, Clearwater, Fla., 1,289

23, e-Kevin Mitchell, Tulsa, Okla., 1,286

24, e-Chris Hibbitts II, Fort Worth, Texas, 1,282

25, e-Dave Wodka, Chatsworth, Calif., 1,275

26, e-Ryan Ciminelli, Cheektowaga, N.Y., 1,274

27, e-Scott Norton, San Francisco, 1,272

28, e-Lonnie Boresch Jr., Kenosha, Wis., 1,271

29, e-Jeff Zaffino, Warren, Pa., 1,270

30, e-Don Allen III, Vancouver, Wash., 1,263

31, (tie) Joe Goldstein Sr., Hayward, Calif., and e-Terry Wiley, Vienna, Va., 1262

33, e-Dave D'Entremont, Middleburg Heights, Ohio, 1,261

34, (tie) e-Rob Edwards, Vancouver, Wash., and William Wilson, Yorba Linda, Calif., 1,259

36, (tie) Dean Jones, Austin, Texas, and e-Jim Tomek Jr., Camp Hill, Pa., 1,256

38, e-Jon Brandon, Santa Clarita, Calif., 1,255

39, Dan Higgins Jr., Westerville, Ohio, 1,253

40, (tie) Richard Brown, S. Lake Tahoe, Calif., and Joe Goldstein Jr., San Bruno, Calif., 1,249

42, e-Aaron Pawloski, Brentwood, Calif., 1,248

43, e-Randy Weiss, Irmo, S.C., 1,246

44, e-Jeff Roche, Dearborn, Mich., 1,241

45, e-Qazi Ahmad, Shoreline, Wash., 1,240

46, e-Roger Kossert, Brandon, Fla., 1,237

47, Thomas Wall III, Fayetteville, N.C., 1,235

48, e-Tim Porritt, Rancho Santa Maria, Calif., 1,230

49, e-Brian LeClair, Athens, N.Y., 1,219

50, e-Scott Newell, Deland, Fla., 1,218

51, e-Lee Vanderhoef, Greenville, S.C., 1,216

52, e-Mike Moore, Orlando, Fla., 1,215

53, Tim Dooley, Van Buren, Ark., 1,212

54, e-Michael Markis, Hawley, Pa., 1,206

55, (tie) e-Sean Swanson, Springfield, Mo., and e-Kevin Henderson, Albany, Ore., 1,204

57, e-Thomas Sorce, Blasdell, N.Y., 1,202

58, e-Brandon Balsis, Tinley Park, Wash., 1,192

59, (tie) Will Smith, Albany, Ore., and e-Joe Paluszek, Bensalem, Pa., 1,190

61, e-Ben Laughlin, Glendale, Ariz., 1,186

62, Bob Aleksinski, Hillsboro, Ore., 1,184

63, Brian Burkhardt, Ballwin, Mo., 1,180

64, John Kay, Derby, Kan., 1,178

65, e-Pat Dombrowski, Parma, Ohio, 1,175

66, e-Rob Rice, Sunnyside, Wash., 1,173

67, e-Chris Collins, Fayetteville, N.C., 1,165

68, Rick Lawrence, Waxahachie, Texas, 1,160

69, e-Ryan Boroff, Mansfield, Texas, 1,158

70, e-Marc Heninger, Tonganoxie, Kan., 1,156

71, (tie) e-Andy Patterson, Tyler, Texas, and e-Joel Carlson, Omaha, Neb., 1,153

73, e-Brian Valenta, Lockport, Ill., 1,152

74, e-Cole Copeland, Austin, Texas, 1,150

75, e-Michael Wall, Fayetteville, N.C., 1,149

76, (tie) Kelly O'Driscoll, Herriman, Utah, and e-Bo Goergen, Midland, Mich., 1,148

78, e-Ray Edwards, Middle Island, N.Y., 1,144

79, Andrew Loose, Chicago, 1,142

80, e-Jonathan Nask, Jupiter, Fla., 1,134

81, Gary Duran, Azusa, Calif., 1,133

82, e-Noel Vazquez, Sacramento, Calif., 1,132

83, e-Eddie Kunkle, Daly City, Calif., 1,129

84, e-Ed Carter, Akron, Ohio, 1,115

85, e-David Traber, McHenry, Ill., 1,114

86, e-Johnathan Bower, Middletown, Pa., 1,110

87, e-Ken Simard, Greenville, S.C., 1,088

88, e-Christopher Blackmore, Alexandria, Va., 1,087

89, e-Brett Spangler, New Castle, Ind., 1,081

90, e-Rodney Garrick, San Francisco, 1,046

91, e-Billy Oatman, Cleveland, 1,043

92, Norm Wolff Jr., Modesto, Calif., 1,025

93, John Arnell, Tacoma, Wash., 1,008

e-denotes competing for 2010-11 PBA Tour exemption