Tony Edward Reyes - 1973 - 2012

For anyone who's followed pro bowling, we lost one of the great ones today. San Bruno resident, San Jose State graduate, PBA tour pro, Dad to Gianna, Husband to Nicole, and from everyone that knew him, an all-around great guy. Tony tragically passed away in an auto accident on Highway 101 near Menlo Park.

Tony and business partner Lindsey Wong run the pro shop Off The Sheet inside 4th Street Bowl in San Jose. One of my favorite places to bowl with an equally awesome on-site coffee shop. Love their motto "If it doesn't fit, it won't hit". As the PBA has done, here's a YouTube clip of Tony's perfect 300 game in 2006.

My heartfelt condolences to all that knew and loved Tony. You were taken way too soon.
Part 1:

Part 2:

Resilient - Ryan Vogelsong

source: Ezra Stone/Getty Images North America

I still have a huge grin on my face from last night's Giants win over the San Diego Padres to capture their second National League West Division Title in 3 years.  As I often do after Giants wins, I watch the post game show. Home games with Giants announcers Duane Kuiper, Mike Krukow, Jon Miller and Dave Flemming.

The first Giants player to be interviewed in the locker room was pitcher Ryan Vogelsong. You don't have to be a sports fan to appreciate Vogelsong's career. The Giants first drafted him in 1998, and then traded him in 2001 to the Pittsburgh Pirates. He remained there for 5 seasons, underwent Tommy John surgery, and then pitched in Japan for 3 seasons. He lost twice as many games as won in his time with the Giants and Pirates (10-22, 5.86 ERA).

After playing in Japan, Vogelsong returned to the United States in 2010. He pitched for the Philadelphia Phillies AAA team, Lehigh Valley. They released him in mid-July. He then signed with the Anaheim Angels and was released again.

In 2011, under a minor league contract, Vogelsong returned to the Giants. He finished the season with an eye opening 2.71 ERA and won more games than he did in his entire major league career, 13. He became the poster man for the single word he said to Mike Krukow to describe this year's Giants team: resilient. 

Resilience, as described in Psychology Today:
"Resilience is that ineffable quality that allows some people to be knocked down by life and come back stronger than ever. Rather than letting failure overcome them and drain their resolve, they find a way to rise from the ashes. Psychologists have identified some of the factors that make someone resilient, among them a positive attitude, optimism, the ability to regulate emotions, and the ability to see failure as a form of helpful feedback. Even after a misfortune, blessed with such an outlook, resilient people are able to change course and soldier on."

Can't argue. Congratulations, Vogey, Buster, Matt, Timmy, Barry, Angel, Brandon, Brandon, Sergio, and the rest of the San Francisco Giants.

Female Action Stars

I'm watching on FX now "Salt", starring Angelina Jolie and Liev Schreiber. If you've ever seen the movie or at least the trailer, Ms. Jolie does a lot of what Jason Statham does - run, jump, shoot, and fight the bad guys. She also did the same in her roles in "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" and "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider".

To see Ms. Jolie in "Salt" reminds me of an article that came out at the time "Expendables 2" was released last month and posed the question, "Who would we choose for a women's version of The Expendibles?"

I decided to do some purely unscientific research. From Google, I entered "female action stars". There were numerous articles from the Washington Post, New York Daily News, Parade and Starpulse. I entered the names from 6 different sources on a spreadsheet. Then I sorted and counted the names.

Here are the names that appeared at least 2 times:

1. Angelina Jolie and Uma Thurman, 6 times.
2. Sigourney Weaver and Milla Jovovich, 5 times.
3. Carrie-Anne Moss and Kate Beckinsale, 4 times.
4. Lucy Lawless, Linda Hamilton and Michelle Yeoh, 3 times
5. Lucy Liu, Michelle Rodriguez, Jennifer Garner, Jessica Alba, Halle Berry, Pam Grier and Sarah Michelle Gellar, 2 times.

Again, the emphasis is that these findings are unscientific. I'm sure many of you can think of others not included on this list. For me: Ashley Judd, Maggie Q, Katee Sackoff, and Stana Katic come to mind. 

Which reminds me. I need to put "Haywire", starring Gina Carano, in my Netflix queue. Regardless of the women that are or aren't on this list, the best part is that action star roles aren't just for men anymore. Boys drool, chicks rule.

Hollywood Chinese - update

In April 2008, I wrote about a fascinating documentary I saw at the Sundance Kabuki called "Hollywood Chinese", directed by Arthur Dong. As Wikipedia describes it, "Dong utilizes clips of more than 100 films and interviews of prominent Chinese Americans to create a thorough overview in the depiction of Chinese in mainstream Hollywood films."

I have since seen Hollywood Chinese at least 3 times. In May, 2009, PBS's American Masters aired the documentary. Above is a YouTube preview. Please note the embedded link is disabled. To watch the preview, click the link and you will be taken directly to YouTube.

National Bowling Stadium - Reno, Nevada

The Asian American Bowling Association hosts 3 annual bowling tournaments on Chinese New Year, Memorial Day and Labor Day. Yesterday, I returned from the AABA's Labor Day tournament (my second out-of-area, first was in Fresno, California) at the renowned National Bowling Stadium in Reno, Nevada.  Great to see familiar faces from league and past tournaments.

If you're a serious bowler and you've never been to The Stadium, you must make a trip to go there. 78 lanes. Stadium seating. Spacious, clean, comfortable seating and equipment areas. I thought it was extremely cool to see my name on the jumbo scoreboard.

The best part about bowling in The Stadium, no walk-ins. Activity is mostly year-round tournaments and probably why the facilities are always so pristine.

Now that I've gotten a taste of what it's like to bowl at a state-of-the-art facility, I'd love the opportunity to bowl at the International Training and Research Center (ITRC) in Arlington, Texas and the Kegel Training Center (KTC) in Lake Wales, Florida.