Idiot in Latham ruined national bowling tournament 23 years ago.

There are idiot fans all over professional sports. You’ve seen them, you’ve heard them, you’ve wondered how long it would take for someone to grab the offender by the collar and dog-walk them out of the venue.

You know the idiot. It’s the jerk who has to yell “GET IN THE HOLE!” in the middle of a clutch golf putt. It’s the dingbat who reaches OVER the rail to snag a fly ball away from an outfielder, thinking that he just helped his home town team with a home run. It’s also the bonkbrain who decides, while he’s sitting under the basketball hoop during the opposing team’s free throw, to turn around and drop his trousers to hopefully distract the shooter.

Congrats. You’re part of the game.

Turns out there’s another chowderhead out there, and this time it happened at a major bowling tournament in Latham over two decades ago.

Here’s the situation. Bowling tournaments will feature two competitors alternating their shots on opposite lanes. And in the big tournaments, the lanes are set up in such a way that fans can actually sit along the rows and root for their favorite players. Now trust me, I’ve blogged about this before – my whole family were champion bowlers of one sort or another. Not me. Whatever bowling gifts were bestowed upon my family skipped me like a clear shot through a 7-10 split.

Anyways, back to the footage. What we have here is the 2002 Empire State Open, which was held that year at the Bowlers’ Club in Latham (the bowling alley no longer exists, I believe the property is now part of a medical arts complex).

Anyhow, one of the bowlers at the time was Walter Ray Williams, arguably the most accurate bowler of his time. This was at a time when Walter Ray Williams dominated the pro bowling circuit – he and Pete Weber and Parker Bohn III were the most recognizable names in the sport.

So here’s Walter Ray Williams here in Latham, New York, participating in the Empire State Open. And he’s currently nursing a lead in his game; if he wins the game, he goes on to the finals.

And just in the middle of one of his shots … well … something happens. And after it happens, the mild-mannered Walter Ray Williams let out a curse word, and then glared at a fan. Glared at him with serious anger in his eyes.

You know what? Just watch this clip. Because the Empire State Open that year was televised nationally on ESPN. So anyone who watched ESPN that day got to witness that moment. It’s at 0:40 of this video clip.

Yeesh. And I thought Tiger Woods was hypersensitive when, during one of his golf shots, someone BEHIND HIM barely flinched.

Look, I totally get it. A bowler can hit that 1-3 pocket ten times, and there’s no guarantee those ten times will result in ten strikes. And all it takes is one degree out of alignment, and you’re left with a 10-pin or a 3-10 baby split.

But through that, a bowler has to have rock-solid concentration. And to think that anything out there – an errant cell phone ring, an announcement over the PA system, someone popping open a longneck at the settee area – can derail a shot. And this was back in 2002, when the combination of lane oil and technologically-advanced urethane balls weren’t giving everyone a 300 game with ease.

But there you have it. Some schmendrick copped tickets to a prestigious bowling tournament that just HAPPENED to be in the Capital District that year … and now that tournament stop is known for that one instance where Kenny Kodak thought he’d get a great action shot on his Instamatic.

And the results? Walter Ray Williams lost the match. His vaunted hook straightened out, and his ball couldn’t find the sweet spot.

Great shot, buddy.

I sure hope that photo was worth it.