Bowling, The Wright Way - April 21, 1998 by Don Wright
The Image of Bowling

I'm glad that I am a bowler and that bowling is something that my family, from children through grandchildren can and do enjoy. Because when I read the sports pages and watch sports news on television I am convinced that if it weren't for bad news there would be no news at all.

Sports has become more about money and entertainment and self-indulgence than the art of the game. Look at basketball. A player can choke and threaten his coach with death only to be reinstated by a group of do-gooders after he has been banned from the sport.

Two players from a university that prides itself on education took money to shave points and lose games by a wider margin than the Vegas spread.

A collegiate team has players who have been investigated for armed robbery, drug abuse, assault and point shaving, yet the coach and the basketball program remains.

A basketball player at a major university was suspended by his coach for being academically ineligible. The player, along with other players threatened to leave the university. The university solved the matter by re-instating the player and firing the coach. How would you like to be the incoming coach of that team, and what kind of message does this send?

A major league baseball player spits in the face of the umpire and plays in the playoffs and it is forgotten about.

Mo Vaughn said, "it ain't enough" to $20,400,000 for two years. Does this give you a "gut-check" on the difference between the wages of athletes and the fans? When we compare one job with another in America we have to ask ourselves, does what Vaughn does compare with that of a teacher, nurse, or soldier.

How many of you have been to a fight lately and a hockey game broke out? I watched the Olympic women's hockey and enjoyed hockey for the first time. They actually skated, used skill and teamwork and scored points. Games were like 5 to 4 and 6 to 3. Professional hockey is 1 to 0, but you have thirty minutes of senseless fighting.

Of course we have boxing. One boxer losing miserably decides that if he can't win he will simply bite the ear off his opponent. Another promising heavyweight gets disqualified in three consecutive fights for low blows.

I won't waste space writing about wrestling and I hope Pete Weber gives it up, too.

That takes me to bowling. There was a serious scandal and major blow to the Professional Bowling Association this year as Pete Weber actually had the audacity to complain about lane conditions. This is serious stuff folks and by golly the PBA should make an example out of him and prevent him from bowling in the first three tournaments of the season. After all, it's conduct unbecoming of a professional and we have to enhance the image of the PBA as well as bowling in general.

So how do we enhance the image of bowling? I know, let's make a movie about a physically handicapped person. Let's have him come from a minority group of individuals that won't sue us. Let's make him look really stupid and have a hustler that looks even more stupid. Now somewhere in all of this idiocy, let's have a few quick glimpses of some professional bowlers.

Okay, so you don't like the concept. How about a couple of hours of four letter words. We'll throw in a rundown bowling center, a weapon or two, a group of misfits with no talent, goals or objectives and just to make it authentic we'll have a few glimpses of real bowlers.

The point of all this is that bowling has very little problems except for image and unfortunately we aren't doing anything to help that. We buy tickets to King Pin and The Big Labowski, scribes rant and rave about how good they are, the PBA endorses it by having bowlers like Brian Voss attend the gala premier.

The premier, in New York City, earned $220,000 for the New York Academy of Art. The Big Lebowski had grossed nearly $11 million in the first two weeks of release and ranks sixth in top grossing movies being played.

All bowling got was bad publicity. As I wrote at the beginning, I am proud to be part of bowling. I have been around the PBA and PWBA and know what great professionals they are.

It's time to clean up the image problem and let's not worry about complaints about lane conditions.

See you on the lanes.