Bowling, The Wright Way - April 3, 2002 by Don Wright
Somethin' To Ponder

There has been some pretty good debate on Bowl.com regarding whether a bowling channel would be successful. I think it would. I think they could combine bowling of today with an ESPN Classic style and show the old televised bowling matches. Included in the format could be early PBA/PWBA events as well as the classics like Celebrity Bowling and Bowling for Dollars. It could be expanded to programming on ball drilling, lane patterns, tips, and interviews with the pros. With the current emphasis on high school bowling they could televise collegiate matches, Team USA, and International competition. In my book it would be a success.

Did you watch the PBA on ESPN this year? Was it better than usual? Aside from better prize money, did the viewer get anything to write home about? Maybe. I like the format and the fact the players can have a good time. It reminds me of the old pot games, or action bowling. There are still the Dave Arnold's and Parker Bohn's of the world who never seem to let their hair down, but all in all I think it's great. And, yes I am a PDW fan. He got bowling more positive coverage than anyone else has in the past ten years. If it weren't for his father, Dick, bowling would never make television. Thank God for David Letterman. I enjoy the interviews (Ten Frames with…) except the one with Brian Voss that was a bit juvenile. See Walter Ray Williams Jr. at home was a nice piece. I think we had a pretty good television year.

Six writers out of 126 picked someone other than Carolyn Dorin-Ballard as their first place vote for Bowler of the Year. What in the hell were they watching? If anyone deserved a unanimous vote it was Carolyn. I guess they went to the same judging school as the French figure skating judge. Come on folks at least do your homework.

WIBC president Joyce Deitch is not seeking reelection and there are two very qualified ladies tossing their hat in the ring. They are not supposed to campaign for the job, rather their names will be submitted for voting during the annual meeting to be held this year in Milwaukee. Their resume is posted on the WIBC web site and will be available to all WIBC delegates. Although they are not supposed to campaign some writers have taken up the call to endorse their favorite candidate. Seems a little like bending the rules, but they won't admit it. May the better woman win.

If the sport condition is so tough and is designed to bring credibility back into the sport why isn't it used all the time by the PBA/PWBA as well as the ABC and WIBC Nationals events? Why don't we insist upon it for all collegiate, International and regional competition? Heck, why don't we just mandate it as the condition of the sport, period?

Does anyone know what past scholarship winners are doing? Scholarships are given out every year by associations of all kinds. Some have no stipulations and others do. But, who checks on them? How many journalists have received bowling scholarships, but don't belong to writing associations? How many have earned local scholarships, but don't bowl and are not members of local associations? How many bowling scholarships have been given and the student participates in golf, or tennis? Local associations, writers associations as well as adult leagues are all declining in membership. However, that isn't unique to bowling. I read an article recently stating that most fraternal organizations are seeing declining membership. Everything from the VFW, DAV, American Legion, Lions, Moose and others are struggling to keep membership growing. As the membership gets older and with no new enrollment it's simply a matter of time before they are extinct and the benefit they provide the community is forever gone. We might want to see what our scholarship money is giving us in return.

See you on the lanes.