Bowling, The Wright Way - August 20, 2003 by Don Wright
A Little Creedence, Red Wine, and Musing

1. Men who are either too stupid, or too lazy to remove their hat during the playing of the National Anthem.
2. Parents who are too stupid, or too lazy to teach their children to stand and remove their hat during the playing of the National Anthem.
3. Bowling centers without automatic doors.
4. Poorly illuminated parking lots at bowling centers. It's a safety issue for bowlers, patrons, and employees.
5. Only 5 or 6 cities used for state tournaments.
6. Moving pairs for doubles and singles.
7. ESPN's choice of announcers. Please bring back Denny Schreiner.
8. The lack of a bowling channel like the Golf Channel.
9. The lack of historical bowling on ESPN Classic.
10. Bowling centers with poorly trained, or inadequate staff.

Ten is a pretty good start. But, to put it all in perspective there are so many things I love about bowling I need to give them equal time.

1. The ABC and WIBC Championships.
2. Bowling with my Grandkids.
3. Open bowling. No stress, no competition, just some fun with friends, a cold beer and good conversation.
4. Meeting and knowing Dick Weber.
5. Friendships, some more than 40 years, made through bowling.
6. Bowling with my Sweetie.
7. Smoke free centers.
8. Tournaments.
9. The Migas Supreme at Dart Bowl in Austin, Texas.
10. Writing about bowling.

There are many more in each category and I am sure you'll see them in some future column. I'd be glad to know your likes and dislikes, too. E-mail me your list.

If I were to pick the two smoothest releases in bowling I would go with David Ozio and Tish Johnson.

Well, it finally happened, the PWBA cancelled their fall tour and it is a sad day for professional women's bowling. I'm afraid this could have a very bad ripple affect especially with ESPN who is now scrambling for alternative programming. Add to that the sponsors who thought they were going to get television exposure for their products and it's not a pretty picture.

Bowling needs the PWBA and all we can do is hope by the time this column comes out some person, or group has come to their rescue.

I'm sure every scribe in the business will have something to say about the changes to the PBA. Changes will include an exempt field, an all match play format, and increased guaranteed prize money for all spots.

I'd like to hear your comments. E-mail me at wrightdk@hot.rr.com and give me your thoughts. I try to avoid the forums on the web sites because they seem to become zones of testosterone with little good commentary.

A great thing about our sport is that we don't have a lot of controversy and violence like Mike Tyson in boxing, Kobe Bryant in basketball, Ray Lewis in football and the Baylor basketball team. See what has happened there since they allowed dancing on campus!

I recently bowled TCBA and if you think baseball is slow, start timing bowling. With everyone walking around looking for their spare ball and then hanging around to take it off the ball return we started bowling at 11 o'clock, six games and six hours later we were packing up to leave.

Oh yeah, there was no place to sit either with three balls to a seat.