Bowling, The Wright Way - August 2004 by Don Wright
Who's Destroying The PBA?

The article, based on the 1997 article that appeared in the Dallas based Stars and Strikes, is an opinion based piece on the decline of professional bowling. In the lead the article states, "Like a poison with no known antidote, scoring has contributed to the decrease of pro membership, destroyed sponsorships, severely affected event entries, and worst of all turned the public perception of the best pro bowlers in the world into what appear to be only average players who roll scores no higher than top amateur league bowlers."

Wow! I didn't know me and my league bowling friends were destroying the PBA.

As the great tennis star John McEnroe always said, "YOU GOT TO BE KIDDING ME."

The article had Jim Goodwin, Norm Duke, Brian Voss and Mike Edwards opining on what needs to be done to save the sport and put integrity back into scoring. Now, I greatly respect all these gentlemen and I know Goodwin personally, and have watched Duke, Voss and Edwards all of their careers. They have not only proved to be the best at their sport, they are gentlemen on and off the lanes and represent the sport in a positive and professional manner.

Okay, to begin with I agree with some of what they say and disagree with a lot. First, I think there has to be a differentiation between the ABC and the PBA, just as we differentiate between NCAA, Double A, Triple A, and professional baseball.

In youth baseball through college we teach our kids how to bat with aluminum and golly, they hit 400, 20 home runs, excessive doubles and triples and earn a scholarship. Based on their batting averages earned with aluminum they are drafted in the first round and handed a wooden stick and told hit one out. Now batting 220 and talking to himself I wonder if he asks, "Am I the cause of the decline in filling bleacher seats?"

How about the ace pitcher in college who finds himself in the majors with a strike zone half the size he has seen all his life. Now he can't strike out anyone and his earned run average matches the hat size of Barry Bonds.

It's amateurs doing very well only to wake up to the reality of the professional ranks.

Until recently the prize money wasn't a real incentive for some bowlers to give up high roller events to turn professional. I suspect, don't know for sure, that Rudy Kasimakis probably made more money as an amateur than he has as a professional. Rudy, one of the top amateur bowlers in the country hasn't done all that well as a pro, averaging about $25,000 a year.

Amateur bowlers shoot the shot they are given and most centers find a shot the bowlers like and leave it that way forever. It's natural that league bowlers figure it out and have equipment and the game for their favorite center. Most shoot better there than at the ABC state and national tournaments. And, they shoot better locally than on the road.

The pro's on the other hand are told their lane pattern, have more equipment, better laid out and spend hours working on their game, mostly free of charge. So, I may have a great amateur game, but when you put me into the professional environment I can't compete with the big boys. I'm like that college batter seeing his first stick of wood.

Duke always talks of heavier pins. For who? Amateurs, pros, or both? He says he doesn't care what the league bowler's average, yet the article claims the league bowlers are bowling better than the pros and that what's causing the demise of the pro tour. Argh!

Voss says the difference between amateurs and pro's is accuracy and spin. According to Voss, " you can rip the racks with knuckleballs" He says, "why should someone be able to go to a pro shop and buy a ball that enables them to do instantly what I worked my whole life learning to do?"

The answer to that is simple. Because they can.

The difference is the amateur can take that ball and bowl against Voss and my money is on Voss that he'll win nine out of ten matches. Why, because Voss is a better trained athlete than most amateur bowlers. But, even a blind squirrel finds an acorn once in a while.

The comments about kids bowling and bumpers are really stretching ones opinion. Duke says his kids would probably throw a couple of balls and say it's too easy. Come on! Bowling with your kids will be as fun as you make it. Believe me they will have more fun seeing pins fall down than seeing the ball go in the gutter frame after frame. Bumpers are like T-Ball. Kids like to hit the ball when they are learning the game of baseball and they want to knock down pins when they are learning to bowl.

Voss says, "I can't teach my kids how to guess." He shouldn't be teaching that. He should be teaching the fundamentals, who better to do that. Taking the attitude that Duke and Voss reflect with their kids might be a reason for the decline in youth bowling.

Give me a break guys! We league bowlers are not tainting the professionals. You will beat us regularly, but we want to have fun, too. But, to say that destroyed sponsorships, decrease in pro membership, and public opinion of professional bowlers is the fault of us amateurs, I say again - THAT DOG WON'T HUNT.

See you on the lanes.