"Spanning the globe to bring you the constant variety of sport - the thrill of victory, the agony of defeat, the human drama of athletic competition..." ABC's Wide World of Sports Introduction
Every Saturday, when I was a much younger soul, like clockwork this poem recited. After the bowling match reached its conclusion, the last "so long" from the bowling venue ushered in these fine words. So familiar was its chant that you could close your eyes and just imagine the terrible spill that each week on cue, the unfortunate ski jumper would undertake.
Way back in 1979, I got a letter from then BPAA President Dick Richards critical of a column I wrote in The Miami Herald that was critical of the Bowling Proprietors' Association of America for running golf and tennis tournaments at the Mid-Winter Board of Directors meeting in Miami. Golf is a direct rival of bowling when it comes to the recreational dollar and for national publicity, so I see no reason for a bowling convention to hold an ORGANIZED golf event.
A bowler can come to harbor many delusions over the course of 20 years in house shot leagues, but few compare to the delusion that I myself once entertained as a member of the same league as the great Bo Burton at Stuart Lanes in Stuart, Fla. in the 2004-2005 season. There, as I watched Bo rack up one 700 series after another and, on occasion, an 800 series, I almost believed that the discrepancy between the 214 average I myself recorded there and the 235 average that Burton maintained was merely a matter of 20 pins or so.
Jeff Bojé (r.) delivered the most inspirational speech I have ever heard at Bowl Expo when he was elected president of the BPAA during the 2004 convention in Las Vegas. Since Bojé's term as BPAA president was over and he had idle seconds in his life, he ran for USBC president and the board elected him to the position. His term ends Aug. 1 and he will preside over his final USBC convention April 27-May 1 in Reno, Nev.
When reading about USBC's recent quest to coach the two-handed style of bowling, I could not help but think back to some articles that were shared about the early days of the ABC and how the leaders of the time governed the game. In those very early times of governance, when the game was still being defined at a rapid pace, a new crop of hotshot bowlers came into vogue because some of the more ingenious players figured out how to make exotic bowling balls and use them to their advantage. Those early high tech balls were known then as 'dodo balls' and the players that used them were called 'dodo bowlers.'
The Storm Golden Ladies Classic tournament will be held at the Orleans Hotel-Casino and Bowling Center in Las Vegas from March 8-10. The tournament is open to all women over the age of fifty. The Storm Golden Ladies Tournament isn't just an ordinary bowling tournament. This year, almost 80 bowlers entered the event and, although it is a highly competitive event, it is a social event. It is more like a tea party, and a chance for old friends to gather and enjoy themselves in friendly competition.
The theme of the grand opening was "The Stars Shine Bright Deep in the Heart of Texas" and it was no exaggeration writes Joan B. Taylor (r.). The grand opening of the International Bowling Campus in Arlington Texas was embedded in a bowling summit over three days. People came in from all over the country and a few from outside the US for the Southern Bowling Writers Dinner and Roast, a BWAA Board Meeting, and two days of seminars wrapped around a mini-expo.