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Author Topic: Bowling when will it....  (Read 2096 times)

BAPS_Eric

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Bowling when will it....
« on: March 04, 2005, 06:18:51 AM »
Bowling is the top participatory sport in the US....so when will it become just as big as other sports???

If you haven't noticed we participate in the greatest sport on the planet....but the sport itself gets no respect....what can we as bowlers do to change this???

54 million people bowled last year according to The National Sporting Goods Association and the Bowling & Billiards Institute of America....but I guarantee you that over 85% of those came back again to do it all over again....one thing I think is to blame is not enough leagues and tourneys for the average player and not enough of us competent bowlers helping those with less than average skill to improve.....I work in a pro-shop and just about every person that buys a ball from me I teach at least at little something to so that way bowling is more fun and competitive for them.....scoring is easily the most fun thing about our sport....but I see people all the time throwing 80-90 range and that's it....just think if they threw in the 130-140 range....it would be more enjoyable for them.....so I know that most of us shoot those scores and slam the ball returns but to the average bowler that's good for them....so if you see someone struggling opening bowling offer some advise if they want it....and even if they don't tell them that they could get back from bowling if they were to join a league in the summer or fall....we want more growth in the sport and we need to offer our services if possible to any and everyone that is receptive to it.....so take an open bowler under your wing and help them....who knows they could end up on your team and throw the strike or spare that helps you win the league championship....
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MichiganBowling

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Re: Bowling when will it....
« Reply #1 on: March 04, 2005, 02:31:32 PM »
AMEN!
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Doug Sterner

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Re: Bowling when will it....
« Reply #2 on: March 04, 2005, 02:50:13 PM »
Bowling will not take it's place among the top sports until they find a way to garner the glitz and glamour of the other sports and emphasize the team aspect of the sport.

Also bowling is largely an individual sport, much like tennis. Tennis is not a vastly popular sport either for this reason. Team sports are the ones that are making the big money and drawing the crowds.

Look at the biggest trend in the US today...NASCAR. Sure it appears to the uneducated person that it's a guy in a car driving around a track. However it is the teams in the pits and back at the race shops that make the sport what it is. Jeff Gordon or Dale Earnhardt Jr. would not win like they do if they did not have the teams behind them like they do.

If you look at sprint car racing, now there is a sport where the team consists of maybe 3-4 people. The driver does a lot of the work on the car and the other 2-3 people are usually a head mechanic, truck driver and maybe one more. The money is not there, nor is the prestige as in NASCAR or Formula 1.

If ABC and the PBA can devise a way to strengthen the team aspect of the sport, we may be able to get somewhere. Start offering team awards (pins over average, etc) on a team by team instead of individual basis and we might stand a chance.

How about a PBA team challenge? Put the bowlers' names in a hat and pull out teams of 3 or 4 or 5 and let them bowl against each other and award the match titla etothe TEAM instead of indvidual.

Just my opinion but what do we think????
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BAPS_Eric

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Re: Bowling when will it....
« Reply #3 on: March 04, 2005, 02:57:16 PM »
The thing is most of bowling leagues are teams.....so take all the league champions all over the country and pair them against one another....least that way you would shot toward something else other than the roll-off at the end of the season....but lets make sure that we divide them into divisions....handicap and scratch....I think that is the way the Nationals should be....
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Doug Sterner

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Re: Bowling when will it....
« Reply #4 on: March 04, 2005, 09:06:41 PM »
Exactly my point....bowling is far too individualistic to be taken seriously. We really need to push the team aspect of the sport. I still agree withthe individual awards like the 300, 299 and 298 rings along with the 11 in a row etc. But I think we need to recognize the achievements of the teams...

Here's an example....say a 5 man team shoots 3575 in a local scratch tourney. They blow away the 2nd place team by 200 pins but they don't get any recognition for the feat. All the awards that are given are for the individuals...300 x 3, 290 x 2, 299 and a 298. 4 of the 5 guys on the team got individual awards...where does that leave the 5th bowler? Thinking he's an inferior bowler instead of being part of a winning TEAM....

If we begin promoting the sport as a team endeavour I think we'll get more bowlers involved. The people who refuse to take part because they "aren't good enough" won't feel so overwhelmed and will bowl more.

We can use this to grow the sport....come one guys...let's put this in front of ABC and see what we can do.
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Doug Sterner
Doug's Pro Shop
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http://dougsproshop@aol.com
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Hide the women and children...the Hybrid is on the loose!!!
Doug Sterner
Doug's Pro Shop
Owego, NY

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Fighting to uphold the Constitution of the U.S.

BAPS_Eric

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Re: Bowling when will it....
« Reply #5 on: March 05, 2005, 12:04:27 AM »
I agree.....Lets see what we can do to get that....I mean teams should get more respect....I mean if one guy is bowling bad then the others pick him up.....its really kinda like other sports if you think about it.....same concept....
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rocnbol

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Re: Bowling when will it....
« Reply #6 on: March 05, 2005, 02:03:56 AM »
I think individual attitude has a lot to do with it.
Example I there are some guys from my work that had mentioned they have gone to a local center for the one dollar specials. You know, beer, dogs, and bowilng for a buck.
I convinced them to at least try coming with me to Pot-gold, on the premise that why not at least have a chance to win some money.
They all had a blast and have gone twice since. I even gave one of them, who has a pretty good form for a beginner, one of my old balls.
But they still say that they dont think they are good enough and no amount of persuasion will convince them otherwise.

Unfortunately it also seems as though no one wants to commit to the time.
Hence the trend of gimmick and short leagues.

ABC does need to promote the team concept more, but does anyone remember the World Team Challenge? Seeing that on T.V. I dont see how anyone who doesnt bowl would want to try. The Baker format had no presence on T.V.

I feel that bowling is a vicitm of stereotype. Look at the sponsors that PBA has picked up, Motel 6, Denny's? Although I'm glad for the PBA to have them, they do not necessarily conjur up ideas of glamour or fun. I even know that a lot of soccer mom & dad types have a low opinion of bowling, and bowling centers, and if you cant convince the youth where will we be?

I think we can save it but we need better outside promotion and more ambassadors for the sport.
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star

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Re: Bowling when will it....
« Reply #7 on: March 05, 2005, 06:19:23 AM »
We see The Weber Cup played yearly over here in the UK
5 players per team USA V Europe and its very well attended.
If you havnt seen it, its played along similar lines to the Ryder cup.
Probably the best bowling Ive seen. Not scorewise all the time but just for competitivness.
If you get the chance to catch this years it should be stunning as the USA try to break the 2 year streak of Europe.
Previous matches can be found here along with this years competition details. Dates and venues are not finalised at the moment.
http://www.matchroomsport.com/events_tenpin.htm
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9andaWiggle

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Re: Bowling when will it....
« Reply #8 on: March 05, 2005, 09:31:57 AM »
With the exception of NASCAR, other sports teams have their home cities rooting for them, anxious to clad themselves with shirts, earrings, hats, flags, etc... that have the team logo on them.  Bowling does not, at the current time, have any type of "home team" for fans to root for.  If the PBA, or even ABC could conjure up a way to build a team of individuals from each major city to compete against other teams, market it aggressively so people would want to sit in a bowling alley for an afternoon and watch while swilling $8 beers and eating $5 hot-dogs,  then maybe it would have a chance?  But, somebody's going to have to be willing to back the initiative with some greenbacks to get it off the ground.  I have $20, how far will that get? LOL!

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RoyHobbs

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Re: Bowling when will it....
« Reply #9 on: March 05, 2005, 03:32:36 PM »
Just a couple of observations:

1.  Average, uninformed house bowlers can't relate to the skills required for PBA game.  This makes the tv shows harder for average people to appreciate the skill level on display.  I think everyone here understands this, so I will say no more.  

2.  A big difference between NASCAR and the PBA is that every NASCAR star is on the TV show every week.  Most good PBA stars only seem to make like 1 in every 3 to 5 shows.  The odds of tuning in and seeing Jeff Gordon is 100%.  The odds of seeing Norm Duke seems close to zero.  Even if a PBA guy gets a good fan club, the fact the tv finals rarely has this guy competing reduces the "must-see" feel of the PBA show.  Most weeks, I am not that concerned about watching those competing in the finals, especially when their bowling styles is significantly different from mine.
 
3. Getting friends interested in bowling leagues is definitely a challenge.  It seems like most people don't want to make the time commitment or spend the money on bowling.  This is true even with those who seem to enjoy bowling and are decent at it.  

I have a couple of friends who can average 160-170s and own all their own equipment.  So they have some skills, but also have room for improvement and the challenge that comes with trying to improve.  But they do not seem to have that much interest in bowling leagues.  They claim they do not have the money to spend on bowling, even though the fees for a summer league is only about $250 (which is a decent sum of money).  However, they have had no trouble spending $500 to buy a replacement part for their new car just to get more horse power.  Perhaps they are now out of money, or maybe there is some other reason they do not want to bowl and just use the cost as an excuse?


BAPS_Eric

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Re: Bowling when will it....
« Reply #10 on: March 05, 2005, 09:33:31 PM »
Golf is cheaper than bowling????????  What did I miss????????  You might be able to go hit balls on a range for 15 dollars and two hours but lets see you golf on a normal course you aren't a member of for $15.....most public courses the aveage cost to play is 40-50 bucks....then you got food and drinks....that's an extra 10 bucks.....balls if you don't have any at least 5 bucks for a 4 pack of cheapies....tees that's at least 75 cents......and just having an extra 10 dollars just in case.....that's 66-76 dollars each time....and remember a game of bowling cost around 3.25(non-league)....you can bowl 20 games for that amount of money.....then the equipment aspect of golf is more than bowling.....golf is a great sport....I played it for years....but much more expensive in the long run for the AVID golfer....the avid golfer for equipment and such prolly spends 3000 a year (25 rounds plus)....I have never spent that much on bowling in a year and bowled prolly 300 games a year.......and I'm at the bowling center almost everyday......I mean don't get me wrong people go over board and buy more balls than they should have a year but the avid golfer spends more on a set of irons each year.....

Enough about golf LOLOLOLOL.......I really think we should make some type of petetion or something to take to the USBC and see if we can get a National Tourney for the league champions and air the finals on TV.....We could call it "USBC League Championship Nationals"....all league champions....have Men's, Women's, Mixed, and even the PBA could get in on it.....the only thing is how to do it....I think the Baker's format would have to be used in the Finals....but up until then let them bowl as they would in league....then in the Finals you can see who has the real shot-making people.....We really need to work on this....because this could be big.....This is what this sport needs!!!!  Keep posting and lets figure this out for realz.....
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BAPS_Eric

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Re: Bowling when will it....
« Reply #11 on: March 05, 2005, 09:40:09 PM »
Just thought of this.....lets do the city stop each week like the PBA Tour does and lets qualify the teams just like the PBA does.....5 game series and the top 64 go on and so on a so forth.....hey its a start.....and at the end have all the stop champions go on a bowl in the National Finals and also have the League Championships as well......
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Doug Sterner

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Re: Bowling when will it....
« Reply #12 on: March 06, 2005, 08:21:59 PM »
Roy,

that's my point about team sports...instead of watching the TV each week hoping to see your favorite guy, let's make 5 man teams so you have a better chance of seeing your player.

Maybe we just need a bowling channel on the dish like golf and soccer have gotten :-)
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Doug Sterner
Doug's Pro Shop
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http://dougsproshop@aol.com
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Hide the women and children...the Hybrid is on the loose!!!
Doug Sterner
Doug's Pro Shop
Owego, NY

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Fighting to uphold the Constitution of the U.S.

NOTHUMB

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Re: Bowling when will it....
« Reply #13 on: March 07, 2005, 01:31:12 AM »
quote:
so when will it become just as big as other sports???  


When people dont have stereotypes (read also never). The stereotype of bowlers by non bowlers are beer guzzling, pack of cigarette a day smoking, 6 hot dogs at one sitting eating, slobs. Whether we like it or not. Im not saying this is how we are. It is how we are viewed by those who dont watch bowling or dont "get" bowling. The truth hurts sometimes.

Bowlers arent viewed as athletes with strong physical prowess. You also cant cheer for the same bowler on TV every week. You can cheer for the same team every Sunday in football and see them do good or bad on TV. Basketball, you can get the NBA ticket or Gameplan or whatever its called now and watch your team play every night. We cant watch our favorite bowler every week. We cant sit at home with a beer and say WOO HOO for Mika because he finished in 12th place. It just doesnt work that way. So even if the common person who doesnt love bowling gets into bowling and gets a favorite bowler, they wont stay interested because they dont get to see that person every week.

Nascar, golf, and bowling are individual sports. Nascar you get to watch your favorite driver every week---even Busch Series or whatever thats called now. Golf, so many peoples favorite golfers make the cut ever tournament---thats when they first saw them was on the weekend, so they can see their favorite golfer every weekend. My favorite bowler on tour today is Chris Barnes because he can do so many things well. His mental game is iffy but Im more interested in his physical game. Still I dont see him every week---if Im a female fan who likes him cuz hes cute and then I see a Traber or a Scroggins show up on TV Im not really gonna be that interested.

Bowling will not be a mainstream sport.
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