06/20/08
Column
Soaring gas prices impact bowling; Berglund eyes future; Hall of Fame views By Dick Evans
The astronomical price of gas is impacting virtually every walk or life and industry in America today. If you donut believe it, ask one of the exempt players on the PBA tour who drives to 20 bowling stops a year and may cover seven thousand miles. Or ask Fred Schreyer, Commissioner and CEO of the PBA. The PBA made a small profit last season, its first since three former Microsoft executives purchased the floundering organization in 2000. That minuscule profit margin could be erased just by the exploding price of diesel fuel that it will take to move the PBA's four 18-wheelers across the country during the 20-stop tour starting in October.
06/17/08
United States
Bionic bowler being built? By Dick Evans
Modern coaching suggestions and technology confuse scientist who seeks patent on bionic bowlers
The word is filtering out that a bionic bowler is being created by a mad scientist who promises he can clone different parts of great bowlers. He has stolen PBA tapes and has been studying all the great bowlers in order to build the perfect bowler in time to enter him in the USBC Masters Tournament next year in Las Vegas. According to the best information, the mad scientist is planning to clone parts from today's stars and yesterday's greats. The information is sketchy at best, but my source says these are the bowlers being cloned:
06/10/08
Column
All bowling roads lead to Orlando and Disney World's Sports Complex By Dick Evans
Bowling finally made the 6 p.m. local news telecast in Orlando Monday night when the NBC affiliate announced that a
100-lane bowling center will be built at the Disney Sports Complex. If you don't live in Florida you probably don't know too much about the Disney Sports Complex but like everything else Disney does it is first class. And now they are going to add bowling. With a little luck in the form of bad weather for visitors to the regular Disney attractions, bowling could become the No. 1 year-round attraction at the sports complex.
06/02/08
Column
USBC President Jeff Boje talks about move of Hall of Fame to Arlington in 2009 By Dick Evans
Chasing Jeff Boje down for an interview is even more difficult than trying to catch up with Santa Claus on Christmas eve in order to ask Santa to deliver the present you almost forgot to buy for your spouse. But it can be done thanks to nation wide satellite tracking systems. I had only a couple questions to ask of Boje, who last month was reelected president of the United States Bowling Congress by the USBC Board of Directors. Being president of the USBC at this particular point in bowling's history is a difficult job, a job, a time consuming job and a thankless job where you are second guessed at every turn. Among the thankless jobs are talking to bowling writers.
05/20/08
Column
Old Crystal Ball predicts that Bowling Hall of Fame and Museum's move to Arlington will get green light By Dick Evans
Seven Inductees during USBC Hall of Fame Ceremonies in Kansas City entertain Delegates and Press
My old crystal ball has been going wild over the weekend urging me to give anyone 10-1 who odds wanted to bet that the Bowling Hall of Fame and Museum wouldn't be moving to Arlington, Texas, after today's meeting. The date of the Hall of Fame committee meeting in Arlington was announced as May 19 during the USBC Convention in Kansas City May 7-10. I fed all the information I knew and heard in Kansas City into my crystal ball and it came alive Sunday and announced the odds were a short 1-to-10 that a tough decision would be made Monday to move the Hall of Fame from St. Louis to Arlington sometime this year or early in 2009.
05/13/08
Column
Clash and Convention -- A One-Two Punch in Kansas City, Mo. By Dick Evanes
In this state the motto is "show me" before I will be a believer. The Clash of the Champions, the United States Bowling Congress Convention and a group of ladies showed them and no one who sat in on the happenings at the Kansas City Municipal Auditorium went home a 'nonbeliever.' And in the process, hopefully bowling and bowlers showed the nation that bowling is a challenging and fun sport during two one-hour telecasts on the CBS network Saturday and Sunday.
05/06/08
Column
USBC Convention to feature drama and colorful telecasts in Kansas City By Dick Evans
The brochure says
"Join the Action at the 2008 USBC Convention May 6-10 at the Westin Crown Center in Kansas City, Mo." Then down in the right-hand corner is another message: "Be a part of the TV audience for Bowling's Clash of Champions." And that brings us to what may be the greatest show on earth when it comes to versatile bowling talent. The eight men and eight women TV contestants all are winners of USBC events in the past year from junior to senior to pros to amateurs."
05/03/08
Column
Delegates should learn from bowling's history and seek harmony By Dick Evans
The bowling membership organizations have faced some critical decisions at conventions between the time the ABC was founded in 1895 and the WIBC in 1916. In my book, the delegates decision to remove the word "WHITE" only from the membership eligibility rule in 1950 was the most traumatic and historic from bowling's popularity across America. Now comes the USBC Convention in Kansas City May 7-10, two months after the USBC Board of Directors voted to move the national bowling headquarters from Milwaukee to Arlington, Texas.
04/28/08
Column
Readers respond to Dick Evans' column about possible danger for youngsters using a two-handed delivery
In his recent column "Youth Rule Needed", award-winning bowling writer Dick Evans asked the United States Bowling Congress (USBC) do a study to see if two-handed style is dangerous for young junior bowlers. Kegel's John Davis thinks this could be an interesting project. Australia's Jason Belmonte, one of the founders of the two-handed style refuses to take sides, while the parent of a two-handed youth bowler in Latvia defends the style and brings up interesting points for bowling parents worldwide to consider.
04/27/08
Column
Bowling Bedlam Part II – The Oil
By Ted Thompson
The playing environment of bowling today may be as complex, unpredictable and chaotic as any time in the history of the game. We're not talking about the weekly league or club game where the participants just want to have fun. We're talking about professionally maintained and controlled tournament environments where bowling sports people compete. This is the second in a series of articles that will try to shed some light on many of the variables in the current game of bowling.
04/18/08
Column
Youth Rule needed By Dick Evans
USBC should do a study to see if two-handed style is dangerous for young junior bowlers
I thought I was a minority of one in believing that the USBC should do a study to investigate the impact of the two-handed delivery on the development of young bowlers until reading Bob Rea's column in the April issue of TenPin Alley and Colorado Bowler News. I originally began to think there might be a similarity between the two-handed bowling danger for youngsters and the curve ball ruling in Little League baseball.
03/26/08
Column
War and Peace, Bowling's Own Version of a Great History Book By Dick Evans
Twenty-five years ago a war of words and threats was tearing bowling apart as bowlers and proprietors fought over high scores. The ABC and WIBC would inspect lanes after honor scores were bowled and decide that the lanes were doctored illegally to induce artificial high scores and deny them recognition. Proprietors were so furious over the rash of scores being thrown out that many threatened to throw out ABC/WIBC lane inspectors out of their establishments because so many 300 games and 700 series were being rejected.
03/25/08
Column
USBC…New Site
A Salute to One of Our Own…..Joe Lyou
In one of the most historic decisions in bowling history, the Board of Directors of the United States Bowling Congress announced its intentions to relocate the organization's headquarters to Arlington, Texas, where it will reside with the Bowling Proprietors Association of America. This dramatic move was the topic of my last column. Writing bowling columns have become second nature to me…. except for this one. Tuesday, March 22, I was informed that my great friend and adopted brother, Joe Lyou, passed away in his sleep in Santa Paula, Ca.
03/17/08
United States
A record 90 Golden Ladies show true grit during competition By Dick Evans
San Diego's Karen Smith rolls off with the title
While watching a record 90 women bowlers – age 50 to 85 – compete in the Golden Ladies Classic at the Orleans Bowling Center in Las Vegas, Nev. one of my favorite Bible passages was leaving a striking image on my mind: "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith." Paul wrote those words about 2,000 years ago, but they still are repeated by many great athletes and scholars. Thanks to Storm and The Orleans, the prize fund is decent considering the $150 entry fee but the prize fund alone is not enough to lure 90 women bowlers from Washington State to Florida.
02/28/08
Column
Worth The Price By Frenchy Letourneau
Republished courtesy of TenPin Alley Bowling Newspaper, Las Vegas, Nevada
The PBA was an annual event for 40 consecutive years in Las Vegas, all at the dearly departed Showboat. After a brief stint at The Orleans (both events won by Ryan Shafer), we locals gasped at the thought of the PBA not coming back. Thanks to former Fountain Bowl manager Dennis Matthews, who was hired by Station Casinos to run the Strike Zone in Henderson, we were once again treated to a week of professional bowling and a national telecast.
