02/26/08
Column
Did you watch the 2008 Denny's World Championship on ESPN? By Joe Lyou
Did you watch the 2008 Denny's World Championship on ESPN? The annual Professional Bowlers Association "major" tournament was staged at Woodland Bowl in Indianapolis. Woodland Bowl? They should have called the brickyard the "Woodlake 500 Bowl - after the original "brickyard" that hosts the famed Memorial Day 500-mile auto race.
You know why? Check the scores posted in the World Championship by "the greatest bowlers in the world," as the PBA likes to refer to its members.
In the first ESPN match, Australian amateur Andrew Frawley - wasn't he a breath of fresh air! - who said he "wanted to have fun and not embarrass myself," did just that, struggling to shoot 158.
His opponent, four-time Denny's PBA Tour champion Ryan Shafer had 204 - but he had to carry a Brooklyn strike, giving him a double, to do it.
In the second match, Walter Ray Williams Jr., who owns more titles (44) than anyone else, was completely lost as he shot a buck-eighty. At least 'Ol' Deadeye' lost to a good bowler, Norm Duke (26 titles), who had 208 - thanks also to a Brooklyn strike.
In the title match, Duke, in spite of being sick all week (flu and bronchitis), sniffled his way to 202 - and title No. 27 - while Shafer had to settle for a paltry 165. As if that weren't bad enough, TV announcer Rob Stone kept reminding the audience that "Shafter has never beaten Duke on television." (Shafer is oh-for-seven against Duke.)
So, why were the scores so low in the World Championship? Frank Kietz has a theory. He says, "The PBA wanted low scores."
Now, you have to remember that anything Kietz says has to be taken with a grain of salt, so to speak. For one thing, the guy's 91 years old. On the other hand, Kietz has been bowling since Count Gengler was a kid, so perhaps Kietz knows what he's talking about.
Also, Kietz is a past president of the Bowling Writers Assn. of America, plus he's the Historian and a longtime staff writer for the California Bowling News. And is spite of his ancient bones, he still bowls open play several times a week.
On the chance that Kietz is right this time, I got to thinking, "Why would the PBA want the scores to be low in the World Championship?"
Then the light came on. The PBA wanted low scores because it is a diabolically clever plot to gain new members!
Imagine all the league bowlers sitting at home and watching the World Championship on TV. Many of them carry "house averages" of 220, or higher. They're thinking, "Hey, I can beat these guys. I'm a much better bowler than them."
So they join the PBA - and promptly discover they can't break an egg on the Scorpion pattern. Nor on any of the other four PBA lane patterns.
Let's face it. The PBA can boast of having more than 4,000 members, but these members are constantly dropping out and relinquishing their membership.
That means the PBA must find "new blood" to keep up its membership at a high level. What better way to recruit new members than by having them believe they're better than Walter Ray Williams Jr. and Norm Duke?
You know why? Check the scores posted in the World Championship by "the greatest bowlers in the world," as the PBA likes to refer to its members.
In the first ESPN match, Australian amateur Andrew Frawley - wasn't he a breath of fresh air! - who said he "wanted to have fun and not embarrass myself," did just that, struggling to shoot 158.
His opponent, four-time Denny's PBA Tour champion Ryan Shafer had 204 - but he had to carry a Brooklyn strike, giving him a double, to do it.
In the second match, Walter Ray Williams Jr., who owns more titles (44) than anyone else, was completely lost as he shot a buck-eighty. At least 'Ol' Deadeye' lost to a good bowler, Norm Duke (26 titles), who had 208 - thanks also to a Brooklyn strike.
In the title match, Duke, in spite of being sick all week (flu and bronchitis), sniffled his way to 202 - and title No. 27 - while Shafer had to settle for a paltry 165. As if that weren't bad enough, TV announcer Rob Stone kept reminding the audience that "Shafter has never beaten Duke on television." (Shafer is oh-for-seven against Duke.)
So, why were the scores so low in the World Championship? Frank Kietz has a theory. He says, "The PBA wanted low scores."
Now, you have to remember that anything Kietz says has to be taken with a grain of salt, so to speak. For one thing, the guy's 91 years old. On the other hand, Kietz has been bowling since Count Gengler was a kid, so perhaps Kietz knows what he's talking about.
Also, Kietz is a past president of the Bowling Writers Assn. of America, plus he's the Historian and a longtime staff writer for the California Bowling News. And is spite of his ancient bones, he still bowls open play several times a week.
On the chance that Kietz is right this time, I got to thinking, "Why would the PBA want the scores to be low in the World Championship?"
Then the light came on. The PBA wanted low scores because it is a diabolically clever plot to gain new members!
Imagine all the league bowlers sitting at home and watching the World Championship on TV. Many of them carry "house averages" of 220, or higher. They're thinking, "Hey, I can beat these guys. I'm a much better bowler than them."
So they join the PBA - and promptly discover they can't break an egg on the Scorpion pattern. Nor on any of the other four PBA lane patterns.
Let's face it. The PBA can boast of having more than 4,000 members, but these members are constantly dropping out and relinquishing their membership.
That means the PBA must find "new blood" to keep up its membership at a high level. What better way to recruit new members than by having them believe they're better than Walter Ray Williams Jr. and Norm Duke?
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