Bowling is in a recession. The Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) has significantly cut the prize funds and number of tournaments during the season. The Professional Women’s Bowling Tour is non-existent. The United States Bowling Congress (USBC) membership and tournament numbers are down year to year.
Media guru for the PBA, “Mike J. Laneside†recently published a piece on PBA.com about the need for change in the bowling industry. He used the added elements to the PBA Playoff finals as an example of what kinds of changes he thinks need to be made. If you missed the PBA Playoff finals, these elements included passing out vuvuzelas to those in attendance and implementing the use of cheerleaders on the sidelines. Neither of these elements have been introduced before and both of them immediately set-off traditional bowling fans and the PBA caught a lot of flack about it on their website messages boards and through social media outlets like Facebook and Twitter.
So what’s the big deal bowling fans have with pom-poms and some sound effects? Well, most bowling fans grew up in the “hay-day†of bowling (1970-1980’s). Back then, bowling was more like golf in that it was a sport of class. Professional bowling was respected and league bowling was very popular. But times are changing. Bowling no longer has that image but bowlers still have that mindset. This presents a problem for the bowling industry and any attempt to catch up with 2011. Bowling fans argue that things like vuvuzelas and cheerleaders degrade the integrity of the game.
In Laneside’s article, he says:
“The last time I was at Miller Park in Milwaukee, the famous racing sausages were still running around the warning track to a standing ovation in between innings. Didn’t seem to hurt the ‘integrity’ of Ryan Braun or Prince Fielder,†he added, â€other professional sports combine entertainment elements within the sporting event, why can’t professional bowling?â€
Here, Lanside makes a valid point. Change is necessary if bowling is going to grow. But what’s even more necessary is the fans willingness to embrace these changes. Bowling can’t afford to lose the fans they do have. So what the PBA has done is looked to other sports and manipulated bowling’s current system to better reflect them. Now I’m not saying I preferred the way the PBA Playoff finals were executed, I didn’t even like it. But I am a fan of the PBA’s courage to make a change.
But it’s not just vuvuzelas and cheerleaders that upset bowlers. Anytime someone tries to implement a new idea in the bowling industry it’s immediately rejected by bowling fans. Let’s not forget when Rob Stone joined Randy Peterson in the ESPN PBA play-by-play booth. Stone invented the term “hambone†to represent four strikes in a row. To no surprise, bowlers were outraged. One post read “that is the most irritating thing I’ve ever heard.†Four years later, both Stone and his coined term have been accepted by bowling fans everywhere.
So, should we follow the path of other sports? Or does bowling need to create something as original as the game itself? If so, what should they change? How can the bowling industry give what the players want, what the fans want and what the sponsors want all at the same time? Is it even possible? Bowlers and non-bowlers are entitled to their own opinion, so what’s yours?
Mine is that while vuvuzelas and cheerleaders may not be the answer to bowling’s problems, the only wrong answer here is to continue doing something the same thing over and over and hope for different results. Bowling fans should take a look in the mirror before they begin point blame at why the sport is not what it once was. I’ve always say, “you can be a part of the problem, or a part of the solution,†take your pick.
