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onefrombills
08-11-2009, 01:03 PM
Winning Never Gets Old: An Interview with Brian Voss

Brian Voss is one of those transcendent stars who, at 51 years old, still looks young enough to be a decade away from discount tickets at the local movie theatre. But with more than a handful of Senior Tour tournaments to his credit already and a 2nd-place finish at the Senior U.S. Open, Voss is back on what even he might refer to as "the kid's tour" now, thanks to the PBA's inaugural "Golden Parachute" exemption that allows a previously exempt player who lost his exempt status to rejoin the tour for one year. With a fiery determination to once again reign as Player of the Year and "make at least four telecasts," it is clear that Brian's "golden years" are still a long way out ahead of him and that he won't be pulling the parachute on his ambition any time soon. If Voss has his way, his first year back on tour since an injury-plagued 2006-2007 season in which he failed to stay afloat on the points list will hardly be his last. Voss recently talked with bowl.com about his goals for the World Series of Bowling and beyond, his continued passion for teaching as well as international competition, and the life lessons that young bowlers can draw from their efforts to excel in the sport.

When you lost your exemption a couple of years ago you said you were ready for the transition into a post-bowling career; but earlier this year you said you've got the itch to compete again: What changed?

BV: Well after a couple year's hiatus I just kind of fiddled around in a couple tournaments but I missed the competition I missed my friends and I started actually bowling very well my body had kind of recuperated from some injuries that affected me. I just missed the competition and my buddies.

What do you think about guys like Joe Berardi, Mike Aulby or Dave Ferraro who also has great success on the tour but have now stayed away from the tour for a long time-how is it possible for guys like that to lose their competitive fire?

BV: Well it's hard for me to speak for those guys. I know they are family men. I haven't heard from or seen Joe Berardi. You know, those guys are all getting up there in age and we're also pretty realistic. It's a different game out there than when we had our dominant years. I think Mike's a very successful business man and I think he's content with relaxing, and same thing with Dave.

What would you say are the biggest changes to occur in the sport since the mid 1980s?

BV: Well almost all of it is the equipment we use and how they change the lanes it's really a lot different you just didn't have the aggressive balls that we have now, the lanes change really fast they have to oil the lanes after almost every squad. Undoubtedly that's it.

You fell just one game short of making the TV finals at the Geico Plastic Ball Championship earlier this year-given your criticism of the impact that high technology equipment has had on the game, did you think it was especially significant that you performed so well in that particular tournament?

BV: That particular tournament I think the reason I bowled so well is most of these players are not used to standing almost right next to the right gutter they're always kind of throwing to it. It's a very different feeling. And also I have competed with plastic balls, and I heard comments from some of the players that they had never even competed with a plastic ball. They didn't know about the transitions and the small moves that you have to make. There were a lot of subtle adjustments that don't really exist now where you need to roll the ball differently. That doesn't exist as much today.

But I also have family there that was watching me all week long that is always an inspiration. I don't want to look at it as if my criticism of equipment had any correlation to my performance there. I didn't go in trying to make a point. I went in there trying to win a tournament for my family.

It was Michael Fagan who kept you off the show, and Michael Fagan who defeated you at the Brunswick Euro Challenge-do we have an old-fashioned rivalry on our hands?

BV: I think that was really just coincidental. Mike's an up-and-coming player and if you're doing well you're going to bump into him more than once.

You're once again an exempt player on tour thanks to the golden parachute exemption. When you first started on tour, did you ever think that you would still be a full-time tour player in your 50s?

BV: To be honest, yes I did. I didn't think it would happen by being given an exemption. I really thought that because of the way things were that the field might have been expanded. When the guys first came up with this new system we were told a lot of things were going to happen, and then when that didn't work and some of the fields that they opened up produced more entry fees and more money, and just the fact that there were a few flaws in the exemption system which could happen to any good player. Maybe they have a year when they are full of injuries and don't get enough points, that's kind of a gray area. But I still think there's a lot of great players that would shoe up should the system go back to a more traditional format.

Some former tour stars like Steve Hoskins or Ricky Ward are not terribly satisfied with the way the exempt system turned out both for themselves and their friends. What are your feelings on how the exempt system is working to this point?

BV: I don't know all of the intentions of the PBA office in continuing to have an exempt system. If the outlook is rosy and bright and it would provide a lucrative path for some of the younger players then I would say 'Yes this system is good.' But when that isn't working and we're bowling for less money why not just open the field back up and get some entry fees in there? But did I at one time feel better about what happened? Yes, I did, but not initially. I took my year off and you know, you really can't plan for how you're going to feel about it until it happens. I certainly think that great players should have an option to come out here and shoe up whenever they want.

What is your goal at this point in your career?

BV: Well I certainly want to win. Winning never gets old, you have to set new barriers or new goals for yourself. Do I want to win? Yes. Do I want to come out here on tour this year and be Player of the year? Absolutely. Do I want to be the first player to win titles on the regular tour, the senior tour and the European tour? Yes, of course. But you have to set goals for yourself. If you're just going out there to make a show and make money then that's not the way that you're supposed to go after events. You go out there to win it's just that simple. I always want to set some kind of record, something that nobody's ever done. So yes, I put my goals up there very high.

When you've achieved as much as you have, Brian, and when you've been going at it for as long as you have now, does it get harder to set goals for yourself that inspire you?

BV: Setting the goals, no. Achieving them, yes. You know the body is just not the same. You wake up one morning having dine nothing different from the day before and there's that kink or a new one. You just try to take care of yourself but reality sets in and your body is going to age. That's where I'm at.

Just how much of a grind is it to be a touring player for 20 or 30 years?

BV: It's a full time job. It's not just the tournament. All of the practice that's required, all the learning about different balls, different oils or better lane machines. All of these things evolve and you have to evolve with them. So what goes on in your mind, though, is what can really be draining. When you're out there trying to feed your family or make your make and you're failing to do those things it can be a tremendous grind on your mind. There's players out here that are blessed with talent. Obviously they have worked very hard at it but the game seems a little bit easier for them than others, but it's not easy. It is a full time job, it really is.

onefrombills
08-11-2009, 01:04 PM
What is more important when you're out on tour-the money or the glory of winning?

BV: Certainly when you're in a tournament you're not thinking about how much you can win in that event. You're there to do your best and try to win. But when it's all said and done everybody thinks about the money. I mean if you had a chance to make a million dollars or to make only $50,000 by being Player of the Year, certainly the money is important. There is a few guys who have nice contracts but if you're not in the top 7 or 8 in earnings and that's your sole source of income then yeah that can weigh on you. In hindsight after each tournament you're darn sure you're counting the money you've made.

But things are what they are. Everyone in the industry is trying their best and times are tough. Everybody is trying. I have to think the people who are working for us are very good at what they're doing, but the bottom line is that if you can play for more money if we're getting more people to bowl, it has to end up that we play for more money. It just has to. Or else we're not going to grow the sport and we're not going to get kids to want to do this as a lifetime form of income.

You're devoted to teaching youth clinics around the world and you talk as much about bowling at those clinics as you do about life lessons that kids can draw from their experience in the sport. Can you talk more about how bowling can teach young people about life off the lanes?

BV: Well in their effort to excel there is a very logical process that must take place, which takes place in any profession. Everybody can ask themselves logical question: if I do this, then this will happen. If I really work, if I practice, then I can get better. If I have stronger legs and eat healthy I will look better and feel better and that will all help in my effort to excel. The battles against yourself. You know you go through life and when you're at the highest level of our a sport you're in a position of influence. You can influence millions of people in this world if you're great. But it really is a battle against yourself, which life is, it's a battle against yourself. And the road to perfection will have all of these challenge sin life as well as in bowling and it's about how you take those failures and learn from them and grow from them and accept them is part of the process. That's what it's all about.

Have you had a moment in your career when you had to confront failure and rise above it? How did you do that?

BV: Yes I have had moment when I just couldn't figure it out. You just can't give up. Go back to things that you know. I am a somewhat spiritual man, I look to the almighty God to help me out, and if this road that I am on right now isn't necessary way for me to grow then I accept that. But you can't give up. In fact you work harder than you used to. I remember when I had a two-year slump I had to work even harder. It was a very troubling time, you're the bets and all of a sudden you're on the bottom of the totem poll watching everybody else succeed. But that's how life is supposed to be, it's supposed to be difficult.

What are the biggest differences between bowling on the regular tour and bowling on the senior tour?

BV: The way that the oil was put out there-here we go again with the oil issue-but they were too high scoring. They were setting all kinds of records with a lot of 300s. I met some new friends, but other than the two majors I just don't enjoy bowling on walls, when the lanes are high scoring. I just don't like it.

What goes through your mind when you see a guy like Johnny Petraglia just tearing it up at an inhuman pace such as he did at the Senior Sun Bowl earlier this year where he averaged about a 250 for 36 games?

BV: Yeah, I'm not the leader of this, I can't make those decisions. All I can do is voice my opinion, and my opinion is that it's wrong. But it's not the right way to go, not in my opinion.

Another guy who likes low-scoring environments is Ernie Schlegel, and I know you know him somewhat well, so what's your best Ernie Schlegel story?

BV: Well the Ernie Schlegel story is the one he tells me all the time about him beating me. We were in Las Vegas recently at the Senior Masters and we happened to be staying at the same hotel and every time there was a lull in our conversation he would bring that up again and tell me the whole thing. But I tell you what, Ernie Schlegel's got great foot work and obviously the way that he plays the lanes and the lack of a lot of power on his hands, he won't do well in a high scoring event, but when they're really tough he can bowl. And he comes from action days and he obviously prefers more of a one-on-one type of environment rather than open fields and qualifying and all that. But he's a character.

Do you think that it might benefit bowling if the kinds of antics that Ernie Schlegel is known for were more of a factor on PBA telecasts?

BV: Yes, I am a big fan of personality. When you're on TV it's your stage and you can do anything you want. You can choose to be very robotic or you can go out there and let it come out the way Ernie does. But it's not just bowling, I love to watch golf too and when you watch Tiger he gets into it. You see his frustration and you see his joy and it's the same thing with bowling. When I do watch I get excited and I enjoy watching when I see people who show emotion. It should be like that.

Speaking of golf and emotion, I thought that the emotion on Tom Watson's face recently as that major championship was slipping through his fingers was pretty moving. What were your thoughts on what Tom Watson achieved recently?

BV: I'm a Tom Watson fan. I thought it was just fabulous what he did throughout the week. He didn't lose that tournament. You know he really made a great shot going into the green there. He did exactly what he wanted to and got a bit of a bad break. It was sad to see him lose. When he bogied 18 all of that emotion that had built up and that he was reserving for that last hole just kind of all went out. That's inspirational for older guys in sports to see what he did. That was really a great, great moment. It will go down in history what he did.

Obviously in golf and bowling you can play until you're that old and stay competitive. You couldn't in tennis and more physical sports. But to see that, it was great.

Lastly, Brian, what are you focusing on going into this new season?

BV: I want to win. I want to win, I want to get back into the top 16 and make it back to Japan. I want to make at least four telecasts, all of it. I have always been the kind of person who needed to work. My game may look effortless to some people but it's a lot of effort to make it look effortless. I need to practice. I have never been one to be at the top of my game without practice. I am not at the top of my game now. I don't care how much you practice, you still have to compete. The competition will expose things that need to be worked on. If my body stays in shape I will do that practice. But yeah, I want to win. I really do. 25 titles is a lot better than 24. It's got more of a mathematical quarter of the century type of ring to it.