I don’t want to step on Jason “Uncensored” Thomas’ shoes here, but I’d like to take a few lines to summarize the Cheetah Championship telecast from my perspective since it was such a huge step away from the typical telecast. I actually watched it twice because I was that enthralled with show. I think the average viewer was too. There is something about a reality style telecast that immediately catches your eye when you’re channel surfing. I thought it was great because it really took to the task of showing the difficulty in winning a bowling tournament. The ups and downs of qualifying, the good and bad breaks and the type of mental state of mind you must be in to be competitive against the best players in the world. To a point, it came off as a television show and not necessarily a sporting event, but it was also a one-time experiment that set out to educate the viewer on the trials and tribulations of a PBA tournament.

I also agree with the seemingly unanimous opinion on the message board that this type of telecast would make an incredible lead in to a live final. Problem is, where do you put it? Saturday is loaded with College Football nearly all day on ESPN. Sunday morning is for the NFL’s pregame show. The only option I could foresee is adding time to the Sunday telecast. Even just a half hour to give a brief overview of the upcoming final. Then again, you’ve just added some fairly significant costs for production time and camera staff to video the whole tournament. So maybe we won’t see this immediately implemented into our weekly PBA telecasts, but it’s possible that after the ratings come through and it’s realized that this could be a marketing success, we’ll see them somewhere down the road. I, for one, can’t wait because I think it would add an element to the weekly telecast that would draw in the average viewer to see who comes out victorious. We saw so many bowlers, we heard great commentary from them as they struggled to make the cut, and we got to experience the rollercoaster first hand.

During the telecast I also noticed a piece on the upcoming PBA Showdown next April which will take a couple average league bowlers and give them a chance to face off on national television for a chance at $40,000. Now, a couple weeks ago, the USBC ran an article about how they are going to refocus themselves on the “member experience.” I almost wrote about it when I read it, but felt we should wait to see how they take steps towards backing up their promise. To me, the PBA Showdown marks “phase I” of the refocusing promise.


Over the last few years, we’ve seen the USBC push events like the Clash of Champions and the PBA Women’s Series. As great as it is to see talented bowlers on primetime television stations, how do we really expect the average Joe’s of the USBC to get excited about those events if they themselves don’t have a reasonable shot at it? I consider myself a decent player, but nowhere near the ability of the players on those shows. Those events are really designed for the cream of the crop bowlers in this country. The millions of players who make up 99.9% the USBC have little to no chance of ever playing on that stage. So the PBA Showdown really takes a big step in giving the average USBC member a chance.

And it really isn’t that bad of a deal at all except that you have to beat five other average Joes and the five PBA pattern champions from this season, which now includes Norm Duke. Ok, so maybe the average Joe doesn’t have a chance in hell at beating Norm Duke, but could you pass up a chance at this experience? A chance to bowl heads up against one of the greatest players of all time? If I wasn’t already running a PBA Experience League and participating, I’d definitely join one just for this chance. I’d probably join a couple leagues if my league wasn’t the only league within a 40 mile radius. Deep down inside I’m secretly hoping that I’ll get a Commissioner’s Exemption by doing a little promotional piece right here since my scores haven’t equated to an entry yet…I can hope right?

Nonetheless, the PBA Showdown is something I am currently submitting entries for and trying to qualify for myself. See, all you have to do is participate in a PBA Experience League and shoot the high scratch 3-game series for that week and your league secretary will submit your name, score, and the pattern on which you bowled it to the USBC. And if you are one of the six players selected, you, your league secretary and the center proprietor are on a flight to the PBA Showdown where you’ll compete for a $40,000 check. And if I were you and you were in a PBA Experience League, I would make sure your league secretary is doing their job or you might miss out on this opportunity! (Yes, I do realize I am decreasing the odds that anyone in my league will be selected by reminding everyone to submit scores.)

The really great part about this program though is that it’s finally getting to the point where it’s worth more to be a Sport Bowling Member than to be a regular USBC Member. I pay an extra $15 a year (which is really pennies compared to other sport memberships across the globe. Ever signed a kid up for hockey?) to participate in a Sport Bowling League. But for the last couple years, I’ve really wondered what special benefit I was getting for that extra fee. That money doesn’t go to the league secretary or president for certifying the house and running tapes every week to make sure the condition is legit. And the bowlers for the most part haven’t seen a return on those fees either. As a result, we’ve really seen an increase in leagues using Sport Bowling conditions without sanctioning it Sport Bowling. Then those averages get submitted to the yearbook as a regular average and you’ve got yourself a serious issue when city and State tournaments come around.

So if the USBC really wants to see their Sport Bowling program expand and these abuses reduced, then offering more opportunities like this to the bowlers who step up to the challenge of Sport Bowling Leagues will only help to get more bowlers involved as well as forcing leagues to sanction as Sport Bowling Leagues to receive these benefits.

Side notes and observations from the Cheetah Championship:
· Ryan Ciminelli seems like an upstanding 23 year-old. Respects his opponents, his family and really seems to have a good head on his shoulders.

· Best line of the show: I’ve bowled over 600 tournaments and lost 576 of them. (Brian Voss)

· 2nd best line of the show: Just trust. It’s not the rack. It’s not the circumstance. It’s not luck. It’s not this. Something is wrong. Fix it. (Norm Duke)

· 3rd best line of the show: It’s not that Mika is really intimidating…It’s just that he’s really, really good. (Stuart Williams)