It is difficult to be both elated and dejected by recent announcements by the Professional Bowlers Association.

Before bisecting the three recent PBA releases, I want to shout from the roof tops that bowling is once again going to be a major player on national TV.

If my math is right, I figure there will be about 33 bowling events on TV between the next two Aprils, thanks primarily to the PBA and in part to USBC's coverage of the Queens, Tournament and the Clash of Champions.

At least 33 national bowling events on national TV in 12 months is a major league accomplishment.


In order, the PBA announcements were:

Jan. 29 Release – "The PBA will be going prime time in a groundbreaking new five-week series" on ESPN with the telecasts starting April 22. The announcement about the taped TV series was credited to the Lumber Liquidators PBA Tour and Strike Ten.

Read the full release here: ESPN to air special PBA Bowling Series in prime time this spring

The series will be the PBA's second stab at a King of the Hill format (the first was sponsored by the old Showboat Hotel in Las Vegas) with ESPN reserving a great 9 p.m. Wednesday time slot on April 22, April 29, May 6, May 13 and May 20.

I can't remember the last time a PBA telecast was on prime time, which is a big time happening for the sport of bowling.

The taping sessions are expected to be held April 8-10 at the Kegel Training Center in Lake Wales, Fla.

The top 10 players from the 2008-09 tour will compete and an extra bonus will be the PBA's Inaugural Women's Series Showdown presented by the United States Bowling Congress.


Feb. 22 Release – "Fifteen of the Lumber Liquidators PBA Tour's top bowlers from the 2008-09 season will test their" skills in a team event at the Six Flags' New Jersey theme park.

Read the full release here: Six Flags to host 15 PBA stars for Summer Series III

Taping of the third annual Six Flags Summer bowling series is scheduled June 11-14. Dates and times of the tape-delayed telecasts on ESPN will be announced later.


Feb. 28 Release – A new era in PBA history will begin next season with the creation of the Lumber Liquidators PBA Tour World Series of Bowling.

Read the full release here: PBA Tour introduces PBA World Series of Bowling to debut in August 2009

The series will offer more than $2 million in prize money and will be held Aug. 1-Sept. 7 in Detroit.

Taylor Lanes will host the kickoff PBA Motor City Open Aug. 1-6. The remainder of the World Series of Bowling, including six exempt PBA tour events that will include an enlarged field of 72 instead of the traditional 64.

In addition to 58 exempt players, the events will include international exemptions and at least 10 tournament qualifying round leaders at each event.

There also will be a newly created open-field PBA Women's Series World Championship. The field size for the women's series will grow from 16 to 20 bowlers for each exempt event. And, for the first time, two female bowlers can earn spots in the tournament through qualifying events.

In addition, a revamped PBA Senior Tour World Championship will be held at Thunderbowl Lanes in Allen Park, just outside Detroit. The World Series of Bowling will culminate with the PBA World Championship open field event, the first major tournament of the 2009-10 season.

Fred Schreyer, PBA Tour CEO and Commissioner, said "Detroit will be host to the greatest festival of competitive bowling in history."


There is no question about that, but is that good or bad?

I am not sure and think the jury is out, especially on the radical change for the traditional fall beginning of the 2009-10 season. The remaining 10 events on the schedule will held at various unannounced sites from January-April in 2010 and should be prize winners.

Below you will find the positive and negative points that ran through my mind after putting together the three releases.

Positive

1. The three PBA owners have lost a ton of money since buying the floundering PBA in 2000 and these three events could help them show a profit for both the current 2008-09 season and the upcoming 2009-10 season.

2. Such forward thinking makes me know there will be a 51st season and that is good news for the international bowling industry.

3. The economy is bad all across the nation and it could be difficult to get an additional 10 bowling proprietors to put up the money and devote the time necessary to host a PBA tournament next season.

4. By holding so many tournaments in the Detroit area, the bowlers will save a great deal of money on travel expenses and they will not have to deal with busy highways and bustling airports every week.

5. The ESPN telecasts from the Kegel Training Center in Florida and from Six Flags in New Jersey will make the points race season more important to the bowlers and spectators.

6. The women are becoming an important cog in the PBA machine and that is great. In addition, a great deal of praise must go to the USBC for supporting the gals. There is no substitute for bowling organizations helping each other.

7. The Seniors have not been forgotten.

8. The PBA will save a gob of money by not having to set up a new TV venue each week . It is expensive to move two or three 18 wheelers full of equipment and then set up and break down everything every week in a different city across the country.

9. The traveling staff not have to travel next fall and maybe even more important, the PBA won't have to pay for the transportation of its large staff.

10. Detroit's residents, who are among the hardest hit in America, will be able to attend the events without spending an arm and leg on admissions and parking fees.

Negative

Basically, I find no faults with the bowling formats that will be used at the Kegel Training Center and at the Six Flags New Jersey.

However, I do have one suggestion that would produce more publicity – pick three veteran bowling writers to coach the three teams in the round-robin event at Six Flags. In turn the veteran scribe would get to pick one woman, one international and one senior for his team.

I also would do more promotion about the Six Flags format would allow a bowler to continue striking until he fails to strike in the 10th frame.

But I get negative vibes when thinking about the so called PBA Tour World Series of Bowling.

And they are:

1. A lot of bowlers, especially juniors, will be disappointed – maybe even devastated – to learn that the PBA tour will not be returning to their city.

2. Ditto for a lot of bowlers who looked forward to bowling with the pros and watching them in action, especially in live TV finals.

3. All of the above mentioned PBA events and tournaments will be taped. Financially I understand the great benefits but I also understand that it could be detrimental to improving TV ratings.

I for one, never watch a taped sporting event when I know the results. And trust me, everyone will know the results from the Detroit bowling events since the Detroit Free Press does such a great job of covering bowling.

In most daily newspapers across the country, the schedule of live sporting events – including the PBA tour – is printed in the Sunday TV sections under live sports. The live events also are printed on pages in the sports sections the day of the telecasts. The taped sporting events get no ink, no exposure.

4. No matter what they call it, the PBA competition next fall will not be a tour. It will be just a series of tournaments in the same general location.

In my book, it would be like NCAA deciding times were tough so it would bring all 64 basketball teams together at one site and would tape all the games until they got down to the final four and then they would go live.

I do not believe that World Series concept is not what PBA founder Eddie Elias envisioned when he established the PBA TOUR in 1958.

He saw his 'boys' touring the nation, creating fans and inspiring junior stars at every stop, putting the national spotlight on 13 and later 16 cities across America every winter.

I understand times change and those who survive change with them and I buy into that theory. There is an old saying that "when the going gets tough, the tough get going" and it certainly seems to apply to the PBA next season.

Former PBA Commissioner Steve Miller used to tell me "you have to honor history, but you shouldn't live in it."

The PBA is going to make history with a new fall format next season but return to its roots in the ensuing winter with at least 10 TOURing events.

I will be "watching" the 10 events next winter but hopefully writing about all the other tournaments.

In between time, I hope to cover the new format event in Lake Wales and coach in a team in New Jersey.

I want on my team Wes Malott, Walter Ray Williams, Pete Weber, Parker Bohn, Chris Barnes, Norm Duke, Lynda Barnes, Tom Baker and Jason Belmonte.

I added Lynda and Baker and Belmonte to my mythical team because ladies and seniors and two-handed players also can enjoy the rides at Six Flags and hopefully the PBA will be riding high.

Besides, Lynda's fantastic smile will perk up my bowlers even if they lose to the teams coached by Chuck Pezzano and John Jowdy.


Email address: Evans121@aol.com