Chris Barnes is obviously, well, pretty darn good at bowling.  He’s on TV almost as much as Conan O’Brien – except in a better time slot.  He has the best endorsement deal in bowling and he’s earned a pretty nice living for himself throwing a bowling ball.  What’s even more impressive is how he keeps making show after show after show even though (here it comes) his performances on television have been much more – ummm, how shall I say this – OK, much more Susan Lucci-ish than Meryl Streep-ish.

I would love to sit down with Chris and hear what he has to say to ‘splain his struggles on TV.  To be fair, a lot of it has been bad luck – opponents bowling well against him or a ringin’ ten at an inopportune time.  But it is pretty obvious by the look in his eye when he’s on TV that he’s sort of waiting for bad things to happen to him.  A lot of times they do, and he shoots himself out of the match before he has a chance.  Then there are the other times when he has a chance and…uh, well, probably needs someone to apply the Heimlich after he steps off the PBA set.

I have experienced the c-word myself in my own bowling career.  The only good chance I had at winning a PBA regional title I needed a strike to win and forgot that the old thumb and fingers weren’t actually supposed to come out of the ball at the same time – leaving a nice little 2-pin.  (Well at least I hit the 1-3).  But, like Chris, there were times that I did come through and perform when I needed it (like that nasty 3-10 I had to spare to qualify for the right to embarrass myself in front of the best in the world in the 1993 U.S. Open).

One of the first people who wrote poor lil’ ole me to offer congratulations and encouragement after I launched “The Bowling Show” was recent PBA Women’s Series champion Diandra Asbaty.  Quite a few friends and acquaintances e-mailed me too, but the thing about Diandra is that – even though we’ve both been around the industry for some time – I’d never really officially met or spoken with her before that.  I was kind of floored that she’d take the time out of her busy schedule to just offer a few words of praise to some nobody stranger whom she recognized also has a love for bowling.  I mean, just how nice is that?!

So, naturally, when she made the show on ESPN last Friday night, I reciprocated by sending her an e-mail congratulating her on the accomplishment, and made mention that it was nice to see after some of the trash talk people had been posting about her in a few of the internet chat rooms.  To my surprise (because she just made a freakin’ show for PDW’s sake and was probably swamped with all sorts of well-wishers), she e-mailed back again, jokingly feigning ignorance (which made me LOL) and then expressing her inability to understand why people would say such nasty things about a person who just loves what they do and is trying to live her dreams.

When her match started on Sunday and she opened with a Billy Martin (a dead Yank) to start the day off, I wondered if the desire to prove her critics wrong might be too much to overcome.  After that, I don’t think she wandered off-line the rest of the game by more than a fraction of an ant’s leg.  She was as sharp as a fresh row of Great White’s teeth and she totally out-bowled (from a quality shot-making standpoint) one of the all-time great bowlers in the history of the sport to win her first pro title.

The point of this?  I’m not saying that if you’re one of the folks who said some bad things about this newly minted friend of mine that you should stop…or that you don’t love bowling because you criticize her.  Who am I to tell you that?  But what I am saying is that before you think about writing some negative piece of unsubstantiated criticism about her, you should know just what kind of a person she is.  She is someone who could (should!) be bitter and jaded because her career was ripped away from her when the ladies’ tour folded and deprived her of the opportunity to pursue bowling professionally.  But instead, she’s turned lemons into lemonade and understands that by continuing to keep her dream alive, believing in herself, working her tail off and giving her time helping others that might be able to help the sport, that there’s a chance she might be able to play some part in bringing back women’s pro bowling for good.  And if you think that’s a bad person for our sport, then, well, maybe you should spend some time thinking about whether you really love bowling after all.

Till tomorrow!

Jason

When I started this website just over a month ago, I had no idea that it would grow so quickly into such a popular place for bowlers to hang out.  Now that it has, I feel like I have a responsiblity to the bowling community to continue to help entertain, educate and give all of my fellow bowlers out there a chance to spread the word about bowling to the uninitiated.

As the site continues to grow, I will do my best to achieve those goals and to continue to add reasons for bowlers and non-bowlers alike to keep coming back for more.  This blog is a new feature that I will update daily with my thoughts on what it means to be a bowler, and what bowlers can do to help make the sport as great as we know it should be!  Sometimes they will be serious, sometimes not, but I hope they will at least be interesting, entertaining and thought-provoking. 

Be sure to check back daily and pass the word on to your fellow bowlers about what we're doing!

Till tomorrow!
Jason