|
Saturday, January 5, 2008
TranscendenceThe PGA Tour season kicked off this week, although most people won't notice since Tiger isn't scheduled
to kick off his season for another few weeks. Maybe he's starting to feel bad for the other guys and just wants
to give them a head start. On second thought, probably not.
If you've followed my show and my website
over the past year, you've probably noticed that Tiger seems to pop up all over the place...on The Bowling Show, Let's
Go Bowling, in my blog...he's basically everywhere. And I do this with full knowledge of the backlash that bowling
fans everywhere treat golf and golf references...which kindle our ingrained sense of injustice that our sport suffers the
slings and arrows of bad pub, while golf is lifted onto the shoulders of the elite and treated as if it is a tradition as
sacred as the Constitution or the Holy Sacrament.
But since I was a youngster growing up in Socal who excelled
at bowling at exactly the same time as another youngster who grew up in Socal who excelled at that other sport, I've
always felt a connection to Tiger Woods and a strong sense of the differences (some might call them injustices) that have
marked our career paths simply because he fell in love with golf and I fell in love with bowling.
Despite that,
in the past couple of years I've come to appreciate what Tiger has done and to understand how his own accomplishments
have transcended the sport that he plays, consequently helping to propel golf to new heights. I've come
to believe that it is this ability, even more so than the obvious charisma, charm, good looks, mental poise and athletic talent
that Tiger displays that is the most important quality, and set him apart from myself and an entire generation of
bowlers and athletes in every other sport.
I believe this was a conscious choice on his part...meaning, I
believe he understood that by winning and by accomplishing his lofty goals that he could actually initiate change
in the way fans, sponsors and the golf industry not only viewed the sport, but conducted their lives and businesses.
A few points support this argument.
First, early on in Tiger's career (after he won the 1997
Masters) he had a well-publicized disagreement with the PGA over his right to accept appearance fees to play in non-PGA
events. The PGA claimed that their organization was the more important entity which would stand the test of
time, while Tiger was just an individual who could/would be replaced be others. If you follow the TV ratings in events
where Tiger plays versus events where he does not, it looks pretty convincingly like the PGA was wrong.
Second, when Tiger first joined the Tour in 1996, the average first place prize money was in the $200-250K range.
Now it is between $900K-1M. A 400% increase in just 10 years!! Few would argue that Tiger is the overwhelming
reason for this. I recall players in the 1980's saying that 10% of all prize money should go to Arnold Palmer because
it was his ability to transcend and grow the game which provided the opportunity for them to earn what they were earning.
The same holds true for Tiger (although he does a pretty good job of earning his fair share without any additional charitable
contributions from his peers).
Last, a fellow PBA employee of mine, Mark Bisbing, was one of the folks at
Nike who launched the golf division there. The story he told was that Nike CEO Phil Knight wanted to hire
John Daly to be the face of the brand for a 1995 launch campaign. But Bisbing and others convinced
Knight to wait and stake their business on an up-and-coming prodigy from Socal. At that time Nike Golf was a $0-a-year
business. Now the business is in excess of $1 billion...and I'm pretty sure it's not because of Michelle
Wie...and that Tiger was a slightly better choice than Long John.
So what's the point of this
and what does it have to do with bowling? Well, I think it's of utmost importance, now more than ever,
for the current PBA Tour stars and up-and-coming bowlers whom we've yet to hear about, to understand this lesson that
Tiger Woods teaches us. That by focusing on winning and achieving unparalleled excellence, that you can actually transcend
what it is that your sport has to offer and grow your realm of influence such that it benefits all...and ultimately you tenfold
(or at least 400% in 10 years) in return. Is this person out there in the sport of bowling? I truly hope
so, because it sure would help.
Till tomorrow!
Jason
1:31 pm est
Friday, January 4, 2008
Kingpin DreamsWell, I'm finally back from vacation, which either reaffirmed to me that golf sucks, or that I suck at
golf. Probably both. And the PBA Tour is back in action once again. Woo hoo! And they're bowling
in the place where it all started...the National Bowling Stadium in Reno. What started there, I can't say exactly,
but if you plotted the grand opening of the stadium on a graph that outlined year-by-year trends measuring the success of
the sport of bowling, you'd have to say that it was the beginning of, well, let's just say some not-so-good things.
As I'm guessing pretty much all of you know, the stadium was the venue for the climactic scene in the movie Kingpin,
which was released back in 1996 (the year before the PBA was canceled on ABC-TV), and bowling fans and experts have now had
more than a decade to ponder the impact that the popular film had on the bowling landscape. I've read countless
expert editorials and message board posts that have taken one side or the other in the debate; some saying that Kingpin was
a good thing for the sport, while others declaring it as one step from representing the grim reaper sent to lop off the head
of the hopes and dreams of bowlers everywhere. I can't remember reading too many (if any) moderate opinions on the
topic...it's kind of one of those "love it or hate it"-type thing-ies.
Over the years, I've kind
of bounced back and forth between the two positions...some days I constructed an argument that said it was beneficial, while
others I agreed with those who condemned it as a burden (when I first saw the movie, I hated it with a passion...now, however,
its one of my all-time favorites). It occurred to me only recently, though, that the whole debate shines an illuminating
light on some of the core reasons why the sport side of bowling has struggled so long to reverse some of the stagnant and
declining trends which it currently faces. Namely, I'm speaking of the "victim" mentality that pervades the
bowling community.
The fact that there are two very specific "sides" to this argument not only reveals
division in the ranks of the top minds in the bowling community, but it also reveals a feeling of powerlessness that events
like the release of the movie Kingpin are things which are happening "to" bowling and are completely outside our
control. That, in itself, is a much larger cause of the problems and poor growth curves that plague our sport than
any silly movie, culturally held bias or media-spun story portraying bowling in a negative light. I believe we
have the power to control our own destiny, which doesn't mean that things are always going to go our way, but that we
do have the power to act to get things going back in our favor. To me, that is the essence of success...not sitting
around and debating the cause of our demise while the plane has yet to crash.
Anyways, sorry for the
seriousness...I'm just glad that pro bowling is back for the second half of the season and that there is even a place
to bowl and watch the sport that we all love. By the way, was anyone else shocked that Rhino Page didn't make it
out of the TQR at the stadium this week? Given the venue's past history, I already had him penciled onto the show.
Till tomorrow!
Jason
11:54 am est
Monday, December 31, 2007
New Year's ResolutionsWell, another year has come to an end and at this time of year I always love to look back and remember where
I was at the beginning of the year to remind myself that progress was made (although it sometimes feels day-to-day like I've
been trudging through mud and not accomplishing anything). I also like to think about the things I'll be doing at
the same time next year and set some goals for myself to work towards.
First, at this time last year I was just
wrapping up the "Simpler Choice" marketing campaign for Elite Bowling and feverishly planning the first two episodes
of Let's Go Bowling. That was a truly fun chapter of the past year, as we were able to put together six episodes
of the show featuring Brian Voss, Norm Duke, Kim Terrell, Robert Smith and Curtis Woods. We put a new episode together
every two weks and the show was averaging about 20,000 viewers per month on bowlersparadise.com when it last aired in June.
Although the show was inexpensive to produce from a traditional production standpoint, since I was mostly funding it myself
with the help of Nick Melnikoff and Elite Bowling, it was difficult to justify continuing without sponsors, especially
considering the vast amount of time it took out of my schedule. But it was an incredibly fun time and we'd love
to bring the show back some day if the right situation were to present itself.
The best part of doing the
show, however, was that it lead to the idea of creating this website, which has become a totally new source of fun and
entertainment for myself and for bowling fans. In our two months since launch, we've averaged between 10,000-15,000
hits per week and received incredible feedback and encouragement from fans throughout the world, which has been, to be perfectly
honest, extremely touching. The nice words have really spurred me on to increase my efforts to make this site even
bigger and better in the year(s) to come. Which leads me to my resolutions for 2008.
1 - Add features to
make the site more interactive. Specifically, we'd like to add a message board and comment feature on the daily
blog, which will be available soon. I'd also like to offer the ability for users to post their own videos to the
site eventually.
2 - Create more animated features. We have two characters in the works now. One is
a jilted former golf course superintendent and purist named Austin McFreehook who was banished from the R&A
for a dispute he had with Jack Nicklaus and ended up becoming a bowling alley lane man. The other is a wealthy
British aristocrat named Closse T. Kegler whose biggest fear in life is that people will find out that he loves bowling.
Look for these shows to begin some time in the month of February.
3 -
More content and commentary from well-respected and well-known bowlers. I'm going to be spending a significant amount
of time in January and beyond in speaking with my friends who have gone on to become big names in the sport about contributing
their input to the site.
4 - Syndicated content. Things like Phantom Radio and other top-notch
bowling programming will soon be added to the site. I'll actually be appearing as the featured guest on the February
8 episode, so check it out!
5 - More merchandise. Instructional videos, books, more T-shirts and other cool
bowling stuff, and my own book Livin' the Dream will soon be added to the Merchandise page!
6 - Celebrities.
I wrote a while back that everything celebrities do is considered cool. Even if I have to animate them South Park-style
to have them up here interacting with the likes of me and other bowlers, we will have them on the site.
6 - The
Big One. My idea to create a program that will re-energize "regular Joe" league bowlers to get excited and
enthusiastic about bowling, while also creating opportunities for serious bowlers to earn an actual living, and creating
a new revenue opportunity for bowling proprietors without taking up valuable lane space. I call it Bowling Appreciation
Class.
Well, that's it for now. I'd just like to say what an honor it's been for me to host
the many thousands of fans who have watched my show and visited my site in the past year. I truly feel like it
is a privilege that I hope to continue to earn in the future. Also, if you have more ideas or questions about what I'm
doing here, please, please, please contact me! I live for the feedback and I'm always looking for more people who
can help with what we're doing here! I hope to hear from you soon and I wish you all nothing but the happiest
and most prosperous of new years!
Happy New Year everyone!
Jason
12:32 pm est
|
