|
|
Sunday, December 7, 2008
American Bowling IdolAs many of you know, I also write a weekly blog over on PBA.com called “Jason’s TV Recap Uncensored.”
In that one, I have the esteemed pleasure of officially recapping and critiquing (versus the folks who “critique”–or,
more accurately, “bash unmercifully”–the show unofficially on the PBA.com message boards) the PBA’s
ESPN telecast each week, a task which I’ve found to be way more fun than work. The goal behind the recap is to entertain
PBA fans while offering some extra perspective from a fan that probably knows (and cares) way too much about bowling and the
difficult task of broadcasting bowling on TV than is probably healthy for a normal human being.
So when I heard
PBA Commissioner and CEO Fred Schreyer’s recent interview on Phantom Radio, where he dropped the little nugget that
the PBA is very close to finalizing a deal with ESPN for five to six additional PBA telecasts in the Spring…and during
prime time on a weekday to boot…let’s just say I was fairly happy. But after the initial wave of happiness melted
away (which, for me unfortunately, usually takes about five seconds) I immediately began thinking about what impact a weekday
telecast during prime time would have on the PBA.
After a few minutes, I began to worry that
beyond the fact that more bowling will be on TV (which is fantastic for us bowling fans) unless the show undergoes some major
changes that will allow it a chance to become a pop-culture phenomenon, there is probably not a whole heckuvalot of great,
fantastic, ecstatically good news that will come of it. Now, before you all write me off as just another pessimistic has-been
bowler, let me explain what I mean by the key term pop-culture phenomenon.
The NFL on Sundays is a pop-culture
phenomenon. The TV shows Lost and American Idol (either of which may be on opposite the PBA’s Spring events and the
former of which is my favorite TV show of all-time next to bowling, of course) are pop-culture phenomena. The game show Deal
or No Deal is a pop-culture phenomenon (and is even hosted by a fellow bald guy…although the 100 or so gorgeous models
probably offset that debilitating factor). The World Poker Tour is (although to a lesser degree than five years ago) a pop-culture
phenomenon. The PBA on ESPN in its current form? Not so much.
The PBA does deliver excellent ratings, no doubt.
To get the ratings that bowling gets opposite the NFL on Sundays is a testament to the strength of bowling’s fan base.
The problem is…and I’m going to say this very, very quietly…the numbers we used to get when I was at the
PBA in the early 2000’s (when we had the shows on in prime time during the week) were very similar to what they are
now in its Sunday time slot. Why? I would say because the show is not a pop-culture phenomenon.
Some of you out
there may now be saying, “Well how, in today’s world, can bowling be a pop-culture phenomenon like American Idol?!
That’s impossible!” (Now who’s being a pessimistic has-been bowler, eh?) Well, for two reasons, I say it
isn’t. First, bowling already was a pop-culture phenomenon back in the 1950’s, ‘60’s and ‘70’s.
Bowling on TV was one of the coolest things to watch. Shows like Make That Spare, Bowling for Dollars, Championship Bowling
and a panoply of lesser-known locally-produced bowling extravaganzas were watched by millions of Americans on TV each week.
The coolest people in America (like Dick Clark – perhaps the coolest person of them all and an endorsee of AMF) bowled
and the top bowlers were considered to be some of the most respected and well-paid athletes around. Don’t believe me?
Guess who was the first athlete to receive a million-dollar endorsement deal? Joe Namath? Arnold Palmer? Nope. It was pro
bowler Don Carter!
OK. So that was all fine and dandy in the 1950’s, but what about today? Well, bowling
still is a pop-culture phenomenon. 70 million people a year bowl in the U.S. every year. Athletes and celebrities do it by
the dozens. The fastest-growing bowling center chain in the country is Lucky Strike Lanes (now with 19 locations), and to
visit one of their establishments is to know the true meaning of cool. But cool in TV is another thing entirely and the obstacle
keeping the PBA from going from a solidly rated niche sports program to a pop-cultural phenomenon is an element of coolness
and transcendence that is lacking in the current presentation. Of course, finding this kind of lightning in a bottle is extremely
difficult and elusive. And if it were easy, then every Tom, Dick and Simon Cowell would have a hit TV show (oops, I guess
Simon’s a bad example).
Do I have the answers? No way. Even if I thought I did, since I no longer work for
the PBA I don’t have any grasp of the obstacles that may prevent some of the best ideas out there from being tried.
But I do know Tom Clark is in charge of the TV show and, knowing him, that is a very encouraging sign. I mean who else would
allow a non-affiliated PBA-terrorist like me (have you ever watched The Bowling Show? It’s not exactly easy on the PBA)
to write a column on the home page of their website critiquing their show? You have to have a lot of tolerance for risk (a.k.a.
cojones) to do something like that, which is exactly the kind of person you need in charge of retooling your show (specifically,
someone who puts the needs and desires of the fans first) if it’s going to have a chance to be the next “must-see
TV show” out there. I, for one, am excited about the possibilities and I look forward to sharing as many ideas as I
can with Tom (and you should too, believe me, the guy is listening) and the rest of the bowling world in hopes that our beloved
sport will once again be a pop-culture phenomenon. Then, maybe one day 100 gorgeous models will want to hang out with me too!
See you next week!
Jason jason@jasonthomasbowling.com
|
|
LIVIN' THE DREAM:
How
to get what you want, find true meaning and save the world by bowling!
AN INTERVIEW WITH THE AUTHOR
Q:
What is the book about?
A: The book is about how the valuable
lessons I learned through my lifelong involvement in bowling saved my life and transformed me from an unhappy cynic into a
blissfully happy optimist.
Q: What made you decide to write it?
A: I had been out of the bowling industry for about two years and I had hit a very low point in my attitude about
life. Through the help of a family member, I was able to rediscover the important lessons about success, spirituality and
connecting with others. I was so excited about this transformation that I decided to write a book that attempts to detail
the metamorphosis while outlining the important lessons I remembered.
Q: How is this
book different from other self-help books?
A: The book is different in a number
of ways. First, I am a very unlikely person to have written a self-help book. If you had known me before I'd written the book,
you'd know precisely what I mean. But that fact alone reveals how strongly I felt about writing it, because I knew that if
I could change for the better, then I felt anyone could do it and that there was a good chance that I could help a lot of
people by describing the process and arranging the pieces in a way that could be easily understood.
The
other key point of difference is the way the book is arranged. The story is structured into three parts, The Method, Some
Cool Tricks and For the Hard-Core Cynics, each of which contain the important lessons I wanted to share. Every chapter is
also broken up with a narrative of my personal story, told for the purpose of detailing my amazing attitude transformation.
It begins with the extremely low point when others felt the need to reach out to help me to remember the important things
in life and goes on to detail the many people that helped me to learn the most important life lessons, including: my childhood
friend Robert Smith, my father (a former President of Disneyland International), PBA Chairman Chris Peters and former PBA
CEO Steve Miller.
Q: Is the book as funny as your blogs?
A: Yes! But there is also a serious side too.
Q: How is your book different from
something like The Secret?
A: My book is similar to The Secret
in that it proposes a method for success, but it is different in a number of ways. First, it is a bit more practical when
it comes to outlining the method for achieving success. The Secret comes very close to describing a similar method
for success in its "Ask, Believe, Receive" mantra. In my book, the first two of these elements ("Ask"
and "Believe") are integral (although I call them "Dream" and "Self-Belief"), but I believe
there has to be some proactive work done to achieve the goal. I call it hard work (which turns a lot of people off, of course)
but to use the model of The Secret, you would simply replace the word "Receive" with "Retrieve."
The best part of all this (and the good news for the folks who don't want to have to work hard) is that once you decide on
what you want and then you begin to believe you can get it, the work is no longer hard, but becomes a fun activity that fills
your days with joy and purpose.
Second, my book spends a significant amount of time discussing
how to deal with your success once you've attained it (and that conducting yourself in this manner before
you reach your goals will actually help you get there even faster). Probably the best way to describe my
book is that it's a cross between The Secret and the late Randy Pausch's book, The Last Lecture.
But I also quote a number of more research-driven books like Malcolm Gladwell's Blink, Sam Harris' The
End of Faith and Steven Pinker's The Blank Slate to help me make my point.
Q: Do you have to be a bowler to like this book?
A: Absolutely
not! Bowling obviously plays a major role (although it really serves more as the setting rather than as the primary focal
point) because of my involvement with the sport my whole life. But the lessons bowling taught me are lessons I could have
learned if I had chosen to be a golfer or a doctor or a writer (oops, I guess that one's a bad example now). My hope is that
the book will find its way into the hands of people who don't bowl and that these people will come away with a new appreciation
for bowlers and the sport of bowling.
Q: What is your goal with the book?
A: That is a simple one. To help as many people as possible to experience the gift of embracing an optimistic way
of life and to help them reap its many rewards. 
