College bowling received a lifeline in January with the premier of "Rockin' Bowl" on TNN Tuesday nights on this CBS-owned cable network that features a variety of programming, including sports. The hour-long show, which is hosted by former "CBS Sports Spectacular" commentator Gary Seibel and part-time PBA touring pro Randy Pedersen, may need its own lifeline because the ABC hit TV quiz show "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?" directly competes it in the same time slot in the Eastern time zone each week. Mountain and Pacific times don't normally compete against "Millionaire" since TNN simulcasts it network programming.
"Rockin' Bowl" already has a distinct disadvantage because it is broadcast on TNN, which is not known for huge ratings compared to regular commercial offerings on "antenna TV."
Despite the bad time slot and its appearance on TNN, the program itself wreaks with entertainment—something the sport of bowling sorely needs.
The premier of Rockin' Bowl in January featured Western Illinois' Jeremy Sonnenfeld, who bowled a 900 series for Nebraska before transferring to his current college, against Fullerton's Vince Wood, who accomplished the same feat in his own collegiate competition, head-to-head in the studio, bowling with noisy cheers in the background.
The broadcast originates from the "All-American Sports Park" in Las Vegas and features gaudy lights and a lot of cheering and noise similar to other collegiate sports. Cheerleaders stand on the sidelines between the bowling lanes and the audience to periodically lead cheers during the telecast to give the competitors a sonic-decibel boost.
If you can tear yourself away from competing programs on other stations, the viewer will see two teams of bowlers emerge from the smoke-filled center of the room where giant bowling pins loom from the ceiling of the studio surrounded by two sets of lanes, thus giving you a stereo pinfall effect. A rock band plays upscale classic rock music to let the bowlers know that it's time to move on to the next exhibition on the lanes because, instead of regular Baker-style tournament bowling, which is what the collegians use in non-televised but real match-play competition, the bowlers perform a different task to knock down the pins in each individual frame.
Bowlers from two different universities are asked each week on the TNN telecast to compete by starting the matches with a conventional frame. Then they bowl the next frame from the sitting position in a reclining chair as studio co-host Taylor Baldwin supervises the activities. The competitors later proceed to throw their balls shuffleboard-style with a long stick, which resembles a giant toilet bowl plunger, and then another frame is bowled in the dark. In yet another frame, the bowlers run to the ball returns as fast as they can without slipping and grab their bowling balls and heave them down the lanes all in one continuous non-stop motion to see if they can land a shot in the pocket.
Two students from each school who have never bowled any frames of competition bowl a frame to give each team a handicap. The Rockin' Bowlers even play their own rendition of "21" where, like the NBC quiz show and the card game, you shoot for 21 points total without going over that specific amount. The competitors of "Blackjack Bowling" take five shots at the same frame with individual pins amounting to pin totals with the goal of 21. The team that reaches 21 points first wins this segment of the program and receive 15 points toward their frame total in the overall score.
The teams use four lanes in the studio—one pair per team—and when the 10-frame matches are complete, the team with the highest score going through this bowling obstacle course wins a $1,000 scholarship for their school. It's a far cry from winning millions as they do on the quiz shows, but the students are glad to get their thousand dollars anyway.
Members of the winning team can make even more money for their school since they qualify for a chance for another $1,000 to the overall points leaders of the first two rounds consisting of eight teams. They can then move on to winning $2,500 per school in quarterfinal competition, and the top four winners can earn $5,000 in semifinal competition as the dust clears to allow the top two finishers to go after $10,000 in "Rockin' Bowl's" top prize.
The universities and colleges competing in "Rockin' Bowl" include: Florida State, Wichita State, Illinois, Erie Community, St. John's, Cal State Fullerton, Ball State, San Jose State, Indiana State, Morehead State, West Texas A&M, Fresno State, Western Illinois, Purdue, Michigan State, and Kansas. Rockin' Bowl's producers, China Train Productions based in Southern California, hope to attract even more collegiate bowling schools next season.
The top collegiate teams nationwide find their camaraderie actually increases when they need to knock down the pins in so many unconventional ways. The leads frequently change hands as a result. In a recent show, Fresno State had a lead, but the Illinois "Fighting Illinois" lived up to their name by fighting from behind to get the $1,000 victory for their school.
After performing all those scoring stunts on the lanes, the competitors from both schools finish their matches by bowling the conventional way to bring the competition back down to earth.
Now, bowling fans can watch the collegians every week on "Rockin' Bowl" instead of only seeing them once a year on ESPN2 in the Intercollegiate Championships. All they need now is a new time slot.
Syndicated columnist Richard Kolb is a member of the Bowling Writers Association of America.