The report card is not good when it comes to the popularity of bowling as a sport with commentators and networks in the electronic sports media-it must get a failing grade. A definite stigma from what they say and do is attached to the sport by them which does not apply to any other sport having as much exposure.
Here are some examples:
Shortly after Chris Schenkel was inducted into the Sportscasters Hall of Fame, Frank Gifford on ABC-TV mentioned that fact before the start of a "Pro Bowlers Tour" telecast. He acknowledged everything Schenkel broadcast in his career from the New York Giants in the NFL (when Gifford played for the team in the 1950s and 60s) to covering boxing with the late Howard Cosell.
Schenkel's hosting of the bowling telecast, which is the one sport for which he is most remembered, was not even mentioned by Gifford, even though it was seen on the same network a few minutes later. This was an obvious and deliberate snub of bowling by ABC-TV from their writers and producers.
More recently, NBA Hall of Famer Wilt Chamberlain, who in 1962 scored a record 100 points in a game and always has been an avid bowler, appeared as a guest on NBC's "Later" talk show with guest host Ahmad Rashad. During this show, Rashad asked Chamberlain what he did for fun at the University of Kansas when he was a student in the 1950s.
"We went bowling often in our spare time. I've always like the challenge of bowling," Chamberlain responded.
"You really must not have had anything else better to do in Kansas back then if you went bowling," Rashad said.
"You better watch what you say about it or you'll get bowlers out there mad at you," Chamberlain said.
Without saying anything else concerning bowling, Rashad moved on to other subjects and discussed Chamberlain's book.
ABC-TV took another jab at bowling on its recent promo ad for its Saturday evening programming.
The commercial begins with an old black and white film segment of people bowling, along with other activities, including spectators wearing 3-D glasses at movies, which first occurred in the 1950s. The TV-screen graphics say, "This is the way it used to be." and the ad continues by showing new programming for ABC as graphics appear again stating, "Saturdays are better now on ABC, huh?!"
The implication was clear on this advertisement that Saturdays are now better on ABC-TV without bowling.
Then there's the case of the Fabulous Sports Babe from her program on the Global Babe Network on July 30 on the ESPN Radio Network. It's a classic example of the disdain people in sports media have for bowling.
In a discussion about professional wrestling, Nanci Donnellan, AKA the "Fabulous Sports Babe," said: "When I was doing local sports radio in Tampa [Fla.] before I went to the network, I decided I wasn't going to talk about wrestling or bowling on the air at all because you're not supposed to take them seriously, but I was invited to a WWF show once at he Sun Dome in Tampa, and, you know, I had the best time watching the wrestling matches."
Donnellan had no other comments about bowling.