Showboat Lanes in Las Vegas is the most famous bowling establishment on earth. It hosts the oldest stop on the PBA Tour. It has hosted more tournaments, pro and amateur, than any place on the planet and is the most recognizable tenpin emporium throughout bowling circles, domestically and abroad.
So it is quite fitting that Showboat Lanes created a most unique league, one that defies the accepted principle and ideology that high scores are the requisite for maintaining customers.
Thanks to the ingenious business acumen of Bowling Lanes Director Bea Goodwin, every Monday night Showboat features one of the most interesting and challenging leagues in the country, the Showboat Brunswick Pro Pin Invitational Doubles.
It is a bowling purist’s dream—demanding conditions that place a premium on quality shotmaking against Brunswick’s gold Pro Pins that weigh three pounds, 10 ounces.
According to Frenchy Letourneau, publisher of the Las Vegas Ten Pin Alley bowling journal, "a miss right or left is just that … a miss. Creating area is limited to a few boards rather than half the lane. You have about two and a half pounds more of pins to knock over, and 185 games will win more matches than they will lose."
Wow, sounds like the way the game was devised! And lest I come off like some old geezer who harks back to the good old days, I am enough a purist to appreciate the game the way it was designed.
Very simply, bowling is a game of skill that encompasses a strong release, proper balance, positive timing, and deadly accuracy.
True, new technology has played a major role in diminishing the urgency of a strong release. But, despite the presence of potent balls being marketed, blocked lanes that permit less-than- quality shots result in unwarranted achievements.
Letourneau’s column relates to numerous 3-6-10s, buckets, washouts, 5-7-10s, 8-10 splits, pocket 7-10s, Greek churches, five-counts, and other ugly leaves—and these are being registered with today’s explosive missiles. Bowlers who averaged 220 are now averaging 200—and these are only a handful.
What a welcome and refreshing concept!
Proprietors take note: This is one of the most innovative presentations for reviving interest in the game. True competitors appreciate challenges and surely would avoid the embarrassment of displaying any fear of contending.
For the Doubting Thomases, witness the hordes of competitors flocking to megabuck tournaments that feature tough conditions.
Proprietors take note:
This is one of the most innovative presentations
for reviving interest in the game.
Many of the Showboat Brunswick Pro Pin Invitational Doubles contestants may suffer for a spell, but inasmuch as there is $5,000 added to the prize fund, all will make a concerted effort to improve their skills.
There is an old adage: Necessity is the mother of invention. Members of the Showboat Brunswick Pro Pin Invitational Doubles may find it imperative to adhere to this proverb—perhaps for self-satisfaction or self-preservation.
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During the latter part of 1997, I wrote a column listing a few of my pet peeves in sports. Leading the list was my utter disdain for the outlandish practices of high-fives in all sports, particularly in bowling.
Lo and behold, it now appears that I was the forbearer and precursor in expressing my contempt for this absurd routine.
The October issue of Bowlers Journal International’s "Inside Line" column features a most refreshing tidbit regarding the irksome habit of high-fives that have permeated our sport.
Bernard Mora, editor of the French newsletter, Bowling Presse, has organized Club No More Hands. For $5, bowlers who agree to abide by high-five standards will receive a NMH patch.
According to BJI, the craze is said to have caught on in the U.S. after originating in Europe. When you join Club NMH, you agree to shake hands with everyone before a game starts and when it ends. A high-five can be given to a teammate following you.
Originally, the touching of the hands with the player following you was done in essence to pass luck to your teammate. This custom has grown to the present day practice that includes all team members, even the opposing team. Any and all shots can elicit high-fives, even open frames.
Mora’s ingenious concept may have precluded and averted further moronic and asinine patterns, routines, or addictions that were sure to follow. Chest-bumping and forehead butts were but a sniff away. Seems as though bowlers have become enamored by the Shaquille O’Neals, Mark McGwires, and other famous athletes who express their exuberance by bumping heads, chests, and elbows following thunderous dunks, monstrous homers, or electrifying gallops into the end zone.
To date, we have been spared backward flips exhibited by boxers who administer knockout blows or strutting wiggly dances by wide receivers following sensational pass receptions.
Perhaps we owe Mr. Mora our gratitude and admiration for his inventive and artful idea. However, inasmuch as my conception preceded Mora’s by at least a year, I believe I deserve a percentage of the money he has accumulated from NMH dues.
If this seems unfeasible, I would gladly send patches to all bowlers who care to pay $5 to join my club, the NHFW (No High-Fives Whatsoever).
Actually, I’m a bit touchy about overtly exuberant expressions. Perhaps it stems from the ongoing dilemma between bowling as a recreation and bowling as a sport.
The less demonstrative demeanor as subscribed to by the NMH does lend a more professional touch to our sport. That seems good to me.
PBA Hall of Famer John Jowdy is a past president of the Bowling Writers Association of America.