I've had a few friends jokingly express their amazement for their being a "Part III" of the recent "BOWL Magazine Interview" with Richard Wolfe. One, in fact, admitted that several of his buddies were somewhat agitated as they voiced their concerns about the amount of attention given to one individual. (Of course, as is usually the case, none of these "serious concerns" were originally offered within earshot of the editor.)
The sole reason why the interview concluded in the January 1996 issue was due to the extra advertising in December, which even precluded the inclusion of a column by yours truly—indeed, a huge loss! As you may recall, the November interview segment was introduced as the first of a two-parter.
Perhaps there would have been fewer "Part III" questions raised had Wolfe not lost the title match to Jason Couch in the PBA Indianapolis Open exactly seven nights following our interview at Bowl America Falls Church. (Wolfe wasn't the only one who lost: I missed a chance to appear as much a prophesier as I did in March of 1986 when I put a relatively unknown bowler named Walter Ray Williams Jr. on the cover of BOWL Magazine—"Aims for Fair Lanes Open title" was the subtitle—before he ever won a PBA championship, which he did in Peoria, Ill., the day following publication of that issue, and two weeks prior to his win in, yes, the Fair Lanes Open).
I often advise interview subjects to expect a wide range of reaction to their published interviews—even some unfavorable comments due to jealously. "You'll be in the magazine, and they won't," I'll remind them.
That possibly was the case here, or maybe the complainers just didn't understand that Wolfe has insights about professional bowling today that no other local player can offer. Or, maybe they just don't realize or want to recognize that Wolfe is the area's most successful PBA Tour competitor ever, despite his failure thus far to appear in the winner's circle—and the best minds in the game have no doubt that this will happen. People like John Jowdy don't throw statements around such as, "[Wolfe] possesses the greatest physical game I have ever seen by any left-handed bowler, and this does not exclude Dave Davis, whom I considered had the best game from the left side that I had ever critiqued," merely to encourage a player.
Anyway, my motto as editor always has been "Praise me, blast me—just don't ignore me," and I guess that even hearing about some of the indirect sniping is better than not hearing any of it at all.
Bob Cosgrove, editor of BOWL Magazine, is a past president of the Bowling Writers Association of America.