Is bowling a sport or a recreation? The logical reply: "It depends on whom you ask."
The most distressing and irritating complaint in the bowling community is the lack of coverage allotted the game by the media—newspapers, sports magazine (other than those devoted solely to bowling), radio sports shows, and television.
A majority of major newspapers carry scores of pro tours on the back pages in agate type.
Inasmuch as perfection commands a degree of respect, Jeremy Sonnenfeld's historic 900 series received a lot of attention.
Bowling seems nonexistent in such magazines as Sports Illustrated, Sport, Sporting News, and Inside Sports.
Radio airwaves feature numerous sports shows. Some are exclusively dedicated to bowling. Among the most outstanding is "Talks and Tips," hosted by Dan Glus in the Pittsburgh area.
WFAN, the heralded sports show from New York, mentions bowling only when prodded by Johnny Petraglia and other eastern bowling diehards. Otherwise, bowling is a virtual orphan for airtime.
As a sport, is there any question that professional bowlers are great athletes? Are PBA stars any less athletic than other professional athletes? Doubting Thomases should be reminded that a PBA player throws a 16-pound ball anywhere from 12 to 20 times a game over an 18-game span—just to qualify for the match-play finals. Assuming the player strikes on 50 percent of his shots, he makes about 15 shots a game, 90 tosses in a six-game qualifying round, and approximately 270 shots in the 18-game qualifying round.
Mathematically, a professional bowler places about 1,500 pounds of strain on his arms and legs in one six-game block. This computes into a little more than 4,300 pounds of weight for three six-game blocks, again, just to qualify for a top 24 finish. Thereafter, he is faced with further delivering a 16-pound missile over a 24-game course. He is not only required to throw a ball with sufficient revolutions for pin carry, but more important, with unerring accuracy.
It is interesting to note that bowlers who make the top 24 will have lifted approximately an additional 5,160 pounds—or a total of over 9,000 pounds in three days.
Despite the fact that the PBA Tour is the second longest running sports show on TV, the haphazard manner in which professional bowling has been misused, abused, and kicked around on television has been nothing short of disgraceful.
Bowling has no one to blame but itself.
For example, during the past five or six years, ABC-TV and its cable partner, ESPN, have woefully abandoned promotional ads for bowling. As a matter of fact, ABC actually uses any extra time from "Pro Bowlers Tour" to promote future sports attractions rather than grant time for trophy and check presentations.
Imagine the furor incurred if CBS had the audacity to cut away from ceremonies at The Masters golf tournament. Would network executives have the intestinal fortitude to deprive Augusta's pompous officials of appearing before millions of viewers to present the winner with his traditional green jacket? Hell, no!
Yet, longtime sponsors of PBA events are lucky to merely pose with winners—no exchange of congratulations, no response from the winners, nothing!
One thing is certain: PBA stars like Walter Ray Williams Jr., Parker Bohn III, Brian Voss, Norm Duke, Dave Husted, Amleto Monacelli, Randy Pedersen, and many others on the pro tour are athletes competing in a sport. Yet, as far as newspaper and magazine editors are concerned, bowling is regarded and classified as a recreation.
On the other hand, bowling has no one to blame but itself. For example, Jack Reichert, one of bowling's staunchest supporters, has never alluded to bowling as a recreation. Reichert, who spent the better part of his position as Brunswick's CEO and chairman of the board attempting to get bowling into the Olympics, always spoke of the game as "the sport of bowling."
Nevertheless, the Brunswick Corporation, with over 200 bowling centers around the world, bills itself as Brunswick Recreation Centers.
Although video games, billiards, perhaps miniature golf, and other means of recreation are featured under one structure, the primary source of revenue is generated from bowling.
Strange as it may seem, the Brunswick Corporation (BRC), whose slogan reads, "Brunswick, the number one name in bowling," omits its primary function not only from the corporate title, but more so from the lanes it operates.
Brunswick is not alone in this respect. Far too many proprietors emphasize bowling as a recreation, particularly to mediocre bowlers and open play customers who have little or no regard for excellence in the game.
Herein lies the camouflaged comparison between sport and recreation. Sport is interpreted as a recreational competitive activity.
Recreation simply translates into diversion, entertainment, relaxation, pastime, amusement, or leisure—no more, no less.
Which brings us to the original question: Is bowling a sport or a recreation?
"Recreation center" has supplanted "bowling center." Consequently, this connotation has transformed bowling from sport to recreation. Bowling has done nothing to differentiate sport from recreation.
Inasmuch as proprietors adopt the position that bowling is more a recreation than a sport, should we condemn sports editors who share the same conviction?
Do newspapers report recreational events? Of course not!
Are we justified in our grievances against sports editors who refuse to allot space to recreation? No way!
Inasmuch as the Bowling Lords have chosen to categorize the game as a recreation, we must suffer the consequences and remain anonymous in the sports world.