"Bowling Blind"

Bowling fans need to see him this Sunday.

PBA Tour-Tournament of Champions

This is a memo to anyone associated with the PBA, whether it be Commissioner Fred Schreyer, Tournament Director Kurt von Kruger, the lane maintenance crew, Red Rock Lanes, the city of Las Vegas, state of Nevada, the western time zone...I could go on forever but you'd lose interest. The point I am getting at is that for all the history and the pageantry that surrounds this all important Tournament of Champions, celebrating the 50 greatest players in PBA history, bringing back all the recent champions and Hall of Fame players and past T of C winners, there is one thing that must, must, MUST happen this week on the lanes: Norm Duke must be there on Sunday.

He doesn't have to win, but he has to be there Sunday, with the chance to win. Rare is it in this sport of bowling that you can control your own way (not destiny-you cannot control destiny) through qualifying and match play and onto the television show when there are so few slots available to the bowlers. On most given shows, there are only 4 people that are visible on Sunday whereas in golf, a high majority of the field is still visible on Sunday, which sometimes can write its own storyline with a back 9 charge or a back 9 collapse, especially on a major Sunday telecast. Bowling is not offered that luxury of having its own storyline being written out on Sundays because the final four bowlers have already been decided and they are the only bowlers remaining. There is no one that is in 10th place making a late charge through match play to win a bowling tournament on a Sunday, but there is a possibility of a collapse late to lose a championship (Copyright: Chris Barnes, 2008 T of C). With that being said, the PBA would do itself a favor, as well as bowling fans a favor, by getting Norm Duke in the finals of Sundays' telecast for the Tournament of Champions.

The reason is rather simple: in case you have been living under President Obama's stylish new trench coat (and don't worry, about 2 million people were there in DC yesterday to watch his Inauguration), Norm Duke has a chance to claim his 4th consecutive major championship: a feat never before accomplished or never before even approached in bowling history until Duke won the last major, the 2008 World Championship which was his 3rd consecutive major victory. It's amazing to comprehend what Duke is on the verge of considering where he was at this point one year ago. One year ago, Norm Duke was hurt, sick, injured, and unable to gain any traction in what was slowing becoming a lost season...so lost of a season that he was on the verge of losing a coveted exemption spot for the 2008-09 season. Said miracles happened in Indianapolis, then North Brunswick, and then Wichita.

Now what happens in Vegas...stays in the PBA record books.

Win or lose, Norm Duke must find a way to get to Sunday's show if not to make history, then to at the very least, chase history. The general viewing public has always gotten to see their champions and their heroes riding great streaks to their inevitable conclusion, but the mere thought that the TV's watching at home can be a witness to greatness is what draws eyes to the sport. It takes the athlete out of the sport's consciousness and into the national consciousness: one in which they can become the transcendent figure or team in the country's eyes. Whether radios tuned into the Summer of '41 where Joe DiMaggio hit in 56 straight games or Ted Williams hit .406 or the 2007 New England Patriots had millions of viewers watch their pursuit of 19-0 only to see it fall in Super Bowl XXXXII, or nearly 60,000 fans in the Astrodome watched the Houston Cougars snap UCLA men's basketball winning streak of 47 games or even Notre Dame stopping the Bruins eighty-eight game winning streak. The point is that streaks end. Runs end. The winning ends. You either cheer as a fan for the streak being snapped or bemoan that it ended but you can at least remember where you were when it was over. In the case of Duke, bowling fans have often been cheated of the great storyline for so many years and for the first time in the PBA Tour's 50 year history and for the first time in organized bowling's one hundred and thirteen year history there is something that if a sport's fan were to truly observe closely, this is an event that no one may ever see again.

The only problem is that fans may not be able to see the run end, or to be more precise, they won't know where the end came. Duke will eventually not win a major championship and that is something everyone will come to grips with. What we as bowling fans cannot come to grips with is that we may not see Duke at any point on TV this week to see him officially lose his bid at four straight. We as bowling fans need finality to easily the greatest major run in bowling history by having Norm Duke not win while on television but this being the PBA, if Duke does not finish in the top 4 after qualifying and match play, fans who are not lucky enough to watch Duke bowl this weekend will not see history end. They will hear about it, they will read about it, but they will not see it. This is where the PBA must count its lucky stars and hope Duke makes the final 4 or get him there even if they have to overstep their time boundaries again this season. If Duke finishes 5th, just one spot shy of the finals, they should do what they can to get Duke on the TV finals to at least give fans the sense that 4 straight is still alive and in a setting where there is nothing significant on in the sports world opposing bowling, it should make it a 5 person final to captivate the bowling fan watching or even the casual fan tuning into maybe watching history.

Fans this Sunday hope that Duke can give them one more moment
in PBA history that only he can make so humbling.

As stated in my first "Bowling Blind" article of the season, Norm Duke is easily the sport's most popular player amongst fans and his wins in recent years have been crowd pleasing as well as drama filled. Since his last Player of the Year award in 2000, Duke's TV moments have been rather dramatic, historic, fun filled, and emotional all rolled into one. Another Duke moment (even if he's seeded 5th, it is worth it to lose some money by spending more TV time) has been worth it over the last 7 years. Some great Duke moments:

2002 (Syosset, NY): Beats Dave Traber in a 3 frame roll-off after both players punched out for a 245 tie. Duke won in the 3rd roll-off frame with a strike to win the tournament. Andohbytheway, the winner of that match got back into the T of C.

2003 (Seattle, WA): Against the eventual POY, Walter Ray Williams Jr. (Mr. 8-10) Duke fires the 15th televised perfect game in history. It was also an arena final as well, giving a larger in house audience a great show. What is amazing about that day is that Duke lost in the title match to Mike DeVaney

2003 (Kansas City, MO): Covers the 1-2-8-10 to beat the eventual POY Mika Koivuniemi.

2005 (Atlanta, GA): Wins while hooking the whole lane against Tony Reyes and Ryan Shafer.

2006 (Lake Hammond, IN): Goes through match play undefeated, beating Koivuniemi again in the title match.

2006 (Babylon, NY): Plays up 10 on the Shark pattern, runs the ladder against Mike Fagan, Joe Ciccone, Tommy DeLutz Jr., and Shafer

2007 (Indianapolis): After Shafer shoots a perfect game on TV, Duke elects to play a line further left than he played all week long and routs Shafer again on TV.

2008 (Indianapolis-WC): Fighting the flu and nagging injuries, beats Williams and Shafer to regain his exemption. Tears flow from Duke as he secures a 4 year exemption.

2008 (North Brunswick, NJ-US Open): The only major he had yet to win in his career and in the same week he lost his grandfather, Duke runs another ladder over Doug Kent, Chris Loschetter, and Koviuniemi converting the bucket to win. Duke's emotion after covering the spare was priceless-jumping in the air, screaming, crying. Another great Duke moment.

2008 (Wichita-WC): Looking to pursue an unprecedented 3rd straight major, plays the gutter shot and beats two Wichita State alums in Sean Rash and Chris Barnes. Styx plays in the background.

"Domo arigato, Mr. Roboto...for helping me escape just when I needed to. Thank You!"

Even if Norm Duke's timeline for the future probably is shorter than most of the superstars left on the PBA Tour, he can firmly carve his place in PBA history with 4 straight. We all hope as bowling fans we get to at the very least the end if it doesn't happen. For Norm Duke, I think we can all safely say that he too, would like the major roll to continue on "The Greatest Week in Bowling". He is a man of history, after all...

For all readers who have no effin idea who Styx is, check out the Mr. Roboto music video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBtZk13miAE

For all emails, responses, or well wishes because I jumped off the deep end with this blog, reach me at Senordoscien527@aol.com.