"Bowling Blind"

No longer unknown, John Nolen took his place among the new generation

of stars this week in Las Vegas.

"Yeah, But..."

ESPN personality/comedian/NutraSystem spokesperson/Eagles music fan Chris Berman loves to "beat the dead horse" analogy, well...like beating a dead horse. Be that as it may, on NFL Countdown Sundays before bowling telecasts in the 2007-08 season, you can hear Boomer Berman talking about the Jacksonville Jaguars and all their overall talent, their good young coaching staff, and how they might have been able to put a stop to Tom Brady and the Belicheats undefeated streak. However, he would always give the Jags this classic line: "Yeah, But...", meaning that as much as you like it, there is something missing from really, really liking it. Almost as if the Jags were the chorus girl in high school that had a great voice and with the right type of look, could be a megastar singer. Yeah, But...she had split ends. Yeah, But...she has a rotten personality. Yeah, But...Yeah, But...

The last few weeks of the PBA Tour have been right along those "Yeah, But..." weeks despite them having two great backdrops with the Dick Weber Open and the USBC Masters, both shows failed to live up to the hype of what was happening.

(Flashback alert....)

Dick Weber Open: Norm Duke crafted a sensational performance in derailing Mike Fagan. Fagan had navigated his way through 3 match wins to get to the title match and Duke, the top seed, had to show great touch in playing the outside line to win and did so with a sensational 278 game while Fagan sputtered losing his inside line losing the match and finishing second. It was Duke's 3rd win of the season and got him within two points of Wes Malott on the Player of the Year points list (foreshadowing to come). It was truly a great exhibition of shotmaking making Duke worthy of winning the tournament named after one of the game's all time great bowlers in Mr. Weber.

Yeah, But...did you see how good Mike Fagan was??? Hey, everyone knows I love Norm Duke more than any other player in the game and he showed great touch in crushing Fagan in the title match but Mike Fagan has made the leap to that level as a player that we will see often in the next few years. His sick, athletic game, as well as that awesome looking argyle shirt (for which there is no picture of ANYWHERE...how can that be?!?) makes for good television and he was able to deliver for a solid hour of bowling on a demanding condition only to run out of lane against the great Duke. Fagan is still missing a singles title but you can't help but think that he, along with Bill O'Neill will be champions real soon out here. Did the PBA make a point of this, by the way? Um...no, not really.

USBC Masters: John Nolen made history by claiming major glory by defeating Danny Wiseman at the newly constructed Cashman Center in Las Vegas, Nolen's first pro title to boot. The 29-year-old from Waterford, Michigan literally came from the longshot column to pretty much dominate the entire week of bowling. He led qualifying, then in the unique and dangerous double-elimination match play ran through 6 opponents to head to Sunday at the top seed. His good roll continued, edging out Wiseman in the title match for the Masters win. For Nolen, it is a $60,000 pay day and a two year exemption and the second straight season a young star in his 20's establishes his ability to march his way through the sport's most grueling match play tournament.

Yeah, But...there were two odd things about the telecast that did not make sense to me. First, how dead was that audience? Maybe I am looking for a 5 star crowd to really galvanize the bowlers every week but can the fans of professional bowling start showing some life, pluh-leeeze???

Maybe I should blame the pros for that but I will get off that because it is a major and there is no more greater objective for a bowler than to focus on the 60 feet in front of them in this spot with so much on the line, including so much for both Nolen and Wiseman. It was made pretty evident that this day was Danny Wiseman's possible farewell to pro bowling. He is 41 years old, has 11 titles as well as a Masters title on his future Hall of Fame resume. A second Masters crown and two year exemption would have been enticing for Wiseman to keep his career going. When he went shaker 10 in the 10th to lose, you almost got the sense that this was it for one of the game's most flamboyant and highly skilled players. I hope Wiseman does not leave the stage as long as he is still exempt but this was a prime example that Wiseman still has game.

The other note that confused me on TV was those Player of the Year standings showing up. Since Norm Duke finished 5th this week, he failed to make the telecast and the lead in the POY standings, yet somehow when the graphics came up, he was tied with Malott for the lead. A question would be How?!? How can you humanly base a POY race, which formulates itself on making television as a legitimate award when a bowler fails to make the TV show by one spot yet ties for the lead? Again, I go back to my eyes and tell me who the POY has been this year and it is a 3 person race between Duke, Malott, and Allen. Allen and Duke have to have a slight edge over Duke because they both have major wins this year while Malott in his one crack came up short. How hard is this people? Seriously...

In any event the last two weeks were clear indications that the PBA is still having difficulty trying to sell its sport on television and I still foresee problems in the future...that is, if they were standard tour stops. The next few weeks come arguably the most critical 6 weeks the PBA's 50 year history with the "Extreme Swing", a 5 event swing that will test the game's elite on a myriad of lane conditions with different formats, different equipment, and different lane conditions during days of certain tournaments that can attract fans who might have waned on the same old same old of pro bowling a chance to find a new passion for a dying love that is bowling. Here is hoping that the PBA gives no "Yeah, But..." to the fans watching live or at home. Of course, the 6th and final week will be the ultimate test of bowling, the US Open. For the next few weeks, I will give my loyal 5 or 6 readers predictions on the coming weeks every Wednesday on each event as to who will win.

Yeah, But...you might be proven wrong. So what? At least I am there as a fan watching. Yeah...