PBA Bowling this afternoon

Posted By: Peter DavidPosted On:

I’ll be attending the ESPN TV broadcast today at 1 PM, so see if you can spot me in the crowd. I’ll be wearing a red PBA shirt.

Less said about the Pro-Am in which Ariel and I bowled yesterday, the better. Ariel did okay, but I couldn’t get pin carry if my life depended on it. That’s the last time I bowl in the final squad when all the oil is gone.

PAD

23 comments on “PBA Bowling this afternoon”

  1. “When all the oil is gone?”

    This metaphor came at me from behind and klunked my head. So you’re the Tin Woodsman now?

    (For that matter, if he were really made of tin, the Woodsman wouldn’t rust, would he? Only if he were iron or steel. And if he were made of steel and only covered with tin, wouldn’t he be the Galvanized Woodman? And if he were truly replaced piece by piece, as his enchanted axe kept chopping pieces of him off, wouldn’t he be fiction’s first cyborg? Maybe I need more sleep.)

  3. Peter, This brought up the perfect opportunity to ask this question. I’m not sure if you know the answer to it, but I figure most baseball fans know something about pro baseball player salaries, football fans and pro football salaries etc…

    I heard on Howard Stern the other day that the leading money maker in bowling took 10 years to make 10 million dollars. Now naturally this is not a paltry sum, but compared to other pro athletes, it pales in comparison. I think they also said that an average pro bowler makes 100,000-120,000 per year.

    This just piqued my curiosity, since other sports are far more lucrative (assuming the numbers are correct.) I was just wondering if you knew anything about this, if these numbers are right?

  4. I heard on Howard Stern the other day that the leading money maker in bowling took 10 years to make 10 million dollars. Now naturally this is not a paltry sum, but compared to other pro athletes, it pales in comparison. I think they also said that an average pro bowler makes 100,000-120,000 per year.

    Yeah, that sounds about right. And the “leading money maker” would probably be Walter Ray Williams.

    The winner of the Pro tournament on Sunday took home $25,000, or what a major league baseball player would refer to as “chump change.” The Grand Master tournament, which is the high ticket item, is “only” a hundred grand.

    I would strongly suggest you check out a documentary called “League of Ordinary Gentlemen.” Gives you a really great view of what their lives are like.

    PAD

  5. Tom, “when all the oil is gone” is not a metaphor. They oil the lanes, but by the end of the day the oil is mostly gone and the lanes get much less pleasant characteristics from the point of view of a bowler with any talent (i.e. oil or no oil wouldn’t really affect my score, because I suck).

    Aside: a friend of mine got the Iron Man novelization at Books A Million yesterday, ahead of street date. He’s hard to impress when it comes to Iron Man (being a techno-geek), and he loved the novel. I look forward to reading it myself (no BAM in my town, so I wait until it hits shelves tomorrow).

  6. Hi! this is my first time posting here. I have been enjoying your blog, though, for a little while and have been very much a fan of your writing for many years now. Having been a bowler of some skill, I am always intrigued by the occaisional mentions of your involvement. When I learned how to bowl, it was on very dry lanes. I believe they tried to save money on oil or the machine they used was just very poor. Because you had to use so much strength to control the ball one would hang a 7 or a 10 pen often. Thank you for reminding me of those days gone by. And thanks for the hours of reading pleasure you have given me.

  7. Perhaps I’m opening up a can of worms here but what’s the general consenus of bowling being a skill/game/sport?

    I’ve always seen it as a skill and not so much a sport. I’ve been in a league and I’m not very good so I have a high respect for those who are. It’s still just a game to me though. And not in a disrespectful way, either.

    Thoughts?

  8. Perhaps I’m opening up a can of worms here but what’s the general consenus of bowling being a skill/game/sport?

    I’ve always seen it as a skill and not so much a sport. I’ve been in a league and I’m not very good so I have a high respect for those who are. It’s still just a game to me though. And not in a disrespectful way, either.

    Thoughts?

  9. That’s a question that comes up at work all the time. We have a, ahem, gentleman at work that swears that baseball, car racing, and practically anything else that isn’t hockey or football isn’t a sport. According to him, they’re all skills. “Sport” doesn’t necessarily refer to athletic exertion, but to the competition involved.

    I still haven’t decided, though, if I’d include eating contests as “sport” or just “nauseating.”

  10. Two other things–
    1. That definition is my interpretation. As somebody around here said, yer mileage(kilometerage?) may vary.

    2. I, myself, am a lousy bowler unless I don’t look at the pins or watch the ball go down the lane. It could even be said that losing my ball in a car accident is just the Universe being merciful to me and the pins.

  11. In discussion…

    ITEM THE FIRST: You better believe that there’s oil on them thar lanes! And the less oil there is, the more the ball tends to make contact with the lane, and hook (or back up). There is a HUGE difference between bowling early and bowling late in a tournament. (This is why you see most pros bringing two balls or more when they bowl. They’re not showing off… the bowling balls are of different composition, and react differently to a lot of oil or a little oil.)

    ITEM THE SECOND: Someone once gave me a definition of “sport” that I like. A sport is a pasttime or hobby in which you can pull a muscle.

    So I guess that lets chess and fantasy hockey out of the mix (depending, of course, on how emphatically you play your chess. 🙂

    I remain,
    Sincerely,
    Eric L. Sofer

  12. If it’s competitive, burns calories, increases your metabolism and/or builds muscles, it’s a sport. And you’d better believe that bowling, serious bowling, does that. I’m left handed, and my left bicep is a full inch and a half larger than my right, and that’s entirely because of bowling. And when I bowl purely for practice, and bang out six games in just over an hour, I’m sweating and my pulse rate is up.

    PAD

  13. Someone once gave me a definition of “sport” that I like. A sport is a pasttime or hobby in which you can pull a muscle.
    Luigi Novi: In which case mášŧûrbáŧìøņ would be a sport.

  14. Luigi-
    In some circles, it is. (not kidding there are these Olympic style games that go on in the pørņ industry where there are different “skills” that are put to the test and they are very competitive)

  16. Yes, the term “clean and jerk” will have a whole new meaning.

    Boy, I know we were discussing bowling, but I didn’t think matters would go directly into the gutter.

    PAD

  17. Not to mention that “when all the oil is gone” now has lots of new connotations…

    TWL

  18. Well, I’m sure PAD will keep us all pinned down so that no one gets a strike against them.

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