Looking Ahead With The PWBA

By Rick Woelfel

 

(This piece originally appeared in Bowling Digest and appears here with permission)

 

It's a gorgeous autumn afternoon in Central Pennsylvania and the HerseheyPark entertainment complex is bustling with visitors. But next door, the Giant Center is filled with bowling fans. The indoor arena has been converted into a bowling venue and more than 5,000 fans are preparing to watch the championship match of the Hershey Foods PWBA Challenge of Champions, the climactic event of the tour's 2005 season.

The top 32 players in the sport have been in nearby Harrisburg all week, engaging in single-elimination matches, seeking a share of a $500,000 purse, the largest in the history of women's bowling. Two of the tour's brightest stars, Tiffany Stambrough and Cara Honeychurch, have emerged as the finalists.

 

In a few moments, the pair will bowl a one-game match for a winner's check of $100,000. Right now, they are trying to collect their thoughts while ABC-TV is airing a series of commercials.

 

Both have had a full weekend. Stambrough, the second seed at the start of the competition on Friday, defeated Brenda Norman in the opening round in a three-game match, 642-577. In the round of 16, a best-of-five affair, Stambrough averaged 221 while eliminating Kim Adler three games to one. In the best-of-seven quarterfinals Saturday evening, Stambrough took out Wendy Macpherson in six games, averaging 219 in the process. Earlier today she beat Kelly Kulick 227-219 in a semifinal match.

 

Honeychurch, the fourth seed had to work just as hard, getting past Kari Schwager in the opening round, 661-604. In the second round she bested Marianne DiRupo, three games to two, while averaging 214. Michelle Feldman was next, in a quarterfinal that went a full seven games, with Honeychurch averaging 217.

 

In today's semifinal, Honeychurch defeated top-seeded Carolyn Dorin-Ballard in the best match of the tournament, striking out in the 10th to win 241-234. She's hoping to carry that momentum into her match with Stambrough.

 

ABC's last commercial has ended and commentators Michelle Tafoya and Cathy Dorin-Lizzi are back on the air, live. Millions are watching, not just across the United States, but in Honeychurch's native Australia, where it's already Monday morning.

 

For fans that don't have access to television, the PWBA has arranged for a live audio feed on the Internet on Womensportsonline.com. As the higher seed, Stambrough elects to start the match, which is shaping up as the most significant in the history of women's bowling.

 

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Is the above scenario farfetched? Not necessarily. What will it take for the PWBA to make an impact with the casual sports fan? We have a few suggestions to help make that happen.

 

1. Stress the point that the PWBA players are the best bowlers in the world—No won would dispute the capabilities of LPGA superstar Annika Sorenstam and no serious golfer would challenge the notion that Sorenstam would thrash any amateur in a head-to-head match.

On a fair condition, Carolyn Dorin-Ballard would be far superior to an expert amateur bowler as well, but somewhere, somehow, that message has gotten lost, in part because bowling is being marketed as a recreational activity. There is a huge difference between participating in an activity for recreation and being proficient enough to make a living doing it.

 

With that in mind:

 

2. Take time on television to explain what the condition is like— In golf, there is a vast difference between the course conditions that weekend hackers deal with and the setup that Sorenstam or Tiger Woods face. In bowling there is a vast difference between shooting a 260 or a 680 on a house condition and doing on the condition that the professionals bowl on, but a lot of bowlers don't seem to realize it.

"With golf you can see the hazards," says PWBA veteran Kim Terrell. "With our sport, with the oil being invisible, you can't tell that there are strips. They've used graphics and they've tried in other ways but it's just not obvious to the eye that the patterns that we're bowling on make it significantly different than the things that the average player sees every day."

 

With Terrell's comments in mind:

 

3. Allow the players to display their skills.—In other words, don't be afraid to make the condition for the televised finals difficult. A 270 game is entertaining, but not if everyone on the show is shooting 250 or better. One of the reasons the pros are better than the amateurs is that they make spares. If Leanne Barrette shoots 204 to win on a tough condition, that's as impressive as Kelly Kulick shooting 260 with an easier shot.

 

With that in mind:

 

4. Put Cathy Dorin-Lizzi in the TV analyst's chair and leave her there—We made this point last year and we will make it again, because Dorin-Lizzi is the ideal personality to reach out to the casual sports fan (read: non-bowling fan) who will presumably be watching PBA telecasts. It's this kind of viewer the tour needs to attract to be a long-term success and Dorin-Lizzi is the idea woman for the job.

She is knowledgeable about the sport and has the ability to convey that knowledge to her audience. And, not incidentally, she looks good on camera. Dorin-Lizzi must walk a fine line between educating the bowling neophyte and not talking down to the knowledgeable fan. That's a tough assignment, but she has met that challenge with distinction.
Some have complained that Dorin-Lizzi talks too much. Our response is: Every time we watch Dorin-Lizzi, we learn more about bowling. In our view, she is one of the most talented analysts on television today—in any sport!

 

5. All PWBA telecasts should be live—We understand that live TV costs money, lots of it. But watching a show on a three or four day tape delay takes away any sense of suspense and drama, unless the viewer stays away from bowling web sites in the interim. There might be occasions when shows have to be taped but those shows should be aired the same day the tournament in question actually concluded.

 

 

 

6. Using the femininity of the players as a marketing tool is fine, to a point—Three decades ago, the LPGA tried this approach. The only problem was, that some of the golfers it chose to market in this way were less than capable players. Some though, were highly capable and while there are a number of extremely attractive women on the LPGA Tour today, they are marketed as athletes first.

There are a number of extremely attractive women bowling on the PWBA tour today. But the leadership of the tour must never forget that that they must be marketed as outstanding bowlers who happen to be attractive, not the other way around.

 

 

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Stambrough starts off the championship match with four straight strikes, converts a 4-7-10 in the sixth frame and goes on to defeat Honeychurch 216-201. The first-place check vaults Stambrough to the top of the money list. The win is her fourth of the year; she goes on to earn Player of the Year honors from her peers and is named Bowler of the Year by Bowling Digest. As the telecast concludes, Hershey Foods announces that it will extend its agreement to host the Challenge of Champions through 2008. The day after the finals, Stambrough is back in Hershey to shoot a commercial for HersheyPark.