There is a sport that has been around for over 100 years that was once one of the most watched sports in America. Saturday afternoons on ABC would have the PBA Tour followed by the Wide World of Sports. Every Saturday, my dad would turn on bowling and we would sit there and watch this before going outside to play. Often, we would get done watching the telecast and go set up things that looked like pins and we would "bowl" with a basketball. The bowlers' were famous-there was D. Weber (it won't let me put his first name) and his son Pete, Earl Anthony, Mike Aulby, Don Johnson, Walter Ray Williams Jr., and Mark Roth-just to name a few. These men enjoyed stardom that many of today's athletes enjoy, but they never had the huge paydays. In the late 1980's, ABC changed their programming and got rid of the PBA and significantly changed the sport forever.

Bowling's popularity since ABC dropped the PBA from it's Saturday lineup has had a steady decline. This is true in ratings for the PBA telecasts (now on ESPN) and participation in the sport. It used to be that a bowling center would be full every night with leagues. Today, bowling centers have to come up with creative things like 'glow bowling' to produce revenue.

The professional game is hurting the most. Today's top professional bowlers are not well known outside of a bowling center. In fact, now they even wear their name on the back of their shirts when they compete just so people know who they are. The prize money hasn't gotten better either. Except for their 'majors', they bowl for a $25,000 top prize. Only the top eleven pros topped the $100,000 mark this past season. Yes, that's 100K-think of that the next time you watch a golf tournament where the winner gets $1.1 million! Besides the low totals, bowlers have to factor in entry fees and travel costs. In fact, many bowlers who have had success on the pro tour are now 'amateurs', because they can make more money bowling in tournaments that do not allow pros. Many more have gone on to different careers.

I hope the sport will regain some of the popularity that it once had. I don't think that will be the case because the popularity of extreme sports are changing the way people look at sports-to most people, bowling is just too boring to watch.