The PBA (Professional Bowlers Association) tour has gone through a multitude of changes over the years.  Unfortunately, most of the changes have been for the worse.

Perhaps the golden age for the tour was when Chris Schenkel and Nelson Burton Jr. led the commentary for the PBA telecasts.

For over 20 years starting in the mid 1970’s, the pair made Saturday afternoons mandatory viewing for bowling fans in the United States.

Schenkel was not a bowling person per se, but made up for it with professionalism and style.  He was a wonderful compliment to Nelson Burton Jr. whose knowledge of the game was encyclopedic.

No other broadcast team in bowling – at least in the States – could match their charisma.

Today, bowling suffers from somewhat of an image problem in the USA, and the Pro Bowlers Tour has been trying to find its place in the crowded landscape of televised sporting events.

Pro Bowling enjoyed great television ratings in the US in the 1980’s, regularly beating out college basketball and football games on TV.

It was during this period that the PBA tour hit its peak, as evidenced by the decent prize money offered in tournaments.

But with cable television rolling out in the 1980’s and early 1990’s, more sporting choices were suddenly on offer and bowling viewership began its decline.

As a result, the Professional Bowlers tour embarked on a rollercoaster ride of numerous gimmicky changes to try and bring viewers back.

One such example was the use of gold bowling pins.

For a number of years, gold bowling pins were used on telecasts in place of the traditional white pins.

The gold pins were a rather dark shade and did not contrast well with the black backdrops of the lane pits.

A shiny silver pin color would have been a much better choice.

Another gimmick was the introduction of continuous fan applause throughout the bowlers’ delivery.

Traditionally, fans in attendance of televised events were to remain silent until after the bowler released the shot.  Bob Learn Jr. even got to retake a shot once because of fan noise en route to a televised 300 game.

Someone in the PBA decided more applause would increase ratings.  It didn’t, and that idea went to the scrap heap real quick-like.

Then they tried breaking the formula of stepladder TV finals with various weird substitutes.

They tried having more bowlers on a telecast by introducing three bowler matches instead of the normal one on one, head to head matches.

They also tried having less bowlers on a telecast with the ill advised semi-finals match format.  This meant only four bowlers on a telecast rather than the normal five.

Logically, the tournament of champions used to be the final event of the season, as bowlers competed throughout the season for a chance to participate in a winners only tournament finale.

Now, the tournament of champions is closer to the beginning of the season, and even non-winners can participate.

Women can now bowl on the men’s tour (can men now bowl on the women’s tour?).

There have been other notable flops on the tour, such as the king of the hill segment and trick shots competitions including balls hoisted long distance over chairs arranged on the lanes, resulting in more dents in the lane than in viewership.

All this floundering with gimmicks and the pitiful winner’s checks – typically $25,000 which is less than what was paid over 20 years ago – clearly illustrate the current sad state of professional bowling in the USA and its “weakly” telecasts, featuring bowling ignorant commentators who feel the need to coin amateurish new bowling jargon like “hambone.”