THE CHALLENGE ILLUSTRATED

It’s not enough to explain how difficult the game is. Television gives us the chance to show everybody.
by Sam Baca

Are we doing the best job we can to explain the nuances and challenges of our sport on national television? I say “No.” I also say that, for the sport’s sake, we’ve got to do a better job. Here are a few ideas to dramatically illustrate what the bowlers are facing on each telecast:

At the top of the show, the color analyst could show a computer printout of the center conditions and how those conditions not only creates the patterns across the lane, but how they impact upon the challenges presented across the lanes. The analyst could explain how they would affect the angle of attack into the pocket, but also affect the line the bowlers might play.

Perhaps he could also interview one of the bowlers — be it a Professional Bowlers Association or Professional Women Bowlers Association event — to see how he or she might attack the lane pattern that week, or to see how the pattern affects the choice of bowling equipment.

But the conditioning patterns change, since oil “migrates” over the lane surface during normal bowling play. How can you possibly illustrate those changes on what is, in effect, a stagnant lane graph?

The answer revolves around the fact that all lane oils today contain ultraviolet additives to allow a “lane reader” to read the oil pattern. To utilize that characteristic on TV to reveal the change in the oil pattern, all you have to do is to set up a “black light” that runs the length of the lane, then, during television time-outs, record a shot of the “new” oil pattern by activating the black light.

Failing that, it is our understanding that one of the cameras can be fitted with a special lens to reveal the ultraviolet patterns created by the migrating oil. The lens could be added to the camera(s) periodically, or used on a dedicated camera to show the TV viewers how the oil deteriorates as the competition continues through completion of the contest. 

An additional idea would be to “pull” some lane-reading tapes when commercial breaks are taken between the televised matches. This would also serve to illustrate how the lanes have changed since the first match was bowled, and would help viewers understand why lane conditions have changed since the first match. It could also be used to understand just how a bowler lost his angle to the pocket, after bowling a standout game on national television in the previous match.

For an additional dimension to the situation, the commentators could interview the Lane Maintenance Directors of the PBA and PWBA, respectively, and get them to explain how temperature, humidity and static fields are changing the lanes as the bowlers are competing.

But why stop there? If the networks are looking for additional footage to create an extra dimension to the challenge at hand, the cameramen can videotape the match play during the evening squads, where the pros sometimes play the most abstract angles to the strike zone. Not only will this encourage amateur bowlers to learn how to play different angles of entry to the strike zone, it might even encourage them to go out and practice.