…and since no-one did, here’s my chance to butt into something that doesn’t pertain to me (I’m quite good at this).
An article appeared on bowl.com today titled “Bowling Industry Supports Dornberger’s bid for WTBA president”:
http://www.bowl.com/articleView.aspx?i=13418&f=1
I like that Dornberger is basically elected president before the election on the 29th of August, because the entire US Bowling Industry basically endorses him. But who is this guy? Another guy with connections like every one of Dalkin’s cronies? He is the VP of the FIQ right now, but that doesn’t necessarily mean he’s less or more qualified than any other bowler – he just happens to have his name thrown in the hat.
But what I really don’t understand is this quote from Storm CEO Bill Chrisman:
“…Kevin has a tremendous passion for our sport and is our best chance to facilitate bowling’s entry into the Olympic Games”.
I completely disagree. No, not about his “passion” for the sport of bowling, the other part. The FIQ has been recognized by the IOC since 1979 – that’s 28 years – as the world governing body of bowling. What is so special about 2007 that bowling will finally become an olympic sport? Why didn’t this happen in 1984? 1992? 2004?
Also, why is bowling recognized as an olympic sport, but not a sport on the official olympic program? Who is to say that this Dornberger cat is going to make one iota of difference? Just because he’s going to be the president of the WTBA? Clearly the IOC doesn’t give a shit who’s president – unless Dornberger somehow has connections with the IOC (which I highly doubt).
I think bowling simply “sucks” in the eyes of the IOC. I really don’t see any other reason why it’s not an olympic sport that’s actually played in the summer olympics. I mean, here is a list of the current sports that are competed at the olympics:
Aquatics
Archery
Athletics
Badminton
Baseball
Basketball
Boxing
Canoe / kayak
Cycling
Equestrian
Fencing
Football
Gymnastics
Handball
Hockey
Judo
Modern Pentathlon
Rowing
Sailing
Shooting
Softball
Table Tennis
Taekwondo
Tennis
Triathlon
Volleyball
Weightlifting
Wrestling
I don’t think anyone can argue that bowling could very well be included on this list…EXCEPT for the fact that pins, lanes, lane oil, and bowling balls are primarily manufactured by United States companies. I’m just guessing here, but that has to be a problem. Look at basketball – the court dimensions are different, the rules are different, and even the ball used is different between what the NBA and “American” basketball plays by vs. what the Olympics play by. So is Ice Hockey, Softball, and Boxing, that I know for a fact. Is bowling? I highly don’t think so.
But that’s neither here nor there. I say fuck the Olympics. Yes, you read that correct, F-U-C-K the Olympics. No-one here in this country cares about the Olympics, so why should bowling? We should let the Olympics come to bowling, and not the other way around. The Olympics was barely watched in 2004 here, and isn’t really all that important. We don’t give two shits about which country wins more Gold Medals in Equestrian competition (we apparently also don’t give a shit about bowling either), so why even bother? What will Olympics do for bowling anyways? Promotion / marketing? Bowling can’t market themselves out of a wet paper bag – attaching the stupid 5-rings logo to the USBC or PBA logos won’t do a damn thing. Neither will blowing it up on bowling websites if it were to happen. People in this country still wouldn’t give 2 shits from Sunday about bowling.
Also, it wouldn’t be fair to the rest of the world if PBA players were allowed to compete in the Olympics. They would all be competing for 2nd place, because American bowlers would absolutely rock the face off of any other country’s bowlers. Guys like Mika and Amleto and Osku Palermaa (sp) are once in a generation type international bowling stars. They stand virtually no chance against America’s top players – especially in any kind of team event. Can a team of WRW, Weber, Bohn, Barnes, and Tommy Jones be beat by any other 5 in the world? I highly doubt it.




Posted by exbowler
Posted by exbowler
Posted by exbowler