Olympic Bowling, Anyone?

While watching the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics last night and seeing each competing nation's participants march proudly around the field, I wondered if the USA or any nation will have its finest bowlers joining this magnificent procession at a summer Olympics in the not-too-distant future or ever at all. After all, bowling is becoming increasingly popular in other parts of the world, and bowlers all over the globe are getting better and better, thanks, in no small part, to the mentoring of great coaches from the USA going abroad to nurture young bowling talent.

But here in this country, serious league and tournament bowling seems to be on an irreversible decline, bowling centers are dying, and the PBA, which still, surely, features the finest bowlers on earth, gets very little respect and, with some notable exceptions, garners poor ratings on national TV and offers prize funds to match. What's more, there seems to be a widespread conviction among the uninitiated here and elsewhere that bowling is a marginal sport at best and, therefore, unworthy of inclusion into the Olympic repertoire.

Can anything be done to elevate the public's perception of bowling, improve its financial viability at the professional and amateur levels, and propel it into the Olympics?

This month's issue of Bowlers Journal International features an article in Jim Dressell's fancifully named "Bowlitically Incorrect" column titled "What Will It Take for the PBA to Claim Its Place in the Pantheon of Elite Sports?" Here, Dressell discusses what took golf, the NFL, and the NBA from relative obscurity to the spotlight and prosperity they enjoy today, and he concludes that great stars like Arnold Palmer and Tiger Woods in golf; Joe Namath in football; and Julius Erving, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, and, preeminently, Michael Jordan in basketball helped launch these sports into stratospheric prominence and lucrativeness. Of course, other sports, such as professional hockey and soccer, have tried to ride the jerseys of their stars to the same heights of success but failed. And now, says Dressell, the PBA is using Tom Smallwood, Jason Belmonte, and (I would add) Kelly Kulick to improve its own fortunes. "So far, it hasn't worked," he says, "But give it some time."

It seems to me that bowling would be more respected, popular, and lucrative if it became an Olympic sport. Conversely, bowling would have a much better chance of becoming an Olympic sport if it were more respected, popular, and lucrative in this country and abroad. It seems to me that the two go hand-in-hand, like chicken and egg.

But how do we improve the chances of both happening? Or is the nature of bowling such that this is impossible, in that there will never be enough people, especially in this age of increasingly fast, violent, and "extreme" sports, capable of appreciating what a complex, challenging, and great sport bowling is at the highest levels of competition?

I'll be revisiting this issue repeatedly over time, because it is surely one of the most important issues facing bowling.