Why Weren't the 2011 U.S. Women's Open Finals Shown Live?

I know who won the U.S. Women's Open last night, and I'd love to be able to write about it here today. But I don't want to spoil it for any of you who wish to wait until you watch the show tomorrow to find out. If you read this blog, you probably know already or will know well before the show airs, but I still don't want to risk spoiling it for anyone.

Of course, if this were not a blog about bowling, and I wanted to write about what happened in the finals of the U.S. Women's Open in tennis or golf the morning after, I wouldn't need to wait. It would likely have been shown live on one of the major networks, and sports headlines around the country if not the world would have blared the results minutes afterward.

But, as we all know, that's not how it is with bowling. Bowling is the Rodney Dangerfield of sports. More people do it on some level or other than probably any other sport, but it "don't get no respect" by the media or, it seems, by the public at large.

That being said, I'm puzzled by something. Bowling may not get much respect, but we're still taking here about the U.S. Women's Open. Not only that, but we're talking about a U.S. Women's Open finals held in the grandest venue--Cowboys Stadium--in which ANY bowling tournament, men's or women's, has EVER been held. Not only that, but it attracted the largest field of any U.S. Women's Open ever, almost 300, from 17 countries, and offered the richest prize fund ever. And to top all that off, it offered a monumental $1 million to anyone who shot 300 in the championship match.

It seems to me that the sponsors of this great tournament--the BPAA and Ebonite International--pulled out all the stops to build interest in this wonderful tournament and its stepladder finals and to draw viewers to television coverage of the finals except for the one measure that might have been the most effective. They were unable or unwilling to do whatever it took to have the finals shown live instead of two days after they took place.

Now just how many people do you think are going to spend Saturday afternoon or evening (depending on your time zone) of a Fourth of July weekend watching a women's bowling tournament of which almost everyone who'd be likely to watch already knows the results? And how many people do you think are going to be drawn to watch by the prospect of seeing whether someone wins the $1 million if they already know whether or not someone won it two days go?

Yes, hardcore bowling fans and bloggers like me will watch no matter what. Besides, I have a horse, so to speak, in the race. Leanne Hulsenberg and her husband Gary bowl league and have a pro shop in my home house. Of course, I want this already legendary bowler to win the one women's major that has so far eluded her during her remarkable career. But there apparently aren't too many like me. As I wrote yesterday, even the preponderance of fairly serious bowlers and self-proclaimed bowling fans appear to be afflicted with a chronic case of the ho-hums. So how many of THEM are going to watch the finals on a holiday weekend or even record it to watch it later when they already know who won, what all the scores were, and whether or not the champion shot 300?

I don't want to be overly critical of the BPAA and Ebonite, mind you. After all, if they hadn't stepped in and rescued a tournament that the USBC abandoned after last year, there'd have been no U.S. Women's Open this year or perhaps ever again. I'm grateful to them. And if I'M grateful to them, just imagine how grateful the women are who cashed or who made the finals of the tournament!

And I'll be the first to admit that I don't know anything about securing live television time on ESPN2 or any other network any time of the day or night. Perhaps it was all but impossible to work out logistically or financially. Yet, it seems to me that there had to have been a way to show the grandest women's bowling tournament ever live, and that someone blew it somewhere, somehow in its not happening.

I don't know what the future holds for the U.S. Women's Open. But if it has a future, I hope I get to see the finals of the next one and of all the ones thereafter live on television and to blog here about them immediately thereafter.

On the off chance that you don't know who won the Open but want to know now instead of trying to hold out until you watch it tomorrow, or perhaps you won't or can't watch it tomorrow, you can click here for a recap of the finals. If you want to watch or record the finals tomorrow, they will be shown Saturday, July 2 on ESPN2 in HD at 6 PM Eastern.

Ebonite International on Anderson Cooper 360

I'm sorry that I missed an "Anderson Cooper 360" segment yesterday that profiles an Ebonite International pin manufacturing plant in Hopkinsville, KY. as part of CNN's continuing coverage of the American economy. I hope I still get the chance to see it later. Here is a passage about it from an article on Ebonite's website:

“With all the hard work we’ve done and the rigorous testing these pins have been through, it’s nice to have some recognition that we’re doing the right thing,” said Schickert. “It hasn’t been easy, but in the end, we’re bringing jobs and manufacturing back to America, and that’s what counts.”

You can read the entire article here.

Leanne Barrete-Hulsenberg Primed for Women's U.S. Open

Leanne Barrette-Hulsenberg is one of the finest female bowlers of all time. She won 26 PWBA titles over a seventeen year period and might well have won many more if not for the demise of the PWBA in 2003. Only three other women in history won over $1 million on tour. She was PWBA Rookie of the Year in 1987, PWBA Player of the Year and BWAA Bowler of the Year in 1991, is a member of the USBC Hall of Fame, and she's appeared over 100 times in televised bowling competition. And while the folding of the PWBA ended her full-time professional bowling career, she hasn't given up the sport by any means.

She and her husband, PBA member and former Ebonite district manager Gary Hulsenberg, own The Strike Shop, a bowling pro shop at Fireside Lanes in Citrus Heights, CA, and Leanne has continued to make her mark in recent national bowling competition, having completed a USBC women's Open "grand slam" and placed 14th in last years's U.S. Women's Open despite the fact that she doesn't bowl nearly as much as she used to.

Leanne also bowls in Fireside Lanes' Steve Cook Classic league and recently rolled her highest sanctioned series ever, an 855 on games of 289-298-268. That's just three pins shy of the house record held jointly by Steve Cook, P.J. Haggerty, and Dave Seiler.

And now Leanne is preparing for a trip to Texas to compete in this year's U.S. Women's Open. She's been working on some physical aspects of her game, trying out different bowling balls and layouts, and bowling tournaments to get herelf as sharp as possible. I'm sure her many fans, myself included, will be rooting for her to do well and make it to the televised finals to be held in the Dallas Cowboys stadium.

If you'd like to read more about Leanne, check out this article on the Ebonite "In The Spotlight" page, and you can view her 2006 match with Liz Johnson below.

More on the 2011 Women's U.S. Open

"This is an incredible moment for both women’s sports and the bowling industry and an opportunity for Bowling’s U.S. Women’s Open to rightfully take center stage before worldwide audiences. Bowling’s U.S. Women’s Open is an event that sits at the pinnacle of women’s athletics. It’s both thrilling and gratifying that this event and its great women athletes – who I am proud to call my competitors – will be catapulted into the spotlight in 2011."

--Kelly Kulick

If you want to learn more about next year's Women's U.S. Open, you can click here to see the official BPAA press release about it.

Bowling Bytes--5/26/10

~ 18-Year-Old Matt Gasn Continues Trend of Youth Excellence in PBA Events -- "The youth movement in PBA competition continued last weekend when 18-year-old Matt Gasn of Laurel, Md., won the PBA East Region Non-Champions Open at Faxon Lanes. Gasn’s win is the latest in a wave of outstanding showings by youth bowlers in PBA regional events. Bowling as a non-PBA member, he had a 7-1 match play record, averaged 233 and defeated Michael Bohner of Allentown, Pa., 2-0 in the best-of-three championship match to win a $1,500 scholarship for his SMART account...He bowled in his first regional three years ago at age 15 finishing 12th and has a previous best regional finish of fifth...Among Gasn’s other accomplishments in PBA competition include a seventh-place tie finish in a Lumber Liquidators PBA Tour TQR narrowly missing the Shark Championship field in December 2008. In April 2009, Bowlers Journal named him as one of seven bowlers to watch in future PBA Tour seasons, but for now school remains the priority..."

~ Xtra Frame Top Moment #4: U.S. Open Position Round Shocker -- "This week's Top Moment may have been THE top moment I witnessed the entire season. It was definitely the most shocking. The Open was an extremely pivotal event, even aside from the fact that it's often considered the most prestigious event on Tour. Bill O'Neill, Walter Ray Williams Jr. and Mike Scroggins were each jockeying for Player of the Year positioning and all were in contention for spots on the telecast. O'Neill, Scroggins and Tommy Jones were safely in (they bowled for the top three seeds), but Williams (the eventual PoY winner) was involved in a five-way battle for ONE spot..."

~ Caroline Lagrange, Art Oliver Jr. are the Canadian National Champions -- "Caroline Lagrange (pictured left) of Montreal, Quebec and Art Oliver Jr. (right), Hamilton, Ontario are the 2010 Canadian National Champions. Defending women’s national champion Lagrange led the women's field by 78 pins to win her second consecutive national championship. Oliver had a comfortable 206-pin lead in the men's divison to cruise to his first title. Both Lagrange and Oliver are multi-year Team Canada members..."

~ Marcelo Suartz wins XIX Copa AMF Brazil -- "Marcelo Suartz won the XIX Copa AMF Brazil to earn the right to represent his country in the 46th QubicaAMF Bowling World Cup at Bowling 300 Zagreb in Zagreb, Croatia (Oct. 15-24, 2010)..."

~ Three players move into top 10 in qualifying at Bowltech Aalborg International 2010 -- "Three players from qualifying squad 2 moved into the top 10 in the qualifying of the Bowltech Aalborg International 2010 Tuesday at Lovvang Bowling Center in Aalborg, Denmark..."

~ Harry Smith for Manhattan (1948)

~ "Easy" House Shots -- "You may have read, heard, or experienced the phrase "easy house shot." But what does it mean? Is any shot in bowling actually easy, especially for a beginner?..."

~ Breaking free from the house condition mindset -- "A bowler can come to harbor many delusions over the course of 20 years in house shot leagues, but few compare to the delusion that I myself once entertained as a member of the same league as the great Bo Burton at Stuart Lanes in Stuart, Fla. in the 2004-2005 season. There, as I watched Bo rack up one 700 series after another and, on occasion, an 800 series, I almost believed that the discrepancy between the 214 average I myself recorded there and the 235 average that Burton maintained was merely a matter of 20 pins or so. After making the leap from that walled-up house shot to local sport shot leagues and tournaments, I very quickly realized that the discrepancy was not merely one of pins, but also of a wisdom that I could only hope to possess with some very hard work and skilled coaching..."

~ The 11th Frame: Wolfe and his Blue Hammer smash Reno again -- "For years, the National Bowling Stadium in Reno, Nev., was known as a haven for left-handers. One of the most visible instances was the triumph at the 2002 Masters by relatively unheralded lefty Brett Wolfe, who used an old urethane Blue Hammer throughout that tournament...On Sunday and Monday, Wolfe and his Blue Hammer -- the same model but not the same ball he used in the 2002 Masters -- resurfaced in the headlines by slamming the Stadium again, moving into second in all-events at the United States Bowling Congress Open Championships with a 2,245 total, USBC reported. The score is behind only the all-time record 2,326 of -- you guessed it -- fellow southpaw Matt McNiel of Chanhassen, Minn. With Minnesota lefties Steve Bohn and John Kreyer Jr. also leading doubles at 1,514, this year as shaping up as the most lefty-friendly USBC OC since 2006 in Corpus Christi, when lefties populated much of the upper reaches of the all-events leaderboard..."

~ Bowling ball manufacturers: Interview with Ebonite International, Inc. -- "I recently had a chance to interview Brenda Green, who serves as marketing services manager for Ebonite International, Inc. since she joined the company in 2003, She oversees the company’s pro shop support programs as well as leads and coordinates the marketing activities between brand managers, communications agencies and sales teams. She is currently a Silver Level USBC Certified Coach and organizes a youth bowling league in Clarksville, Tenn., with approximately 150 youth, ages 3-22..."