More changes are already in progress for the PBA for the rest of the 2004 include a bigger TV 300 game bonus combined with the nine strikes in a row bonus and the PBA bonus, push that bonus to $30,000 for a TV perfect game. Another announcement includes the relocation of the Regional Players Championship to Stardust II Lanes Merrillville, Indiana May 28- June 1. Over three hundred regional players from across the country are expected to compete in this stop. The winner gets a berth in the Dexter Tournament of Champions later in December. Midwest Regional member Hula Bob Hileman and his fellow staffers have put on a great show the last few years hosting a joint PBA Central-Midwest Regional the last three years at their 64-lane center and can't wait to show off for a national audience. Don't be surprised if you see some former touring pros, like ABC Masters champ Chris Warren and two time Tournament of Champions winner Mark Williams, who now compete mainly in regional competition. Don't be surprised if there is another major announcement about a Midwest area center and the PBA in the next few weeks.

     What I am about to propose is something you may not want to take seriously. It really doesn't matter much in the big scheme of things, but you can decide for yourself. It really wouldn't be a bad idea if the bowling world made nice with sports talk radio host Jim Rome. Now put the paper down, take a breath, and read on. I have been on the front line with other bowling media folk condemning his comments about his stereotypical perceptions of pro bowling and pro bowlers. With that in mind, here's why; for good luck. Here's the deal, my friend. Very often when athletes are interviewed on sports talk radio shows like Dan Patrick's ESPN midday show, the athlete is at least on the surface jinxed for his next immediate performance. You might have heard something similar to Sports Illustrated magazine cover jinx. Whoever appears on the cover is jinxed (including his/her team) for that week. Remember Kerry Wood on the cover after the Atlanta playoff series last October? OK, more recent examples are Philadelphia Eagle quarterback Donovan McNabb before the NFC Championship game and Carolina Panther wide receiver Mushin Muhammad before the Super Bowl. Get the picture so far? Those teams did not win their next games or next series. Rome's case is different. Interviewees have more positive performances after being on his show. Why this is so can be jokingly debated, but results are there. For that reason alone, this should be considered by our media crew in Seattle. Sure ESPN is nice, but exclusive appearances on the campus of Bristol University isn't enough. There has been too much momentum lately getting the new PBA out to the public. Rome's radio audience is close to whom the PBA is trying to reach. Is this premise lighthearted? Of course it is. It would be a new audience to reach, plus whoever wouldn't mind winning or do well in his next tour stop may not think twice before wanting to appear on the show. And another media type would be shown another type of world class athlete. The battle rages on

     Here is more of this year's Top 25 TV Moments list.

     15) 1980 Now You See The 7-10, Now You Don't. Mark Roth picks up the seemingly impossible 7-10 split, the first on ABC' Pro Bowlers Tour series. Some twenty -plus years later, it remains the most replayed clip in TV bowling history. This feat on television is more rare than a 300 game. Only two others, John Mazza in '91 and Jess Stayrook in '93 have duplicated the feat.

     14) 2001 He Really Is P.D.W. In an emotionally charged telecast, Pte Weber throw a 299 semifinal game at Stve Wilson before downing Parker Bohn III 235-201 to win title #26, tying him with his legendary father. In his first TV appearance since a year long suspension in 2000, Pete's raw passion for the sport came to the surface on the show, spilling over after key strike deliveries. It was beginning with this show that ESPN SportsCenter showed highlights after every tournament, including ones Weber did not appear. Other national media outlets also took notice, coming to the PBA with interview requests for other players, besides Weber. It was a breakthrough long time observers had been waiting some 20 years to occur.

     13) 1987 All This In The Same Show? At the LPBT Dallas Metroplex Open, this surprisingly unknown landmark show had an element only one other show has possessed since, the possibility of two 300 games on the same show. First, Paula Drake rolled a 299 in the opening match. Then, eventual champion Barbara Leicht added a 297 game to win the tournament. If this ever does get mentioned on a women's tour telecast, the only reference was some annual Top 25 list currently on the Internet which first appeared in a national publication some five years ago. But, hey, when two 300's are rolled on the same show, it will easily become the most talked about show of this generation. You read that statement here first, my friend.

     12) 1980 Marshall, Can You Sign This? Mark Roth and Marshall Holman are favored to repeat as Touring Pro Doubles champions. Holman needs a strike to lock up the third win in four years in this tournament for the hottest two players on tour at the time. Instead, the 2-4-5-8 remains after the first ball and Mount St. Marshall erupts, kicking the foul light capping causing it to come up off the floor. The CBS announcers were speechless while the crowd buzzed with wonder as to what it had just witnessed. Holman received a ten tournament suspension from the PBA

     11) 1996 The #1129 Dream If Bob Learn makes the PBA Hall of Fame, he may have a dreamlike 90 minutes on ABC-TV to credit. His games of 300, 280, 270, and 279 set the current three and four game series TV records enroute to winning the Splitfire Open in his hometown of Erie in an memorable arena finals setting. The previous three game was 815 set by Joliet legend Jim Stefanich in 1975 and the four game record of 1070 by David Ozio only five months earlier.

     Next month, items 10 through 6 and the first installment of pro bowler interview done in a long lost time in a place far, far away.