I really wasn't sure about what I just read, so I read it for a second, then a third time to see if it was true. Yes, it was. Non-exempt PBA members would be allowed to bowl in a High Roller mega buck tournament at Sam's Town in Las Vegas over the last weekend of January 2005. The feeling was in prior years to make it nearly a true crapshoot to whomever would win. Any current PBAer, it was felt, had an advantage shooting on tour oil patterns similar to those applied for a megabuck event. Tournament organizers did not want to scare off possible entries by allowing any PBA players to bowl, thus was the ban since these events began in the early 1980's. Just pay the $1,000 entry and see how many one game matches you could win. Just one loss, even in the first match, meant a long quiet ride home. Win two matches, and the entry fee was won back. Win five to seven matches depending on the field size, and you could look at a pretty heathy 1099 form. But one has to ask this, why now after all these years? One reason can be the further definition between full time and part time national touring pro. It used to be for years, if a member had the finances, he could go out on tour as long as the money held out. You didn't have to earn much to stay there, unlike the PGA Tour or today's PBA Tour. Only 64 are allowed now. Or it could have been allowing non pros the glory of bowling each other for glory only seen on ABC or ESPN to date. More than likely, it is getting more entries from serious regional players who could hold their own out there, some of whom were just megabuck tourney moneymakers just a few short years ago. There are players good enough to bowl on tour, but for a variety of reasons, they never joined the PBA. What you will more than likely see are some fantastic matches, great gamesmanship, and some things you may not have seen before.

     So will the PBA TV show look different this fall? Ahhhhhh, yeah. The current ownership will simply not allow that. How about a primer for the upcoming season? For starters, where are you going to be at noon on Halloween? Bowling fans from may have an ear to the radio, but will be sitting in Miller Park for the TV finals of the Miller High Life Masters. The portable arena show lanes will be stretching in short right field allowing thousands sightlines not imagined for bowling. The Bob Uecker seats? The ones in the upper deck ? Yes, those. And you thought looking at the Rolling Stones all those years ago from the next county looked small? But why? It's not for the fans in the stands, it's for the fans watching on TV. If they can attract at least 5,000 fans in that rock concert atmosphere, it will look like something out of the X Games. Oops. Was I supposed to say that? Wildly cheering fans in a bowling city reacting to a tomahawk messenger strike in the middle of a 6-bagger? Damn straight. Showing off how much fun this sport can be at the highest levels. That is the whole point. And wouldn't an emerging business with some cash be eager to associate itself with a product with broad appeal like bowling? A potential sponsor is not just in with pro bowling, but all bowling. Confused? Try this. You can turn in a coupon in a Baby Ruth candy wrapper for a free game of bowling, or a coupon on Banquet frozen foods for a free game of bowling. Turn in at a participating center? Like my league house down the street or do I have to go to the one across town? A sponsor will see who is watching the PBA by counting where these coupons are being redeemed and even by whom. Information can be analyzed where coupon traffic is heavy or light. Baby Ruth and Banquet will compensate centers for their free games, but now will have more concrete marketing data for use in future ad campaigns. Get the idea now? The PBA will also be marketing itself during each TV show by highlighting different players and heir personalities, just like NASCAR has done. Notice it getting any easier to get around Chicagoland Motor Speedway during that long weekend in July? Part two of the process has begun. More newer fans are personally attending races and following the racers. See where this is going? The PBA is keenly aware new audiences must be found, welcomed, and entertained. See how the NFL had its Opening Weekend concerts with hip-hop artists? Even the greatest creation in Pete Rozelle's sports marketing life needs a fine tuning. There are so many more activites these days in direct competition., each slice of the leisure-time-pie gets smaller, thus, some try more blatant ways to attract and keep attention.

     So how about those institutions which have been around for awhile? What about a constant in all these years. In Joliet, that means a 51- year tradition of bowling news, notes, league scores, pro tour scores and occasional chats with some of those bowlers about this great game of ours. Beginning in September 1953, local league bowling scores have been reported six days a week for anywhere between five to 15 minutes on the same radio station which gave then-unknown announcer named Harry Caray his first full time radio job. What's the big deal? OK, smarty pants, find another bowling show with as much air time since then. And when you do get back from Never-Neverland , here's a hint; you are not going to find one. The one and only Don Ladas has been the host of WJOL's Tenpin Topics for these last 51 years. World record for most minutes of air time by a bowling radio show host? What do you think? Congratulations, Don. This last segment probably won't make this JPA, but the eight regular readers can't wait for the next TPT on JOL. Not only this show, but his weekly hour radio interview show which he has had all the local sports legends like Jim Stefanich, Steve Jaros, and 2002 World Series hero Scott Speizio. For some reason, the Joliet area has produced than it share of major league baseball players. And they have all been guests. Remember George Mikan, THE basketball player of the first half of the 20th century? Another guest. Carmen Salvino. Several times. Dick Weber? Twice. Not only do the well known, but he also has on annual winners of both men's and women's local association bowling tournaments, too. Look, the guy has been doing this show since the Cubs had not been in a World Series for eight years, and was on the air the last time his team, the White Sox, did make the Series. Stopping soon? Nope. He still has time for one or two football games each fall weekend, baseball in the spring, and even the finals of the Will County Open bowling tournament each December. No flash, just hard work for which he has raised the bar for radio sports in Chicago's southern suburbs.

     He would want me to pass this along as well; good luck to Steve as he heads to east for this year's Japan Cup the third week of September. Keep tabs on his progress at pba.com. Heads up for November's JPA, a recap of what a big time arena finals can be as we head north to Milwaukee's Miller Park for the ABC Masters finals, now known as the Miller High Life Masters presented by the ABC.