Please, please, OK, enough with the e-mails. I'll start the Top 25 TV Moments in this column. But not just yet.

     So what can we expect the second half of the PBA Tour in 2004? Even more mounting suspense as some of the tour regulars try to qualify for next year's all-exempt tour. In other words, more of the regulars trying to justify their professional employment choice the last few years. That is a bit harsh, but then, reducing fields from 160ish to 64 players is enough of a statement by itself. Many of the regulars over the last few years will be reduced to rabbit squads, the scheduled June Tour Trials qualifying school, and regional play. There will be a few more surprises over who do and does not make it, so as usual, stay tuned. The Tour Trials will be a daily tournament for five days with each of the five oil patterns (A through E) used with the top eight qualifiers also gaining admission to the '04-'05 tour.

     The pattern so far is if a player appears on two or three shows and makes the Round of 16 match play portion, his chances for next year look good. If he has not made a Round of 16 yet and had a cashed a time or two, he has his work certainly has some work ahead. At the holiday break, just about anyone in the top 40 should make the cut. Meanwhile, those around the seventies on the list may not make it. Familiar names such as David Ozio, Dave Arnold, and Brian Voss are 75th, 70th, and 66th, respectively. Unless they make a show or two between now and March, they may be done for now or at least until the June tour trials. Maybe.

     This will be the first Top 25 TV Moments list since the September and October 2002 JPA's. Since the first list six years ago, many have asked since why items are ranked in certain spots. Unlike the TV Guide or VH1 lists which are chosen by a committee or larger group, these are ranked by yours truly. Why? Because no one else has the stones to even try this. Really, the requirements are this. Events had to be first seen on nationwide or network television. Any of the broadcast or cable networks which transmit signals from New England to California, or Wisconsin to Texas would count. So any moments seen on ABC, NBC, CBS, ESPN, USA, HBO, Fox Sports, or even WGN Superstation are eligible. Regional or local telecasts not seen by the national masses are not. For example, some great drama has unfolded on the Bowling With The Champs show on WTMJ-TV Milwaukee and Championship Bowling on WTAE-TV Pittsburgh, but are not eligible for this list. I know David Traber is not happy about this because his TV 300 game on the Milwaukee show does not appear on this list. But why are the items ranked that way? Here it goes-Items having the most pure drama, media impact, and public recall are ranked high than others. Stuff that has stuck in your mind over the last 40-plus years or things that might make you remember what you were doing or who you were with at the time you first saw that happen, that is the stuff I'm going for here. It can also be items the very casual viewer may remember, like a trophy dropping, noticeable shaking in the tenth frame of a potential 300, or a gutter ball at the worst possible moment. Or it can be like Ballard's gutter ball and all the attention that tells the classic man-bites-dog story. There was more attention given to that than possibly anything seen by this generation by the outside media, especially when he won two weeks later. The week after Mika Koivuniemi shot that 300 game and 837 set, he was on the new ESPN2 Morning show, Cold Pizza. The new PBA is making sure the outside world knows about these moments. Debates rage among those of us who saw these unfold and inform an entire generation wanting to know how bowling on TV got where it is today.

     The Top 10 will be extremely hard to crack by any newer moments. It will more than likely take something like two perfect games on the same show or something else we have never seen before to make that end of the list. As you read in later editions of the Sportsman and on this website, the rationale behind the ranking will become clearer. Volume 6 is now ready, let's begin.

     25) 1994 Dick and Dave. Dick Weber made several appearances on Letterman's late night CBS show, but his most memorable was knocking down and into items like champagne glasses, an aquarium filled with raw eggs, and a live TV camera. He pegged the camera dead center, which prompted the host to bolt to the outdoor makeshift lane to plant a kiss on Weber's forehead.

     24) 1978 PBA Urban Legend. Randy Lightfoot had just won the Burger King Open and $30,000 first place check. Asked what he would do after the show, he commented he would have a beer. Not going for the predictable "eat a Whopper" comment, this answer allegedly all by itself cause Burger King to pull sponsorship and prompt the PBA to institute a weekend seminar for all new players known as The Members School. The school was started to help new professionals deal with finances, personal conduct, and media interviews, which did not start until 1982. Burger King was planning to withdraw after the 78 anyway, a fact that did not surface until recently.

     23) 1996 Instant Ernie's Gonna Get You. Needing a strike to win the Tournament Players Championship, Randy Pedersen leaves a solid 8-pin, giving the title to 52-year-old Ernie Schlegel. As Pedersen, collapsed on the approach with head in hands, Schlegel jumped out of his chair screaming about "winning one for the old people."

     22) 1999 Thunder From Down Under. Earlier in the year, Australian Cara Honeychurch finished 3rd in the U.S. Open as an amateur. In her first tourney as a PWBA member, she qualified fourth for the AMF World Cup finals. Bowling legends Aleta Sill and Wendy Macpherson, Honeychurch calmly rolled the second PWBA TV 300 game in history. Although not winning that tourney, she did win the Brunswick Women's World Open just two weeks later.

     21) 2003 Mighty Mika. Finnish native Mika Koivuniemi has a couple of major titles under his belt with the 2000 ABC Masters and the 2001 U.S. Open and many numerous international titles. The finals of the PBA Cambridge Credit Classic would give him another unique opportunity, a chance at a TV 300 game. He downed Jason Couch 300-248 in the opener enroute to 32 strikes and the second highest TV three game mark of 837 and a combined bonus of $30,000 for the 16th PBA TV perfecto.

     20) 1991 The Heidi Game, PBA Style. The opening of the Firestone Tournament of Champions show saw an empty Riviera Lanes. A bomb threat had been phoned in half hour before air time, causing the show to start 20 minutes late. By the time the Ozio-Monacelli title match was about to begin, ABC-TV switched to "Wide World of Sports" at 5 pm Eastern time, leaving viewers to wonder who won the biggest pro bowling tournament of the year. No word if ABC's switchboards lit up like NBC's did after the '68 Jets-Raiders game, but most bowling magazines published livid editorials denouncing the networks decision.

     19) 1991 Handle Me With Care. Just six weeks after Del Ballard's gutter handed him a title, Pete Weber had a handling problem with the U.S. Open trophy. Unknown to Weber, a piece of tape hold the figurine eagle to the base was removed during the show. As Weber held the trophy aloft, the trophy top crashed to the ground in a memorable final 15 seconds of this PBT telecast. It has not been confirmed who removed the piece of tape, although the piece of tape was rumored to be an item on eBay.

     18) 1995 Thousands Of Your Closest Friends, Really. Dave Husted defeats Paul Koehler for the '95 U.S. Open title in front of a record crowd of 7,000 in Detroit's Joe Louis Arena. PBA staffers later said this show had the electricity of a truly major team sports event and could be the future of the PBA finals on TV.

     17) 1999 Saturday the 13th. On February 13, 1999, Steve Jaros rolls the 13th PBA TV 300 enroute to his third title. He and then-expectant wife June arrive home after driving seven hours just minutes before airing of THAT show only find out a production snafu would delay the show's eventual airing for seven weeks.

     16) 1983 Earl And The Million. Earl Anthony beats Charlie Tapp to win the PBA National Championship, passing the $1 Million mark in career earnings. This provoked the usually reserved Anthony to shake his fists in the air and slap his hands together.

     A pretty good chunk for this month, huh? The rest of the list should be done in the next two columns along with a surprise from the vault; a pro bowler interview that has not been seen or heard in 20 years. Were things that much different on the PBA Tour in the early 80's? Stay tuned to find out, you just never know.