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The 2012 PBA season was very exciting if you were a fan of Sean Rash, Mike Fagan, or Europeans. Unfortunately, for most Americans, this is not the case. This PBA season, after all was said and done, could have been the most boring to watch in the history of the sport.

2012 brought us the second installment of the World Series of Bowling, an event that has amounted to nothing more than allowing the PBA to save money on travel costs. Instead of live televised finals across the country, eight tournaments were held in Las Vegas in just a few weeks. The results were taped and broadcast at later dates, once again being put in time slots rivaling NFL and March Madness games. The result was a convoluted season of taped finals interspersed with live tournaments, doubles competitions, and Chris Paul’s newest-collection-of-C-list-rappers-and-black-friends tournament.

How to Bowl Strikes

Worse than the organization of the televised finals, the complete and utter lack of parity of bowlers on the broadcast each week was monotonous and boring. Jason Belmonte, Mike Fagan, and Sean Rash seemingly made every TV finals. There is no doubt that these bowlers are highly skilled, however the WSOB was created to have larger fields of bowlers and different winners. It almost seems as if the PBA has catered to these younger, more exciting bowlers in some way or form to get them more exposure. Jason Belmonte was given every advantage possible a few years ago to get him on the TV shows because of his innovative two-handed delivery but now it seems the tournaments are consistently dominated by high revolution players. Either these players have become skilled enough the make the PBA’s oil patterns useless, or the Association is trying to usher in a younger viewing audience. It is a disturbing trend.

Another trend of the WSOB was domination by foreigners. All eight events were won by someone from outside the United States. This is an astounding statistic considering that Americans highly outnumbered foreigners in the field. It goes to show that the days of the PBA being dominated by Americans is over and it’s now an international sport. I wouldn’t be surprised if the tour slowly starts phasing out its tournaments in the US in favor of a more global tour and audience. Sadly, this might be the only chance the PBA survives in the near future, as its older audience has become disinterested in the ways bowling has changed over the years.

How to Bowl Strikes

Highlights: Pete Weber winning another US Open and badgering a fan in the audience throughout the live finals- His five US Open titles is possibly the greatest accomplishment of any bowler.

Sean Rash finally winning a tournament- Rash made countless shows over the last three years and finally overcame his demons in the TOC.

Josh Blanchard falling into gutter- Sadly, the PBA will take any publicity it can get, even it involves someone making a fool of themselves.

In Memoriam: With the shift in power from old style bowlers to crankers and two-handers, here are some classic bowlers who we have probably seen the last of on television:

• Steve Jaros
• Michael Haugen
• Mike Machuga
• Parker Bohn III, and sadly
• Walter Ray Williams Jr.

With the expanded fields and lanes catered to power players, these players have and will continue to be shut out from being competitive.

How to Bowl Strikes

2012 was a pivotal year for the PBA. Will its new flock of stars help it find a new audience in the USA and overseas? Or will the PBA’s abandonment of it loyal older fan base backfire and bring about its demise?

This sports reporter gives the 2012 PBA season 3 out of 10 pins.

Coming off the heels of one of the most exciting PBA seasons the PBA will feature it’s Geico Team Shootout, starting June 27th on ESPN. Teams of PBA stars will compete to see just who is the best in the business. They will all spare & strike their way to greatness from Six Flags in Jackson, New Jersey until one team is left standing.

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This year’s teams are sponsored by bowling manufacturer’s Brunswick, Ebonite, Storm & 900 Global.

Representing team Brunswick will be PBA Hall of Famers Parker Bohn Jr. & Johnny Petraglia, PBA stars Sean Rash & Brad Angelo, as well as women’s bowler Carolyn Dorin-Ballard.

Representing team Ebonite will be the PBA’s most consistent bowler Mike Scroggins, the PBA’s most inconsistent bowler Chris Barnes, Tommy Jones, Jason Couch, Mike Fagan & “The Real Deal” Bill O’Neill.

Representing team Storm will be PBA Hall of Famers Norm Duke & Pete Webber, two handed sensation Jason Belmonte, Rhino Page, Wes Malott & Brian Kretzer.

And finally representing team 900 Global, the team that should have no issues winning, are arguably the greatest bowler ever in PBA Hall of Famer Walter Ray Williams Jr., fellow Hall of Famer Brian Voss, and three other well established veterans in “Maximum Bob” Robert Smith, Steve Jaros & Michael Haugen Jr.

Make sure to tune into ESPN on June 27th to watch the exciting action.