04/24/24
September 04, 2004
Geeks will make pro bowling cool.: Rob Glaser [CEO of RealNetworks, maker of Real Player] and his geek pals from Microsoft wanted to pull pro bowling out of the gutter. So they bought the whole damn league. Bought the whole league for just $5mil. Ha!
posted by worldcup2002 to other at 12:02 AM - 5 comments
Just a trivial tidbit, the basement of the Real Networks building has a bowling alley in it. I've played there, and as it turns out, I suck at bowling.
posted by hincandenza at 04:32 PM on September 04, 2004
That's covered at the beginning of the article, Hal. Heh. These tidbits make me actually wanna watch pro bowling at least once:
A bowler rolling a strike no longer quietly returns to his seat - he shakes his fists in the air and talks trash to his opponent. Down-the-lane seating puts the audience on top of the action, and rock bands keep the crowds pumped between matches.
During an October 2001 match, Weber missed a perfect 300 game by a single pin, prompting him to writhe around the floor in the fetal position and squeal like a pig before the TV cameras. ... Four months later, Weber unveiled a new attention-getter - a violent karate-like hand gesture called the "crotch chop," which he performed to celebrate victory and humiliate his opponents.
posted by worldcup2002 at 11:35 AM on September 05, 2004
And for those who really care, I hunted down the websites that are mentioned (but not linked) in the article: PBA.com Professional Bowling Association site A League of Ordinary Gentlemen Documentary on the PBA turnaround, looking for distribution, doesn't seem to have a site
posted by worldcup2002 at 11:40 AM on September 05, 2004
More links: Steve Miller President, CEO, PBA Prada Bowling Bag $975 at Neiman Marcus, according to the article, but Froogle's got them as low as $120 PBA on ESPN.com ESPN is the PBA broadcast partner. Couldn't find an actual section devoted to Bowling on ESPN. I should talk to my Yahoo! Sports peeps about this. And, encouraging signs:
The numbers, which Glaser likes working with so much, have never looked better. TV ratings are climbing; 775,000 households watched pro bowling on ESPN last year, up 25 percent from two seasons ago. Viewership among 18- to 34-year-old males - the demo that makes or breaks most pro sports - is up 80 percent-plus. More people now watch the PBA than the National Hockey League. As viewership has grown, advertising has followed. Starting from nothing, the PBA has racked up more than a dozen major brands, including Bayer, Geico, and Miller Brewing. The retooled Web site, PBA.com, gets 300,000 visitors a year to see streaming video via Glaser's Real media player. And more people than ever are interested in becoming pro bowlers. PBA membership - which requires an average score of at least 190 - is at an all-time high, up more than 75 percent from five years ago. Purses have skyrocketed. Five players topped $1 million in career earnings last season.
posted by worldcup2002 at 11:57 AM on September 05, 2004
As PBA president and CEO, Miller has a knack for getting in the heads of his players. His semiannual no-holds-barred motivational meetings are infamous. He treats the bowlers like pins, knocking them down and resetting them. "I had to change their world," says Miller. "These guys are professional athletes, but they were constantly being reminded that they weren't NBA players. They didn't have the same salary or respect. I'm constantly hugging them and berating them. I yell and scream. I'm very honest and straightforward." Wow, anyone else think Miller needs a royal asskicking? I can't wait for the day he tells one of the bigger bastards to comb his hair differently and the guy shoves his head in a ball return. Still, I'm a recreational bowler and have two cousins who are serious semi-professionals. The changes made by the geeks have made what was once moribund at least now a spectacle and kind of (dare I say it?) cool.