Like I said in a previous post, I made a few at-the-time "crazy" recommendations for the PBA tour - at that time, the Denny's PBA Tour.  I recommended increased use of logos for bowler's shirts (like NASCAR), intro music for each player (like WWE), info about what each bowler is using (for some reason at the time, the PBA was all secretive about what ball was being thrown), and something to show the casual viewer what oil pattern was out there (they ended up using some blue pigment on the lane).

However!  From the telecast I recently saw much more room for improvement.  And with the PBA season about to begin (at least on TV), here is what I recommend:

1) Shirts Shirts are great.  No real comment here.  Anything more would just be ridiculous.

2) Intro music.  A good start.  But it is being done wrong.  It's almost comical how cheesy it is done right now.  The intro should be done in the intro.  Not between shots.  It is distracting and makes no sense.

3) Bowling equipment info.  Ok.  This is what really bugs me.  You can't have it both ways.  Telling me a ball with some strange name has a hook potential of 9.5 means nothing and I'm a top bowler.  What do you think it means to the casual viewer?  Also, there is more to a ball than "hook potential".  If you are going to go technical, do what golf does and go all the way.  Those that don't care or don't understand will find out or watch something else.  They don't say Tiger Woods is using a Nike driver with a hit potential of "far".  Give info that a real bowler would want to know - drilling layout is one way to start.  That is something that will educate new bowlers while telling experienced bowlers what the pros decided to choose.  Tell coverstock finish.  Show the weight block of the ball in an illustration. 

4) I will skip the oil pigments.  About time.

5) Now this has always bugged me for years.  The camera perspective stinks!  Why are they showing telecasts in a 3/4 perspective?  I can't see the reaction.  To the casual viewer, the entire hook is played down.  They see the ball hit the pocket, but there is no true appreciation of how powerful some of these pros are in their hooking ability.  The hook is going to attract new bowlers.  Just like a HR or a slam dunk.  I find the extra frame telecast perspective better.  Anything that is how you would watch a game while there - behind the bowlers.  If you want the 3/4 perspective, then do a side by side view.  But overall, the 3/4 perspective is just terrible IMO.

6) With today's technology, I want to the telecast to be like the Japan telecasts - ball speed and revs on each shot.  And exact!  None of this "300-350 revs".  It's 2015, and this should be a lot more accurate.

That's all for now.

Thoughts and opinions?

 

I like all your points on this necromancer.

I have one to add with speed and revs. Have the ball being traced down the lane. Start at Lay down point all the way to the 60 foot line.  Could you imagine showing a list of true stats on every strike shot.

Frame#, Laydown Spot, Where Ball is at the arrows, Exit/Break Point (along with how far down the lane),  and finish at 60ft.  Could possibly have two speeds (One at release, and the other at 60ft).

I think bowling for some reason is the only 'other' sport that does this in their telecasts.  Hell, I get more "pro" level information from watching WSOP than I do from watching a bowling telecast.  They don't just explain why 2 pairs loses to a set.  They go into the entire strategy, why chips are raised, pot bets, etc. 

Except you only get people like Antonio on the WSOP production for the Final Table.  It became even worse when they went to the 'November Nine' concept, but that is a different rant.  WPT includes a couple of pros in their regular broadcasts (which are still final tables). 

Where WSOP and the use of pros was really fun was when the final table was done in one fell swoop and available on a stream with NO hole cards being available.  That then allowed the explanations of what the 'pro' was thinking someone was representing or believed the other player to have been representing. 

The only thing good about how ESPN handles the telecast now is that you do occasionally get fresh money to the cash games that actually believe that know how to run a table because they watched a final table with pro commentary...I LOVE it when those people come sit at my tables...