North Face I TOTALLY disagree. The whole fun of the Tours is to see Your favorite Bowler/Bowlers in person. To get their Autograph. To party with them. My Wife and I went to a MD. Tournament years ago and partied with the Ladies after Qualifying. It looks like a lot of Young Ladies now and it is nice to see the older ones too. Its just what Bowling might need. The PBA is struggling because noone wants to see cockiness and arrogance. The Ladies do much better with Fans. It will not fold this time.
THIS.
It was a crapshoot to be able to sit down and talk with the guys on the PBA, just based on their attitude from how well or poorly they bowled that day. You just didn't know if you could approach them.
The first time the ladies came to Omaha in 1994, not only was I nervous as hell trying to walk over to say hi to the woman I idolized the most on the tour (Dana Miller-Mackie), I couldn't even get the words out of my mouth that I would like her autograph. Not only did she actually come up to me and introduce herself to me because I was so nervous, she walked me over to introduce me to Lisa Wagner, Anne Marie, and Aleta Sill, which I got a good 20 minutes of face time each with them. I supported Dana throughout that tournament that at the end of it, she left me her Rhino RE, which I still have. We've been friends ever since.
The following year, it was Liz Johnson, Sue Jeziorski, Feldman, Jodi Woessner, and Tammy Turner.
All of this comes home to roost, when you've seen and known them long enough that after that day's bowling, they invite you to dinner with all of them, and you get to know them as PEOPLE, not just bowlers on TV.
You can't get that with Xtra Frame.
The main reasons the PWBA folded at time was that they lost two major sponsors: Sam's Town didn't renew their contract, and National Airlines went bankrupt. National was owned by Michael Conway, who was also on the Senior Tour. They sponsored a lot of their tournaments after Sam's Town left, and National struggled hard after 9/11, especially seeing that they were based in Vegas. They folded a year later, with the PWBA folding 9 months after National.
BL.
I 100% agree. The PWBA is a lot more fun. True Ladies True Professionals
Sue Jeziorski. Definitely a great person, glad to call her a friend, and she has been drilling my stuff for over 5 years now. She introduced me to Liz Johnson a few years ago when I dropped by the shop to drop some balls off to be worked on. That night, there was a Christmas party about to start when I was about to leave the place. This was around the time where she rejoined Storm after being with EBI for a few seasons. Needless to say, I was invited to join both for an impromptu dinner at the table and spent a good deal of the night talking bowling among other things.
As a kid, the best 2 moments came from bowling with Richie Wolfe in Canandaigua, NY back in 1991 and then me and my dad having a coffee with Norm Duke that same year. We didn't realize we were sitting next to him in the bleachers at first, but he was very cool to talk with and probably spent a good 20 minutes with him. I also remember being super nervous to be meeting them and asking for their autographs. But, I really enjoyed it and I still have at least one of the booklets they gave everyone where I was able to get many autographs.
The one person I didn't like was Harry Sullins, who acted like a jackass the entire time. Then again, he definitely didn't make the top 5, so that's probably a good reason why that was the way it was.
Between both years I was at the pro-am, I ended up with Richie Wolfe, Norm Duke, Don Moser, WRWJ, Mike Scroggins, and I can't remember the 6th guy. Needless to say, I still remember that 20 years later means something.
