This one slipped under my radar probably because I don't follow professional bowling. ESPN was at Bayside Bowl in Portland during the last week of March to cover the PBA League's first ever stop in Maine. 

PBAProBowlersAssn via YouTube
PBAProBowlersAssn via YouTube
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After watching the start of this ESPN coverage, I had no idea bowling had become such a rowdy spectator sport. People were tailgating in the parking lot at Bayside Bowl, drinking beer, chanting and cheering on some of the best bowlers in the world. It's come a long way from the quiet announcers and crowds that I used to see on ABC on Sunday afternoons when I was a kid. Just watch how they chant the name of pro bowler Walter Ray.

PBAProBowlersAssn via YouTube
PBAProBowlersAssn via YouTube
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So how could ESPN show coverage of a PBA event in a relatively tiny bowling alley in Portland Maine of all places? This event was team league play, so they only needed two lanes for the entire event. Plus it didn't hurt that the commissioner of the PBA would travel to Maine several times during the year and really liked it here.

PBAProBowlersAssn via YouTube
PBAProBowlersAssn via YouTube
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Watch the whole hour and a half quarterfinal match at Bayside. I promise bowling isn't as boring to watch as it used to be.

 

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