Pro Bowling: Athletes or just an Elite learned skill?
 

PBA Bowling on ESPN! The coverage is excellent!


Do you consider these guys athletes?

Bowlers are to athletes what curling is to sport.

Archery or throwing darts...

Non athletes for sure.

any "sport" that has a bar that's accessible to the players during a match is not a sport.

Is golfing?

<iframe src="//player.vimeo.com/video/25931145" width="500" height="375" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen allowfullscreen></iframe> <p><a href="http://vimeo.com/25931145">The Big Lebowski - Bowling Scene</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/user7399336">Adam Fletcher</a> on <a href="https://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p>

Richard Sherman eat your heart out.

LMAO definitely.

I have the high score on both Jezzball and Mahjongg2 over in the arcade. I believe that my skill set is similar to those of pro bowlers.

To master anything, whether it is a cello, bowling, cooking, football, etc., it is estimated that a person must put in around 10,000 hours of practice, participation, game time, or whatever.

Pro golfers have to be jn reasonably good shape because they have to walk.

The actual art of hitting a golf shot is up for debate of it just being a learned skill or being athletic enough to make a shot.
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My definition applies to golfing as well.

Indeed. I like forward to seeing you on Espn 8, The Ocho.

Agreed.

Not really, but being in decent shape has made the very best more consistent.

So if you're playing golf it depends on where your playing if it's a sport or not?

I think the key is the "able to drink while playing" moreso than the physical presence of a bar.

I think it would be more interesting than bowling.

In fact, now that I think about it, I would be much more likely to watch a video game tournament on TV than I would a bowling, golf, or tennis tournament.

I'd say a person could drink while playing a lot of sports. And do you think Pro Golfers are drinking during a round? They aren't.

All of this

My rule applies specifically as to whether or not I feel it appropriate. For instance NASCAR is not a sport because I think it would be socially acceptable to operate race cars at a high rate of speed while drinking.

So Nascar is not a sport because they can't drink and drive? :) I don't think that's what you meant.

skill, just like Billiards


Golf is borderline

As far as professional bowlers go I don't think being a pro bowler makes one an athlete but there are pro bowlers who approach their craft as an athlete therefore they are athletes in that regard.

No NASCAR is not a sport because I think they should drink and drive.

Its not a sport, its a game.

That might just barely be interesting enough to watch.

ill cop out and name it a non athletic sport. there. haha

One of the original Microsoft employees (like #105 or something) bought the PBA a few years ago. Got the entire league for $5 million. Since then it seems like it has grown again in popularity. I bet it was a good investment overall.

NASCAR

Bowling
http://i1260.photobucket.com/albums/...eamKCTat-9.jpg

It's a sport of skill.

Bowling being a sport...or guys in it being athletes I get people saying "yes" or "no" to either but if your answers for bowling are different than golf then that is where people get it wrong.

Pro bowlers are very similar to pro golfers in skill. Very similar skill sets.

They have had to tone it down more and more over the years. Not sure it is growing in popularity but having said that it was probably not a bad investment.

Every time there's a lead change the drivers have to do a shot. I might watch that.

So...bowling was too flashy? That was bowling's problem?

If walking for five miles over a couple hours is considered good shape?

Doesnt really explain why young asian girls and old men have comparable scores.

It is a talent and skill but not athletic. Now if there was a time limit to were they had to sprint, yes.. Actually I might watch that.

Nascar would be a sport if they had to get out themselves, change their tires and refuel.

They paired down the scope of the "tour" haha.

LOL. Yea.


What about Equestrian? How much recognition do the horses get?
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I actually bowled competitively in high school. It's a learned ability. Not anyone can be good but it's not an athlete status kind of thing.

You know, I actually enjoy seeing those thoroughbreds run. Muscle in motion is a beautiful, god that sounded gay. But seriously ****ing race horses rock.

It's only gay if you are admiring male horse muscles.

Having a 212 average myself, I still consider it a game, just like golf. To qualify for the TV games, these guys have to bowl a lot of games during the week. Lot of pressure on your fingers, wrists, shoulder and even a bit on the legs. One night of 3 games and warm up you can feel the heat coming off my fingers for a few hours, it's pretty crazy.

I sucked at bowling but hears ago we started to go a lot and the finger tips after a few days in a row of bowling hurt bad, lol. There was a lot of pain involved I was shocked.

I've been bowling finger tip for longer than I'd like to admit, lol. I actually had both my fingers bend backwards a couple of years ago, that was some real pain. Took months before I could throw a ball normal.

It was overtaking soccer in popularity.

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Wanna see something beautiful, find and watch the first episode of Luck from HBO. Nick Nolte's Walter has a great horse, and the tells the rider to stretch her out a like in practice.

They used tracking shots over the horse's shoulder and film stock, and it's a masterpiece.

There goes baseball

Tennis is fun to watch on TV.
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Bowlers are no more athletes than chess players. I once had a teenager tell me that chess was a sport because he was "exercising" his brain. ROFL

It seems that some people categorize an activity that requires some skill as a sport just to help out their own ego. Both are games. Same as golf.

Any activity is going burn calories. That doesn't make you an "athlete."

Bowling is something someone does when their spouse/significant other tells them to get off the couch and go do something. Same as mowing the yard.

When I last bowled, I bowled finger tip (the only way to score well, IMHO). There is an element of conditioning involved that most non-bowlers don't think about and that is the arm/hand/finger strength needed to throw a 16 lb. ball down the lanes for at least three games consistently.

Yup, and just because it isn't a sport, doesn't mean that you can't also be athletic or that being athletic doesn't give you an advantage in the game.

The word "athlete" comes from the Greek (and Latin via Greek) for "contest" or "competing for prizes".

In that sense, professional bowlers are absolutely athletes.

Yup, and most people don't throw the ball right. Keeping your hand behind the ball and coming up through it is a lot more work than just tossing a ball out there, and it has a huge effect on consistent pin action.

So spelling bee kids are athletes? Awesome

They also misspelled grease.

Full contact onomatopoeia.

Very true. Last time I bowled, I had an average around 170, but after not bowling in years, I'd lost a lot of the strength required to bowl at the level I was used to. It may not be an "athlete's" sport, but it certainly requires a decent amount of strength and concentration.

lol. Can't say that I have seen that before. I was normally pretty consistent with my 2 handed backhand, but didn't go for many winners.

ROFL

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Yes. A good tennis match is a lot of fun to watch.

I have a tough time calling them athletes.
That term to me implies some sort of supreme physical condition.

But it is definitely a sport.

I once played a guy who never hit a backhand. He just put the racquet in his other hand & hit forehands from both sides.

Yep, it takes quite a bit of strength to put all of that weight on the middle two finger tips and the thumb, to keep the wrist properly curled under the ball so you can get a full roll after the ball breaks out of the oil/slide and hits the back end with enough power to generate good pin action. Bowling can also torque your lower back and hips if you put a lot behind what you through (it did for mine at one house where used to bowl that had super heavy oil with a shot that was on the far right side of the lane and you had to throw the ball across the middle to about the four board to get it to the pocket).

I really enjoyed the pro bowlers this year. The new format seemed to really bring out the competition ... oh, nevermind.

Next thing you know one of you uppity snobs is going to say that there is no place for World Series of Poker on ESPN....

To do it well, and compete, you have to be pretty athletic. Not so with Chess.

I quit league bowling two years ago, after my third injury and second to my wrist. (my shit is getting old) I had a 199 average, but not on the lane conditions and pressure the pros face.

It would get my heart rate higher than 4 miles on a treadmill in an hour.

Like some golfers, a lot of bowlers have a fat gut and man tits, but they possess a lot of power and strength as well as mental toughness to get the job done.

When the poker fad was going apeshit I felt that there was no place for it. Still don't.

I actually DVR it, and watch reruns more than once usually. There isn't much else on ESPN that I can say that about.

I remember when the argument of "what is a sport" was interesting to me. I was super passionate about it, and had a whole scaffolded definition set up.

Then I realized something... There's really only one definition, for so many folks.

What is or is not defined as "sport" has most to do with whether or not I, or someone I know, performs the activity.

So yeah, it's a sport. Are bowlers athletes? In general, no, but professional bowlers are athletes, IMO. Those that argue otherwise have no clue what it takes to compete at the highest level.

That doesn't even take into account the amount of time they put in for practice.