BATON ROUGE - If you enjoy this sport of bowling, and if you really enjoy watching the professionals bowl on TV, then the four days of coverage on CBS Sports Network last week had to be a real treat.

Three shows each day. Five hours a day/night. Eight total titles awarded.

I happened to be out-of-town on the four days, but had the DVR set to capture the bowling. By the time it was over, CBSSN and the PBA may have learned something about their 12-player championship format on the main tour as it ran over time and over some more every day. Which meant I had to piece together some other source materials to actually see the finishes as my recording system timed out each day.

More on that in a moment.

Highlights: For someone of my age, being able to watch the PBA50 stars on the “senior” tour on television for the first time in 15 years was an absolute delight.

The PBA Tour is in a state of flux with lots of young bowlers making their mark in a new era. So it was great to see the stars of the past – some in their 60s and others having just cracked the 50 mark – getting their shot again on TV.

Some found the TV setup a little daunting at first as they tried to remember their PBA days, but once they got into the flow of it, the bowling was fun and brought back memories.

Tom Hess, getting his title on TV proved very emotional, and Tom Daugherty, who fired the infamous 100 game in 2011 to lose by 199 pins in the 2011 Tournament of Champions, got revenge by winning the PBA50 World Championship over the guy that shot 299 those years ago against him, Mika Koivuniemi.

Finally, Jason Couch, a well-known name on the big tour back in the day, getting a title one night after failing to win the previous show as the one seed. His emotional response to winning again was also pretty special.

The PBA owners (Lucky Strike Entertainment Corporation) need to realize that these four hours (plus) shows were some of the best highlights of the four nights of bowling. The PBA50 needs to at least have WSOB coverage if nothing else on TV each year. These bowlers are the ones that set the table for the present stars.

Other highlights: First of all, CBS and CBSSN knows how to put on a TV bowling show. Dave Ryan is right up there as the class of bowling commentators. Knowledgeable, thoughtful, entertaining, and, he sets up analysts perfectly. Kyle Sherman was better with Ryan beside him and Ryan and Chris Barnes, who worked all the PBA50 shows and two of the main tour shows while Sherman bowled, were excellent together. Barnes needs to be a full-time part of the broadcasts next year if he wants to.

Sherman making two of the shows reminded me of the Nelson Burton Jr. days on ABC when he would make a show and Dick Weber would take his place in the booth.

However, on the lowlight side, I think CBS learned that bowling two matches at a time, four times, does not fit in a two-hour window very well. I have a feeling the PBA may tinker with this format a bit if this 20-hour marathon over four days continues next year.

First of all, after the senior show, the lanes had to be reoiled with a new oil pattern on the four lanes and the players coming onto the lanes had to get practice. One show I timed didn’t start actual bowling until ten minutes into the broadcast. The same occurred between the second and third shows.

The bowlers talked about the pace issues of four bowlers on two pairs at the same time and the other thing that is a known fact, the pattern sets up better if the oil has a chance to set for about 15-20 minutes after being put down. That wasn’t happening and the lanes at times played a little bit crazy.

But there were cool moments like Jesper Svensson rolling a 299 game (left a 6 pin), Alex Horton – one of four rookie winners this season – winning for the second time in less than a month, and, Darren Tang winning as a two-hander for his second title of his career. His other title came as a one-hander. 

And there is more to come starting with the USBC Queen’s Tuesday at 5 p.m. on CBSSN.

Then Saturday, June 13, CBSSN and CBS will have the PBA World Championship finals. This will be more like we are accustomed to with a nine-player stepladder. The first four matches will be bowled on CBSSN and then CBS Sports will have the over-the-air coverage immediately afterwards from famed Thunderbowl in Allen Park, Michigan.

We’ll have the results of the big state adult/youth championship from All Star Lanes in Baton Rouge next Monday.

Until then, good luck and good bowling,

                                                        Kent Lowe