A Day at the NCAA Women's College Bowling National Championships

My ride got me there earlier than I planned to be there, so I had plenty of time to bowl and eat lunch there, and even get my ball polished at the pro shop, or so I thought. I wrestled my 21-pound, two-ball bowling bag (that's two 14-pound balls for you math flunkies) down the steps of the wheelchair-accessible mini-bus that took me there, and entered the two pairs of automatic sliding doors at the front of the bowling center. But things looked quite different than usual. There were tables set up in the front selling merchandise for this event, and my view of the lanes was blocked by a big wall with advertisements for the NCAA and stuff, which seemed to be the back of a set of bleachers judging from the sounds of cheering I heard all over. A couple of people were by the tables in front, which were either bowling center staff or NCAA officials, more likely the latter, and they saw me with my big bowling bag and explained to me that there was a tournament going on and that there was no open bowling. The people there were very helpful and very friendly. One of them even went out and explained to my driver what was going on, but the driver was on a set schedule and couldn't take me back. But I could have called the service and let them know I was ready for pickup, and if I was lucky, they could get a driver there soon. They even offered to call the paratransit service for me. But I had my cellphone with me and could do that myself. Besides, I probably couldn't even get an early pickup anyway. And there was no way I was going to call and ask for an early pickup and risk ending up waiting at the door for over three hours only to be picked up at my regular time anyway, or much later (trust me, I know this service well and I put up with a lot of crud from them). And the people by the front door told me I was welcome to stick around, and there was a lot of good bowling going on and I might pick up some pointers by watching. Judging by all the cheering going on, I could tell they weren't kidding. They also said that this was an NCAA college tournament, and that Saturday's match would be broadcast on ESPN. So I decided I might as well stick around and watch, since I had three hours and my transportation schedule was pretty much set in stone. But first, I wanted to finish filling out a job application for the center I had (I'm also looking for a new job), so I went into the lounge, the only place where there were tables, and did that. Then I turned it in to the front desk. Someone with an NCAA badge took it, so I hope it got into the right hands.

As I took a look around, it was definitely a different setup than the center's normal setup. Wekiva Lanes is a 40-lane bowling center. The way this center is usually set up is there are bar-like tables behind the playing area, which also hold house balls and can store bowling bags, and trash cans are located on the ends of them. Each lane has its own scoring console and table with four seats anchored to it, two on each side, and a fifth removable one on the end. The table and console are in alternating positions. For even-numbered lanes, the console is right behind the approach and the table is in front of that. For odd-numbered lanes, the setup is the same, but console and table are farther back. There is a set of overhead consoles over each lane pair, three for alternating pairs (used as a TV) and two for the others. But the place was quite torn apart for the tournament.

Only half the center was used for the tournament. The area around the first 20 lanes was completely empty. There were no tables, no chairs, no scoring consoles, no ball returns, no overhead screens, and there were not even any pins at the ends of the lanes. The lights were off over those lanes, too. There were mats where the scoring consoles and ball returns were, and there were little yellow spongy things covering the anchors for the tables and stuff so people wouldn't step on them and get their feet skewered. All the tables and scoring consoles and everything were jam packed along the walkway from the side of lane 1 to the area behind the pinsetters. The bathrooms and snack bar are in that area, and they were still open, but the first 20 lanes were totally empty. On the other 20 lanes used for the tournament, the tables for the odd-numbered lanes, which are further back as mentioned before, and the bar-like tables were replaced with sets of bleachers spanning the entire half of the center that was used for the tournament. The ball returns had NCAA logos posted on the sides, covering the big Brunswick letter "B" you would normally see on the sides. The masking over the pinsetters, which usually was a bright orange background featuring bowling balls and pins, was replaced with masking showing the NCAA logo and graphics for NCAA women's college bowling. Even the pinsetter gates were a different color than normal, and I assumed they had the NCAA logo and stuff on them instead of the normal Brunswick brand name. These changes made Wekiva Lanes, a Brunswick Recreation Center, look like it was owned and operated by the NCAA and used just for their college bowling tournaments. There were even NCAA decals on the sides of the reception and snack bar counters. They looked like they were painted on, and I had to feel them to see for myself, but they were giant decals. It definitely looked like a whole different bowling center, and it was even kind of spooky. If I didn't know better, I would have wondered if they had sold out to the NCAA or something. The vending machines were still operational, but were covered by black curtains, probably either for broadcasting purposes for Saturday or for commercial purposes (i.e. they didn't want any "free sponsors"). In my opinion, it was just an example of how over-commercialized this society is. It would be one thing for them to be there during Saturday's matches, which would be broadcast on national TV, but for a day that wasn't being taped and was free to everyone, I don't see the point. Maybe it just looks more professional for a national tournament or they were just setting it up ahead of time, I don't know. One of the rooms used for league meetings and stuff was being used as a media room, which I guess is sort of the same thing as a press box at a football or baseball stadium. I also tried to check out the game room, and see if there was any new games, since I hadn't been there in a while, and to kill some time there. But that was also blocked off by a black curtain, and there was a sign saying it was reserved for coaches and athletes. I could even see the lights on one of the prize machines through the curtains. What was up with that? Were only coaches and athletes allowed to play the games or something? What else could they have been using it for? Oh well, nothing to do but watch the tournament.

The whole tournament was handled very professionally, too. The announcer on the PA system had a very good voice. He could easily be to bowling what Harry Carrey was to baseball. He pretty much had the intercom the whole time, and even paged people for phone calls. I would have thought the normal center staff would still do that instead. I noticed no technical problems, other than one of the coaches calling the front desk on the intercom on the scoring console and reporting a blackout. (A blackout is when the pinsetter is working okay, but the pin lights are off.) So obviously, a lot of effort was put into making sure all the equipment was in tip-top shape. The last couple times I was there, I noticed quite a few problems, and even had some train wrecks myself. (I'm talking about the pinsetter missing a pin when setting them up, the ball return not returning the ball, the pinsetter getting stuck, etc.) I didn't see any dead wood (pins that had not fallen into the pit) on the lanes either.

There was definitely some good bowling going on as the NCAA rep at the front said. This was the national college bowling championships after all--not as big as the PBA, but certainly close. I couldn't see the text on the scoring screens, so I can't tell what kind of scores anyone got, but the bowling was good. I found a spot in the bleachers close to lane 23 or so, almost tripping over one of those little yellow spongy things where the table anchors were as I walked along the front of the bleachers. I climbed to about the second or third row, but even at that height my view was slightly obstructed, so I had to stand like everyone else. The pace of the bowling was a lot quicker than a league bowler would be used to. The bowlers stood by the approach behind their lanes, and waited in line to bowl. They alternated lanes each frame just like in league bowling, and the teams went in line on the other lane each time they switched. The action kept going at a good pace, and there were high-fives all around the teams every time someone bowled a good ball, so it was quite exciting. Every other pair of lanes was being used, so the bowlers used the ball returns on the unused pairs of lanes to put extra balls. But the pinsetters and scoring computers were activated even on the unused lanes. The data for each individual bowler was in the scoring computers, but only initials were shown on screen, no full names like I'm used to seeing in a typical league setup. I really thought they would have entered full data or downloaded it into the computer somehow. But perhaps they didn't really need full information because the coaches and officials were probably writing down the scores anyway. Directly in front of me, University of Maryland Eastern Shore was playing against University of Minnesota Mankato. I didn't have any favorites since I had never had any interest in college bowling, so I didn't know who to cheer for, so I picked Minnesota because they were wearing blue, and blue is my favorite color. Both teams did well, but although I couldn't see any scores, it was clear from the action on the lanes that UMES was kicking their butts. After that match, the announcer announced that there would be a break to condition the lanes. The scoring consoles and overhead screens switched from the scoreboards to the Frameworx logo. I really thought that for a big event like this, especially as commercialized as it appeared with the curtains over the vending machines and stuff, they would have paid someone to set the screens up to display the NCAA logo or the logo for the tournament or something like that, or made the effort to figure out how to do it themselves. I've read technical information on the Frameworx system, and it IS possible. But all 20 display screens and scoring consoles showed the Frameworx logo, and most of the people there probably didn't even know what Frameworx means. (For your information, Frameworx is the name of a scoring and bowling center management system made by Brunswick. Vector is the current system offered by Brunswick now.)

The break started between 12:30 and 12:45 and lasted until 2:30, but practice would begin later at 2:00. As the lanes were being conditioned, the announcer talked about the food you could get at the snack bar, and also said that thunderstorms were big in Florida and were in the forecast, so if anyone needed to go anywhere during the break, they should give themselves plenty of time to get back. They were also playing music over the PA system during the break, using the same Music Choice Party Favorites channel the bowling center typically used to provide music during open bowling. But needless to say there was no bowling going on at that time. This was like one of the only times you could ever hear a 40-lane bowling center be dead silent besides the talking and the music. Absolutely no pins falling or balls being rolled, not even the sound of pinsetter motors! Imagine that! While the music was playing, the announcer said he would leave the mic open to anyone who had a favorite song and wanted to sing karaoke. Nobody did, though, except the announcer got one of the other staff members to do it for a few seconds to "Jack and Dianne" by John Cougar Mellencamp, but that's all. They asked us to clear the building during the break for about 15 minutes or so, too, while they set up for the next match. At that time, I looked in the parking lot and saw a big ESPN semi truck trailer advertising the Denny's PBA Tour taking up several parking spaces. For ESPN to bring a truck normally used for the PBA, this had to be a big tournament indeed. During the break, and even during the tournament, people were talking about flying down here and the weather up north. I couldn't believe there were so many people from all over the country at my home bowling center, which was not much more than 5 to 10 minutes from my house and which I had bowled at countless times! Can you imagine that?

Practice for the next match started right at 2:00. Even the start of practice was handled very professionally. At the start of practice, the announcer said, "Ladies and gentlemen, coaches and athletes, Wekiva Lanes time is 2:00. Open practice begins...now!" And at the very exact instant the announcer said "now" and not even .001 microseconds later, the lanes came on. I'm so used to hearing, "Such-and-such league, your lanes are coming on for 15 minutes of practice," or something to that effect, a second or two before or after the lanes come on. And a few seconds after the lanes came on, the sounds normally associated with a bowling center began to fill the air once again.

I happened to be sitting behind University of Maryland Eastern Shore again, and if I remember correctly, they were up against Sacred Heart University this time. Practice ended 20 minutes later, and the announcer introduced the starting lineup and the head and assistant coaches for each team, and in doing so, he forgot to mention the coaches for University of Maryland Eastern Shore, and had to go back and mention them after introducing a few more teams. This was the only major blunder in the tournament, besides the screens showing the Frameworx logo when one would think they'd show the NCAA logo or something instead. The announcer also mentioned the sponsors for the event, which included big names like Pontiac and Cingular, just to name a few. Despite what I said about over-commercialization, I had no problem at all with that, and even applauded when the announcer asked for a big hand for their sponsors. As long as the event or the venue isn't named after a sponsor, it's all good with me. But the sponsors made the event possible, so they should be recognized. I still couldn't believe that such a big tournament sponsored by big-name companies was being held right in my own back yard! For this match, there were no individual scores taken. This match was played using the Baker format. The Baker format is used for college bowling, and the way it works is a team of five is scored as if it was a single bowler. The first bowler would bowl the 1st and 6th frames, the second bowler would bowl the 2nd and 7th frames, and so on.

When my ride came, one of the NCAA representative who greeted me at the front door looked for me in the bleachers, and let me know that my ride was here. I would have thought they'd page me, but my ride came early again, otherwise I would have gone to the door to wait for it at my scheduled pickup time. He even walked me out to the minibus and asked if I enjoyed the tournament and everything, which of course I did. I wonder if he had seen where I went somehow or if he searched high and low along the bleachers for me. But still, that was nice. I really thought they would have paged me.

The timing for my trip was kind of bad. I was there for three hours, and an hour and a half of that was taken up by the break. But it was still a thrill to attend a big tournament like this, and I really enjoyed it. I didn't get to go to the finals on Saturday because I had to work. But I checked the NCAA Sports Web Site, and the same tournament will be at Wekiva Lanes on April 10th through the 12th next year also. Now that I know about it plenty ahead of time, I do have every intention of at least going to the finals on the 12th next year, but will try to go on one or both other days if possible.

Saturday's event was broadcast live on ESPNU and replayed on ESPN2 on Sunday. I went to the NCAA Sports Web Site and checked the standings for the tournament, and sure enough, the team I was watching, University of Maryland Eastern Shore, was going to be in the finals. They would be up against Vanderbilt University. I was expecting Farleigh Dickinson and Nebraska to face off again like the last couple years. So I decided to root for UMES, since I was watching them. The encore on Sunday was at a bad time, too, so I taped the tournament while at work and watched it when I got home.

The only major difference between Thursday's and Saturday's events was that there were a lot more seats on Saturday, particularly on the lanes. Also, the ball return was covered on all sides, just like they do in PBA broadcasts. Other than that, everything else was the same. And I was able to confirm that the pinsetter gates had NCAA's name on it. Even the pins were labeled "NCAA". Can you believe that? There was also silence as each player made their approach so they could concentrate, since this was the finals and they had the extra advantage of no other bowling going on. Bowlers also took turns by frames instead of by balls. For instance, a bowler on one team would bowl a frame, and then a bowler from the other team on the other lane would bowl a frame, and so on. The match was pretty close. They used the Baker format and played for best out of seven. It was a close game. They went through all seven games, and Vanderbilt came out on top. For some reason, though, the encore on ESPN2 skipped games three and four. Vanderbilt took the first two games, and UMES took games three and four. I would have like to see them make their comeback. I bet it was exciting. That really stunk! Commercial breaks were taken every five frames, which was kind of annoying, especially if you're at the tournament, because you have to sit there and wait for more bowling to happen. When commercial breaks ended and the bowling tournament came back on, I noticed the flashing colored lights normally used for Cosmic Bowling were going, so they must have been doing something to hype up the fans during the breaks.

The next week, I went down to the bowling alley again, and as expected, everything was set back to normal. However, they weren't doing normal open bowling because they were still trying to get the scoring computers back to normal after the tournament. They were letting league bowlers come in and practice no charge, and even though I'm not on a league there right now, they went ahead and let me bowl, but I just wouldn't have a scorer. So I asked for some paper to write down my score on, and they gave me a scoring sheet. And of all the times I've ever bowled, I've always had the scoring computer, and had NEVER scored manually until then. It was definitely a new challenge for me, especially since they don't have lights to tell you which pins are standing because they have the scoring computer and there's no need for them. With my visual impairment, I had to look from the foul line just to see what I had, and draw out a diagram of the pins just to visualize and figure out what pins were left. If I would have known I'd have to do that, I would have taken my monocular (like binoculars, but for one eye). I'll blog about my first time scoring manually another time, but that's enough for now. This is getting long. Oh well, I got to bowl four games plus several practice shots for free. That's good enough for me I used the same paratransit service for that, and my driver came to pick me up real early, so he killed time by bowling two games. And by that time, everything was back in order and they charged him like normal. Talk about good timing!

It's high time I wrap this up. This is getting long! The tournament was a great experience. If you live in the Orlando area or will be visiting Orlando at the time of next year's tournament, head over to Wekiva Lanes and check it out. Even if you're not planning to visit Orlando at the time, if you have those days free and have nothing else to do and can afford it, fly on down here and check it out. I think it will be worth it!