Bowlers Journal International - November 2008 - (Page 12) Inside Line News, Notes And Perspective BOWLITICALLY INCORRECT BY JIM DRESSEL { jimd@lubypublishing.com } The Day ABC Sports Panned Away from a Live ‘Major’ for Stale Memorex YOU DON’T GET HAZARD PAY as a sportswriter. Not that there aren’t occasions when you should. Historically, for example, you wouldn’t want to stand between Marshall Holman and a foul light. Or take the 1991 Firestone Tournament of Champions; a bomb threat pre-empted the start of that Pro Bowlers Tour telecast on ABC Sports. It happened a mere 12 minutes prior to air. Those in the building were notified that they had to evacuate. That meant fans, celebrity guests, tournament staff, television crew, the media, and yes, the five TV finalists. The PBA had a similar threat the week before — complete with a makeshift bomb — at its Windsor Locks stop. So it took this latest threat seriously. The whole thing was surreal. Tournament Director Johnny Campos was wrapping up his pre-match remarks, the championship round was a few minutes away, and all systems were “go” for the national championship finals. Yet we were all asked to leave the center. With the Connecticut threat still fresh in the minds of those who knew of the Windsor Locks situation, it didn’t take long for whispers of “bomb threat” to circulate throughout the crowd. Filing out slowly and deliberately from Riviera Lanes with the possibility of a bomb going off while Once back inside, the five bowlers — Scott Devers, Chris Warren, Mike Miller, Amleto Monacelli and Ozio — resumed their practice. They finished their 10-minute warm-up session, and the telecast began anew, this time with nary a commercial interruption. It didn’t take long for everybody to put the unusual interruption behind them, and really get into the exciting matches of the championship round. Ozio, especially, was in a zone, firing games of 240 and 236 to beat, in turn, Miller, and for the $50,000 title, the top-seeded Monacelli. “A number of people told me they’d never seen me more focused than this week,” he said. At that point, the bomb threat seemed little more than a weird footnote to the entire week. It didn’t even take long for those who lived through it to put it behind them. The only ones who seemed upset at that point were those who didn’t actually see the final match, which happened to be M.I.A. on ABC, the victim of a 4:30 p.m. cutaway for a gymnastics event taped almost a year earlier on “Wide World of Sports.” As Norman Chad headlined his column in The National the next day, “ABC rolls gutter ball after bomb threat.” The sign reads, “Through these doors pass the World’s Greatest Bowlers.” Well, Fairlawn firemen bowl, too, do they not? you were doing so was an altogether creepy feeling. Once outside, the bowlers seemed unperturbed by the experience, especially #2 seed David Ozio. He was joking with the other TV finalists, and evidently took it as little more than a game delay. “Hey, guys,” he said. “We could bowl right here and set up the pins by the ABC Sports truck. Whaddya say?” He was smiling when he said it. But when someone said he had to be kidding to suggest asphalt bowling, he quickly said, “Why not? The name of the game is to knock down the pins. If we can’t do it inside, this’d be just as good a place as anywhere.” Play-by-play commentator Chris Schenkel had a couple of quick smokes, while analyst Bo Burton gregariously joked with the production crew, the bowlers, and any fans who wandered by. For the final time, the Fairlawn firemen filed through the doors usually reserved for the “world’s finest bowlers”… or so read the sign above the entryway. After a last look around, the all-clear was sounded. The whole delay lasted about 40 minutes. 12 Bowlers Journal International | November 2008 www.bowlersjournal.com http://www.bowlersjournal.com
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