| | | Bowling Fan Novelties DVD Review — Dick Weber Tribute The Dick Weber Tribute DVD was about Dick Weber and what he meant to the sport of bowling. It told memories about his bowling career. They interviewed a lot of stars of the PBA today and yesterday.
The video also talked about how Dick Weber was a great bowler in how he threw the ball. People like Carmen Salvino, Johnny Petragila, Glenn Allison, and Bill Lillard were the stars of yesterday who were interviewed. The stars of today were Pete Weber (his son), Walter Ray Williams, Jr., Parker Bohn III, and Mika Aulby. This was really great because you got to hear and see why Dick Weber was a great bowler and ambassador for bowling. There will be no one else like Weber. He really made the PBA, as well as the game of bowling, what it is today. I had the great opportunity to get to know the legend Dick Weber. He even knew my name. It was an honor doing my tip of the week and him being on the show. I will never forget that. He was definitely one of the best bowlers in the history of the PBA. I remember meeting him at my local hall of fame banquet. He told stories about bowling. I first met Weber at the 1987 True Value Open in Indianapolis. Remembering him win his last senior title with Justin Hromek at the 1992 Senior Touring doubles. He had become the first player to win a PBA title in five decades. This was neat to witness and I understood what was happening. I was rooting for him and Hromek to win the Touring/Senior Doubles in 1992. Three years prior, I saw him and Marc McDowell win the same tournament and I thought that team was tough. I was very young when I started watching bowling and tried to understand the game of bowling. My only wish was that Weber could have won the tournament where I did my tip of the week. That would have been a heck of a tournament to witness. All in all, I think you should watch this DVD. My favorite part was when Parker said, “He paved the path for every PBA player to have a chance to earn a living by throwing a bowling ball.” I enjoyed this film and think you would enjoy it too. | Book Review—50 Greatest Players in PBA History 50 Greatest Players in PBA History is about the greatest bowlers of all time. Players like Earl Anthony, Walter Ray Williams Jr., and Dick Weber are talked about in this book. It also has bowlers like Mark Roth and Marshall Holman. The Superstars of yesterday and today in the PBA tour are also in this book. The forward, by Chuck Pezzano is about how the PBA got started and who was the founder of the PBA as well. It goes through the fifty greatest players in PBA history and talks about how they got to the top of the PBA in their bowling career.
If you love the PBA, as much as I do, this is a must have for the bowling fan. PBA Commissioner, Fred Schreyer wrote his thoughts and thanked the bowling fans for supporting the PBA. The book also covers how some of the players, including Mark Roth, have revolutionized the sport of bowling. In my opinion, this is the greatest bowling book of all time because you can read about all your favorite bowlers. For $19.95, you can purchase the book on www.pba.com. |
50 Greatest Trading Cards Along with the 50 Greatest book, the PBA decided to make 50 greatest trading cards. The cards are like sport cards telling the bowling fan what each bowler did in their career and some statistics. Bowlers like Earl Anthony, Dick Weber, and Walter Ray Williams Jr. are included in this must-have for bowling fans. If you like looking at what your favorite bowlers have done in their careers, these are great to have. You can also purchase a collectible binder in which you can put the cards. They arrive in alphabetical order; however, you can put them in numerical order. These are great to bring to the tournaments ito get them autographed by the 50 greatest bowlers in history. With the stats on the back, they can be used as a quick reference to how the bowler performed in the past. You can order them from the PBA store online.
    
 
| DVD - League of Ordinary Gentelman In the spring of 2006, the PBA came out with a documentary called A League of Ordinary Gentlemen. Walter Ray Williams Jr., Wayne Webb, Chris Barnes, and Pete Weber were featured. This film talks about what our favorite pro bowlers go through on the PBA Tour. Toward the beginning of the movie, Steve Miller, PBA President, is shown addressing the bowlers in a pre-season meeting discussing the future of the PBA. Steve says one of the themes is going to be “Only one can win” and the other theme “The March to the World Championship.” He also mentioned the sports that the PBA was ahead of as far as ratings. At the conclusion of this meeting, they showed some of the reactions and thoughts of the players about what Steve Miller said. A couple of the tournament directors talked about a way that the PBA could cut expenses. They discussed that at the beginning of the season each player would be allotted only 8 PBA patches. If additional patches were wanted, they would have to pay a dollar per patch. In the past, players were given as many patches as they wanted at no cost. This film documents how Chris Peters, Rob Glaser, and Mike Slade, former Microsoft executives, purchased the PBA in 2000 for $5 million which was equivalent to the cost of a Minor League Baseball team at that time. In another segment, Pete Weber states that the public describes the stereotypical bowler as a “blue collar, drinkin’, smoking’ idiot.” Filmed during the ’02—’03 PBA Tour season, bowling fans are able to see what bowlers do in their personal lives in addition to bowling in tournaments. The social aspect of the sport was also examined. This is a great way to see our favorite pro bowlers from another perspective. A League of Ordinary Gentlemen talks about back in the day, when bowling was on every Saturday afternoon, the super bowlers of the PBA were Dick Weber and Earl Anthony. Walter Ray said that in a time when American families had limited television channels to watch, bowling was at its prime and watched by many. A League of Ordinary Gentlemen shows highlights of the last show that ABC telecast in 1997. The championship match was between the #1 and #2 bowlers in the world, Walter Ray Williams, Jr. and Pete Weber, respectively. What a match to go out on! An interesting fact was that Pete Weber threw the last ball on that last show. On the first show, Dick Weber, Pete’s father, won the first televised tournament. Copies of the DVD are currently available through Amazon.com for $9.98, but quantities are limited. My personal copy of this DVD is autographed by Wayne Webb, Walter Ray, Jr., Pete Weber, and Chris Barnes. “League of Ordinary Gentlemen” - DVD cover, Walter Ray Williams, Jr., Wayne Webb, Pete Weber (and wife, Tracy), Chris Barnes - the 4 bowlers that were featured in the documentary.  
 
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