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Event: PBA World Series of Bowling

Tournament: PBA World Championship – Don Carter Division Finals (First of four divisional final rounds)

Where: South Point Hotel and Casino Convention Center (Arena installation) in Las Vegas, Nev.

Purse: $542,120, winner’s share: $50,000

Eliminator Format: Four finalists will bowl a one-game match. The player with the lowest score will be eliminated. The three survivors will bowl another game, with the low man ousted. The two finalists will then bowl a final game, with the survivor advancing to the PBA World Championship finals.

Final Round: Four division winners meet Jan. 15 in final eliminator round to determine champion.

Television: ESPN (Sunday 1 p.m. ET)

An international finals field will include two-time PBA Tour titlist Jack Jurek of Lackawana, N.Y., Dom Barrett and Stuart Williams of England, trying for their first Tour title and Finnish two-handed player Osku Palermaa trying for his second title.

Jurek, a 48-year-old 25-year veteran of PBA Tour competition, will take on England’s Stuart Williams and Dom Barrett, and two-handed Finnish star Osku Palermaa, in the first divisional final, named in honor of legendary PBA star and former World Champion Don Carter. None of the four have won a PBA major title. Both British players are trying for their first PBA Tour titles. Palermaa won his only PBA Tour title in the 2010 Shark Championship.

Last Week: Finland’s Mika Koivuniemi, reigning PBA Player of the Year, won the inaugural GEICO World Bowling Tour presented by the PBA men’s championship.  Koivuniemi defeated Sean Rash 237-224.  Carolyn Dorin-Ballard defeated Sweden’s Sandra Andersson 207-162 in the women’s final.  Koivuniemi and Dorin-Ballard each earned $10,000.

Last Season: Chris Barnes captured his 13th PBA Tour title and became the sixth player in PBA history to earn a lifetime Triple Crown (victories in PBA World Championship, U.S. Open and PBA Tournament of Champions) by defeating Bill O’Neill 267-237 at South Point Bowling Center on Jan. 16, 2011.

PBA:39X60 Pregame Show: (Free on PBA.com, PBA YouTube Channel) Tune into pba.com’s Xtra Frame for interviews with the finalists as they give their insight into strategy and equipment selection. All World Championship preview shows on Xtra Frame will be available the Wednesday before each Sunday ESPN telecast for free.

PBA:39X60 Postgame Show: (Free on PBA.com, PBA YouTube Channel) Sunday 2:30 p.m. ET – Xtra Frame interviews the winning player and provides in-depth ball rep analysis of the winner’s equipment selection and ball preparation.

Xtra Frame Coverage: Exclusive individual PBA World Championship qualifying rounds of the Bayer Viper Open (8 games), Chameleon Open (8 games), Scorpion Open (8 games), GEICO Shark Open (8 games) and World Championship Cashers Qualifying (8 games) are available at www.xtraframe.tv

Social Networking on PBA Facebook/Twitter: Follow PBA Tour Commissioner Tom Clark 'tweets' live during ESPN telecasts.  Follow PBA social networking through PBA on Facebook and Twitter for exclusive photos, videos and information, click the links to PBA.com provide greater details and information on PBA players, tournaments and news.

Interact directly with the stars of the PBA Tour, ESPN Announcers Rob Stone and Randy Pedersen and Xtra Frame personalities Mike J "Laneside" Jakubowski, Jason “The Bowling Guy” Thomas and the PowerHouse’s Jackie "Bowling" Marinkovich.  Communicate via the Xtra Frame chat feature or directly in one-on-one conversations.

E-mail: Get on the PBA e-mail list to receive news, alerts and offers directly to your inbox.

To 'like' the Professional Bowlers Association on Facebook, visit PBA.com and click the Facebook icon,

To 'follow' the PBA on Twitter, visit PBA.com and click on the Twitter icon or visit:                          www.twitter.com and search for @PBATour

To 'subscribe' to PBA’s YouTube Channel, visit PBA.com and click on the YouTube icon or visit: http://www.youtube.com/user/PBAProBowlersAssn

To 'subscribe' to PBA.com's Xtra Frame, online Bowling Channel visit www.xtraframe.tv

To 'subscribe' to PBA's E-mail list visit: www.pba.com and enter your e-mail address on the right rail.

SEATTLE –  As pro bowling fans follow the greatest bowlers in the world during the PBA Tour, opportunities to directly participate and cash in are part of the fun via PBA social networking.  The PBA digital platform provides an exclusive source of fan interaction and breaking news with the chance to win valuable prizes.

Through the PBA Winning Wednesday program last season, PBA product-registered companies 900 Global, Brunswick, Columbia 300, Ebonite, EFX Performance, Etonic, Hammer, KR Strikeforce, MOTIV Bowling, Roto Grip, Storm, Track, Turbo and Vise provided high performance bowling balls, bowling shoes, accessories and performance wrist bands.  This season, MOTIV Bowling provided high performance bowling balls for a six-week Winning Wednesday program through Dec. 22.

In addition, PBA has provided subscriptions for Xtra Frame, the online Bowling Channel and worked with Crave Games to also provide Brunswick Pro Bowling video games for lucky fans that participate in online games and trivia contests.  During Xtra Frame live webcasting, Hammer Bowling provided Black Widow double-ball totes last season and a towel and grip sack package for fans watching the online show this season.

Over $5,000 in prizes have been given away to lucky fans since last season.

"I love trivia contests, I have Xtra Frame and I watch all the shows.  When can I win again?”
--Rob Gotterbarn, Garden City South, N.Y.

"Awesome.  Happy to hear it, I will gladly take a brand new bowling ball."                                                 -Aarik Torres, Covina, Calif.

PBA social networking through PBA on Facebook and Twitter provides exclusive photos, videos and information designed to generate interest and viral sharing among fans of professional bowling.  Links back to PBA.com provide greater details and information on PBA players, tournaments and news.

Fans can interact directly with the stars of the PBA Tour, ESPN announcers Rob Stone and Randy Pedersen, PBA Tour Commissioner Tom Clark and Xtra Frame personalities Mike J "Laneside" Jakubowski, Jason “The Bowling Guy” Thomas and PowerHouse’s Jackie "Bowling" Marinkovich.  Bowling fans from around the world can communicate with each other via the Xtra Frame chat feature or directly in one-on-one conversations.

To 'like' the Professional Bowlers Association on Facebook, visit PBA.com and click the Facebook icon.

To 'follow' the PBA on Twitter, visit PBA.com and click the Twitter icon:

www.twitter.com and search for @PBATour.

Rodney Dangerfield made an entire career out of getting “no respect”.
 
Based on feedback I constantly receive from the PBA Message Board, PBA on Facebook, PBA on Twitter, at the bottom of the escalator at South Point, in the men’s room at Carolier Lanes, in my e-mail, through phone conversations and on my voicemail, the number one single complaint most PBA members and fans want fixed is clearly:
 
“That’s the story of my life, bowlers don’t get no respect, I don’t get no respect at all.”
 
My thought is this: If bowlers do not respect bowlers, how can anyone else respect bowlers?
 
For every tournament, league, competition and television show, the conversations bog down to the same inevitable list of complaints.  Try to distinguish the following comments and tell me if they are coming from your local league, city tournament or the highest level of competition on the PBA Tour:
 
“The format was a circus sideshow, what ball was he/she throwing?”
 
“Why would I want to go and pay to watch a carry contest?”
 
“The lane surface favors a certain type of player.”
 
“Too much friction.”
 
“It was boring, lanes were too tough.”
 
“I would be just as good as him/her, if I had a coach and unlimited, free bowling balls.”
 
“The scoring pace was ridiculous, they must have put a wall shot out, the scores were too high.”
 
“The entire game is based on equipment selection; power, skill and accuracy don’t matter as much as 1-2-5-10-20-50 years ago.”
 
Bowlers that win are generally talented individuals, no matter what the level of competition.  There are always a few breaks, off hits and a bit of good fortune to every title along the way.  Yet after each and every tournament, out come the excuses and yes, LACK OF RESPECT, by the very audience that demands respect from everyone else.
 
There is a lack of respect for the greatest bowlers in the world.  It comes from bowlers themselves.  Yet, that voice demands respect from everyone else.
 
I see a game that has evolved.  Talent still reigns supreme.  Now you must also be an expert on lane conditions, surface-breakdown, ball selection, coverstock-surface-core and a dozen other factors working simultaneously.  A solid mental game is a must or your game is a bust.  Physical conditioning has never been more a part of the sport of bowling.
 
All of those factors working together present a compelling backdrop for world competition at the highest level on the PBA Tour.  Now toss in a tight time frame with limited opportunities to earn your keep as even more talented players from around the world jump onto the scene to ramp up the competition level even further.
 
Youth, power, skill, accuracy, finesse and conditioning combine to produce champions; a few wily vets outwit the ravages of time -- sounds like many other sports that are getting the respect we all want.
 
“I tell you, I just won a bowling tournament on ESPN against the greatest bowlers in the world, I don’t get any respect all.  No respect.”