Wow, has it been a crazy week.
While working feverishly to put the finishing touches on the tournament venue, we hosted the New Mexico Activities Association High School Bowling State Championships, the Special Olympics National Unified Tournament, USBC Bowlfest and a tournament for more than 200 local USBC Youth members. All of the events went well and gave so many bowlers a chance to enjoy the Open Championships experience when they otherwise wouldn't be able to compete on the tournament lanes.
Bowlfest was the highlight of the opening-week festivities and featured PBA Hall of Famer Brian Voss, USBC Hall of Famer Bill Lillard, Team USA member Stefanie Nation, former PBA standouts Bob Learn Jr. and Rudy Kasamakis, local favorite Dana Miller-Mackie and Jim Cripps, the Backwards Bowlers. The group participated in an autograph session, some exhibition matches and a trick shot showdown. Even though I work with these folks regularly, I still get a little bit starstruck. Within the next week, the event should available for viewing on BowlTV.
On Saturday, we had our traditional opening ceremonies and the first two team squads of the year. Although we are still working out some kinks in general and there might be a few stumbles early on, we'll hit our stride soon and everything will run like clockwork. The opening ceremonies, Mass Ball Shots, crowning of Joe Bowler and the entertainment were excellent as always and also will be available on BowlTV.
Just walking around the venue you can feel the excitement. You can see it in the bowlers' eyes while walking the lanes. There's $5.5 million and a convocation of eagles up for grabs, and every bowler wants a piece of the action.
All around the city there are signs welcoming the bowlers. The people of Albuquerque have been great. The media attention has been great, too. During this week, we've had visits from Channel 4, 7 and 13 as well as the Albuquerque Journal and Albuquerque Tribune. In fact, I was at a store buying something, and the guy at the counter said he recognized me from the news the day before. The word is really getting out about the 63,000 bowlers and their 30,000+ guests coming to town. Overall, we expect to have a $75-100 million economic impact in New Mexico.
Although the days are long now, it's rewarding to see how excited the bowlers get after they've bowled well and we approach them for a picture and an interview. Typically, we meet them on the lanes as soon as they get done. We immediately take a picture and escort them back to the new Media interview room. Within a day, the story appears on bowl.com and gets sent out as a press release. It goes to thousands of bowling writers, newspaper editors and the person's hometown media.
Scores have been high so far today. We had our first honor score (a 290), the Regular Doubles mark has been set at 1,328, Regular Singles is at 729 and Regular All-Events is 1,937.
As I write this, I have my eye on a Classified team that has 1,905 after two games. There's also two Regular teams battling for the first 3,000 of the year.
This is what it's all about.
Time to get back to work. A few potential stories on the lanes, and Channel 13 on the way to do an economic impact story.
