Have you heard? CBS is rolling out its newest sitcom next Thursday, and it’s featuring our favorite sport!

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The new program, “How We Roll” on CBS is going to have a lot of viewers asking questions though. Is bowling really a competitive “sport”? Can someone be a professional bowler? Can someone actually make an entire career from bowling? If you’re reading this, of course, you know that the answer to all of the above is yes.

I’ve always had a lot of thoughts though on how important it is to spotlight bowling.

I cannot even count the times I’ve heard the phrase, “I didn’t even know that you could do that for a living!” It’s almost always the response I get when talking to someone on a plane, on my way to a competition, whether national or international.

For many people, the new show “How We Roll” is going to be the first time they see bowling in this light, beyond being only recreational. They’re going to see that yes, professional bowlers exist.

Bowling is underrepresented not just on mainstream television but as a professional sport in general. So I’m excited to see this new show shining a spotlight on the sport and showcasing someone’s life as a full-time competitive bowler.  From what I have learned about it so far, it seems that they’re trying to keep it pretty true to Tom Smallwood’s actual story.

Of course, it’s a sitcom, so it’ll be humorous but it’s also meant to be an inspiring story. 

His story really is inspiring. What he did was very gutsy.

He’s older than me so I remember first hearing his name when I was bowling as a kid in the Michigan youth tour.  I remember when his story began and when he started making a name for himself.

Tom took a big risk. He essentially chose instability. When faced with how to proceed in life professionally, he could have easily just gone out and got another stable job after getting laid off from his job in an automotive assembly line in Michigan. Instead, he chose to believe in his talents – so much so that he believed he was going to be able to provide for his family. He knew he was more than just a good bowler so he took a shot at making a career of it. And he made one! He’s still at it making his mark on the PBA Tour.

Not many people have the guts and belief in themselves to push themselves to the professional level of a sport. It’s risky taking that leap of faith and rising to the ranks of being competitive and living off of any sport.

Being a professional at anything means you are depending on that job to provide income to live. It means you’re doing it consistently. In Tom’s case, he wasn’t just supporting himself but he also had to think about his family. Committing to yourself, and your game, to the level where you can support yourself, is something very few people do. Only a small handful make it. In that sense, his is a sort of universal story.

Watching the sitcom, I think people will begin to appreciate that there are so many parallels between becoming a professional bowler and being almost any other kind of professional athlete. Whether someone is aspiring to be a professional tennis player or baseball player, the basics are the same. It takes commitment and belief in yourself to rise to an elite level of any game.

“How We Roll” is airing on a primetime tv slot, premiering on Thursday night, March 31 (CBS). So a lot of people are going to see it.

And I can’t wait for everyone to see the reality of the sport beyond recreational bowling.

Yes, everyone may have great memories with their pizza and beer league but it’s important to acknowledge the difference between that and the professional level. I think one of the reasons people don’t realize bowling also has a professional, competitive realm is that bowling is so accessible. Almost everyone has a bowling memory or story. I really have never met a person who didn’t have a bowling story. And, everyone can bowl. I don’t think there’s a lot of sports you can say that about, that so many people play recreationally or want to play. Not everyone can play sports like baseball or hockey, but so many can bowl in some capacity.

Bowling’s strength in numbers may also be its weakness when it comes to real, professional-level awareness. So many people can relate to bowling that they don’t realize there’s an entirely professional level to it.

As a professional sport, it is actually one of the most organized sports in the world. I’ve lost count of the number of international competitions I’ve attended. I can tell you that I have visited over 30 countries through the sport though. I have friends and colleagues from all over the world because of bowling. In some countries, especially in Asia, bowlers are actually paid by the government to train and bowl. It’s their official job. Across Europe, bowling is also especially competitive. So many of my friends and colleagues are from Europe. The bottom line is that amazing full-time competitors, from so many countries, are driving the sport forward.

It’s a small wonder bowling hasn’t made it to the Olympics yet. It’s certainly not for lack of trying to get it there! There’s been a movement to get it there for years, and one of the first international bowling organizations was founded during an Olympics meeting in the 1950s.

Until that day when bowling gets the international recognition it deserves, all we can do is keep pushing it forward and celebrating the sport whenever we can.  And having professional bowling – not just recreational bowling – featured on a prime-time American television show is a major win for the sport!

I really do believe it falls on those of us who love competitive bowling – either participating or watching – to never miss an opportunity to talk about bowling so that more people can see it the way we do.

Bowling has made me who I am today. I will always celebrate any chance for more people to learn about this amazing sport!

How excited are you to see bowling on a prime-time television sitcom next week?