Kelly Kulick, a 33-year-old professional bowler, had already won the Professional Bowler’s Association Women’s World Championship and was looking for a new challenge. Since a new PBA rule allowed her to qualify for the men’s tournaments she signed up for the Tournament of Champions—and beat 62 of the best male bowlers, including the world’s top ranked bowler in the final match 265-195.
So why isn’t she getting more attention? As Rick Reilly notes :
In golf, people turn 1280 McTwists when Michelle Wie nearly makes a men’s cut. In tennis, Billie Jean King’s thumping of a 55-year-old man is hailed as the greatest thing for women since the sports bra.Kelly Kulick? Who dat?
Listen! She beat 62 of the best male pros — straight up — in arguably the Tour’s creamiest event, the Tournament of Champions. And she beat them like egg yolks. She beat Chris Barnes, the No. 1 bowler on the Tour, by 70 pins in the final! That’s like beating Emeril by three hams!
So why is she getting no love? Why isn’t she known across America as Queenpin? Why isn’t she doing Letterman’s Top Ten?
If, like me, you wonder if bowling (or anything else you can do while drinking beer) is a real sport, Reilly has a solid response:
Bowling, the way I do it, is something to do between plates of nachos. Bowling, the way Kulick does it, is about endurance, brains, strength and will. I’d like to see [sports columnist David Whitley] throw a 15-pound ball at 17 mph, 18 times a game, for 90 games, over six days, averaging 226. You know who else can’t do that? Every guy in the Tournament of Champions field.
Say what you will about bowling, Kulick certainly deserves more recognition for her amazing feat than she’s gotten so far.
(Via: Neatorama )
