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I was flipping through the channels in the middle of the night a couple days ago, and I came across an interesting show on ESPN. It was called "Bowling Night," and it featured sixteen professional athletes from different sports competing in a bowling tournament. The tournament was run over the course of 5 days. Each day, four bowlers went up against each other, and the bowler with the highest combined score from two games won $10,000 and advanced to the semi-finals. There was also a fifth spot available for the highest scoring bowler among the non-winners. In the semi-final round, the same rules applied, with the top three scorers each winning $5,000 and advancing to the final, where there was a cool $20,000 at stake. Some of the celebrity bowlers included Terrel Owens from the Philadelphia Eagles, Cobi Jones from the L.A. Galaxy (MLS), Brandi Chastain from the gold-medal winning U.S. Women's Olympic soccer team, BMX and X-Games champion Dave Mirra, and Damon Jones from the Miami Heat.

Normally, I would never spend more than a few minutes watching bowling on television. Bowling is a sport that's much more fun to participate in than it is to watch. But this celebrity bowling had me hooked. It was very interesting to see these athletes, who were among the best of their respective sports, come together to compete in a neutral sport -- especially in something like bowling where sheer athletic ability has very little to do with the outcome of the game. It was fun to see which athletes had the best bowling form and which ones looked like they hadn't bowled since their tenth birthday party.

This show worked for several reasons. First, all the athletes looked like they were pretty much out of their element. It seemed that everyone had an equal shot at winning, and that is important for generating and keeping viewer interest. Second, there were participants from a wide range of sports. Instead of having all NFL guys, for example, there were also players from the NBA, the WNBA, extreme sports, women's boxing, and ice hockey. It was a good mix of personalities, and added an element of the unexpected to the tournament. How would a hulking 300-pound football player interact with the slim 130-pound Chastain? And finally, the show worked because there was enough prize money at stake to ensure that all the contestants would be trying their best. The winner of the tournament would have won $35,000 total: $10,000 for winning the first round, $5,000 for advancing from the semi-final round, and $20,000 for the overall win. That was enough money to make these millionaire athletes take the whole tournament pretty seriously.

On the whole, this was a very fun show. There was also commentary from a regular broadcaster on the professional bowling tour, so even viewers who didn't know a thing about bowling were able to follow along with the action. I really hope ESPN decides to make Bowling Night a permanent feature in their lineup. I would definitely watch each episode!