Don't miss this!!!!

Former NFL star and Hall of Famer Lynn Swann, bowling great Nelson Burton Jr. and CBS Sports play-by-play announcer Bill Macatee will call the action for Bowling's Clash of Champions on CBS Sports.

The trio will usher in bowling's return to network television for the first time in nearly a decade when the Clash, presented by the United States Bowling Congress and Strike Ten Entertainment, airs on CBS Sports on Saturday, May 10 from 5-6 p.m. Eastern and Sunday, May 11 from 4-5 p.m. Eastern.

The Clash, which will be taped at the Kansas City Municipal Auditorium on May 8, will bring together 16 champions of USBC events and the U.S. Open ranging in age from teenagers to seniors competing for $100,000 in prize money.

Swann will serve as sideline reporter, Burton as color commentator and Macatee as the event's play-by-play announcer.

"With bowling returning to network television, we wanted to assemble a special announcing crew and we have done that," said USBC Vice President of Communications and Marketing Tom Clark. "Bill Macatee is one of the most talented hosts in all of sports broadcasting. Nelson Burton Jr. is bowling's most familiar voice. And Lynn Swann brings his style and charisma to bowling for the first time."

A 2001 NFL Hall of Fame inductee as a wide receiver, Swann helped lead the Pittsburgh Steelers to four Super Bowl titles in the 1970s - including Most Valuable Player honors in Super Bowl X in which he caught four passes for what was a Super Bowl-record 161 yards and a touchdown in a 21-17 victory over the Dallas Cowboys. After retiring from the NFL, Swann served as a football and sports broadcaster for ABC Sports from 1976-2005.

"I'm excited about covering bowling for the first time as a broadcaster," said Swann, who has served as spokesperson the past two years for the NFL Super Bowl Celebrity Bowling Classic. "The sudden death format of this tournament should provide a much stronger sense of urgency for the competitors. It will be interesting to see how they respond."

Macatee joined CBS Sports in 1995 and plays a major role as an announcer not only for CBS Sports' golf coverage, including the Masters and the PGA Championship, but also for the NFL, the U.S. Open Tennis Championships and a variety of CBS Sports events, including skiing, Track and field and the ATP Tennis Tour. Macatee served as the weekend daytime co-host of the 1998 Olympic Winter Games on CBS and as play-by-play announcer for college basketball, including the NCAA Tournament.

Burton, a member of the USBC and Professional Bowlers Association Halls of Fame, was part of one of sport's most famous broadcast teams, partnering with lead announcer and fellow Hall of Famer Chris Schenkel as color analyst on PBA Tour telecasts for 23 years. Burton has most recently served on the announcing team for the U.S. Women's Open in 2007. He also had an outstanding bowling career winning 17 PBA Tour titles and holds the record for most USBC Open Championships titles with nine, including the 1976 Masters.

The Clash will be taped on Thursday, May 8 from 6-9:30 p.m. at the Kansas City Municipal Auditorium, which is also hosting the 2008 USBC Convention the same week. Tickets to the Clash are $10 and can be ordered on bowl.com/clash. All seats are general admission and USBC Convention attendees are not required to pay for admission.

If you missed this, Lynda Barnes won the event, defeating Sean Rash in the final match. I've posted some of my thoughts about it on my blog. I would love to see how the shows did in the ratings, which may determine if there are future bowling shows like this on network TV.

I really enjoyed this event and hope it got good ratings. Lynda Barnes, wow, what can you say. She is really bowling at a high level right now and creating her own breaks. Still can't believe she defeated Rash. She is mentally rock solid tough and has the physical game to match.

As a 41 year-old "stroker", I was rooting for Lynda in the final match. I love the fact that she prevailed against the 25 year-old cranker with the big hook. Well done!

Its the First Time a Woman has beat a Man in televised Event - they said. What a year for Barnes Family - Chris Barnes Player of the Year with two titles - Lynda Barnes Queens Title and Clash of Championship.

Yep, $80,000, in two weeks, not bad for a Girl.

I would have had to quit bowling and coaching and pretended like the game never existed if the back up ball throwing kid from Saturdays match had won it, he lasted longer than PDW though.

This TV match was great without having a big scoreboard in mashing unit. It looks better than big scoreboard in PBA TV matchs.

I was surprised to see a back up bowler on the show. Most of the ones I've ever watched bowl tend to be hit or miss, at least the males ones that do it with a stronger release. Somehow he was consistent enough to win the event that got him on the Clash.

I wonder what was going through Liz's mind during her shootout through the elimination round.

I have to say, Linda got tons of breaks. A couple people got away with brooklyns, but Linda got so many breaks on high and light shots (that 4 pin, the 7-10, several trip 4-7-10s) it was starting to get ridiculous. I say it all the time though, it's about getting lined up so that you have room, and she had that.

All in all it was a good match. Notice that every time Sean made a bad shot on the right lane, he fell off of it. Sounds like me!