Not to be a wet blanket, but lost in the excitement over the PPG Plaza skating rink is this question: Yes, it adds much needed life to Downtown but at what cost? To put it another way: Is this the way the Tomb of the Unknown Bowler ends -- not with a bang but a triple axel? For the past few years, the Tomb has been covered at holiday time and -- quicker than you could say "Chris Fuamatu-Ma'afala" -- transformed into a Christmas tree. Now people are skating circles around it, oblivious to those who gave their lives trying to make the 7-10 split.
Don't get me wrong: Like you, I'll take any sign of life in PPG Plaza. But eventually -- possibly as early as late February -- the Christmas season will end and the tree and the ice will be gone. Will PPG tune into the Tomb's tourist potential?
Some background for newcomers: When the PPG megaplex went up in the'80s, the plaza had all the charm of a prison yard. But there was a clue that PPG was up to more than simply keeping life from breaking out in a public space. In the middle of the plaza sits a monument supported by four large black balls.
No public announcement identified it as the Tomb of the Unknown Bowler. And I don't know much about art, but it was by no means perfect. While the bowling balls look true to life, a better job could have been done depicting a bowling pin. What we have is pointy, too much like an obelisk. Still, the intent of this humanitarian gesture was clear, at least to me.
Gradually, the Tomb of the Unknown Bowler came to be appreciated as a quiet, dignified presence in Pittsburgh life. It took a natural marketer like me to see its potential. Over the years, I have used this bully pulpit to push for an eternal flame, something that would create the proper atmosphere for people to honor their bowling dead by leaving old bowling shoes, score sheets, six-packs in their memory. What have my efforts yielded? A skating rink.
Which is a shame, because the tomb strikes a chord with people all over the country. A while back, a man named Art from Sonoma, Calif., sent this e-mail:
Dear Mr. Peter Leo,
I heard about the Tomb of the Unknown Bowler on the Rush Limbaugh show. I surfed the Web and found you. I write you to advocate the burying of my grandfather in the Tomb of the Unknown Bowler. Like the bowler buried there now, so too my grandfather is unknown in the bowling world. Why is that when he continually beat the bowlers of his day? Granddad (Gramps) was overlooked in 1999 when the PBA voted on the best 20 bowlers of the 20th century. He beat Andy V., Ned Day, Nelson B. Jr. and Buzz Fazio often in match games. Some of these boys he bowled with on the Coors team or the Stroh's team for many years. Gramps carried the highest average in the country (211) for more than a year. Gramps taught Dick Webber Sr. and Roy Rogers (the cowboy) the finer points of bowling.
I understand that once a year a six-pack of beer is placed on the tomb. Remembering my grandfather at our family functions with a beer in his hand often, I advocated his burial in Pennsylvania.
Of course I will have to get permission from seven grandchildren to exhume his body and fly there. I'm sure you will have to check with the governing board for approval.
Before you do that, do some research on Harold "The Tiger" Asplund, my granddad. I do have two of his scrapbooks dating back to 1929 to back me up.
Thank you for your consideration.
First, megadittos to Limbaugh for mentioning the Tomb and proving it has national reach. Research confirms that Art is right: Tiger Asplund was a world-class bowler and seems to be underappreciated. I sympathize with Art and would hate to discourage anyone from moving here, even if they are dead, because we need all the bodies we can muster. But I'm not sure an aging city (median age: still deceased) wants to encourage exhumations as a tool for immigration.
Art's e-mail does suggest another idea, however: What about PPG selling sidewalk bricks, as they've done outside PNC park, so people can honor bowling loved ones by having their names inscribed permanently in PPG Plaza? St. Louis has the Bowling Hall of Fame, but the Tomb of the Unknown Bowler has broader appeal. You don't have to be great to identify with the unknown bowler.
I don't need any thanks, because this isn't about me. Nor do I want to hear from the Nobel or Pulitzer people. This is about public service. Let's not let PPG skate on this.
Peter Leo is the Post-Gazette's writing coach. His column appears on the last Monday of the month. You can reach him at 412-263-1561 or pleo@post-gazette.com.
E-mail this story 
