ROKBOL: Field of Dreams
by George Merlis

In the 1989 movie Field of Dreams Iowa farmer Ray Kinsella hears a disembodied voice tell him, “If you build it, he will come.”  The “It” is a baseball field and Kinsella, obsessed, builds the field.  In point of actual fact they did, build the field for the film.  Shoeless Joe Jackson, the “Black Sox” and Ray’s youthful father all came.  So did the public.  And the public, has never stopped coming.  The baseball diamond in the middle of a cornfield is still a popular tourist attraction.

Let me introduce you to a real-life Ray Kinsella.  His name is Mike Gorse, and rather than hearing a voice, Mike had a vision; a vision of a high-scoring, high-speed, highly-kinetic game played in a bowl that never stopped for time-outs, but was structured to accommodate the demands of commercial television (ie, scheduled periods, half times and a total game running time that could be adjusted to either 60 or 90 minutes).  Mike dubbed his vision “Rokbol” and called the deep oval bowl where the game would be played the “bol.”

He built a quarter inch scale architectural model and showed it to many people.  All of them were instantly excited by the prospect of this exciting new sport.  And all of them said, “Why don’t you build the bol so we can see what it looks like in the flesh?  It was the equivalent of Ray Kinsella’s voice telling him, “If you build it, they will come.”

Trusting his vision, Mike Gorse took the plunge.  He borrowed space from Branam Enterprises -- builders of rigging for rock concerts and television shows -- and Mike built the bol -- largely by the sweat of his own brow.  The bol and the sport Mike has invented are so exciting that Fisher/Merlis Television signed on to help Mike with telecasting Rokbol.  Abrams, Rubaloff and Lawrence represents the television component of Rokbol and veteran sports and events director Bob Levy has signed on to direct Rokbol telecasts.

Now, the bol is complete.  Every skater who has entered it is amazed -- even stunned -- at the structure’s exciting possibilities. An insightful sports and events enterprise is going to cash in on Rokbol in a very, very big way.  Its visionary executives are going to see the possibilities and leap at this unique opportunity to get in on the ground floor of a multi-layered sports, merchandising and leisure activity venture.