Some NFL players go on to become analysts in retirement. Others savor the new freedom and take a break from sports altogether. Terrell Owens went another route and embraced the world of bowling.

What, you didn't have the TO would work to become a professional bowler in your "What the heck is Owens up to pool?"

The Associated Press' Tim Dahlberg caught up with the former star, who played 15 years and caught over 1,000 passes for 15,934 yards and 153 touchdowns in the NFL.

Instead of catching, he is now rolling.

The 39-year-old may have the NFL in his periphery, but he is certainly locked in on the daunting task presented in Las Vegas. Owens will be at this weekend's PBA World Series of Bowling at the South Point Hotel.

Dahlberg is careful to note Owens is hardly the bowling equivalent of a young man on the football field. There is some conjecture as to how accomplished he is on the lanes, but there is no question as to his motivation.

"I'm not just making a cameo," Owens continued in what Dahlberg states was a phone interview. "I know critics want to come out of the woodwork. But when I first got on a football team I wasn't very good."

If you read between the lines, the budding bowler is hardly bumbling out there on the lanes, but he isn't exactly a contender entering the weekend.

As for scores, his high is a self-proclaimed 288, which would make any bowler proud. However, his time at the amateur United States Bowling Congress Championship produced some more telling results. During the tournament, he garnered 1,508 points, good for an average of 167.

Here is a video of him and his team at the 2013 USBC.

He will have to do better if he is going to make a dent in the competition.

Really, all Owens wants to do is compete. You get that sense that if it wasn't football or bowling, Owens would be out competing in some other venue.

He continues, "I know I have competitive ability to do it otherwise I wouldn't be doing it. I just have to go out there and bowl like everyone else."

While professional bowlers will be at South Point with pressure and thoughts of victory on their minds, Owens seems content to use this as a bowling barometer of where he is at. "I'm going to have fun with it, see where I am, and make some adjustments after that," he said

Norm Duke, owner of 37 PBA titles, offered his assessment on the NFL player turned bowling hopeful: "It's unfair for all the bowlers in the world to compare him with us. It's not a fair comparison."

Not that Owens is a complete novice in Duke's eyes. "He does have a pretty good fundamentally sound bowling game, but we should be fair to him," Duke said. "He knows his role here. He wants to see what it is like."

You get the sense that this weekend will make or break how Owens proceeds from here on out. Unexpected success may just mean we will see him again on television competing one day—only it will be with slick shoes and a bowling ball in hand.

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