Last week, I was kind of scratching my head about how Brunswick/DV8/Radical bowlers fared in the Touring Players Championship. Now I see that Sean Rash and Ryan Ciminelli made the show for the Tournament of Champions.

One thing that was brought to my attention from last week was that out of a field of 336 bowlers, Brunswick/DV8/Radical was the least represented. It's not as if those numbers changed for the Tournament of Champions, but I'm wondering if it the better showing by Brunswick/DV8/Radical bowlers was a function of how their equipment matched up better in Indianapolis than in Green Bay?

Also cashing this week were Parker Bohn III, Thomas Smallwood, Brian Valenta, and Patrick Dombrowski.

People will always claim the the flavor of the month is the best out there. Storm/Roto now, in a few years it will be MOTIV, and then Big B again and then EBI and etc. IMO the bowler is the ultimate x factor in success, the equipment they use is a close second.

People will always claim the the flavor of the month is the best out there. Storm/Roto now, in a few years it will be MOTIV, and then Big B again and then EBI and etc. IMO the bowler is the ultimate x factor in success, the equipment they use is a close second.

Stop yourself. Flavor of month? You mean flavor of the last 10+ years?

Quote from: EL3MCNEIL on February 14, 2015, 10:56:12 PM

People will always claim the the flavor of the month is the best out there. Storm/Roto now, in a few years it will be MOTIV, and then Big B again and then EBI and etc. IMO the bowler is the ultimate x factor in success, the equipment they use is a close second.

Stop yourself. Flavor of month? You mean flavor of the last 10+ years?

Stop myself from my opinion?

In 2004 Storm had some good bowling balls, but nothing that blew everyone out of the water. In my area Brunswick, Ebonite, Hammer, Columbia (Pre EBI purchase) and Lane #1 were all the rage, I'd see Storm on occasion but not dominating like they are now. So I stand by what I said, it might have been different in your area, in a few years another company will be top dog and everyone will make the same claims just as they are now... Just with a different company.

Storm/RG has about the same number of national staffers as everyone else combined.  They had 5 of the top 10 and 10 of the top 20 money earners for 2014.  The numbers fall right where they should.  Storm has the deepest pockets and pays the most guys and goes after all the top guys when they get the chance. 

When Brunswick was leading the tour in the late 90s early 2000s they also had an extremely large staff with lots of big names.   

Walter Ray Williams Jr, Parker Bohn III, Danny Wiseman, Mike Aulby,  Chris Barnes,  Ricky Ward,  Mark Williams, George Branham III, Johnny Petraglia,  Steve Jaros, Jason Hurd,  Tommy Delutz Jr, Del Ballard,  Kim Adler,  Kim Terrel, Carolyn Dorin, Earl Anthony ect Everyone at one point was on their staff. They made huge cuts and changes to their tour approach.  Storm/Roto is doing something similar and the tour numbers show it.

Guys have minimal chances to earn as a professional...how many think they'll use something they can't win with? There's very few (ok none) crappy players making finals or shows...the equipment is enhancers...
As NF28 stated...there is also something to be said abt how the 'grease' is placed on the lane and where

At any given point throughout time there are always about 10 guys that are just better than everyone else on tour.  Equipment doesn't mean much for those guys. 

It is called a business cycle. For a long time it was brunswick, then columbia, hammer ebonite now storm.....It is just the same for any other business. I actually thought Sean Rash's LT-48 had the best reaction out of the group, until Belmo was able to manipulate the lanes to his liking.