Personally, I don't see anything wrong with rereleasing an old ball. If it was a product people liked and had success with, why not put it back out on the market?
Now I'll answer my own question. It's because the ball companies have everyone duped into thinking that new "premium" (whatever that means) ball releases represent "New Technology" developed after extensive "Research and Development." Productive new developments in bowling ball technology occur rarely. The vast majority of the time, new isn't any better, it's just different. If the ball companies rereleased old products and people found out that they still work, it just might slow down the runaway train known as the "Ball-of-the-Month Club," and we wouldn't want that to happen, now, would we?
On the subject of the "Ball-of-the-Month Club," I believe I've noticed a change in the name of the company that is leading the pack. The company's name used to be "Brunswick" and now it seems to be "Storm." Storm used to release a couple new "premium" (whatever that means) balls in the fall and a couple new "premium" balls in the spring, with a few others sprinkled throughout the year. Now the new Storm balls come rolling out of the mill too fast to even keep the names, colors...and smells...straight.
Shiv
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Listening to the monotonous staccato of rain on my desk top