Hi all,
Not trying to toot my own horn or anything, but I just shot 1001 scratch for 4 games with a 15lb. Orange Dot. That's 233, 269, 256, 243. I know this is considered one of the worst balls of all time. A genuine turd by most acounts. I have owned 3 of them so far and really like them. So I had to post this.
I have been struggling lately and decided to go back to basics. Since I started law school I've only had time to bowl in one league. It's a second-shift Doubles league at Bleekers on the southwest side of Chicago. The house used a water-based coating on the lanes when they cut them this summer, and the scores have been plummeting ever since. The heads just soak up the oil because they are so soft. The league before us is a group of guys who throw old urethane and plastic balls and blow the lanes to H-E- double hockey sticks. I have a high rev rate, lots of speed, and basically too much hand for my own good. I have tried to change, but it just isn't fun. I have dropped from 226 to 189 over the season, and finally have found something that works. Tonight I brought out the relics to see if I could improve on the 600 and something I shot for 4 games last week.
I pulled out all the plastic tonight, hoping that I could over power the shot by whacking up on an old ball. I brought the Blue Dot, pre-"new formula" hard as a rock and super glossy, the AMF Poly Classic (worked down to a burgundy Scotch Brite with a Grey and a Green coming first), and the Orange Dot (the particle plastic beauty, green Scotch Brite followed by 3M Perfect-It II Rubbing Compound), figuring that a relic would force me to make good shots.
Boy was I impressed. I got lined up with the Orange DOt and never looked back. I had the world. I could tug the ball up 18 and carry or send the ball to the 3 board and watch it charge back and get the "swish strike". I was throwing messengers and tripping 4, 5, 7 and 10 pins. It was amazing. My only major mistake, which cost me some money, was when I tugged the ball in the 10th frame of the 1st game (right up 18, with a lot of hand, left a 6-7-10 and almost sent the 6 into the 7 with my Blue Dot). I went 30 clean for the next 3 games. I really think I had a shot at 800 if I didn't blow that 10th frame. Needless to say I had 502 going into the 3rd game with a certified, toasted marshmallow.
Like I said, I don't want to be slapping myself on the back, but I am a huge proponent of throwing old stuff when the going gets tough. i have an extensive collection of old stuff, both drilled and NIB (White, Bronze, and Moss Green Red Dots, Sur-D, Shore-D, Yellow Dots, white dots, multiple Rotos, Cobras, Magnums and other urethanes, rubber balls like the Lt-48, 3-Dot, Power Balls and the like). Sometimes I think I am the only one keeping some of the eBay guys afloat. Reactives, urethane, and particles are just too over under on a truly burned up, inconsistent, "oil, we don't need no stinking oil" type of shot.
I really think there is a place for old technology when lane conditions get really tough. I just wish that the manufacturers would catch on to this. Not every center wants to flood the lanes and let guys use the newest hook monsters. I think that we need more controllable balls that hook little, but still hit well. The XXXL, Clear Wolf, and Blue Gargoyle are good starts, but Columbia was the originator and innovator of Polyester technology. I really wish that they would go back to their roots and bring out a few plastic balls that have a good motor hiding inside. I have tried for years to get my hands on one of the Clear Poly Aftershocks that were made, or one of the plastic Sumos (which I think were made by Columbia for AMF). But to no avail. They are all too precious to ever drill. I really want a strong poly ball that isn't made by the Big B. The Trooper is not a good replacement. I want a two-piece polyester ball.
Although it isn't a two piece, the Orange Dot is the best thing I have found so far. The particles in it even out the reaction enough to make it work on the truly rot-gut, over-under conditions, that some of us have to face.
I'm sorry that this is really long and rambling. I may have had a few too many "oat sodas" since I cleaned up on the pots with my "Brown Beauty" and made many a cup "flowith over" at the bar.
Columbia, please bring out a good plastic ball. Yoy discontinued the Black Knight. You besmirched the Legacy of the Yellow Dot by making the misbegotten, Hard shelled "Legends" of the late 80s and early 90s. Where has the Velvet Touch gone. You have made the Blue Dot nothing more than a silver version of the White Dot, instead of the legendary rock that it once was. You took the opportunity to make a poly-Beast and made a three piece, solid white-Dot, instead of the light-buld cored polyester monster that you should have made (I know that this is ironic since the poly- Beast is the closest thing to a Black Knight replacement, but the shot at a two-piece plastic ball was still missed). You wrapped the light-buld core on every other coverstock through your Columbia/AMF/Track empire, why not polyester. For Shame!
Please come to your senses and make a potent polyester ball. You waste your time making multiple versions of every other ball, even if they only hook a few more boards than their predecessor. How many times does the Nuke need to be remade, whether it is a Slam, Hawk, or any of the other versions with a nugget (a.k.a MJ Slam, Nighthawk SPT..., Hexplosion, etc.) Please, suck it up and make a good plastic ball. Wrap the Beast in Polyester. Put the simple Power Torq or Pulse core in a plastic shell. Heck, make a plastic Cuda, Throttle or any other line. You could even make a polyester Drive series ball and call it the Bias-Ply or "Slick". Sure, only me and a handful of other guys would get the joke, but those same guys would gladly pay $150.00 for a polyester ball that has a good core in it. Come on, you could have the very first assymetrical plastic ball.
Yes, Mankow has just blown all of his credibility by writing a long, rambling, probably drunken, open letter to Columbia. I can accept that, as long as I can carry the torch of Columbia's polyester past.
Once again, I'm sorry for the novel, but I had to get this off of my chest.
Sincerely,
Mankow
