Brunswick had the Danger Zone, Inferno & Mastermind.
Hammer had the Black Widow and the Vibe.
Roto-Grip had the Cell and the Nomad.
Storm had Hy-Road and the Virtual Gravity.
AMF had the Night Hawk.
Each of these balls was such a mainstay for that manufacturer, that many, many versions of each of these very famous series were manufactured. They rode the coattails of the original.
It seems like Ebonite's one "famous" ball was the Vortex 2, the basis for the Gamebreaker and Cyclone series. Now it's 15 years later; the Vortex 2 was introduced in 2000. They seem to be stuck with this as their sole legacy.
It almost appears as if this is the only item keeping Ebonite afloat these days.
I'm sure every Ebonite fan will claim several other balls are equally great; while that may be true, no other ball comes close in sales, which is the bottom line.
I know there are some very talented people still at Ebonite; why can't they hit that magic formula again? Is it just marketing or is there some other reason?
This is not a rant; it's more a statement of sadness, that a once great company has not been able to rise from the ashes, as has most other ball manufacturers. I wish I knew why. Except for a Cyclone, I have not found one Ebonite brand ball that was truly useful for me int he past 10 years or so.
