First of all, personally I don't care.  If it's legal, I'll bowl with it, if it's not, I won't, don't care.  I think USBC is missing a chance to differentiate recreation from sport though.  The average bowler doesn't get patterns.  Yeah the blue oil looks cool on the PBA shows, but there's no blue oil at league, so they have no basis for comparison.  You can show them lane graphs and pictures, but until they actually see it AND bowl on it, they're not going to get it or understand.  HOWEVER, it's really easy to understand the difference between college baseball players using aluminum bats and the pros using wood, and it's nothing that has to be explained to be understood.  All you have to say is that the pros have equipment restrictions, they can't use the balls that make it "easier" to score like league bowlers can, because when people see pros using the same balls they do bowling on lanes that look the same as theirs, they see no difference. 

Now the issue for the manufacturers becomes that they lose advertisement for balls that aren't legal for use on the PBA, but I really don't think the PBA has much influence on ball purchases anymore.  Literally not once in the last three years have I had anyone come into the shop and say, "I want the ball -insert random pro- won with the other day."  I could be wrong, but 10-15 years ago, that happened all the time.  Somebody would win with a ball on a Sunday, and Monday I'd have people in there wanting one.  Now it seems to be primarily consumer and manufacturer driven. 

This idea makes sense to me, continue with the current specs, but put spec restrictions on equipment for use in higher level competition.  The funny thing is it doesn't even matter, most people I know use equipment that's inside the new rumored specs anyway, not going to hurt my feelings, but it could hurt manufacturers who all the sudden lose maybe a couple ball lines, and more limited specs means more limited reactions which means more limited choices which means less revenue most likely.  There NEEDS to be a bolder line between recreation and sport, and it needs to be achieved without adjusting the recreation side. 

Luke this may be a obvious question, but do you believe the current equipment that’s currently on the market will still mandated if the new changes come into effect?

Thanks much appreciated.

Stuff would be grandfathered in with a cutoff date, like it will be legal for the next 5 years or something, so it's nothing that's going to hit now, 

In my opinion grandfathered balls should not have a cutoff date. People still use older balls. What will happen to one my balls that I still use that is already grandfathered. Will there be a great grandfather clause also? Luke your suggestion on PBA restrictions is a better idea.

Yeah I'm with you, but they want to prevent stockpiling most likely.  Lots of people with lots of "golden oldies" undrilled in their basements, and once stuff is declared illegal, if they don't set a cutoff date, people are going to stock up and still be using "illegal" balls a decade from now or more. 

Quote from: BossTull on December 18, 2017, 12:50:40 PM

Quote from: Luke Rosdahl on December 18, 2017, 12:00:19 PM

Stuff would be grandfathered in with a cutoff date, like it will be legal for the next 5 years or something, so it's nothing that's going to hit now, 

In my opinion grandfathered balls should not have a cutoff date. People still use older balls. What will happen to one my balls that I still use that is already grandfathered. Will there be a great grandfather clause also? Luke your suggestion on PBA restrictions is a better idea.

Yeah but if they outlaw any balls that are legal today they are going to kill the sport.  Imagine the Motiv Jackal Ghost debacle x100.  People will be like fsck it not buying more equipment and find another hobby.

> Literally not once in the last three years have I had anyone come into the shop and say, "I want the ball -insert random pro- won with the other day."  I could be wrong, but 10-15 years ago, that happened all the time.  Somebody would win with a ball on a Sunday, and Monday I'd have people in there wanting one.

Because the dozen people who watch Xtra Frame are on staff and already have one.  With cord cutters less people flipping all the way over to Espn The Ocho as well.

Whatever until whatever this is becomes.

And not to sound overconfident but give me any ball and I will figure out how to score with it.  It may not be 300 every night but I will be able to keep pace with the rest of the house hacks.

Power players are already using balls within the rumored changes. Strokers would be losing the big cores that help them keep up with the power players.

I think the rule changes will be effective in reducing the overall number of 300s, because the majority of bowlers are still low rev, low speed. However, I think the big picture isn’t the scores themselves, but the ability for the skilled stroker to keep up with the scores power players are posting. This moves us even further away from an equitable playing field. Strokers are about to lose some hit, and the power players will never even notice.