Eventually the stay at home restrictions will be slowly lifted, and non-essential businesses will slowly reopen.  However, the social distancing guidelines may remain in place for the foreseeable future.  How much are you willing to tolerate to return to bowling?  For example:

- If face masks become/remain mandatory, would you be willing to wear a face mask while bowling leagues/tournaments?

- Would you be willing to give up eating and drinking during bowling if the "no dine-in" rules remain in effect for a while?

- If the 6ft rule remains in effect, would you be willing to give up sitting at a table with your team and stand during bowling the whole night instead?

- Would you be willing to stop "giving five"/fist bumping with fellow bowlers?

- Would you agree to changes in competition, where teams are spread out instead of bowling on the same pair?  For example instead of two 5-person teams bowling together on lanes 7&8, one team gets 7&8, and their opponent bowls on 9&10, and then the scores are joined at the end of the night to determine wins and losses.

- Could we possibly see the end of 5 person teams to reduce the number of people in bowling centers and a shift to predominantly doubles leagues and 3 person teams?

None of this would probably happen, but just curious how much you would be willing to do to keep bowling.  Personally, I would be OK with all of this if it means I can get back to bowling.

All of the above.  These things wouldnt last forever.   

I would have no problem doing away with the constant high five/fist bump/dap/hand slap shit.

How did bowling come to that anyway, every freaking shot you are expected to exchange hand gestures.

Screw that and good riddance if it goes away.


And I don't eat while bowling, so no issue with that either.

This.

Looks like I'm not the only anti-social MF'er here. 

Eventually the stay at home restrictions will be slowly lifted, and non-essential businesses will slowly reopen.  However, the social distancing guidelines may remain in place for the foreseeable future.  How much are you willing to tolerate to return to bowling?  For example:

- If face masks become/remain mandatory, would you be willing to wear a face mask while bowling leagues/tournaments?

If you've had to deal with those ordering pitcher after pitcher of beer and face farting every other minute, you'd want to wear that mask. I know I would.

- Would you be willing to give up eating and drinking during bowling if the "no dine-in" rules remain in effect for a while?

I don't eat or drink during bowling. If I do drink though, it's water, from my own container.

- If the 6ft rule remains in effect, would you be willing to give up sitting at a table with your team and stand during bowling the whole night instead?

I'm always standing when I'm at league; whether on the lane, off the lane, in the settee area, or otherwise, and especially if on the concourse, as I can see how someone else's ball is reacting on the lanes, to see if I need to make any adjustments. One of the reasons I stand is so I keep the blood flowing. Sitting (at least for me) could cause cramping.

- Would you be willing to stop "giving five"/fist bumping with fellow bowlers?

If it works for Duke in tournament play, I don't see why not. I mean, you don't have to keep your game face on, but it would be a habit worth breaking if the no-contact keeps being enforced.

- Would you agree to changes in competition, where teams are spread out instead of bowling on the same pair?  For example instead of two 5-person teams bowling together on lanes 7&8, one team gets 7&8, and their opponent bowls on 9&10, and then the scores are joined at the end of the night to determine wins and losses.

This wouldn't work. Lane conditions wouldn't be the same, compromising the fairness and integrity of the game. One team would work/break down a pair of lanes to their advantage, and while the other team could do the same, just because the conditions are the same doesn't guarantee equality. In fact, this would be creating a bowler's version of segregation.

- Could we possibly see the end of 5 person teams to reduce the number of people in bowling centers and a shift to predominantly doubles leagues and 3 person teams?

No. This won't do that, especially because the 6ft guideline is a 6 foot range in radius of a person. So if you're standing at the ball return, and someone else is up on the lanes, you've met that requirement. as that is more than 6 feet themselves.

However, the bigger issue now may be lane courtesy, as you might not meet that 6ft guideline from the next lane over. All depends on the alley.

None of this would probably happen, but just curious how much you would be willing to do to keep bowling.  Personally, I would be OK with all of this if it means I can get back to bowling.

Agreed. I don't think any of this will happen either, but I'd rather just get back on the lanes than not at all.

BL.

Quote from: Bowler19525 on April 13, 2020, 08:50:37 AM

Quote

- Could we possibly see the end of 5 person teams to reduce the number of people in bowling centers and a shift to predominantly doubles leagues and 3 person teams?

No. This won't do that, especially because the 6ft guideline is a 6 foot range in radius of a person. So if you're standing at the ball return, and someone else is up on the lanes, you've met that requirement. as that is more than 6 feet themselves.

However, the bigger issue now may be lane courtesy, as you might not meet that 6ft guideline from the next lane over. All depends on the alley.

Reducing the league team sizes would decrease the density of people standing behind the lanes, and make it easier to maintain the 6ft distance while waiting for your turn to bowl.  Packing 10+ people behind each pair makes it impossible to distance.  At the center where I bowl, there are some nights where there are over 300 bowlers packed in the center.  Then people bring spouses/significant others, children, their children's friends, etc.  That might need to stop, too.

Bowling will survive, but as long as the "new normal" is in place there may need to be some temporary adjustments until that vaccine comes along.  With grocery stores and discount stores now limiting the number of people allowed in the store at any given time, the same type of thing may be required of gyms, bowling centers, movie theaters, etc.

People at this point are going to be clamoring for things to do after the stay at home orders are lifted, so entertainment venues might be primed for an initial surge.  But if only 100 people are allowed in at any given time [as an example], does the bowling center give preference to their league bowlers, or do they focus on the open bowlers and arcade side of the house?

Quote from: milorafferty on April 13, 2020, 01:58:41 PM

This question will be irrelevant by this time next year. Once there is a vaccine, this will be similar to flu season. I guess the real question is; Can bowling survive until then?

And before you nut-job anti-vax'ers start spewing your BS, just shut up.

Yes, it will be like flu season, except that there's a problem with that. With the flu, the vaccine you're getting is actually from the previous year's strain of the flu, so with COVID, you'd be getting the vaccine from whatever strain of COVID that the vaccine is good for. That doesn't stop you from catching a different strain of it, especially if it has mutated itself or another strain of COVID has been detected. For example, SARS, H1N1 (swine flu) and H5N1 (avian bird flu) are all different strains of coronavirus. so it doesn't necessarily make you immune to all strains, so the issue could still remain.

Regardless, bowling will still survive. It's survived multiple wars and then some over the past 100something years, so it will survive this.

BL.

That's not actually how it works. This years vaccine is not based on last years strain.

Also, even if the vaccine isn't targeted to the exact strain, it's still more effective than having no vaccine at all.