BradL, read the article linked here and educate yourself.  You couldn't be more wrong in your assessment of the two styles.  Push away adds muscle to the swing, hinge does not.  How does letting a ball fall away into a hinge add muscle?  Answer:  it doesn't!  Everything you said about what a hinge swing does is the exact opposite of what it does. 



Also watch the video linked.  Go to 3:20 to see how modern bowlers use a hinge.  Even Mika.

[url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5nnDbV0znE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5nnDbV0znE

I love Slowinski's insight.  I would have to agree with these concepts on the hinge.
I have changed my game several times in my career and most recently, I was using the "over the bar" pushaway.  We called it "going up to go down". 
I hadn't given it too much thought to be honest at first.

I have been writing for a couple of years about my bicep tear on my site.  Long story short, the injury has been recurring for 4 years now.  I made some significant changes recently and have been bowling mostly pain free.

As part of my game change, I paid a visit to Lou Marquez at Turbo Tech.  He is a gold coach so one of the top coaches around.  We have been looking for ways to eliminate muscling.  Interestingly, this was his first finding in my game.  He is completely on board with the hinge and it was the first thing we worked on changing.

My recent article is here:
http://tamerbowling.com/index.php/bicep-injury-lou_marquez/

I believe there is not much debate with top coaches in the modern game that the hinge is the ideal "start".  Like others have mentioned, it removes one more variable for potential inconsistencies.  From a physiological standpoint, once the muscle begins its contraction to "push the ball out" or "lift it over the bar" it will not be able to properly relax until the motion is complete.  It means you've inadvertently added unnecessary muscle.  In addition, it seems to be key to "perfect timing" but that's a longer explanation.

Please realize that is not a specific knock on some bowlers' success who haven't followed this mold so to speak.  However, if there is a teaching moment to the rest of us "average joes", there's no reason to not teach what is considered the right way in the modern game.