Possibly even the entire "sport?"  As soon as I remembered bowling was supposed to be fun, my perspective changed.  I used to aspire to be like the custom jersey wearing dozen ball toting snobs for some reason, I guess it can be seen as a mark of success or "arriving."  What I found out though is that competitive bowlers, or the vast majority of them are like this, and the average bowler doesn't like that.  How much does it suck to go to a tournament and find out you're either on a pair with or bowling next to a team full of matching custom jerseys and KT tape and each bringing in 12 balls?  You know you're going to have to accommodate all their quirks, decipher how many lanes of courtesy to give, figure out how they want the balls arranged in the bowlers area, figure out where you can and can't put your towel, etc.  These elitists are everywhere, and now with high school bowling and collegiate bowling becoming bigger, the uppity snobs are being groomed at a younger age.  It's funny to listen to a 15 year old dog on handicap and complain about their fellow teens and how everything should just be scratch and people should just get better or deal with losing all the time, but at the same time wondering why their little "youth masters" tournaments don't have more entries.

The average bowler doesn't like competitive bowlers, and the competitive bowlers I believe are driving off the very crowd they're trying to obtain.  They keep whining about the decline of bowling and the sorry prize funds, but don't seem to realize that they condescend to, intimidate, criticize, and just flat turn off all those that would possibly be their peers with some coaching and practice.  Nobody wants to turn on the tv and see a bunch of uppity douchebags throwing fits or with all these weird and or showy habits or routines or being "sport pattern snobs" (or the holding your arm out to the side thing some of these college girls are doing which drives me insane).  I think competitive bowlers are actually contributing to or causing the decline of their own brand. 

Paying for a jersey with a logo and pimpin' cause you get free stuff are two entirely different things.

Everybody wants free stuff, and way too many people think they deserve free stuff.

I have been a scratch bowler for over 50 years.  Seems to me you are stereotyping competitive bowlers with a pretty broad brush. Are there bowlers out there who fit your description?  Of course , but for every guy like that I can name 10 who are downright humble about their ability and are glad to help anyone who shows an interest in improving.

True, but I don't think Luke is including every competitive bowler in the group, just the ones who act like tools. And we all know some of those.

Quote from: milorafferty on June 01, 2017, 07:06:34 PM

Quote from: avabob on June 01, 2017, 06:41:52 PM

I have been a scratch bowler for over 50 years.  Seems to me you are stereotyping competitive bowlers with a pretty broad brush. Are there bowlers out there who fit your description?  Of course , but for every guy like that I can name 10 who are downright humble about their ability and are glad to help anyone who shows an interest in improving.

True, but I don't think Luke is including every competitive bowler in the group, just the ones who act like tools. And we all know some of those.

I resemble that remark.

After a few too many Elijah Craig's, me too.
Well, maybe after just a couple.
Okay, after just one.
Okay, okay, I admit it, I'm a tool. I blame the Russians...and James Comey 

I am also contrary to the OPs point. Though I will agree that some of the Elitists take it a bit far...

But IMO the bigger issue with Bowling is the largest percentage. The once or twice a week hack. Nothing can ever be enough for them. When the conditions are​ easy and scores are high "the shot is to easy" put that same guy on a even slightly tougher condition and it is "this ridiculous I can't average high enough" blah blah blah.

They think they understand but they don't, so worried about a average and then needing to stroke the ego and shot that average and if they don't piss and moan and blame it on the conditions while ignoring the fact that they don't know much about Bowling.

Not trying to sound like a ass just commenting on what I see and hear.

 I honestly have to say, I've been the "tool" guy before, and when you are, you don't realize that's what you are.

 At some point, I came to my senses though, and came to realize bowling was no longer the fun thing it used to be. It was a very serious thing, more like having a job than having a good time doing something I liked. At this point, bowling pretty much sucked for me, and I probably made it suck for quite a few others. I was real good, but also a real big a**hat as well.

 Then, one day, I got tired. Tired of all the work, tired of all the practice, but mostly tired of all the other a**hats I had to deal with, and that's when I realized I had become one as well.

 My attitude changed after that. The name shirts I had, that I had been so proud of, became goodwill donations. The closet full of old bowling balls became donations to the junior league bowlers here, and I pared down what I carried to league with me to a 3 ball roller.

 In the ensuing ten years since, I have fallen back in love with bowling again. No, I'm not nearly as good as I was when I was bowling 50-75 games a week, but now bowling is fun again. I bowl one league a week, practice every once in a while, and look forward to getting to go.

 And, just like the ex smoker who now hates cigarettes, I now detest "elite" bowlers who drag in two six ball rollers, flash their logo jerseys, and point out scoring errors made 5 lanes away from them, all on a supposed "fun only" league, all in the name of the "sport".

 I lost sight of why I started bowling to begin with. It became something bigger in my mind than it actually was, and I got caught up in the show. I thought I was really somebody. 🙄

Oooh oooh oooh, don't forget the guy who wears his honor score rings on every finger.  I tried to warn a friend that this was too showy, but he wanted to make a statement.  Another friend was checking him in for a tournament and started laughing his butt off.  There's always a bigger fish.

My kids and their friends were discussing making a league minimum average of 180 in their competitive scholarship league.  They complained about giving too much handicap even though their team was high average and leading the league.  I calmly asked them to find all the 180 average bowlers in the league and add up how many teams would be left.  Instead of a 14-16 team league, they would have less than 4 teams.  Not much prize money.

I found myself staring into my trunk before a tournament thinking I'm going to have to make 2 trips to get all the balls in.  Wanted to kick my own butt.  Bad thing is that I've had that "magic ball" match-up before that makes me think if I only have the right tool, I can win. 

I will tell you that picking "only" 5 balls for the kids Junior Gold tournament is way harder than I initially thought.  Even typing that sounds crazy, challenging patterns really show what these balls can do.