The following rant is in response to Brimar's post. I have a feeling it will be VERY long so if dinner is ready, go eat first!
I totally know where you're coming from! There is an AMF center in Norfolk, Nebraska called AMF King's Lanes. Not only did I bowl there for quite some time, but I worked there too.
Anyway, I hear the place is now being run by a guy who averages 157 and isn't really the brightest crayon in the box. Open bowling is around $4.00 per game and the lanes are still some of the original synthetics, circa 1983. You know, the ones like a countertop?
Years ago, some of my friends and I had enough of the high prices, poor selection and staff in the pro shop, and overall poor condition of the center in general. We knew that AMF was sitting on a gold mine because it was the biggest bowling alley for miles around. We also knew that it took money to make money. AMF was making money but not putting it back into the center.
We burnt the midnight oil for about 2 months. We got several facts and quotes from notables in the industry. Keep in mind, we were all pretty young. The oldest one of us was 30 at the time. Once all of our facts were in order, we wrote a 19 page manifesto to the head of AMF.
In this letter, we talked about the poor quality of the lanes and approaches, the management, lane conditions, low league numbers, the cost of open bowling, those stupid Scooby Doo leagues that don't attract good bowlers, the overall shape of the building (the stalls in the men's john didn't even have doors on them) and countless other issues.
After about 3 or 4 drafts, our letter was done. We took it to Kinko's and had it put into a binder. With that done, the letter went out to the bowling center every night for every league. We let our fellow bowlers read the letter if they wanted. Some read it, some didn't. Then we collected signatures to add to ours. We got over 200 names added to this thing. That's 200 other people who gave a damn about this sport. That's 200 people who knew something had to be done. This was a fine group of people who wanted to try and stand up to the corporation and have them do what was right.
What was right? Fix the place up! This was the only bowling center in town. They had a 32 lane center with zero competition for 50 miles yet people started packing up their gear and driving the distance for something better. Put doors on the bathroom stalls. Can't a man take a crap without the rest of the world watching? How about an updated scoring system? The system they had was obsolete in 1997. Finding parts was becoming difficult. I should know. I was a mechanic there. New paint, new carpet, new lanes without plastic patches on them. My list could go on, but I bet you get my point.
We sent the letter and waited. About two weeks after it was sent, we got a response. It wasn't the response we wanted however. Basically, it was one of those "thanks for the letter" letters and that was about it. Nothing ever came of it. The manager at the time came under some fire from the top I guess. It wasn't his fault. He wanted more for that place, maybe more than we wanted.
What is wrong with bowling today? Did you read my rants and raves? This, I feel, is what's wrong with bowling today. What's wrong is that we have people who know how to push paper and pencil but don't know JACK FREAKIN' SQUAT about bowling.
Back in 1895, a group of people got together like my friends and I did, thereby forming the American Bowling Congress. They knew that bowling needed something too. From their hard work, they adopted a set of rules and regulations that we still hold today for the most part. Why can't corporations get their stuff together like these gentlemen of the past did? Yes, there were mistakes made but they all had the eagerness to find the direction needed to rectify these said mistakes.
I hope somebody out there who works for a corporation that deals in bowling centers reads this and I hope it pisses you off quite frankly. I hope that you'll realize something needs to be done too. I hope you see that there are diehards out here who don't want to bowl to the sound of loud rap music and to the sights of disco lights (disco died years ago people) all at a whopping $4.00 per game.
I am by no means against brighter, cleaner, more family oriented bowling centers. In fact, I encourage them. I just think it would be cool for someone to get it all together and make it work the way it used to work. I hear the old guys talk about bowling back in the 50's and 60's. Why can't it go back to that? It could you know. Wouldn't that be nice?
Thanks for reading this. I know I went on and on, but I had to say it.
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You wanna bet me how much? Let's play!
