I hear ya luke. When we get too serious about anything competitive it can get out of hand and becomes not fun anymore.
I used to be a competitive waterskier and took it too far and ended up a critical minded jerk to anyone who thought they could ski.
As far as the usbc, it ticked me off when I found out there's no more awards for honor scores.
People in leagues are proud of patches and badges . I have only 1 300 ring but if I'm going to brag about something I drag out my big 4 patch .
I totally agree with you bowling needs to be made fun again.

Quote from: daves123 on October 13, 2017, 10:16:44 PM

People in leagues are proud of patches and badges .

I dont know many people who really care about the patches or keychains.

The patches were the shizzzz when you were a junior bowling trying to get that 150 patch, then the 175 patch, and so on.

I'm aware of the fact that seasoned veterans of the sport could care less about a stupid patch or key chain but in my opinion it gives the new bowler crowd something to be proud of and shoot for.
I'm not a great bowler by any stretch and the people I bowl with aren't ether but we still have fun.
I've bowled around the guys that average over 700 and every one of wouldn't give the peasant bowler, anyone under 220 avg. the time of day
To me it's a positive way to look at a negative, when someone  throws one through nose and they're
 looking at the big 4 , I can say hey you can get a patch for pickin that up and at least they try.
And I say to all you that that throw countless 300 games, good for you but how many big 4 conversions have you made.  Oh I forgot you guys only throw strikes!

Here's my angle on that.  People make time and money for what they like doing.  If bowling was more fun, people wouldn't mind it going long, after all there used to be 9 million USBC members, and people would bowl 3 leagues a week.  It's not worth it anymore, and I don't think shortening seasons would make it any better.  Bowling is just something to do now while it's cold outside. 

Bowling has turned into like a cool kids club.  If you don't pick it up right away and get really good fast, you're probably not going to stick with it because the people will run you off.  There need to be more fun leagues.  I think prize funds are a big problem too.  They both inflate the cost and are really the source of all the handicap and rule arguments in league meetings at the beginning of the season.  People wouldn't care about handicap and wins and losses if it didn't affect what was going to be in their envelope at the end of the season. 

Biggest complaint I've heard from newer bowlers are that there aren't any or enough places for newer (read bad) bowlers to join leagues setup for them. There's only one house that had one summer league designated for bad bowlers and they tried to limit the average you could have to partake. Filled very quickly. They did it again for the fall/winter, but changed it to allow anyone in. Kinda defeated the purpose. They didn't fill the league.

Other thing I hear a LOT is that the league season is just too long. Folks don't want to commit for 30+ weeks. Don't want to start bowling while it's warm outside and don't want to have to finish once it warms up in the spring. Mostly the guys. Don't want conflicts with the end and start of golf season.

Luke
Very well done and very truthful. I've been through the phase of not enjoying bowling the past several seasons. I had a very piss poor attitude about everything with bowling including the USBC. I didn't bowl this summer due to an injury on my push off foot. One night at the beginning of August I sat down and was doing some soul searching and drinking a few beers. Everything bowling went through my mind. I started bowling in the youth leagues when I was 5 years old and remembered all the fun I had at that age and through out the years. I suddenly realized what I was missing. When I started bowling league at the end of August, it's my 50th season and I'm having fun again and bowling quite well.

 I miss the good “old” days. Bowling was somewhat simple to learn, but nearly impossible to master.

 You got your ball, which was very much like everybody else’s ball, shoe’d up, and knocked over as many as you could.

 I fell in love with bowling back then. If it had been anywhere near as complex as it has become in the last decade/s,, I wouldn’t have even been able to figure out where to start, much less why I would want to.

 Yes, society changed, and so did bowling. Heck, everything does change, but not all change is beneficial.

"I miss the good “old” days. Bowling was somewhat simple to learn, but nearly impossible to master."



The problem with the good old days is that we were all much younger, so we would have gotten addicted anyway.

Very true on the so much younger part lol