Two hands on the bowling ball. Others one hand in a bowling ball and the other hand holding a pitchfork

he sounds like a bitter old guy who cant compete anymore.  The game has passed him up and he wants it to go back to the "old ways".  Adapt or get out of the way.

Two hands on the bowling ball. Others one hand in a bowling ball and the other hand holding a pitchfork

That's funny!

Anyhow, I'm one of these "old fogies," and also presently coach a high school bowling team. I started bowling in 6th grade (1974), so I've witnessed quite a few changes along the way.

Bowlers are enticed by both power and shot making. It's really that simple. While most bowlers truly do appreciate shot makers of yesteryear and today, it's the power that seems to have the "wow factor,"  and attracts viewers and obviously opinions/chatter about bowling. IMHO, that is good for the game.

Jason Belmonte brought a different style to the sport, and it's being copied. It's luring in youth, something bowling needs. Without a youth feeder program, there's very little in adult bowling down the road.

Yes, mistakes have been made in the past regarding the ABC, WIBC, PBA, USBC, & BPAA. We/they need to move on and promote the game.

Bowling isn't expensive compared to other sports.

Look at the cost of a baseball bat, glove, bag and cleats.

Basketball shoes alone can run you a lot of money.

Golf same way, Clubs, bag, shoes, accessories.

Any sport you can spend as little or as much as you want. You could bowl your entire life with out a high performance bowling ball and be successful. You buy it because you believe it has to make a DIFFerence.

Bowling isn't expensive compared to other sports.

Look at the cost of a baseball bat, glove, bag and cleats.

Basketball shoes alone can run you a lot of money.

Golf same way, Clubs, bag, shoes, accessories.

Any sport you can spend as little or as much as you want. You could bowl your entire life with out a high performance bowling ball and be successful. You buy it because you believe it has to make a DIFFerence.

One thing all these sports have over bowling. You can practice without any cost. Golf might have a little bit of cost (driving range), but no where near as much as bowling.

I would be fine with Voss' stance on bowling balls. If you want to say all that we can throw is pancake-core plastics, let's do it; however, I can't get behind the idea of telling people that they have to use a thumb. Personally, I think that a bowler should be able to deliver the ball any way he or she wants from frame to frame. If I'm RH, and I have the ability to switch to LH to pick up the 10-pin or because the shot looks better on the left side, why shouldn't I be allowed to do so? Doing so is a talent, not a means of cheating. They allow switch hitting in baseball. Golfers, on rare occasion, hit chip and punch-out shots backwards if there is an obstruction blocking their normal stance. Again, you still have to make shots. Too many people seem to think that you automatically gain 20 pins in average the second you take your thumb out of the ball.

Until they figure out a way to stop the "average management"(otherwise known as sandbagging) everything else is irrelevant.

Quote from: kidlost2000 on February 18, 2016, 07:35:41 AM

Bowling isn't expensive compared to other sports.

Look at the cost of a baseball bat, glove, bag and cleats.

Basketball shoes alone can run you a lot of money.

Golf same way, Clubs, bag, shoes, accessories.

Any sport you can spend as little or as much as you want. You could bowl your entire life with out a high performance bowling ball and be successful. You buy it because you believe it has to make a DIFFerence.

With the exception of golf, which is also very expensive, you can't tell me a bat, glove, cleats, etc. costs just as much as the arsenal of bowling balls you need to compete on various conditions. I'm not talking a once a week league, I mean actually compete.

We have a pretty good summer sport league here, but if you ask the people that don't bowl, one of the key reasons they choose not to bowl is that they only have 1- 2 balls and don't want to buy more. Cost IS a factor, regardless of what you want to compare it to.

Yes I can tell you those things can be just as expensive. You can spend as little or as much as you want for any sport or hobby. We are not talking about walmart gear. $200 plus for a bat, $150 plus for a glove, $100 plus for cleats, a bag, a helmet, batting gloves etc.

Cost to play vs cost to go pro is a huge difference. Bowlers are conditioned to over invest in equipment vs working with less. Most can easily compete with a hand full of bowling balls and making surface adjustments, but would much rather cycle through 10 bowling balls till they get lucky with one for the condition they are on.......and that is bowling on a THS.

10 bowlingballs, with different layouts and surface to compete in a summer sport league is proof that manufactures own bowlers.

I typically drill way more bowling balls then needed and guess what I've learned? They aren't different. The hype is just that, hype. I can take a few bowling balls I really like and adjust surface as needed and go any where and bowl and feel I can compete. The "pattern" isn't an issue, the lack of bowlers understanding how to see ball reaction and adjust is. Keep playing the line you see on  youtube or read posted online with every ball you have till one maybe works vs adjusting to what you see on the lanes.

Buy the hype and over complicate things. It is fun to watch. You see it every tournament, and every league night.