Author Topic: I spy something illegal. (Read 4308 times)

TECH SUPPORT · « **on:** January 22, 2004, 07:44:02 PM »

Last night I bowled my mens league and we were on the high end pair. This pair is notorious for the oil breaking down fast. The teams lead off guy "also kind of a buddy" Bowls a 289 the first game and I was happy for him, Second game he bowls a 258. Ok I really am starting to take notice of his ball reaction as he is all over the place and the shot is burning up pretty fast. I noticed he is throwing his new silver diamond that he just got drilled right before we started. As I watch his ball go way down the lane and rip back from the desert I couldn't help but wonder how he was getting such great length out of that ball. So I go to check the layout on it and was pretty dumb founded at what I saw. The ball looked to be a 1-2 inch pin with a half @ss label drill on it. The problem was the fingers were right on top of the cg thus making it look like it had a lot of finger and top weight. The pin was above and to the right of the ring finger I checked the fingers and they were of normal depth with grips in them. I go back and ask my other buddy "on my team" to look at it and he agreed it didn't look right. ok after the third game and we are all finished "by the way he only shot 215 last game" I meet up with him in the pro shop and tell him I was impressed with how well the ball rolled and might want one similar, so I asked to check the box specs so I would know what to order. the pro shop guy hands me the box and Holy crap 15.02# pin 1-2" 4.25 top weight. I said cool and thanks for the info as I walked out. the guy in the pro shop is known for doing crap like this because he is to lazy to weigh a ball out before or after he drills it. So tonight I have to file a formal protest against a friend of mine because of some idiots incompetence. I am going to have them weigh the ball out and see what will happen. I feel bad about haven to do this but didn't want to confront him last night because of the fact we were bowling against him and he might think I was making it up to distract him.

So what are some of your opinions on how to handle this.
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Here to fix something I know nothing about..

johns811 · « **Reply #1 on:** January 23, 2004, 10:58:34 AM »

If this is really a friend of yours why don't you just have the ball checked and have it brought into spec if something is wrong. Why mess around with a formal complaint.

jkiser01 · « **Reply #2 on:** January 23, 2004, 11:02:07 AM »

Why are you filing a protest?? Because of the top weight in the ball?? Thats seems silly to me..

I'm sure not everyones ball is in spec..Its a league night, not a tournament.

The bottom line is this.. If this guy is a friend, why bother??

just my 2 cents..
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If they only made a ball that would carry that d*mn 10 pin..

jkiser01

Edited on 1/23/2004 11:59 AM

charlest · « **Reply #3 on:** January 23, 2004, 11:12:21 AM »

Techie,

I guess I feel the same. The top and side weight restrictions make little sense to me in this day of resin balls' reactions. I'd take your friend and hi sball aside, weigh the ball, make it legal so an enemy of his doesn't see the ball and let him enjoy his day in the sun. I doubt you'd feel very good after doing this and you may lose a friend. This is a lose-lose scenario. Make into a win-win scenario. A couple of points one night in a league is not going to make a huge difference.

Yes, you'd be following the letter of the law but violating the spirit of the law.
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"Just because you can do something does not mean you should do it."
"No good deed goes unpunished."

cgilyeat · « **Reply #4 on:** January 23, 2004, 11:13:06 AM »

quote:
Why are you filing a protest?? Because of the top weight in the ball?? Thats seems silly to me..

I'm sure not everyones ball is in spec..Its a league night, not a tournament.

The bottom line is this.. If this guy is a friend, why bother??

just my 2 cents..
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If they only made a ball that would carry that d*mn 10 pin..

jkiser01

Edited on 1/23/2004 11:59 AM

Would you have this opinion an honor score was thrown with a ball that turned out to be illegal? If this is a sanctioned league, the rules need to be followed, ALL of the rules, just not the ones we agree with.

The real problem here is not really with the bowler, but with the lazy driller. The guy should care enough to make sure that the ball weights are correct. Friend or not, the ball should be checked to make sure that it is legal, but try to do it outside of the league and wthout the protest.

Edited on 1/23/2004 12:11 PM

TECH SUPPORT · « **Reply #5 on:** January 23, 2004, 11:14:13 AM »

I ask myself the same thing. I guess because of the fact that I am the captin of the team and they all want something done. I realy dont feel comfortable with the protest but it is the integrity of the game that has been lost over the years and self proclaimed pro shop owners that drill equipment out of abc spec and guidlines dont help. Let me ask you this if you were bowling against some one and they were using illegal equipment, what would you do if they cost you money. How about all the people that lost money in the brackets to an unfair advantage. No I wasnt in brackets last night I was broke.

To bring the ball back into spec would pretty much ruin the ball I believe. It will require a huge wieght hole. but thier is the chance that it may not be illegal I have gotten one ball from lane one that didnt match the specs on the box, but I am pretty sure this one does.
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Here to fix something I know nothing about..

TECH SUPPORT · « **Reply #6 on:** January 23, 2004, 11:18:29 AM »

Charlest I agree I was thinking about pulling him aside and pointing it out to him last night but he has a temper and would probably cause a scene that wouldn't be pretty for anyone. I could offer to fix it for him but like I said it will probably kill the ball.

Bob I give credit were credit is due. I was happy for him, he is a very good bowler and has several honor scores.He bowled ok last night but I just dont know what to do.

If it was simple to fix I would be more than happy to fix it. But the dam thing has to have more than a couple of ounces of top/finger weight. I guess I will wiegh it for him and see what can be done. I never know how he will take the news though.
As for my fellow team members i tell them the problem has been taken care of.

Thanks for the advice all.
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Here to fix something I know nothing about..

Edited on 1/23/2004 12:24 PM

janderson · « **Reply #7 on:** January 23, 2004, 11:21:59 AM »

Remember that markings on the ball are not always correct.

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"It's a shame a family can be torn apart by something as simple as a pack of wild dogs."

TECH SUPPORT · « **Reply #8 on:** January 23, 2004, 11:32:32 AM »

King pin thanks for the advice I could take that into consideration. No we didnt lose and yes I am a sore loser, My finger are giving me fits right now because of the weather so every time I finish bowling they hurt, So if I lose I am a sore loser

.

As I said in the other reply thier is the chance of it being miss marked But I know the drillers handy work.

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Here to fix something I know nothing about..

kalannar · « **Reply #9 on:** January 23, 2004, 12:03:59 PM »

I agree with Leftside on this. If you did weigh it and it was so far out of spec that it would be pointless to fix, couldn't you force the driller into replacing the ball at his own cost for lack of discipline. If this ball is that far out of spec it is the drillers fault not your friends.

Just my 2 cents.

Kalannar
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That which does not kill us strengthens us.

So do not meddle in the affairs of Dragons,
for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup!

1fife · « **Reply #10 on:** January 23, 2004, 12:12:42 PM »

i wouldnt file a protest

he didnt do anything-it was the driller fault(not that it makes it ok)

If he is a friend-
tell him it doesnt look legal and tell him to have the pro shop guy weigh it up.

if they dont, tell him-it might be in his best interest to

tell him someone might not be as nice as you and file a protest if they notice the ball and he wouldnt want to lose points because ot it

this way it will look like you are dong him a favor-and still have a friend

mrteach3 · « **Reply #11 on:** January 23, 2004, 12:19:06 PM »

John,

I wonder why you posted first under this topic.

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Who needs a 300 or 800, when I have a 294 and a 295!?!?!

Pinbuster · « **Reply #12 on:** January 23, 2004, 12:39:26 PM »

Also does he go to ABC nationals. You may be doing him a favor.

I know a guy last year who went with his favorite ball. It had 2 Â½ ounces of side weight and 1 Â½ ounce of finger. He had them fix it and they had to drill a monster balance hole to bring it into spec.

He didnâ€™t like the reaction after that and would have brought some other ball had he known he couldnâ€™t use it because it was illegal.

Side note: If you are at a proshop and the driller does not balance the ball before drilling then I would say no thanks at that point and walk out. No professional ball driller would ever drill a ball without balancing it both before he drilled it and if it will require a balance hole then they should balance it again after they are done drilling.

charlest · « **Reply #13 on:** January 23, 2004, 12:45:33 PM »

quote:
Charlest I agree I was thinking about pulling him aside and pointing it out to him last night but he has a temper and would probably cause a scene that wouldn't be pretty for anyone. I could offer to fix it for him but like I said it will probably kill the ball.

Like Bob said, in this resin age, that would not kill the ball and I doubt the top or finger weight had anything to do with the reaction. I have told this story several times here but let me repeat it: Brunswick tested this theory with side weights. Basically Parker Bohn and Johnny Petraglia could hardly tell the difference between 1 oz positive AND THREE OUNCES of negative side weight.
(That's a brutal summary.) That's a 4 ounce difference between the two balls!

Your friend's ball may be technically illegal but I sincerely doubt that it made any difference in his reaction.

YOu still need to chek out the weights. I'd drill the finger holes as deep as you can and see how close you can get without having to drill an extra hole.
It might have 2 ounces of top. (My finger and thumb holes with inserts remove almost 2.5 ounces of top weight.)

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"Just because you can do something does not mean you should do it."
"No good deed goes unpunished."

mumzie · « **Reply #14 on:** January 23, 2004, 01:28:54 PM »

Well, the bottom line is that although the bowler probably doesn't know the ball is out of spec, it is HIS responsibility to use legal equipment.

I don't think I'd file a protest over his performance last night, but I would take him aside, and say that "several people" had commented on the ball layout. Was the ball really that mismarked from the manufacturer - or something like that. That will give you a chance to find out what he knows about the ball and the layout. If he's unaware, he'll probably respond with "what do you mean" - if he's aware, he'll say - oh yeah, when we weighed it out the cg was off...

The tactful approach. If he then doesn't get the ball checked, THEN I'd bring up the negligence aspect.

I have one ball that's borderline. It has about 1/16th of an ounce less than legal top weight. I was told this by the driller at the time he drilled it. I was told to be very careful when weighing in at the ABCs, because they could find it illegal. I was also told that if this happened, to have it checked at multiple stations...

Author Topic: I spy something illegal. (Read 4308 times)

TECH SUPPORT

I spy something illegal.

johns811

Re: I spy something illegal.

jkiser01

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charlest

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cgilyeat

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TECH SUPPORT

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TECH SUPPORT

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janderson

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TECH SUPPORT

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kalannar

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1fife

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mrteach3

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Pinbuster

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charlest

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mumzie

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