I recently wrote a letter to USBC concerning my opinions on the current state of bowling that I thought I'd share with everyone.  I actually got a response, and just about word for word what I expected, but at least an actual human read my letter and replied.  Here is the letter, their response, and then I'll finish up:

This is an open letter to whom it may concern reflecting my opinions and comments regarding the state of bowling as a whole as well as a widely perceived view on how the USBC is only serving to further destroy the sport so many of us love and have already begun to mourn.  I will however begin by saying that the USBC Open Championships represents everything that is right with the sport of bowling.  The challenge, the venues, the organization, the execution, the resources, etc., every part of "Nationals" is so expertly crafted that even some of the best bowlers in the world make a point to come compete.  That, unfortunately, is where it ends, and could one day be lost as bowling as a whole continues to decline.  It is incredibly irresponsible of USBC to be so out of touch with league bowling, the very foundation of the sport.  I read a published article regarding fresh oil for every squad at the 2013 Open Championships, finally correcting the only problem I believe the event had.  It referenced a quote from someone regarding having one pattern for the team event and a different pattern for singles and doubles, effectively saying that USBC wanted to challenge their bowlers' versatility.  I found it to be one of the most hypocritical statements or comments I have ever come across.  USBC's specifications and limits regarding legal lane conditions are so wide open that thousands of league bowlers who never practice can show up to league once a week, shoot 750 with the only ball they own, and go home without so much as a thought.  These are the same people that post 230+ averages during the league season, only to show up to the Open Championships to shoot 1500 for all events, and go home with their tails between their legs.  The idea that making tighter restrictions on lane conditions would only serve to further drive away bowlers and hurt revenue for center owners is ludicrous, as USBC membership has fallen from approximately 9 million to 1.7 million in a little over a decade, corresponding with ever increasing numbers of "honor scores" and member averages.  When scoring was harder, people spent money practicing, centers were full for early AND late leagues every night of the week.  This has made the future for our youth bowlers dismal, and has driven away the majority of the truly skilled bowlers.  The quality of coaches has declined, combined with the fact that it's impossible to convince a kid they made a bad shot even though they struck.  If youth bowlers are putting up numbers on easy shots, they believe they are good, and become hard to coach.  Then when they start competing in Junior Gold or PBA Experience leagues, they become discouraged fast, and when they are ready to be coached, more often than not, their game has to be completely torn down and rebuilt.  There was a youth in my city recently who shot his "first" 800.  He is not skilled, and not accurate.  He is a no thumb bowler who simply throws a lot of revs and a lot of speed, and on a legal USBC pattern, all he really has to do is keep the ball right of the headpin to strike.  This past summer, he, like a lot of the city high school bowlers, joined our summer PBA Experience league.  He proceeded to shoot 354 for the entire 3 game set the first night of league on the Cheetah pattern, following which he packed up his equipment and never came back.  This is the kind of bowler the USBC is creating.  I used to believe my "accomplishments" were earned and worth something, now I realize they aren't worth any more than the metal the rings are made out of, which is in fact so cheap that they are impossible to resize.  All my work, my effort, what I've learned, it's all meaningless.  I have been a pro shop operator for 7 years now, and I would consider my knowledge, experience, and skill to be very high, yet the process of selecting a ball, watching the bowler, and crafting a layout and surface prep for most USBC sanctioned lane conditions is needless.  I can pick any ball off the wall, "label" drill it, never touch the surface, put holes in it, and whoever I drill it for will be "successful."  People in their 60's and 70's are reaching scores they have never seen before.  It's more surprising to hear that someone has NOT achieved "perfection" now than to hear that they have.  USBC is supposed to be the governing body for sanctioned competition, but all it serves to do is drive people elsewhere for real competition or real challenge.  Bowling is no longer a sport, or even a game, it is a recreation, where people gather in attempts to record obscene numbers or merely occupy them while they drink and socialize.  Any activity that requires zero practice and little effort to achieve "perfection" will eventually cease to exist.  I have put my life into bowling, and in turn it nearly became my life, but no longer.  I am ashamed to be a USBC member, and to be associated with the laughingstock that this recreation of sanctioned bowling has become.  The amount of money and time that has to be put into obtaining "available" coaching certifications, or to attend "available" tournaments or events is staggering, and the opportunity to prepare for these things doesn't exist for most of us.  The USBC is turning a blind, uncaring, ignorant eye to the most important things in bowling, while raising sanction fees at the same time.  Charging me admission to view the destruction of a sport I have put my life into is unacceptable.  For the first time in several years, I will not attend the Open Championships, simply because I have zero opportunities to practice on tougher conditions to prepare in the months leading up to the tournament.  The attitude the USBC has towards the sport is wholly irresponsible.  I can serve my kids cake for supper, but make vegetables available, which do you think they will choose?  Bowling is not on the rise, it continues to fall, and the focus and effort is completely in the wrong direction.  Making coaching and affordable equipment available and teaching a golfer how to putt makes little difference if the greens they play on funnel down towards the hole.  The USBC is singularly to blame for the current state of bowling, and it disgusts me.  Thank you for your time.

The response:
I appreciate your feedback and your membership. Your email illustrates a challenging issue the industry faces. USBC’s role in controlling lane conditions are a controversial subject and one that draws out many strong opinions. While you make a good argument for a mandating lower scoring lane conditions, there are enforcement and compliance challenges on the other side. USBC’s Sport Bowling program attempts to provide an option for those bowlers/centers who want the challenge you seek. I realize this is not a perfect solution as many communities do not have a center that offers Sport Bowling leagues.

 

I respect your passion for the sport and have no doubt your opinions come from a desire to improve bowling. I do want to clarify your implication that USBC has been raising dues. USBC national dues are $10 and have not increased since 2006.

 

Thank you for taking the time to write.

 

Best regards,

Jason Overstreet

USBC Communications


First of all regarding the league dues, a few years ago our dues rose from $15 to $17, apparently our local association raised their fee and blamed it on USBC, so I wasn't very happy about that, I definitely would not have stuck that in my letter if I'd have known.  The point of the letter wasn't to throw USBC under the bus, but this is honestly the way I believe it is.  I knew I would get something back about the challenges of enforcement, but here's the deal.  The USBC let it get out of control years ago when they were more concerned about an ounce of sideweight in a ball than about the ball itself, or about regulating the oil patterns.  The PBA figured this out 15 or more years ago, why didn't the USBC?  So maybe the current people in power at the USBC didn't have anything to do with it, but the organization itself is completely responsible.  Regarding the challenges though, as I said in the letter, I've worked in the bowling industry for 7 years now, I very well understand all the challenges and issues, I'm not just writing the letter crying about things without having a very knowledgeable and objective viewpoint.  Honestly though, they're going to have to do something, and here's the real point of contention.  Center owners will fight tougher conditions because they think they'll lose business.  Well, they have already lost business for years.  A real simple solution here, make conditions tougher for the sanctioned leagues.  If you don't want a tougher shot, don't bowl a sanctioned league.  What does sanctioning really do for you?  Gives you some trinkets, and allows you to use your average in tournaments for potential handicap.  People wouldn't quit bowling if they were told their league wouldn't be sanctioned, they would see it as a way to save fees every year.  Most people don't bowl tournaments anymore.  But of course, this would really hurt the USBC.  So instead of really governing the sport and enforcing the rules, they're content to just let things slip away while they say, "oh, well we offer a bunch of stuff."  Rant off. 

I don't have to bait you into a figjam.  You do it everytime you post.  Like somebody said, you calling anybody an elitist is the pot calling the kettle black.  It's hilarious that on the internet, when somebody gets hit right between the eyes with the cold hard truth, they immediately start squawking about somebody yelling at them.  Nobody ever asked you to be the spokesman for the cause of "Righting the Ship That is Bowling".  You did that yourself.  Now, under scrutiny, we find that you really aren't qualified to speak on the matter.  Live with it and remember it when you get the urge again.  I'm sure you're letter to the USBC was appropriately filed in the round file with all the other egotists.

Yeah, well nobody really asked you to be the BR justice league either.  And crying over being yelled at is a little different than pointing out some cynical douchebag that's eternally butthurt and scouring the posts religiously looking for the next person to bend over.  According to you, nobody but yourself is qualified or able to look at something critically and try to improve it, which you don't do anyway.  Way to contribute, jackwagon. 

Dear Gizmo823:

Your original post was right on the mark. USBC (and formerly ABC) has virtually abandoned competitive bowling altogether (in favor of recreational bowling).

It has gotten to a point where averages mean nothing anymore. Modern-day amateurs are scoring at a better-than-PBA-type pace, and some are posting numbers that would have been unthought of by such Hall of Fame bowlers as Ned Day and Andy Varipapa, who had only one sanctioned perfect game each during their storied careers. And there are some bowlers in the USBC Hall of Fame who never rolled either a perfect game or 800 series.

And I can assure everyone that I have vast amounts of documented evidence that USBC (and formerly ABC) doesn't always follow its own rules, and in MANY cases, it doesn't provide due process to its members in such things as suspension and rerate cases.

Further, although the rules regarding prebowling have been changed, there are at least three certified 900 series that were virtually unwitnessed, and one of them was even rolled in a center apart from the league in which the bowler competed.

USBC has allowed the game to go down the drain, and in my area, MORE THAN HALF OF THE LEAGUES are non-USBC-certified.

As for the reply you got from your letter, I wouldn't have expected anything more from Jason Overstreet. Most of the people employed by USBC in Arlington are more concerned with their own well-being and that of the organization than they are with the member bowlers.

Don't be surprised if USBC isn't even a viable entity three years hence.

Are you really going to go down the same path that led you to being banned from Bowl.com forums?  Are you really going down that same path of unsubstantiated he-said she-said disagreements that got you blackballed in your local association?  Really?

Dear Long Gone Liar:

Regardless of your false accusations, I HAVE NEVER BEEN BANNED FROM ANY BOWLING DISCUSSION FORUM, be it bowl.com or otherwise.

And if, indeed, I was "blackballed" by my local association -- which is also debatable -- it was only because I EXPOSED THEIR MASSIVE RULES-BREAKING, INCLUDING MAJOR MISHANDLING AND MISREPRESENTING ASSOCIATION FUNDS.

That's why I was never suspended for anything, while on the other hand, the association president was suspended, as were back-to-back association secretaries, an association vice president and a director.

And everything I've stated in this post is true, regardless of how you may attempt to discredit me (and what your motives may be).

Quote from: Gizmo823 on April 02, 2013, 02:48:40 PM

Quote from: Long Gone Daddy on April 02, 2013, 01:14:50 PM

I don't have to bait you into a figjam.  You do it everytime you post.  Like somebody said, you calling anybody an elitist is the pot calling the kettle black.  It's hilarious that on the internet, when somebody gets hit right between the eyes with the cold hard truth, they immediately start squawking about somebody yelling at them.  Nobody ever asked you to be the spokesman for the cause of "Righting the Ship That is Bowling".  You did that yourself.  Now, under scrutiny, we find that you really aren't qualified to speak on the matter.  Live with it and remember it when you get the urge again.  I'm sure you're letter to the USBC was appropriately filed in the round file with all the other egotists.

Yeah, well nobody really asked you to be the BR justice league either.  And crying over being yelled at is a little different than pointing out some cynical douchebag that's eternally butthurt and scouring the posts religiously looking for the next person to bend over.  According to you, nobody but yourself is qualified or able to look at something critically and try to improve it, which you don't do anyway.  Way to contribute, jackwagon.

Who's the BR Justice League?  Looking for someone to bend over?   Here on the internet?  You sound as foolish as I'm sure you are in the real world.  You might not want to believe this, but you aren't the first person to start a thread about what's wrong with bowling.  Their all the same too.  I'm not butthurt over anything.  Seems you're the one crying that anybody would dare call into question your qualifications to say a damn thing about lane conditions when you self-admittedly only bowl on THS.  Yeah man, you're a real fierce paper tiger.  Not really, you're just another whiner who thinks he's better than he is and can't believe somebody does not recognize your self-proclaimed greatness.  Grow up, HamPster.  Isn't it about time?

BTW, would a better contribution be starting a thread in another forum just to get a response from me?  We call that trolling.  So cute too.  Word it where if I respond, I'm a troll.  Don't respond and you smugly get to go about your business.

Yeah, aside from where I said I bowl a PBA league every summer and go to Nationals every year . . You get on and just look for someone to rip to shreds and all the sudden you're holding your hands up and playing dumb.  I don't think I've ever seen a post of yours that wasn't argumentative or was actually constructive.  You're the one on an internet forum trying to put everybody else down to prove your intellectual superiority.  And once again, I'm not sure that anybody needs qualifications to see a problem with bowling, a guy that averages 150 can figure that out.  "Well so and so averages 230, he should be on tour!  Some of those guys on tv don't even shoot 200."  So if you're the only one that can't figure it out, I'd suggest that you're the one that needs a little perspective adjustment. 

So you DID read it, as expected.  It's completely ok for you to troll and set traps for people, but suddenly when it happens to you, it's a low blow?  And it's called the NON-bowling related forum for a reason, nothing has to be constructive there, but I don't post stuff like that in this forum.  Bottom line, I'm right, you're wrong, and you can keep throwing the daggers, but there's like 1 or 2 people that ever agree with you on anything, so you might take that into consideration, seeing as how you're so smart. 

Awwwwww.  I feel so bad.  Inevitably there is always a poster who gets his panties in a wad when somebody points out the fallacy of what he wrote.  They just can't understand why everybody just doesn't follow lockstep with what they opined. What self-appointed Sir Galahads like you fail to realized is nobody watches the PBA anymore unless they are a hard core bowler.  They (including me) realized what it takes to get on tour and the differences between a pro and an amateur.  You are trying to address the casual bowler or the ignorant bowler to let them know that in your mind, you are just as good as a pro and they had better acknowledge that.  How dare that kid who shot and 800 become all full of himself and not recognize your greatness?!  The nerve.

Nothng more needs to be said by me on this subject.  I have made my point, you have failed to make yours, and the response from the USBC on the matter concurs with me, is the proper response, and the one that should have been expected. Be happy to "rule" your little corner of the universe, you don't a chance of expanding your "domain".   Go pop a Prozac, it will be better tomorrow.  Toodles.   

Man you're a hungry little troll, just like my guinea pigs when I start shaking the cilantro bag, start shrieking and going crazy.  I had thought you were missing the point, but I neglected to consider that you try to take anything and create an argument out of it.  You simply can't fathom the meaning of objective, and don't even consider what the real point of something is.  You just look for an angle you can exploit to go off on a tangeant.  So yes, I wrote a letter to the USBC professing my greatness and the inferiority of everyone else . . well, wait.  No, that's not what I said, can't find any scores in there.  Hold on, I'll check again.  Hmm, nope.  The kid that shot the 800, I want my deserved respect for being better than him.  Dang, can't find that either.  I'm thinking your reading skills are a little lacking, I can't seem to find anything in there to support your accusations.  And actually, several people on here have made their own points, which happen to agree with mine.  You sir, are one of two or three people who disagree, so congratulations on being part of the less than 5% who failed to grasp the concept of what was being talked about.  Go back and troll the non-bowling forum, you can't hack it here. 

Nice to see Dong Daddy making friends on all the bowling boards.

Nice Lab.  I miss my Golden.  The new puppy, Golden/Great Pyranese/? (? we think samoyed or malamute mixed in), 6 1/2 months old, has big paws to fill.  Yeah, & you're spot on.

Quote from: swingset on April 03, 2013, 11:48:51 AM

Nice to see Dong Daddy making friends on all the bowling boards.

Wow, a troll following me from another website.  Now that's dedication.  Don't see you on the other board.  Did they wise up and kick you off for putting too many people to sleep with your droning?  Your brand of blandness should do well here.

Um, thought you were done here?  You said toodles and everything.