Author Topic: Nice insight by an annonymous player (Read 3482 times)

DavidKSNK · « **on:** January 31, 2011, 03:55:51 AM »

This was written by an annonymous person. However if you love the game of bowling as I do, you will have a hard time not agreeing with it's contents albeit a bit lengthy.....but it accurately sums up where bowling went, and what is wrong with the game.

Riggs I disagree wholeheartedly. We fought. We voted down urethane balls. Our collective voice was ignored. We knew since the soaker days that more friction = better scores, especially for the unskilled, or lesser skilled player. What has happened since then? Soft batches of plastic balls that hooked more and scored better than normal batches. Urethane balls that hooked more and scored better than plastic. Synthetic lanes with cleaner back ends and more skid in the front produced more friction and higher scores. Short oil more friction and more scores. Resin balls produced even more friction. Dynamic cores and flares = more friction. More porous shells. Sanding pads. Need I go on? Everything to produce more friction. High level players did not get what they deserve, they were force-fed these changes. Adapt or die we were told. If you do not like it don't bowl we were told. Guess what? I do not like it and not bowling and not purchasing those products that I do not like is my way of saying "I have had enough." It does not make me a quitter. I made a choice as a consumer. Judging from declining membership numbers and declining ball sales, I am not the only one who has made the choice.

We as high level bowlers did not get what we deserved. We got what the ball manufacturers wanted us to have-- a game dependent on disposable equipment. And the ABC/USBC and to some extent the PBA let it happen. Shame in them.

We deserve a game where the high level player is visibly superior at the game than the low level player to the untrained eye. At this the game fails miserably.

We deserve a game that identifies the skill of the individual player. We ended up with a game that identifies the skill of the ball rep (pro level) ball driller (league level) more often than not.

We deserve a game that rewards accuracy and penalizes errant shots. We ended up with a game that penalizes accuracy and rewards errant shots.

We deserve a game where technique provides power. We ended up with a game where technology provides power to such an extent that high level players purposely use weaker technique to compensate ('be nice to it' 'take my hand out of it' 'let the ball do the work' 'sarge easter grip' does this all sound familiar?).

We deserve a game that does not require pros to carve their shot in practice. We ended up with players forming alliances for television shows to carve a shot; players using sand blasted balls to destroy an opponent's shot etc. (I mean you do not see Tiger and Phil tooling around Augusta with a lawn mower to shorten the rough in spots where they might hit it wide do you?)

We deserve a stable playing environment. We ended up with lanes that transition every few frames and on the pro level squad success that is often more impacted by your luck of the draw cross than your actual bowling.

We deserve a game that is simple to learn yet difficult to master. We ended up with a game where numerous unskilled players reach the pinnacle of the game (300) and higher level players routinely approach and even reach what was once thought to be impossible (900 for 3 games).

I think quitting and hitting the industry in the pocket book is the only way left to get the industry to pay attention. They have turned a deaf ear and blind eye to everything else. .

Edited by DavidKSNK on 1/31/2011 at 12:57 PM

DavidKSNK · « **Reply #16 on:** February 01, 2011, 07:35:02 AM »

This has nothing to do with living in the 60s.

If it was a case of that, I would be advocating going back to lacquer or shellac as well.

As far as overseas goes...if you do not think they have concerns about what this game has turned into, then you are misinformed. They may not be anywhere near as vocal as people in this country are, but to think everything is good over there is laughable.

I'm curious as to how many people here even think the industry is in good shape as a whole?

The industry is so screwed now, it's amazing how no one realizes it.

And for the record, I would highly recommend reading the studies Kegel has done on bowling ball tech, lane conditions, and what their recommendations were...they approached this issue before the USBC ever conducted their ball motion study which was a total joke.

MTSUblueraider86 wrote on 1/31/2011 10:13 PM:This has been debated for six decades too. I knew guys back in the 1970's that would not throw plastic because it was a cheater ball. They same guys railed at urethane and Tommy Hudson tried to get urethane banned from the PBA Tour. He last won in 1980. I don't think he ever won with a urethane ball. Had he learned to adapt, he may have won 20 titles instead of 10. I last heard he was working in a pro shop in Florida drilling balls he hated!

For those who want to live in 1960, lets get rid of cell phones, the internet, flat screen televisions, modern medicine, micowave ovens, air conditioning etc... There is no use in complaining about everything. I remember I read an article where Carmen Salvino was criticized for throwing a 3/4 roller instead of a full roller back in his early days because "old timers" said the ball had to track between the thumb and finger holes.

Bowling, Golf and Tennis in particular are technology sports. Do you expect Lance Armstrong to ride a 1970 Sears Huffy bike? Should NASCAR go back to 1957 Chevy's?

Its a moot point, and the argument is stale. Bowling is growing by leaps and bounds in Asia, Western Europe, South America, Mexico so if you choose not to bowl out of protest to hurt the bowling industry, you are not accomplishing anything. You are hurting yourself. These bowlers trying to play martyr are being foolish. Bowl because you want to or quit because you want to. Don't say you are fighting "the man" by not bowling. Its foolish.

MT

robuster · « **Reply #17 on:** February 01, 2011, 09:46:14 AM »

Easy way to stop high scores and limit honor scores,MORE OIL.The USBC could mandate a THS pattern and type of oil used.If this would happen skill level would be rewarded and bad shots punished.Money is at stake here.The USBC would have to enforce the change which takes money, the centers would have to spend more on the oil,bowlers who like that high average with out the skill would stop buying equipment most likely QUIT. Way to much at stake to change now.Not to mention the net.You have to look at how it has changed the game,more knowledge that is easily available along with various equipment,videos,training aids etc.The INDUSTRY has decided that more money can be made with the style of bowling that presently is being offered. How many of us 210 bowlers REALLY want to go back to 175-185 averages that we should have. As long as the average bowler can score well, they will keep coming back,investing in equipment,spending MONEY trying to improve. You lower scores, make the sport harder,the centers will be empty except for the hard core guys. High scores are here to stay. Enjoy it,your average is most likely ten to twenty pins higher for it.By the way how many SCRATCH LEAGUES ,SPORTS LEAGUES is available in your centers.This shows just how much interest that most bowlers have in a league that rewards skill and punishes off pocket shots. I would like to see SOME change in the sport but going back to the days of rubber and plastic, no way.

Live free or die trying.

robuster · « **Reply #18 on:** February 01, 2011, 09:46:35 AM »

Easy way to stop high scores and limit honor scores,MORE OIL.The USBC could mandate a THS pattern and type of oil used.If this would happen skill level would be rewarded and bad shots punished.Money is at stake here.The USBC would have to enforce the change which takes money, the centers would have to spend more on the oil,bowlers who like that high average with out the skill would stop buying equipment most likely QUIT. Way to much at stake to change now.Not to mention the net.You have to look at how it has changed the game,more knowledge that is easily available along with various equipment,videos,training aids etc.The INDUSTRY has decided that more money can be made with the style of bowling that presently is being offered. How many of us 210 bowlers REALLY want to go back to 175-185 averages that we should have. As long as the average bowler can score well, they will keep coming back,investing in equipment,spending MONEY trying to improve. You lower scores, make the sport harder,the centers will be empty except for the hard core guys. High scores are here to stay. Enjoy it,your average is most likely ten to twenty pins higher for it.By the way how many SCRATCH LEAGUES ,SPORTS LEAGUES is available in your centers.This shows just how much interest that most bowlers have in a league that rewards skill and punishes off pocket shots. I would like to see SOME change in the sport but going back to the days of rubber and plastic, no way.

Live free or die trying.

retiredbowler · « **Reply #19 on:** February 01, 2011, 11:27:20 AM »

The Bowling Industry a long time ago decided that bowling had to fun and would not be taken seriously as a sport except by a few. They allowed the scoring pace to keep up with the times. People are not going to work at bowling to get legitimately better because the payout for all of that hard work is too low. What do you think society cares about?

1) A guy that bowls 100 games a week on a sport shot to get a real 200+ average

or

2) Peyton Manning getting the MVP?

Its a no brainer on that one.

MT

CHawk15 · « **Reply #20 on:** February 01, 2011, 11:27:51 AM »

I think that in the end the propreitors, pro shop owners and even the bowlers themselves are more about making $$$ than they are about doing what is best for the bowling industry.

One business model that propreitors use is to make $$$ by putting out a high-scoring lane condition. This is done to get more people into the bowling center which leads to making $$$, either from the bowling or more likely from the concession stand. If a high-scoring environment is not put on the lanes, league bowlers complain and eventually quit.
Another business model that a group of bowling centers here uses is that a bowling center makes most of it's money off of people who show up to drink, not people who show up to bowl. These centers don't really care about the condition of the lanes or the equipment in the back for that matter. If a bowling ball is damaged by the lane equipment, too bad. I avoid these bowling centers like the plague.
Pro Shops make $$$ from selling equipment to the average league bowler who often times thinks he can buy a bowling ball that will turn him into PDW or WRW on a league shot. Sometimes it works, other times it doesn't. Unfortunately, now days a pro shop operator has a difficult time convincing the average league bowler otherwise because they've been told how easy a league shot is. The fact is that you still have to be fundamentally sound and be able to reasonably repeat shots in order to score well on a consistent basis, even on a "China" shot.

Lane machines and reactive resin equipment toghether opened Pandora's box to significantly raise the scoring pace. The answer isn't to go back to the "good old days", your wirst, elbow and shoulder will thank you for it. A bowler shouldn't be rewarded just for being able to rev the ball. The measure of bowling skill today is versatility and the ability to repeat shots, not being able to throw a ball 25+ mph with 600 rpm rev rate. The issue of lane wear isn't really a problem because synthetic panels are easy to replace, a bowling center needs to compromise in how much conditioner is put on a lane to protect it vs how often they are willing to replace panels. I would think there is a definite balance that could be struck there. I think maybe there should be tighter restrictions on track flare and soft and porous coverstocks, if for no other reason to stop this constant battle between lane conditioner and bowling ball coverstocks that has been raging since the early 90s. One thing I do think the USBC needs to do is separate of competitive from recreational bowling. They have taken steps to do this with sport leagues, but more steps are needed in terms of creating an envrionment that makes it easier on bowling propreitors to run these leagues. Lower the sanction fees for recreational bowling and minimize awards given for it.

Bowlers need to understand the difference between bowling in a recreational league for fun on a weeknight and bowling in competition at a major tournament. In city and state USBC sponsored tournaments, have recreational and competitive divisions. Recreational division is on the "China" shot and the competitive tournament is on something flatter.

Edited by CHawk15 on 2/1/2011 at 12:28 PM

CHawk15 · « **Reply #21 on:** February 01, 2011, 03:40:25 PM »

That's the problem with topics like this. Most bowlers on here do know the difference. So why post it? To come off as some fresh-thinking provacotuer? The people that don't realize it are well served by the magazine that USBC sends out to all sanctioned bowlers.

OK, bad use of the bowler on that one, should've of probably said the general public which consists of your typical league bowlers, which is a category that most people that post here don't fall into. I was just giving an opinion, not attempting to save the bowling world. If you disagree, that's your right.

Based on weekend leagues that I've bowled in over the past few years, the message really isn't getting out.

JessN16 · « **Reply #22 on:** February 01, 2011, 09:26:30 PM »

robuster also hit the nail firmly when he posted the solution: For leagues, all you have to do is either jack up the volume, or cut it to nothing. Problem solved. You can't sufficiently break down a flood in three games with a bunch of league guys spraying the ball all over the place, so forget about the balls making that big a difference in the pattern. Conversely, if you put little to no oil at all out there, you get a different version of the same scenario.

The difference is, people don't want it. The players don't want it, the proprietors don't want it. If making bowling "legitimate" again was that high up the priority list, it could be done literally with the push of a button on a Kustodian or A-22.

If you're worried so much about bowlers thinking they're pros, wait until they go to tournaments. The problem takes care of itself as soon as they get off THS.

Where bowling has failed, is in neglecting to educate league bowlers about what exactly a house shot is. There should be an ad-slick handout, produced by the USBC, handed out to every league bowler at the start of every season with the words "PLEASE READ THIS" emblazoned upon the cover, inside which it explains fully the Red-White-Blue patterns, Kegel Navigation patterns and USBC Open and PBA patterns. As long as people understand they're bowling on cake, we don't have to have this message board discussion.

Jess

Author Topic: Nice insight by an annonymous player (Read 3482 times)

DavidKSNK

Nice insight by an annonymous player

DavidKSNK

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robuster

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robuster

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retiredbowler

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CHawk15

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CHawk15

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JessN16

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