Sawbones - I don't feel the basic game is flawed but the surface it is played on and the way it is prepared is flawed. I would guess 100 years ago that the lanes might not have been oiled at all. Besides that, some of the beauty of the early surfaces was that they where so soft and porous that the oil did not move and I believe it was more difficult to block a lane. Now the lanes became easy as the track area wore and formed a trough to the pocket, but that pocket was visible to all.

The PBA is announcing what the lane patterns will be at all their tournaments next year. There is a fear that certain players will elect to skip tournaments that has a pattern that they do not handle well. Now the best will continue to go to all the tournaments and the more versatile will win but shouldn’t you be able to know what you are entering into?

Even at ABC nationals, most will tell you when bowling doubles and singles that much of the time your ability to score (particularly high numbers) is based on how the players in front of you played the lanes. If they play all over the lane and chop it up then you are in trouble. If the play an area of the lane fairly well then they can open the shot up for you.  But why should you be at the mercy of the group in front of you? (I don’t know how they could change this other than to have everyone roll on a fresh shot and logistically that is impossible) (Mercy may be the wrong word but it could make the difference between shooting a small 6 or a 700, and look at the scores for team bowled on fresh conditions versus doubles and singles).

You know where the oil is where you threw the last shot or two. But if that line quits working then you are moving into a minefield. Yes most houses put more oil in the center of the lane but what if they didn’t. You might find out that just 3 boards left of where you are playing is bone dry and the ball would hook even earlier.

The blind hole in golf is blind to all who play it. Not just lefties or righties. It’s not a blind hole one day and not the next.

Bjaardker – Pet Samparas never won a major on clay although he has won more grand slam titles than any male player ever. But he went into a tournament knowing what the surface was. Grass may be mildly variable but it will always play fast.

Mumzie – They put up a graph but the lane man doesn’t have to run that shot. How many times has someone said the lanes didn’t play at all like the graph?

Colored oil may be an answer but that doesn’t stop the lane man from changing the shot. And if you hadn’t seen the shot earlier who knows it different. And the color would have to indicate volume as well as location.

We simply need a surface that requires no lane conditioner. But unless it could be economically applied to existing surfaces this will never happen.

If the lane surface was consistent at each house, some houses could be softer or harder, and no external influence would be put on the lanes. Then the person who was the most consistent with their roll and accuracy would be the winner. If you could throw more power consistently and accurately then you would be the winner. Isn’t that the game should be about?

I guess it sounds to me like you want all of the houses to be like the Kegel facility in florida.

I got an e-mail on it a few days back, maybe someone kept it & can post it here.

"The Foundation" is claiming this is going to be the fairest tournament ever & will show who the "TRUE" world champion is. (I don't really buy it since it's an invitational only)

The lanes all are adjustable in crown & tilt to the thousandth of an inch. Stuff like that. It's really interesting.