Brian, you and No Fear both make good points. I'd like to see bowling return to what it was 20 years ago, even though I've only been bowling for the last 5. I hate resin, I hate wall shots, and I hate these no-talent hacks that luck out honor scores every year. I'd like to see the skill return. Former touring pro, and owner of one of the first televised PBA 300 games (in the championship match, no less) Bob Benoit, lives here in town, and bowls in one of the leagues I do. I can't remember the last time he's thrown a new ball, and he rarely throws resin. He'll bring out a Ninja or an X-Zone every now and then, but over half the season he used a White Dot, and shot 720 just about every week. Everybody else, myself included, keep buying new balls to keep up with the scoring pace. I could average over 200 with plastic, and frequently have, but I can't keep up with the guys in between because of resin and walled up shots. 210's aren't going to win you many games in a scratch league where most of them average well over 220. Are most of them 220+ average bowlers? No, but resin + wall = scores. Bob should be the best, or very close to the top, skill-wise in that league.
However, people like scoring. The high numbers make it fun, not the shotmaking, like it used to be. I'd rather hit the same board over and over again than strike over and over again. Other people don't care, and can't even see it. There's a lady that I bowled with for most of the season this last year that averages 210, and can't for her life figure out why she left that 10 pin, or why she had a washout. Low revs, forward roll, naturally she's gonna hit weak every now and again. I can tell at the arrows if it has a chance, or what it'll leave if it doesn't strike, and she won't see what happens until the ball hits the pins. Either she catches too much oil, has the wrong angle, hits the right target at the arrows, but missed it at the line and will miss it at the breakpoint, doesn't quite hit it, misses her angle of rotation, etc. She can't see those little basic mistakes that cause the leaves she gets, and then whines about it. I can't say anything, naturally, because she's twice my age and has been bowling 5 times longer than I have, so of course I CAN'T know what I'm talking about. These kinds of people aren't satisfied with their scores NOW, so what's going to happen when everything is taken back to how it used to be? Yes, people will begin to quit. However, there will still be open bowling that the houses make a KILLING off of, and the true bowlers will stick around. Handicap will always be handicap too, so just because you now average 180 instead of 200, 90% of 220 will get you the same score if you bowl your average.
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Hey, I am NOT Michael Jackson. I like little GIRLS, not little boys . .
Rock on kitty.