Storm, I too appreciate your posts and responses. I see the point that you are making.
But what I am trying to show is that while less than 5% of bowlers may care about scoring issues and the true sport that bowling could become, we are still here! Just because the other 95% of bowlers are uneducated as to what bowling once was and could become doesn't mean that things should just continue as is. And why do you think that the ball is necessarily in ABC's court? Or USBC's court, or whoever?
One thing you are deadly accurate about is the concept of the "risk" of change to proprietors. Proprietors who are doing well today don't dare change a thing, and the proprietors that are slipping down to the point of no return just seem to be milking their business for all that they can. Convincing proprietors that change is needed on the competitive end of bowling will be difficult, but it is certainly not impossible.
There are many things that I'm not good at, and sometimes bowling is one of them. hahaha. (Golf is certainly one of them) But one thing that I am good at is being creative. I feel that is my gift in life. There is a solution that will allow proprietors to have their cake and eat it to, and I will find that solution! If I don't find it, somebody else will before I can. Never doubt those 2 statements, and please help us all to find that solution however you can.
People have been saying "this is impossible" and "that will never happen" for as long as people have had speech. It amazes me that people still say such things today after all that has been "disproven" over the years.
One other thing here...
We (as bowling enthusiasts) have the opportunity to create a new trend in sports. Tennis has the same problem with 140 mph serves making for a boring men's tennis match with aces being the norm. Baseball has the same problems with steroids, juiced up baseballs, and corked bats. Just the other day I saw a golf club that allows you to change the weights in the head of a driver. If you want to play a slice, you simply organize the weights to allow for it to happen by swinging your normal swing. Nearly every sport is struggling right now with integrity issues. True ability and skill is taking a back seat to many other factors in nearly every sport.
Bowling as an idustry has an opportunity here to change all of that. Now what if, just what if we are able to bring true integrity back to bowling and recreate the sport that bowling once was and can be again? And what if we do that and bowling's popularity amongst the recreational is unchanged. And what if we do that and competitive bowling goes in the only direction that it can at this point (up). Is it possible? YES!!! It may be a difficult riddle to solve, but once solved, it will possibly be the greatest revelation the sports world has ever known to this point. Other sports will follow our lead, and nothing will ever be the same again (in a good way of course).
I have been accused of being young and naive (29 now), but I've been on my journey for 3 years now, and the picture becomes more clear every day. The answer to the riddle doesn't seem to abstract anymore. For some reason, it seems like more of an opportunity than in impossibility to me! Am I really just being naive here?
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Brian
MichiganBowling.com
http://www.MichiganBowling.comFamous Last Words of a Pot Bowler--"Ok, but this is my last game!"