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Author Topic: BTM magazine.  (Read 1945 times)

Ernie McCracken

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BTM magazine.
« on: September 16, 2004, 05:13:43 AM »
I was thinking about subscribing to Bowling This Month but was wondering how many of you here subscribe.  What are your favorite parts and not so favorite parts of this publication?  Would you recommend it to others?  Thanks!
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Evolutionary.  Revolutionary.
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Pinbuster

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Re: BTM magazine.
« Reply #1 on: September 16, 2004, 01:25:59 PM »
I subscribe, can’t really say for sure why anymore.

I don’t really get it for the reviews anymore. I do mine a nugget of information from the articles from time to time.  
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scotts33

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Re: BTM magazine.
« Reply #2 on: September 16, 2004, 02:17:55 PM »
I subscribe.  Best magazine out there.  Great technical stuff about lanes, equipment, great ball reviews better than here IMO <basically because of the inability for most to be unbiased on BR or can't review a ball because they don't have the ability to communicate what many really want to know>.

Best features for me probably Denny Torgeson's column.  Susie Minishew ok nothing special there.  Bill Hall pretty good comes up with some issues/points that one may have forgotten.  

Guys like Bill Taylor and John Jowdy even though Mr. Jowdy doesn't write for BTM is that they always are crowing about I coached this pro and he is a great star after I fixed him.  Not that both of these guys couldn't fix any player it's just that it beciomes a back slapping column for much of the time.  I think, a writer can relate an experience without thumping their chest.  Of course, they're also selling their services in a kind of back handed way.  

One column they could add is a bit of bowling history type column kind of like the way Larry Lichtstein posted a long thread about Billy Hardwick on the PBA.com forum months ago.  Maybe once every few issues would be enough of that type of thing.  Guys like Larry L., baldo aka Del ballard are really good at relating interesting stories of course some of them aren't suitable for family reading.  

Sorry about the ramble.......anyway IMO BTM worth the $ especially if you really like to delve into the technical aspects of bowling technique, layouts & equipment, and lane conditions.

Scott
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Scott

charlest

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Re: BTM magazine.
« Reply #3 on: September 16, 2004, 03:35:19 PM »
One note about BTM ball reviews -

If you take an isolated ball and base your purchase of it solely on the BTM review then, I believe, you are making a major mistake.

If, however, you take each ball review and compare it to other BTM reviews of other balls that you know about or own, then you will soon realize that in 90-99% of the ball reviews, they are very consistent in their review. You MUST take a review in its relative position to other reviews; a ball's performance, BASED ON HOW THEY REVIEW BALLS AND WHERE THEIR NUMBERS COME FROM, is very relative to several other balls' performance.

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"We get old too fast, and too late, smart."
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"None are so blind as those who will not see."

RSalas

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Re: BTM magazine.
« Reply #4 on: September 16, 2004, 03:39:40 PM »
Proud subscriber since 1996, and for the foreseeable future.

charlest:  Spot on, and well said.
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jimensminger

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Re: BTM magazine.
« Reply #5 on: September 16, 2004, 03:42:36 PM »
There's only so much you can write about bowling, or fishing, or tennis without becoming re-dundant. How many times has the Golf Digest had the front cover telling me "HOW TO CURE YOUR SLICE',...But new bowlers/subscribers come along all the time, so what's old to some of us is new to them. One thing I do like is the testing and reviews,..I know the editor personally, and they get the balls even before the staffers, so when I get a ball,..or when you buy the latest ball, It should have already be written about, so you know what to expect....and I think they give a fair review.  They also have a web forum that the editor reads and answers questions all the time. je
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baiki

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Re: BTM magazine.
« Reply #6 on: September 17, 2004, 02:10:41 PM »

I subsribed from the start of their publication in '96 and stopped in Oct.03. I really look forward for it's arrival every month.
Reason I stop was I stopped bowling competitively, too many ball releases to keep up and the passing away of Bob Summerville, the one who started BTM.
I still have every copy and occassionally refer to them especially on breakpoint, arsenal selection, slump breaking, drilling and reading lanes.

A really great mag. then. Could still be a better choice now.


 

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baiki
"Faulty mechanics makes all balls bad."  Bill Hall, BTM Dec. '98
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