The instinct and intuition are just used differently now than in the past.  If that wasn't still part of the game, the game would be dominated by guys in their 20's and early 30's at their athletic prime, not guys in their late 30's and 40's.

The first step in controlling the scoring pace is oiling 5 to 8 feet further down the lane.  Take away some friction and free hook and bring the flat 10 back into the game.  This would lower the scoring pace without taking the pocket away.  People hate Sport bowling because they suck and can't hit the pocket 3 times in a row. 

The problem is that we as league bowlers do not get the chance to bowl on these conditions very often if at all.

It's not egos that keep people from Sport bowling, it's the fact that league bowling has changed and most guys that bowl league just want to go have a couple of beers and throw strikes.  The typical league bowler is not a bowling junkie that posts on internet forums and wants to bowl on anything remotely difficult.  They don't practice.  They have gotten a taste of averaging 200 and don't want to go back.  The result of this is that good bowlers are now over 240, with some over 250.  (And yes, there are sprayers that are over 230.  The lanes must be tough in your area)

Regardless of the effects to the game, proprietors didn't start putting out easy conditions because their customers wanted the lanes more demanding.

We'll just have to agree that I'm a more harsh judge of talent or lack there of. 

I watch ball reaction very close, the amount someone curves it has nothing to do with how much they spray it.  It's just easier to see the big hook guy that misses 4 right and gets it back vs. the straight guy that tugs it 4 and goes high flush.

Sport patterns have been around long enough now and are catching on enough that I have seen a big improvement in scoring by guys on the sport patterns.  We are all products of our environment.  The more extreme the changes in the environment, the more versatile we become.  Sport league averages are going up every season as more and more guys get comfortable in the environment.  You can't do it by bowling league once a week and never practicing, but anyone who wants to learn to play sport patterns can do it if they are willing to make minor modifications to their game, and work on them.     

On another note, there is a big difference between the sport conditions we see today, and the brickyard houses of 30-40 years ago.  A lot of those houses had terrible wood surfaces, and the only way to play anything other than a wall pattern was to throw hard and straight and become a good spare shooter.  I knew guys who practiced and bowled league on the tough shots of the day, using the rational that "think how good we will be on the easy shots".  The problem was that none of them learned how to throw enough ball to carry when they did hit the easy conditions.  Guys who honed their game on the wall shots of the day were much better equipped to compete on the tougher patterns.  It became a lot different with the introduction of the resin ball.  During the urethane and polyester era, carrydown was a brutal problem that really only could be addressed with a heavy crown or walled up pattern.  The first thing we noticed with the early resin balls was how easily they handled carrydown that would totally stop our blue hammers.  From that day forward the top hat wall really became unnecessary for giving a playable condition, but nobody wanted to flatten the patterns.     

The problem with not bowling on sport patterns is that unless you already have a good deal of experience and a trained eye or the correct perspective, you may not know by bowling on a house shot what the definition of "repeating shots" is.  If you're allowed to routinely miss with speed, revs, angle of rotation, and from 3-6 boards depending on the part of the lane, all you're going to do is improve enough to stay inside that tolerance.  Plus your strategy may change.  If I'm on a house shot my focus is more on how I'm throwing it than where I'm throwing it.  You have plenty of area, so I want to make sure my carry percentage is higher on a house shot, but on a tougher shot I put the bigger emphasis on hitting what I'm aiming at rather than trying to juice the shot with revs or speed.  I find it really hard to practice my sport shot game on a house shot, and vice versa. 

We'll just have to agree that I'm a more harsh judge of talent or lack there of. 

I watch ball reaction very close, the amount someone curves it has nothing to do with how much they spray it.  It's just easier to see the big hook guy that misses 4 right and gets it back vs. the straight guy that tugs it 4 and goes high flush.

I've got to agree with this too, I'm pretty harsh most of the time, and for me ball reaction is all that matters.  Doesn't matter if you crank it or barely hit it at all, if your ball roll has the ball doing what it's supposed to and transitioning right, you'll do well across the board.