win a ball from Bowling.com

Author Topic: Where are you people?  (Read 2067 times)

MichiganBowling

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 616
Where are you people?
« on: August 23, 2003, 02:32:07 AM »
I sit here and read these posts, some by 170 average bowlers, some by 230 average bowlers.  All of us here seem to share the same "understanding" of the sport as far as lane conditions, ball specs and so on.

Now I bowl in 2 leagues (used to bowl as many as 6) per week and bowl in tournaments every weekend.  As you can see, I have a bowling business listed at the bottom.  So I meet a lot of people in the bowling world, and the majority of them do NOT understand the sport in any way.  As we've mentioned in here before, Joe Bowler often complains that prices are too high and thinks the house purposely puts out an inconsistent shot from week to week.

So I ask you again, where are you people?  lol.  Why can't you all bowl in my town so that I don't have to listen to Joe Bowler anymore!!!

Another thing...what if we all did our part in a positive way to inform Joe Bowler how things really are?  I think Joe Bowler is only lacking knowledge, or possibly he's just an idiot and we should ignore him.  What do you think?
--------------------
Brian
MichiganBowling.com
http://www.MichiganBowling.com

Famous Last Words of a Pot Bowler--"Ok, but this is my last game!"
Brian
MichiganBowling.com
http://www.MichiganBowling.com

Famous Last Words of a Pot Bowler--"Ok, but this is my last game!"

 

MI 2 AZ

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 8158
Re: Where are you people?
« Reply #1 on: August 23, 2003, 05:44:38 PM »
Refer Joe Bowler to this site?
_________________________________________
Six decades of league bowling and still learning.

ABC/USBC Lifetime Member since Aug 1995.

JoeBowler

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 583
Re: Where are you people?
« Reply #2 on: August 23, 2003, 05:54:14 PM »
Someone mention my name?

Psychoballtester

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 435
Re: Where are you people?
« Reply #3 on: August 23, 2003, 05:54:37 PM »
Hey MichiganBowling,

You know and several main namers here know they have
a duty to inform the public about this and that
in the Bowling Scene.If you(aka famous BR members) are reading this
you know what I'm typing about.Yeah!All these post of every
angle in this Bowling Genre.

From time ta time I like to read the lastest
posts.Its neat and entertaining too.

This keeps me out of the bowling alley,Haaaaaaaaaaaaa and IHTSTITIWFAILOVVL!!!


Hey!Umm,you forgot to mention the "Jane Bowler".Yayayaya,she needs to know
whats up to on the latest post too.

Thats all.

Psycho.B.T

charlee323

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 296
Re: Where are you people?
« Reply #4 on: August 23, 2003, 08:13:18 PM »
Sawbones, that was a great reply to read.  Thanks



MichiganBowling

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 616
Re: Where are you people?
« Reply #5 on: August 24, 2003, 12:11:39 PM »
First, sorry JoeBowler, this reply was not aimed at you.  hahaha.  I didn't know there was a member with that name!!!

Yes, Joe or Jane bowler.  Didn't mean to discriminate.

Bones, good question.  I suppose that was the question I was posing to the members here at BR.com.  Who's responsibility is it?  I think the further we go in our sport, the better we become...the more responsibility we have or should have.  I started when I was 14 and went up about 20 pins per season.  So by the time I turned 17 I was averaging around 200.  I got there by practicing my arse off and practicing in a house where there were a lot of older (50-65 year olds) gentleman bowling.  That is, I'd practice after school at about 3pm when there were a handful of older gentleman that would be in that bowling center almost every day at that time.  They would often see me struggle and come over and help me.  A pointer here, a pointer there, and I just kept learning more and more about the game.  Had I not practiced at THAT center at THAT time of day when THEY were there...well, maybe I would've turned out differently.  Maybe I too would complain about inconsistent shots and "this house sucks".

Now unfortunately, a lot of the adults, as Mr. Bones has pointed out, have gotten to the adult level without learning the basics of the game from oil patterns, why the shot might be different from week to week, lineage prices and so on.  So they get to the adult level with a negative outlook, and then it seems to spread to the new bowlers that join their league and/or the junior bowlers who look up to them.  

So the problem we now have seems to go something like this...About 90%-95% of the bowling population are simply uneducated about the sport, the industry, and even the history of bowling.  And the trickle down effect adds more uneducated bowlers to the mix.  So, I have asked and Mr. Bones has also asked...who's responsibility is it to educate these people (and I think we do need to educate them, or our sport will continue to spin its wheels as it slowly slides down the hill)?  This is a tough question, because I dare say that nearly every member of this forum already does their part to help our sport along.  The everyday stuff is what I'm talking about.  I think we all do that for the most part.

But...what if we went a step further.  What if we went to our bowling center owners and managers and asked THEM to take a more active part in the education of THEIR bowlers.  Whether it be through a weekly or monthly newsletter, seminars by people they pay to come in and speak (like Dean Hinitz, Mo Pinell, or other bowling smart people), or just giving the bowlers a tour of the bowling center to show them the challenges that face the managers and mechanics every day to keep putting out a consistent shot!  So much could be done.  A center manager and I recently had a very nice talk, and he made the point that he feels like he spends too much time talking to lawyers and attorneys, whereas in the good ol' days you could just make a deal with a handshake and take care of your bowlers if they were hurt or something.  I'm sorry, but if you're bowling in a center and you've never met the owner, or rarely see the owner, then there's a problem with that center.  He/she needs to be a visible person in his/her center who can offer guidance and help to the people who pay to bowl in their building.

I suppose I tackled a lot in this thread, but these are things I think about nearly every day when operating my bowling business.  I see so many missed opportunites in our sport that it really makes me sick sometimes.  Not only do the bowlers need to be re-educated, but so do bowling managers!  Opinions are like a-holes (everybody's got one), but there seems to be a general understanding of how things should be among the people in this forum, and the other people in our bowling community like pro shop owners and such.  So I suppose I say it is OUR responsibility to take things a bit further than just discussing them in forums such as these.  Perhaps it's time for bowlers to unite a bit and form bowling clubs and/or other groups of that nature where we/they work to re-educate other bowlers and even re-educate center managers!

Just something to think about I suppose.  Does anybody else feel the way I do about this?
--------------------
Brian
MichiganBowling.com
http://www.MichiganBowling.com

Famous Last Words of a Pot Bowler--"Ok, but this is my last game!"
Brian
MichiganBowling.com
http://www.MichiganBowling.com

Famous Last Words of a Pot Bowler--"Ok, but this is my last game!"

HamPster

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 5584
Re: Where are you people?
« Reply #6 on: August 24, 2003, 12:45:39 PM »
Ahh, yes, idiots are plentiful.  Some favorite stories here.

Some guy comes in to buy a ball for his girlfriend.  It's a White Dot.  Upon ordering and paying for it, he says to me, "Can you get her one without those spinning cores?  She just wants it to go straight."  Hehe, no problem . .

Some retard comes in asking about a ball he just traded for.  "Is the Icon a good ball for playing outside with?"  I said it depends on how you throw it.  "Well, people tell me it's really hard to play 1st arrow, and I've always done it easily.  I just wanted to know if this ball would help me out."  About now I'm trying to keep from rolling my eyes because this guy REALLY sucks, he kinda limp wrists it onto the lane, and that's about a third of the way through his 3 step slide, lol.  So I start discussing the logistics of playing first arrow with him.  I say it's really not that hard at all for strokers to play out there because of the wall.  Vacant blinking.  So I try to explain oil patterns.  Again, vacant blinking.  I keep trying to tell him that if they oiled the lanes differently, he wouldn't get the forgiving reaction.  More vacant blinking.  Reaction?  Oil?  Eh, he decided it was all technical talk and proceeded to tell me a story about some guy that was taunting him, so they bowled, and . .  "He said he was gonna beat me, but I didn't care, I just put a 250 down on him."  Still makes my head hurt thinking about it.  

Another favorite is when people bring things in and say, "Can you put this in a bowling ball for me?"  Or the ever popular, "Is there any way to take weight out of this 16 pound ball to make it 13 pounds, my wife needs a good ball . ."  So what about . . "You drilled it wrong!  These fingerholes aren't evenly spaced from the thumbhole!"  That's because your span is a quarter inch LONGER from your ring to your thumb, idiot.  Oh, and naturally an oval vinyl insert is going to feel different when we replace it for you when the last idiot that put an insert in there made the angle of the oval about 10 degrees.  "Why do all of these balls only come in one color?"  Because the ball companies are trying to take over the world, and they might as well start getting you used to dictatorship now so there's not such a fuss later.  Hmm, what size shoe do you need?  "I think about a 7 will work."  Ok, here you are.  "Oh, these don't fit, the manufacturers size scale must be really off, I don't want them."  Oh, by all means, don't try on a different pair, that'd be too much to give Dexter the satisfaction of forcing you to wear a size 8 against your will.  Ahh, it's too much, Hamster out . .
--------------------
Forget Kung Fu, I know Ron Bahr!!!

The only difference between youth and adult leagues are that the big boys are allowed to whine.  They're more entertaining anyway.

guzmand19

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 640
Re: Where are you people?
« Reply #7 on: August 25, 2003, 10:22:42 AM »
Hey MIBowler, I just recently "refound" this site and began posting again.  I live in Novi and usually bowl at Drakeshire Lanes in Farmington Hills, All-Star Lanes in Walled Lake or on the odd day at Novi Bowl.  Im planning on attending the bowling tourney in Waterford, it will be my first tourney and first time on the sport condition.  Should be interesting to say the least!
--------------------
"Here we go folks, he is working off the first 8, and looking good.  Looks good on the approach.... OH NO, its off his ankle and down the gutter!!  OHH THE HUMANITY!"

-Name is Darrell, from Novi MI

MichiganBowling

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 616
Re: Where are you people?
« Reply #8 on: August 25, 2003, 12:16:25 PM »
Thanks guys for the comments.  I'll see you Darrell in Waterford!

I'm finding new inspiration now by reading some replies in here and other posts throughout BR.com.  So thanks again.
--------------------
Brian
MichiganBowling.com
http://www.MichiganBowling.com

Famous Last Words of a Pot Bowler--"Ok, but this is my last game!"
Brian
MichiganBowling.com
http://www.MichiganBowling.com

Famous Last Words of a Pot Bowler--"Ok, but this is my last game!"

card79

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 1502
Re: Where are you people?
« Reply #9 on: August 25, 2003, 12:28:44 PM »
Brian looks like I will be making the trek up from central ohio.  I have to bowl in league the saturday night before so I will be making the drive early in the morning.
--------------------
I don't really play cards and I am not 79, but it fits together somehow.

MichiganBowling

  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 616
Re: Where are you people?
« Reply #10 on: August 26, 2003, 12:08:27 AM »
GREAT!!!  I'll see you there.  Email me if you have any questions or if you need directions!

--------------------
Brian
MichiganBowling.com
http://www.MichiganBowling.com

Famous Last Words of a Pot Bowler--"Ok, but this is my last game!"
Brian
MichiganBowling.com
http://www.MichiganBowling.com

Famous Last Words of a Pot Bowler--"Ok, but this is my last game!"