The bowler in question had the front 4.  In the 5th frame he threw a shot that caused the foul light to come on and buzzer to sound.  He claimed he did not go over the line.  He was playing very close to the left gutter as a right handed bowler.  I saw the light come on and heard the sound.  I looked but could not tell since I was not on the approach.  The opposing team did not see what happened exactly but claimed he fouled with his trailing leg which could not have happened because it would have caused a foul on the other lane not his.  Before he bowled the next frame it was decided that he did not foul and his strike was put back on the board and he went on to shoot 280 something.  I find Mr Staightball's question about will they use the video to check interesting, since the guy that fouled is on the team that put up a stink about his teammate fouling earlier this year and video was used to show the foul.  My problem with this was if he set off the indicator then he fouled.  He was very close to the line that is what I saw from the table on the next lane.  I cannot understand how you can take away an indicated foul in this case unless you can prove you did not foul.  Since he won the pot game that way I am waiting to see what comes of this.  If you trigger the foul light and buzzer unless you are 3 feet behind the line and your ball does it then you FOULED!!

Ok so now we have Bowl America. "where thousands cheer". And Brunswick "where thousands cheat". Lol

I will say, when Jack "Fouler" went over the line, there was no buzzer. But when that buzzer sounds, we all know it's a foul and everyone knows the turn your foot real quick trick to make it look like you were behind the line.

I am not sure why folks think you cannot foul with you trailing leg. The foul line runs wall to wall, it's infinite is how I think USBC terms it. Unless it's a foreign object that triggers the detector it is a foul. Foreign meaning a pen falls from the shirt, cigarettes, etc.

I wont mention a name here.  Yes you can foul with the trailing leg but it would have set off the buzzer on the other lane since he was sliding about in the left gutter.  BTW if you have a pen, hat, or anything else on you fall over the line or set off the buzzer that is considered a foul also.

If the foulline is a bit off the buzzer can still go off even if you don't cross the line.. I've seen numerous times when a ball dropped very close to the line trigger it..
I've even seen some throw a ball to the arrows and trigger the foulline buzzer.. In this case it was a bad lane that made everything "jump" and in some cases even set the buzzer off on the lane next to it..


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Tough times don't last, tough people do...

Aggression is an attitude, not an emotion...

Bill unless they changed the rules since I last looked this one up anything that is considered something you are wearing and thus falling over the line is considered a part of the body crossing the line.

I just looked it up we are both right:
The foul line is of infinite length including walls, flooring, posts and ball returns. A foul is not committed when foreign objects such as pens, jewelry, coins, cigarettes, etc., drop from a bowler’s pocket or fall from a person’s body or clothing. (Footwear and clothing are considered part of the body.) A player should request permission to cross the foul line to retrieve any items that have fallen beyond the foul line.

Out of the pocket is not a foul but a hat is.

As for the foul light going off.  I agree with all of you that you can have the light go off with the ball or the ball hitting a lane.  We have all seen that.  The issue with that is it normally happens more than one time.  This foul was the only one on that pair all night including during practice.  I only saw the bowler as the buzzer went off and he was very close to the line from where I sat I could not tell how he triggered it.

Edited on 10/23/2009 7:39 AM

CHAP! You are the first person to address the issue. The light only went off one time in 3 games. There was no "foreign object" to speak about...fa-fa-fa-foul.