For those who want to know wether or not a ball should be used regularly, take this for what its worth.

I own an Epic Battle that I have had since about 1 week after it was released in 2006.  Just starting to form hairlines around the finger holes (nothing that could not be fixed easy by plugging and redrill...chances are I will retire it at the end of this season anyway).

My father while he was living was also throwing an Epic Battle.  As he was sick for the last couple years before he passed the ball had Maybe 50 games on it.  Today I happened to glance down at it and saw it had cracked practically into 3rd's.  Ball has not been touched for almost 18 months (saw not oil/ball cleaner/spray polish etc).  No way to fix this one, you can actually see the core (which is a reddish brown color in my view).

Ball was kept on the 1st floor (sitting on a bowling towel) where temperatures really don't flux too much.  Not exposed to extremes or misuse...just lack of use.

I did however find a Columbia Beast (the Purple one) and a Titanium Super Beast (slight cracking around fingers) that were just fine after many years in the closet.

Has the nature of the bowling balls changed that much where they must be used or they will commit suicide