Just wanted to have a conversation on franchise ball for Storm. The Hy-Road seemed to dominate the PBA, tournament scenes, and leagues. As of late, I don't really see anyone throwing it anywhere. Has it finally started to lose its luster? Do you think Storm is finally goinng to kick it to the curve?

I hope it's just a bit of the new ball syndrome that I'm seeing. I know the higher level players still have a place for it, but that is sorta what happened to some of the other balls before their demise.

Belmo still uses it very frequently - in one of the Xtra frame 2015 US Open qualifying squads, Belmo mentions the Hyroad multiple times when he's chatting with people in the background and how he likes it.

Storm also recently tweeted a Hyroad that John Szczerbinski used on the double burn to get him in the top position in one of the US Open squads.

I agree, I think it's still in a lot of top player's arsenals...just the Lock hype/new ball syndrome has taken a bit more of the spotlight recently. When it came out first in 2008, it was advertised as a medium-heavy oil ball. Personally for me, it's now my ball of choice that is in the low end of the hook spectrum and is one notch up from my urethane/spare ball for the burn.

    I did a research paper for my marketing class and chose bowling balls. I did an interview with Riger Noordhook when he was with Storm and the Hy-Road was one of my subjects in my paper as to what determines when a ball is discontinued. He said they look at sales and have a number and when a ball falls below that number for the month, it will be put in the potential discontinued list. He said with the Hy-Road, every time it drops below, the following few months, sales increase and it get taken off list again. It was a great subject and appreciated the hour of his time he gave me on the phone. I was always curious as to one ball is around for 6-9 months, think it is great but is discontinued and then there is the Hy-Road which has seen a blessing to many bowlers (I did not match up well with it) and has been a great seller for me.