Beverages at the Nationals This Year

I've never bowled in the USBC Open. I should bowl in it this year, since it's only a little over a hundred miles away in Reno. But I think I'll work on my game some more and wait till next year to give it a shot. However, I just heard and later read that things are going to be a little different this year from previous years. And the big difference is that bowlers will be able to drink alcoholic and other beverages down on the lanes whereas they could drink only bottled water supplied to them by the USBC before this.

Del Ballard said on Xtra Frame yesterday that he has no problems with this. He says that most people, including those who bowl in the Nationals, want to have some fun when they bowl, and if drinking some beer helps them to do this, so be it. The USBC should give the public what it wants and relax the "Gestapo" measures of the past if it wants people to keep coming to the tournament.

However, I don't like the idea of people drinking beer or soda down near the lanes and perhaps tracking some of it onto the approaches. I also think that a few people getting a little rowdy after they've had a "couple" could undermine the integrity of the tournament. Maybe this is just the unreasonably "purist" side of me coming out, but I'm inclined to think that the old rules regarding beverages should remain in place, even though I'm all for some of the other changes that will go into effect this year.

You can read more about all of this here. What do you think about sticky and intoxicating beverages being allowed down on the lanes of such a big and fabled tournament?