Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Bowling Quote of the Day--Why Competitive Bowling Has Gone Downhill

"Competitive bowling (not league bowling) started going downhill when people realized they were outgunned by ball staffers and chose to sit at home rather than have all their money taken constantly with no real chance to compete with the pro who can switch balls to go carry out corner pins he is having trouble carrying. The game isn't and hasn't been on any semblance of a level playing field for many years. Hard to entice people to compete when laziness is rewarded through handicap and bowling balls with snow tire shells and weight blocks designed to make everything easier."
--Comment on PBAForum.com

6 comments:

  1. That certainly won't sit well with the folks that like the magic balls and goofy oil patterns.

    I don't have to go read that forum to "see" the comments that would follow. He's an idiot, too stupid to bowl on "tough" conditions, like a "real" bowler.

    That's the usual commentary that I get when I bring it up. Funny thing about that though, nobody is willing to discuss it intelligently. They can't offer solid evidence that supports the notion that THS is too easy. Show me the scores, where everyone is carrying a 290 average on THS, for example. Show me that THS favors either right or left handed bowlers.

    They don't like the notion that the magic balls combined with the various PBA and sport shot oil patterns are not neutral, not a level playing field, but they can't offer the evidence that it is. OTOH, I can show at least 2 PBA tournaments where the finals were comprised almost entirely of left handers. Yes, that's a definite sign that the oil pattern was neutral....

    Kerry

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  2. Kerry, the interesting thing is, I suspect that most of the touring and regional pros don't particularly like the "magic balls and goofy oil patterns" either. It has to be an expensive, confounding, and frustrating pain in the posterior constantly analyzing and revising one's "arsenal" and lugging it around with you, and figuring out and adapting to the differing and rapidly changing lane conditions.

    But they just don't see how it's possible to turn back the clock to simpler, less cumbersome times. And I don't either.

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  3. The PBA makes the rules. The PBA controls the oil patterns and it controls the balls that people can use in competition. I don't see why it would be even a minor problem, changing the rules to anything they want. The plastic ball tournaments are sufficient proof of that.

    I don't understand why anyone would consider any changes under the control of the PBA, as impossible.

    Kerry

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  4. I happened upon this thread in the pbaforum, that really covers this topic very well. IMO, the arguments presented there for eliminating the magic balls and goofy oil patterns are irrefutable. There are also a number of posts from people like me, who would gladly be bowl and lose on a level playing field, because we think we have a "chance" to win, no matter how slim. But, we won't, can't, compete against the balls and goofy oil patterns because we know we have no chance of winning at all, if we don't happen to select the right ball with the right drilling.

    http://pbaforum.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=817356&Board=16

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  5. Kerry, thanks for the heads up on the pbaforum discussion. It looks like a veritable gold mine of riches for my blog.

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  6. You're welcome. It's one of the best "discussions" I've seen on that forum, so I thought you'd like to see it.

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