I can accept the premise that low sales/short shelf life can be used to determine a miss; however, isn't it plausible that those results are also impacted by market saturation? I think back to when Storm was putting out balls in the X-Factor line. The released the X-Factor Reloaded and followed it up VERY quickly with the Fear Factor. I don't know about anywhere else, but the second the Fear Factor came out, everyone in my area forgot all about the Reloaded, and we had 40 Fear Factors on the racks within the month. Personally, I didn't match up well with either ball, but the point is that sales of the Reloaded, at least in my area, didn't fail beacuse the Fear Factor was a superior ball; they failed because most people who go ball shopping want the newest ball, not necessarily the best ball. Hell, look at the posts on here where people ask for advice. Does this sound familiar:
OG Poster: "I really love my Hyroad; it's the best ball I've ever used, but it's getting older, and I need to find a replacement."
Helper: "You're in luck, they still make the Hyroad, so if you love it, just go ahead and get yourself another one."
OG Poser: "Nah, I'm not really interested in doing that. I was hoping you could tell me which of Storm's newer balls would be a good replacement."
I know I've read about thousand of those posts over the years on here, and one might assume that frequenters of this site would possibly be slightly more bowling savvy than the average joe who strolls into the pro shop.
Again, ladies and gentlemen, it's marketing. They are trying to sell as many bowling balls as they possibly can, so they're going to use bright colors, they're going to have this pro or that pro hype up the ball, and they're going to use buzz words that make you think that of all the balls they've ever made, THIS is the ball you just have to make sure to get. You can say that it's dishonest and/or repetitious, and I won't necessarily disagree; however, if you base your ball-buying decisions off of the marketing materials, you only have yourself to blame. Look at coverstock type, core shape and numbers, "intended conditions", and watch someone (who actually bowls similarly to you and possibly on similar conditions) throw the ball to see if you like what it does. If a certain ball seems to look good for many different bowlers with many different styles on many different conditions, it usually gets my attention because it appears to be one of those user-friendly balls mentioned earlier. At that point, if I decide I need a ball to give me that particular look, I consider buying it or trading for it. Online ball videos and pro shop posters don't impact my decision.
