Dear kidlost2000:

 

You should feel fortunate that you don't live in my area. If you had said something bad about the local association and/or the proprietor, you almost would have certainly been banned ... not ALMOST banned.

 Mighty Fish,

 

 While you and I have knocked heads on some of the things I've seen on here, I am willing to make the guess that you and I agree on this: The System of Bowling has been a total, and perhaps laughable, failure.

 

 I, sometimes, honestly wonder if they ever really meant to enforce it or not.

 

 That being said, I don't really think this "failure" is what led to the declining number of bowlers we see today. I really think it is a confluence of a great many factors that are all contributing to the decline of bowling.

 

 Society itsself has changed. As a kid, growing up in rural N.E. Texas in the 60's and 70's, we had about 7 TV channels. There were no VCR's, DVR's, video games, or any such diversions. We had a car, but money was scarce, and so were trips into town. No spending money on trivial things like bowling or movies, things like that were really rare, and a special treat when they did happen. I got to go bowling once, when I was about 14, and I loved it. With little else to do in a small town, the bowling alley was a popular gathering place for most of the teenagers, and always seemed to be buzzing with them every Friday and Saturday night.

 

 Since then, many things have changed. There are 100's, perhaps 1000's, of TV channels available today, many of them specialized and catering to the younger generation. When you add in DVR's capability to "watch on demand", then multiply that by the ability to play highly involved video games instantly with a literally worldwide participation group, you beging to see how things are moving along.

 

 You no longer have to "go" bowling, to "go bowling". You can simply turn on your video game of choice, add in the bowling disc or cartridge, and proceed to bowl in ever more realistic types of "virtual" bowling. Its FREE, and you can stop whenever you want to, even if its in the middle of a game.

 

 You can drive by our "local" center now (Yes, its the same one that was so far away when I was a kid) on a Friday or Saturday night, and the parking lot isn't even 3/4 full. Back then, we had to park in the empty field next door. Now,You go inside, and there might be 6-8 lanes with bowlers. Back then, all 16 lanes would be full and there would be a waiting list to get on a pair of lanes.

 

 The world, as a whole, has changed. That change has not been good to the sport, or the game, of bowling. It has given people far more to do with less inconvenience than ever before in the history of mankind. Bowling has changed from its former "EVENT" status that was eagerly looked forward to, to merely another "ACTIVITY" that can be done when you're just bored with everything else and are just looking for something else to do.

 

Dear kidlost2000:

 

I once had a teammate barred for life from a center because he questioned (via a letter to ABC) whether the center's new in-house league banking service was approved by ABC, which it was required to be at the time. The teammate was correct that the in-center banking had NOT been approved, but that didn't prevent the proprietor from banning the bowler for life.

 

Several years later, a league president kept asking the proprietor (who was handling the league funds as an in-house banker) to provide a league financial statement. The proprietor refused, so the president wrote to ABC and told them he couldn't verify the account because the proprietor refused to provide any financial information. ABC said that the president had to verify anyway, and when he tried to do so again, the proprietor banned him for life. And when a new league president was elected and also asked for verification, he wound up being barred AND SENT TO JAIL FOR TRESPASSING.

The System of Bowling is a sham and it always has been and always will be. It's just words with no teeth in them and meant to cater to the proprietors and the bowling ball makers.

If Obamacare is so great why are so many waivers being asked for and given?

Dear kidlost2000:

 

When you claim that "it is further proof of the greatness of USBC and it's ability to govern the sport," are you serious? Or did you say that in a sarcastic sense?

kidlost, you can say that again. I don't think USBC has accomplished anything for the bowlers since it was formed several years ago. Can anyone think of a single thing that has improved since ABC changed to USBC? If anything, things have continued to go further downhill.

If Obamacare is so great why are so many waivers being asked for and given?

AMEN.  i have been bowling adult leagues since 1982.  never until the last few years did you have to pay for a honor score ring.  what due ours sanction fees go for if not for those.  rule books used to be given to every team captin last year i think our league had one or maybe  two for the whole league.  did we as bowlers pay for this multi million dollar facility in texas that most of us will never set foot in or what.  sorry for the rant but it felt good to get that off my chest.

I will throw in my two cents even though some of this might be wrong and is opinion. The ABC let the horse get out of the barn when they let the BPAA members strong arm them into approving the LDD rule in the mid 80's. At that very moment is when the ABC found out who paid the bills and who would dictate the path of the game from that day forward.

 

The SOB was an attempt to try to slow down the scoring by defining some of the then identifiable variables that could be manipulated to create higher scoring. The biggest farce is the stipulation that any new ball that came out couldn't outhook what ABC considered the hookingest ball on the market at that time, the Blue Hammer by Faball. The SOB went into effect in the 92-93 season and guess what took the world by Storm shortly after: The Reactive Resin cover-stock. Initial smooth surface/shiny reactives didn't out-hook the Blue Hammer but then the manufacturers figured out that by taking the surface of these reactives down with sandpaper and then scotch brite and then finally abralon pads, they easily out-hooked the Hammer by arrows. The ABC had already been "threatened" by the BPAA (center owners group) and now didn't want to take on the ball manufacturers either and put there collective heads in the sand.

 

Enter the merger into the United States Bowling Congress (USBC). The concept to be a merging of youth, men's, and women's organizations into one single body. This also consolidated some isolated and small offices into more effective groups/offices. Technically this should be a great concept. Only problem is the USBC only decided to study the competitive side of the game and other than the ball surface study (which is enlightening if you can handle the technical side of it also) and attempts to level the playing field with lane conditions by defining sport patterns vs traditional or recreational lane conditions, they are still not the most solid solution.

 

There are several problems with the direction of the USBC:

 

1) Proprietors are the ones whose names are on the bank note and also foot the bill when things go downhill at there centers. BPAA still has solid footing as the one of power instead of being on equal footing.

 

2) Lane conditions is still one of the two hottest topics in the sport. If the USBC were to mandate tomorrow that all league conditions had to be toughened up then leagues could stop sanctioning and the centers themselves could go to there own in-house awards system bypassing the USBC. USBC is like all members dues driven organizations: They need the dues or services start to get cut from the budget.

 

3) Equipment is the other hot button topic. If USBC tells the manufacturers overnight they have to lower the coefficient of friction in the cover and balance the dynamics of the ball to have a minimal differential, manufacturers could be stuck with worthless stock to get rid of. Shops could potentially have there stock be devalued overnight. And if you do make dramatic and quick changes, what about people who have older equipment? We all come to this site because we love getting the newer stuff and love to talk about it, but we are in the minority of the USBC sanctioned bowler database. Would equipment get grandfathered in? Would there be exceptions or exclusions? And if the USBC forced these changes, would the afore mentioned groups like BPAA and non-sanctioned leagues allow it. Could imagine a "black-market" for outlaw bowling equipment?

 

Of course some of this is not proven and is strictly my opinion without researching the facts but by my own perception. I hope it gets righted but am hard to be optimistic because of the past direction and decisions by those in charge. I have tried to get involved locally with my board, but it is a good ole boys and girls network that does not like change.