Most people who don't bowl don't even know what an honor score is, yet bowlers continue to worry about that population thinks. I have no idea why. Like I have said, take your bashing and badmouthing bowling and stick it where the sun don't shine. The majority of people who bowl seem to think it's still a big deal.
You know, current bowlers of greater skill and lots of accomplishments should be stewards of the game. Somebody today shoots a 300 you should go up and congratulate them just like you were when you shot yours 20 years ago. Why do we insist on feeding on our own young, so to speak. Don't denigrate somebody's accomplishment. Help them relish it. No skin off your back. Think when they get their ring and show it to family and friends how many might take up the sport to try and get one themselves. Expand your minds, naysayers!
You're absolutely right, to a point. I still contend that it has some pretty severe negative effects . . but, let me ask this. It's hypothetical, but it's really not . . Any person shoots 300, you congratulate them, everybody is happy, you have beers (over 21 of course, haha), they get their ring, here the centers hand out pretty nice jackets which is cool, the league secretary gets it, hand delivers it to the bowling alley and announces it on the intercom when it comes in, everybody claps and congratulates, life is good. All the sudden this person wears their ring constantly, the jacket gets worn to the bowling alley whether it's cold outside or not, with zero knowledge they start trying to coach, they get frustrated bowling league, and instead of asking what they're doing wrong, the humidity is too high, the walls got repainted, the guy drilling the ball screwed up, the polish machine got it too polished, the lane guy put a different pattern down on that pair, and you can't tell them anything. They read something online, don't understand it, but hey, they shot 300, so they buy the latest hook monster, and want you to drill it for "maximum hook," and "heres the drill sheet the ball came with, I want my fingers here," even though the drill sheet only offers generic hole placements for a 5 1/4ish over PAP, and his is 4 1/2 and 1/2 inch up. Oh and by the way, what he means by maximum hook is that he wants it to turn left at 40 feet, regardless of what ball he buys and regardless of what pattern he's bowling on. That guy will take years of frustration, burnt bridges, and lessons in humility to figure it out. I know SEVERAL of these.
Next one, kid shoots a couple 300s and near 850. All the sudden, he has PBA aspirations. He quits paying attention in school, and his grades drop far enough to disqualify him from high school bowling. His step dad barges into the AD's office and demands that his kid be allowed to bowl anyway because, "I don't see why his grades matter anyway, he's not going to college, he's going straight to the PBA." True story.
And another kid shoots 300, and then 800 a couple months later. Starts bowling a summer Kegel challenge pattern scholarship league. Coaches are there trying to help them prepare for Junior Gold. Kid no thumbs the ball, and that got him honor scores on a house shot, so long pattern, 4th arrow. Short pattern, 4th arrow. Medium pattern, 4th arrow. Coaches tell him over and over again, "Can't play this pattern there, have to start over here and move in," or "you need to play for the transition on this one." But, he has honor scores, and every once and a while the pattern actually gives him where he wants to play. He's still at the bottom of the list in a league where he has more talent than 90% of them, but he's got honor scores . .
So how do we fix this or combat this, or am I nuts? Lol, I'm pretty sure I know the answer to that, but is this one of those "you can't fix/help everybody" or is it something that needs extra attention? I know not everybody wants to be a pro, I know not everybody wants to be billy badass, but for the people who get inflated egos and start trying to coach based off what works for them, that REALLY hurts the game, it sets other people back that are honestly trying, it confuses them, and generally causes chaos. And I WILL take "you can't fix everybody" AND "you're nuts" as a combo answer, because just sitting here writing this I'm kind of coming to that conclusion . . Can't fix everybody, but man I'd like to save the ones who really want to learn from having to go through that. I went through that and it wasn't pleasant, took years to fix, just lucky I had the right guy buy the shop I work at, he fixed everything.
