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I do not believe the national board had any other motive than what the News Story on the home page stated:  They took this action to "protect the credibility of the sport and the USBC awards program".

As I observed in another post, the Mushtare awards brought this matter much wider attention than just in these forums.  That including national exposure on ESPN, other bowling releated websites, newspapers, magazines, etc.

I pointed out, in several posts here, that USBC had little choice but to make the awards under the  (in my opinion) bad rules, and we needed to fix those rules.

The USBC board obviously felt they had to act, and I have no reason to believe that action was for other than the reason(s) stated.

In response to Geek's remarks, this action by the board, authorized by the USBC bylaws is temporary in nature and will be in effect until March, when it must be placed before the delegates for ratification, and the Q&A after the news story made that point clearly.

If the board is smart, and I believe they certainly are as individuals, they will make an concentrated effort  to build a consensus among the national delegates and membership to ratify this action and get the entire matter permanently resolved in Nashville.

I would expect to see the matter persued via E-Connection and US Bowler, through e-mail to associations, and possibly delegates, and maybe even (gasp!) here.  I would certainly expect to also see some more efforts in Nashville, at that convention, prior to the legislative session there in terms of education efforts, information, etc.

Everyone should understand that, contrary to the titles of the threads here, Pre and post bowling are not "OUT" at all, and where permitted by existing rules are unchanged, including awards for such matches as long as the are bowled head-to-head.

This ruling/action by the board only applies to unopposed pre/post bowling as I understand it.

This series of events is a perfect illustration, to me at least, that the thoughts and opinions of the membership/bowling community when expressed strongly enough and persistently enough can be very effective.

We saw that with the first USBC proposal, and we are seeing it here today.

Frank Britt

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