I agree with many that the USBC has been less than stellar in its performance so far. But if you want to bowl in a non-sanctioned league, go ahead. But if you want some level of competition, you will have to bowl sanctioned leagues. I am sure there are many instances where people have had good and bad experiences with both, but you will not be able to compete at any level above a normal league level without at least one sanctioned league, then you are hooked.
If it is the awards that p1ss you off, then suggesting something on this forum won't go very far. Personally, I would treat awards like a ski-ball machine, the better you do, the more tickets you get. Bowl a 300, then you get "x" amount of points towards a catalog of bowling "prizes". Save up an entire lifetime and get something good, or exchange often and get a bunch of plastic rings with spiders on them. You would be able to win points for 100 pins over average, league championships, doing well in local/state/national tournaments and whatever else you can think of. This would encourage people to possibly bowl more than one league a year, and you wouldn't be giving out 50,000 300 rings a year.
On second thought, if you want a 300/299/298/800/900 ring specifically, then maybe you can get one per lifetime or year or whatever. But for all the worthless little awards, I think a point system may have some merit.
--------------------
I am not a pro-bowler, but I do play one on BallReviews.com