Ok. Here is the deal with this.
IF it is the guy that I am thinking of filing the protest, he sponsored at least 2 of the guys that I know of on that second place team. I am aware of this because those 2 are from my hometown and bowl in my league on Wednesday Night. What happened, was that Lava Lanes apparently looked at the lane assignments before their squad and noticed that there were some open pairs available. They went to the Tournament Officials and stated that they wanted to get done a little earlier, as they were bowling a late squad. So they wanted to know if they could switch to an open pair and bowl by themselves. They were allowed to make the switch by the official and it just so happened that they took the lead in Regular Team Event. Before I went out to Reno to bowl (middle-end of June), I was sitting in his office as he was backing me in brackets. He was on the phone with both Reno and USBC in Wisconsin, I believe, saying that if teams are allowed to switch pairs for the heck of it, then that opens up all 15000+ teams to be able to do the same thing and wanted to know if they were prepared for such a thing. If and only if the original pair had a break down or other extenuating circumstances could switching pairs actually be allowed. Of course, if the team had finished way down the list, this may not have taken place. But, being that they were in the lead with only a couple weeks to go in the tournament, this means less money and the prestige that comes with owning an Eagle.
That is what I know about the situation. I am not 100% sure that my sponsor is the one doing the protest. But, I do know that he has been in contact with USBC about the issue stated above.
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Steven Vance
Former Pro Shop Operator
If anyone out there is worried about the scores being too high, try duckpin!!
