BallReviews
General Category => USBC Tournament => Topic started by: riggs on November 08, 2012, 11:34:03 AM
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The 11th Frame: 2013 USBC Open Championships to feature different lane patterns for team, minors
http://www.11thframe.com/page/blog_id_5435
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I would have to think they'll mix it up like long-short, low volume-heavy volume, or very different pattern shapes. It wouldn't really be worth doing if the two were similar. I think it's a neat idea. The only thing I don't like is that fact that it will compel me to bring more balls than I would've brought if it were going to be a one-condition deal. Oh well. Have balls, will travel!
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Actually, I find this as no big surprise. The pattern the last couple of years was challenging for Team event. If you tried to break down the same pattern with less bowlers and significantly less practice time, you would have to sacrifice the entire first game of Doubles and probably part of the second game to get the pattern scoreable. I would assume they Minor events pattern would have less volume or perhaps a higher ratio to allow players to have a better look from the start. But we will have to wait and see what they come up with.
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This seems like an unfair advantage to the bowlers who can drive and take as many balls as they want where the bowlers that have to fly are limited. Personally this will be my 4th Open and I haven't come close to cashing yet so this will definitely make it tougher on me. Actually I was looking forward to last year because my team was driving and I was going to take some extra balls but thanks to a torn Achilles tendon I couldn't make the trip.
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rollingthunder I think you're overthinking what it takes to be successful at that tournament. I don't think you're going to find many bowlers taking 10 balls, they have game plans in place before they leave home. We drove last year and took the same number of balls we take every year.
It comes down to shotmaking, if you're not cashing a ball is probably not the reason. I am not saying this in a condescending way, I mean it seriously. would find someone in your area that has had regular success and ask them to help you figure out ways to get you over the hump.
Too often we blame equipment...I would be if we had Riggs' team bowl with 2 balls each they would still shoot 3200+ year in and year out.
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I don't believe USBC will do this, but I think some of bowlers fear that one pattern will be 37 feet, and the other pattern will be 44 or something that could require a big variety of equipment.
I personally believe at most you will see a 1-2 ft variance in the length of the pattern. But you will see a lot less volume on the minors pattern so that bowlers that work together still have a chance to break it down, which seems to be something that USBC supports.
Another possibility would be 2 patterns where one plays well outside and the other forces everyone to play inside, to test a variety of play on the lanes.
Just guessing.
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I live on the east coast, so I have to fly to Reno. I bowl during the summer. I fly Southwest so I can take a 3 ball tote and be under the weight limit. BBExpress is just too expensive. Carrying 4 or more balls would be an advantage. Since I can't, I will bring abarlon pads and polish.
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After giving it more thought, I was probably incorrect with my initial thought about the two being drastically different. However, those claiming that minors will be lighter volume may be off the mark as well. Remember, there will be six bowlers on a pair for minors, and they'll be there for all 6 games. That's 36 total games being rolled on that pair. In team, you only have 30 games being rolled. As such, there may actually be a bit more volume in minors to account for the extra frames.
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But under the old oiling rules, the pattern was for team plus a squad of minors. Now, just a squad of minors.
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Ah, good call. Well, there are two things to be learned from all of this. One, I'm an idiot who doesn't know what he's talking about and should not be listened to. Two, we're just going to have to wait and see what this looks like. That's the nice thing about a tournament like this. Unless you're someone who goes the first week or so, the information will come out, we'll watch some livestream squads, and we'll know what we want to take and try by the time it's our turn. For no-talent hacks like me, it won't matter all that much, but the good bowlers will get it figured out and do fine. That's what makes this tournament fun.
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I live on the east coast, so I have to fly to Reno. I bowl during the summer. I fly Southwest so I can take a 3 ball tote and be under the weight limit. BBExpress is just too expensive. Carrying 4 or more balls would be an advantage. Since I can't, I will bring abarlon pads and polish.
if you take southwest you can check the triple tote and carryon a double and still check a bag and carry on a small bag
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I plan on changing clothes while I am in Reno, so I will check a 3 ball tote and a suitcase. I will carry on a backpack with ipad and other electronics.
I live on the east coast, so I have to fly to Reno. I bowl during the summer. I fly Southwest so I can take a 3 ball tote and be under the weight limit. BBExpress is just too expensive. Carrying 4 or more balls would be an advantage. Since I can't, I will bring abarlon pads and polish.
if you take southwest you can check the triple tote and carryon a double and still check a bag and carry on a small bag
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I fail to see have this will increase entries in the tournament. They are expecting 10%-12% less bowlers than last year. Now they are going to make you take more equipment( and yes equipment is the part of the game even at the highest level) spend more money to do so, and make it more difficult for the average player.
Here is a novel idea, if you are going to do this crazy idea, DO NOT POST THE PATTERNS OR PROGRAMS FOR PATTERNS. Make everyone figure it out when they get there. That at least will make it more fair.
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How will NOT posting the pattern make it more fair? If there are 2 different patterns you can make an educated guess on what balls you should bring. If you live within driving distance, you can bring everything.
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I fail to see have this will increase entries in the tournament. They are expecting 10%-12% less bowlers than last year. Now they are going to make you take more equipment( and yes equipment is the part of the game even at the highest level) spend more money to do so, and make it more difficult for the average player.
Here is a novel idea, if you are going to do this crazy idea, DO NOT POST THE PATTERNS OR PROGRAMS FOR PATTERNS. Make everyone figure it out when they get there. That at least will make it more fair.
I'm willing to bet they were expecting 10-12% less bowlers. Changing the patterns has nothing to do with increasing entries in the short term. Squad equality is the bigger issue that's being addressed.
In this day and age there is no way to "hide" the pattern. Releasing the pattern makes is the fairest way for the majority. While some wont be able to practice on it, they do offer lanes in or around the tournament that will play pretty close to the actual pattern.
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Won't be too long before we will all know the patterns. February will be here before we know it. Nice thing about being from the Dallas area is the ITRC is just across town. Txbowler and our teams made the drive last year to practice and will do so again this year. Did not end up an advantage in team event, but having seen the breakdown it did help in the minors. We had three of our ten bowlers in the top 80 in singles. The different patterns just means trips to practice as a team and different trips to practice for minors.
Since we could drive to Baton Rouge I did carry a lot of balls, but anyone that knows me is used to that. Once we were there I just didn't take pearls in for team event and swapped out the stronger stuff for minors. My hopes are I don't need any weaker equipment and the six I take to Reno can cover the conditions better. No matter the volume they will be fresh and seems pretty safe bet they won't be walled up and likely sport compliant.
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AmerEskie,
There is a Samsung commercial on the air right now, 2 people playing games on their phones, the one complaining how the other's phone is bigger and how he likes to win.....and then the little old lady sitting next to him says "you like to whine!". AmerEskie, you like to whine.
This change will not cause an increase in bowling balls needed to compete, if anything, the changes made for 2013 will reduce the number of balls needed. You know exactly what you will be starting with for Minors, something you had no clue on in the past. In the past you didn't know if Minors would be fresh, would be toast or somewhere in between, and that requires a larger cross-section of balls than knowing the fresh shot, even with it being different than the fresh Team shot. As I stated earlier, this shouldn't come as a surprise. It would have been a difficult task to break down the lanes with the lower number of bowlers in Minors vs. Team if the shots were the same. I believe we will see something with a little lower volume, maybe a foot or two shorter, but still sport compliant for the Minors shot. We will have to wait until February and see. But until then, please stop with the whining.