RJN825:That's available right now with PBAX leagues. Unfortunately, there's not many takers nor are there many centers willing to go through the extra work to get it right. No one's promoting it enough to open peoples eyes to the challenge of it. I don't even recall seeing a flyer for it around here.
There aren't any such leagues in this area, although one house did run a PBAX league during the past summer.
As for winter leagues, forget it.
prunenow:In the never should have gone away column I would include local tv shows, classic bowling leagues, team, doubles singles local qualifiers to determone state and national champions 9sponsored and conducted by BPAA and other for profits); lacquer on wood lanes (all sorts of lane conditions provided that broke down without creating invisible sand traps) until a comparable marriage to lane surface was invented and proven to be good for the game; pins, balls, kick backs, etal testing that lived up to its claims about being approved only if they did not affect the game beyond certain admissable parameters as a sample.
Dear Don:
All of those things are likely to return when: lineage fees return to 25 cents a game, draft beer sells for a dime again and individual certification fees drop to $2. In other words ... NEVER!
prunenow:Randy, increased friction wear on lanes was an immediate concern of bowling centers when urethane bowling balls were introduced and it was pretty obvious the scoring ability with urethane was much higher than with plastic or rubber so it could have been nipped rightaway but was not; what actually happened with the 26', 24' and 3 unit lane conditioning rules was obvious and could have been nipped early on; the increased scoring ability with resin balls was abvious early on and could have been nipped early on; the evolution of exotic weight blocks to allow for drilling legal dodo balls within the existing rules was known early on and could have been nipped early on. It's pretty much beyond fixing now with the only solution to await a different surface bowling centers buy into, the balls of today do not work well on and carefully craft rules for the new equipment, perhaps made out of something other than rubber, plastic or urethane, that are better enforced as years go by. You cannot and should not stand in the way of making a better mouse trap but the better mouse traps have really hurt the present game more than helped it and more care needs to be taken to make sure it does not happen again if given a new opportunity to do it right. Don Gates
Randy, increased friction wear on lanes was an immediate concern of bowling centers when urethane bowling balls were introduced and it was pretty obvious the scoring ability with urethane was much higher than with plastic or rubber so it could have been nipped rightaway but was not; what actually happened with the 26', 24' and 3 unit lane conditioning rules was obvious and could have been nipped early on; the increased scoring ability with resin balls was abvious early on and could have been nipped early on; the evolution of exotic weight blocks to allow for drilling legal dodo balls within the existing rules was known early on and could have been nipped early on.
It's pretty much beyond fixing now with the only solution to await a different surface bowling centers buy into, the balls of today do not work well on and carefully craft rules for the new equipment, perhaps made out of something other than rubber, plastic or urethane, that are better enforced as years go by. You cannot and should not stand in the way of making a better mouse trap but the better mouse traps have really hurt the present game more than helped it and more care needs to be taken to make sure it does not happen again if given a new opportunity to do it right.
Don Gates
Hi guys,
I tried to post here yesterday and it would never post my thoughts. Guess I was wrong...LOL Here is a thought. Who cares what the equipment does or how easy the lanes are for league or local tournaments. Who cares how many 300's a person has. It means NOTHING. Is it going to make them a PRO. NO WAY. They might think they are until they bowl on a pro pattern and bowl a pro tournament and come home crying how hard it is. Or go to Nationals and swear they will never do that again. Its all just what it is. Now before we break out the "Bring Back Integrity" Line. Who cares. Even if we went back to 1 300 and no 800 for the USBC. What does that prove. Nothing. Those that are good will be good no matter what. Those that are pretenders will be pretenders. The game will continue to evolve and those of us that want a challenge will try to get a PBAX league and most likely get turned down. Or we can go to plastic then the house can run a 18' oil pattern and we can all hook the lane with our white dots. But hey we will have Integrity......Right. Ok that's all for me.
Brian
BGottry: Hi guys, Or we can go to plastic then the house can run a 18' oil pattern and we can all hook the lane with our white dots. But hey we will have Integrity......Right. Ok that's all for me. Brian
Or we can go to plastic then the house can run a 18' oil pattern and we can all hook the lane with our white dots. But hey we will have Integrity......Right. Ok that's all for me.
...I'm hooking the plastic 12 boards on the 37ft house pattern. It doesn't have to be a short pattern to work. What I dont get is strikes on half a$$ed shots like i do with urethane equipment. I like standing on the left side of the approach again and I like not leaving greek churches or blower 7-10's.
Doom, if there was a change like I described it would be gradual, not immediate or mandated. Lacquer on wood remained king for several years after urethane was introduced, urethane surfaces remained king for several years after plastic lane surfaces were introduced. Hard rubber bowling balls remained king for several years after plastic bowling balls were introduced, plastic balls remained king for several years after urethane balls were introduced, resin balls were so much better they took over very quickly but there are still bowlers out there using rubber, plastic and urethane balls because of the cost.
There is no reason to believe everything that could be invented for lane surfaces, lane dressings, what bowling balls, pins are made out of has been invented. It might well be a new surface, lane dressing that work really well together will be developed and someone will invent a new kind of bowling ball to take the place of resin, urethane, plastic and rubber that may not work as well on it. As a new lane surface and lane dressing become more accepted the bowling balls that work on it best will also be accepted and maybe there will be in place a better handle on how to recognize and keep out of the game much of what the game evolved into today.
prunenow: Doom, if there was a change like I described it would be gradual, not immediate or mandated. Don Gates
Doom, if there was a change like I described it would be gradual, not immediate or mandated.
Don:
If there were change like I described it would also be gradual, not immediate but mandated with a 5-7 yr time span, and yes I believe it could be accomplished by the powers that be if they were so inclined to do so.
Ok. Here is one to throw up on the wall but I know it won't stick.
We want a surface that needs no lane dressing and balls without exotic weight blocks and cover stocks. How about stainless steel lane beds and stainless steel bowling balls with no weight blocks. Now I'll wait for my chemist friend the great DrD to tell me all the physics of why it won't work beside the expense. I don't think even Randy would be able to hook a ball on those conditions.
Ray:
...put some holes in this and I'll get it to hook...........lol
Guess those magnesium pins might come in handy too!
Randy,
All this talk about today's technology in the game reminded that it started long before 1960. I can't remember the name of the movie but starred Joe E Brown as a bowler using a remote controlled bowling ball. Who knows we might be in for a full circle technology swing and soon see a dial in track setting computerized ball.
Well I have to get up early to try to process a couple more leagues before going to help at our state seniors tournament tomorrow. Have fun with Don and DrD on this topic. I gave my lame answer to the problem.
...you might be onto something. How about electromagnetic suspension? Put electro magnets in the stainless steel balls and electrify the playing surface. The ball will levitate above the surface like the Maglev trains!
What do ya' think Doc??? I know a patent attorney! I can picture a chain of Star Wars type themed "levitation bowling" centers all over the country.........lol
rvbowler: Ok. Here is one to throw up on the wall but I know it won't stick. We want a surface that needs no lane dressing and balls without exotic weight blocks and cover stocks. How about stainless steel lane beds and stainless steel bowling balls with no weight blocks. Now I'll wait for my chemist friend the great DrD to tell me all the physics of why it won't work beside the expense. I don't think even Randy would be able to hook a ball on those conditions.
why is it that none of the bowlers i know who average under 210 do not complain about conditions being too easy and the balls being too strong? i average around 205 with one honor score and there are nights i struggle to shoot 550 and other nights where i can seemingly shoot 7 without even trying. i know that my game is not as good as the real players, but based on these conversations, my average should be 230+ based on where i bowl and the equipment i use. i starting bowling in the late 60's and prior to 1996, my high average was in the 190's. i now regularly average 200-210. a friend of mine who does average 230+ shoots several honor scores each year. he bowls several leagues, both handicap and scratch and bowls pba regionals. i also have a lady friend who is older, averages 155, has no honor scores, has a premium ball, and has a hard time matching her average many times. there is a vast difference in ability between myself and my friends that i mentioned here. i guess some skill is still required. one other note about my friend with the 230+ average. he says scores are relative to the lane condition. if it is easy, everyone's scores go up, including his. if the lanes are tough, then the scores go down. his ability did not change, he still wins more tournaments than he loses. if he wins, he is grateful. if he loses, he says, well, there is always the next tournament.
DrD,
I knew you were a chemist, that's why it it threw in your ball park.
For several years now we have been told USBC is working on a more effective lane take up device for doing zero lines. The last time I asked, a couple years ago, the answer we hadn't seen one yet was there wasn't any that had been tested that could accurately read all the different type conditioners when applied to the different type surfaces availble. They were looking into laser technology. Anything that was close to working was cost prohitive for associations to purchase. I don't know if they are still working on this or not.
The laser that everyone was and is talking about is for lane inspection not dressing inspections. There might be a portable UV reader out there in the works, but like Ray said, the cost would be more than the local could afford.
