"As I see
it..."
"The Evolution of Scoring Conditions and the Consequences"
I am going to start out this little essay with a very strong statement and then I'll justify it bit by bit. Bowling is no longer respected as legitimate in the arena of sporting events. It has become nothing more than a means of recreation and mass merchandising of bowling related equipment as fast as the manufacturers can make it. (of course we sell it so why shouldn't we be for that?)
The specifications relating to the equipment (balls, pins and lanes) remain essentially the same. A lane has to be so long, so wide and so level. Pins have to weigh within a certain range, be a certain height, belly width, base width, etc., etc. Balls have to be within a certain diameter, weight range, balance configuration, hardness, etc., etc.
So what the heck is going on?! Why is (has) bowling loosing (lost) it's credibility as a legitimate sport? If you've only been around bowling for the last 20 or so years, you'll probably be ready to argue with me until we're both on the verge of a Coronary, but things have changed my friend!
1. The wood lane playing surface, with all it's irregularities and individualities, is rapidly disappearing. The simple fact that most lanes in the Country today are over 30 years old dictates that either they be replaced or "refaced" with a synthetic overlayment. Since the latter is usually cheaper and can be done much faster, it is the solution of choice for that problem. A whole new playing surface has evolved through attrition and necessity. The synthetic surface requires much more scheduled maintenance such as daily cleaning than did the wood surface. (I can remember when we cleaned the wood lanes out of guilt rather than necessity!) With the daily cleaning requirement came the opportunity to experiment on how the conditioner (referred to as "Oil") affected ball reaction and scorability. So... now we have a lane surface that is a clone to it's mate next door. All inconsistencies have been removed by the precision of plastic laminates and "creative" conditioning techniques have been developed by the accident of necessity. Scores just went up!
2. Bowling Pins are another big contributor to increased scoring. The demand by Bowling Center owners for a pin that would last longer led to the development of a plastic, then a Surlyn, and finally a Nylon covering for pins that would help keep them from breaking and lengthen their service life considerably. The fact they were livelier certainly didn't hurt matters either! Then the manufacturers started to get creative! They found that by using tolerance allowances, they could make a good scoring pin score even better! Example: move the center of balance up slightly (within tolerances, of course) and wal-lah! The pin falls over easier. That and other creative changes gave us the pin we have today. A pin that we often see come half way back up the lane because it is so lively it has nowhere else to go! Scores just went up a little bit more!
3. The biggest culprit of all has to be the bowling ball itself. Prior to 1960, all bowling balls were made of rubber. Some were just a little bit more precision made than others, but they were basically all very similar. Since rubber is not a material that takes well to coloring, balls did not have much appeal in that area. In fact, most of them were downright ugly blends or plain black. Then it was discovered that plastic (and other variations of polymers) was a very good material to make a pretty and appealing (especially to the ladies) bowling ball. It didn't take long for a couple of creative Professionals to discover that soaking a plastic ball in a strong solvent made it softer and thus it hooked more and harder. Of course, the PBA didn't take long to outlaw that practice but it didn't matter by then. The manufacturers had already jumped on that new "tool" to market more balls. Controlling surface hardness, coefficient-of -friction, and dynamic imbalance in bowling balls, along with the higher scoring, livelier pins, used on a surface that lended itself to "unearned accuracy" created the scoring nightmare we have today!
Who is to blame for the desecration of a sport that was once as credible as any? We all are! You, as bowlers want to bowl good... we as Proprietors or center managers want you to bowl good... the equipment manufacturers want you to bowl good. If you bowl good, you have a better time, you spend more at the bowling center (maybe join an extra League) and you buy more new equipment (you know... a ball for every condition). This evolution of bowling is not going to go away. I think, technologically, it has about peaked out, but bowling's credibility has been severely damaged and what we have now is here to stay. High scoring conditions have become an obsession.
WHAT IS THE
SOLUTION TO THE PROBLEM?
I don't know.
I should, but I don't. From where I sit, all we can do as Proprietors,
is please our customers. If that means creating unrealistic scoring conditions,
then that is what we have to do. If we refuse, the bowlers simply go somewhere
else that does and we lose business that we can't afford to lose.
Evolution
may again play a part in the return of credibility to bowling. As new league
formats are designed, the need for a certain skill level is sure to become
more of a factor. It is already starting to happen. There are leagues now
that limit the kind of ball you can use, change lane conditions deliberately
week to week and do any number of things that emphasize skill and not luck
or powerful equipment. Hopefully, this will be a trend and not a fad. I
would love to have a league like this in my Bowling Center!
Also, Brunswick
Corporation is manufacturing a pin now that deliberately removes some
high scoring capabilities. They are maximum weight allowed and have a lower
center of gravity. (they're the gold pins at the top of the page).
As I see
it:
1. Bowling
might never be a recognized sport in the Olympics.
2. ABC
and WIBC membership may continue to decline.
3. Bowling
will become even more of a recreation and less of a sport.
4. The
number of Bowling Centers in the Nation will continue to decrease.
(Especially the independently owned ones.)
In closing, Bowling is still the greatest family recreation and participant sport there is. It has evolved in such a way that has injured it's image as a valid sporting event in the eyes of those who call the shots. I think that the ABC/WIBC organizations are the only ones who hold it in their hands to reverse the current trend, because they CAN MANDATE CHANGE! If they say something has to be a certain way, then everyone including Manufacturers, Proprietors and the Bowlers themselves have to conform to it! The "System of Bowling" program is an attempt to try and please both the Bowlers and the Proprietors and has failed in maintaining the integrity of the game.
