Has the game changed THAT much?!

[Aslan]

Look at this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pASl3K3rm14

If you saw the tall lefty bowling in your local alley...you might offer him some advice...maybe to throw with more speed. Maybe add hook. Maybe not "lean forward" as he gets to the foul line. And then he'd say, "in 1979, I was the all-time leader in tournament championships."

If you saw the other guy...you might critique him that he lifts his balance leg in the air or his balance at the foul line.

If I bowled like Earl Anthony...my coach/pro would roll his eyes and shake his head. Yet Earl Anthony in the late 70s and early 80s was THE dominant force in bowling...a "game" that has not changed. So has technology changed SO much that the average league player with a 200+ average could defeat an Earl Anthony...with Anthony throwing an old urethane ball and the modern day player throwing a reactive resin Marvel-S??

[Aslan]

I just watched a cool PBA open from the 60s...same thing...guys walking up, legs in the air, leaning over...

Does anyone know if they were just bowling on house oil patterns? Or have their always been differences in oil patterns from house to pro??

[J Anderson]

Look at this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pASl3K3rm14

If you saw the tall lefty bowling in your local alley...you might offer him some advice...maybe to throw with more speed. Maybe add hook. Maybe not "lean forward" as he gets to the foul line. And then he'd say, "in 1979, I was the all-time leader in tournament championships."

If you saw the other guy...you might critique him that he lifts his balance leg in the air or his balance at the foul line.

If I bowled like Earl Anthony...my coach/pro would roll his eyes and shake his head. Yet Earl Anthony in the late 70s and early 80s was THE dominant force in bowling...a "game" that has not changed. So has technology changed SO much that the average league player with a 200+ average could defeat an Earl Anthony...with Anthony throwing an old urethane ball and the modern day player throwing a reactive resin Marvel-S??

Earl was a tremendous natural athlete and his style worked for him and the equipment and lane conditions of the time. I believe that he was even more dominant than just the number wins would indicate. He finished second many times after having dominated the qualifying and match play rounds, only to lose to a player who was dialed in on the pair. There are a number of bowlers from that era who had a "better" technical game, but Earl had that combination of confidence and focus that let him go into and through every game believing that he had a chance to win no matter what the score.

The game has changed. If your typical house bowler w/200+ average could go back to 1979 with a Marvel S, Anthony would chew him up. Partly because the ball wouldn't match up with the lane condition and partly because Mr. 2013 has never had to play a tight line or worry about making spares since he "knows" that he's going to get a string of strikes to make up for any opens. Bring Earl from 1979 to 2013 with his equipment from '79 and he's going to struggle a bit, again because the ball most likely won't match the conditions.

[Aslan]

My opinion is, that back in the 60s/70s...you had to be a better bowler to score in the 200s than you do now. Everyone threw a relatively straight ball...and the best players could pick up spares. The guys who won were the guys that could string together some strikes and avoiding open frames.

Nowadays...anybody can go get a big hook reactive ball...and string 4-6 strikes together. And because of the greater pin carry, they're unlikely to leave anything but either the 10-pin or the 7-pin...so all they have to do is throw their "spare ball" cross lane and likely pick it up. So, to keep "everyone" from being a "PBA pro"...they've made the lanes more oily a longer way down the lane...and in creative ways...that make it harder for an average Joe to just throw his massive rev/massive hook ball and consistenly hit the pocket.

It's an interesting development. Most sports, the equipment gets better...but the players also get better. Bowling seems to be more like car racing...where the athletes have gotten worse, but the equipment has changed the game.

[e-tank]

i agree that it prob takes less skill to be better and its very evident in my own league where some of the best bowlers have no idea about why they throw a certain ball or changing with conditions. Its just a house shot so its technically easy mode. At the same time though i score just as well with my urethane from the 80's as i do with my newer balls. Its just a matter of knowing what you and your ball can do and adjusting to that. I mean if bowling was truely as easy as buying a top of the line reactive super ball and throwing it down the lane and stringing up strikes then wed all be pro by now

[Aslan]

I mean if bowling was truely as easy as buying a top of the line reactive super ball and throwing it down the lane and stringing up strikes then wed all be pro by now

That was what I meant about the lane conditions/oil patterns. If the Pros didn't have to bowl on tighter sport oil patterns...anyone COULD be a pro. Back in the day, that wasn't the case. Look at how many 200+ league averages there are now in most house leagues. How many of those players play tournaments? How many of those players try sport patterns? How many guys do you know that DID try to go out and bowl PBA and come back from their first tournament saying, "Wow...it was way harder than I thought. I bowled 70 pins under my house average."

Back in the old days (60s/70s)...your best bowlers would bowl 208 averages...very few 800 series if any and it was done on sport oil conditions. As time progressed...equipment improved...now anybody with a $150 ball and a couple lessons can bowl a 212, 219, 235. That short list of 300 games...that used to be slightly bigger than the list of hole-in-ones at a golf course...now it's almost an entire page...mostly 1998 to 2013.

Imagine if the PBA bowled on house oil patterns. You really think the best team at your friday night league couldn't take down a PBA foursome on any given night? And thats not only the "joke" that is bowling...it's also what I think makes bowling great. It's the ONLY sport a regular ole Joe could beat a pro at. No matter how good you are at basketball, hockey, baseball, boxing, tennis, soccer, etc... You wouldn't last more than 5 minutes in a pro game. You couldn't score one goal...you couldn't get one hit...you'd be lucky to return one serve or make one basket. And new equipment won't save you. New bats, basketball shoes, a new racket, a new hockey stick...these things mean nothing. But on any given night at the lanes...you could beat a Dick Weber or a Norm Duke. It'd be tough...especially in a series...but you could do it.

[e-tank]

Well i think the advantages of a pro would be their accuracy and ability to change ball movements by changing the release, or approach speed. You do have a point though about getting a 200 average isnt that hard. Im almost there and ive only been bowling for 10 months. I saw a stat somewhere that said in the first season that reactive balls were used in usbc sanctioned games, the amount of 300 games went up dramatically. Im actually bowling a team tonight in league that are all over 200avg with 2 of them being over 230 and the other 2 being 200-220.

Also the thing with bowling though is its a passive sport. If you were having a 3 point contest, qb challenge, hockey penalty goal shots etc it would be the same thing as you would have a chance to beat pros and youre not physically going up against them per say.

[vdubtx]

Back in the old days (60s/70s)...your best bowlers would bowl 208 averages...very few 800 series if any and it was done on sport oil conditions.

Aisa,

Back then "sport oil patterns" didn't exist. They basically slopped the oil on and let the bowlers go to town on figuring out what to do. Later on they would start at about the 2 board with oil and the progressively get higher until they hit 20 and then back down again on volume essentially a Crown pattern.

[Aslan]

Aisa,

Back then "sport oil patterns" didn't exist.

1) Thats not my name.
2) Already addressed "sport" oil patterns in my other post. I didn't mean "sport oil patterns" as we think of them now...I meant a standardized USBC pattern that pre-dates today's easier house patterns.

[The German Shepherd]

Having been a product of the era Aslan speaks of, I can tell you that "back in the day" there was a premium on ACCURACY. When you threw your strike ball, you would need to be looking at a particluar board - a single board. The best bowlers I ever knew could place a dime on the lane and hit it with their ball at will. TODAY, you look at AREAS, not boards. The oiling patterns regualrly referred to as a THS (tyical house pattern) would have never been allowed. I bowled an 856 about 30 years ago (along with a 300 in that series) and the ABC threw it out and refused to sanction it because the oil pattern was crowned too much. Have you ever seen a score thrown out in your life? Probably not.

There has been a great deal done to try to re-popularize bowling as a sport and pass-time. Perhaps the greatest effort has gone into making the sport easier. Everybody loves to throw strikes, so why not make it easier to throw them?! Back in the 70's, the odds against throwing a perfect 300 was approximately 32,000:1. Nowadays, it is 11,500:1.

Would Earl Anthony score and win TODAY like he did if he were to throw the same polyester equipment he was so accustomed to throwing in his prime? No. But hten again, that would be placing him at an unfair handicap, since he would be bowling against great bowlers with more modern equipment. But give him the same advantages as your modern pro and he would still be a dominant force. Same goes for Mark Roth, Don Johnson, Dick Weber ec etc...

Jay

[bowl1820]

1) Thats not my name.
2) Already addressed "sport" oil patterns in my other post. I didn't mean "sport oil patterns" as we think of them now...I meant a standardized USBC pattern that pre-dates today's easier house patterns.

Aslan, you just have to watch on how you use the terminology. When The term "Sport Oil" is used, most people think of today's system of "Sport Bowling" which uses the harder "sport oil patterns".


The "patterns" used back in the day (the way they blocked them), were called things like the "Christmas tree" which was a basically a "Funnel Block" because it helped guide the ball right to the pocket. The basic block, the Berlin wall , tunnel block.Flat oil And they weren't "standardized" patterns like you know them today.


Trivia:
(as you can see here oil amounts were changing long before resin balls came out)

History Of Oil
Background - the numbers below reflect values from the PBA National Tour and were provided by Len Nicholson and John Davis. The primary ingredient of lane conditioners is mineral oil, a by-product of petroleum distillation.


1970 - approximately 4 milliliters (ml) of conditioner was applied to each lane. In 1970 the conditioners contained 10% mineral oil and 90% solvent. The solvent helped disperse the mineral oil evenly across the surface of the lane and would then evaporate. So in terms of the amount of actual "oil" placed on the lane in 1970, it was .4 ml.


1971 - approximately 6 ml of conditioner was applied per lane, with the percentage of mineral oil increasing to 20%. Effective amount of oil per lane was 1.2 ml, or 3X the amount of oil used in 1970.


In 1971 the average number of games bowled per lane during a PBA event's qualifying rounds between re-oiling was forty-eight (48).


1973 - "soakers" were first used in '73 and STP was added to the conditioner to help increase viscosity. The ratios were 19 parts mineral oil, 79 parts solvent, and 2 parts STP.


1975 - the Shure D and Yellow Dots were introduced, and the percentage of STP being added to the oil almost doubled to 3.5%.


1978 - the LT48 was launched and oil volumes took a dramatic increase. The percentage of mineral oil increased 50% and the amount of STP being added climbed to 5%. Compared to 1970, the depth of the oil was 450% greater, and because of the STP, the oil was thicker and more slippery.


Up to this point in PBA history, the distribution of oil was fairly even from front to back.


1980 - the introduction of urethane caused a dramatic shift in the volume and distribution of oil applied to the lanes. Total volume per lane increased to approximately 10 ml. and solvents and STP were removed. New "slick agents" were introduced. 1980 oils typically contained 1-2 additives. Effective increase in the volume of oil on each lane compared to 1970 - 2,500%!!! Not only is there 25X as much oil on a lane, the majority of it is loaded into the front part of the lane.


1990 - volumes have now climbed to 15 ml per lane and oils contain 4-5 additives.


2000 - volumes average 22 ml per lane and oils now contain 7-8 additives and slick agents.


2010 - volumes are as high as 28 ml per lane and oils contain 10-12 additives and slick agents. Not even considering the "slickness" and "viscosity" of today's oil, the volumes are 70X what they were in 1970.

[Aslan]

Two great, informative posts. I like bowling...because there are old (er) people that play it...and they "know stuff". :)

But does anyone know the reference to when the USBC allowed lanes to vary their patterns? I can't find the dang article I read. Again, I don't know the history of the patterns or oil application...I just know that according to the article I read (which was legitimate...not a 13 year old's FB post)...Lanes wanted to make the oil patterns easier, drum up more business (for all the reasons The_Shepard mentioned)...more strikes, etc... The USBC sanctioned lanes weren't allowed to "initially" because the USBC had a certain standard or guideline. Then...they allowed it. For some reason...I'm thinking 1983...but I have no idea if thats right. :confused:

[bowlerRob2]

Yes the game has changed from someone who has been there. I'll turn 60 soon and learned to bowl around age 10. You can do the math to figure out when that was but it was a long time ago in bowling years. Roth was considered a "power cranker bowler" in his day but he looks rather tame now.

When I learned to bowl all the balls were black and we had to have our initials or first names engraved on them to tell them apart. I have no idea what they had for cores but they were probably round cuz those things barely hooked even when you turned your hand. That is why I learned to turn my hand and bowl from outside. When I learned to bowl we needed to bowl from outside to gain the angle advantage because the balls didn't hook much (esp as kids).

Fast forward 50 years and here I am using a reactive-azz resin ball with a wonky core that hooks a lot when I turn my hand. And the terms I am still coming to grips with (PIN to PAP, rev rate, blah blah..). Having to deal with transitioning oil was also something I had to learn as adult because then oil was mainly laid down to protect the wood lanes. The only thing we needed to know about oil was that it was there beyond the foul line so don't you dare go beyond the line or you'll slip and break your neck.

Let you in on a little secret though. Today's game is a lot more fun! Always something new to learn and damn if that resin ball doesn't look nice hooking into the pocket to smash some pins.

My first ball: AMF 3 dot. My most recent ball purchase Storm Reign of Power.

[Aslan]

Let you in on a little secret though. Today's game is a lot more fun! Always something new to learn and damn if that resin ball doesn't look nice hooking into the pocket to smash some pins.

More fun...but not more skilled. I wish there was a way to fix that. I guess competitive sport oil patterns have tried to do that and have been successful. But I agree...it used to be a frustrating game to go out there and bowl a 73-133...more spares than strikes....which means having to accurately pick up spares. Now guys just hammer down strike after strike after strike...until by some dumb luck a 5 pin stays standing or they get a split and miss one of the 2 pins.

Whats the next evolution....adaptable surfaces that sense the oil and can open/close pores accordingly? Who knows.

But I do like the reference to the old black balls with the initials. I hear kids say, "Some guy put his initials on this one...I wonder why he'd bother to do that." Because back was I was a wee little tot...like you said...all the balls were black.

[vdubtx]

More fun...but not more skilled.

Think you are seriously reaching here. Until you can say you can bowl a 600 series on a regular basis and even an occasional 700, your talk is just that. You talk a big game and seem to "know" all about skill of the game.

Sorry, even on a house shot you get carry down oil and need to transition as the night progresses. That takes skill to know how to do that and which adjustments need to be made. Not all of those adjustments will work each and every night and you won't be the high man each week if you don't learn from the mistakes made.

[Stormed1]

Back in the old days (60s/70s)...your best bowlers would bowl 208 averages...very few 800 series if any and it was done on sport oil conditions. As time progressed...equipment improved...now anybody with a $150 ball and a couple lessons can bowl a 212, 219, 235. That short list of 300 games...that used to be slightly bigger than the list of hole-in-ones at a golf course...now it's almost an entire page...mostly 1998 to 2013.

In 1990 when I shot my 800 there were 35000 accross the entire country. Now days there's that mant just in the Chicago area. I bowled a league a few years ago where we 27 300 and 38 800

Imagine if the PBA bowled on house oil patterns. You really think the best team at your friday night league couldn't take down a PBA foursome on any given night? And thats not only the "joke" that is bowling...it's also what I think makes bowling great. It's the ONLY sport a regular ole Joe could beat a pro at. No matter how good you are at basketball, hockey, baseball, boxing, tennis, soccer, etc... You wouldn't last more than 5 minutes in a pro game. You couldn't score one goal...you couldn't get one hit...you'd be lucky to return one serve or make one basket. And new equipment won't save you. New bats, basketball shoes, a new racket, a new hockey stick...these things mean nothing. But on any given night at the lanes...you could beat a Dick Weber or a Norm Duke. It'd be tough...especially in a series...but you could do it.[/QUOTE]

If you remember a couple years ago the PBA had the Red/White /Blue tournament on USBC's tougher house shors and it took a 257 average to make the top 24. The leader averaged 269

[Stormed1]

Also keep in mind back in Earls day we were bowling on wood. Carry down was an issue to be dealt with. In todays environment carry down is pretty much a myth unles a lot of people are throwing plastic up the middle. What people interpret as carry down in 90% of the cases is actually the heads going awat ( due to the amount of oil todays equipment soaks up) and the ball loosing energy too soon.

One of the reasons sport leagues are few and far between is most of todays bowlers can't check their egos at ther door. Thery cant deal with the fact that their 220+ THS average will be 180-190 on a sport shot because tou don't have 10 boards of miss room

[Aslan]

Think you are seriously reaching here.

It's more a universal statistic than an "opinion". Averages, perfect games...have all went up drastically. The USBC even did an intensive study of it. And believe me...they didn't ask me for my opinion on the matter. Just google it...you'll find articles and links to all kinds fo sources that will talk about how the game has changed, house oil patterns, ball technology, increased scores. I certainly don't expect you to take my word for it...I'm just nobody...but there's tons of data out there on it.

I'm not saying it's "easy"...if it was...I'd be a heck of a lot better than I am. I'm just saying it's "easier". Again, not really so much an "opinion" as an observation supported by statistics over the last 35 years.

[bowlerRob2]

Sorry, even on a house shot you get carry down oil and need to transition as the night progresses. That takes skill to know how to do that and which adjustments need to be made. Not all of those adjustments will work each and every night and you won't be the high man each week if you don't learn from the mistakes made.

Indeed!! And that is why I said today's game is more fun. There are more challenges than we used to have not the least of which is trying to figure out the invisible oil monster that is a shape-shifter and a hiding giant (or midget).

[Aslan]

Back in the old days (60s/70s)... In 1990 when I shot my 800 there were 35000 accross the entire country. Now days there's that mant just in the Chicago area. I bowled a league a few years ago where we 27 300 and 38 800

Thats what I meant. Lord knows I can't bowl an 800 series or a 300 game...but I used to check that list when I'd go to the alleys back in the 80s and early 90s...guys had plaques on the wall if they had a 300 game. Old alleys would have like...100-200 names. The league scoresheets would show like "3" guys the entire year that did it that year. ANd this was the 80s/90s...the drastic technology shift had ALREADY happened 5-10 years earlier. Then...flash forward to now...the last league scoresheet I looked at had 3 people with 300 games during just that one league season. On bowlingboards.com...I bet more people HAVE 300 games than don't. It was a HUGE deal back in the day. My Grandpa used to say, the only thing he wanted more than a 29 hand in cribbage (which he had once) was a 300 game in bowling (which he never acheived).


If you remember a couple years ago the PBA had the Red/White /Blue tournament on USBC's tougher house shors and it took a 257 average to make the top 24. The leader averaged 269

I actually stopped watching pro bowling for a long time because it seemed silly. Back in the 80s/90s...it just seemed like it was 10-15 guys bowling 280-300 every game. Obviously averages weren't 290...but it "seemed" that way. Look at nowadays....whats the biggest accomplishment in the PBA the last 5-10 years? The guy that bowled barely over 100. Because that was SO RARE....SO UNHEARD OF...it was so shocking it was unbelieveable. :eek:


One of the reasons sport leagues are few and far between is most of todays bowlers can't check their egos at ther door. Thery cant deal with the fact that their 220+ THS average will be 180-190 on a sport shot because tou don't have 10 boards of miss room

I've echoed that sentiment...and actually, there was a show I watched on YouTube by a couple bowling experts where they had a whole show about that. You get a LOT of bowlers nowadays that start bowling 200-220 averages...they see a pro match where it's sorta in that range...and they ask the question..."Can I be a pro? Is a pro really that good?" Many, many articles and webcasts have been devoted to that topic...and there are many, many, many house bowlers that go out and roll 230-270 each week and when you ask, "Why don't you try tournaments...you're good, you could make some money!"...they give all kinds of excuses about how they "just do it for fun" and they "don't have time" or some kind of injury. But at the end of the day...they're happy going to the lanes and being "King for a night".

My uncle is a great example. A GREAT bowler...very impressive. He finally decided to test his luck in tournaments...and has never really done super awesome. Not "bad"...but just...it's not the same game. But hey, I like that he tried...I like that he took that leap/step and said, "I'm gonna check my ego at the door and try to take that next step."

[hudman]

Having been a product of the era Aslan speaks of, I can tell you that "back in the day" there was a premium on ACCURACY. When you threw your strike ball, you would need to be looking at a particluar board - a single board. The best bowlers I ever knew could place a dime on the lane and hit it with their ball at will. TODAY, you look at AREAS, not boards. The oiling patterns regualrly referred to as a THS (tyical house pattern) would have never been allowed. I bowled an 856 about 30 years ago (along with a 300 in that series) and the ABC threw it out and refused to sanction it because the oil pattern was crowned too much. Have you ever seen a score thrown out in your life? Probably not.

There has been a great deal done to try to re-popularize bowling as a sport and pass-time. Perhaps the greatest effort has gone into making the sport easier. Everybody loves to throw strikes, so why not make it easier to throw them?! Back in the 70's, the odds against throwing a perfect 300 was approximately 32,000:1. Nowadays, it is 11,500:1.

Would Earl Anthony score and win TODAY like he did if he were to throw the same polyester equipment he was so accustomed to throwing in his prime? No. But hten again, that would be placing him at an unfair handicap, since he would be bowling against great bowlers with more modern equipment. But give him the same advantages as your modern pro and he would still be a dominant force. Same goes for Mark Roth, Don Johnson, Dick Weber ec etc...

Jay

I agree 100%.

I would also add that modern bowler gets more strikes thanks to the new ball technology but they are not as good pick up spares. There is no trick ball for spares. LOL

[Zaxmazr]

I just wish we still had the gold pins!

[dnhoffman]

Equipment sure has.

[Zaxmazr]

Just think if Belmonte traveled back in time and shot a live tournament. People would go nuts lol

[Mudpuppy]

I think you have a lot of good points here and good comparisons - it has me intrigued (smoke coming from my ear lobes). As I think back like 10 years or maybe even a couple more than that when the ball technology really took off there was a massive increase in 300 games. I remember reading about it somewhere. That was when a lot of the alleys started switching oil patterns and going to synthetic lanes to make it more difficult and the whole sport bowling was born as a result as well. But it would be interesting to bring Earl Anthony into the modern day and do a side by side comparison with a 200+ average league bowler or 1 step further against someone like Walter Ray. I do think in the past you did have to be a better bowler technically to shoot 200+ games. The old bakelite balls were like trying to throw a clothes iron down the lane. They would last forever but straight is all they would ever do.

[JerseyJim]

Earl did join the Senior tour in 1988, and won another 7 titles then. I think he won the last tournament in 1997. I remember that the cores were really starting to change around that time.