Other people grabbing your bowling ball

[NewToBowling]

Happened first time yesterday. Open play with another group on same set of lanes. There were 5 of them and 3 of us so plenty of balls on the return. She grabbed my wifes ball first (I guess she just assumed they were all house balls). Than grabbed mine her second frame. I calmly "yelled" to her while she was on the approach. She didn't hear me and tossed it anyways. Her friend came over and explained the situation to her. She just had a sheepish "sorry" look and apologized. No biggie since it seemed to be her first time bowling.

I guess my blue Roto Grip Unhinged looks like a house ball. No crazy multi colored pattern.

Of course one of the main reasons of getting your own ball is that nobody else's crusty fingers go into those holes :)

[DukeDi]

This happened to me yesterday. I walked away from my pair of lanes for 5 minutes and I return to find them looking at my Equipment. One of them even was attempting bring one to his lane. They tried to cover it up by asking. "Are these yours?"

[Amyers]

I have had a lot people come over and look at my balls but I've never had anyone actually throw one

[LyalC52]

just pick up your ball
lick it
problem solved

[Amyers]

just pick up your ball
lick it
problem solved

Yummy lane oil :eek:

[mc_runner]

I think it happened maybe once or twice when I first started bowling, when it was a fun cosmic bowling or something out with friends. If I recall I mentioned something after it happened once or twice and they just apologized and then asked about the ball.

If practicing I try to avoid cosmic/packed times, and if I do go ever now I'll just bring an old ball and have fun (so I don't really care if anyone touches it). I've let subs use my balls before in league, basically my thinking is as long as someone isn't physically taking it and throwing it on the ground or something I don't mind a whole lot. Plus, with fingertip inserts they usually won't be able to throw it too well. Then again I'm pretty easy going with most things, I can see how it could really make someone angry

[John Anderson]

I have red grips in my old red/black Ebonite bash so that pretty much keeps everybody away from thinking it's a house ball. Plus, I have pretty small fingers so that makes it hard for other people to even consider using mine.

[bobforsaken]

I've had it happen to me.. I tried to be nice about it.. We want to encourage bowlers to fall in love with the sport. However I was kind of surprised... Did they really think my ball with a thumb slug, finger inserts, and a label "OPTIMUS" was a house ball? even if it was, I wouldn't just assume to grab any house ball from the ball return that someone is sharing. I would ask if they were using it before assuming I can just take it an throw it, if for no other reason than forcing them to wait for the ball they are using to come back after I chucked it in the gutter.

[Aslan]

I actually would love it if someone picked up one of mine and threw it.

1) Mine are 16lbs, 3 of the 6 drilled tri-grip, and drilled fingertip for a guy with very large hands. My hope would be that they'd pick it up and drop it on their foot and then I could laugh at them in a biblically inappropriate way.

2) If by some miracle it fits them and they can throw it...and they like it...those balls are < 100 games from retirement so make an offer!!

It happens most often with my spare ball because it's just a house glow ball so it looks like a house ball. But, it's 16lbs drilled fingertip so they usually just try to pick it up and nearly drop it and go, "Ughh...this one is too heavy" and they move on.

[J Anderson]

I actually would love it if someone picked up one of mine and threw it.

1) Mine are 16lbs, 3 of the 6 drilled tri-grip, and drilled fingertip for a guy with very large hands. My hope would be that they'd pick it up and drop it on their foot and then I could laugh at them in a biblically inappropriate way.

2) If by some miracle it fits them and they can throw it...and they like it...those balls are < 100 games from retirement so make an offer!!

It happens most often with my spare ball because it's just a house glow ball so it looks like a house ball. But, it's 16lbs drilled fingertip so they usually just try to pick it up and nearly drop it and go, "Ughh...this one is too heavy" and they move on.

So your arsenal is like my first car, a 6 cylinder manual shift Granada without power steering or air conditioning. No one ever asked to borrow it a second time.

[Jessiewoodard57]

I had an issue recently where we could only get 1 lane instead of a pair like we normally get . The people on the right lane of the pair were lofting the house balls way out past the arrows and getting them to hook. Well when they seen how our reactive balls reacted in the back end they started eyeing them. we never left the ball return un watched from that point on. What really annoyed me the most when they would grab a ball off the lane next to them and throw it on there lane filling our ball return to over flowing! Some people can be just rude!

[John Anderson]

I had an issue recently where we could only get 1 lane instead of a pair like we normally get . The people on the right lane of the pair were lofting the house balls way out past the arrows and getting them to hook. Well when they seen how our reactive balls reacted in the back end they started eyeing them. we never left the ball return un watched from that point on. What really annoyed me the most when they would grab a ball off the lane next to them and throw it on there lane filling our ball return to over flowing! Some people can be just rude!

For the leagues I've done, the rule is only one ball per person can be on the top of the rack at any given time to prevent over flow. I'd probably have just started putting balls on the bottom of the rack if there was a bottom rack or just taken my ball and waited a few minutes and then continued.

[Aslan]

For the leagues I've done, the rule is only one ball per person can be on the top of the rack at any given time to prevent over flow. I'd probably have just started putting balls on the bottom of the rack if there was a bottom rack or just taken my ball and waited a few minutes and then continued.

WORST...HANDS DOWN...WORST bowlers in regards to overflowing ball racks....are old people. No offense...but in ym Wednesday league...there are numerous older folks that will literally "count" the balls on the rack each time they go up there and if there are 11...they will stand around for 3-4 minutes asking everyone who has an extra ball on the rack. Like...OMG...someone forgot to take their strike ball off the rack after throwing at a spare...call the National Guard and Reader's Digest already. The older folks are very irritable on weeknights around 7PM because they know they're missing Wheel of Fortune and it's less than an hour before their usual bedtime.

QUALITY bowling alleys have a bottom rack AND a top rack. Unfortunately...I don't bowl in places like that so I gotta deal with everyone's balls getting stuck all the time....mainly because my 16lb balls don't roll around the caraseal as easy and everyone else is using 9-15# equipment...especially the ladies with their 11lb nonsense. Not to mention the circular caraseal is so old at the AMF house that it's tilting forward so occasionally a ball just rolls off onto the floor.

[classygranny]

How about the reverse?

About two weeks ago in our Tues evening league, we were bowling a team I didn't know very well. Brunswick has the long extended ball racks and some are not level and the balls tend to roll back toward the pin side and clog the opening for letting another ball come through, as well as allowing the balls to jump off the rack. Since it was my turn to bowl, after I picked my ball up, I reached up about three balls from mine to scoot the balls back toward the settee area, when one of the guys jumped up and informed me "UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES AM I TO TOUCH HIS BALL".

My reply was something to the fact that he needed to sit at the front seat all night and do ball management because I was not going to allow the balls to back up so that they would fall off the ball rack.

Needless to say, he didn't and I did. After I touched it the second time, (I didn't hear what he said exactly) but after I bowled I saw my husband and one of our teammates talking to him and another guy in the back behind the seats. He never said anything more to me, and I only got the "short" version of the story on the way home - but it boiled down to the guy being a germaphobic?!?!?!?

[NewToBowling]

Germaphobic? Does he realize the lanes and the ball returns are probably more toxic than anything your hand has

A true germaphobe would have at least 20 balls set up so one ball gets tossed only once

[coreyds012778]

only a few times during league i have had one ball picked up a few times. only because it was the same color ball as someone else. different finger inserts.

[Aslan]

Okay….that dude is weird.

I mean…I'm pretty chill…maybe not in terms of my dedication to improvement and my bowling goals…but in terms of letting stuff like that bother me…I'm about as chill as they come.

I've only noticed myself getting "un-chill" over one picky item…and thats my Tuesday League's front desk annoucing THREE TIMES a NIGHT…ALWAYS WHEN I'M ON THE APPROACH….what the Mega Millions Jackpot is. If it's not that….it's announcing food orders or birthdays or which lane the 50/50 is at….I mean, it's gotten so friggin bad…that my team will be bent over laughing when I'm on the approach and just as I take a step you'll hear at about 94dB "Attention League Bowlers…"

And it's never anthing that TRULY needs my attention MORE than making a good shot. It's never anything like, "Attention League Bowlers…we have a fire….and need to evacuate." or "Attention League Bowlers….A large Dinasaur was spotted on Central Avenue and is headed this way, we may want to take cover." Nope…it's a 2nd reminder to buy a lottery ticket or it's the front desk announcing that Martha is turning 39! AGAIN!! HA HA HA HA…endlessly while I pray for her to be slightly elctrocuted by the microphone…not to kill her because shes a nice lady….but just enough for her to lose her voice for 3 minutes.

Maybe I'm not "chill". I DID almost get in a fight at the golf course Friday…but golf is different…it's hot and the vast majority of golfers act like total ****holes 85% of the time. But still…NOT very chill of me…especially when it was my fault to begin with. I mean, I walked up on the green of a short par 3 while they were teeing off….but it was an accident because I didn't know the course and didn't know thats where the tee box was. I mean, if I had KNOWN the course…I may not have landed my 2nd shot on the green of another hole…but I did…and it's not the end of the world…and people don't need to shout negative comments at you.

[bubba809]

How about the reverse?

About two weeks ago in our Tues evening league, we were bowling a team I didn't know very well. Brunswick has the long extended ball racks and some are not level and the balls tend to roll back toward the pin side and clog the opening for letting another ball come through, as well as allowing the balls to jump off the rack. Since it was my turn to bowl, after I picked my ball up, I reached up about three balls from mine to scoot the balls back toward the settee area, when one of the guys jumped up and informed me "UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES AM I TO TOUCH HIS BALL".

My reply was something to the fact that he needed to sit at the front seat all night and do ball management because I was not going to allow the balls to back up so that they would fall off the ball rack.

Needless to say, he didn't and I did. After I touched it the second time, (I didn't hear what he said exactly) but after I bowled I saw my husband and one of our teammates talking to him and another guy in the back behind the seats. He never said anything more to me, and I only got the "short" version of the story on the way home - but it boiled down to the guy being a germaphobic?!?!?!?


Any guy who would say that to a woman is a real d***. Being a germophobe IN A BOWLING ALLEY makes absolutely no sense. Probably one of the worst places a person like that could go. You should introduce him to MWhite. Now THAT would be an interesting conversation!

[Jessiewoodard57]

QUALITY bowling alleys have a bottom rack AND a top rack. Unfortunately...I don't bowl in places like that so I gotta deal with everyone's balls getting stuck all the time....mainly because my 16lb balls don't roll around the caraseal as easy and everyone else is using 9-15# equipment...especially the ladies with their 11lb nonsense. Not to mention the circular caraseal is so old at the AMF house that it's tilting forward so occasionally a ball just rolls off onto the floor.

Aslan , I wish that where the case at our AMF but just like you we deal with just 1 rack ( thank God it's not the round one)...that family I was referring to was only using house balls and each time one did not feel "right" on a throw they would get another without taking the first one back. I pointed out that the rack was so full that the returning balls could not roll out of the ball return to which I just got a shrug. Finally we just put our balls back in the bag and went home. etiquette just is not in some people's character so best to leave and defuse a possible problem.

[Jessiewoodard57]

Okay….that dude is weird.

I mean…I'm pretty chill…maybe not in terms of my dedication to improvement and my bowling goals…but in terms of letting stuff like that bother me…I'm about as chill as they come.

I've only noticed myself getting "un-chill" over one picky item…and thats my Tuesday League's front desk annoucing THREE TIMES a NIGHT…ALWAYS WHEN I'M ON THE APPROACH….what the Mega Millions Jackpot is. If it's not that….it's announcing food orders or birthdays or which lane the 50/50 is at….I mean, it's gotten so friggin bad…that my team will be bent over laughing when I'm on the approach and just as I take a step you'll hear at about 94dB "Attention League Bowlers…"

And it's never anthing that TRULY needs my attention MORE than making a good shot. It's never anything like, "Attention League Bowlers…we have a fire….and need to evacuate." or "Attention League Bowlers….A large Dinasaur was spotted on Central Avenue and is headed this way, we may want to take cover." Nope…it's a 2nd reminder to buy a lottery ticket or it's the front desk announcing that Martha is turning 39! AGAIN!! HA HA HA HA…endlessly while I pray for her to be slightly elctrocuted by the microphone…not to kill her because shes a nice lady….but just enough for her to lose her voice for 3 minutes.



That would chill me a bit too ...could you imagine them doing that to Pete Webber oh my the words that would follow

[GeoLes]

something worse happened to me. My wife and I were bowling together and had just been assigned a single lane. I placed my Brunswick Ultimax on the ball return and went to get my wife's bag to place her balls on the return. I looked and my ball was not on the return. I remember placing tape in the thumb hole before I stepped away. I looked on the chairs and all around. No ball. I thought maybe someone in that party used it and it would be returning shortly. But my ball did not return. Finally I asked the bowlers in the next lane who shared the ball return.

One guy looked around at his party and then said, I think we may have put it back on the ball rack. He explained that one of his party tried to use it, but there was something wrong with the finger holes. He thought it was a broken house ball and returned it to the ball rack.

He retrieved it from the ball rack. No harm, no foul, but somehow I felt a tad upset - my personal ball - but I got over it. It was totally understandable.

It brougt to mind the time when I was wearing retainer and accidently left it in the restaruant. Missing it, I went back, looked around and did not see it. I asked the waiter who said it was in the the trash.

Do they know how much these things cost, I remember thinking

[John Anderson]

He retrieved it from the ball rack. No harm, no foul, but somehow I felt a tad upset - my personal ball - but I got over it. It was totally understandable.


At least he got it back for you. I would have had a moment of panic as well and it would have taken me a minute or two to readjust and continue bowling.

Luckily, even though there are those horrible round carousel type racks where I bowl, there is a bottom rail now.

[dougb]

I've had this happen a few times with kids and people next to me who are just there to have fun. All I had to do is politely point out it's mine and that's it.

The story by GeoLes is frightening to think about somebody snatching it off the rack and running.

[rv driver]

I have never ... repeat, never ... had that happen to me, even when I was bowling with a house ball on a crowded open bowling night. And I've been bowling, off-and-on, since 1973.
Never.

As a corollary, this is why Storm needs to come up with some really rancid scents for their balls, so that when somebody picks yours up through carelessness, they get a snootful of Armageddon. Really -- unless somebody's throwing the exact same ball as you, telling them apart ain't that hard. Just. Pay. Attention.

[John Anderson]

I have never ... repeat, never ... had that happen to me, even when I was bowling with a house ball on a crowded open bowling night. And I've been bowling, off-and-on, since 1973.
Never.

As a corollary, this is why Storm needs to come up with some really rancid scents for their balls, so that when somebody picks yours up through carelessness, they get a snootful of Armageddon. Really -- unless somebody's throwing the exact same ball as you, telling them apart ain't that hard. Just. Pay. Attention.

A lot depends on where you bowl too. I'm usually around pretty friendly people so I'd expect that they pay attention. Other people may not always be so fortunate and may have to deal with the occasional people that just start chucking any ball on the rack down the lane.

[rv driver]

A lot depends on where you bowl too. I'm usually around pretty friendly people so I'd expect that they pay attention. Other people may not always be so fortunate and may have to deal with the occasional people that just start chucking any ball on the rack down the lane.
Of course. I'm just scratching my head because, apparently, I'm the odd duck here, in that it's never happened to me over the course of 40-odd years.

[Aslan]

I've had casual bowlers try to reach for my stuff a lot...they generally think that if there's more than one ball on the rack...and I'm the only one bowling...then only one is mine.

Usually...they quickly realize they aren't house balls and are not drilled like house balls...and they figure it out. But, sometimes, like yesterday early afternoon...I had to tell the kid, "nope, those are all mine".

But like I said before...I'd almost like to see the kid try to throw one just out of amusement. My hands are big so I have a very long span...and even if they can sorta fit...if they've never thrown a fingertip ball...it's going to be entertaining to see how that works out.

[John Anderson]

And the next youtube video: "Stranger tries to throw Aslan's bowling ball". Most people would have no clue that people actually own multiple of their own bowling balls unless they see a giant rolling bag next to the person.

[Mike White]

And the next youtube video: "Stranger tries to throw Aslan's bowling ball". Most people would have no clue that people actually own multiple of their own bowling balls unless they see a giant rolling bag next to the person.

A lot of open bowlers are of the mindset, why would ANYONE buy a ball when the bowling centers provide them for free.

[Jessiewoodard57]

speaking of house balls , our house tends to attract grown men that love to throw a 6# house ball down the lane as hard as they possibly can. This past Saturday one of these men (bowling with the bumpers up I might add) was on lane #1 and threw a 6# ball so hard it jumped the bumper and went through the mechanic's door. When it hit the concrete in the back it sounded like it shattered and he still kept doing it. I just shook my head and ignored him.

[rv driver]

speaking of house balls , our house tends to attract grown men that love to throw a 6# house ball down the lane as hard as they possibly can. This past Saturday one of these men (bowling with the bumpers up I might add) was on lane #1 and threw a 6# ball so hard it jumped the bumper and went through the mechanic's door. When it hit the concrete in the back it sounded like it shattered and he still kept doing it. I just shook my head and ignored him.
...Because it's so cool to do that, just like it's so cool to get drunk, throw up on your date's shoes, and pass out on her dad's lawn.

[Mike White]

...Because it's so cool to do that, just like it's so cool to get drunk, throw up on your date's shoes, and pass out on her dad's lawn.

Are you speaking from experience?

[rv driver]

Are you speaking from experience?
Only the painful experience of watching someone else do that close up...

[Mike White]

Only the painful experience of watching someone else do that close up...

Darrell Waltrip of NASCAR fame tells the story of his youth, being chased by the cops, his car stopped flipped upside down on the lawn of his future wife's house.

At least he didn't throw up on anyone's shoes in that one.

[rv driver]

Darrell Waltrip of NASCAR fame tells the story of his youth, being chased by the cops, his car stopped flipped upside down on the lawn of his future wife's house.

At least he didn't throw up on anyone's shoes in that one.
I've seen it done -- and with some aplomb. The recipient was appropriately dismayed.