When you lose your love of bowling :(

[Aslan]

I've even went as far as to go to the bridge and throw balls
bag and shoes into the river on my way home.

That 'may' be illegal.

[zdawg]

I've even went as far as to go to the bridge and throw balls
bag and shoes into the river on my way home.

I live a couple of blocks from the water, I've had a few times where I've considered depositing my equipment at the bottom of the Pacific. I guess the main thing that stops me, is I've only gotten into bowling in the last year and thus all of my equipment was rather expensive

[Hobbit]

I've known a guy who missed out on qualifying for a AMF tournament, and threw all his gear in the dumpster in the car park, had I have been there I would have eagerly jumped in to retrieve all of it!! He had really, really good gear! Doesn't bowl at all anyomore, but he was always a hot head though.

Thanks everyone for your contributions here folks, appreciated and interesting reading.

One major reason for my frustration and lack of enthusiasm with bowling, can be the fact that I see the decline of my center over the last 14 yrs.. The pro shop has gone, there is no coaching available, league numbers have halved, there is very little kids/youth coming up.. It's hand over your money at the counter, and bowl then go!! Many of our bowlers here just throw their ball, turn around, and sit miserably waiting for their next turn.. showing little regard for the game/sport of bowling. total lethargy!

I use to feel that I was part of something special when I walked into my center, oh well, things change, sometimes for the better, other times not so.

[Aslan]

The USBC has had some good ideas to try and get things back on track, especially given the relatively low funding they have to work with. And the PBA may have made a lot of bad decisions, but they have at least 'tried' to fix things.

The problem is, neither organization is very good at going from problem to solution. Kinda like our government here in the States. I've seen 3 presidents and 12 different congresses and I can count on less than 10 fingers how much good stuff they actually have done. Lots of "ideas" and arguing...not much actual solutions.

Examples (bowling):

USBC: Focus on Youth Bowling and Coaching. GREAT! Single best way to return the sport to glory is to get kids interested in it so that at least a fraction of them become league bowlers in the distant future. I even attended one of the Youth Coaching seminars...put on by actual pro bowlers!

Problem...NOTHING happened after that. Centers allowed kids to bowl for free for awhile as part of the promotion (and subsequently jacked up the prices on adult bowlers to compensate). But no youth teams developed...no youth leagues...nothing.

Why didn't it work?? Because it didn't go far enough. That program needed to reach out to bowling centers and schools...to create some kind of joint program where kids could represent their schools in a sort of league. And there needs to be incentives in terms of money to help the schools organize and recruit. And money to serve as an incentive to the kids and parents such as a ball, bag, and shoes to each participant or something along those lines. The USBC had a GOOD IDEA...but it never went anywhere. I got my volunteering credentials...but never ended up taking the Level 1 test because I didn't see the point in it. There was no league needing youth coaches.

The PBA...they recognized they needed to compete for the TV audience so they tried to re-make their image...bringing bad boy Pete Weber off os suspension...and encouraging more lively celebrations and interactions. That had mixed reviews. They added skill competitions and trick shot competitions and plastic ball competitions, etc... That generally failed. They thought league bowlers would relate more to a "league format" and created the PBA League...which had mixed results. Now they're toying with a new finals format and potentially a new scoring system...so far mostly negative feedback.

How did they fail? They KNOW there's a problem...why can't they fix it? Because to fix it..you have to face the reality that the entire bowling society from the ground up is different than it used to be. They MUST find a way to make bowling more appealing to viewers...bowlers and non-bowlers. They also need to feed BACK into the USBC leagues...because more and stronger leagues...means more of an audience and more people that care about the sport side of bowling.

Thats why I've made the recommendations I have;
- USBC needs to get centers and schools together to form youth leagues. The centers need to spend a lot of money up front to get the things going...but they'll see the returns over time.
- The PBA needs to at least temporarily abandon it's current Tour and make it into a more USBC Open style year-long tournament and the coverage should be a mix of bowling and reality TV. It needs to open itself up to league bowlers. If league bowlers feel they have a real shot at the limelight...leagues start to grow....interest starts to grow. And rather than small paychecks for PBA tournaments...make the payouts much larger but for only a handful of those that ultimately win. 1-4 million dollar prizes.

But the reason we don't see positive change...is we let those that see problems with these systems essentially cancel any progress rather than coming to some type of compromise. The centers will complain they are barely making it and can't afford the initial cost of supporting school youth leagues. Schools will say their budgets and time are stretched so thin they don't have the time to mess with this. PBA bowlers will claim that the proposed format will eliminate the "professional bowler" from existence. The USBC will complain they have to do much of the work while the PBA reaps the profits. And ESPN will claim that logistically covering a nationwide tournament of 60,000 bowlers will require far more resources than the audience dictates.

Like our government...they get lost in the short term. And they never see the long term benefits or the long term harm. I loved Bill Clinton as a President...but he essentially destroyed American industry by starting the free trade trend that has erased nearly every manufacturing sector job in America. And the reason we don't do anything about it....is because to move back towards being a manufacturing based society with a strong middle class means massive short term losses for investors and global companies. A President would have to ask everyone with a 401k account to essentially let it drop to zero...with the hopes that a strong manufacturing base and middle class will eventually, over a decade or more, cause that 401k account to recover. Thats a real hard sell for most people. But it's the only true option. Staying on the current course has led to wage losses, a weakening of the middle class, and the largest gap between rich and poor our country has ever seen. Since there are no good jobs to be had without college degrees...people either make minimum wage or go to college...and college costs have increased 50-500% in the last 15-20 years...making that option less attainable. And that has led to a country that overall feels we are still in a recession despite a stock market that has broken multiple records in the past year and is at it's highest point in history.

But, I digress...the point is, like our government...the USBC and PBA and BPAA and even ball manufacturers need to take their good ideas...and see them all the way through...not have a good idea and then let it kinda die. And some of the changes may be difficult. Maybe instead of limiting awards for 11-in-a-row or multiple 300-games...the USBC should have enacted stricter ball and lane specifications...making the sport harder...and the awards harder to win. Thats a tough decision to make. My idea about Tiered Leagues...where bowlers of a certain average can't bowl no-tap or handicap...to promote more scratch leagues. Again...thats a tough decision...with some negatives and some risks. But at some point, a significant change must be made or we'll continue to see the decline that Hobbit is talking about. There are too few of us that are very passionate about the sport. And too many that have misguided beliefs that to save bowling we should get rid of the sport side of it and make bowling on par with mini-golf, go karts, and laser tag where bowling is just something you do in between getting gourmet cuisine and fancy drinks from the bar.

[Hobbit]

Aslan, man, u certainly put some effort into every post that I have read, impressive

My initial post began with tales of feeling little bit flat/over bowling, however it has turned a corner and now more on the reasons as to it's decline.. One of the biggest factors, which Aslan u mentioned was the sheer number of alternative options for people to spend their recreational income..

Also the changing face of the workplace (no longer mon-fri 9-5pm).. Many of us are working longer than ever, and harder than ever, and since the 90's a little thing known as the internet/social media has come along, killing many sports not just bowling. Many people don't want to commit each week to any form of sport/recreational activities...

Kids can be entertained by sitting on their couch with their Xbox, IPhone and Ipad all armed at their disposal, can't blame them really.. It's just the way it is.

I remember when in early 80's the Commodore 64 computer gaming thing was all the rage, man, I was into that, however I was also very active as well..I digress!

Trouble with the next generation of kids/youth looking at bowling, is that the perception of league bowling isn't there (meaning it's very socially uncool!!) and kids don't want to work at anything if it takes some long term effort and patience (that's just my take, being involved in Eduaction myself)

[Aslan]

Kids can be entertained by sitting on their couch with their Xbox, IPhone and Ipad all armed at their disposal, can't blame them really.. It's just the way it is.

Yup. Thats a huge factor. A lot of stuff competing for kid's time now.