A lot of what's wrong with bowling, in one little anecdote.

[J Anderson]

I just finished an 8-week league, $8 a week and a free T-Zone. Again, AMF. They do all these 8, 9 and 10 week leagues. Not sure why.

They may actually get the fact that the average person has less free time, and more activities competing for it, than in the hayday of league bowling. Few people under a certain age are willing to commit to that requires them to show up every week for 30 to 36 weeks.

[kbucks]

I think another thing that is wrong is some of the attitude in the pro-shops that I've run into. I'm trying to get back into bowling after about 10 years. I was only a recreational bowler, but used to go around 3 times a week, usually 1 day of practice, 1 night with friends and beers, and 1 night with my best friend where we would just try to beat each other. I had a hand-me-down ball that someone left at the alley and "kind of" fit and I learned to throw a hook with it.

I stopped into a few shops (if they were slow) to ask questions about balls and how to go about picking a ball and getting it drilled and all that and was frequently met with a pretty dismissive attitude from the staff. I found one where the guy seemed super excited to help out. I called him a couple weeks ago and said that I was ready to get a couple balls, some shoes and all the stuff AND my fiancee wants to get into it too. We set up an appointment for when he would have the time to go over everything with us. AWESOME!!!

It snows bad the morning we're supposed to go so I rent a car share for us to get there. (I have a Miata on summer tires in Denver... oops.) We walk in, ask for the guy, and the person working says, "Oh he isn't here today." I tell him we had an appointment. He says, "I don't know why he would make an appointment for today, he never works Monday." Ok. So, I'm getting annoyed. I say that we rented a car just to come in and he says, "I don't know what to tell you." So, my fiancee asks if he can help us. "Uhhhh, I guess I can try." Really? So, we split.

I cool off, wait a couple days, and call the shop, maybe it was just a misunderstanding. "He's busy can you call back?" OK. I do this for a couple days and finally leave my number. They never call back.

I emailed a couple other places around Denver and the only one that got back to us was John at Bowler's Garage. We went in last night and John spent a ton of time going over and explaining everything with us. He had us roll some balls even though we only had house balls to work with. We wound up ordering 3 balls, 2 pairs of shoes, bags and the whole works. He was really awesome to deal with.

Guess who finally called me back today... the guy from the first shop.

[kbucks]

Ok, called him back. He was very apologetic about missing the appointment. I talked to him for a bit and said that misunderstandings happen... not a big deal, but the guy who kind of blew us off was pretty disappointing. He said he was sorry for losing our business and offered a free lesson to make up for it. Which is pretty nice, I think.

[Aslan]

They may actually get the fact that the average person has less free time, and more activities competing for it, than in the hayday of league bowling. Few people under a certain age are willing to commit to that requires them to show up every week for 30 to 36 weeks.

I get that. I have a female friend that said she likes to bowl and I asked her to join a league with me and she declined because 32-39 weeks was "too much of a commitment". And it IS a common sentiment.

My issue with that is....if you're not willing to commit to a league for more than 10 weeks...you're probably not really willing to commit to a lot of other things that go into a positive bowling experience like:

- good equipment/fit
- following league/house rules
- supporting the sport/USBC
- improving yourself and your skills

So thats what I found when I joined a 10/11-week non-sanctioned league. Forlks came, they stayed, some left, some cheated, most didn't care, it was just more of a social gathering than actual sport bowling. And if people WANT that....there is open bowling every single day at every single center...no need to have an official league. IMO.

[Amyers]

I get that. I have a female friend that said she likes to bowl and I asked her to join a league with me and she declined because 32-39 weeks was "too much of a commitment". And it IS a common sentiment.

My issue with that is....if you're not willing to commit to a league for more than 10 weeks...you're probably not really willing to commit to a lot of other things that go into a positive bowling experience like:

- good equipment/fit
- following league/house rules
- supporting the sport/USBC
- improving yourself and your skills

So thats what I found when I joined a 10/11-week non-sanctioned league. Forlks came, they stayed, some left, some cheated, most didn't care, it was just more of a social gathering than actual sport bowling. And if people WANT that....there is open bowling every single day at every single center...no need to have an official league. IMO.

I don't know how much of a commitment really is it to sign up for 32-36 weeks 2-3 hours per week? Now I understand a lot of us don't have predictable 9-5 M-F jobs anymore but for most they don't have at least one set day off or one day they can't separate out that they don't work evening hours at. The real reason is people build their lives full of useless crap to the point they are always running around doing something and can't figure out why they don't have any time.

[Aslan]

Agreed Amyers.

If you want to see more people commit to bowling in 36-week sweeper leagues...it's REAL SIMPLE. Offer a free daycare onsite at the center for anyone bowling in a league. The center's leagues will fill up SO fast there will be a waiting list. Guaranteed.

If you're a couple, with a young child...and you want to bowl in a league....how else do you do it? Bring the kid along and then the kid is running around the place like a madman? It's more aggravation than it's worth. What? You're gonna hire a babysitter and pay $50 on top of the $54 to bowl each night? Suddenly it's not that inexpensive an endeaver.

There are LOTS of couples with kids that would LOVE to bowl in a league...and length doesn't matter...they just need someone to watch their kid(s) for free so they can take 3-4 hours and enjoy themselves.

Thats why, the "Aslan Bowl-A-Drome Center" would have:

- Daycare provided for $1 per child per night by a liscensed daycare person onsite.
- Free rides home from the center to your house if you've had too much to drink. Free overnight parking for the car you leave there.
- 9 free practice games per bowler per league they are participating in each week (non-transferable)
- $500 donation to the PTA of each elementary school that fields a youth league team (paid at the conclusion of the season if 90% or greater attendence). Free bowling shoe rental and bowling during youth league as well as the 9 free practice games above for youth bowlers. Prizes provided to all youth teams that participate including ball, bag, t-shirt, new shoes, and a trophy to the 1st place team, ball, bag, shoes, and shirt to the 2nd place team, shoes and shirt to the 3rd place team, t-shirt to everyone else.

Those 4 things....off the top of my head...and you'll have a full house of league bowlers M-Th and a healthy youth movement. Cost? Relatively insignifcant considering the revenue generated by filling the center every M-Th and the concessions/bar tabs that go along with it.

See...THAT is how I'd compete with other sources of entertainment. Centers don't need to make a mockery of the game with non-sanctioned silly leagues and no-tap nonsense. They just need to be BETTER than the other sources of entertainment. It's really not that difficult a concept.

[Mike White]

I get that. I have a female friend that said she likes to bowl and I asked her to join a league with me and she declined because 32-39 weeks was "too much of a commitment". And it IS a common sentiment.

You lost me at "I have a female friend"

[jab5325]

First time poster here. I'm so glad I found this forum, and specifically this thread.

Both of my local centers are independent--in fact, I've never been to an AMF or Bowlmor house. I live in central Pennsylvania, and after taking a 7-8 year break from the game, decided to get back into it this season. We have a personal email announcement list at work, and one of my female colleagues sent out a request for a female bowler in a ladies league. I'm not a lady, but I responded that if she hears of any need for a sub/bowler in the men's league, I'd do it.

That same night, the owner of the house called me and took my information. He worked to form a team for me, and now I bowl on Thursdays. I'm having a great time, although I'm still getting back into "bowling shape" and my average is much lower than where I want it to be. The guys on my team are great, as are the rest of the bowlers.

It saddens me to see league bowling die off. It's so hard to find people committed to bowl every week for any real length of time, and most houses don't make it easy. Even at local independent houses, the staff often don't even want to strike up a conversation with folks there on a random weekend afternoon. In fact, to get back into the game, I went to the same place I now bowl at (with the nice owner) on weekend afternoons. It was generally the same two people there. I threw pretty decently (170s/180s) and tried to strike up conversations with each person.....and not once did anyone mention a league, or engage in much conversation.

Had it not been for the email at work, I don't think I would have been able to join.