Rebel Tank - Sometimes Straighter is Greater!

[Mappa]

There are times when straighter is greater, and urethane is just the ticket. The Rebel Tank pairs the low friction cover from Motiv’s Arctic Sniper, with the classic halogen “light bulb” core. The best time to use the Rebel Tank is on those pesky short oil patterns, when playing the gutter typically leads to the best results. But, I’ve also found that I can also use my Rebel Tank on a house shot – by playing far more right in the dry zone than I typically do with my stronger reactive resin balls.

The classic hook shape reminds me of the 1980’s, and so are the adjustments. With the Rebel Tank, I find myself making ½ and 1 board adjustments … during a typical league session I may move 3 or 4 boards all night, when I may move 2 or 3 arrows with my Revolt Vengeance, for example. I must admit, it is kinda cool.

Here is a link to my Rebel Tank ball reaction video. I compare it to the Arctic Sniper, Original Tank, Ascent, Ascent Apex and Venom Panic on Kegel’s Bourbon Street pattern.



I find that the Rebel Tank fits perfectly between the Arctic Sniper (which is really designed to be a spare ball – although I do use it from time to time on my first shots) and the original green Tank. Whenever I encounter a pattern that needs to be attacked from the outside, the Rebel Tank will be my “go to” ball from now on.

--Kevin Gallagher—
MOTIV Staff
PBA Member

[Aslan]

I've been trying to cling to the "straighter is greater" belief for a couple years now...I'm starting to think I may have been wrong. I can't believe a ball with that line, for standard releases, will carry the corner pins on a regular basis. Unless we're talking very dry conditions or very short patterns.

I did like the Arctic Sniper as a spare ball though...just couldn't justify the nearly double the price tag of most spare balls...when all spare balls essentially just go straight.

And wasn't the Halogen/light bulb core in Storm's mid-range balls like 2-3 years ago? Is it a different halogen core? Or was the core joint developed and used between companies?

[RobLV1]

With modern equipment, there is only one reason to adhere to the "straighter is greater" philosophy of bowling: you simply don't know how to release a modern bowling ball and are not willing to put in the time/$ to learn. The PBA Wolf pattern is a joke! There is absolutely no reason to reduce the greatest bowlers in the world to throwing urethane, other than to make a shot that is so tough that the top bowlers in the world don't absolutely kill it. Get over your fear, and find a qualified coach and learn how to bowl on modern conditions with modern equipment. The only ones who are buying into your philosphy of 'straighter is greater' are the other bowlers who are afraid to learn. Get over it!

[fortheloveofbowling]

With modern equipment, there is only one reason to adhere to the "straighter is greater" philosophy of bowling: you simply don't know how to release a modern bowling ball and are not willing to put in the time/$ to learn. The PBA Wolf pattern is a joke! There is absolutely no reason to reduce the greatest bowlers in the world to throwing urethane, other than to make a shot that is so tough that the top bowlers in the world don't absolutely kill it. Get over your fear, and find a qualified coach and learn how to bowl on modern conditions with modern equipment. The only ones who are buying into your philosphy of 'straighter is greater' are the other bowlers who are afraid to learn. Get over it!

That might be the most ignorant thing i have ever read on this site and coming from a silver level coach. Straighter is greater is in reference to the angle through the fronts. As you know the bigger the angle in the fronts and any miss is magnified even more down lane. If all someone can do is loop the ball and that is all you teach in regards to lane play that is a problem.

[RobLV1]

That might be the most ignorant thing i have ever read on this site and coming from a silver level coach. Straighter is greater is in reference to the angle through the fronts. As you know the bigger the angle in the fronts and any miss is magnified even more down lane. If all someone can do is loop the ball and that is all you teach in regards to lane play that is a problem.

Thank you so much for your comment. My reference to the "straighter is greater" comments comes from years of listening to bowlers who can't hook the ball rationalize their unwillingness to learn. You know that straighter is in reference to the angle through the heads, as well as I do. The problem is that they don't bowlers who aren't willing to make any commitment, either in terms of time or money (for coaching) use this as an excuse for their lack of commitment. Sorry I offended you. I'm just trying to help.

[Amyers]

With modern equipment, there is only one reason to adhere to the "straighter is greater" philosophy of bowling: you simply don't know how to release a modern bowling ball and are not willing to put in the time/$ to learn. The PBA Wolf pattern is a joke! There is absolutely no reason to reduce the greatest bowlers in the world to throwing urethane, other than to make a shot that is so tough that the top bowlers in the world don't absolutely kill it. Get over your fear, and find a qualified coach and learn how to bowl on modern conditions with modern equipment. The only ones who are buying into your philosphy of 'straighter is greater' are the other bowlers who are afraid to learn. Get over it!

I really don't believe Aslan's problems hooking the ball are involved with lack of effort or money spent. Mental issues most likely but not effort or money spent. Thier may be some occasions when urathane is justified but I think they are rare.

[fortheloveofbowling]

Thank you so much for your comment. My reference to the "straighter is greater" comments comes from years of listening to bowlers who can't hook the ball rationalize their unwillingness to learn. You know that straighter is in reference to the angle through the heads, as well as I do. The problem is that they don't bowlers who aren't willing to make any commitment, either in terms of time or money (for coaching) use this as an excuse for their lack of commitment. Sorry I offended you. I'm just trying to help.

Did not offend me just astounded by your comments. Personally i can play different angles from 1 to 25 just some not as consistently. The release comment is a joke because in this age of fast revving cores it can make a lot of guys rev rate look much better. The importance of learning to square up and keep the ball in front of you sometimes is a valuable thing to learn in addition to opening up the fronts. As an alternate take: the only ones buying into the philosophy of always looping the lane are the bowlers who are afraid or can't play outside. Straighter is greater philosophy you simply don't know how to release a modern bowling ball???? Really???? You want to retract that?? WRW and Duke made a fortune being able to play in front of them when others could not nearly as well. The game changes always but the ability to get the ball out in front of you sometimes will always be a good tool to have.

[RobLV1]

I really don't believe Aslan's problems hooking the ball are involved with lack of effort or money spent. Mental issues most likely but not effort or money spent. Thier may be some occasions when urathane is justified but I think they are rare.

Having coached Aslan on several occasions, I totally agree! He and I often discuss our mutual tendency to overthink most everything. As far as using urethane is concerned, I wonder how much the ball manufacturers paid the PBA to come up with the 32' Wolf Pattern?

[Mike White]

Thank you so much for your comment. My reference to the "straighter is greater" comments comes from years of listening to bowlers who can't hook the ball rationalize their unwillingness to learn. You know that straighter is in reference to the angle through the heads, as well as I do. The problem is that they don't bowlers who aren't willing to make any commitment, either in terms of time or money (for coaching) use this as an excuse for their lack of commitment. Sorry I offended you. I'm just trying to help.

Amazing, the reason the resin balls exists is due to the number of bowlers who couldn't hook urethane balls and decided to buy a hook-in-a-box.

If that was the end of it, no problem, but the cry babies needed more help from the oil pattern so their ball would hold pocket.

So now you have your steroid balls, and walled up lanes, that change very quickly.

People don't want to practice on "burned up" lanes because they are so different than league.

Well if you get rid of steroid balls, the lanes don't change as much.

But then you need to learn how to hook the urethane ball, oh and get better at spares because you're going to be shooting at a lot more of them.

So 32 feet is just too tough... sorry, but we did just fine with 24 feet back before the cry babies ran the show.

The more people use steroid balls, the weaker their release becomes, or they stop improving it while it is still weak.

[Amyers]

Amazing, the reason the resin balls exists is due to the number of bowlers who couldn't hook urethane balls and decided to buy a hook-in-a-box.

If that was the end of it, no problem, but the cry babies needed more help from the oil pattern so their ball would hold pocket.

So now you have your steroid balls, and walled up lanes, that change very quickly.

People don't want to practice on "burned up" lanes because they are so different than league.

Well if you get rid of steroid balls, the lanes don't change as much.

But then you need to learn how to hook the urethane ball, oh and get better at spares because you're going to be shooting at a lot more of them.

So 32 feet is just too tough... sorry, but we did just fine with 24 feet back before the cry babies ran the show.

The more people use steroid balls, the weaker their release becomes, or they stop improving it while it is still weak.

The issue with Wolf is not the length a 32 ft. pattern can be playable with the right volume of oil. I remember the days of short oil too not sure I bowled on 24 but I remember bowling on 26-28-30 Ft. patterns the difference was the were very heavy. I also feel the oils back then were far different than todays oil. I also don't believe I would refer to many of todays pro's as suffering from a weak release. At some point Mike your going to have to accept the game has changed and decide to change your game to fit the modern world and quit expecting to go back in time. I may agree with you that there were advantages to those days but I know you can put the genie back in the bottle.