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Thread: Congrats To Walter Ray!

  1. #11
    Pin Crusher Strike Domination's Avatar
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    That'd definiely be interesting to know Jay. Chris Barnes and Bill O'Neill come to mind when I try to think of people that will be able to do that. PDW and probably Norm Duke too since they've been around for some time.

  2. #12
    Ringer Maine Man's Avatar
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    Even though I can not stand the man personally, congrats has to go out to WRW for winning the Masters. I think a sad side note for the tournament, though, is that they could only get 268 entries. I have bowled the Masters four times (the most recent was two years ago), and every time we had 450+. It goes to the sad state of the PBA, USBC. and competitive bowling in general. Too bad, but for WRW to do what he is doing at his age is truly amazing.
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  3. #13

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    I was there for the finals and what a match! If you ever get to see a live finals, I recommend it! I knew barnes was gonna chocke like he always does on tv. What a thing it would've been to see a 300! Almost. Wrw makes it look so easy. Congrats to him, and what a stand up guy. After the win, and media obligations, he came over and signed a pin and took a pic with my son. What a great sport!

  4. #14
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    Barnes didn't choke, He had bad pin carry. It's that simple.

    As for the number of entries for the masters i think there are a couple of reasons
    1. Obviously the economy.
    2. The close proximity of the US Open (only 2 weeks apart) many can'6t afford to do both so close together
    Still love the game but had to quit because of my left leg amptation
    High game 299 x 5 High sanctioned series 805 (1989)

  5. #15

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    Quote Originally Posted by Maine Man View Post
    Even though I can not stand the man personally, congrats has to go out to WRW for winning the Masters. I think a sad side note for the tournament, though, is that they could only get 268 entries. I have bowled the Masters four times (the most recent was two years ago), and every time we had 450+. It goes to the sad state of the PBA, USBC. and competitive bowling in general. Too bad, but for WRW to do what he is doing at his age is truly amazing.
    The economy will have a lot to do with entries being down as well. It's not a $100 entry at the local center.
    JJ "Better than Jello" Anderson - Kill the Back Row

  6. #16
    Ringer Maine Man's Avatar
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    The economy MAY have something to do with it, but I bet it's the fact that the USBC slashed the prize fund that had more to do with it. This tourney has pulled much better numbers than this year in the past couple of years during the down economy, so what was different this year? Lower prize money. Bowlers aren't going to dump in $450 tournament dues, and probably over $1500 for the whole trip to make half what they have in years past. Common sense, it has nothing to do with it the fact that it costs more than a $100 local tourney. Like I said earlier, I have bowled in 4 of these, and the houses were always packed. The USBC needs to get their head out of their butt and find a way to get the prize funds up so bowlers will want to come out to compete.
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  7. #17

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    Why didn't you bowl it this year?

    I agree wholeheartedly that it sucks that participation has dropped from 500+ bowlers to under 300. I also agree that the state of the PBA, USBC, and competitive bowling in general is poor. It's been discussed ad naseum on any Internet bowling forum with more than a few posts.

    What would you do to encourage participation and increase prize fund? What should the USBC do (for the masters).

    The US Open has more entries this week than the Masters did two weeks ago. I'll end up bowling the US Open before the Masters because of the longer qualifying format, but that's just me.
    JJ "Better than Jello" Anderson - Kill the Back Row

  8. #18
    Ringer Maine Man's Avatar
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    U.S Open entries were down this year compared to other years also. I think that moving the Open away from Carolier (where it was supposed to be this year) to Indy hurt the turnout. They were getting huge turnouts and good crowds for the Open in NJ, so why change the venue? This is one thing that drives me crazy about the USBC and the PBA, they will have a spot where they can draw well for a tourney, and then change the venue only to find that they have hurt the tournament in the long run. Why change venues? It makes no sense. I know the people at Carolier were disappointed about the Open pulling up stakes and moving, but what can they do, it's the PBA and USBC's show to run.

    I didn't bowl it this year because of scheduling conflicts with prior tournament commitments at the Green Mountain Open in VT, a scheduled demo day, and work commitments. Otherwise I would have been there again. Why didn't you bowl in the Open this year?

    I have stated in blog posts my ideas to increase prize funds for USBC and PBA related tournaments to help drum up interest in competitive bowling, you can read those suggestions in my blog here:

    http://bowler2bowler.wordpress.com/2...-goulding-iii/

    BTW, what ideas do you have to increase interest and prize funds that I did not cover in my blog. I would like to hear more ideas, thanks.
    James Goulding
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    "The Maine Bowler" blog: www.jgoulding.wordpress.com

  9. #19
    SandBagger
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    I'll preface this w/This is My Opinion - take it for what it's worth.

    I dare say that the main reason bowlers aren't entering PBA events are 3-fold. 1. Economy (duh). 2. Bowling isn't a well respected sport to the general population, and 3. Inflated Egos on THS vs. Actual Ability on Sport. I have a slightly longer rant on this that I may turn into a blog posting sometime.

  10. #20

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    I didn't bowl for the reason dismissed out of hand - I actually do not have the money to bowl that event at that time. Of course, you're also assuming that I'm good enough to compete at that level. Thanks.

    I'd rather see the U.S. (vs. the New Jersey) Open move around the country versus allowing for bias towards bowlers from a specific region. At the cost of lost entries? If entries are that much better in NJ, host a duplicate event there. I think you'd see higher participation numbers if the event was hosted in Las Vegas and especially if the event were hosted the week before or week after the High Rollers.

    As far as increasing entries at the higher levels of bowling - whether we're talking about the high roller events or PBA events or the US open - I believe you need to generate interest in the sport. "Sport" being an important word here. The jump from a house shot and weekly leagues to scratch competition on sport conditions is a big jump. Where's the middle ground, the "feeder" program into the next level? I'm not sure how something like that would be devised. The PBA regional program should fill at least part of that slot, but it misses the mark.

    Your blog points about the chosen time slots of the telecasts is spot on. Has the PBA even looked at another network. My opinion of ESPN in general is extremely poor and that has nothing to do with bowling.

    I'd get rid of the exempt tour format. The PBA did not achieve its goal with it - quite the opposite. Entries are down, thus the #1 source of money going into the prize funds is also down.

    I would like to see the USBC commit $1 from every member that certifies, and put that money into the PBA prize fund directly
    When an increase in dues has been suggested in any of the league meetings I've attended for the last 10 years, an hour long debate-and-squabble seems to be the inevitable result, even if the increase is $1. A better use of sanction fees to lower operating costs at the USBC and then using the money saved to sponsor the PBA seems a more likely choice but just as unrealistic in actuality. I don't think it is unrealistic for people to want back from an organization they pay into. USBC members are paying into the USBC, not the PBA.

    Unfortunately, I'm not a marketing person and it seems like someone like me is filling that position with the PBA.
    Last edited by JAnderson; 03-01-2010 at 05:41 PM. Reason: typos
    JJ "Better than Jello" Anderson - Kill the Back Row

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