High tech hurts bowling's credibility

Apparently, the sport of bowling isn't taken as seriously anymore because various ball and lane technologies can have a tremendous impact on scores. That's according to the United States Bowling Congress (USBC), who just completed a two-year study on the dynamics of high-tech bowling balls. The USBC is now launching an audit of the entire "System of Bowling" and hope to come up with some standards to, er, level the playing field. From Motion System Design:

The testing process officially began in summer 2006 after the formation of the USBC task force. A total of 59 particle and reactive resin bowling balls were used for the study conducted in the USBC testing center, Greendale, Wis., which includes eight lanes in a climate-controlled building. USBC's robotic ball thrower, nicknamed “Harry,” was used to roll the test balls. The data was measured using “Super C.A.T.S.” (computer aided tracking system) to record the velocity of the bowling balls as they were rolled down the lane. The system is made up of 23 small electronic sensors installed on the lanes.

Link (Thanks, Steve Steinberg!)

Previously on BB:
• Blind bowler gets perfect score Link

• [slywy]

  I dunno, but I liked bowling better when I was a kid—no music, no videos, no strobing lights, no animations, etc. Just a lane, a ball, a beer, and a scorecard.

  Fogey

• [Burns!]

  I bet you Harry, the robotic ball thrower, will roll on Shabbos.

• [Jardine]

  I think it’s time bowlers were introduced to the manly sport of 5-pin bowling. None of this knocking over 1 pin takes out 5 other pins automatically bullshit.

• [stovis]

  #13

  <

  Fogey>>

  You got to drink beer when you bowled as a kid? No wonder you liked bowling back then.

• [Antinous]

  So, is this a regulation ball?

• [JulieB]

  If drilled correctly, yes.

• [mikelotus]

  The bowling alleys spend much time waxing the lanes to increase the number of strikes too. 300 games and scores in general are way up because of this. Its necessary to attract enough bowlers now that the cost of an alley is so high with land costs.

• [ill lich]

  You know what else hurts bowling’s image? Bowling.

• [Tenn]

  No different from any other sport. You do better with better equipment.

• [desp]

  Super C.A.T.S.? All your balls are belong to us!

• [Steaming Pile]

  It’s about time. The USGA diligently guards its standards on every piece of golf equipment but the tees. The club heads have to be a specific size, the angle of a 7-iron has to be just so, the grooves in the clubs have to be V-shaped, not square, there has to be this many grooves on the club and they have to be exactly this deep, the balls are only allowed to have that many dimples on them, and it goes on and on and on.

  What are the regulations for bowling balls? As far as I know, you can bring just about any trick ball to any tournament at any level, as long as it weighs no more than 16 pounds. I have one at home. It’s a reactive resin ball with ridiculously offset weighting. It breaks seven or eight boards more than I can ever make my old 1977 black ball. Not only that, it breaks that much EVERY TIME I THROW IT. So as long as the ball lands within half a board either way of my mark, I stand at least a 70% chance of making a strike. I throw at least one 200 game every time I go out instead of twice a season, and I used to be a 150-average bowler. Hell, 150 used to be a good average. Not anymore.

  I don’t think bowling was ever meant to be this easy for the non-professional. Note to the ABC – Easy for casual players == no longer a real sport. Cheating is legal == no longer a real sport.

• [Enochrewt]

  #2 But with many other sports there’s strict regulation of equipment specs. Football the player’s pads have to be a certain size (ex: players like Jerry Rice would choose the smallest shoulder pads legally allowed for mobility), The sticks in Hockey have length/size/blade curve limit, baseball you can’t use metal bats, etc. I’m don’t think bowling has any of these.

  To show what a nerd I am I would compare it to using mods and hacks in Counterstrike.

  But now I know that when I go bowling with my mother and she bowls a 185 I can blame it on her new ball.

• [Steaming Pile]

  Re. my last post, I had a 155 average my last year of youth bowling, and that made me about the sixth best bowler under 17 in the house. This was about 1979. I got selected as the sixth man on the traveling team, which meant I got to bowl twice about every other Saturday. It was then that I learned that every house’s lanes broke different, especially those that used Formica instead of wood. I think I had the most embarrassing series of the season on Formica and my team got clobbered as a result.

  Of course, most of this goes out the window when I break out my cheater ball.

• [Rickmccl]

  How are you gentlemen! Please not to invoke rule 34 in the bowling alley!

  For those interested in this new kind of CATS, Google found this video. Here is “When Harry Met Alley” http://www.controldesign.com/multimedia/2008/002.html

  the “Throw” button is my favorite part.

  I look forward to a new “System of the Bowling” brought by our new robotic bowling overlords.

• [Santa’s Knee]

  Unsure how this will play out in the leagues, the Dude abides….

• [Jamie Sue]

  I didn’t even know they made trick balls. Where would I get one?

• [Jamie Sue]

  I didn’t even know they made trick balls. Where would I get one?

• [JulieB]

  There are strict regulations in bowling, but who checks equipment below the pro level any more? If I suspected someone on my league had non-regulation equipment I could take it to the league secretary, I suppose. I don’t think it’s worth raising a stink unless I can absolutely prove it.

  @#6: Yep, there’s something to be said about varying house conditions. I know plenty of people who do well in one or two houses and can’t bowl worth a flip anywhere else. I am probably one of those people.

• [pauldrye]

  I was going to say “this is why the athletes in the ancient Olympic Games did all events in the nude”. It guarantees that the person himself is the only factor.

  But then I realized we were talking about professional bowling and the image made me feel vaguely ill.

• [The Unusual Suspect]

  @ #7: “The Dude abides.”

  I don’t know about you but I take comfort in that.

• [Kestral]

  Antinous: Not only is it legal if drilled and weighted properly, as a design, it was pretty popular for a while among amateurs and some leagues. Apparently, when Mystery Men came out, people started asking for the skull ball to the ball makers and the ones who made the original broke out the mold again and made a licensed version. It was pretty much the first popular clear resin ball, as far as I remember.