The S.O.B.cast #3: The Death Of Competitive Bowling - Whodunnit??
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24 күн бұрынCompetitive bowling is still alive and in some areas it's even thriving thanks to a strong youth movement. However, I believe the writing is on the wall, and unless things change soon and significantly, the situation seems close to escalating to DEFCON 1.
This isn't hype and hysteria, this isn't an overreaction, and it's not being sensational for clicks, it's an eventuality of things that were set in motion decades ago that aren't being addressed or corrected, and the proof is everywhere you look. USBC membership has nearly fallen under a million, centers are closing everywhere, string pins have been certified and are becoming prevalent, and the powers that be seem to continue to look to their own interests above all else.
Tonight I'm going to talk about what's wrong, who's to blame, and what needs to happen for bowling to rise once again. Sure, it might seem like beating the horse, but unless things change, there won't be a horse left to beat. Bowling needs care, effort, and attention to turn things around. You can't cure cancer unless you properly diagnose it and take it as seriously as it needs to be taken. You can put on a brave face and be positive . . as you're also seeing your doctor and going to treatments.
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@MikeGalligan-r8s 21 күн бұрын
Well articulated. In terms of the idea of banning or limiting certain things like various equipment, oil conditions, two handers etc: as a bowling fan, I think of some parallels with baseball which imo is going through an identity crisis. A focus on stats and analytics have put so much emphasis on batter's launch angle and spray charts, and a pitcher's spin rates and averages against batters 2 and 3 times through a lineup has changed the way the game is played. Batting averages in MLB have dropped about 20 points in the last 20 years. That coupled with a plethora of rule changes in the last few years like a universal DH, pitch clock, limiting defensive shifts, etc. has created a rift in the fan base. I think it's unavoidable in this day and age when tech and stats reach a certain point that the sport is fundamentally changed and a portion of your audience (and participants) becomes alienated. Obviously, it's less about equipment in baseball except that aluminum bats are banned at higher levels, "juiced balls" aside.
@annebeavers3002 22 күн бұрын
I watched the entire chat live. I appreciate that there was an open exchange of ideas and/or prospective. This group as a whole is more in tune with your bowling views. We come to your platform because you foster ideas steeped in knowledge, experience, and fearlessly acknowledge the need to reinvigorate our sport robustly. It is obvious you are frustrated, as are many of us in the bowling community. Ultimately, the economy and technology will change bowling. It can either go the way of the dinosaurs or evolve into a viable business and sports model.
@user-gt1wr1vh3i 20 күн бұрын
Thanks Luke. I guess I am different in that the first time I stepped into a bowling alley and put on shoes was for a YABA league, so I started competitive (42 years ago). I throw leagues and tournaments for the competition and community, so the prize fund doesn't matter, it's just something to strive for. I enjoy your ball reviews. They are more technical than others.
@justridemtb 20 күн бұрын
I just started bowling again. Wife wanted a family hobby we can participate in. Bought a couple balls thinking that’s what I have to do for lanes. Wish it was a lot cheaper though. I thought mountain biking was expensive but I had to sell one of my bikes to be able to bowl!. 😵💫
@Alex__James 20 күн бұрын
This is a tough one. Amateur bowlers need handicap to compete with pros in tournaments. Pros need money so they bowl sweepers and other local house shot events. Pros don’t like dealing with handicap bowlers. Payouts in scratch division are typically much less than handicap. Amateurs get upset when pros take their money. Pros get upset when amateurs take their money. Tournament directors are caught in the middle.
@LukeRosdahl 20 күн бұрын
Payouts in scratch divisions are less because there are fewer bowlers, and very few of them want to compete against each other, they just pass money back and forth or lose most of it. So instead they go bowl handicap tournaments, clean up in brackets, and they always have the handicap excuse if they don't do well . . And yeah, tournament directors can't win any more, non stop complaining from people for one reason or another.
@slapshtick873 21 күн бұрын
Small town life living where I do. The 6 lane alley is closed. My opinion is the toxic bowlers forced the place to close. If you upgrade the lanes to synthetic you'd lose half the bowlers, if you change anything people just blow up. So now the owners just run the restaurant while everything sits. So I bowl a town over on SPL synthetic lanes that has this huge puddle in the middle I gotta throw and 1 or 2 arrow. Its frustrating when your a 300 rev rate and you gotta stay all the way right. But, the atmosphere is a lot better, and most of the nights outside of 2 or 3 guys, it's enjoyable. I feel league sizes are starting to grow again from after covid. Im 41 and I couldn't get on a league because both shifts were filled. To now we are growing to filling an entire center on a few nights a week. All the other guys from my local town went to a different center st the other town over. B!tching about everything and saying they'll leave if things aren't their way. THIS is whats killing bowling. The old f#cks who demand their way to take the enjoyment of the sport from the rest of us.
@willjames6437 21 күн бұрын
Toxic Positivity is exactly the problem with Russell Wilson.
@johnruckey6471 21 күн бұрын
Big Cudos to you. I myself believe you are right on the point. Bill Taylor expressed the belief that bowling was taking the wrong direction and no one cared. ABC/USBC being operated by people who are only interested in the making of $ (just look at the loss of memberships), continues to make changes that are going in the wrong direction. Thanks for caring. I’m a new subscriber who agrees with you.
@damarapoledna3636 21 күн бұрын
My thoughts are there are so many options vying for our entertainment dollar today. Sure, people complain about house shots, two handers and string pins and league lineage. But, these people are such a small percentage that it cannot explain the loss of millions of bowlers. Bowling began it's downturn long before two handers became mainstream and string pins wernt even on the horizon. I never understood the league payback either. Everybody wins? I'd rather see league pay the top five or so, depending on the size of the league. I'm in North Texas where competitive bowling is alive and well. Sure we've lost dozens of centers but those that are left are busy. And, we have many many tournaments to choose from each week. I agree that new traditional centers cannot survive by itself, Jim Welch told, several decades ago, they need to be entertainment complexes. I couldn't care less about the awards, ultimately, they mean nothing. I just want to bowl.
@RealFlankenBerry 16 күн бұрын
A lot of the urethane haters would be really upset if they heard the urethane doesn’t cause carry down 😂 I’ve sadly tried to explain this lol
@LukeRosdahl 16 күн бұрын
Oh I'm making a standalone video about it to try it again lol.
@jcc_482 21 күн бұрын
Our league pays off at the end. I buy more stuff with that payout. So, I take it seriously. That's competitive to me 😅
@LukeRosdahl 21 күн бұрын
But what do you put in vs what you get paid out . . most people get back about the same amount that they put in. So if you pay 200 into the prize fund throughout the year and get 200 back, you've only made league more expensive than it needs to be for 9 months, you haven't gained anything
@jcc_482 21 күн бұрын
@@LukeRosdahl I get it.
@Seanstclair-007 21 күн бұрын
Didn't get a chance to watch the stream live, but I was able to catch it later. Lots of great points, my idea to kind of help get people into the more competitive side would help the consumer, but ball companies may not like it. My idea is for sanctioned leagues and minor tournaments is a limit on arsenals, you would be limited to 1 solid, 1 hybrid, 1 pearl, 1 plastic and then 1 "urethane" type ball, then for the major tournaments and all professional tours, you could add 1 more solid, hybrid and pearl, but you could only have 1 symmetrical and 1 asymmetrical ball of each. Would make skill on the lower side of bowling more important, and makes that someone who wants to really get into bowling would only need 4-5 balls (depending on if they want a urethane), shoes and bags. It may stop companies from releasing balls too close to each other across their own brands, and might make companies work more on new technologies faster. Also, with something like that you could require a ball card for all tournaments and then the only way even the pros would need to get a ball drilled during a tournament is if the ball gets damaged by an accident and you could only replace it with the exact same ball with the same layout for the pros and the same type of ball if not available anymore for non pros. Just my $.02, and a possible idea to maybe save the sport.
@Seanstclair-007 21 күн бұрын
And before anybody asks, you can implement the rules in league, but depending on if your league, you would be locked into an arsenal for a third or quarter, and you could only change 1 reactive ball per new third or quarter
@dejabowler873 20 күн бұрын
That's like telling a golfer they can only have 4 clubs (a driver, a iron, a wedge and a putter) Yes in theory that would work but in reality it won't because the balls would matter more because if the asyms are the better option everyone who has a asym is going to do good but the guys that only have syms will suffer The only way your idea could work is if you make it so it's both asym and sym of each cover type (which cover designators like pearl and solid don't matter as much as you think and even luke will back me up on this) so you're limited to 6-8 balls
@LukeRosdahl 20 күн бұрын
Well I wrote a big reply to this and then the page refreshed and dumped it. The short version is that bowling is too much of a crapshoot right now. Too much depends on the equipment and what side of the lane you're on, and there's way too much "well it wasn't my week this week," because the conditions either favored speed, rev rate, one side of the lane, etc., and it asks too much of people to be so proficient at all these different things. It'd be like if you asked baseball or football players to switch positions every game, or the challenges were different every week. Bowling challenges should require you to be versatile, accurate, and consistent, sure, but they shouldn't favor certain bowler styles so significantly so often. You can't have a situation where one lefty makes the top 64 at the Masters and then lefties absolutely dominate the World Series, I don't know how anyone takes a game like that seriously. Or say you take basketball for example. One game it's a 3pt contest, one game it's a free throw contest, one game it's a rebound contest, etc., well obviously you're going to have amazing players just not be able to factor in or compete sometimes because "it wasn't my game." The better bowlers will succeed more often in more situations, but bowling also likes to get too abstract and extreme with things to the point where you're not really testing skill, you're testing limits because they're too afraid to just put down something challenging that rewards accuracy and consistency, but that doesn't favor or exclude certain bowler styles or sides of the lane.
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