The 'new' Bowling Center

The common belief, especially among young male bowlers, is that the greater the speed of the bowling ball, the more pins will ultimately fall. Why then, can a 5-year-old stand at the foul line, roll the bowling ball with two hands at a speed slower than a crawl and knock down about as many pins? "Fast is macho, but it doesn't knock down pins," said Karen Pullman, owner of Karen Pullman's Pro Shop/Bowling Center in Sandy. "Bowling is a game of angles. "Most of the time you see recreational players choose a bowling ball that's too light because they want to throw it down the alley at 20 miles per hour." For the ball to turn the corner, for that little hook into the pocket and into a perfect strike, it needs to decelerate between 3 to 3 1/2 mph, she said. A bowling ball thrown too fast can't decelerate, thereby missing the perfect spot. While the game of bowling itself hasn't changed much over the past century, how it's played has changed starting with the scoring table. There are no more pencils and scoring sheets, only buttons and a computer program that can add scores, show standing pins and, with the option on, advise the bowler where best to stand and release to pick up remaining pins. "In most cases, bowlers don't want to be bothered with the computer giving them advise, so we shut that part off," Pullman said. Computer scoring also makes it impossible to get in those few extra practice rolls before starting the game. "No, once I turn on the lane, the first roll counts. The game starts from the get-go and ends with the last player rolling the last ball in the 10th frame," she added. Some of the biggest changes are in the bowling ball itself. Once made of hard rubber, new balls are made of polyester, a harder more aggressive product. This has caused a rash of changes, not only in the delivery, but also in the number of bowling balls high-scoring bowlers may take with them. "The old bowling balls wouldn't do a whole lot, only what the bowler was able to do. New bowling balls are harder and have all kinds of things added to the surface, like glass bubbles and microchips. It's like added studs to snow tires. Now the bowling balls can do all kinds of different things." At issue is not so much the bowling balls but lane preparation. The oils put down on the lanes determine how a ball responds. Too much oil will mean the ball slides instead of grips; too little oil means the ball may grip too soon. "A proprietor can either make you a good bowler or a bad bowler, depending on how much oil is put on the lanes. A proprietor can open a lane up for a righty or lefty or close it. That's why bowling will never be in the Olympics. Proprietors have learned how to manipulate the lanes," she said. The introduction of the more aggressive bowling balls has also resulted in how the game is taught. High scores are no longer the main objective. "Now we teach, especially young bowlers, to knock down pins and have fun. We're no longer worried about high scores. That will come," she said. "If they learn this when they're young, then it carries over when they get older, and we've found they'll stay with the game longer and won't drop out. This is especially so since there is now bowling in high school and college. Over the long run we may lose them for four or five years when they start young families, but when they can they come back." As for today's bowlers, Pullman said league play has slumped off but open play has picked up, especially among the younger generation. "We're getting a lot more families out, and also teens out on a date. They'll sometimes come bowling before or after a prom," she said. One thing that has helped young players is the addition of the bumpers or gutter guards. The old "gutter ball" has been eliminated. The bumpers keep the ball in the alley, albeit not necessarily on a direct path. What it means is that pins fall on almost every roll. And being able to keep the ball rolling in the alley without the bumpers is the goal of every young bowler, she added. What Pullman has found, too, is that older bowlers approach the game with some built-in bad habits, the main one being aim. The old method, passed down from bowler to bowler, is to hold the ball in front of the nose and aim for the pocket, thinking that the ball will follow the nose rather than the arm. "But the nose doesn't deliver the ball, the shoulder does. Sure, the nose should be in line with the pocket, but if the shoulder isn't, you won't knock down pins ... especially spares," she said. "You start with the shoulder in line. It's the shoulder that delivers the ball and the thumb that guides it." The objective, too, is to have a loose arm swing straight back and then straight forward and a smooth follow through. As far as the weight of the bowling ball goes, the move is toward slightly lighter bowling balls. Almost gone are the 16-pound bowling balls. Most of those sold today for adults are in the range of 14 to 15 pounds. But gone from a shop's inventory are the old $19.99 rubber bowling balls. The introductory bowling ball is now around $61.95. As to whether it pays to own rather than use house bowling balls, Pullman said if someone bowls two or three times a year, then owning is not necessary. Sonix night runs from 8:30 p.m. to midnight on Fridays and Saturdays. The new bowling experience is accompanied by strobe, neon and black lights, as well as amplified music. It is especially popular with teenagers and other young bowlers. "But for someone who bowls two or three times a month, then, yes, I would suggest they look into purchasing. When you buy a bowling ball, that ball is made to fit the bowler. For starters, they don't need to walk around trying to find one that fits," she said. For those who want to improve their game, the bowling business now uses video to help pinpoint problems. Pullman also has two lanes set up with a computer system that tracks a bowler's delivery. The computer analysis is $25 and the videotaping is also $25. Something new bowling lanes are doing what Pullman calls "Sonix." Every Friday and Saturday evening from 8:30 to midnight, the main lighting system is turned off and bowlers roll in darkened conditions, illuminated only by strobe, neon and black lights, all done to the sound of amplified music. She said this evening experience is extremely popular, especially with the younger bowlers. At one point, bowling was the No. 1 participant sport in the country. It lost a little ground, but in recent years has been recovering. Computers, better bowling balls, bumper guards for the kids and a little friendly competition are all playing their part in bowling regaining its popularity.

It's not your Fathers bowling alley...

CHICAGO — The music is loud and pulsating, the air oozes with hipness. The bar is packed with stylishly dressed young professionals drinking martinis and surveying the scene. Take away their ugly three-toned shoes and the 24 spit-polished lanes and this would be just another trendy joint. After two decades of decline, bowling is rolling with a polished new look. Laverne and Shirley, cigarette smoke choking the air, and bad polyester shirts that's so 1980. The number of traditional alleys and weekly bowlers may be dropping, but "bowling centers" have made the sport more popular than ever and are generating some serious cash. What once was mostly a patchwork of mom-and-pop operations has ballooned into a $10 billion industry. "It's definitely attracting a different market than it used to," said Grant DePorter, president of Harry Caray's Restaurant Group, which owns 10pin, an upscale bowling center in downtown Chicago. "The atmosphere is a giant paradigm shift. It's not their father's bowling alley." And in what might be the ultimate seal of approval, there's even bowling with the stars. Chris Paul, the NBA rookie of the year last year, recently signed on as spokesman for the U.S. Bowling Congress. LeBron James not only has his own ball, he's putting a couple of lanes in the swanky new house he's building. "We're optimistic in the fact we're putting in place a lot of programs that are going to turn it around eventually. But we know it's going to take some time," said Mark Miller of the USBC. "It's in the next five, 10 years that it's going to take off," Miller added. "It took 20-something years to get to this point, it's going to take some time to get back." There were about nine million regular bowlers those who bowl once a week in 1979-80. Now, there are only 2.7 million, according to USBC figures. "If you go back 15, 20 years, league play would account for 70 percent of revenues. These days, league play is well under 50 percent," said Sandy Hansell, a financial adviser who sells and appraises bowling centers. "It used to be a lot of bowling leagues were built around organizations and companies: the Elks Club, Kiwanis Club, the sisterhood of your church or temple. A lot of that has gone by the wayside. People spent their whole careers with one company, now they don't," Hansell said. "All these societal factors have shrunk the number of people who are willing to bowl in traditional leagues. So the bowling proprietors have had to react." When Mark Iverson bought the Diversey River Bowl in Chicago in 1986, the alley was a microcosm of what was wrong with bowling: The building was rundown, the machines and lanes were outdated and there was little else to entice people to visit. Iverson upgraded the lanes, installed disco-esque light shows and mounted monster speakers to give the place a throbbing beat. The regulars weren't too crazy about the facelift, but others were. "The younger people came out and said, `Oh wow, cool.' That's how we got to be known as the Diversey Rock 'N Bowl," Iverson said. "That's how we got the young people in." Soon, alleys across the country were restyling themselves as entertainment centers. There are 5,500 bowling alleys in the United States now, half the number that existed in the 1960s. But many of the new ones are gigantic _ a quarter have 32 lanes or more and offer as much to do as an amusement park. Flat-screen TVs, rock-climbing walls and laser tag are just some of the added attractions. In Las Vegas, Red Rock Lanes at the Red Rock Casino has 72 lanes open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. There's a video wall of projection screens hanging above the end of the lanes, and those who don't want to bowl can check out the pool tables, shuffle board or darts. A wait staff serves food and drinks; there are VIP lanes for private parties. "That smoke-filled, beer-swilling, potbellied bowler? That image is long gone," said Hansell, the financial adviser. In many parts of the country, refurbished centers are making bowling more of a base rather than the main attraction. The lone Pac-Man machine has been replaced by a full video arcade, the bar was expanded into a lounge complete with karaoke. Frozen pizzas were replaced by full menus. After years of catering to regulars, the industry began focusing on the casual bowler and families. Lane bumpers and smaller balls were introduced to make the game more kid-friendly, and enough neon was splashed around to keep places aglow. "It is coming back," said Melinda Metzger, whose daughter, Emma, had her 8th birthday party at 10pin. "For a while, bowling was really down and out. Now, if it's a rainy day, we'll say, `Let's go to the bowling alley.'" That doesn't mean those old-time alleys have disappeared. The USBC's Miller estimates that about a third of all bowling centers are still small operations, with the oldest being the Holler House on the south side of Milwaukee. Two old-school lanes are tucked away in the basement, and look virtually the same way they did when the place opened in 1908. The wood is original, and a pin boy still tends the lanes. Scoring is done on white sheets of paper that hang on the walls on either side of the lanes. "They used to bowl by gaslight down here," owner Marcy Skowronski said. "Those guys, smoking their big cigars, I'm surprised they didn't blow themselves up." Upstairs, a sign advertises mixed drinks for 15 cents and there's an icebox behind the bar. The tin ceiling is covered with bras left behind by first-time visitors, a tradition dating back some 40 years. "You can't get bored in this place," Skowronski said. Still, she doesn't begrudge the industry's makeover. "They've got to do something to get people in," she said. Though the days of league play and the numbers of regular bowlers are dwindling, industry officials are determined to rebuild the sport itself. The PBA Tour is televised on ESPN, drawing about 1 million viewers despite going up against football and basketball. High school bowling has taken off, and now there are 18 states where it's a varsity sport, triple the number from 10 years ago. "I hope other people will start to enjoy it and understand that it is a sport. It's tough," said Paul, who got hooked on bowling as a kid when he and his brother tagged along with their father. "You can go with a lot of friends and have it be a social event. Or you can go with people who bowl a lot and be competitive." At his "Chris Paul Winston-Salem Weekend" charity fundraiser last year, the highlight was the celebrity bowling tournament, which drew an All-Star crowd with James, Wade and Carmelo Anthony. The event was such a rousing success, invites for this year's event in September are already in demand.

Lets do it again!

There's a lull between the winter and summer leagues at Rip Van Winkle Lanes, so its time to take a look at the national bowling scene.Kelly Kulick will have the opportunity to repeat as U.S. Women's Open champion - four years after her last title. After a four-year absence, the Women's Open will be held again after the United State Bowling Congress was granted the rights to the name by the Bowling Proprietors Association of America.The event will be staged Aug.13-18 at the National Bowling Stadium in Reno, Nev. A qualifying event will determine 16 finalists who will compete in four separate four-player elimination rounds. The winner of each round earns a spot in the final bracket which will determine the champion.The elimination rounds will be broadcast on tape-delay in the weeks prior to the final which will be telecast live."This is a tremendous and overdue opportunity to both provide elite women bowlers with another major championship to compete in and to support USBC's vision of growing the sport through greater visibility," USBA CEO Roger Dalks said.As part of its growing partnership with the PBA, players entering the Women's Open will have the option of paying an additional entry fee to have their qualifying scores count toward the PBA Women's Tour Trials.A year ago, Kulick became the first woman to earn a full-time exemption on the Denny's Professional Bowlers Association Tour. Last week, she defeated Diandra Asbaty, 192-143, to win the United States Bowling Congress Queens title. She took home $30,000.The USBC Intercollegiate Singles Championships came to an end with Tim Pfeifer and Elysia Current winning titles.Pfeifer, a Robert Morris sophomore who joined Junior Team USA last summer, defeated Penn State's Jason Weaver, 3-2, in the final. He had games of 152-184-179-189 in the four matches.Current, who transfered from Fairleigh Dickinson to Wichita State, led the Shockers to the team title and then added the women's individual championship.Competition continued in the Bobby Snell Doubles Handicap Tournament. Nicole LaValle moved into first place in singles handicap with 552 and she and Dale Patston shot 1086, three pins behind the leaders.Patston is now second in singles scratch with 494 while Frank Billowitz had high scratch game of 290.

Brew Crew!

MILWAUKEE -- Bowling pro Danny Wiseman first learned how to bowl when he was 5, but he didn't spend much time in bowling alleys as a child. Instead, Wiseman loved putting on his cleats and heading out to the baseball fields in his hometown of Baltimore for Little League games. He was a switch-hitter and also played some third base, but other kids knew him because of his fastball. Wiseman said by the time he was 9, he could throw the ball 50 mph -- as hard as boys three years his senior. "Some of the guys that I played with back home, they said, 'Man, everybody was scared of you because you threw it so hard,'" Wiseman said. "Baseball was my first love and bowling second." Wiseman fulfilled his childhood dream of playing in a big-league ballpark -- kind of -- when he won the United States Bowling Congress Masters tournament at Miller Park in October 2004. It was the first time a baseball stadium had ever hosted a Professional Bowlers Association event. The Masters finals will return to Miller Park this year on Sunday, Oct. 28, the Brewers announced in a press conference Thursday. Four lanes will be installed along the infield dirt from first to second base for the nationally televised event, said Rick Schlesinger, Brewers executive vice president of business operations. USBC chief executive officer Roger Dalkin, PBA Tour director Kirk von Krueger and Wiseman also attended the press conference. "Hopefully, I will still be the only pro bowler to have won in a baseball stadium," Wiseman said. "That's my goal. I've got to defend." The Masters, one of the PBA's four major events, will feature an expected field of more than 500 of the world's top professional and amateur bowlers and total prize money of more than $350,000. The event will also include Bowlfest, a festival that will allow fans to mingle with bowlers and watch the installation of the lanes. The Brewers have a contingency plan in place, though, in case the team makes it to the World Series and has to play Game 4 at Miller Park that day. The AMF Bowlero Lanes in Wauwatosa, Wis., will be the alternate site for the finals. "Frankly, as a Milwaukee resident, I hope we have to work with our contingency plan," Dalkin said. More than 4,300 spectators showed up to watch the event in 2004. Dalkin said the first-base and right-field stands can hold up to 12,000 fans, and he expects a large turnout for the 2007 Masters finals because the Green Bay Packers don't play that Sunday. Instead, the Packers take on the Denver Broncos in a Monday Night Football showdown the following night. The PBA held the 2005 Masters finals in U.S. Cellular Arena in downtown Milwaukee, and last year's finals took place at the Wisconsin Exposition Center at the State Fair Park in the city's suburbs. Dalkin said the USBC chose to move the Masters back to Miller Park so people would more likely consider bowling a sport, instead of just a recreational activity. "Bowling is a sport, just like baseball, just like football, basketball," Dalkin said. "This is a sporting venue where people know athletes compete, and what better place to showcase our athletes than a venue such as this?" But bowling in a ballpark takes some getting used to. The temperature hovered around a chilly 55 degrees in Miller Park during the 2004 event, Wiseman said. He ended up liking it, though, because he was sick of glaring lights in bowling alleys getting him sweaty in front of television cameras. The real adjustment for Wiseman came when he made his first few warmup tosses. The ballpark's high roof played tricks on his eyes and made the ball look like it was rolling more slowly than usual.
"It was very, very harrowing," Wiseman said, laughing. "It just felt like the ball took forever to get down the lane." The 17-year veteran adjusted well enough, though, capturing his 11th career title and the $100,000 cash prize. Wiseman called the 2004 win an unforgettable moment in his career and ranked it right up there along with winning his first career title in front of family and friends in Baltimore in 1990. "People identify with that, 'Oh, you're the guy that won inside a baseball stadium,'" Wiseman said. "I get so many questions even to this day in bowling pro-ams: 'How was it bowling inside that baseball stadium?'" And to top it all, the event gave 39-year-old the thrill of playing in a Major League ballpark. Wiseman still rues the day when he walked away from baseball as a 13-year-old. It rained persistently that spring day, causing the pitcher's mound to disintegrate. Wiseman kept slipping and sliding and pleaded with his coach to add dirt to the mound, he said. But his coach refused and instead substituted his son into the game to take Wiseman's spot. The son quickly complained about the mound, and Wiseman's coach immediately added dirt to it. Wiseman can't remember or wouldn't give the names of the parties involved, but he said he never felt the same about baseball again and poured his heart into bowling after that. Wiseman remains an Orioles fan and occasionally visits a batting cage, but he has no complaints about the way his life turned out. "I wouldn't change a thing, being that I've been around the world throwing a bowling ball," he said. "If I would have stuck with [baseball], who knows? I might not be standing here right now because of bowling. Things happen for a reason." Fans can purchase tickets for the 2007 Masters finals beginning June 11 from the Brewers ticket office at (414) 902-4000 or on Brewers.com. Ticket prices range from $10-$75.

Olympic Bowling?

Roger Dalkin is optimistic that bowling will become an Olympic sport, possibly by 2016. The United States Bowling Congress CEO said his organization would push the world governing body to drop its amateur-only rule in meetings in Monterrey, Mexico, in August. That's important because the International Olympic Committee has mandated that Olympic sports must include the best athletes in the world. "One of the biggest stumbling blocks we have is that the World Tenpin Bowling Association has an amateur-only rule on the international stage," Dalkin said. In 2004, an amendment to eliminate the amateur-only rule lost by one vote. "We're going to make it extremely clear again - and there are a lot of countries that support us - that the WTBA needs to open up the program," Dalkin said. "(PBA Tour stars) Norm Duke and Walter Ray Williams may not try out for Team USA, but we have to make that an option for the IOC to even talk to us." For years before the 2004 merger that created the USBC, USA Bowling lobbied the IOC to be included in the Summer Games to no avail. "We did everything above board and below board," Dalkin said. "We were getting frustrated and we finally said, 'Tell us what you're looking for.' So the IOC came out with a 35-point list of things. "Sift through everything and it comes down to three things: Either you have to have very high TV ratings worldwide, you can fill huge stadiums with tons of people or you bring huge sponsorship to the Olympic Games. Bowling does none of those three. We can't meet the IOC's requirements, so we said, 'OK, we understand. That's not us.' "So then they took out baseball and softball because of political issues and they came back to us and said, 'Are you still interested?' " Though bowling doesn't meet some of the IOC's criteria it does satisfy others: 50-50 participation among men and women; the sport is scored and not judged; and it is not dominated internationally by the United States. "The IOC said, 'We'd like you to consider coming back. Pitch us,' " Dalkin said. "If the WTBA votes to eliminate the amateur-only rule, we've cleared the first hurdle."
The United States Olympic Committee chose Chicago, long a bowling hotbed, as its bid city for the 2016 Summer Games. If Chicago gets the Games, Dalkin said, bowling has a chance to be included. "If it happens," Dalkin said, "I should be long retired and enjoying it as a spectator."

Hey coach...

USBC Coaching is pleased to announce an upcoming Bronze coach certification conference in Bowling Green, OH. If you or someone you know is interested in this conference, please see the attached flyer with registration form. The attached form is in the Adobe Acrobat format. If you do not have ability to view files in this format, you can download the Adobe Acrobat
reader for free by clicking here: http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html

Uncle Sam strikes again!

The Michigan House of Representatives may vote on a taxation bill today (Thursday, May 24, 2007) which will extend sales tax to certain services and entertainment in Michigan. This would include bowling. What this would mean is that bowling would be subject to the 6% sales tax that we pay on products in the state. Even league contracts would be subject to the tax, which will mean an increase in league lineage costs.

Obviously this is only the first step in this becoming law. If this bill is passed by the Michigan House of Representatives then it will be sent to the Michigan Senate for their action. If the bill passes both bodies then it would require the governor's signature to be enacted.

Now is the time to become informed and weigh in on the subject with your local Representative.

To find your local representative e-mail address or telephone number use one of the following links:

Oakland County representatives: http://www.house.michigan.gov/RepList.asp?lstCounty=Oakland&txtDistrict=&txtZip=

Macomb County representatives: http://www.house.michigan.gov/RepList.asp?lstCounty=Macomb&txtDistrict=&txtZip=

Wayne County representatives: http://www.house.michigan.gov/RepList.asp?lstCounty=Wayne&txtDistrict=&txtZip=

Royal Treatment?

Wichita city staff revealed no new secrets as to what happened to make the U.S. Bowling Congress cancel its 2011 tournament during the City Council meeting today. City Attorney Gary Rebenstorf and City Manager George Kolb said the congress cited the same three reasons: failure to guarantee long-term maintenance of Century II, lack of binding arbitration and dealing with two entities. The two laid out the time line of contact with the USBC but said they didn't realize negotiations had reached logjam. They thought the remaining issues were small and could be resolved and told the USBC so. They said they are still mystified as to what happened. "There are still some unanswered questions," Kolb said. "But we can't talk to the USBC to answer them." To cut through some of the bowlers' objections, Kolb recommended that in the future that the Wichita Convention and Visitors Bureau, rather than city staff, handle all convention negotiations. That would allow a maintenance guarantee and would simplify negotiations. Members of the City Council asked pointed questions of Kolb and Rebenstorf. "At what point were you going to come to us?" Brewer asked. "When it became obvious that things had reached an impasse," Kolb said. "In our opinion, it had not got there yet." For more on this story, look in Wednesday's Eagle or come back to Kansas.com.

Queen for a day...

If you missed the live broadcast of the 2007 United States Bowling Congress Queens, catch it again this Sunday at 1:00 EDT. Watch five of the world's best women bowlers - Wendy Macpherson, Shannon O'Keefe, Kristal Scott, Diandra Asbaty and Kelly Kulick - vie for the $30,000 first prize along with the Queens tiara, pendant and crystal trophy.
Next up in the televised bowling bonanza is the final match of the $250,000 Bowling Shootout from The Orleans in Las Vegas, to be aired 2:30-3:30 p.m. See USBC Sport Bowling spokesperson Chris Barnes and USBC Hall of Famer Pete Weber try to take away $150,000 in cash and up to $50,000 in prizes from amateurs Joe German Sr. of Powder Springs, Ga., and Sim Dysart of Hancock, Maine. German and Dysart survived four rounds of qualifiers against nearly 300 bowlers from 38 states in the national finals. (www.bowl.com )

'D' place to bowl in 08!

Three major youth events, including the United States Bowling Congress Junior Gold Championships, will be conducted in the Detroit metropolitan area in July of 2008. The USBC Junior Gold Championships is the nation's premier competition for high-average youth bowlers and will be conducted for the 11th consecutive year. The event is expected to draw more than 1,700 athletes and their families to the Detroit area.

Two other events will also be conducted in Detroit - the Pepsi USBC Youth Championships, which features a select number of players in all average levels, and the USBC Youth Open Championships, open to any USBC Youth member. "The Metroit Detroit USBC Association has the second most youth members in the country, so these events are a great fit for that area," USBC Chief Officer for Tournaments and Events Roseann Kuhn said. "The Detroit area is also well-known as a strong bowling community, and I'm sure they'll welcome our bowlers with open arms."

The USBC Junior Gold Championships, which will be held July 5-11, 2008, will be conducted in three bowling centers - Century Bowl in Waterford, Sterling Lanes in Sterling Heights and Sunnybrook Bowl in Sterling Heights. The annual adult/youth tournament will be conducted at Taylor Lanes in Taylor, Mich. The USBC Youth Open Championships will be conducted from July 7-15, 2008 at Skore Lanes in Taylor, while the Pepsi USBC Youth Championships will be held from July 14-16, 2008 at Sunnybrook Bowl.

Also in 2008, the Detroit area will host another major event - the USBC Women's Championships, the world's largest participatory sporting event for women. The Women's Championships will be conducted from April 10-July 6 and will be held at Super Bowl in Canton, Mich. All three youth events are being conducted in Buffalo, N.Y., in July this year. (www.bowl.com)

Very Special...

Special Olympics-Macomb will be holding a fundraiser on Friday, May 18 and Saturday, May 19 at Sunnybrook Lanes in Sterling Heights. The event is for adults only at a cost of $25. The price includes 3 games of no-tap bowling, shoe rental, two pieces of pizza, salad, soda and a door prize ticket. There will be various raffles, strike ball and 50/50. Please consider supporting this very worthy cause.