Bill Herald

Published: Sunday, December 6, 2009 at 1:00 a.m.
Last Modified: Tuesday, December 8, 2009 at 8:56 p.m.

QUESTION: When is a bowling discussion forum not a bowling discussion forum?

ANSWER: As of the time the United States Bowling Congress unveiled its all-new forums on Aug. 3.

USBC obviously has the right to monitor its own forums and establish “terms” regarding its use. But why even have discussion forums if all posts are held for moderation and subject to strict censorship?

‘Negatives’ deleted

………..

Mark Miller, one of 41 USBC forum moderators, has stated the following policy: “Anything deemed to be negative toward USBC or the sport of bowling will be deleted.”

By the same token, one frequent poster was told that one of his posts was censored “due to the fact it had absolutely nothing to do with any positive aspect of bowling … (and) as the rules state when you sign up, we are here to promote bowling in a positive way.”

………..

Not long ago, USBC’s vice president of media, Pete Tredwell, ventured into the PBA.com Web site.

In starting a new thread, Tredwell said, in part: “I’m trying to learn what people see as the most important things we do, so that we can better serve our customers … I’d like to hear what this group thinks … (and I’m) hoping people take this seriously, and don’t use it as a platform to make jokes.”

……..

After many negative posts, a PBA.com moderator, Bruce Falcon, posted the following, in part:

“This thread has been very educational. I have learned that USBC has a lot of time to spend in PBA message boards. I have learned that the USBC has no vision … I have learned that the USBC has no communication from top to bottom … I have learned that the USBC is in danger of going bankrupt … I have learned that bowl.com was really bad before, and (they) just simply had to change because it was old and sucked and there were no employees working on it … I have learned that the national governing body of bowling is not real good and nobody has a clue. The USBC better get it together or it won’t really matter in 5 years. They better start changing their thinking quick.”

Tredwell responded to Falcon: “Congratulations, your post was the tipping point. After this post, I am done with this thread. What you wrote was inflammatory and hurtful to the entire industry. Hope you are proud.” And Tredwell left the thread amidst a sea of negative responses.

4 Comments on Article from Herald Tribune about USBC Ignorance

R Diercks on Fri, 18th Dec 2009 10:35 am


While I agree that USBC should be open minded, I can see why it is difficult for them to take some of the critisism seriously. I have attended jamborees and seen how USBC reps are treated. When a complaint is expressed with a barage of swearing and child like behavior it is difficult to reciprocate any amount of respect.

Bowlers across the country treat their bowling center proprietors in the same fashion if they can’t walk in and be gifted a 700 or better. It’s always the fault of the lanes, not the bowler. It seems the bigger the average, the bigger the baby in many cases. USBC is absolutely correct in feeling the integrity of the game is nearly gone and that giving away patches that end up in the garbage does not increase membership.

We as bowlers need to change our mindset and our goals before bowling will change. I don’t necessarily agree with censorship, but any negativity about bowling is bad for all of us.

I am extremely excited about our youth coming up in this sport. They are more willing to accept a challenge and if we do it right, we can bring back the integrity to the next generation. If anyone reading this has not attended a High School or Collegiate tournament, I strongly encourage you to do so. It may bring back that old spark that made us love this game for the game.

Aaron on Fri, 18th Dec 2009 11:12 am


Thanks for your comments. Any input is greatly appreciated. I agree with some of your points, but disagree with others.

As far as the complaints, it seems to be 50/50 to me. Some of it is ridiculous like you said, uninformed people treating the USBC poorly, swearing, etc. Other times, it is well-informed people, sometimes college bowlers, sometimes professional bowlers, bringing up constructive criticism. These people bring up ideas to the USBC, whether it be through email, forum posts, etc. they usually have helpful ideas. The USBC sees this criticism as “they’re saying we’re doing it wrong.” Then what happens? –POST DELETED–

I agree with your point about “typical league bowlers” treating their center proprietors poorly. They expect to shoot 700 every night and average 240, because “that’s what they’re supposed to do.” Who’s fault is this? I say USBC. This is a problem that they created by allowing centers to use these “forgiving” house patterns. Now they have created Sport Bowling and the PBA Experience leagues to help bring back integrity to the game. I feel that it is too late and the damage has already been done. Bowlers have gotten used to bowling on these easy patterns, and now they think that this is how it is supposed to be. Me, on the other hand, am all for Sport Bowling. I am currently averaging 231 on a house pattern, and I know that I am not a 230 average bowlers. Meanwhile I’m at 195 in a PBAx league. If it were my way, everyone would bowl on sport all the time. I hate going to a tournament knowing that you’re going to have to average 250 to make the cut. I like knowing that I’m going to have to find the right part of the lane to play, match up with equipment, make good shots, cover my spares, and average 200 to make the cut and depending on the difficulty of the pattern, maybe even lead with a 200 average. The problem again, if you put out these tough patterns, nobody will show up, because they’re scared that they won’t have their overinflated average.

As far as high school and collegiate bowling, college bowling is one of the greatest experiences I have ever had. If it weren’t for college bowling, I would probably still bowl on house patterns and be like the rest of the bowling community that is “scared” to bowl on something tough. College bowling has gotten me where I am today with several “sport bowling” honor scores, etc. not to mention all of the great friends I’ve made in bowling from around the country. The best part… going to a tournament knowing that I’m going to be bowling against some of the best bowlers in the world and making friends with guys that are going to be on TV. High school bowling on the other hand (at least here in Michigan), is the opposite. These kids bowl on house patterns, average 230, and think that’s what they deserve. If they go to a house and don’t average 230, they don’t have to bitch. Their parents do it for them. “If Johnny can’t stand on the middle dot and throw it over second arrow to get a strike, the lane man screwed up. I’m never coming here again.” This is where it begins. These kids keep this mentality forever and that’s how we get where we are today, where you can’t get anyone to show up and bowl on something tough.

Feel free to let me know how you feel about my comments. I am going to try to turn off moderation for this post, so any more comments will be posted immediately.

R Diercks on Fri, 18th Dec 2009 1:49 pm


Aaron,

You are absolutely correct that USBC helped cause or did cause the scoring integrity in bowling to destroyed. My point is that bowlers are equally culpable. Nobody complained when they were getting amazing scores. Why would they, all the bowlers just got that much better right? I also agree that it may be too late to correct with current adult bowlers. I don’t feel it’s too late for the next generation though. Unfortunately, we cannot rely on USBC to do so. Those of us on the front lines have to first accept that it is a problem and make concerted efforts to make youth competition require challenging patterns.

You are also 100% correct that parents do the bitching for them. Again this falls on us. It shouldn’t have to but because its gone on so long, it does. Coaches, volunteers, and youth leaders need to educate both the bowlers and their parents about these facts. People like you that have competed on the other side of this are who we need to help lead this charge.

We were fairly successful with this last summer when myself and other coaches ran a Youth Challenge League. The most encouraging thing is that this was the largest summer league in our center’s history. We ran Jr. Gold patterns all summer and informed parents and bowlers of the differences and helped them learn to play the different patterns. Of course scores were down, but amazingly, if you build the right expectation from both parents and youth, no complaining exists.

As far as high school bowling, again you are right. They are primarily competed on house shots which I agree should change. What I am looking at are the positive experiences the kids have. They are bowling because they love to bowl. The atmosphere is completely different from league bowling when they are representing their school. Focus and intensity is far above that of regular league. We recently had a Baker Match Play tournament between 8 schools. By far the most exciting experience I have had as a coach. I also attended the USBC Intercollegiate Team finals last year. By far the most exciting spectator experience I have had in bowling.

I am not saying that USBC is perfect or defending their decision to delete forum comments. I just think we need to affect change from the ground up, through actions locally. Just because USBC doesn’t require us to use more challenging patterns does not mean we don’t have the freedom to do so.

Aaron on Fri, 18th Dec 2009 2:17 pm


I agree with everything you just said. Adult bowlers have gotten too used to the high scores. I am not sure what can be done to fix this problem though. Bowling center proprietors can’t make the lanes too difficult, then everyone will go down the road to bowl where they know they can score. I guess I’d have to say I blame this on the ignorant league bowler. The typical league bowler is too lazy to practice and make himself better, but still thinks they deserve the 210 average. I’ve been to several tournaments on sport patterns where we had less than 10 people show up. Meanwhile, they’ll have 80 people show up to a tournament the next weekend on house.

I love the fact that you ran that youth challenge league. I think you’re on the right path with that. I just wish more people put the time and effort into promoting the sport like that. I know a few other people who are doing similar things, but even in their cases sometimes it doesn’t work out as planned. One example is the IYSBT in Indiana. They run youth scholarship tournaments every 2 weeks on sport patterns. They usually have pretty good turnouts. They even have had people complaining because their 210 average kid went -250 for 5 games. Another example is the MJMA here in Michigan. They have bowlers from Michigan, Indiana, and Ohio, but still can’t get great turnouts.

The problem with the USBC is that they don’t do much to push for these types of tournaments. You hear about Junior Gold, etc., but nothing about the different organizations across the country trying to promote the sport.

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