Tonx you show a complete lack of respect for people who have been bowling longer than you've been alive. What do you know about what bowling was like in the 50's, 60's, 70's? Heck I don't know but I respect my elders and bowlers from that generation. Lane conditions, oils, balls were completely different, there is no way you can compare them to todays game in anyway.
There is huge merit in this proposal, hence why Norm Duke, Brian Voss, Mike Machuga and Danny Wiseman all attended on their own accord to the annoucement.
Bowling needs these new parameters to ensure a level playing field and future growth. Here are some quoted words from Brian Voss on the matter (taken from the PBA forums)
"The intent of this effort is to create an environment that is fair and that minimizes the mutation of the oil pattern. To challenge players with different patterns, ones that encourage a different strategy, is part of this effort. It will not be one pattern for everyone."
Please understand that this is something for the WTBA. They are not telling anyone to do anything. It is an experiment, not a demand. There are a lot of factors in this decision, and they go well beyond the integrity of the game. To try and make a tournament fair, in the best possible way, it's impossible because of how the balls erase the ball pattern.
There has to be lane maintenance in every tournament, and when it's impossible to maintain a fair environment, changes have to be made to solve that problem. The surface of the ball and flare are what make it impossible to control and predict fair play. You people that aren't familiar with lane maintenance, it's one tough business. To make a fair playing environment is easy. Keeping it fair after a lot of traffic is the problem. The direction to be able to keep the playing environment fair is to make harder surfaces that repel oil, and use much less oil on the lanes to reduce change. There are also economics involved. The WTBA is made of many countries. A lot of third world country participants can't afford 20 bowling balls apiece each year. When they fly to a tournament, the expense of taking all of the necessary equipment to a tournament (12 balls) is 4 times the plane ticket. When you have 600 kids at an event, and they all have 10 balls apiece, that means weighing in 6000 balls. So once again, this is not about you here in the US, or anywhere, there's no need to worry, your balls are safe for now. You'll be able to play bowling the way that you're playing now. But at the highest level, for these WTBA events, and after taking all things into consideration, this effort was needed. In theory, I agree with it 100%.
Tonx, its not a revs contest, your missing the whole point. If it was a rev's contest Belmo would win. It's about a bowlers skill in adapting his game to create an angle so they carry all 10 pins. At the moment, bowlers can change balls to change angles and reaction (which is a skill in its own). Under this new idea, this would truly measure a bowlers adaptability. Again, its not above revs and maybe you should listen to people who know a little more about the game than yourself.
For the record Tonx, Wayne bowled on tour for over 20yrs and is the holder of a PBA National title. If he was to come back to bowling, he's beat you no problems at all.
