Atlanta Summer Scratch 08

[Theo McNair]

Before I start I would like to first of all take the time to thank all the "Real Bowlers" that came out and supported the RealBowlers Tour. Congrats to Jim Wolcott and Joshua Harper for showing the mental toughness and sportsmanship that we love to see.
Today was a day of adversity and challenges. We first had bad weather, that should have been a sign.:) The oil pattern we requested, advertised and confirmed unfortunately was not the shot that was put down. The numbers we anticipated were no where close to the entries we received. Also, there were three pair of lanes that stop working as soon as we started warm ups. Needless to say, today was by far my worst experience out of the almost 30 scratch tournaments my brother Tim and I have run.

Was this our worst because of the things I listed above? NO! Today I heard more complaints and reasons on why bowlers have decided to "quit" bowling in the RealBowlers Tour events. Here are some of the reasons:
1) "The shot is never right."
2) "The entry used to be less."
3) "The payouts are not fair. You all pocket too much of the bowlers money." :)
4) "First place is not high enough for the entry fee"
5) "The last to cash should double their money."
6) "You all have the best tournaments in Atlanta but, the reason is nobody else is doing any tournaments" :)

So, to keep this blog from being extremely long I will stop right there.
It was my worst experience because today I realized that no matter what you do to accomodate for us bowlers the more we complain. And some come up with false reasons and spread lies to make up for their own mishaps or shortcomings. (I won't go in to detail)

RealBowlers promise to always bring you the best in tournament bowling. Will we quit bringing you customer service with a team that's second to none? Will we stop paying the best payouts you will see in the South (excluding the PBA) based on the numbers? Will we stop paying a 1:5 or better ratio (1:2 today)? Will we stop giving away Gas cards, Longhorn cards and other great giveaways? Will we stop delivering the fastest and most accurately posted Standing Sheets and Brackets you can find, after each game? Will we stop putting down challenging lane conditions? Will we stop sending out the best professionally designed flyers and advertisements? Will we stop promoting the sport of bowling? Will we stop bringing the best bowlers the best tournaments? NO WE WANT! Because we try our best to give "Real Tournaments for Real Bowlers" That's our commitment.

For all of you that are concerned about money and payouts, all I can say is "do the numbers" and tell me how can it be done differently. "Do the numbers first" then tell me.

I'm listening.

[randy hicks]

Oh yea, and I got to be on Real Bowlers TV. I will never forget that day.

[randy hicks]

Tim and Theo,

You need to keep doing what you feel is right. Man, when I get to these RBT tournaments I get butterflies just like I did in High school before pitching a big game. They get you fired up. Every shot counts , every pin is important. It is you against the feild. You are bowling against the best bowlers in the south east. I love it, I just cant bowl on Sunday mornings all the time.
I am going to give my opinion, and this is only an opinion. I agree with Kenny in that the cream usually rises to the top. The best bowlers will usually win in this format, and that is what the goal of these tournaments is. The problem is bowlers and people in general need their ego's padded every now and then. Very few of the bowlers are experienced on the sport patterns that are being put out in the RBT's. these are the bowlers that usually rise to the top. The rest of the field are pretty good house bowlers who want to come out and test themselves. They won't admit it but people don't like getting beat. especially month in and month out at $160 a pop.
Remember this is only an opinion. I believe you should have the Tour and only expect the turnout you are having. Plus have a Real Bowlers Tournament once a year that you try to get bowlers from all over the nation. Maybe run it for a month of weekends. Maybe have handicap in this tournament 80% of 200 so you don't run the scratch bowlers off. With your marketing skills and reputation I am sure it would be a success. Plus you have CICELY, the nicest person alive.
I run some monthly tournaments in D'ville and when the same people (the best bowlers) kept winning people lost interest. My point is you will never make everyone happy, so keep running good, honest, and fair tournaments and I will be sure to support you when I can.

[Kenny Taylor]

You and your staff are among the nicest I've seen. They are very friendly and polite. However, despite your efforts, your participants are decreasing. At first you were losing local participants and now you are beginning to lose the PBA regional players.
Lane conditions have a lot to do with the decrease in local participation. Most bowlers get tired of spending $150- $200 or more and not having any chance of cashing much less winning the tournament. PBA patterns are difficult enough when they are put down correctly, some houses don't have a clue of what they are doing. An occasional house shot is good but you don't want the lanes to easy on the other hand. Modified sports patterns would be a feasible alternative. These patterns were used in the Mini Eliminator in Las Vegas and there were little or no complaints.
You have many of the top regional bowlers bowling in your tournaments and they usually dominate the prize list. Maybe you can have divisions in your tournaments. The "High Rollers"," Red Hot","Mini-eliminator" and True Amateur Tournament"'s all have divisions. Perhaps you can have a "classified" division which would include your regional players. A "non-classified " division which would consist of non PBA bowlers. The TAT tournament has a division for Senior bowlers and Lady bowlers. You could get a champion in each division, a prize list in each division and a shootout at the end between the three or four leaders.
These are my recommendations and ideas. I love tournament bowling and would love to see some good action locally.
Let me know what you think. Hopefully I'll see you soon.

[Jack Taylor]

Tim and theo,
I have bowled your tournament since ive moved here from Wilmington. You run a great tournament nobody even compares to the way you run yours. You know some bowlers dont understand the time, effort, and most of all the money it takes to put this tournament together. Keep doing what u r doing and you will always have bowlers to show up and bowl. I will support you guys in everything that you do. If it were me i would tell all the people who back out, who complained bout payout and bout the lanes, "we didnt force you to bowl, you did that on your own." TTL at the next rbt

[Dennis Killough]

I will have to ditto what Harper said. You are pulling entries from 4-5 hrs away. That should say alot for the tournaments you run. You offer the competitive bowler what most of us look for in tournaments: a challenging shot, good payout and friendly tournament staff. Sure there were a few problems this past tournament, but most of us realized it was the house's problem and not yours. I believe that center needs to retrain a few employee's. From the front counter to the mechanic. Front counter needs to learn how to reset the scores and the mechanic needs to realize his job is behind the pins. I mean it got old waiting 5 minutes for ball returns because he was up front talking and couldn't hear problem calls in the back....Dennis

[Jack Taylor]

Tim and theo,
when I first bowled your tournament 2 years ago at bz marietta. I knew you guys were the real deal, good tournament well ran and a hard shot. I will always support the rbt because you are the only people who are not afraid to do what you do. All those people who complained, nine times out of ten the did not bowl good enough to make the cut. What i would say to the bowlers who complained is "You get the centers together, you get the flyers out you put up the money and you run the damn tournament yourself and see how easy it is to you." I will always support you guys and will always bowl the tournaments when im not at the regionals. Keep doing what you guys are doing and for people who want to complain just tell them, "We didnt force you to bowl." ttl at the eric defritas tournament Jack Taylor

[Thanks7pin]

Tim and Theo,
You guys run a great tournament and most of the bowlers that show up really appreciate what you and the rest of the realbowlers crew do for us. There are very few challenging tournaments out there for bowlers and the few that are left have to deal with people complaining the entire time. Everyone had to bowl on the same approaches and everyone had to bowl on the same pattern. Some guys adjusted to what was there and some guys cried the entire tournament. You will never make those people happy no matter what you do, so I wouldn't stress about it. Your staff treats the bowlers with great respect and you always have a challenging shot, that's why the guys I travel with and myself will continue to support your tournaments. Thanks again.......Harper

[Johnny Manzella]

sorry i couldn't make it either. i just returned from las vegas and something in the air out there messed up my sinuses. i wish we had a tournament as good as yours in the birmingham area. the people of atlanta have no clue of what they have. keep up the good work and hopefully i'll see you at the next one......johnny

[ron evans]

sorry i couldnt make it...keep doing what you,re doin.....Ron