LEAGUES AND TOURNAMENTS - PATHETIC

[Kenny Taylor]

  HERE IT IS, LABOR DAY WEEKEND IN ATLANTA, WITH VIRTUALLY NOTHING TO DO, NO DECENT TOURNAMENTS AND NO DECENT LEAGUES ON THE SOUTHSIDE OF ATLANTA. LABOR DAY AND MEMORIAL DAY WEEKENDS WERE TRADITIONALLY THE BIGGEST BOWLING WEEKENDS OF THE YEAR IN THE NEW YORK, NEW JERSEY AND LONG ISLAND AREA. OUR WINTER AND SUMMER LEAGUES WOULD END RIGHT BEFORE MEMORIAL DAY AND LABOR DAY WEEKENDS. THE LATE NORM EDELMAN AND HIS FAMILY WOULD HOLD A HUGE TOURNAMENT IN THE 112 LANE EDISON LANES IN EDISON NJ, AND WHEN IT CLOSED AT BRUNSWICK ZONE IN NJ NOW HOME OF THE US OPEN. THERE WOULD BE CONTINUOUS SQUADS EVERY 90 MINUTES FROM SATURDAY MORNING THROUGH MONDAY MORNING'S LAST CHANCE SQUAD. HUNDREDS OF BOWLERS WOULD GATHER AND BOWL FOR THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS EACH AND EVERY SQUAD. I REALLY MISS THOSE DAYS.

  WHY CAN'T WE HAVE GOOD TOURNAMENTS AND LEAGUES NOW? WE HAVE PLENTY OF BOWLERS, PLENTY OF HARD WORKING TOURNAMENT DIRECTORS, AND LEAGUE OFFICERS. HERE ARE SOME OF THE REASONS;

  HANDICAPS-WHY SHOULD A 210 AVERAGE BOWLER GIVE PINS TO BOWLERS AVERAGING UNDER 210 AND NOT GET SPOTTED PINS BY BOWLERS AVERAGING HIGHER THAN HIM OR HER. REALISTICALLY BOWLERS AVERAGING OVER 220 SHOULDN'T BE BOWLING IN HANDICAP TOURNAMENTS, AND IF THEY DO THEY SHOULD GIVE BACK HANDICAP 100%.

  LANE CONDITIONS-COMPETITIVE CONDITIONS ARE ONE THING, THE RED, WHITE AND BLUE IDEA WAS GOOD, SOME KEGEL PATTERNS ARE GOOD, AND SOME PBA ANIMAL PATTERNS ARE GOOD. SOME OF THESE TOURNAMENTS EITHER INVENT THERE OWN PATTERNS OR TRY TO PUT DOWN A TOURNAMENT SHOT IMPROPERLY. BESIDES NOT TELLING THE BOWLER WHAT IT IS AND GIVING THEM A CHANCE TO RESEARCH OR PRACTICE ON IT, MOST BOWLERS DON'T WANT TO WASTE MONEY AND TIME TRYING TO FIGURE OUT A SHOT.

  SCRATCH TOURNAMENTS-9;30 PM SUNDAY NIGHT IS NOT A VERY GOOD TIME TO RUN A TOURNAMENT, WHATS WRONG WITH SATURDAY AFTERNOON? ALSO IF I WANTED TO BOWL REGIONALS I WOULD JOIN THE PBA. HOW ABOUT A NON CHAMPIONS TOURNAMENT OR A LOCAL BOWLER ONLY TOURNAMENT ONCE IN A WHILE. MAYBE RESTRICT THE TOP 5 OR 10 PBA POINT LEADERS FROM AN OCCASIONAL TOURNAMENT.

 SENIOR TOURNAMENTS THERE WERE 4 BIG TOURNAMENTS IN OR NEAR ATLANTA. THE ERIC DEFRIETAS SENIOR, THE  SENIOR 250 MASTERS, THE EBONITE SASBA IN HUNTSVILLE, AND THE ATLANTA SENIORS CLASSIC IN AUSTELL. ALL FOUR RAN THE SAME WEEKEND AUGUST 6 AND 7TH. NOW WE CAN WAIT 51 WEEKS UNTIL NEXT YEAR.

   LEAGUES- AS LONG AS YOU CAN TAKE THE TOP 3 OR 4 BOWLERS AROUND, AND ADD A LOWER AVERAGE BOWLER TO STAY BELOW THE CAP AND GET MORE HANDICAP THAN TEAMS AVERAGING AS MUCH OR LESS THAN YOUR TEAM, YOU CAN'T LOSE. ALSO IF YOU HAVE SCRATCH LEAGUES WITH NO CAPS THATS ANOTHER NO WIN SITUATION FOR THE MAJORITY. THIS NEEDS TO BE CORRECTED.

   FINALLY WHY CAN'T ALL THE TOURNAMENT DIRECTORS GET TOGETHER, THEO,CARL, JACKIE, CURTIS,  CEDRON AND ANY OTHERS, ALL GET TOGETHER WITH THEIR MAILING LISTS, GET TOGETHER WITH MYRON VINES, BRUCE AND ELLEN, AND GET A NICE LONG FOEMAT TOURNAMENT ON A HOLIDAY WEEKEND IN SOUTH ATLANTA . ALSO GET SOME GOOD LEAGUES THROUGHOUT THE WEEK, EVERYBODY DOESN'T HAVE TO HAVE THEIR BEST LEAGUE ON THURSDAY NIGHTS IN THE WINTER OR TUESDAY NIGHTS IN THE SUMMER. THATS THE OLD DIVIDE AND CONQUER THEORY. WE HAVE TO WORK TOGETHER.

  I JUST HAD TO GET THIS OFF MY CHEST, WITH THE LOSS OF SLOAN LAST YEAR AND BRISBANE THIS YEAR. LIFE IS SHORT-ENJOY IT WHILE YOU CAN. 

 

[JEFF SHAW]

Great job Ken !!!  I agree 1000 percent !!!
The so called bowlers in this town are pathetic
They wouldn't show up anyway. They would
rather go out of town somewhere and bowl some
handicap tournament. Ridiculous !!!

[Randall Harville]

Ken, you really had a lot on your chest.  Great post!!!

[jonah white]

Mr Taylor I agree wholeheartedly on these odd tournament shots and as I see it the attendance is getting smaller and smaller because of it.  That divide and conquer thing seems to be working, the atlanta area should be able to support an eight to ten weekends type tournament , then again maybe not, the pie would not be big enough for everyone to get a slice.   Great post though, hope it gets people thinking.

[Harry Hoffman]

Well said Ken!!!  Paulding has a scratch weekly event at 2pm each Sunday with a minimal $20 entry fee, brackets and high game pot are also available.  During the summer this event, the 'sport' shot sweeper at Cedar Creek (Brunswick Marietta) and Levis Nelson's event at Woodstock on Monday night were the only 3 weekly events of  this kind I knew of in the area.  The Woodstock event on Monday ended due to leagues but, has been replaced by a North Metro 9 Pin No-Tap that starts 9/18 (Sunday), 12 weeks alternating between AMF Marietta and AMF Woodstock.  The Cedar Creek event also ended due to leagues.  The Paulding event continues and is drawing 20+ bowlers each week.  The RBT 3 game sweeper at AMF Marietta is the only one I know of during the week and is the best advertised.   

 

The problem I see and struggle with, is finding out about the local, one-off smaller tournaments.  The RBT site, bowling200.com and bowling300.com list some of the larger tournaments but, a clearinghouse used by all the local bowling establishments would be an awesome resource for area bowlers.   In addition, it might help some of the overbooking of tournaments on the same date Ken eluded to in his post.

[gary marshall]

I agree with you on all that you mentioned. I bowled in a Org. called Southern Oregon Allstars in Oregon and loved it. They would get 8 bowling centers, a different one every month, thru out the state of Oregon, no farther then 150 miles from one to the other. They had 7 game quals then cut to the top 24, then start 1 game match play till the end. Entry's were a 100 as a member, 125 if not. So for 8 months, you had a tourney scratch and gain points for the overall champion. I wish there was something like that around the Atlanta Area. I live in Gainesville and know of 3 centers within 30 mile from me. Something to think about !!!!!

[Kenny Taylor]

Thanks Jeff,

     We need something for the scratch bowlers, the bowlers in the 200-220 range, not strong enough to be a factor on the regional tour and not over the cap in handicap tournaments. The only good action we get are the TNBA scratch tournaments(that don't allow PBA bowlers) and local USBC tournaments (like the all-star and sr all star tournaments). The Eric DeFrietas was good up until the Snellville fiasco, maybe it will recover in the future. The OBTA tournaments on Saturdays may be fun and the Brunswick Zone tournaments bring a flicker of hope to the Atl. 

     Hopefully 2012 will bring good changes to the game. Thanks for listening.

JEFF SHAW said:

Great job Ken !!!  I agree 1000 percent !!!
The so called bowlers in this town are pathetic
They wouldn't show up anyway. They would
rather go out of town somewhere and bowl some
handicap tournament. Ridiculous !!!

[Kenny Taylor]

 Hi Gary,

      We had a summer scratch singles travel league on Long Island about 10 years ago. We travelled all over Long Island and Queens NY. It attracted some of the best bowlers for miles around. Good idea, thanks for the thought, I'll kick it around with some of the propieters around town. 

gary marshall said:

I agree with you on all that you mentioned. I bowled in a Org. called Southern Oregon Allstars in Oregon and loved it. They would get 8 bowling centers, a different one every month, thru out the state of Oregon, no farther then 150 miles from one to the other. They had 7 game quals then cut to the top 24, then start 1 game match play till the end. Entry's were a 100 as a member, 125 if not. So for 8 months, you had a tourney scratch and gain points for the overall champion. I wish there was something like that around the Atlanta Area. I live in Gainesville and know of 3 centers within 30 mile from me. Something to think about !!!!!

[Kenny Taylor]

Thanks Harry,

         You are right, we'll wait and see what it looks like when the winter leagues settle in. Hopefully the OBTA on Saturdays will be successfull and the Brunswick Zone Tour will resume this winter. i'm thinking about a senior handicap tournament or maybe a 220 and under hdcp singles tournament but we will see.

Harry Hoffman said:

Well said Ken!!!  Paulding has a scratch weekly event at 2pm each Sunday with a minimal $20 entry fee, brackets and high game pot are also available.  During the summer this event, the 'sport' shot sweeper at Cedar Creek (Brunswick Marietta) and Levis Nelson's event at Woodstock on Monday night were the only 3 weekly events of  this kind I knew of in the area.  The Woodstock event on Monday ended due to leagues but, has been replaced by a North Metro 9 Pin No-Tap that starts 9/18 (Sunday), 12 weeks alternating between AMF Marietta and AMF Woodstock.  The Cedar Creek event also ended due to leagues.  The Paulding event continues and is drawing 20+ bowlers each week.  The RBT 3 game sweeper at AMF Marietta is the only one I know of during the week and is the best advertised.   

 

The problem I see and struggle with, is finding out about the local, one-off smaller tournaments.  The RBT site, bowling200.com and bowling300.com list some of the larger tournaments but, a clearinghouse used by all the local bowling establishments would be an awesome resource for area bowlers.   In addition, it might help some of the overbooking of tournaments on the same date Ken eluded to in his post.

[gary marshall]

Scratch Tourneys are hard to find and few and in between in the surrounding Atlanta Area. The problem is that you have 200-220 house shot bowlers that want scratch tourneys. Only thing is if you put down a PBA Pattern, they will not bowl because they can't on a shot like that. i know a guy in Gainesville that bowls in a league and keeps his average at 140, problem is he is a 180-190 all day long. So far this year, he has claimed over 5,000 in handicap tourneys because of that average. NOW THATS A BUNCH OF CRAP!!!! I am a 190 average bowler and refuse to lower myself as a bowler to sandbag, but this is what they do and we the good bowlers are screwed on handicap tourneys. Like I said before, if someone started a Org, to do the 8 months of different centers and a different shot everytime, I believe bowlers form all over would come and compete. Good bowlers want to bowl good scratch bowlers, at least I do anyways. Even the Classics Leagues are handicap, REALLY! Used to be you had to have a 180 or better average to even get into a Classic Leg, not anymore !!!!!!

[F.O.X]

EXCELLENT TITLE  FOR  THE TRUTH .

1. Why we can't  good tournaments and leagues now?

       Too much manipulation of  lane conditions, made up lane conditions. Ridicolous handicap ratios that DO NOT fit the lane conditions that they are to be based on. Ex. you want 200 as a base average for your handicap, then you must have a lane condition where the HIGH AVG in the league will be about 220, IF that. You can't have a 200 base for handicap and the scoring conditions are allowing 260-270 scores all day everyday?!

 

2. Lane conditions.

       What a joke this is. This is a sore topic with a lot of people but the truth usually hurts.  All the 215+ average bowlers in this city, THERE ISN'T A SCRATCH LEAGUE ANYWHERE. Everyone is going to this tournament out of town. That tournament out of town, but when they get there, there might be a shot that is TOUGH. YET YOU LAY THE SAME SHOT DOWN HERE.......... NO PARTICIPATION, ALL THE BELLY ACHING YOU CAN MUSTER UP AND ALL THE SIDELINE CRITICS WITH NO BOWLING SHOES ON TRYING TO BOWL?!

Every lane machine that has every been in production to date has THOUSANDS of lanes conditions from mild to wild that can fit every tournament and league condition that you desire. THERE IS NO REASON EVER THAT A SHOT SHOULD BE MADE UP,EVER.  People save their money and go to Nationals, yet never practice on the shot before they even go?! If you laid out the National shot here at a tournament, I bet you'd have a low turnout. 

This is a scoring city, NOT a bowling city. The easier the lane conditions, the more you can strike. Forget spares, who makes those? Yet if the conditions were tougher around here and you had to start making spares, I guarnatee all those big avgerages would come down a bit and the competitive level will go up. You don't want to shoot 280 and go home broke?! Yet, that's exactly what we have going on around here.

When you keep the lane conditions under control, that will control the averages per se' and determine the type of "players" you have in your league. When one come to bowl, you want to feel that you have a chance. You may not be the best player in the city or state.  keep working at it, you may get your night when you can come up as the top gun for the evening. When the conditions are as such even when I muster up a 250-260, the better players are still out striking me. The lane condition and scoring pace are hand in hand. Easy lanes, high scores. Tougher conditions, lower scores, but now EVERY shot counts.  Every spare determines a win or loss. The fight for survival now is determined on who can make spares or who can't. NOT on who can throw the must strikes or who gets tapped for a loss.

The bowling centers have given the people what they wanted. High scores/ easier conditions. They have to make money too. Yet, this has gotten out of hand. Leagues are non- competitive, have gone down is size in certain areas or have disappeared completely. Why? TOO MUCH OF A GOOD THING. TOO MANY HIGH SCORES, TOO MANY STRIKES, TOO LITTLE COMPETITION. THE WORD "BOWL" HAS BEEN REMOVED FROM "BOWLING".

In my opinion, the bowling centers have to "TAKE BACK" control of "their" bowling alley. Lay down conditions that are fair for the type of league that you are having on that particular night and STICK with it. You CAN'T knuckle under to the SMALL few that BELLY ACHE  because they can't hit it. WE ALL CAN'T HIT EVERY SHOT, SOME WE HAVE TO WORK AT IT TILL WE GET IT.  Yet, to leave shots out that are causing a drop in league participation due  to certain team dominance, certain people dominanace, certain style dominance is unfair. All one wants is a situation to be fair.

If it's fair, then we all have a chance.

[Carl H. Faulk]

The biggest problem I see is the so called 210 and 220 bowlers don't bowl out side of the houses that lay down their shot, that they can score on.  Why can't these so called big time bowlers find the shot in warm-up like everyone else.  Handicap- What do you want 100% of 300.  Would that make everyone happy!  Just shut-up and bowl!!  It's a game that's suppose to be fun.

[F.O.X]

Carl H. Faulk said:

The biggest problem I see is the so called 210 and 220 bowlers don't bowl out side of the houses that lay down their shot, that they can score on.  Why can't these so called big time bowlers find the shot in warm-up like everyone else.  Handicap- What do you want 100% of 300.  Would that make everyone happy!  Just shut-up and bowl!!  It's a game that's suppose to be fun.

If you want to "bowl" , you'll have to find a group of people that are trying to do just that. They are the ones that are going to try to "bowl" on tougher conditions and improve therir game.

Now If you want to "score" ,  you can go just about anywhere.......