On the Shelf.....

When I pulled this ball out of the bag, the first thing someone said was, "I like the look of that ball, what is that?" Now in my eyes that’s a good sign. The color scheme reminds me of Superman ice cream. Here comes the Heat of the summer.

On the lanes.....

Just like the Hy-brid version of this ball, the Tropical Heat looks to be a really strong addition to the ‘entry level’ reactive price point. Recreational or New Bowlers will have a really good ball to start their bowling careers. Your average bowlers will have a great ball for most house conditions, and the Tournament player or weekend warrior, will have a ball for most challenge/sport patterns that are shorter in length or volume. Crankers will have a ball if they want to play the bumper on the Typical House shot. Tweeners will be able to have a go to ball when the lanes are starting to dry up a bit but really don’t feel like moving inside to much. Strokers will need this ball when they’re looking at their third game, wondering how to stay where they’re comfortable with a piece that has length and some "pop" at the backend.

Color: Red/Blue
Stock: Reactor Pearl Reactive
Weight Block: Turbine
RG: 2.55
Differential: .038

Review Ball 15 lbs.
Layout: Pin 4.5" X 40 degrees pin above ring finger

GLC's "Out of 5 Stars" Ratings......

Length: 4.25  Back End 4.75  Shelf Appeal 4.75

I will start this story with the simple fact that I have not picked up a bowling ball in 20 years.  I have been working with GLC for about 5 years now.  I help TJ with marketing and with this site.  One of the things you should know is that everyone involved with GLC is a bowling fanatic.  It is not just a job for them it’s a lifestyle.  To be around these guys for 5 years and not bowl was a pretty tough accomplishment.  That was until Bowling IQ opened.  Now all of the sudden it has become impossible.  I no longer had an excuse.  Now there is a place that I can go and just throw (bowl) the ball, a place where I can get equipment and try it out.  A place I can get lessons. More...

This week I was reminiscing about the days back when I bowled on the PBA. Now I didn’t bowl full time like the guys you see every week, I bowled a 6 week tour swing, back when I was living on the west coast in sunny California. I was taken back to those days realizing just how cold it is here in the great state of Michigan. I think last night it was down to 10 degrees!!!  Again I ask myself, why did I move back?  But everything does happen for a reason and this is where I am supposed to be I guess.  Well I was thinking about writing this week about the first tour event where I made a paycheck.  I would like to take you on my personal journey when this all happened. Have fun, sit back, relax and read.  

It was January in the year 2003. At the time I was working for AMF as a pro shop Manger and West coast Technical advisor for the AMF owned pro shops. I was on PBA staff with Ebonite at the time. Sounds kind of funny that I worked for one company and bowled for another, but that is another story. So I packed up the Suburban and headed out to Washington. That week was not a productive week, so let’s move forward to the following week. We packed the Suburban back up and headed to Medford Oregon, the home of the great Marshall Holman. We made the 7 hour drive to Medford, a tiny little town but a huge welcoming city for the Professional Bowlers. For a few minutes I felt really good. I was thinking to myself, this is great, I feel like a star. Then reality set in and it’s time to get to business. I walked into Lava Lanes in Medford and this was a brand new state of the art bowling center. The concourse was huge, plenty of room to move around. The settee area was also a great size to move bowling balls around from lane to lane. I can not forget the restaurant in the bowling center. Yes I said restaurant and not a snack bar. They had every dish was named after a famous bowler. This place really knew how to make bowlers feel important. I got a seat in the restaurant and watched some horse racing. Yea they even had off track betting. I didn’t make any wagers because I wanted to really focus on the reason I was here. That was to bowl at my best.  

After checking out the bowling center and making my way to the locker room I decided to check into my hotel and get a good nights rest.  The next day was the official practice session, so I got my equipment ready, headed out to the lanes and practiced. In practice session, you try to see what type of ball reaction you will get and how to play the lanes, but I will tell you that the practice session and the actual event, plays differently. This is a result of the oil pattern and the lane condition being cleaned off the lanes and reapplied more then once. Usually the oil is a little bit wetter and the dry usually plays a little drier. So after about an hour and a half of practice, I decided to call it an afternoon. I found great ball reactions with a couple bowling balls and felt confident for the first day of qualifying. The two bowling balls I felt the most comfortable with were the Red Predator and the V2 Pearl. Both gave me some good ball reactions. Feeling confident going into qualifying is a great feeling. If you’re unsure of things you can start to over analyze lanes and bowling equipment. You always want to keep it simple. So it was off to grab a bite to eat and relax in the hotel and watch some ESPN or whatever caught my attention on the T.V. 

Today is the day. I go in to the bowling center and get ready for roll call. The first qualifying block is 8 games long and the top 64 return the next day for another 8 games of qualifying. I started out my set with a few solid games. Popped in a couple 240’s 250’s and had a couple games left to finish qualifying. I kept looking over at the big projector wall to see the number for the cut line. I kept seeing my name in the top 64. With two games left and a lot of nerves I kept trying to keep my head in the moment. It was kind of hard because I was bowling with a few big names. To the right of me was the great Marshall Holman, which drew a huge crowd. Now to the left of me was Pete Weber. Another crowd pleaser. Oh and who was on my pair to boot, non other then the great Chris Barnes. Can I tell you that was probably the biggest crowd of people that I have ever bowled in front of.  I started out the 7^th game with a three bagger. Then came number four five and six. The crowd started to gather seeing that there was someone with a string of strikes, and that person was me. I looked back once and could not believe the amount of people cheering me on. So I proceed to put my head down and not let that bother me. So I step up in the 7^th frame and throw another strike. I started to realize that my look on the lanes was getting better every shot I threw. The 8^th frame was a little bit of a fan favorite. I got up threw the ball and left a 7 pin. But wait here comes that great bowling help called the messenger, and it toke the 7 pin out for strike number 8. The crowd erupted and I had to take a minute and play to the crowd. The 9^th frame comes up and I strike yet again. Yes folks, I have the front nine in a PBA Tour event! The tenth frame is coming. I try to stay focused and not let my outside surroundings get into my head. The tenth shot I flush for another strike. Now I am really nervous. I have thrown 300 games in the past, but never had a chance on a stage like this. So I try to calm myself down, and wait for Pete Weber to go and throw his shot. He looks at me and passes it on to me. He said, “Go ahead, this is your spotlight kid.” So I get up and I keep telling myself to not get slow. We are bowling on the Cheetah Pattern and it definitely hooks. So I let it go and trust me, I didn’t get slow with it! I heaved that ball down the lane and alas my string was over. I left a seven pin. I ended up shooting 289 and I looked over at Pete and said “Man that was my first chance at a 300 game on tour” You know he gave me some of the best advice right at that moment. He turned to me and said “You did exactly what you were supposed to do. You made a good shot and hit the pocket. You can not control the pins. Great game and move on to the next one” He’s right. You can’t control what happens once the bowling ball leaves your hand. So I moved on to the next pair.  

One game left and I am still in the cut and still kind of shaking form the last game. I started off with a wash out and then another washout. I told myself to relax and get focused. I ran off the next 9 strikes to make the cut.  

I am going to wrap this up for the week, but I wanted to take you only a small trip with me on how it was to bowl on the PBA level. Maybe one day you might be sitting in front of your computer writing stories of your experiences. I hope you enjoyed this week and as always you can email me and ask me any questions that you may have.

Until next week, Happy Holidays and hope you get everything you wanted for Christmas. 

T.J. Yeip is the Manager of GLC Bowling and Lead Technical Advisor. You can email him directly at Thomas.Yeip@glcbowling.com

Webster’s defines sandbagging as the following:

‘To downplay or misrepresent one's ability in a game or activity in order to deceive (someone)’

I find the thought of this nearly incomprehensible when it comes to the sport of bowling. Never in my life would I want to have people think I was worse that I actually am. I’m sure at times over the years, my performance has not always reflected my true skill, but it wasn’t because I was intentionally trying to deceive anyone.

Ever since I moved up into the adult ranks of bowling, I found out that sandbagging, at least in my immediate area, is a true problem. Who would have thought that being worse at something would give you any type of advantage?

I think of true athletes like Tiger Woods, Michael Jordan and Derek Jeter. Can you image for one second any of them missing the winning putt, not making the game winning shot or striking out INTENTIONALLY? I didn’t think so.

The “sport” of bowling (yes I said it “sport”), has struggled with their identity in being recognized as a true sport for many years – for many reasons. With just the above being known, can you understand why???

Sports are athletic games in which one team, group, individual, etc plays against another. These teams compete to see who between them the best is. They don’t give it less than their all at anytime. If they did, they would lose. These teams are out there, playing the best they can be at all times.

Our “sport” allows a bowler to play at less than their potential at certain times with no penalty. Members on a bowling team might intentionally miss spares or throw low pin counts toward the end of the game if the game is not close enough to have a chance to win. This would keep their average down in order to enter a tournament with a lower average, gaining more handicap than they truly deserve to get.

Our governing body, the United States Bowling Congress has only a couple of rules/regulations when it comes to sandbagging. The two that I know of that try to prevent any type of throwing off are: an “unfair tactics” bylaw and a bylaw that requires a bowler to keep a tournament average and adjust accordingly.

But let’s face it, cheaters know the rules and they do a good job of making sure they are within the guidelines of them. Bowlers affected most by the tournament average and penalized are usually the ones who really and truly are unaware of the bylaw.

Tournaments also reserve the right to rerate any bowler, at anytime, for any reason. A rerate means that the tournament official believes you are playing at an average that does not represent your true ability. If you choose to accept this rerate, you would from that moment on, report that average to any tournament that you bowl in. Penalty for not doing this could result in suspension of your certification (formally sanction).

So what does this all mean? I know I can’t speak for the rest of the country, but in my area, handicap tournaments and events seem to be on the rise while scratch bowling is hurting more than ever. There is one scratch league in existence here and they are down to a mere twelve teams. It puts it far from the hay days of the once elite league that required you to ‘try out’ in order to determine if your skills were good enough to compete in the league. Those were the days.

Nowadays, it seems as though it doesn’t pay to be the best. Higher average bowlers are prevented from bowling in a lot of leagues and various tournaments because of average caps. I guess that’s what you get for having some integrity for the game.

So even though I am limited to where I can bowl and what I can bowl, every time I step on the approach I am trying to knock down as many pins as possible. I would rather look at myself in the mirror and know I lost because I was honest about my ability and someone else wasn’t, than win (no matter the prize) because I was dishonest about my ability.

Bowling is the only sport that the best aren’t rewarded as the best. Either through earnings or public acknowledgement.

Top prize for winning a regular Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) tournament this year is a mere $25,000. Phil Mickelson won 1.4 million dollars last week in Florida. Now $25,000 isn’t a bad pay day but remember, that’s IF you win.

But what if you don’t? Entry into a regular PBA tournament is $500. Minimum prize fund check is $1800. You profit $1300. Well, sort of. That’s before your travel expenses: food, gasoline (or airfare and rental car depending on tournament location) and your lodging at the local Motel 6 (sponsor of the PBA tour). Average weekly expenses for a touring player are in the $500 range. And don’t forget at the end of the year, you have to pay taxes on those earnings.

Ok so you’re thinking, “wow it’s a $500 entry and $500 in expenses and I’m guaranteed $1800 – that’s $800 in profit, not so bad. Especially considering that if I was good enough to make it on tour; I wouldn’t finish last every week”. Well… I forgot to mention that the tour season is only 20 weeks long. So what do you do for the other 32 weeks of the year that you still have a mortgage, car payment, phone bill & general living expenses? Your guess is as good as mine!  Good luck finding a decent payment “regular” job that allows you to take 20 weeks of vacation – in a row.

In 2008 NASCAR’s Sprint Cup Champion (think of it as player of the year), Jimmie Johnson won earnings of 7.3 million dollars. That’s one year of earnings. That’s not too bad for spending four hours in a car making a left turn.

Now let’s put that in perspective for anyone who’s not a math major. A professional bowler would have to win EVERY tournament (in a 20 week tour season) for 14 years to win that much money. You can get the calculator out…I’ll wait.

Ok so what IS the professional bowlers association doing for our sport? It’s pretty obvious they’re not providing an extraordinary lifestyle for their best athletes. And what are their corporate sponsors doing for the sport? Certainly TV wouldn’t be the same if Tiger Woods didn’t adorn the ever branded Nike swoosh on every piece of apparel he wore. Or Derek Jeter didn’t ask the standard: “is IT in you” in every other Gatorade commercial. What if Jeff Gordon wasn’t drinking Pepsi after every race he won?

The NBA, through its NBA Cares program, understands the responsibility they have to give back to the communities that support them and they do so through a diverse array of outreach programs and events. I can’t remember a PBA event where fans got to interact with the professionals in any manner that was free to them.

During the breaks on the PBA telecast, PBA sponsors air their commercials every week. Over the years only a small number of these commercials show a professional bowler, using or endorsing any of these products. Why??? I drink Gatorade, wear Hanes and eat Ball Park Franks because “I wanna be like Mike”.

More people participated in the sport of bowling last year then any other recreational sport. So why don’t people want to be like Walter Ray Williams?

I am a huge baseball fan and I try to watch as many games as I can during the season. However I haven’t participated in a game of baseball since I was in high school. Yet I live and die with every inning April through September in hopes that my team will get to see the likes of October.

On the flip side of that, I bowl in a league four times a week. I participate in local, state and national tournaments on a more than average basis. However, I could care less about who wins on the PBA telecasts on Sundays. Why is this?

This isn’t something that only I’m guilty for either. As I stated earlier, bowling has more participants than any other sport. Why aren’t these people watching the PBA telecasts? Why aren’t these people rooting their favorite bowlers onto victory? I hope you have the answer because I’m pretty sure I don’t and I’m almost positive no one at the PBA has it.