General Info: Will post again later in the week

This is going to be a light week as far as posting.  I've got a few posts going, but took some damage to my right hand, and three fingers are not wanting to play nice w/the keyboard.  As I'm right handed, and an IT professional, this makes it a bit of a challenge until it heals up a bit.  So I've got to save my typing for the office, but I'll keep mentally finishing the posts until I can type them up.

Bowling-Centrism. Like Ethnocentrism, only different (Part 1)

From the essay mentioned in the Backgrounds post:  ". . . ethnocentrism. This means that we judge other cultures by the standards of our own. Not only that, but we also believe that our own culture is superior to everyone else's."

Can bowling be considered an ethnocentric sport?  Personally I don't think so -- it's a game enjoyed on 6 of the 7 continents on the planet.  There are Hipster bowling lounges where the upper crust bowl all the way to the eight lane houses that cater to the blue collar/no collar workers.  It's a game for the working stiff, the middle class, the white collar professional, the Hollywood elite, and professional athletes from multiple sports.  It's one of the games that's available to everyone who is willing to shoe up and participate:  young or old, male or female, able bodied or not, and whatever color of the rainbow your personal pigmentation happens to match.  I'm actually quite proud of the diversity that I've witnessed on the lanes during my time bowling.

However, there is a type of ethnocentrism (as defined above) that is pervasive in the bowling community, and I briefly implied it in my second Thomas Theorem post, but I'll expand on it now.  I'll call it Bowling-centrism:  the belief that 1. my reason for being involved with bowling is the most important reason for bowling to exist, and 2. others that do not subscribe to bowling for the same reason are either not adding enough or somehow taking away from the sport.  Let's approach this in a tiered situation - - the various types of bowlers can be listed thusly:

• The Date Night / Birthday Party / Group activity bowler -- maybe comes to the lanes between 2 and 24 times a year.  The bowling center is the place that they come to have their activity, but bowling is secondary to the activity.
• The Casual Bowler -- House shoes and house ball is fine, probably there with the family, maybe with friends, maybe by themselves.  Usually comes to the lanes between 12 and 52 times a year.  These people come to bowl, maybe one to three games each time they show up.  However they are there to have fun, may not have the full grasp of lane courtesy, and they're happy getting whatever score they get.
• The League Bowler -- Can range from house shoes and ball all the way to 6 balls at the lanes and another 6 in the car (aka: Casual bowlers through Non-Casual Bowlers).  Comes to the lanes anywhere from 24 to 108 times a year (depending on how many leagues they are in, and whether they come back to practice), bowl at minimum 3 games each time they show up.  They are there to bowl (for the most part), generally understand several of the nuances of bowling, and the score usually matters to them - so they're usually trying to improve their game for the center(s) that they bowl in.
• The Non-Casual Bowler -- Owns their own gear, usually multiple balls, has the balls drilled for a certain reaction and knows how to maintain their equipment to maximize that reaction.  Comes to the lanes anywhere from 52 to 260 times a year, and will bowl a minimum of 3 games, and for the tournament/professional - easily more than 10 games every time.  These are the bowlers who get training, research balls, know the rulebook, and are always looking for their game to be consistantly better no matter what the lane condition.  I'm including here the Junior bowlers, Sport condition bowlers, team bowlers, tournament bowlers, and professional bowlers - or anyone who aspires to be included in this group.

These are the tiers of bowlers that the entire bowling industry, local, national, and international are built upon.  Each has their strengths, each has their place in the bowling center, and one would hope each of them ultimately feels welcome in the average bowling environment.  The Non-Casual Bowler doesn't just appear - they are cultivated, usually going through all the stages of this bowling tier system at some point in time.  However, like most things that grow - there are various points where moving through the tiers can be stunted, or even killed.  Granted - not everyone who bowls at the Date Night / Birthday Party level will move into being a Casual Bowler - the interest for some people just isn't there.  Likewise, some Casual Bowlers will never move to being a League Bowler - either because of the lack of interest, lack of time they can commit to a league, or even because of a lack of a league to join.  What I hope for though, is that the local environment is available such that any interest that an occasional bowler shows in getting more involved with bowling can be nurtured so that the Date Night / Birthday Party / Group Activity bowler will feel good enough that they return more often, thereby becoming a Casual Bowler.  If a rapport is developed between our Casual Bowler and another League / Non-Casual Bowler, and there are leagues available that mesh with his/her time schedule - then it's not that hard to turn a Casual Bowler into a League Bowler.

But there's the rub on multiple levels:
1.  there has to be a rapport between a DN/BP Bowler or a Casual Bowler and a League / Non-Casual Bowler for that spark of interest to be fed and allowed to grow.  If another patron of the bowling center is implying, directly or indirectly, that they are annoyed by the presence of a DN/BP Bowler or Casual Bowler, or if an employee of the center shows no interest in that DN/BP or Casual Bowler - then what reason do they have for coming back?  It stays at best an antiseptic relationship, and at worst the spark goes out and they stop going bowling altogether.
2. The Casual Bowler has to have time in their schedule to be available for league and/or there has to be a league available during the time that person has available.  With the average schedule being filled with extra activities, and bowling having to compete with television, computers, phones, soccer, karate, tennis, etc... having time to bowl in a league, whether sanctioned or unsanctioned, takes a real commitment.  I know from personal experience that I wasn't in league for 3 years due to my changing work schedule, and right now if I could find a Friday morning league - I'd join it immediately.  But in all my time when I went to practice, I wasn't asked to join a league, or even asked if I was interested - and this was over 3 different centers.
3. The league must be a good fit for the DN/BP or Casual Bowler - run well, a welcoming atmosphere, and supportive.  If a Bowler has a real competitive spirit, they may not do as well in a 'fun' league, and vice versa - if a bowler is a better fit for a relaxed league, then pairing them up with a big money competition league may not be the best idea.  Not that they might not learn to thrive, and they should be given an option, but it's important to get to know both the league and the Casual Bowler that you're thinking of inviting.  A bad mix the first time means there probably won't be a second.

At the heart of Bowling-Centrism is the philosophy of:  "This is my time to bowl here - how I feel about bowling is evident in how I conduct myself at the lanes, whether focused, intense, relaxed, boisterous, or uncaring, and my way is right - everyone else can deal with it."  I've seen good sports at all levels of the bowling tiers, and I've seen incredibly bad sports at all levels of the bowling tiers.  Unfortunately, as is human nature, the bad sports are usually easier to remember than the good sports - and set a tone for the experience for any and all who are around them.  How exactly is that dangerous?  For those who are DN/BP Bowlers who have a good attitude or are good sports, they set a tone for others who follow them.  Likewise, those DN/BP Bowlers (remember?  Date Night / Birthday Party) who are bad sports or are disrespectful of the game, the equipment, the facility, and their surrounding bowlers - they set a tone as well, and it sticks with both the patrons and management/employees.  Many times I've heard rumblings (for example) about how "real bowlers" hate seeing people at the lanes for birthday parties or Date Night/Glow bowling, because they take away from the experience.  Let me turn that on it's head for a moment -- "real bowlers" can shoe up and play no matter what's going on.  If there was a bad experience with a group that there for a birthday party, the odds that any the same group is back is rather slim, and they're trying to enjoy the experience - same as the "real bowler".  Help it be a positive for them, and most likely it will turn out to be a positive for you.  Disrespect someone who doesn't have the same attitude towards bowling as you do, and you're not going to change their mind, and usually will just come across as being a toad.

Part 2 to come.....

Reflections on Fathers day

So, Father's day has come and gone, and I'm strangely reflective about the holiday.

My Dad will be 75 this year, which is a great milestone for anyone, but especially someone who's survived mini-strokes and triple bypass surgery.  If I were to be honest, he's been the yardstick that I've measured myself to ever since I can remember.  He's accomplished so many things in his life, and yet he still goes and goes - willing and able to drop whatever he's involved in to help out either one of his kids with whatever home improvement / repair project that we've gotten into.

He will never brag on himself, never list any of his accomplishments, and I suppose that's because he's sure about who he is, and doesn't need to prove himself to anyone else.  But he is the second oldest of eight kids, and when he wasn't at school he worked on his dad's farm in East Texas which is where he learned how to fix/build/repair pretty much anything.  After he graduated from high school, he went on to college and finished a double major in physics and chemistry, with a minor in calculus in three years.  He then went onto grad school where he skipped over the whole Masters degree and went straight for the Doctorate.  Not sure when he found time to meet Mom, but he did - and they were married while he was getting that Doctorate.

According to Mom, he got an offer with NASA, but didn't want to move to Florida.  "Tired of hot weather, and definitely not dealing with hot and humid weather."  So, he took a job in mid-Tennessee as his first major move after his degree.  A few years later, he then moved to North Carolina, taking a job in the tobacco industry as a Research Chemist.  In his spare time, he bought land up in the foothills, and proceeded to build his own house because he was tired of living in the city.  Since at that time I was old enough to swing a hammer, that was our weekend project for about a year, so I had plenty of on the job training for every element of construction.  Once the house and garage was built, he built on a workshop on the back of the garage, and anytime a piece of furniture was needed - we'd get the lumber and head out and build it ourselves.  Now it wasn't quite as professionally finished and elegant as what could be purchased from the store, but it was built to survive kids, grandkids, and potential great-grandkids.

I can remember springs and summer working in the garden, tilling, hoeing, getting everything planted so that in the Summer and Fall we'd have fresh veggies, and fall and winter going into the woods to get firewood so that the wood stove would always be ready in case of power outage.  No matter what project needed to get done, he was always willing to step up and get involved - and if there was any grumbling - it wasn't that he had to do it, but that it wasn't getting done to his standards.  He went to concerts where it sounded more like the slow death of various small animals instead of music, dance recitals, football games, school plays, Arts Council productions, dropped kids off at summer camps -- all activities that Dad was there for, no matter what.

I was finishing my second year of Grad school when I got the call that he had been having mini-strokes, and would need to have surgery to remove a blockage in the main artery that feeds the brain.  He'd be down for a few weeks, and Mom needed help around the house.  I said fine, I can come back later and finish up - since the only thing left was my actual Thesis.  This man decided that I needed help moving back, so he drove the van 9 hours to where I was in school, and proceeded to help me pack everything up into the moving van, and then followed me back home to make sure everything went ok.  This, in the interest of full disclosure, was while he was on blood thinners in preparation for the surgery which was the next week.  This was also in January, and that particular weekend was the 3rd coldest on record in that town -- negative 30 before wind chill, negative 65 with wind chill.  We got back, unpacked everything - I moved back into my old room, and was there during the recovery process.  I started working and going for another Bachelor's degree, since I couldn't immediately go back up North immediately to work with my thesis committee, and at that time, I would have had to pay for an entire semester just to take the one credit hour for thesis work.  While I was at school locally - I found she who would eventually become my wife, and Dad supported my decision the way he normally did -- "It's your decision, and it's not my place to judge."

Fast forward ten years, and the first grandchild was born, and Dad became Granddad with all the pomp and circumstance that a granddaughter can create.  Two years after that, he became Granddad again, and his grandchildren think that he is the greatest thing.  But he didn't have the energy he once did to play with them, got tired very quickly.  Mom finally convinced him (and we won't discuss how much arm twisting it took from both my Wife and my Mom to get that to happen) to go get checked out, and he had three blockages in his heart.  Now this is a man that walked 3-5 miles every day, and was not opposed to any type of heavy work even well into his late 60's.  But of course the phrase "triple bypass surgery" brings out the reality that this is a serious condition, and could potentially be a life ending condition.  Fortunately, he had someone in his local Orchid society that had been through an open heart surgery before, and at one of the meetings, that man took Dad aside and talked with him for over an hour explaining what was going to happen, how it was going to feel, what recovery would be like, tips to make it easier, etc.... and I believe really took some of the stress off of Dad's mind.  Not, mind you, that he would have let anyone know what level of concern he had over the upcoming surgery.

On the day of the surgery, they let me know, kind of as an afterthought, that he'd need some larger button down shirts to wear in the hospital, preferably two sizes larger than what he'd normally wear.  He'd be on such blood thinners that he'd get cold very easily, and due to the surgery, he wouldn't be able to put his arms over his head in order to slip on a sweatshirt.  This was the first time I've ever been glad that I'm physically two sizes larger than he is.  All I wear are button down shirts, and many of them are wool based since that's the only thing I need to stay warm in North Carolina winters these days.  The first one I packed was a bright red wool cashmere shirt, and that's the one I really wanted him to wear first.

My reasoning was very simple -- my Dad shows that he cares by doing.  He has been a rock against the storms of life all of my life, and my safety net when I got into problems.  In my mind, it doesn't matter how many times Superman got knocked around - he was invincible, he always won in the end, and that red cape he wore symbolized his past, his present, and his future - who he really was.  I knew that my Dad, wearing my red shirt, would know deep down that he is my Superman - and that no matter what happened, or how long the recovery - as long as he had that red cape that everything was going to be fine.

Over a year after the surgery, and he's back to full strength and health.  I watch him with my kids, and I hope to one day be half the man he is.   He may never read this, in fact probably not unless Mom stumbles across it and shows it to him.  But he's my Dad, I'll not have a better one, nor will my kids have a better Granddad. Here's to another 25 years of Father's Days with him.

Happy Fathers Day to all.

Bowling: The Thomas Theorem - the Macro View

"If men define situations as real, they are real in their consequences"  W. I. Thomas and D. S. Thomas.

How do we, as bowlers, perceive bowling?  Each person has to define bowling in their own way - whether it, to them is:

• a Sport, a form of Exercise, a Hobby, or a Recreational Activity
• something they participate in daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, or yearly
• a reason around which a group of people get together, or the reason a group of people get together (Perhaps more clearly stated:  Do we come together to bowl, or is bowling the excuse to come together?)

I'm sure that there would be no argument that the individual by default defines bowling for themselves.  What gets interesting is when others start looking past the individuals and look for trends that form within bowling, and then start defining bowling based on those trends.  Data mining and analysis are powerful tools that various groups use to project/predict the future based on the actions of the past.  But as true in every disclaimer in following the stock market: "Past performance is not a complete indicator of future performance."  This is especially true for any group that has a vested interest, financial or otherwise, in the future outcome that the data suggests.

The trick with data mining is that it has to be done with as little bias as possible to get the most accurate results.  Even then, there is still the potential results bias depending on the argument that one wishes to put forth, and that bias will in turn dictate future actions to be either proposed or enacted.  If that sounds familiar - it should:  "If men (organizations) define situations as real, they are real in their consequences."  As far as bowling is concerned, there are several groups/organizations with vested interests in the health of bowling:  the Pro Tour, the USBC, the Ball Manufacturers, the Corporate Bowling Center Owners, the Independent Bowling Center Owners, the Pro Shop Owners/Staff, the League Personnel, the Bowling Enthusiasts, and finally the regular bowlers.  Each of these groups look at the health of bowling as a whole, the historical and current data, and make future plans based off of those observations.  The situation as I see it however, is that each of those groups look at bowling and see a problem that pertains specifically to them and is the fault of one or more other groups on that list.  However bowling as a sport has issues in it's entirity, and only by making bowling as a sport more relevant to the average American consumer will the pressures felt by these groups be relaxed.

Let's take one of those groups, take some of the historical data, relate it to society and technology advances, and follow where it goes.

Taking slices of data to demonstrate a point:

In 1970-71, there were 4,000,000 sanctioned league bowlers.  There were 985 sanctioned perfect games rolled, 609 sanctioned 299's rolled, and 94 sanctioned 800 series rolled.  The PBA had 35 tour stops including Majors and the Japan cup.  Mike McGrath was the leading money winner on tour that year w/$52,049 in winnings.

In 1975-76, there were 4,500,000 sanctioned league bowlers.  There were 1913 sanctioned perfect games rolled, 1029 sanctioned 299's rolled, and 304 sanctioned 800 series rolled.  The PBA had 34 tour stops including Majors and the Japan cup.  Earl Anthony was the leading money winner on tour that year w/$107,585 in winnings.

In 1980-81, there were 4,755,756 sanctioned league bowlers.  There were 5549 sanctioned perfect games rolled, 2764 sanctioned 299's rolled, and 1041 sanctioned 800 series rolled.  The PBA had 34 tour stops including Majors and the Japan cup.  Wayne Webb was the leading money winner on tour that year w/$116,700 in winnings.

In 1985-86, there were 3,624,575 sanctioned league bowlers.  There were 6467 sanctioned perfect games rolled, 3066 sanctioned 299's rolled, and 1158 sanctioned 800 series rolled.  The PBA had 33 tour stops including Majors and the Japan cup.  Mike Aulby was the leading money winner on tour that year w/$201,200 in winnings.

In 1990-91, there were 2,922,829 sanctioned league bowlers.  There were 14,192 sanctioned perfect games rolled, 6362 sanctioned 299's rolled, and 2922 sanctioned 800 series rolled.  The PBA had 37 tour stops including the Majors, as well as the Doubles Championship.  Amleto Monacelli was the leading money winner on tour that year w/$204,775 in winnings.

In 1995-96, there were 2,261,469 sanctioned league bowlers.  There were 30,630 sanctioned perfect games rolled, 13,768 sanctioned 299's rolled, and 6619 sanctioned 800 series rolled.  The PBA had 30 tour stops including Majors and the Japan cup.  Mike Aulby was the leading money winner on tour that year w/$219,792 in winnings.

In 2000-01, there were 1,767,096 sanctioned league bowlers.  There were 41,303 sanctioned perfect games rolled, 17,858 sanctioned 299's rolled, and 11,519 sanctioned 800 series rolled.  The PBA had 19 tour stops including the Majors, as well as the Doubles Championship.  Norm Duke was the leading money winner on tour that year w/$136,900 in winnings.

** Since there isn't a way to accurately determine the number of people in unsanctioned leagues and open play - I will adopt a standard of 1:1 sanctioned bowlers vs. unsanctioned bowlers, and then add 25% for open bowlers.  I fully acknowledge that these ratios unsanctioned/open bowlers are arbitrary and the true percentages changed significantly over time, so my numbers are for convenience and cannot be used for a true scientific analysis, but they are statistically close enough for the purposes of my argument.

If one goes to Youtube and watches any of the PBA shows from the 1970-1990 era, the first thing that is noticed is that the audience for the event can number in the several hundreds.  The centers are well lit, the venue was more of an arena feel as opposed to an auditorium feel, and the crowd was following the action with the same intensity that golf and tennis audiences have.  There were viable summer and winter tours, with between 30 and 36 regular tour stops every year - seldom in the same city twice in the same year, which means that the tour was accessible to more and more of the general population.  This also meant that the local PBA members and/or kings of the league bowlers had the opportunity to shoe up against the touring pros, and really test their mettle.

Once cable channels/Satellite channels became more widespread, and there were more sports viewing options, ABC started noticing and monitoring a decline in Professional Bowling viewership, and by 1997 had decided to not renew it's contract with the PBA - even though it had been consistently one of the highest rated sports shows for the network.  Notice that the number of sanctioned league bowlers between the 1980-81 year and 85-86 seasons had dropped by over 1 million people, and in the next 5 years dropped again by another 700,000 bowlers.  Fast forward another 5 years, and by 1995-96 the number of sanctioned league bowlers had declined still further by 650,000 people.  If the ratios for unsanctioned bowling declined at the same pace, the total loss of league bowling over 15 years was close to 4.7 million bowlers.  Since people generally follow sports that they have an investment in, that potentially equated to a loss of PBA viewership of the same amount.

Now, during this time period we have several external forces at play - the 80's had the end of the oil crisis, the computer technology boom, the economic boom, the slow dismantling of the manufacturing sector in many regions of the US, and generally many more options for the consumer to choose from both in their viewing habits and recreational participation.   The 90's had the beginning of the economic meltdown where manufacturing jobs continued to be moved offshore, cost of living increased without workers pay matching pace, fortunes were lost in the .com bust, and consumer debt kept getting higher and higher due to the fervent preaching of consumerism.  Technology in the bowling world also made significant strides - going from plastic/polyester balls to resin balls to reactive resin balls, and whereas synthetic lanes had been around since the late 70's, they became more available and widely used in bowling centers.  Whereas bowlers had for years had their one ball, one release which worked well no matter what house they bowled in, now there were more options because of ball technology, lane technology, oil technology, and bowlers like Mark Roth showing how to hook the lane as opposed to the straight players using plastic on wood lanes.

For many years, the bread and butter for bowling center owners, whether a Corporate house (AMF / Brunswick) or independently owned, was their league bowlers.  It was nothing to have two leagues a night every night, and one or two day leagues as well filling up the house.  With the changing of the times, America moving away from a manufacturing base, the sense of community that lead to long term leagues falling away due to the boom and bust of the economy - those leagues started drying up.  As the leagues dried up, only those who were really anchored to that sense of community stayed, which was the middle aged crowd.  These were the people who were following the PBA tour, as evidenced by the report in 1997 by ABC that showed that 67% of the Professional Bowling viewers were aged 50 and above.  The younger generation was not as anchored in that sense of community, and saw many other options for their time and resources.  With more sports available for the viewing public once the technology boom hit - the PBA suddenly was not drawing the number of sponsors that it once did.  Once sponsorship contracts ended, the sponsors started looking at the return on investment for their money, and since the PBA ratings/market share/viewership was steadily declining - the sponsors started not funding tournaments and television air time like they once did.  Local sponsors (like banks for example) used to sponsor tournaments where they would put up the money for the winner, and other sponsors would make up the rest of the prize fund.  But when the national sponsors stopped investing in the tour as heavily, the local sponsors were unwilling (or unable) to make up the difference in order to keep the tour stop in their area.  This led to the PBA reducing the number of tour stops, and the amount of prize money available, which then made the prospect of bowling for a living more challenging.  This eventually almost caused the death of the PBA, and did kill the PWBA.  Now the PBA is having to pay for airtime on ESPN, top prize monies for winning events is down to the same levels it was in the 1970's, and the number of true tour stops has dropped to under half what it was in the 1980's.  When the tour doesn't come to the cities/regions that supported it for so many years, then the locals do not constantly feel the loyalty to the tour, barring those who watch it on television and the internet - sad at what this organization has become.

"If men (Corporate entities) define situations as real, they are real in their consequences".

Each one of those entities I mentioned earlier (the Pro Tour, the USBC, the Ball Manufacturers, the Corporate Bowling Center Owners, the Independent Bowling Center Owners, the Pro Shop Owners/Staff, the League Personnel, the Bowling Enthusiasts, and the bowling populace) have a thread that can be followed like the one I just demonstrated with the PBA, and they are quite intertwined with each other and factors that are independent of bowling itself.  But the argument about the problem being on the shoulders of any one or two of those entities is misguided.  The problem is equally shared between them all, and only with all the entities working together in a proactive and thoughtful process will the issues with bowling not being relevant to the general population of America be resolved.

More to follow......

Bowling: The Thomas Theorem Applied to Bowling.

"If men define situations as real, they are real in their consequences"  W. I. Thomas and D. S. Thomas.

So, some eternal questions that I hear or read about:  Why does league play differ from tournament play, which differs from open play in bowling?  Why does the good shots seem to come so easily during practice versus when the proverbial 'lights are on'?  For the strokers, why does the crankers seem to have all the area for striking, and any slight miss right or left leaves something on the back row for you?  For the crankers, why does it always seem that the people who pump their ball right up five seem to have such great carry, whereas you miss just slightly and it's either a strike or a split - nothing in between?  Why does the ball I need for tonight's look always seem to be at home as opposed to being in my bag?  Any other day I could hit my mark blindfolded, why can I not get within 10 boards of my mark tonight?

Perception is 100% of the mental game of bowling - and no skill within bowling is more challenging to train and develop.  Equipment changes are easy - expensive sometimes, but easy.  It can mean buying a new ball, a new drilling for a ball, a surface change, a bit of polish, or just switch balls to one that works a bit better for what you happen to see at that time.  Technique changes are not quite as easy, but are observable, able to be caught on video, and a game plan can be developed to change release points, swing planes, amount of rotation, amount of revolutions, and speed of the delivery.  There are even full on discussions about how to tackle oil patterns based on ball covers, drillings, ball speed, axis of rotation, and what moves to make based on the breakdown of the pattern.  Mental changes and perception changes are usually far more difficult to change, because they can hinge on so many non-bowling factors.

So, it's league night, or the day of the tournament, and you've got your equipment - you've practiced, and you're as ready as you're ever going to be.  But are you really mentally there and ready?  Do you normally see the positive in a situation, or is your life a shining example of pessimism?  Have you put aside the traffic issues you had to endure in getting to the bowling center?  How about the various situations at work that keep nagging at your attitude?  The conversations that centered around how certain people in your life aren't living up to your expectations?    Does one chance break that doesn't go your way keep lingering in the back of your mind?  When you were in this situation before (whatever the situation is), how did you perform, and are you expecting a repeat of that performance?

Perhaps the biggest alteration in your game doesn't need to be a change in balls, or a change in speed, but a change in attitude and perception.  I've heard it called over-thinking the game, under-thinking the game, caving under pressure, brain seizures, or the slow spiral into the toilet.  Usually the bowler has the tools they need physically and their technique (if they practice) is correct - they may just need to either make minor adjustments or acknowledge that an errant shot was an errant shot - and move on.  However, that's where the mental game comes in - do they have the ability to make that adjustment, or put what happened behind them and be fresh the next time they step up on the approach?

Let's look back at the quote:  "If men define situations as real, they are real in their consequences".  There are other variations on that theme -- "the second you consider yourself defeated - you will be".  "Once you've been taken out of the moment, you've been taken out of the game."  How about "if you're stuck in focusing on the past, you can't focus on the present."  All very easy to say, and all make sense - but putting them into practice is what separates the good bowler from the outstanding bowler.  Personal distractions, bowling and non-bowling frustrations, perfectionism -- all elements that if they cannot be mentally set aside - will create inconsistencies and normally preventable mistakes.

Let me illustrate with a personal example from last week.  Now, as I've said in prior posts, I practice on Friday mornings, but since the kids are out of school now and have been asking to go bowling with daddy, we made it a family affair this past Friday.  Now the kids are both under the age of 7, and even though they've been bowling at various birthday parties that their friends have invited them to - they really haven't been bowling without the bumpers and ramps that the parties usually provide.  Now it's my fault that I apparently wasn't clear, because I asked for two single lanes next to each other, where I would put my wife and kids on one lane with the bumpers, and I'd take the other lane for my normal practice.  However, I wound up with a crossing pair, so no bumpers.  Also I can usually get a couple of lanes with a buffer lane or two between myself and other bowling groups - especially needed since I have little ones that I was going to be working with.  Unfortunately that wasn't in the cards either - the center was a bit too busy to allow for that on both sides of us.  Which is good for the center, but I was constantly having to be mindful of other bowlers who were trying to enjoy their time.

So, to recap - bowling center is the same, but the scenario is different.  I've got new pressures in that I want my kids to enjoy the experience, I want to be able to practice normally, I've got to keep an eye on the kids to make sure they don't get in anyone else's way, and getting a bit isolated so that our family's impact on other bowlers is not an option.

Now, once we start bowling, the kids are not dealing well with there being no bumpers, and due to the age - they get frustrated easily and are quite vocal about it.  My home center doesn't have in-channel bumpers that they can just raise up - they actually have a bumper that has to be put into the channel - and would have had to cross 6 other lanes to get them into our lanes, which is why I didn't ask for them for even one lane.  My thought process also went that we play with the balls in the basement, hopefully that would translate well into the actual bowling alley.  Turns out I thought wrong, and the kids were doing everything except what I was showing them.  When they weren't making it even thirty feet before going in the channel, they got a real case of defeatism and then the real vocal commentary began of "I can't do this, I'll never be good".   Normally I deal with other people's children very well, and my patience is quite long.  However, with my own kids - my blood pressure escalated quickly - especially with those words of defeatism.  They, between the two of them, managed to bowl one complete game, but I had to bowl the rest of the frames while  my wife took them to the snack area.  Every shot became more and more of a "just throw it and let's get this over with," instead of stopping, and resetting my focus so I could maintain my emotional and mental balance.  Because I couldn't move past the distractions, errant shots became the norm, which added to the frustration level.

I have to chalk that experience up to not being a bowling practice session, but an example about how far I have to go with my mental game and being able to set aside distractions to focus on one shot at a time, every shot.  I couldn't do that, and because of my not being able to overcome those distractions - I didn't enjoy my time bowling, and I didn't feel like it was a good family time outing.  I didn't feel like the practice was technically productive, and I was just ready to get my family out of there so I could interact with them without bowling being involved.  Will I take them bowling again - of course I will.  They've got growing and maturing to do, and apparently so do I.  But hopefully we will have this sport to share for a long time to come, and I'll take each opportunity to check my mental fortitude, because if I don't move past Friday's outing - I may become subject to the Thomas Theorem in the negative - where I expect there to be problems before we even get started.

Bowling: Background for what's coming up next . . .

So this is going to be a bit more of an esoteric blog post, in fact it probably will turn into a series of posts.  I really wasn't planning to address this particular set of topics yet, but a recent set of Private Messages, a couple of threads on two different forums, conversations at work, and other elements of life have combined to cause a bit more focus on the more mental and philosophical elements of bowling, which I feel reflect how one perceives life in general. 

So, I received a PM on one of the forums I frequent from someone who read my blog.  He then posted a thread introducing himself and further in the thread linked out to a website that dealt with some concepts in a recent movie.  Although I apparently didn't quite follow where he was going with the point he was trying to make (and for that I still apologize), all three of the elements from that brief paper did lodge in my thinking. She (Julie Moore, the author of the paper) titled her paper "The Movie Crash and the Concepts of Sociology", and the elements she brought out focused mainly with Race and Multicultural interaction.  I’m going to take her three points and look at them pertaining to both the sport of bowling and the people who participate in our sport.

The seed sentences are:

"The first sociological concept that Crash demonstrates is the Thomas Theorem. Basically, this theorem tells us that if we believe situations to be real, they become real to us. Our own subjective reality becomes our objective reality. It follows then that if we believe certain things about an individual, he/she begins acting in exactly that way. "

“Another sociological term demonstrated in Crash is the theory of micro-aggression. Microaggressions would be defined as "Microaggressions are subtle insults (verbal, nonverbal, and/or visual) directed toward people of color, often automatically or unconsciously." While the individual effects of these particular instances may be small, the cumulative effects can be devastating.”

“The last concept that is displayed in Crash is the sociological concept of ethnocentrism. This means that we judge other cultures by the standards of our own. Not only that, but we also believe that our own culture is superior to everyone else's.”

So yes, this is not going to be a normal series of technical bowling posts – there are plenty of resources out there for technique and equipment.  I want to go deeper into the ‘why’ of bowling more than the ‘how’ of bowling.  There are things like self awareness, sportsmanship, self image, and perceptions that I’m going to focus on both at the society/corporate view and also at the grassroots/individual view.  Do I have the answers to major questions within bowling?  I think I’ll have a major win in just opening up discussion and accurately defining the questions.  But every step forward, no matter how small, is still a step forward.

Bowling: The 11th Annual Event known as "The Gathering"

A bit of an advertisement here:  The 11th annual Gathering (of Internet Bowlers) is scheduled for July 26 through July 28 at Creekside Lanes in Winston Salem, North Carolina.  It started as a gathering of bowlers from Ballreviews dot com, but has since expanded to include Bowlingchat dot net, BowlingBoards dot com, BowlingBallExchange dot com, and other sites that identify themselves as bowling focused.  The Gathering was started by the efforts of our of the dearly departed and sorely missed alumni of BallReviews - ThongPrincess.  She was a dynamo who scheduled part of her vacation time to fly from California to Winston to participate in the yearly festivities and mayhem, and for those who remember Colleen - she was one of the main instigators of mayhem.  On Saturday, we have a sport condition sweeper tournament which started out as the 'Bragging Rights' Tournament, but two years ago was renamed the "ThongPrincess Memorial Bragging Rights Tournament", which I suppose could be tweaked to a better acronym, but I imagine having it sound vaguely like a Bronx cheer would make her guffaw mightily.

It's always great fun, and we have a core group of people who, like Colleen, plan their vacations around the event - and caravans/carpooling have been options in the past for those who are more than a couple of states away.  Even spouses who don't bowl look forward to the events, because there's always mischief and the opportunity to socialize, and activities away from the bowling alley.

Personally, with the economy being what it is, and prices for gas, food, hotels being what they are, money's tight and that's understandable.  But for those who can make it, it's going to be a blast again.  I'm hosting the Friday dinner/cookout at my house, and Geoff is holding the beer tasting/poker tournament on Sat evening.  Plus all games are at the league rate, which is far less than open bowling.

The Gathering takes place at Creekside Lanes, with Ron Clifton as our host.  I can speak from experience that the staff and facilities there are second to none.  It's an extremely bowler friendly venue, and Ron is an excellent coach.  Usually for those who stay around on Sunday, he gives everyone who is interested (and isn't sagging to the ground tired) lessons - which by itself is worth the trip to Winston.

As I've said on my posts in the various forums:  We may not all be great bowlers, but we are all great people who love to bowl and have a good time.  So come one - come all.  You'll be glad you did.

Full disclosure:
Creekside Lanes
1450 Trademart Blvd, Winston-Salem, NC
(336) 771-9800 ‎ · bowlcreekside.com

Bowling: Compare and Contrast

Now that school is over for the year for pretty much everyone, I want to recount some of the observations I've made during my practice sessions at my local bowling center.  Not about my bowling, but there are two habitual groups of bowlers that come at approximately the same time as I do, and things I've observed about them.  Now due to my work schedule, I actually practice during the week in the mornings, and this year there wasn't a league on Friday mornings to join, or compete with.  Between my own shots in practice, I sit down to emulate what happens in league as far as pacing myself, and one thing I like to do is peoplewatch - see who is bowling and how they're bowling.   It allows me to slow down my pace, so that I don't just stand there and fire down shots one after the other, plus it's entertaining and informative.  The first group that I'm around is moderate sized group of Special Olympians, and I'd say there are about 20-25 of them who are regulars at the alley.  The second group is a group of high school students, and I'd say there are 60-80 of them that show up.  Both groups are about the same age range, perhaps with  the Special Olympians being a bit older (average age somewhere between 17 and 21 if I had to guess)

What I observed is that, of the two, I'd rather be in league with the Special Olympians.

When I see families come to bowl, everyone over the age of 5 that I've observed gives an honest effort when bowling.  There may be (usually is) some socializing, and good natured ribbing, sometimes turning into a game of one-upsmanship.  Sometimes shots aren't a pretty sight - sometimes they're fantastic, and the verbal feedback from their family can be interesting, but ultimately they actually try and have a good time.

When I watch the Special Olympians bowl, they give more than an honest effort.  Even though the actual shot may not be pretty from any classical viewpoint, or even successful by a scoring aspect, their feedback on each shot is invariably positive - and they really do cultivate a sense of team and enjoyment of the game.  They all celebrate the strikes and spares, and give reassurance if there is an occasional gutterball.  Yes it does take more creativity and understanding to work successfully with that level of player, but when I've been bowling beside of them, I couldn't help but get caught up in their enthusiasm.  Eventually I found myself cheering with them, and consoling when it was needed as well - getting invested in them was easy because they were invested in their friends involvement in the game.

When the High School students come in, it's a much more different story.  In my observations there are (I'll say) four levels of students.  1.  I like to bowl, and take it seriously.  2. I like to bowl, but not seriously at all.  3. I'm going to go thru the motions and get this over with because I have to.  4.  I'm in line at the snack bar, and after I (and my clique) get our drinks/food/whatever, we're going to sit in the snack bar area -- let us know when we're getting ready to leave.  Fortunately, it appears that each group either clumps up together so that the flow is the way they want it - - the serious players all get on the same teams, the not so serious players get on the same teams, and so on.  I often wondered if the teacher would object to my setting up a table and using volunteers as a survey/focus group about various bowling related issues - but I'd rather not put them in that position.  But the atmosphere with the High Schoolers was very different, very cutting - not very positive or reinforcing at all.  Even those who were taking their bowling seriously, males and females, there was a lot of trash talking in their competition, and it was worse with the other groups.  With those who resented being there - it was near constant to see who could bellyache the most about their disgust about having to participate.

Now, I'm not the most athletically gifted person, nor was I in high school.  But I did try to not embarass myself with most sports.  American football, I learned how to throw and catch, and although not fleet of feet - I can get some distance behind me when needed.  When softball season came up, I learned how to hit the ball somewhat well.  Basketball season - I could shoot foul shots and from the 3 point line, and pass the ball somewhat well.  Moving with the ball wasn't in the cards, but I tried to do well.  The operative word though is that I tried - I acknowledged that I wasn't going to excel in traditional sports, but I did what I could do to improve my abilities in them.   But no matter how much I wanted or didn't want to participate in a sport or activity, I can't remember resenting the activity itself, or blasting everyone else if I excelled at it versus bellyaching to ruin it for others if I didn't like it.  I have to wonder:  Is this philosophy lost in the current high school generation?  I doubt it and really hope that it isn't, but I suspect sportsmanship and/or maturity may be in the minority.

I realize that my pool of data sources is quite slim, and I'm going to (hopefully) refrain from making sweeping generalities based on my observations of 2 groups.  What I will say is that although with the High Schoolers I might find more competition - I would (and do) have more fun bowling near and with those who are far more positive about their experience.  (Which is probably a far better message for existing bowlers to embrace, but those thoughts are for another time.)