Guest Author - Gary King

I run across a lot of people and some manufacturers who tell me it is best to have a ball spinner for a more uniform finish. They tell me this, they tell me that, but they do not lead me to sources where you can get QUALITY equipment. Much of the junk I run into on the market is just that--junk. So it is no wonder the average league bowler is confused or does not know where to get what. Many of us who take the game serious and who are really serious about cleaning our equipment and taking care of it are running into brick walls when it comes to solid, reliable information from only God knows where. The ONLY ball manufacturer on the market who has really been decent about getting this or that, EXCEPT FOR A BALL SPINNER, is Columbia 300. I will not even go into the response I got from even Columbia with regards to a ball spinner.

I know one thing for sure--if I want to really take care of my own equipment and know that it is at least reasonably well taken care of, is to do it myself. I am convinced that many of the sources I have contacted about ball cleaners, etc., with the exception of Zapp It ball cleaner, are in the game for the love of the money they make. Whether the product does a good job and is right or not does not seem to be the focus of their responses. Their responses seem to indicate a need to fill their pockets. It is really getting to be a drag and sometimes, the idea of starting our own supply business for bowlers, based on fairness, integrity and common sense, is really appealing. I am getting sick and tired of the con games and the rat race out there.

I have tested product after product and found that about 90 to 95% of them are JUNK! Most do not work right, the directions are either vague or misleading and the main interest seems to be how much they can make out of those suckers who buy.

I have heard comment after comment from some bowlers that Zapp It bowling ball cleaner is not working right or something, mainly because there is no dirt on the rag, or you cannot see it. But, so be it, because I know the product works well. My bowling has been better and my average has increased ever since I started using Zapp It bowling ball cleaner. Manufacturers and some other people have told me this works and that works but when you check out the prices, you decide the cost is absolutely not worth the GAMBLE! I have yet to find another ball cleaner that even comes close to Zapp It and I will not spend $10 to $20 to find out that what they say works is just a hype anyway. When you find something that works, STICK WITH IT! And believe me, ZAPP IT is the best ball cleaner I have ever seen and especially at a price which does not cost you an arm and a leg. And why does it work and why is the price reasonable? Because two bowlers invented it and they are in the business for bowlers and not to increase bank profits.

I have discovered something in the past couple of weeks that has started to pay dividends on the lanes and it is a way to help one read the lanes better, regardless of how the oil pattern is put down. And that, for the time being, is my little secret. I am working on a little device I can carry around so that I can use it to determine some things, depending on whether the house has wood, synthetic or whatever lanes. Perhaps it has something to do with psychology but perhaps it also has something to do with the way oil is manufactured. In any case, I will report on that later after I test some things out. For the moment, it has started to work and I will work with the system.

I have been doing some coaching with YABA (Young American Bowlers Alliance) bowlers and I have been getting some feedback with regards to the combining of WIBC, ABC, etc. Much of it is not good and I have to agree with the reasoning. I think that USBC is a MISTAKE and time will tell those who are running this so-called circus why. Those of us out here who ball month after month in numerous leagues and in more than one or two associations never seem to have anything to say about this or that. We are asked each year to pay our dues, no matter how much they go up, and not what we think of the new organization or if we have any suggestions. So we continue to march to the beat of drums which are playing the wrong tune and beating at the wrong level.

I will bowl in the Traveling League again this year because I love to bowl and I love the competition. But it is not because of the new organization we call USBC. I liked ABC better and I liked the separation of ABC and WIBC. They have problems in the new USBC which were carried over from ABC and WIBC and I seriously doubt those problems will ever be worked out because no one is addressing them. And until they do, bowling will continue to be the same old turkey shoot it always has been. One day, when bowling has become EXTINCT, someone, somewhere will sit back, light up their big cigar and possibly ask what happened? Why did bowling end up on the short end of the stick. They will probably never comprehend that it ended up on the short end of the stick because of the short-sighted people running the show who do not know how to look past the end of their nose.

I urge all league bowlers everywhere to enjoy yourselves, the best you can, your way, for the time being, because bowling will one day find itself in a lot of trouble. The ones who should listen to some of us and the ones who need to listen have their hearing aids turned to low to tune in to our wave length. They do not realize that for all the improvements they think they are making, they are sacrificing the integrity and common sense associated with the sport. Bowling will never, ever have a tournament with the integrity and status of the MASTERS, nor will bowling ever probably figure out why not. People do not listen and people do not seem to care. They continue to plod on day after day, in the same old ruts, failing to look across the way at the super highway of golf--a sport which is showing and has shown much improvement. When a bowler the caliber of Walter Ray Williams is asked about cleaning a bowling ball and says he never cleans his, it is time someone cleans something to clean up the bowling act. Walter Ray bowls well enough he probably never has a ball long enough to have to clean it. But to tell someone he never cleans his ball is bad judgment. Maybe he does not clean his ball, but his response was not one that I would care to repeat to anyone. Shame on you Walter Ray and I am surprised at your lack of integrity!

The bottom line is that we can probably write things like this until we are blue in the face. Those of us who bowl in four or five or more leagues per week do so because we love the sport and the challenge it offers. I just wish that USBC would accept the challenge of cleaning up their act and working on putting integrity, common sense and decency back in the sport of bowling. It is beginning to look like a circus and you need only to walk into a center and see the naked women on cards to know what kind of circus it may become in the future. If you do not see the cards, you will probably see someone give the ten pin a finger or someone slam the wall or kick the ball return. And they call this thing we call USBC a move in the right direction? WRONG!!