Oil on League Nights

[BigEd]

So last night (being Wednesday) I show up to my local bowling alley and I am getting ready to bowl. I bring 6 balls to league just because you never know what you are going to get at this place. Anyhow....as I am walking in a few of my buddies immediately stop me and tell me that there were 87 games bowled on my pair already! I immediately ask the counter who can pull this information up on the computer. Sure enough this was true! The center had demo days and our pair was right in the middle! WOW. So I thought to myself....this is going to be a LONG night. Anyhow....after a 179 first game I go 218 256(front 8 then choke job). Anyhow....I know there aren't really any rules on the book as to how the lanes are dressed for league play. However, I am paying 10.75 a night in lineage. I understand demo days as being a big seller for the proshop and then ultimately the center. But on many nights there are high school bowling teams practicing on our lanes which burns them up as well. I am a versitle player who can go up and in or swing the ball....neither matter to me at all. But for some on my team that's not the case. So what arguement, if any, do I have about the way the lanes are being dressed for league bowlers? I have seen and heard of many centers redressing the lanes right before league....but this center does not! Any suggestions, comments, anything to help? Thanks guys......

[Lonewolf300800]

both centers that I bowl in oil the lanes just before league begins, sometimes an hour early or so. last week on friday they were just finishing up on the lanes as my wife and i arrived at our pair. once the lanes are oiled for league, there is no bowling at all on them until league practice starts.

i would talk to the center manager about seeing if the lanes can be oiled just prior to league or you can talk to the league president and see if they can talk to management and see what they can do.

[BigEd]

Normally I would agree with you on this. However, the bowling center is owned by and ran by a company that runs the majority of the others in the Indianapolis area. It's hard to get them to change anything because all they see is the bottom line. I want to just have a decent shot....but it's rough to even get them to listen. I love fresh lanes and I always bowl so much better in tourneys because of it. However, this place is bull-headed. I didnt know if there was any way to get help from the USBC or anywhere else that would actually get them to listen to reason?

[Lonewolf300800]

USBC probably won't be able to do anything, they're just concerned that the lanes are legal when they are checked by the local association. after that, the lanes aren't given a second thought.

it never hurts to ask and see what they would do. also you could take up a petition with the league bowlers and present it to them asking that management listen to your concerns and offer some solutions.

[BigEd]

A petition is a good idea....I never thought about doing it that way. I will have to experiment with that and see where that gets me and go from there. Thanks for the great idea!

[Lonewolf300800]

that's what we all come here for, to share ideas and help each other out. let me know how the petition goes when you get it ready. when you present it to management, try doing it with the league officers and team captains which will make a bigger statement.


A petition is a good idea....I never thought about doing it that way. I will have to experiment with that and see where that gets me and go from there. Thanks for the great idea!

[BubbaRay]

The idea of a pettition is a good idea to present to the proprietor. if you have enough bowlers who feel the same , they just might listen to their customers. After all the utomers are the ones putting the bread on thier table. take away the customers and we all know what happens then.

[Viking_Bowler@hotmail.com]

im near indy what center are u at?

[BigEd]

I bowl at Expo Bowl on the SE Side of Indianapolis off of Emerson and 465.

[HammerTime7288]

definately talk to your league president or take up the petition. I have had leagues threten to walk out on me, and the manager definately listens then.

Good luck, let us know how it goes.

[Rowdy]

So last night (being Wednesday) I show up to my local bowling alley and I am getting ready to bowl. I bring 6 balls to league just because you never know what you are going to get at this place. Anyhow....as I am walking in a few of my buddies immediately stop me and tell me that there were 87 games bowled on my pair already! I immediately ask the counter who can pull this information up on the computer. Sure enough this was true! The center had demo days and our pair was right in the middle! WOW. So I thought to myself....this is going to be a LONG night. Anyhow....after a 179 first game I go 218 256(front 8 then choke job). Anyhow....I know there aren't really any rules on the book as to how the lanes are dressed for league play. However, I am paying 10.75 a night in lineage. I understand demo days as being a big seller for the proshop and then ultimately the center. But on many nights there are high school bowling teams practicing on our lanes which burns them up as well. I am a versitle player who can go up and in or swing the ball....neither matter to me at all. But for some on my team that's not the case. So what arguement, if any, do I have about the way the lanes are being dressed for league bowlers? I have seen and heard of many centers redressing the lanes right before league....but this center does not! Any suggestions, comments, anything to help? Thanks guys......

This should have been addressed when the league went to the house and "bought" the lanes for an agreed number of weeks. Yes,you guys "own" those lanes for whatever time period was specified. You would have to check with your league Prez and ask what arrangements are in place with the house as far as oiling before the league. I've always requested that they wait as long as possible before oiling for us and keeping everyone else off the lanes. I've never been turned down yet.

Unless you're on a Sport shot the USBC doesn't care what's on the lanes as far as oil. Sport patterns are "supposed" to have a tape run on them to verify the pattern is correct.

I find it absurd that the house couldn't reoil right after the demo thing was over.

The petition thing sounds nice,but this comes down to a business arrangement between your league and the house.

As I see it you guys have three choices:
1. Bowl the way it is and learn to live with it the rest of the season if you didn't have an agreement. Negotiate a better one next season.

2. Get the house to live up to it's obligation if you indeed did have an agreement for "pristine" lanes. Demand to get what you're paying for.

3. Move the league to another house next season that will give you what you want.

Now,on to the financials. We'll assume the league has 100 bowlers for the math.
Lineage for the season,100 X $10.75 X 36 weeks=$38,700
Amount the "average" league bowler spends in-house for a season,(Food,drinks,practice games,Pro Shop,etc),$1,300 X 100=$130,000
Grand Total you guys drop in the joint,$168,700!!!

I don't know what the economy is like there,but I don't know of too many businesses that can afford to let that much dough walk out the door.