Bowling Philosophy-September 2010

"The Czar Rules: Introduction and Article I"

by Thomas Scherrer

Preface
To all bowling executives: I am here to help bowling, not kill it. Not crush it nor deface the integrity of it. I am simply here to help both the sport and the business. I'd be a fool not acknowledge the business side of it, and I'd be totally discredited if I didn't try to help the sporting side of it. I am here to help all...now with that being said, you guys are killing me-absolutely killing me. Or should I say us, my fellow readers, expanding now to 12 countries (Guten Tag or Bonjour...Luxembourg!), and desperate for some attention and respect when it comes to bowling. We are going to 'suppose' something for this essay and make some rational and possibly irrational changes to bowling that will help all parties involved.

By the way...did you know that the country of Luxembourg is the only country in the world to still have a constitutional monarch, ruled by a Grand Duchy? It also has the highest Gross Domestic Product per capita not just in Europe, not just the Western Hemisphere, but planet Earth. I think there is symmetry here, but I digress...

Introduction
Suppose the Powers That Be in bowling decide to take a sabbatical and let me take charge of all bowling decisions. Full power of authority to make any changes I want to bowling with one simple condition: whatever changes I make stay with me until my term ends as Czar of Bowling (I woulda gone with Grand Duchy of Bowling but of course, people would laugh at that-Czar is fine). In the end, I have to be very, very careful with what changes I would make because yes, bowlers are a sensitive and at times cynical breed and this is with good reason: the bowling world has been treated at low-brow, low-rent, slapstick comedy for the masses, with a movie like "Kingpin" depicting us as out-of-shape, non-athletic, fried fish and chips, beer drinking human beings who bring down the culture of sports. The recreational side has been marginalized, taken for granted as being a consistent means of revenue with little to no track record to prove that, yet insiders think they can take a family of 4 for close to 60 dollars for a night of Cosmic/Xtreme/Glow bowling and not have it do any long-term damage, in particular in this society. The sport side has been dwarfed by golf, tennis, bass fishing, and auto racing; the recreational side has been taken for a cheap ride with little or no redeeming values. ENOUGH!!! You all deserve better...you need better...you will get better...you have a leader who believes!!!

(Trying to relax...calming down...Namaste, Thomas.)

OK, we're good. Let's get down to the basics of what I am trying to push for. Simply stated, I am trying to improve the quality of bowling for both the sport and business as well. Most of these changes are to benefit the lesser indivduals, not merely professionals. You have to start change from smaller villages to rebuild a nation, no? I am looking towards youths, families, and league bowlers in particular. Advance our way to amateur and college bowlers, then finally push some professional changes. I am pretty certain not all of my ideas or reforms will be universally be accepted, in fact, I encourage people to not like what I am writing. Yes, I want some dissenting opinion about what I am striving for. I'm a Czar, remember? I can have you sent to the gallows if I really think you are questioning my tactics.

Naturally, I would advocate 10 ideas of concepts under my reign that will have you look at bowling in more respectable terms. Along the way, we'll look to make some money because, after all, this is a business. However, we are going to start off with a bang and blow your bowling doors off. Center GM's and Proprietors: I unleash bowling hell!


Article I, section A: Kids Bowl Free...Period.

The Disease: In honor of my online writing idol, Bill Simmons: The Sports Guy, let's do a Hubie Brown imitation.

OK, you're a bowling center manager or owner, your early afternoons during the fall are pretty much dead. You are competing with activities such as football, soccer, and cross country in school. You also have this "underlying myth" that bowling is too expensive for kids to start up. What do ya do?

The remedy: Have kids bowl for free not just in the summer, but how about all year round? Here's a simple checklist of requirements:

• Ages 4-12 (Managers: if you dare charge kids under the age of 4 anyway, you are sinister and have little or no soul)
• Hold a B average for your grades in school
• Like to try bowling or want to try bowling

The Kids Bowl Free program that started in the summer of 2009 was wildly received by people and could only be considered a total success: kids got to bowl two free games each day during the summer and only had to pay for their shoes rentals (in the 3-4 dollar range) and food. Trust me, kids burn a TON of energy and will be hungry and they were. If we make this a year-round concept (same theory applies: kids bowl two free games each day during the afternoon hours when there are no leagues going on), bowling centers keep the goodwill going year-round, perhaps score some extra birthday parties, perhaps even discover some future youth bowlers and help expand your youth leagues. Who knows? You might find the next great young talent in your bowling alley and his cost of bowling games was exactly ZERO. Parents will win because their children are participating in a far less physical sport, such as football. Of course, Pop Warner football is nowhere near the violence of the NFL, but the possibility of freak injuries still exist at and level. Parents also win because you defray the cost of a sport, which we can all afford in this economy. Kids win because they are in a sport that, for the most part is easy to learn (much harder to master, but I'm the Czar of Bowling-I'll cover that in the future) and there are little to no weather issues that creep up. Finally, bowling in general win because their participation grows, number of games go up, and one would think with good promotion within, junior membership rises or at least levels out instead of continually dropping.

Article I, section B: Kids in the free bowling program rent shoes for $1.

Please, enough of this overcharging of kids shoe rentals. A dollar will do: now they are only spending one buck to learn how to bowl. Part of me would like to think Johnny Petraglia only laid down a few bills in his young days in Staten Island to work on his game and become a Hall of Famer, so why can't we go back in time and try to do the same? Chances are, parents will walk into the center's pro shop and fork over the $30 needed to buy their child their own bowling shoes. Now kids are really bowling for free! I love it, don't you? If you don't having their own shoes means probably their own bowling ball, then their own bowling bag. Your pro shop will love the extra business. It is also more likely to get kids bowling in leagues when they are well prepared and don't have to wear ill-fitting shoes or throw an ill-fitting ball. Once one kid joins up, they might be able to convince their friends to join them in a junior league. The vision of Saturday mornings returning to 30 lanes with 4 junior leagues rolling, including youth coordinators helping out, brings us all back to a better day in bowling. Full bowling centers all morning, and with the night bowling with all of its bells and whistles guarantees you an easy 5 digit day in revenue for about 40 of the 52 weeks.

Article I, section C: A dollar menu for kids in the program as well.

I am probably killing center managers for all of these changes but, damn it, why not? A dollar for shoes as well as small fries, small soda, slice of pizza, small popcorn, and any other reasonable deal from the snackbar. Fast food joints have dollar menu value meals, and they poison human beings, almost literally. Bowling alley food is not exactly going organic but you figure kids will burn it off and at a reduced rate. A bowling center probably won't lose much profit, in fact, you get your produce out of your center so you make something off your purchase order. In an unrelated, yet important idea, I suggest center managers invest in looking more at your local 10 day forecast. If you know there is rain forecasted for 2 days next week, you could order up on food, forecasting a higher volume of people during the summer. I would also bet that your snackbar associates wouldn't mind the extra business and therefore, extra hours. Nothing like a 16 year old having extra cash to blow at the mall for shoes, jewelry, fake tans, and Patron shots. OK maybe not the last one but I'm a man of the commoner...

Why it works? Every reason I just proposed along with the renewed sense that your bowling alley is the place to be in town. Of course, the main attraction is a center manager would have to promote the hell out of what their place brings.

Why won't it work? Three dirty, little letters: RPG, or Revenue Per Game. In the bowling industry, RPG is what currently drives bowling to the heights of unreasonable spending limits of a modern family. We need an example...

Suppose there was no such thing as Kids Bowl Free and a family of 4-2 kids, 2 adults-decide to bowl 2 games on a Tuesday afternoon in October. Shoes are $3.25 per child, $4 for adults, and games are $4 per person/game:

2x $3.25=$6.50
2x $4.00=$8.00
8x $4.00=$32.00

Total is $46.50 which when you divide it by the 8 games bowled comes out to an RPG of 5.81.

Now let's take the same family with both kids in the KBF program and look at the numbers:

2x $1.00=$2.00
2x $4.00=$8.00
4 free games=$0
4x $4.00=$16.00

Total is now $28.00 and when you divide the 8 games bowled comes out to an RPG of 3.50.

First of all, you notice the over $2 difference in RPG, but the second thing you see is that second scenario has the family of 4 is bowling for a 40% reduced rate. How often or where in American society nowadays can you say that you get that type of a deal for a family activity? The answer is NEVER!!! Plus, you now factor in that with almost 20 dollars saved up, the family can get a full taste of the bowling center. Snackbar, arcade, pro shop, you name it. Buying a pizza at $12 bucks for that second family brings the total up to $40 and turns the RPG to a 5.00, which makes managers smile more. Maybe a family decides bowling is something they can all enjoy and enroll themselves in an adult/junior league or maybe decide it is worth coming to bowl 2 days a week instead of one. Now you've really won a chance to establish two things: customer service and familiarity. Another added benefit is most bowling alleys offer birthday parties or corporate events. If you happen to bowl in any leagues, there is a possible discount in the works for yourself of your child's party.

As Czar of bowling, I would quickly erase RPG from the bowling lexicon and replace it with LUPH, or Lanes Used Per Hour. This shows a greater reflection of how busy your bowling center is during all times of a day. Volume and Value ultimately over Revenue and Regeneration of new bowlers.

Overall, a major success if used right, possibly the KBF program spawns one great bowler each year; suddenly, each local bowling center has a rising new star to carry a bowling center's value going forward.

The Czar has spoken! Au Revoir or Auf Wiedersehen...Luxembourg.


Pour ceux-la avec un amour et une connaissance pour le bowling...this Joue aux boules Philsophie. Namaste.

Fur die mit einer Liebe und Kenntnis fur Keglen...this Keglet Philosophie. Namaste.

Bowling Philosophy-September 2010

by Thomas Scherrer

"It's a Numbers Game"

Before I begin, I have to say that it took me quite awhile to log on to my blog for some security/account reasons but after some quick long term memory recovery, we are back on track, continuing to spread the word of bowling. Apparently, the word is being spread now...globally. My blog site has updated a "stats" link and I am amazed that in the recent summer month of August, 80 hits were generated on my page, including 10 countries such as China, Russia, Canada, Albania, Latvia, and Vietnam...wow! I am big in the Eastern Bloc, thank you...thank you! Because of all that blog love or perhaps a case where some 16 year-old living in Riga was looking up the White Wagtail's mating habits and accidentally found my site, well...sometimes luck is where opportunity meets preparation. And...it fuels me to continue, so in the words of Karlis Ulmanis: let's talk par boulingu!

Speaking of stats, let's talk about them. Let's observe them. Let's discuss them. Let's destroy them.

Go back in time with me to 2006. I am out of William Paterson, back home, bowling in Long Island in my first full fledged adult league. Monday nights at AMF Sheridan Lanes, the Charlie Cap Classic. I was teaming up with local bowling stud Norm Ginsberg along with buddies of mine from high school and college bowling past, Mike Boble and Billy Shannon. As we are waiting to have our league meeting, which as you all know who bowl in high level leagues, have a bunch of good ole BS-ing about handicaps, prize funds, league secretaries, and so on, I overhear an idle conversation between two bowlers talking about their season's goals. One of these two players, a fairly decent player but no one you'd write an article about (OK, someone would-you're reading it) said that he would "want to average 230 or so".

It was almost at that moment that I was taken aback. Not by the number this player suggested he could average but that it was the first thing that came to his mind about a season. Answers more acceptable would have been "trying to add a straight game" or "work hard on spare shooting" or the more obvious answer to team bowling: "win the league championship".

First of all, what does a high average mean, anymore? This is not 1985 where average was a true barometer of a player's skill. We bowl in a much different world now than 25 years ago: we have super-advanced equipment, super-walled lane conditions, and super-sophisticated pro shop drillers that can punch a ball to make a player a little bit better. There is nothing wrong with this at all-in fact, it is the way the evolution of bowling should be. Players a quarter century later should be better than those that preceded them. But using average as a barometer to see who is better is borderline useless bordering on completely useless.

Secondly, how inherently selfish are we as bowlers to think that our statistics matter more so over how a team performs? Did we lose this somewhere along the way with the rise of the PBA and the decline of elite team bowling? One player alone doesn't win a league, but all 3, 4, or 5 players do. You win championships with unselfish, team-first players like Marc D'Errico and Clay Herrbach and Adrienne Miller on your teams (solid players, not their team's best player but capable of carrying them for stretches). You lose championships and teams with me-first, politically charged divas, and egotistical freaks who care only about their averages and their coveted "anchor" position (insert any player in the past two decades where their best player received lots of attention and hype, yet produced nothing amounting to a title).

I do not begrudge averages at all but seriously people? Averages are pretty much insignificant in today's game. Let's observer carefully why this is fact. First off, anyone who is reasonably good averages 200 if they give a crap. You have all the built-in advantages of technology at your disposal, with the ultimate cog being that house shots are literal magnets towards striking. Secondly, the mere fact that guys don't give a crap about averaging 200, yet still win leagues because they can be "lousy" for 4 months, then all of a sudden, get hot the last 8 weeks when it is money time, and their averages do not take a significant spike up (translation: sandbaggers) due to all the games bowled. Finally, there are so few classic leagues anymore. What I mean by "classic" is the taboo word in league bowling today: scratch. No one's average is worth a damn bit of good on leagues where handicap is 80% difference of 220, 230, 240, or in some leagues 250! It means little because the lower average players have a built-in advantage against the higher average, elite players by having at times, a 50 pin head start before a ball is thrown for score. Again, averages given this matrix are pretty much, irrelevant.

But they are moderately useful if you do have scratch bowling leagues, where numbers mean the simplest equation: win or lose. You still have to overcome the white elephant of a house shot on some leagues but there is some equity in averages in league where the handicap is zero for everyone. The other solution is to make tougher, flatter lane conditions, such as Sport Shot leagues or PBA Experience leagues. It actually makes averages very important and also very unimportant. Think critically for a moment: your average on Sport Condition bowling is going to take a dip, usually a big one. Suddenly, your average isn't as important as just trying to outbowl the other players. However, the other things that make a bowler good or are supposed to matter...matter once again. On the plus side of things, those with higher averages are clearly better players and we know this for a fact: no blocked conditions, no handicap interfering. We have rediscovered our identity. If you have both challenging lanes and no handicap, you have yourself the best of both worlds.

You also have the chance to change how we look at the game.

For so long, we have only used a person's average as a sign as to how good they are but we have the ability to look so much further into a player's game to find out how good they are. For example, we'll take the PBA Xperience Classic at AMF Auburn I bowled in the 2009-10 season for some documentation. The league average for the 12 bowlers bowling was a respectable 186.70. Twenty-eight weeks, the 5 animal patters, and two weeks each of the World Championship, Masters, US Open, and 50 foot TOC and we had some pretty solid numbers. First of all, 12 players is a small sample and understandably so, but I have little else to go off of at this point. The high average belonged to Chris Monroy at a fine 210.90. In fact, if you take the recent summer Xperience Classic, only two players averaged over 200 for both sessions and the other person is currently busy writing a blog, or something like that.

This is where we start peeling off the layers on how we can judge a bowler. A simple statistic to look at is how well did Monroy bowl in relation to the field (the other bowlers in the league) and we'll call it Average Differential. Before I continue, this stat has been around for years and is actually used as a stat in college bowling thanks to Karl Nickolai. Subtract Monroy's average from the league average and you get his difference, which would be +24.20. An exceptional average differential given the nature of the conditions, plus the small amount of bowlers in the league. To put it in comparison, my average was +15.00 (201.70-186.70). Pretty solid, but nowhere near Monroy's excellent effort. However, that only gives us a slice of the pie as to what happened during the season. Statistically, did Monroy have a better strike percentage than me? Yes. Did I have a better spare percentage than Monroy? I think. I think? Hell, how am I supposed to know? This is how I don't know for sure: because we only take note of the recap sheet and not the scoresheet. We only see the bottom line of things, sort of like seeing Bob Ross' finished paintings on PBS first, then telling us only a recap of how he painted it. Doesn't that sound boring???

Ooookkaaay....here is our finished picture of a beautiful landscape, with snowy white caps, and crystal clear water and clouds, happy clouds, happy white clouds. I didn't feel like painting it for 30 minutes in front of you, I have a hair appointment for my afro-perm, but enjoy the painting without any detail as to how I got there, in fact, you don't even know I actually made this. But stayed tuned for Sesame Street next on PBS!

Tell me that you would have turned off the station at that point? Please, I know we all have a soft spot for PBS and all of its great programming, but come on. Part of the beauty Ross and his paintings is how we got to the bottom line. Without it, we felt hollow inside. Empty. Cheated. Well, as bowlers we should feel the same way when it comes to our recap sheet. Does the scoresheet tell a different story? The right story? A story about someone else we bowled with? Not to get all baseball-speak on you but there is more to a player than just his average (or batting average, if you will...), than as to how he gets there. Consider this the first step into post-modern bowling.

Suppose we used the scoresheet as our guide to coming up with new statistics that further helps us establish who the best of the best are. Ignore using only your average as a crutch and let's hypothesize some possible "new" statistics to bowling:

Average Differential: we already mentioned it but we should also make it clear that both Monroy and I did not bowl every single game of the year so our average differential is slightly skewed. It should be differential for average during every week you bowled, not just overall. To say that this is my backbone behind this is being rather obvious.

Pair Average Differential: average of a bowler subtracted by the average on the pair they are bowling on. Can explain a tough pair or even a possible bad team matchup against your opponents (something highly overlooked).

Pattern Average: on sport shot leagues, in particular, this comes heavily into play as to which patterns are playing easier or harder.

Pair Average: general average of the pair, regardless of who is bowling on it. Unique approach to tournament play or leagues where bowlers switch pairs after every game or pair of games. Can also determine how well a pair is playing to elect being more aggressive or more conservative.

Those are numbers you can look at the recap sheet and get an idea, but also having a scoresheet to find out who is bowling where does help. Now, let's use the scoresheet to further evaluate a player:

PRO (Spare + Strike %): for example, if a player's strike % is 64 percent and his spare % is 90 percent, that adds up to a 154 PRO. PRO's above 140 should be considered pretty good (again, this is only an hypothesis).

NOB (nine or better): 9 or better for every shot you throw. Example, 8 nine counts in 11 shots (remember, you can throw up to 12 shots in each game, not 10) makes is a 72% NOB.

SINPIN (Single Pin Spare %): I don't know why no players keep track of these things. I did my senior year in college and was a 97% SINPIN. I was also looked at funny by my teammates for keeping track of it. Anyway, 95% or better good. You should, repeat: should make all single pin spares but it isn't as easy as that. We are, after all, humans. It is a great stat to keep if your team is need of a solid spare shooter. You want one if the conditions are not striking.

APD (Avg. + Avg. Diff.): consider it the equivalent of baseball's OPS-on base plus slugging percentage. A person's average plus their average differential. The perfect combination of a player's ability to score well but also grind when the field average is lower. Similar to that of a hitter being able to grind out a walk and also ring a double to the gap.

Again, these are merely hypothesis and not facts. Some might work, some might outright make no sense. But we do need a test to prove that it can work. Luckily, I bowl in the perfect league to try it in: the 2010-11 PBA Xperience Classic. I also have a built-in advantage of using the scoresheets from each game by simply printing them out at the desk after every week. Call it using your powers or persuasion. In any event, it is time we start looking at how bowling should be perceived: similar to other sports, it is more than just numbers but how numbers are used to make players more relevant than others. If you thought I was stopping at just the sport of bowling, just wait...the czar of bowling is coming soon and he has got some changes in store for the bowling industry. Oh, people in Latvia...don't take that literally. Just a fake czar.



Tiem, kas ir milestiba un boulinga zinasanas...tas Boulings Filozofija. Namaste.