On the Lanes
Turned off to women’s bowling by Petraglia Scoring System OK. It’s time to sound off a bit. LADY PROS: Stop me if I get carried away on this, but I anxiously tuned in to the PWBA program this past weekend to watch my favorite lady pros roll the ball down the lane.
I turned it off and headed outside within 5 minutes. It was because of the Johnny Petraglia Scoring System.
See, according to Mr. Petraglia, scoring in bowling is just too complicated for the normal human being to understand. You know, a spare means 10 + the next ball, and a strike means 10 + the next two balls is just way beyond comprehension according to him. So he invented his own scoring system wherein we only count how many balls must be thrown to complete a 10-frame game. To put it simply, if someone shoots a 300 perfect game, according to Mr. Petraglia, they would get a 10. If they have 8 strikes and 2 spares, that would give them a score of 12.
In his system, the lowest score wins.
Immediately as I watched Carolyn Dorin-Ballard throw her first strike, I asked myself how is a 10 a perfect game? Wouldn’t it be a 12? Don’t we have to throw 12 consecutive strikes to get a 300 game? Well, yes, but Mr. Petraglia lets the 10th frame be treated just like any other frame. So that is when, click, I turned it off.
I’m sorry, but the way I look at it is: “learn the game”. It is ridiculous to me to redo the scoring system of a sport that has been in existence and popular for over 90 years just because someone might not understand the calculation.
Next Joe Namath will want to revise football so that when a team scores a touchdown it is one point, but whenever they don’t score it is 2 points, unless they are right on the goal line and don’t score and then it is 3 points. Lowest score wins.
Wow, seems like about the same thing to me.
SUBS: Occasionally, a bowler is forced to miss a night of bowling. In the normal course of things, that would leave a team a player short for league action. The easiest way to resolve the situation is to bring in an eligible sub.
The key word here is “eligible”. Most leagues have caps or rules on who is eligible to be a sub. All of this is very clearly spelled out by the USBC Rules, and it is not hard to understand. The USBC says to compare the entering average of the sub with the entering average of the regular team member that is missing, and determine if the sub is eligible. Simple.
But, remember bowling is a handicap sport. Consequently, when the sub joins a team for the evening, the handicap will most likely be affected. For handicapping purposes the team average of one team is compared with the team average of its opponent. The difference is the handicap. Thus the team average that is used for computing purposes is extremely important. How that concept can be messed up is clearly beyond me.
Rule 100g.5 states: “The combined ‘current’ average of each of the players bowling on a team shall be the team average”.
That is simple enough. The “current” average of a sub is what is used to determine the handicap. It is clearly not the “entering” average.
Every league writes in its rules when a league member’s current average starts being used for handicap purposes. Most often it is after 9 games. It can be anything though from 6 to 21 games. But, at some point, the current average must come into play. And, obviously, a sub’s current average should also eventually be used to determine the handicap.
Even if the league does not have a rule for subs, the default number would be the 9 games or whatever number of games the regular members are required to bowl in order to establish a current average.
It seems ludicrous to me, and in direct violation of rule 100g, for a league to continue to use a sub’s entering average all season long to determine a team’s handicap.
Remember, the USBC says “current”.
ELECTIONS: It is that time of the year for election of officers. How such a thing as an election can get botched up is almost beyond comprehension. The USBC clearly outline the process for elections in its Operations Guide, which obviously no one ever reads.
Here are some of the biggest mistakes:
A.) Separate Elections: “Each office has a separate election to enable an unsuccessful candidate for one position to run for another.” This means that the league elects a president first. If a candidate loses, that person can then run for vice president. And should he or she lose again, they can continue to run for secretary or treasurer. Nominations and elections for each office are completely separate. You should nominate and elect a president, then nominate and elect a vice-president, and so forth.
B.) Written Ballots: “Members should use written ballots if there is more than one candidate”. Obviously this means you do not elect an office by “show of hands”. Who you vote for is your business.
C.) Majority Vote: “Officers are elected by majority vote.” Majority does not mean “plurality”. If three people are nominated, to get elected one of them must receive just over half the votes. In other words, if your league has 25 people voting and 3 people running, and Candidate A gets 8 votes, Candidate B gets 11 votes, and Candidate C get 6 votes, none of the 3 is elected to the office. What is required is a “runoff” where the top two candidates only are voted on again to determine the winner. The elected official must get 13 votes to have a majority.
D.) Ballot Counts: After each election, “Meeting minutes should reflect the number of votes cast and names and number of votes each individual receives”. It is your right, and every candidate’s right to know all the facts.
BOWLING NEWS: Uniontown resident Gary George writes a weekly bowling column for the Herald-Standard. If you have any bowling news, contact George, a member of the Professional Bowlers Association since 1997, via email at probowler48@aol.com or fax at 724-438-7290. Information is welcome from all area bowling establishments.