A Hot Time In The Old Bowling Center

When I ran a bowling center, I always tried to keep the temperature at 70 degrees in the spring and summer. It's much easier to do in the fall and winter and often it was a cooler. Target the winter temp to around 65. If customers remark about the temperature, their immanent exercise will change the temp. The combination of the outside air coming in with customers and cooler starting temp will be brisk initially but the body heat (from a full house) raises the temp.

Same thing happens in the spring/summer, but the AC typically can't keep up if the center's busy. Newer centers, or centers replacing air units should upgrade the units to be able to quickly respond to the changes in summer business. At least try to keep your customers comfortable.

Have you ever been in a movie theater that was warm? NEVER. Many theaters, years ago featured COOL AIR CONDITIONED COMFORT as a big selling point (prior to widespread air conditioning). This point shows my age but is VERY valid.

The dilemma, if you don't know what to expect, as far as the business for an evening, trying to save on energy costs is sometimes hit or miss. But, if the center gets busy, and customers get warm, they leave and won't soon be back, because of the bad experience. Sacrificing future business will only make tomorrow more challenging.

Trying to save a buck, will sometimes shot you in the foot. No one saves themselves to riches. Get out and get more business. Check with your heating and air guy about the advisability of keeping the temp predetermined, or does fluctuating the temp up and down cost more?

If you are a business owner and can't afford the expense of waiting for (sometimes more profitable) open play bowlers, then build some leagues and they will help you afford the AC and heat.

Experiencing the problem? Get some signatures from your fellow bowlers, request that the air be lowered about an hour to an hour and a half before league, and cranked to whatever temp about a half hour before league ends. A defined schedule should be doable for the center, and a reasonable compromise.

Many centers have multiple zones. Have the center manager or owner agree to keep one end of the center cooler for your league. It's not necessary to cool the entire place to a workable temp for the athletes bowling.

Proprietors, many centers in my experience whine about the difficulty of creating summer bowlers, or maintaining summer league play. Yet, when they do get people to commit to visiting the center for 10, 12, 14 weeks, the temp and facilities are less then comfortable and accommodating.

I sure would like to go golfing if it was guaranteed it would rain each and every time I played. Let's go watch a movie in a building about 80 degrees. What a great idea.

If your center is not comfortable, close in the summer. Or, cut your staff and work next to the remaining over stressed, over worked employees, experience what they go through, dealing with customer complaints and dissatisfaction. You won't wonder why no one visits you in the summer. You've driven them off.

GEICO PBA Team Shootout

Bowling fans will be able to watch three of the greatest bowling teams ever
assembled do battle when ESPN airs 15 tape-delayed shows of the GEICO PBA 
Team Shootout hosted by Six Flags beginning Sunday and continuing the next
three Sundays.

Eighteen of the Lumber Liquidators PBA Tour’s top competitors tested their
skills at “outdoor bowling” in a unique round-robin team competition contested
on lanes constructed at Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson, N.J., June 11-13.

Among the stars competing included 2008-09 Player of the Year Wes Malott,
two-handed Australian sensation and Rookie of the Year Jason Belmonte, and
Hall of Famers Parker Bohn III, Walter Ray Williams Jr., Pete Weber and
Norm Duke.

This Sunday ESPN will telecast two half hour shows - 1:30 and 4:30 p.m. Eastern
- which will feature Baker Scoring System round-robin qualifying matches. The
Baker system requires each member of a five-player team to bowl two frames in
one game to combine for one score.

An innovation in televised bowling will also debut in Sunday’s matches. One
player on each team will have an earpiece giving announcers the ability to ask
the player questions during actual competition.

The players qualified for the event through their performances in PBA’s 2008-09 
Extreme Swing, Versatility Swing and Grand Slam point lists as well as five
wild card selections, and teams were assembled based upon the ages of players.
Team Bayer includes the six youngest players in the group – the “young guns”
of the PBA. Team Lumber Liquidators features the six oldest, most experienced
and most decorated players on Tour. Team GEICO is the “middle-aged” group,
and arguably the most competitive group of players in PBA Tour competition
today. Team rosters are:

Team Bayer – Jason Belmonte, Mike Fagan, Tommy Jones, Bill O’Neill, Rhino
Page and Sean Rash.

Team GEICO – Patrick Allen, Brad Angelo, Chris Barnes, Mika Koivuniemi, Wes
Malott and Mike Wolfe.

Team Lumber Liquidators – Parker Bohn III, Norm Duke, Steve Jaros, Mike
Scroggins, Pete Weber and Walter Ray Williams Jr.

USBC Developing New Red, White and Blue Lane Conditions

The United States Bowling Congress (USBC) plans to introduce a new series of lane conditions for certified competition. The group of patterns is designed to provide bowlers a better description for the difficulty of traditional “house” conditions.

As part of the plan, leagues and tournaments will have the option of using oil patterns falling into USBC Red, White or Blue condition categories. USBC Red pattern will be the most forgiving condition, USBC White will be more challenging and USBC Blue will be the most difficult of the new “house” conditions. USBC Sport Bowling conditions will continue to be the most challenging level of oil patterns.

“We know that lane conditions have a tremendous impact on the sport,” USBC Vice President-National Governing Body Neil Stremmel said. “House shots can be very easy or reasonably challenging. Knowing the difficulty of the condition helps build credibility for the sport and adds a new fun element for bowlers.”

The new condition categories are scheduled for testing later this year in cooperation with the Bowling Proprietors’ Association of America (BPAA). The conditions should be available for tournament use in spring 2010 and for the fall 2010 league season.

“This program can provide proprietors an excellent marketing tool to attract and maintain league bowlers,” BPAA President Jim Sturm said. “Red, White and Blue can be used like stepping stones to progressively increase a bowler’s interest in the competitive side of the sport. We are eager to test the program and hear feedback from customers and proprietors.”

Use of the USBC Red, White and Blue conditions will be completely optional and the patterns will be available for download at no cost.

“A primary goal of the project is to make the USBC Red, White and Blue conditions easy for bowlers to understand and proprietors to utilize,” Stremmel said. “The industry’s lane machine manufacturers have been extremely supportive in making sure this program will work for nearly any center wanting to participate.”

As part of the effort to gain attention for the new condition categories, USBC is sponsoring a stop on next season’s Lumber Liquidators PBA Tour. The Red, White and Blue Open presented by USBC will be held at Northrock Lanes in Wichita, Kan., Dec. 7-13. The finals telecast will air Jan. 3 on ESPN.

PBA Partners With Goodwill Industries

The Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) has announced Goodwill
Industries of Greater Detroit as its official charity partner for the 2009 PBA
World Series of Bowling. The announcement was made at a press conference
today at Thunderbowl Lanes.

The Detroit area will host the inaugural World Series of Bowling (WSOB), a
revolutionary festival of world-class bowling, beginning Aug. 2 and running
through Sept. 6.

Goodwill Industries is the only organization solely dedicated to helping
unemployed metro Detroiters overcome barriers and find jobs.

“Hosting the first-ever World Series of Bowling right here in the Detroit area
will be an immense boost for our economy and our people,” said Lorna G. Utley,
president and CEO, Goodwill Industries of Greater Detroit. “In naming 
Goodwill Industries of Greater Detroit as its official charity partner, the PBA
will enable many metro Detroiters to overcome their barriers to employment and
become trained, trusted and ready to work.”

In just the past two years of the organization’s nearly 90-year history,
Goodwill Industries has placed more than 2,500 individuals from metro Detroit
into new jobs and provided career assistance to thousands more in Southeast
Michigan. For information about how Goodwill Industries battles unemployment
in the region, visit www.goodwilldetroit.org.

With $2 million in prize money and seven ESPN telecasts planned as part of the
WSOB, the event will focus the attention of the bowling world on the Detroit
area unlike any previous event in bowling history. After kicking off the program
with the Motor City Open at Taylor Lanes in Taylor, Mich., the WSOB will shift
to Thunderbowl Lanes in Allen Park for the duration. A complete schedule of
events is available at a new dedicated website, 
www.pbaworldseriesofbowling.com.

“For decades, Detroit has been the hub of bowling in the United States. It has
produced dozens of hall of fame players and has contributed significantly to the
history of our sport at all levels. For those reasons, it only made sense to
bring the new World Series of Bowling to the community that has given so much
to the sport,” said Tom Clark, Deputy Commissioner of the PBA. “Nothing like
the World Series of Bowling has ever been done before. Over a span of five
weeks, the PBA will bring the world’s best bowlers to the Detroit area to serve as
a catalyst for economic impact and a rally point for the communities and
businesses. It’s no secret that unemployment has hit the Detroit area as hard as
any other region in country.”

WSOB events are being planned for the entire family, including pro-am events
where amateur bowlers can roll with the pros. The pro-ams support Goodwill 
Industries’ mission of helping metro Detroiters overcome employment barriers
through education, training and career assistance.

Further updates and details will be posted regularly regarding the PBA World
Series of Bowling and the rest of the 2009-2010 Lumber Liquidators PBA Tour
season, including tournament entry and ticket information.

The New Hammer Jigsaw

The new Hammer Jigsaw features “Gription Reactive 5/4” coverstock in Black/White. The 5/4 in the coverstock description refers to the finishing process. The factory finish lists the surface at 500/4000 Abralon.

“This finishing process cleans up the ball reaction in the front of the lane while still giving the ball the teeth to get through the downlane oil and carrydown” explains Hammer Brand Manager Jeff Ussery. "Good length with high-friction backend movement" describes Ussery. “We intend the product to be used on Medium-Heavy to Heavy Oil Lane Conditions.”

The core, the “Jigsaw High Mass-Bias Core” generates a Radius of Gyration of 2.48 in a 15# ball, with a RG differential of .051 for high flare potential. Worldwide product release date is July 14, 2009.

PBA Announces Remaining Exemptions

Two Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) Hall of Famers and an international star from Korea
have been granted exemptions for the 2009 PBA World Series of Bowling and, for one, the
2009-10 Lumber Liquidators PBA Tour season.

PBA Hall of Famer and 24-time Tour titlist Brian Voss of Alpharetta, Ga., has been awarded the
Tour’s new “Golden Parachute” exemption, a ticket which will allow the PBA Senior Tour “rookie” the
opportunity to bowl for the entire season.

PBA Hall of Famer Amleto Monacelli of Venezuela and Korean Professional Bowlers Association
(KPBA) star Tae-Hwa Jeong will join Finnish two-handed star Osku Palermaa—who had already
received an international exemption—in the exempt field for the upcoming PBA World Series of
Bowling in suburban Detroit.

Voss’ 24 Tour titles ranks 10th all-time. He won at least one title in 12 straight PBA Tour seasons
and won the 1988 PBA National Championship for his only major win. The 1988 PBA Player of
the Year also was the Harry Smith Point Leader in 1987 and ’88. Now 50, he joined the PBA
Senior Tour in 2009 and has recorded a pair of second-place finishes in the Senior U.S. Open and
Dayton Classic.

Monacelli is the only foreign-born player in the PBA Hall of Fame and owns 19 PBA Tour titles. He
was also the first foreign-born player to win the Player of the Year award, winning in back-to-back
seasons in 1989 and ‘90. He finished fifth in the 2009 Lumber Liquidators U.S. Open.

Jeong is a 10-time Korean PBA Tour winner and a five-time Japan PBA Tour titlist. He is one of
three players to bowl a televised 300 game on the KPBA Tour.

Palermaa earned his place in the World Series of Bowling (WSOB) earlier in the spring as the 
European Bowling Tour points leader. His best previous PBA Tour finish was fifth in the 2004 U.S.
Open. The 2006 World Bowler of the Year was also the winner of the 2009 World Ranking
Masters and the 2006 QubicaAMF World Cup.

With the announcement, all of the exemptions have been filled for the 2009-10 Lumber Liquidators
PBA Tour season, which include 41 from the 2008-09 point list, eight from the PBA Tour Trials,
seven from the Regional Players Invitational, the 2008-09 Tournament Qualifier Round points
leader and one medical deferment. The remaining spots in each standard tournament field (which is
comprised of 64 entries) will be filled each week by Tournament Qualifier Rounds (TQR) qualifiers,
who will vie for a minimum of five spots.

The inaugural PBA World Series of Bowling, which begins Aug. 2 and runs through Sept. 6, 2009,
will be a revolutionary festival of competitive bowling boasting a $2 million prize fund and seven 
ESPN telecasts. For the 72-player closed-field WSOB events, a minimum of 10 non-exempt players
can advance through the TQR system.

The PBA Motor City Open will kick off the season at longtime PBA host center Taylor Lanes in
Taylor, Mich., from Aug. 2-6. The remainder of the World Series of Bowling, including six exempt 
PBA Tour events, the return of the PBA Women’s Series presented by USBC and a revamped 
PBA Senior Tour World Championship will be held at Thunderbowl Lanes in Allen Park, Mich.,
just outside Detroit. The World Series of Bowling will culminate with the PBA World Championship
open field event, the first major championship of the 2009-10 season.

The Lumber Liquidators PBA Tour will pick up its traditional schedule in the second half of the
season beginning with the Pepsi Red, White and Blue Open presented by the USBC Dec. 7-13 in
Wichita, Kan.

Olympic Rings

The U.S. Olympic Committee has given the United States Bowling Congress (USBC) and the Bowling Proprietor's Association of America (BPAA) permission to display the Olympic rings on the outside of the Training and Research Center, currently under construction at the International Bowling Campus (IBC) in Arlington, TX.