"Starting in April 2009, precise limits will be set on how porous a competition ball's cover stock can be"
/And you thought the USGA had done something...keep dreaming.
Reader Scott passed along this Wired.com piece by Chris Hardwick looking at the impact technology has had on bowling. The sport has never been easier to play but it doesn't seem to be translating to a healthy game. So they are turning back the clock just a bit for competition but altering ball specs.
It turns out that the sport's governing body, the United States Bowling Congress, is just as worried as I am. In Greendale, Wisconsin, at a climate-controlled facility that was almost certainly well-stocked with funnel cakes, the USBC deployed a 7-foot-tall robot named Harry. Armed with laser guides, hydraulics, and a mechanical arm, Harry's job was to bowl with the precision of a machine. As an engineer controlled release points, axis tilt, speed, and rotation, 23 sensors along the lane measured things like position and velocity. The goal, according to the USBC, was "to strike a better balance between player skill and technology." I am pretty sure the "strike" pun was intended.
The results, released earlier this year, were undeniable: Bowling ball composition had to be reined in. Starting in April 2009, precise limits will be set on how porous a competition ball's cover stock can be, standardizing how it adheres to the lane. Technology will be hobbled for the sake of the game.
As a purist of the sport, I'm grateful for the change. We should have to earn our marks the way our daddies (or, at least, mine) did: with hard rubber balls on wood, a hot lamp over the scoring table burning our hands and faces, and watered-down American beer lubricating each frame until we go home smelling like an ashtray in a chemical plant. "Keep yer got-damn science off mah balls!" we'll cry, and life will be good and pure and true.