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Lane conditions prompt postponement
February 8, 2009By Steve T. Gorches

Post-Tribune deputy sports editor
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MICHIGAN CITY -- Due to technical difficulties ...

OK, those weren't the exact words of Duneland Conference coordinator Tim McCoy as he got on the intercom at Suburban Lanes at around 3 p.m. on Saturday, but it would have been accurate.

Because of an unusual trait of the fairly new synthetic covering on the old wooden lanes at the 32-lane center, the singles portion of the Michigan City Regional was postponed. It will now take place at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday at Camelot Bowl in Portage.

"It's unfortunate, but (Indiana High School Bowling commissioner Steve Kunkel) supported the decision," said WestLake Conference coordinator Bruce Kafantaris, who was part of the joint decision by the four coordinators (Mike Kraushaar and Larry Zaideman are the other two) and the meeting with the coaches and bowlers.

Covering for wood lanes is common now with modern bowling balls made of reactive and proactive resin materials that cause wear and tear. So centers without synthetic lanes use one of several types of protective barricades.

The one used at Suburban is Brunswick Lane Shield, which lays on the lane with very little attachment. It clings to the lane due to static electricity enhanced by the friction of balls rolling on it.

But when there is inactivity on the lanes, combined with warmer temperatures, bubbles that look like speed bumps on a road can appear.

The solution to these bubbles is usually just to roll a ball down the lane. The bubble will be pushed down the lanes and even itself out at the pins.

"We went to Angola to a 12-lane center that had Lane Shield," said Michigan City coach Brian Schwanke, who worked at Suburban Lanes when previous management purchased the protection.

He didn't agree with the decision to postpone.

"It was in the afternoon in the summer and there was no bowling until at night, and eight of the 12 lanes had bubbles. When you rolled a ball it went away. It was the wrong decision."

Saturday's bubbles likely occurred when play stopped for compiling of the results before the stepladder final. The coordinators wanted to make sure nothing could hinder competition.

"We wanted to play it safe," Kraushaar said.

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USBC to the rescue, sort of ...
By
Steve Gorches
on February 11, 2009 12:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
Leave it to the United States Bowling Congress to provide a little clarity in the latest chapter of High School Bowling Regionalgate.

The following message was part of a long e-mail stringer between Northwest Indiana conference coordinators, four high school coaches protesting last Saturday's event at Suburban Lanes in Michigan City, Indiana High School Bowling commissioner Steve Kunkel and others (including yours truly who observed the responses more than reply myself ... I like watching arguments more than participating). This reply was from USBC team leader Michael A. Spridco, who provided the most clear and accurate assessment of the 'sour grapes' complaints of coaches. Notice the bolded items that I find especially interesting ...

"Lane conditions, even when you are talking about non-compliant lane conditions, can not be protested after the games are over. USBC rules do not allow teams to bowl and then after the competition is complete, decide the condition is not compliant and ask for the games to be re-bowled. When there are non-compliant lane conditions, a protest must be filed immediately and the tournament manager must make an immediate decision. If the tournament manager does not do that, the teams need to not bowl. After the fact, the only decision USBC would allow in this instance would be to hold another qualifier and allow for additional teams to advance. However, this decision needs to be made by the Indiana State High School Governing Body. If they will not allow for more teams to advance, the three teams who qualified Saturday are the only ones who can."

OK ... do you get it? Do you understand?
That's the USBC, the all-powerful governing body of bowling who makes decisions. What they say goes and they are telling the protesting coaches that they dropped the ball by not protesting right away. As I said in my column in today's Post-Tribune and on our Web site, if you have a problem during the event, have your team stop and protest until your head explodes like Michael Ironside's in the movie "Scanners." (That was a great movie if you've never seen it!) -- Stop (bowling), Drop (everything you're doing) and Don't Roll (another ball) until everyone in charge hears your complaint.
That didn't happen. Hindsight is 20/20. Hindsight is also for people who don't make the right decision at the moment when the decision is most necessary and mandatory.
What's done is done.
And for the record, Brunswick's Lane Shield is not the problem. It was the new ownership at Suburban Lanes not know what they were doing on several fronts. First, they got rid of devoted, smart people who ran the center just fine, including manager Loren Hahn, who probably laughed when he found out about the problems. He did tell a source that if he was still the manager he would have had the air conditioning going the night before to prevent humidity from causing problems with Lane Shield. But when the new owners know nothing about or even care about the sport of bowling and only care about making money, bad things are bound to happen.
Like I said, what's done is done, so let's officially get behind KV, Highland and Boone Grove as Northwest Indiana's chances for a boys state champion and stop looking back.

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So many rants from Saturday's H.S. bowling
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February 11, 2009
By Steve T. Gorches

Post-Tribune deputy sports editor
For those who visit my blog at www.post-trib.com, the only bowling blog in Northwest Indiana, you know I'm all for a good rant.

Give me a subject -- bowling being my favorite -- and I'll rant until my fingers cramp from typing and eyes get weary late at night.

So consider this editorial another rant leading into an expanded rant-filled blog. To enhance your reading experience, picture me red-faced with neck veins popping.

There were debates on both sides at Saturday's high school regional at Suburban Lanes in Michigan City.

Should the singles event have been canceled?

Did the problems with the unreliable Brunswick Lane Shield affect team event?

Could the center have been run any worse for the event?

Here are the short answers before I?pontificate -- yes, maybe and no. Let's look at all three one at a time.

First, despite the immediate knee-jerk reaction on my blog after Saturday's event, the four conference coordinators did the right thing -- not because I?think the event would have been a farce. They did it for the right reason -- for the kids.

Not enough people in region bowling do enough for that singular reason. It's not just a noble reason, but a necessary one since it preserves the future of our sport. Moving singles to Camelot Bowl in Portage (4:30 p.m., Thursday) makes the competitive aspect fair for everybody. It might not work logistically for everyone, but it's the right thing to do.

Especially when I?considered one trait of Lane Shield that came about due to Saturday's weather. When humidity passes 45 percent, the bubbles that occurred in the protective covering on the wood lanes is more difficult to prevent.

Second, the team event might have had some issues due to those bubbles -- three coaches did complain afterward -- but it comes across as sour grapes.

Remember, perception is reality. My message to coaches who complained after their teams did not advance is that you should have complained right then and there when you thought a bubble on the lane caused a problem.

Stop, drop and don't roll.

If there's a problem, don't whine about your plight ... put up a fight. The coordinators would have listened.

Lastly, holding the event at Suburban Lanes in general was a mistake, and that's not sour grapes. I said that 10 days ago and I?was right.

The center was sold a little more than a week before the event with dedicated employees, including manager Loren Hahn, let go immediately. The two men in charge of the center admitted they aren't 'bowling savvy', which is a huge pet peeve with me. If you aren't in the bowling industry because you love bowling, get out.

Besides the lane issues, the men's bathroom was a mess, one of the pop machines didn't work and customer service wasn't that good, with the exception of one employee behind the counter who was a carry-over from previous ownership.

In other words, the perception was that it wasn't about the kids, but the money. And, as we all should know by now, perception is reality.

Contact Steve Gorches at 648-3141 or sgorches@post-trib.com. Visit his blog at blogs.post-trib.com/gorches for more regional ranting.