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Bowling Ruined By New Technology, Says Son of Bowling Legend

by Lee Bains on October 31, 2008 at 05:34 PM



In April of next year, the United States Bowling Congress will implement prohibitions on bowling balls that the organization's policymakers deem too high-tech, and bowling purists couldn't be happier.

Chris Hardwick, son of professional bowling star Bill Hardwick and writer for Wired, is one of those purists. Claiming that advances in bowling technology have largely taken the sport out of the game, Hardwick explains that professional bowling has become far more dependent on science than some might expect.

As the result of specially designed lane surfaces (and balls engineered to grip them), bowling has seen a point explosion; according to Hardwick, statistics demonstrate that amateur bowlers average 40 more points per game than professional bowlers did in the '60s. Since we don't remember any rigorous bowling training in high school gym class (or even a bowling team for that matter), we can only assume that these developments did not come about on the shoulders of training techniques.

In their efforts to analyze the impact of ball technology on bowling, the USBC has constructed a robot named Harry, who -- with great precision -- has tested the characteristics, and unfair advantages, of dozens of high-tech bowling balls.

While advancements in actual bowling might favor the most tech-savvy ball-rollers, we are happy to report that Wii bowling, at least, still rewards old-fashioned skill over new-fangled science. [From: Wired.com]

Tags: bowling, sports, technology

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