The perfect 300 is still evolving

Old timers in Prince William County will remember back in the 1950s and 1960s when bowling balls were made of hard rubber and bowling lanes were made from maple and pine wood. As the coatings applied to wood lanes changed from softer lacquer to a harder urethane in the early 1970s, plastic balls became the balls of choice. Subsequent changes such as urethane and later "reactive" resin or composite "particle" bowling balls made the bowling balls react stronger and hit the pins harder.

The newer synthetic lanes and advanced oiling machines that can lay oil down in precise patterns have raised concerns in the bowling community. One of these is that bowling a perfect 300 game now is much easier to achieve than it was in the past.

To many, this has cheapened the value of bowling the ultimate score. The increasing frequency of 300 games irks many bowling purists who say that it is damaging the integrity of the sport. Ac-cording to the United States Bowling Congress (formerly the American Bowling Congress) in 1964, less than 1,000 perfect games were bowled in leagues. In 2008, the number had skyrock-eted to nearly 53,000.

Bowling a perfect 300 game has gone from a big event to an all-too-common occurrence as dem-onstrated in the following two fictional scenarios 45 years apart.

Bowling a 300 in 1964

Our first fictional bowler steps onto the approach at his favorite lanes. Currently averaging 198, he is one of the best players in the area. He has just bowled the first nine strikes and every other bowler in the building stops and walks over to watch him bowl the 10th frame. The building is dead silent.

He picks up his Manhattan Rubber ball, the same one he's thrown for five years and the only ball he owns. He has never bowled a 300 game.

His first shot goes a little high but gets a strike -- ten in a row. The crowd roars. He makes an adjustment moving one board left. The next shot goes dead flush -- eleven in a row and the crowd is really into it now. The crowd grows as bowlers gather to watch the action. The people in the back are standing on chairs to get a good view.

He steps onto the approach one more time, his knees knocking and his hands trembling. He de-livers the shot, it comes in light but the headpin comes off the wall and carries the strike, the crowd explodes.

The proprietor calls the American Bowling Congress (ABC) and the local paper, which has a re-porter in the building in 15 minutes. While the hero of the night is interviewed, the proprietor ropes off lanes 9 and 10, making sure no one disturbs them before the ABC inspector arrives. The hero can't wait for the interview to end so he can call his wife from the pay phone.

Bowling a 300 in 2009

This fictional bowler is currently averaging 220 which is the only the 7th highest in his league. He has bowled the first nine strikes but no one in the league, except those bowling with him on lanes 4 and 5, realize that he has a chance to shoot 300. He picks up his new high performance hybrid reactive Ultra Radical Pro Pearl ball. He's attempting to shoot his 12th 300 game.

His first shot goes a little high but carries the tenth strike. He decides to move his feet four boards left. The next shot misses three boards right but finds the dry track, turns and hits solidly in the 1-3 pocket for his 11th strike. His teammates are joking with him, asking if at least one of his shots in the 10th could hit his target.

He steps onto the approach one more time. He delivers the shot -- 5 boards left of his target, finds oil and comes in light -- and, for an instant, the 10 pin stands. But a messenger flies across the pin deck and takes out the 10 for a 300 game. He understands when his teammates chide him a little for missing his target by 5 boards. No crowd has formed. Only a few are there to clap po-litely.

He goes up to the league secretary to find out how he did in brackets. Expecting a big payday he finds out another bowler also shot 300 so he collects only half of the bracket. He buys a soda from the vending machine, packs up his 6-ball roller holding his exotic bowling ball arsenal and heads home.

Gil Sanchez, a member of the Bowling Writers Association of America, is a freelance bowling writer for the News & Messenger. Reach him at 703-587-6792 or at gsan-chez@insidenova.com.