There are as many different styles of bowling shirts as there are different styles of bowlers. The shirts range all the way from simple t-shirts with pictures up to glitzy shirts from the past.

A true bowling shirt is a box cut, short sleeved, with a button up front, pocket, and small collar. Most bowling shirts are very colorful, with panels of different colors, such as black and red. They also have piping along the shoulders.

They are usually made of a cotton/polyester blend. Charlie on the Two and Half Men TV show is fond of wearing bowling shirts for every occasion. Bowling is enjoyed by about 100 million people over several continents.

There are also team shirts which league bowlers favor as they can be customized with the team name, etc. Often referred to as “retro bowling shirts”, older bowling shirts from the 40s, 50s, and 60s are very sought after by collectors.

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League bowling is competitive, fun, good exercise, and relaxing.

There are many different leagues available such as senior, kids, men, women, mixed, scratch, etc.  There are also leagues such as Reno league, which ends with a trip to Reno and also leagues where each team member receives a ball at the end.  These are only a few of the ones available at different bowling establishments.

The leagues are all governed by rules from USBC such as how handicap is figured, length of league, etc. Each league can have some of their own rules as long as they comply with USBC.

On a set night, the teams bowl against each other.  The leagues are approximately 8 months long and end with a playoff for 1st place. etc.  There are also summer leagues, which are for a shorter time frame.

Each league has officers such as President, Vice President, and Secretary.  The Secretary takes in the money from the bowlers and keep records of all the scores for each evening.

Most leagues start play in early September but there are usually openings during the season as sometimes bowlers leave and some teams do not have a full team.  The number of team members is decided ahead of time by the league such as 3, 4, or 5 members.

It is a good idea to call the local bowling alley and they will know if there are openings on any of the teams.  The friends made from these leagues are great and a good time is had by all. League bowling is just waiting for you to join and have a great time!

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WHILE CLINTON AND OBAMA ARE STILL BUSY TRYING TO GET THE UPPER HAND in their primary campaigns, we here at the Bowlers Journal have the final results of our own meaningful voting that you’re sure to be more interested in.

These results are from our bowling ball ballots to determine the sport’s best products for 2007. We know you can’t stand the suspense, so without any further preamble, the top vote-getter for the coveted Ball of the Year award is the Storm T Road solid.

The T Road was chosen for its user and lane versatility, overall hitting and carry power and its longevity. The T Road encapsulates a medium-high RG symmetric core (2.57) and a Diff (.046) which produces about 5” of track flare potential. Surrounding this core is Storm’s highly successful R2S coverstock.

Runner-up to this year’s choice was the Hammer Black Widow pearl, sister of last year’s winner, the Black Widow solid. Obviously, that lineage helped.

Other winners include the Hammer Cherry Vibe, which was voted Best Value. The Ebonite Gamebreaker was chosen as Most Underrated, while the Ebonite NVS was voted Most Overrated. The Most Attractive choice was Lane Masters’ World Class Particle Pearl.

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A healthy, strong back will improve your bowling ability and the accuracy of your bowling. There is a different grip and way of holding the ball for spinners and fast bowlers. So depending on the kind of bowler, one must choose the proper grip for holding the ball.

Bowling is a set up for neck pain. The weight of the ball as well as the motion needed to launch your ball can lead to neck strain. Bowlers use their brains less and their shoulders more (to hurl the ball down as quick as they can while forgetting about good technique).

You even have some bowlers thinking that if they can bench press 130kg or gain 10kg in muscle, then they’ll be a great fast bowler. Overuse injuries are gradually appearing pains, aches, stiffness or injury brought on by repeated, mild physical stress to a particular area of the body.

Right arm bowlers almost exclusively develop pain to the left side of the lumbar spine at a point named the pars interarticularis. A combination of rotation coupled with hyperextension and left sided lateral flexion is known to give rise to such fractures.

The bowling action involves repetitive twisting, extension and rotation of the trunk at the same time as absorption of large ground reaction forces over a short period of time. Overuse injuries are also common. Fast bowlers often suffer overuse injuries in the lower back region.

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Recent news stories discussing the popularity and benefits of Wii Bowling for seniors indicate that Wii bowling, as well as Tennis may gain more fans in retirement communities around the country.Wii bowling is fast becoming a favorite pastime at retirement homes. Older adults get some exercise and can improve eye hand coordination when playing Wii bowling, or any of the many other great games for the Wii, such as golf or tennis.

Having tried the demo version of Wii Bowling shipped with the Wii console, I am impressed. I immediately thought of someone bowling for many years, even decades and then being unable to continue because of arthritis or other medical problems associated with aging.

Wii systems have been difficult to come by and many have waited until just recently to get their hands on one. While the games that ship with the Wii are fun, the true Wii experience comes through when playing the “real” games.

The Wii bowling games from Brunswick and PBA are much more realistic in appearance, with characters that look like real people with every configurable option imaginable from shoes to hats to colored bowling balls. You can customize your character to your hearts content.

The more advanced bowling games for the Wii also offer a much more ‘tactile” feel, meaning more sensitive controls and somewhat higher learning curve than the Wii bowling demos. If you like the Wii bowling demo at all, then you really should check out the full Wii bowling games.

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Bowling, like many other endeavors, is easy to learn but hard to master.  This especially true regarding picking up spares.  Few of us are so good that we never leave pins behind after the first ball.

It’s important to be concerned at the beginning of each frame with what you are left with as far as spares to pickup. So plan ahead.  and, whatever you do, avoid the 7 - 10  split.

Picking up spares takes a lot or practice. It has been said “Pick up the spares and the strikes will come.” That is quite true.

There are around 1,000 different spare combinations. Some people have a special ball to pick up their spares which is drilled differently.

Below is a diagram of the pins and their positions. If you are a beginning bowler, it is important to familiarize yourself with this pin diagram.

The 7 pin leave and the 10 pin leave are usually picked up by a far right (7) or far left (10) roll of the ball.

Some spares can be picked up by rolling a strike ball, if the 5 pin is part of the leave. Taking out the 5 pin hopefully will pick up the other pins.

The following are some spares and possible solutions for picking them up:

• The 6-9-10 leave would be picked up by the far left starting position and going cross lane.

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