My name is Tony Ruocco and I am the Chief Operating Officer(COO) here at bowlingball.com.  Unfortunately because of time reasons I have not submitted any blogs to our site but plan to start.

I bowl once a week with other guys from the site in Deltona, Florida on Thursday night.  I will try and post blogs on bowling topics mainly focusing on ball reviews each week.  One of my main duties when it comes to bowling is to review new products before they get released to help our company determine strategies for ordering and to help educate our customers on new products.  All of the reviews you see posted by bowlingball.com reviews on our product review section are posted by me.

Roto-Grip Cell Pearl

Tonight will be the first night that I post a blog concerning a ball review.  I will be testing the new Roto-Grip Cell Pearl that will be released next month.  We will be doing 3 tests tonight from 3 of our staff guys and posting a video review to follow.  I have opted to use a layout that I have used on other Storm and Roto-Grip balls.  My favorite ball with this layout is the Storm Gravity Shift which rolls awesome for me on just about anything I face during league play.  This layout is pretty simple really which is why I feel it works well and also why we use it to do testing on new balls.  I place the pin 5 1/2″ from my Positive Axis Point(PAP) and place the Mass Bias 4″ from my PAP.  With this type of layout you just let the Center of Gravity(CG) fall where it falls and use a weight hole to get the static weights in range if needed.

I will follow up tomorrow with a review of what I found out tonight.  I am expecting great things from the Roto-Grip Cell Pearl based on the history of the original Roto-Grip Cell and the things I have been told by Roto-Grip.

THIS MONTH’S 15 NEW RELEASES will provide a plethora of ball motion paths for even the most discriminating bowler. The products all have their specific conditions on which they excel. But each month there are a few standout orbs which seem to match up on a wider spectrum of oil patterns. In golf or tennis, this might be referred to as “widening the sweet spot.” These products would generally earn the distinction of becoming a “feature” ball in my writeups. They’d also display more targeting forgiveness and release forgiveness than the norm. This month I’ve earmarked more feature balls than ever before. In no particular order they are: Storm’s Rapid Fire Pearl, Hammer’s Black Widow Venom and Emerald Vibe, Ebonite’s PlayMaker, Track’s Up Rising and Lane #1 THS. If early indications are accurate, this coming season, bowlers will have the widest selection ever of can’t-miss products from which to choose… Continue reading ‘What Do You Call A Record Month for ‘Can’t Miss’ Products? Sweet!’ »

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. Continue reading ‘Ball Of The Year Is The T Road Solid’ »

PERSONALITY: WE ALL HAVE ONE. FOR THOSE WHO REMEMBER SYBIL, SHE HAD 16! ESSENTIALLY, PERSONALITY means the fundamental character of a person. I often will write of a bowling ball’s personality in my reviews, throwing grammatical correctness to the winds. In that regard, I am merely trying to convey the traits a particular ball exudes and the feelings it gives off during testing. I’m sure some of you know what I mean — some balls just feel right, or display a motion with which we feel comfortable. They quickly become a close friend, someone on whom we can depend. We also know when balls just aren’t right. They are either too finicky on the patterns on which we bowl, or just don’t give us a “look” we like. Continue reading ‘Testing Balls With Plenty O’ Personality’ »

SUNNY SKIES, BASEBALL AND SKIMPY CLOTHES… boy, do I love summer! These warm days coincide with next season’s new product lines from our game’s major equipment producers. However, the ball manufacturers took it easy on me this month, supplying only two balls for testing. This normally is not the case because the end of June coincides with Bowl Expo, a once-a-year showcase of the industry players. This month, Ebonite International introduces two new additions to its already impressive lineup of balls. Its first offering is the Bash Black/Red, a control specialist designed to handle light-to-medium oil. The other newbie is a Turquoise/Purple Clash, designed for medium volumes but with a more aggressive move in the last 20 feet compared to its predecessor. Next month’s testing won’t be as easy, though, as early indicators point to about a dozen or more new strike-makers. Thank goodness I’m in peak physical condition (yeah, right!) and the bowling centers are air-conditioned. Continue reading ‘The Bash and the Clash Make It a Rash Dash to the Expo’ »