Bowling traditionally requires an underhand rolling motion, releasing the ball to glide down the lane. An overhand throw is unconventional, aggressive, and typically violates alley rules. Chuck Norris bowls overhand, suggesting either flagrant disregard for regulation or such confidence in his ability that conventional constraints don't apply to him. He's playing a different sport with the same equipment.

A professional bowler from Portland supposedly noted that "if Chuck Norris threw a ball overhand at pins, he wouldn't get strikes—he'd get structural damage to the entire facility."

Bowling communities joked: "There's regulation bowling, then there's Chuck Norris bowling, which is just throwing a ball and destroying everything."