Bowling the Lost Art

April 22, 2016

When I heard my neighborhood bowling alley was closing because the lease was getting too expensive, a wave of sadness came over me. You can't pack up an alley and move it somewhere else and start over. The lanes are gone, and slowly the era of bowling dies another death. The great indoor and year-round sport loses to economics and a changing demographic who rather play a video game version. The older generation of bowlers hasn't brought the next wave of players to the sport.

Let's face the truth. Bowling has never been considered sexy. I don't notice a lot of male and female glamour models at the alley, nor do I expect to find any. The joy is about honing your craft, competing, hanging with buddies, talking trash, fist-pumping, drinking long necks, and enjoying a sport that doesn't require 1000 bucks in gear. Even if you don't have the equipment, you can rent at the alley. Bowling will constantly be ridiculed for the people who regularly roll and mocked in movies like the Big Lebowski and Kingpin. The sport contains a wide span of players and embraces anybody who decides to play. You can go to any alley on most weeknights and see a large variety of people in leagues that range from CEO's and doctors to manual laborers and barbers.

Bowling also gets a bad rap about the debate of “is it a sport or a pastime?" Ridiculous. A lot of practice and hours spent will tell how hard it is to develop a consistent rolling motion. The beauty of the curve that can pick up a 7 -10 split cannot be accomplished without attention focused on precision and form. The same can be said for golf, but golf never gets the ridicule that bowlers hear. A bit of snobbery comes up with golf versus bowling but then again, I don't care for those who criticize something they are only mediocre at.

The history of professional bowling is long storied. Many of us were introduced to professional bowling through the dulcet tones of Chris Shenkel on Wide World of Sports. He covered bowling for thirty-five years as it became one of ABC's signature shows on Saturday afternoon.

The bowling alley sprung up and languished from the 1950s to the 1970s and was packed with serious bowlers, families, and lonely people. Now the decline has been on the wall for the past twenty-five years due to the high value of space and labor. I have a feeling it will become a fringe sport with smaller alleys like a pool hall. Unfortunately, the cost to bowl will increase because of the laws of economics with the reduction of open lanes. I am sure most of us are sad about our beloved childhood establishment's passing into something less cool like a drugstore. The beauty of bowling is that it is a sport for everybody and if you want to be good, you can be paid.

I will never forget when I brought a first date to go bowling because if she couldn't show her fun side at the beginning, I knew she wasn't right for me. We didn't go on a second date. Life goes on, and bowling will as well, no matter how many alleys get closed.