A Bowling Education

On Saturday afternoon, to escape the rain, we went bowling with Ace and Anthony. The place was packed, but we managed to get a lane immediately. Next to us was a group of kids who were phenomenal bowlers – a ten year old was bowling in the 180s. Then there’s me, lucky to get 60. But they were cute to watch, and the four of us were having a good time. Then the kids left, and the family arrived. A mom and dad with three young sons – between 2 years old and 7 years old.

I wonder if this family has EVER bowled before because they didn’t bother picking out any balls of their own, deciding to use ours and the ones the kids left behind. You may recall that Denis and I purchased our own balls not to long ago, and Denis got really twitchy about the kids using his ball, so he ended up holding his in his lap the rest of the time we were there.

At one point I was waiting for my turn and I saw the oldest child approach the rack of balls and begin to pick mine up. In a moderately loud voice (loud enough for him to hear me, but not loud enough for mom to hear me, I said, “No, that’s not yours – put that down.” He looked at me and quickly put the ball down, and grabbed another one that belonged to the alley.

Then I got up for my turn and the dad went to grab my ball. I said, “Sir, you have to get your own bowling balls from the racks along the wall.” I pointed where they were and he rushed off to get his own.

At that point we just wanted to get out of there because these parents were NOT controlling their kids and obviously didn’t know proper bowling etiquette (yes, people, there is such a thing as etiquette in bowling).

Meanwhile, on the other side of us, a couple teens were there bowling with their moms. Turns out they are are hoping to make it onto their school’s bowling team and were practicing. They were doing fine (better than me, certainly), when all of a sudden some bowling coach came up and started bothering them. At one point I asked the mom, “Are they still having fun?” and she said, “I think so.” I bowled in fear that he’d turn and see my form and begin teaching me as well – at which point I’d have to tell him to sod off.