Bowling Memories

Today marks the 72^nd anniversary of the birth of Earl Anthony. WHAT? You don't know who Earl Anthony is? Shame on you. He is (as he passed away at the age of 63 after a tumble down a flight of stairs) the greatest bowler of all time. He was the PBA Player of the year six times in 10 years; 5-time George Young High Average Award winner; Held (until 2008-7 years after his death) the most consecutive seasons winning at least one tournament at 15 years and has 50 PBA Tour Titles, among others.

Okay, enough lecturing. What I really wanted to do today is talk about some very memorable and character shaping times in my (and my sister) life. My parents were bowlers. Dad was an extremely avid bowler. He bowled at least 3-times a week while we were growing up. We spent a lot of time in bowling alleys and we loved it.

We sat behind the wall watching our parents compete in a team sport. We learned about so many things that we may not have learned until later in life if it hadn't been for those evenings out. The art of friendly competition and good sportsmanship, learning how to learn from mistakes, friendship, adapting to differing personalities, cultures and lifestyles and how embarrassed people get when they are caught swearing in front of little children by their mother.  Man she sure new how to throw "a look".

We learned to deal with adults. And some of the adults who were not used to being around kids were able to learn we weren't as bad as they sometimes suspected. We were generally good kids and adults didn't seem to mind having us around. In fact, sometimes between turns, we would ease pressure on them by offering to let them color with us, weren't we sweet? Some evenings we were even able to go down to the other end of the bowling alley to the Duck Pins and bowl a round after that league was finished. Duck Pins were great.  The balls were light, no holes and the little pins were just the right size for the kiddies. 

We just recently got a Wii and I bet you can't guess which is our favorite game. YEP! Bowling. Dad would have loved Wii. He loved the little bowling computer games, but this, this game would have really been his cup of tea. We probably would have three or four different software packages if he were here. As it is, we have two!!!

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