Sport of (Bowling) Kings

I grew up with ten pin bowling.  I was even in a sports league on Saturday mornings and won myself some trophies.  But that was in Connecticut.  In Massachusetts, the sport is different.  Now instead of ten pin bowling with big pins and big balls, we were relegated to Candlepin bowling.  The bane of my existence really since Candlepin bowling is tough to bowl well.  Numerous splits, missed spares, infrequent strikes.  It just sucks really.

Well after numerous times trying to make a go of Candlepin bowling, we finally found ourselves staring straight at a ten pin bowling alley.  Kings is about 45 minutes from our house.  It features numerous bowling alleys, a game room and a big bar.

1pm.  Monday afternoon.  Although it was a holiday, we figured that it was not a major holiday so a lot of people would be working.  This, we thought, would be a great way to get some bowling in and spend time with the kids.

"The wait is about two and a half hours." the hostess explains as she hands us one of those light up buzzers.  The vacant look on her face matched ours.  Two and half hours to play a couple of strings?  Really?  But we have the JMR Rally to play.  This is too long!

Luckily, after LC calmed me down, there was a Yardhouse right next to us.  We figured that we could wait for an hour and a half to eat, drink beer while we were waiting and then head over to Kings when we were done.  It seemed like a perfect plan. 

And it worked to perfection.  We ate, and then rambled on over to Kings.  No sooner than we got our beers and sat down to wait then we were called to the alley.

"Wait, there are no guard rails?" my FOURTEEN year old son asks.  This might be a lot longer than I thought.  I think that on the inside as I give him a 12 pound ball to try on.  Give this a try, I think, as I shove the ball into his midsection.

The five of us would bowl two strings.  G would struggle falling behind the rest of us.  C would be right in front of him, although he was focused more on the speed of his delivery than pin dropping results.  DLG surprised us by showing poise and determination as she consistently scored 6 or 7 pins every time.  LC and I would battle it out to see who won the JMR Rally.  While my spin was still trying to find its way in Game 1, I dominated Game 2 - winning by 40 pins.

Although the kids were a little upset at how poorly they thought they did (although they didn't), we had fun.  Maybe I'll even give Candle Pin Bowling another try.

Nah.