I've been bowling since I was 7 years old, and the one thing I hear all the time from non-bowlers is "bowling isn't a sport." Well, I'm here to say that...they're right. Bowling isn't a sport, it's more than that. Bowling is applied physics and anger management in one. It's making friends with anyone at any age, and it's finding family you'd never met before. Bowling is so much more than a sport, and here's why everything you just read makes sense:
Bowling as applied physics sounds a little far-fetched, but when you think of it, it's true. You are the acting force upon a spherical object that is meant to hurtle down an oil-slicked alley of synthetic wood and knock down 10 nine-pound objects whose center of gravity is three inches off the floor.
If you're good at bowling you will also be the force that causes the core of that spherical object to rotate in such a way that it will cause the rotation of the entire object to shift as it moves down the alley thus making it arch from one side to the other. When all is said and done, you get this:
Speaking of hurtling an object down an alley at multiple miles per hour, where else can you do something like that and not risk hitting someone else? OK, maybe shot-putting, but I've heard more horror stories from that than from bowling.
One of the best parts of bowling is that if you're really, truly, thoroughly mad at something (or someone) you can imagine the pins to look like that thing. Then the ball becomes an extension of your fist and you can get your anger out in a healthy way, and maybe even cool off enough to face that thing without wanting to make physical contact with it.
I've saved the family part for last because this is where bowling undoubtedly becomes more than a sport, more than a once-a-week excuse to get drunk and eat junk food. Growing up as a bowler I met many people who were friends and became close enough that I considered them family, and I'm still in contact with several of them. As I got older, I found myself slipping into becoming "the mom friend" with everyone, and that was incredibly true with the younger kids in my leagues.
One grandmother even started calling me "mama Mere" because I seemed to always be the one settling disputes between two sisters on the lanes. One of the proudest moments of my life even came from this, a "little brother" of mine, one who's closer in age to me and I've had the immense honor to see grow into a great man and bowler, actually told me that I was one of his role models. I don't think he knows how close to tears he had me right then, and as I'm typing this I feel them coming back.
It's moments like those that I would never have experienced if it wasn't for bowling, and those moments are why bowling is so much more than a sport.
