Stories From The Bowling Alley

When you talk about bowling, you remind me of my father. He is 78 years old and still bowls four times a week. When he's not bowling, he's watching it on TV; he could talk bowling stories with you all day.

My dad too.

So nobody has any exciting bowling stories to share? I would have thought this thread would take off like a rocket! What could be more exciting than bowling talk?!

I don't know about exciting, but ..

way back when I was seventeen and on a road trip to film some footage in stockyards with my dad and three guys, as I had been asked to join them in what I now understand as a ploy to distract me from my plan to go into the convent that next fall, we went one night after dinner to a brand new just opened that day bowling alley. I think it was in Omaha, but it might have been Sioux City. Anyway, yes, I bowled nine strikes in a row. Must have hit a groove. My effort at the tenth turned out to be a gutterball, and I hurt my thumb, sigh.

Funny, I could say it must have been the spanking new lanes, but the others were also bowling on that lane and didn't get the same effect on their scores. I wasn't before that much of a bowler, and wasn't afterwards either, though I did, as an incredibly bored teenager, watch a few shows on the tv - it must have been right after that summer, right after I said 'nah' to the idea of the convent. A fellow named, perhaps, Don Carter was the main man at the time.

Oh, yeah, I didn't go into the convent because of my giant crush on the film editor. He was so cool. On top of being darling he had a silver, just think, silver, a silver corvette.

Yes, now that is the kind of exciting story I was hoping for! Thank you Ossobuco. What was your final score on that game? Don Carter sounds familiar. I remember Ernie Shlegel because he used to dress all in red, white, and blue and had a patriotic design on his bowling ball too. Hilarious. I wonder who the bowling stars of today are?

I don't remember. What does nine strikes come to? (is that 270?)

I also got a hole in one once in golf, but that was at a pitch and putt course, and besides, I missed the ball totally on the first swing, which I figured didn't count.

You bowled nine strikes in a row and then threw two gutterballs in a row in the tenth frame!? How could that be?

I think that would be a 240 game, actually.

Ok, sounds good to me, and the two gutterballs sound right.
Yeah, I scrunched my thumb in all the excitement...

You wanted bowling stories, so here's one…

Back in the sixties, in my Jr High gym class we were taught bowling. We had heavy duty rubber bowling pins and balls. Eight lanes were made on the gym floor where the girls competed against each other. We learned how to keep score in order to pass the class. It was also a real hassle setting the pins back up as some of the other girls kept knocking them down in lanes other than their own. At the end of the semester we went to a real bowling alley to try out our stuff. I played pretty well, and came in second place, but for the life of me I can't remember my top score.

It was Don Carter. Am I good, or what?

Turns out there isn't much on google, that I could find, on him, per se, but I gather he has some bowling lane empire.

Anyway, here ya go...
http://www.hickoksports.com/biograph/carterdo.shtml

You know, maybe I was wrong about bowling being exciting.

bowling balls bounce really good. They are almost like superballs.

Did you know that originally bowling balls were made from milk?

LOSER=n.
1 A young man who, with bowling and playing the accordion as his only social skills, always wonders why he hasnt gotten laid.

Aw, shucks...


I think there is some, um, tension, in championship games among high ranking bowlers. But then one wonders really, oftentimes, doesn't one, if grass really grows when watched?

i was a bit of a bowling fan as a kid, and would watch chris schenkel and tony something jr every saturday afternoon on ABC.
my best score was 170. i bowled a lot from ages 10-12, but maybe 4 or 5 times since...

the best bowling story i got is i beat the captain of the ultimate team -- by a pin! highly competetive match, and i made the capp'n look bad. he deserved it as he was a cocky bahstid...

It happens here, it should happen in the U.S.

On every league, there's a team called "The Flintstones".

On every league, there's a mediocre team everybody plays lousy against.

On every league, there's a guy who starts bowling over 200, then buys a new ball, new gadgets, gets blocked, pays private lessons and ends up with a 115 average.

Bowling is great.

getting laid is way better

I suppose so...but the worst sex I ever had was like the worst strike I ever bowled...both were fantastic.

guffaw

when I was growing up we had duck pin lanes...the DC area. You got 3 shots with a ball about as big as a grapefruit.

Here's the best (or worse, can't decide) bowling story I know.
My neighbor, who takes his game veeeery serious, missed a shot, well, he picked up a ball, threw it at a wall, it bounced back, and hit him in the forehead......OUCH!
I'll bet he never did that again.

That's hilarious.