Tuesday, April 05, 2005
Greatest Comeback Ever
It was a usual Wednesday night for this sultry suburbanite, and nothing special was in the air. I was watching yet another episode of Sex and the City on TBS (with my total lack of knowledge on how the other sex opperates or thinks, I feel I will gain a better understanding of the female species by watching this show, but I'm beginning to think it's just a show about sluts) when my brother Adam and brother-in-law Todd convinced me that a night of bowling would be fun since it was college night and games were only 50 cents with purchase of $3 braclet. I don't bowl much, but for some reason I had found myself bowling the Saturday before with the same culprits and the bowling gods were not with me. My sister Amy had joined us on that Saturday and Adam and Todd had proved that they were masters of the alley, pummeling the competition by nearly 40 pins. I was sweating each game out to make sure I wouldn't finish last of the bunch, and more importantly, to ensure I wouldn't suffer defeat at the hands of my sister (and the semi-retarded looking fellow on the lane to the right of us). She beat me the first game, but I rallied the troops for a victory in the final two contests, sporting a hefty 130 average. Sadley though, the retarded fellow got the best of me that night, and his scores will not be posted in order to maintain the image(whatever that may be) of the author.
So back to Wednesday. Todd and Adam had gone to the alley that night with hopes that one of them would break the amateur barrier known as the 200 mark. This dividing line is what seperates the bowlers who come for a good time, and those who are not professional, but if they stopped whatever they were doing in life and committed themselves to bowling, might be able to parley their skills into a career. Both Adam and Todd have broken this barrier in years past, but wanted to see if the feat was still obtainable. Yours truely has never even sniffed the line, or could see it with a set of binoculars. As the evening unfolded, Todd and Adam were bowling in the 150-180 range and myself, pulling out games of 133, 118, 111, 108, and 110. Fives games had past and no one was near the allusive goal. Due to ackwardly shaped hands, I was glad that I finally had a ball I was comfortable with that night, but due to an inconsistent ball return, I was forced to use a backup ball that I was very uncomfortable with in key spare situations. At least that was the excuse I was sporting that evening, but we all knew it was because I was a shitty bowler.
It was do or die time for the bowling duo, and I was just trying to stay a float above the 100 mark to keep whatever confidence I had from crashing to the bottom like the beer in the pitchers Todd and Adam were slamming throughout the night. ($5 pitchers) I had chosen not to drink that night because it was a Wednesday and I don't like drinking alchohol on weekdays, (it keeps my tolerance low for when I do drink on weekends), and I don't want to get hooked on the sauce. Adam knew it was time to get to business and asked if I would sit out for the rest of the night so the "real bowlers" could get into a rhythm. I told him there was no chance in hell and we proceeded on to game number 6.
This is when the night got cooking. We pretty much had the place to ourselves and there was no more of those ackward situations where you, and the bowler next to you, walk up to the lane at the same time, politely telling each other to go first. And there was no more "eye candy" in the joint to gawk at to deter my attention, not that there was much to begin with, for the pickings were slim that evening. Plus Adam was supplying quality entertainment, for the 2 or so pitchers of beer had finally started to kick in and his approach to the line was starting to get a bit wobbly, and not to mention, his speech.
I had not started a stinkin game to this point with a freakin mark and I was just pleading to myself for round 6 to be different. And sure enough, it did, with a strike! And there were many to follow, for the next 3 games would be the greatest of my life. I bowled a 609 series in the final three games with a 206, 196, and a 207 respectively. Adam and Todd were in awe for they had spent half the night trying to give me pointers on how not to suck, and here I was mopping the alley with these two (not using any of the pointers they suggested of course). Some say it was the greatest turn around in bowling history, and quite possibly, one of the brightest moments I may ever know. It wasn't televised on the ESPN, but thanks to blogspot, you now have a little insight on one of sports all-time greatest moments.
# posted by hucklebuck @ 9:05 AM 
