Not My Favorite Sport

My granddaughter's maternal grandmother is a bowler. She is a good bowler with high scores. My granddaughter tells me how much fun she has bowling with her. Hearing my granddaughter talk about bowling reminded me of when I used to bowl. I belonged to a few leagues in the past but I no longer bowl.
The last time I bowled I was told I  "lofted" the ball. Which means that instead of rolling the ball I tossed it on to the alley.

Way back in my past, I went with a friend to a bowling alley because she bowled in a league. "Come with me," she said, "and maybe you can join a league also."

"I'm not a good bowler," I told her. That evening the teams were having tryouts and I decided to try out, yet I had no hope of being asked to join a team. Beginner's luck is so true because I bowled 165, 170, and a 180. Two different groups wanted me on their team so I picked one team with gold shirts. I would receive a shirt with my name over the pocket on the left side and our sponsor's name on the back. Odd that I don't remember the name of the sponsor.

Now that I belonged to a team, I showed up that first week feeling confident that I would bowl a good game. I didn't. A week later when I arrived for my second team bowling, I could not hit 100. The third time my high score was 125. The fourth time I was told, "We thought you were a good bowler." That night I got some gutter balls which did not help my overall score. They needed me on the team but I could tell they were sorry they had picked me. I was sorry they had picked me!

After that, some weeks I was okay but most of the time I struggled. I went from being patted on the back and congratulated to people rolling their eyes when I went up to get my ball. I purchased brown shoes and my ball was golden-brown with my initials etched near the three holes. My bowling bag was tan. I felt like a bowler, but I really wasn't. I played for about five years on different teams and sometimes I was good while other times I wondered why I had even bothered to show up!

One night I bowled a 200 game and received a pin. Another night I got a pin for three high games of 483. Those nights the back slapping returned but the majority of time I did not get good scores. Bowling is an interesting game. Sometimes you're hot and right on while other times the pins seem to be glued to the floor!

I had fun during the years I played and I liked wearing my bowling shirt. I would have to say that on bad days it was not my favorite sport!