Next week is my bowing leagues Christmas party. I'm the guy who arranges for the pizza delivery, brings some extra cold ones for the guys, and stuffs the envelopes with cash prizes, and gets a few bottles of cheap wine so that everyone goes home with something.
Candlepin bowling is a charmingly New England thing. Three balls, little balls, the dead wood stays in the lane. It is the most frustration sport I've every played. I suck as a bowler, I am one of the worst in my league. But I work hard to try to keep the group together. Strangely enough, I feel like I am doing God's work here Bowlers are mostly working guys. Once a week we get together, throw back a few beers, talk crap, and let off some steam. A relaxing respite from the pressures of modern life.
Candlepin bowling is dying. Every year another bowling ally closes down. The land they sit on has just become too valuable around here. We had to move the league to another town a few years, the old alley is a mini-storage facility now. We lost about half our players with the move. The new place is just too far for some guys to drive now. When I joined the league years ago I was bowling with the 'greatest generation.' Men I admired. Men who served and sacrificed for their nation. Men who built and gave back to their community, who cared for their family above all else. The 'greatest generation' is gone now. It is mostly the sons of these men that I bowl with. They do not articulate this, but I feel that some of them, like me, just feel this a tradition worth holding on to.
There was a book that came out a few years ago titled "Bowling Alone."
bowlingalone.com
The book talked about how our society is changing in ways where people are more isolated from each other, are less social, contribute less to their community. Candlepin bowling is dying, churches are dying, the Masons and other fraternal groups are dying. Traditionally these groups could be counted on to pitch in to help a neighbor in need, to visit a shut-in, to serve on town boards, to have some civic pride. I'm not sure most people appreciate how much we are losing. Now the expectation seems to be that the government should take care of everything. Increasingly people don't get to know their own neighbors. And they go bowling alone, if they go bowling at all
Sorry for my sentimental rant. This has been on my mind today as I pick up the provisions for next week's pizza/ bowling/ Christmas party.
To my southern friends on this list, I hope you make it up here someday to give a few strings of candlepin bowling a try. It is maddening, it is wonderful, it is a dying sport that I love. Don't wait too long to try it.
Candlepin bowling is a charmingly New England thing. Three balls, little balls, the dead wood stays in the lane. It is the most frustration sport I've every played. I suck as a bowler, I am one of the worst in my league. But I work hard to try to keep the group together. Strangely enough, I feel like I am doing God's work here Bowlers are mostly working guys. Once a week we get together, throw back a few beers, talk crap, and let off some steam. A relaxing respite from the pressures of modern life.
Candlepin bowling is dying. Every year another bowling ally closes down. The land they sit on has just become too valuable around here. We had to move the league to another town a few years, the old alley is a mini-storage facility now. We lost about half our players with the move. The new place is just too far for some guys to drive now. When I joined the league years ago I was bowling with the 'greatest generation.' Men I admired. Men who served and sacrificed for their nation. Men who built and gave back to their community, who cared for their family above all else. The 'greatest generation' is gone now. It is mostly the sons of these men that I bowl with. They do not articulate this, but I feel that some of them, like me, just feel this a tradition worth holding on to.
There was a book that came out a few years ago titled "Bowling Alone."
bowlingalone.com
The book talked about how our society is changing in ways where people are more isolated from each other, are less social, contribute less to their community. Candlepin bowling is dying, churches are dying, the Masons and other fraternal groups are dying. Traditionally these groups could be counted on to pitch in to help a neighbor in need, to visit a shut-in, to serve on town boards, to have some civic pride. I'm not sure most people appreciate how much we are losing. Now the expectation seems to be that the government should take care of everything. Increasingly people don't get to know their own neighbors. And they go bowling alone, if they go bowling at all
Sorry for my sentimental rant. This has been on my mind today as I pick up the provisions for next week's pizza/ bowling/ Christmas party.
To my southern friends on this list, I hope you make it up here someday to give a few strings of candlepin bowling a try. It is maddening, it is wonderful, it is a dying sport that I love. Don't wait too long to try it.
“Of all sad words of tongue or pen,
the saddest are these, 'It might have been.”
John Greenleaf Whittier
the saddest are these, 'It might have been.”
John Greenleaf Whittier