A couple of months ago, my friend Joe mentioned that he was starting a punk-rock bowling team. I was amused by his enthusiasm and said it sounded like fun. Two Tuesdays ago I received a frantic phone call from Joe. “Dude first league night is tonight, can you make it?” I didn’t even know that I had been drafted into the team, not to mention I couldn’t make it that night. Apparently, me saying it sounded like fun was enough for me to be on the team. Luckily, Joe was misinformed so I didn’t cause our team to be a roller short that night.
On Tuesday I met Joe at Underdog’s Sports Bar so we could take a bus to the train to the bowling alley. Joe was already into his fifth or sixth drink by the time I got to him. We met another friend AJ and made our way to Serra Bowl in Colma, CA. We got there an hour early and split a pitcher and waited for our league to begin.
We are in the Mission Merchants league with about 20 other teams, and it was painfully obvious we were the Newbies in the league. Marian, the overseer of the league, was very patient with us and helped us fill out our scoring sheet and explained the set-up of the games. Our team (The Sunset Punx Pitcher Killers) ended up being matched up with another team of three (one of our guys failed to show). Joe darted to the bar and came teetering back with three pitchers of Budweiser, sloshing froth everywhere as AJ and I looked on in horror and bemusement. Most of the other bowlers were non-plussed with our antics.
We made our acquaintance with Bill, Roger and Steve (of course they had the best bowling names ever), our opponents for the evening. These guys appeared to be hardcore bikers/recovering alcoholics, as they politely declined to share in some of our bountiful pitchers of Bud. They were really helpful as well in figuring out the order and some of the rules surrounding the league.
The other bowlers in the league were quite varied, as clichéd as it seems, it was right out of The Big Lebowski. They came in all shapes and sizes, and everyone else was much more serious than the Pitcher Killers, I thought for sure they were gonna kill Joe for spilling the beer. One guy around our age started off with 9 straight strikes before crapping out in the 10th frame.
I ended up rolling a 171 my first game, which was my second highest score ever. “This game is too easy” I thought to myself in a Dikembe like tone. I was convinced that I’d be ranked in the top ten in the league in no time. Second game, a 141, was still a respectable score for this novice bowler.
By the time the third game rolled around I was a) getting tired, b) getting a sore arm, and c) getting a bit tipsy. I ended up with a 90. Hey, I still beat Joe. My cumulative average was a respectable 134, earning me top score for our team for the night.
Marian helped us fill out our USBC (United States Bowling Congress) application, so I will be a card carrying member for the next 1.5 years. She also gave us her “card”, a rainbow colored pen with her information printed on it. She’s the best. She also promised that she was going to take us under her wing and make sure we do our best to not annoy or do anything worse to the other bowlers.
I’ll try to let everyone know how we do as the season progresses, maybe by the end I’ll have my own Skull Ball and fitted shoes.
No comments:
Post a Comment