Bowling, not yard work

Summertime has finally arrived. This is most kid’s favorite time of year. No school. The days are longer and hotter. They can go to the pool, sleep in, play with their friends. For most men this is not our favorite time of year. Football has ended, the NBA Finals are wrapping up, there is yard work to do, and the kids are driving their Mom crazy so we husbands have to find creative ways to make them feel better, (like actually listening). What is a man to do during the summer to avoid losing his mind?

Football and Basketball may be over, but the one sport that will continue all year long and comes on every Saturday afternoon is……Bowling. Okay, I don’t know for sure if it still comes on every Saturday afternoon or not, but I do remember as a 10 year old kid watching this “sport” on late Saturday afternoons when my chores and yard work were done and it was too hot to go outside. I am sure many of us will recall those afternoons when the Pro-Bowling tour would come on ABC and we would be glued to the TV for the next 2 hours watching a bunch of guys in argyle sweaters and bell bottoms throw a ball down an alley to see if they would be able to knock down the pins or not. Here is a link that plays the music when it came on ABC. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKug7fdX2Eo

I can still remember the tension in the announcer’s voice when the bowler was trying to pickup the spare to win the game—the excitement in the crowd when the bowler got the spare or the feelings of disappointment when he failed. Okay, it must have been pretty difficult to make bowling sound exciting, but as a 10 year old boy on a boring Saturday afternoon this was a lot of fun.

I was amazed when I googled the Pro Bowlers tour that in the Wikipedia it said “Throughout the 1970s and early 1980s, Pro Bowlers Tour typically outdrew college football and college basketball in the ratings.” In today’s sports world I don’t even know if they even have a Pro Bowlers Tour anymore and even if they did, it would be nowhere near the ratings that college football and college basketball get. It is hard to believe that back in the day, the guy wearing argyle throwing the ball down the alley beat out watching the helmet-wearing quarterback throw a successful 50 yard touchdown pass to his wide receiver with 10 seconds left in the game.

I don’t think you will have too many kids watching sports on Saturday afternoons in this modern world. They have their iphones, laptops, X boxes, cell phones, text messages, but maybe some of us older than 30 would enjoy watching some good old fashioned bowling rather than doing more yard work this Summer.

(When does the first day of football start again?)

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