Week Twenty Two - Bowling

The Tickle City O’-The Week Award Committee has been spending the vast majority of its time recently chasing turkeys, hitting the pocket and assuming the attributes of a “power stroker.” Yes bowling has seen a surge in popularity in recent times, both in the United States and worldwide. It is estimated that more people worldwide bowl than play any other sport other than soccer, and bowling has inspired video games for the the PS3, Nintendo Wii and even appears as a mini-game in GTA 4.

We knock down ten pins sitting at the end of a 60-foot lane with a ball measuring 2.25 feet in circumference. Throughout history, though, there have been many quite different varieties, dating back to primitive versions of bowling played in Egypt over 5,000 years ago. Ancient games were also played in areas as diverse as Finland, Yemen and Germany. Another variety is Irish road bowling, in which participants attempt to bowl a ball down a bit longer of a lane, a country road up to 4 km long. The player who makes it to the end in the fewest throws wins. So if your bowling skills rarely lead your balls into the gutter, you may want to challenge yourself and try to bowl one down the nearest road for at least 1,000 yards without having it leave the right lane or strike any vehicles or pedestrians. If you wish to stay inside, though, modern conveniences like electronic scoring, strange chairs and graphics depicting cartoon pins humorously escaping from jail while the “prison guard” bowling ball snoozes have transformed bowling into the game we know today.

Transitioning to Madison, Wisconsin news, the Committee recently investigated a “Bowl Your Brains Out” promotion at the east side Dream Lanes, with great results. From 9 to 11pm, $7 was enough to get you unlimited bowling and shoe rental while food and drink specials abounded. New York based musician and songwriter Jake Brower, in Madison for the holidays, had only good things to say about the selection of songs playing over the sound system. Crowds cheered when Vermont league bowler Alex Connelly stepped up to pick up a spare, dribbled the ball up to his lane with his feet, stylishly kicked it down the lane, and successfully knocked over the three remaining pins.

But the most ticklish aspect of “Bowl Your Brains Out” was the red-pin special. Exactly one frame per game for each bowler, a red pin appears as the head pin on the computer monitor. If you get a strike on that frame you win a spin on the prize wheel, with prizes including t-shirts, movie passes, various food and free bowling passes. All members of the party, even Young-Eun Park, won at least one spin, and all bowlers proceeded to proudly show off their prizes for the remainder of the evening like war trophies. This is certainly one of the best bowling alleys in Wisconsin.

Every where you look these days, people are bowling. If you get a high score, a 7-10 split or start with a clover, pick up a greek church and proceed to go off the sheet and get Sparta’s army, notify ticklecity@gmail.com and you will be appropriately awarded. The Tickle City O’-The Week Committee also plans to cover in detail the spring bowling season in Grinnell, Iowa, including bowling club on Saturdays and bowling class with head coach Brian Jaworski. Bowling, you are tickle city!