I love bowling. I worked in a bowling alley, Playdrome Lanes, for 12 years. I bowled with the same guys for many years. The same guys I play cards with once in awhile. Andy, Mike, John and Leigh. A combination of those guys usually makes up our bowling team. During the years that we bowled we had one second or third place finish and that was in a split season. We never finished first. Ever. We were always a good team, and we no really ever looked forward to rolling against us, they knew we were tough. We just had talent at falling apart at the right time. Or rather....we suffered from injuries. My ankles...Andy's shoulder, knee, pelvis, head, arm, hand, tongue etc. We just were cursed. We suffered a 15 year drought of no first place finishes. The highlight of my bowling career was a 300 game I bowled December 1, 2000. Ironically it was on World Aids Day. The 2000-2001 Bowling Season saw us finish in last place both times in the spilt season. We quit bowling...for good. We went into retirement. We all went our separate ways.
Well, Summer of 2004 Leigh and I get a hankering to bowl again. Leigh is my childhood chum. The Best Man in my Wedding and one of My Best Friends for Life. We share the same humor and interests and all in all we have had amazing times together. Well, we have been looking at bowling leagues for awhile and decided on a mixed league so Leigh's wife Jeanie could bowl too. Recruiting a fourth was the trick. John, whom I thought was a shoo-in had hidden his ball and was too stubborn to join. So we recruited Ed Pesta a fellow employee of mine and a decent bowler. I need to get a new ball because my old Purple Mass was being used by the boys in the back yard and it cracked in half....so I would have to get a new ball after we join a league. We joined the Community Medical Center Bowling League at Brunswick Finnegan's. It was an early league from 6:20 to 8:30. A very glorious time to bowl. Take this and understand that...from a former desk person. We were getting out of there at a great time.
Now...after bowling in this league after a few weeks I really loved this league. I made sure everyone knew it too. I worked in the industry and I knew how hard it was to get quality leagues like this together. If anything, the name of the league has to change for next year. Every week I make sure the team we bowl against knows I think they are special. I think the league is special and the people are and I want them to know that it. I don't know why I have that need , I just do. All the time people say the same thing back at me, they love the league too.
We have arrived in the last several weeks of the league and my feet begin to fail. Not just fail, I mean fail. I can't walk. To bowl, I have to take pain medication. When I talk to Doctor Weinberg he laughs. But he helps me with medication that will help me to bowl. The trade off is I lose some of my ability to concentrate. I also get a little loud and a little happy. So the last several weeks I am able to bowl, just not as sharp as I can. Once in awhile I can squeeze a large game together but not anything like I used to. Gone are my String of deuces or large 600's. We approach the end of the League and we keep swinging back and forth from first to second place. The last 4 weeks we overtake 1st place by 7 points. By the last week we, the very last night we hold it by 3 points.
All we have to do is win Two games to capture the league. I cannot speak for the other three. I can only speak for myself. Tuesday, the day before the League. I hurt my left ankle terribly. I could hardly walk. This was right after I spoke to Leigh on the phone and he was voicing his own frustrations about being unable to practice and how awful he felt. Well....I was unable to walk. The whole day Tuesday...I could not walk....My left ankle was swollen badly. I was pretty sure they were going to have to take my handicap scores on Wed. night.
Wed. Morning came. I could walk. I popped a few pills and went to work. Several great things happened at work and the swelling in my ankle went down. I finally went home and met with my boys Andrew and Justin. They got a foot bath together for me. It was one of those special foot baths. They added Espon Salts and I put my feet in for 15 minutes. Low and Behold when I took them out at the end they were a pain free and I could walk around the room quite amazingly without pain. This was at 4pm. I did a little dance and I told the boys if I was to win first place that I would give them 15 dollars each! They were quite excited. I told them we would prepare a bath again right before bowling at 6pm.
6pm came. My bath was prepared....my feet soaked....pain medication ready....feet feel wonderful....off we go. We arrive at the bowling alley. It is packed. They started the summer league today. Off we go to find our lanes....and a great last night bumper adventure. Leigh, Jeannie, and Ed are already here. The team we were are bowling against are there too. “Just for Fun”, my friends Scott, Nicole, her husband Tom, and Tom Familio,their anchor bowler. The first game starts. We looked OK for the first few frames but then they took off and destroyed us. We lost. Two games left, and we need to win two games to win the league. We are not feeling very positive right now.
The second game starts. It starts off pretty even. I struggle for the whole game. I really struggle so bad I have to walk away. I decide to call Nick at Brisbane to get my mind off of my bowling. Guess what it did! I come back and all my teammates have doubles am marks. They keep us in the game. “Just for Fun” is struggling too. Well, I open in the 7th, 8th and 9th frame. In the 9th frame...Jeanne opens...and Leigh opens and Ed gets a strike. It is real bad because Just for Fun all marks in the 9th. I will tell you. We technically lost the game.mathematically we were up by 20 pins but now were were down by 10 pins because of all of our opens.
Well. Myself being a praying man....I prayed. I threw my first ball and striked. It was the next ball.....I prayed again...totally loosened up.....and threw the ball...it came off my hand perfectly...and swept down out and in an slammed th pocket perfect....for the second strike in the tenth...evening our scores. I still felt horrible no matter what. I finished with a 119. Woo Hoo! Jeanne was up she marked beautifully. Nicole her opponent left a 5-7 and missed. we were up a mark. Leigh Marked Solidly and Tom on their Team Struck....and Struck again...and again. They were horrible strikes to watch. I am not even sure if his ball hit the head pin. His pins were falling forward not back wards which is a sign of a lucky strike a a painful thing to watch, particularly when it is your butt that is getting beat. Leigh's grimace was far from hidden. Later in the night we all openly discussed this and laughed about it, but such is the stakes of competition.
Well, it was up to Ed and Tom. Tom went and he didn't throw a strike.... Ed went......and he threw his first strike...YES!!!!! I jumped up and down. Ed won the game. It was huge. It was a huge win. We pulled a win from the jaws of defeat. I am not sure how long it took to register on anyone....I was very happy. It was then that I decided we were going to win the next game no matter what. We had to win. I could not be part of yet another second place team. I looked around at my friends and their faces, they needed to win too. Leigh was having a hard time at work and Ed was suffering in pain similar to me. Jeannie....well....she is just simple wonderful Jeannie and she deserves a final win for the season. A win above all Wins! It is here that I step up and take my place as rightful leader of this team. I am limited on what I can do but I can procure when they time calls.This was one of those games that was calling for me to produce.
I examined what I did in the last game. The tenth frame of the second game....on the second ball...I threw a perfect strike. I was trying to get John to help me remember what I did right on that strike. I went to John....and he said I basically was very loose and threw the ball authoritatively. That was excellent advice. Going into the third game. And I will tell you tonight what happened.......