Month: January 2018

This installment of The One Board originally appeared in Bowlers Journal International, December, 2017

If you’ve ever been able to force yourself to watch a movie or TV show even though they’re not aired live, and if the production involved bowling, you may have noticed a disproportionate number of the strikes shown are Brooklyns. The characters on screen react as if they’ve thrown great shots, but you’re at home ridiculing the idiot for cheering a Brooklyn, because as we all know, some strikes are better than others, even if they all count the same (unless it’s a fill ball, of course).

Have you ever wondered why there are so few quality strikes in fictional works? Is it because actors aren’t as good as real bowlers (they aren’t, but that’s not why)? Is it because producers and directors don’t care about real bowlers (mostly but not completely true, but that’s also not why)? Is it because directors and editors think a Brooklyn shot is more aesthetically pleasing (I hope not)? Today, we expose Hollywood’s bowling secrets.

The actors aren’t really throwing the shots.

This is probably obvious, but necessary to clarify, as we in the bowling industry typically jump right into differential calculus without first teaching someone how to add. The movie predictably shows the actor making the approach and releasing the ball, then cuts to a shot of the ball hitting the pins, then cuts back to the actor reacting to whatever the scripted result is. The ball that hits the pins is usually thrown by a real bowler (or, in Internet Movie Database terminology, a stunt bowler, bowling consultant, bowling advisor or miscellaneous crew member).

So, while a non-bowling actor might be more likely to throw a Brooklyn strike than a true bowler, this is not the reason we see so many crossovers, because the actors aren’t actually rolling the shots.

Shouldn’t a real bowler be able to hit the pocket?

Unlike professional bowling tournaments, the stunt bowler does not get 368 minutes of practice before the actual event begins, so his first shot is a bit of a guess. Also, and this is more important: there is no oil on the lanes. Generally, this is a surprise to the stunt bowler.

A movie production involves a massive conglomerate of human beings and heavy equipment, all of which need to be able to move about the set. When the set is a bowling center, they need to strip the lanes of the oil to avoid several personal-injury lawsuits. When the stunt bowler rolls his best guess of a first shot, then hits no oil, the ball is going to pick up fairly early and striking on either side of the pocket is quite an impressive feat. Thankfully, the crew usually doesn’t know enough about bowling to scream “Joke!” as the stunt bowler lofts the ball 30 feet down the lane in order to find the pocket.

Generally, the director is a bowling novice and naïve enough to think a strike is a strike. So, when the stunt bowler crosses over for a Brooklyn, the director is ecstatic. He got the strike he needed and can move on to the next scene, saving a lot of money for his bosses. The unnecessarily embarrassed stunt bowler can protest all he wants, but the director doesn’t care.

In the captivating world of Hollywood, actors don’t throw the shots, a lack of oil means real bowlers have a more difficult time finding the pocket, the director takes the first strike he sees and calls it a day, and that is why we see so many Brooklyn strikes in movies and TV shows.

It’s not all bad, though. If you’re ever feeling down about the lack of good shots thrown on TV or in movies, skip to the final homonymous shot, both of the movie and on the lanes, of The Big Lebowski, and thank Barry Asher for packing the pocket.