This installment of The One Board originally appeared in Bowlers Journal International, May, 2020
It’s that time of year again: league season is over and we need to find ways to stay occupied and fight off the inevitable bowling withdrawal that hangs over the dreary summer months. Except we weren’t prepared for this. Leagues didn’t end when they were supposed to and we don’t know when they’re coming back.
In previous years, we could spend the summer watching the pros on FloBowling, BowlTV, FOX, FS1, CBSSN and YouTube. We can still do that, but for the time being, we’re limited to the classics as they re-air on TV and sit in the archives on the internet.
Summer used to be an ideal time to practice with limited distractions. Now, unless you have lanes in your house, practice is not an option. Some league bowlers like to use the summer to completely forget about bowling until Labor Day, but being forced to forget about bowling accomplishes the opposite: these people want to bowl.
World Series of Bowling XI was interrupted with three titles still to be decided. The USBC Open Championships were pushed back shortly before they were to begin. A week prior to its scheduled start, the USBC Masters was postponed. College bowling came to an end on the cusp of sectionals. Bowling centers around the world were closed until further notice.
This bout of bowling withdrawal is unlike anything we’ve felt before. We’re not merely between seasons. One season didn’t end and who knows when the next one will begin? This is bigger than bowling. We don’t know where we are. We are all Billy Pilgrim.
At the end of all this, everything in the world is going to be different, although it should be noted cashers round will remain just as compelling as it ever was.
College athletes in all sports, particularly seniors, weren’t ready for their collegiate seasons and careers to end. The lack of closure these athletes are getting on their sporting and academic careers is—to use a bowling word—unfair. They’ll be fine, though. As disenchanted as many of them are, they’re humans who will cope with it in time.
Still, college bowling itself will change. When it finally returns, will the athletes be less inclined to high-five each other after every shot? And, without incessant high-fiving, is it really college bowling?
Pro bowlers will be happy to be rid of the perceived need to high-five opponents but may be slightly more weary about cramming 14 people into a room on the road. Players whose pre-shot routines involve licking their hands and rubbing their shoes might want to consider using this time off the lanes to develop new pre-shot routines.
At the amateur and recreational level, think of the poor sandbaggers. They were just a week or two away from finally performing up to their real capabilities when it was all ripped out from under them. Six months of whiffing 4-pins and for what? For nothing. Important note: it’s always for nothing. The only good thing about the abrupt end to league season is the sandbaggers didn’t get their undeserved glory.
Amid all the upcoming changes to the entire sport, at least we can take comfort in knowing some things will remain the same. Staying six feet apart from each other shouldn’t be tough as bowlers have always yielded to somebody 40 lanes down for being too close. Live-stream commentators will continue to self-isolate 14 hours a day in the back corner, only leaving their cubbies for essential purposes like configuring a camera for a rolloff. Bowling bags will remain the size of walk-in closets and ball selection will still be paramount.
Unfortunately, nobody knows when we’ll get back to these familiar comforts. Bowlers bowl. Without bowling, what do we do now?
To bowlers, the course of action is intuitive. All we can do is—yes—trust the process. Even if we have no idea what the process is.