Race & Racism & Personal & Sports Posted by James Killus, 10 Oct 2007 06:32 am

Bowling

At Eastshore Aikikai, where I practice Aikido, we’re pushing the geriatric envelope pretty hard. I’m in my mid-fifties and I’m in no way the oldest person in the dojo; there are also several students who are only a few years younger than I am. Get off my lawn, you whippersnappers or I’ll throw you off.

My mother is in her 80s, though, and she still belongs to a bowling league. Granted, bowling is a lot lower impact than Aikido. It’s also the only one of two sports I know of where people regularly die during participation, the other being golf. Of course the reason for that is that both are sports that have participants of any age, including the very old.

Or the very young. Tiger Woods famously appeared on The Mike Douglas Show at the age of 2. I wasn’t that young when I began bowling, but I started before I entered grade school, although I didn’t join a league until some years later. My dad was manager at a total of three bowling alleys over the years, and I was in a league in all of them.

You’d think I would have gotten really good at it, but actually I was only in the upper reaches of average. The highest I ever scored was 236, and my league average hovered around 170 from late high school to the last league I was in, sometime in the late 80s. the highest it ever got was about 175. I’ve fallen away from the faith since then, so nowadays I bowl a little less often than I golf, which is to say every year or two, when I’m visiting relatives. My bowling is still a lot better than my golf, however.

Being in a bowling league is interesting from an intellectual snob’s standpoint. Despite numerous attempts to move upscale, bowling is still a pretty working class activity, so you wind up rubbing shoulders with truck drivers, beauticians, policemen, and mail carriers. That’s all to the good, in my opinion. It did become less fun when automatic scoring came in, since it eliminated my natural ecological niche: scorekeeper. In fact, I was keeping score in my parents’ leagues well before I belonged to a league on my own.

I’ve occasionally joked that I’m genetically selected for bowling, given that my parents met in a bowling league. It was better joke when I was bowling regularly and I could show people that my right thumb was bigger than my left. I still own two bowling balls, plus bags, shoes, etc.

After my car was broken into in college, where the thieves smashed a window to get in, I took to keeping my car unlocked, never leaving anything in it that was more valuable than repairing a broken window. The only significant thing that’s been stolen since then was my bowling bag, with ball. The humor there was almost worth the loss; a used bowling ball is worth maybe fifty cents, the bag a dollar or two. I like to imagine the thief hauling the sixteen pound ball into the pawn shop or thrift store, only to find out that he’d have made more money panhandling.

Some of my earliest memories are of bowling alleys (I still call them alleys, never having gotten used to saying “bowling lanes”). I’m just barely old enough to remember pin boys, before automatic pin spotters came in. In Nashville, they were invariably black, with the phrase “pin boys” echoing the generally demeaning practice of calling all black men in a service job “boy.” I don’t have any specific recollection of any of the pin boys, but I do have the general recollection that they were all teenagers, given the athletics necessary to hop up onto a perch above the pins when the ball came down the alley, then jump down and reset the pins when time came.

The woman who handed out the bowling shoes was not in her teens, however. She was a middle aged black woman whose name I don’t quite recall, but I want to say, “Miz Abigail,” or “Miz Abbey.” She befriended the little 2-3 year old tyke and let me stay behind the desk with her and hand out the shoes.

I learned, many years later, that the bowling league that my parents belonged to included a company team sponsored by the firm of Acuff-Rose, which included one of the principals, Fred Rose, and one of the artists managed by Acuff-Rose, Hank Williams. Williams died in 1953, and Rose in 1954. The dates are such that it’s just barely possible that I once handed Hank Williams his bowling shoes.

I’ve heard a possibly apocryphal story that Lyndon Johnson insisted on including the public accommodations portion of the 1964 Civil Right Act so that his old housekeeper wouldn’t have to “pee in the bushes” when she drove from Texas up to Washington to visit. It has the ring of truth, because Johnson took his politics personally. He might listen to varying interpretations of the commerce clause, but in the end he knew that politics came down to a pissing match, and a good many southern boys have at least one Miz Abigail in among their warmest memories.

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Responses to “Bowling”

  1. on 10 Oct 2007 at 10:43 am 1. James Killus said …

    Just an alert, with my apologies. Today turned into an errand running day, so I’ll be out for a bunch of hours in the middle. So if I don’t respond quickly to comments, it’s because I’m just not connected.

  2. on 10 Oct 2007 at 11:01 am 2. Seattle said …

    I saw a new bumpersticker yesterday: Kennedy/Johnson. I started laughing and had to explain to my 15 year old what it meant.

  3. on 10 Oct 2007 at 1:25 pm 3. Oaktown Girl said …

    One of my birthday parties as a little girl was at a bowling alley (a cheap date, back then!) It was lots of fun.

    Little 3-yr old James handing out bowling shoes - awww…so cute!

    I still call them alleys, never having gotten used to saying “bowling lanes”

    Hun. I never knew we were even supposed to be saying “lanes” these days. Tells you how connected I am with bowling. I knew bowling alleys called themselves “lanes” in their business title, but I didn’t know in general we were supposed to say “lanes” - but I can understand why. Like you, I don’t think I’ll be switching over any time soon.

    It occurs to me that being a pin boy must have been a terrible hazard to the hearing. I wonder if they were given any ear protection (I doubt it).

  4. on 10 Oct 2007 at 6:23 pm 4. James Killus said …

    Yeesh, Oaktown Girl, gunnery sergeants and jack hammer operators weren’t given ear protection back then.

    Also, I have pictures of me back then, and I was so cute it curdles the blood.

  5. on 10 Oct 2007 at 8:18 pm 5. JP Stormcrow said …

    Back in my Norman Rockwell childhood, Tuesday night was my father’s “bowling night” - the only night without a clockwork dinner at 5:30. Bowling was one sport that Northeast Ohio got right - Akron was the home of the PBA for years (It is in Seattle now!) and the big Tournament of Champions was held just outside of town in Fairlawn. Now me, I sucked/suck. I think I bowled a 230 once with a hot streak with my straight-on ball - but the Standard Deviation of my scores is astronomical and I could sweat to break 100 on a bad day. I rarely do it today.

    And what can one say about bowling on TV? - now that’s entertainment!

    Obligatory Bowling Ball Story: As a teenager I was lifeguarding at a portable pool at a park set on a steep hillside. Three or four bowling balls came over the lip of street above (some townhouses rose further up the hill on the other side) and eventually disappeared into a ravine. No one believed me until I went down and retrieved one of them on my break. My personal story was that represented spousal revenge in some domestic dispute. (or more likely vandalizing kids - but I like the “rolling the bastard’s balls down the hill” narrative better.)

  6. on 10 Oct 2007 at 9:06 pm 6. spyder said …

    Back in the other century (late 70’s, early 80’s), while teaching at CSUH and CSUSac, i met Palmer Fallgren, a PBA bowler of immense talent, but tended to succumb to pressure in the final rounds of tournaments. We became pretty good friends and enjoyed partying and working out (he still is a fitness fanatic running and swimming regularly). I was never into bowling and didn’t really care to be into it. So over several years we only visited lanes three times.

    One of those was a very late night (early morning) bachelor party for Palmer (with several of his PBA buddies).

    -segue- Two years ago there was a silly reality show built around bowling, and occasionally featured professional bowlers who were there to demonstrate trick shots and other fun. More recently the PBA has sponsored similar events to highlight the talent of these professionals-segue back-

    So at that party i was treated to some of the most amazing bowling play i would ever experience. I learned a great deal about planing the lane laminates, oiling of the wood to influence spin vectors, and so forth; all while i was listening and watching these guys (and a couple of women): bowl strikes on two lanes with two hands rolling out two balls; pre-set impossible spares and pick them off blindfolded; arrange a slalom of pins and only hit the called one; etc. It was fun, incredible, enjoyable, silly, and more. Nearly 30 years later, i still remember it all quite well.

    One word of note, Palmer, and most of his buddies, had been bowling since they were little kids and all of them had ball arms that were 2-4 inches longer than their non-ball arms. Palmer had to have shirts made (preferring of course to wear short sleeves as often as he could) and jackets and such tailored. It might be a good thing to have not grown up focusing on bowling.

    James: more props to your continued participation and adherence to the discipline of Aikido. I was last in a proper dojo in the early winter of 1989, and i just don’t see myself getting back into it now. Perhaps more pep talks from you might inspire.

  7. on 10 Oct 2007 at 11:31 pm 7. James Killus said …

    JP, my one real virtue as a bowler was a mind boggling consistency. I rarely broke 190 and seldom slipped below 150. This had to do with a serious ability to pick up spares and a lousy strike stringing capability. I could, for example, make the 5-10 and 5-7 splits more than half the time, and could get even 6-7-10 and 4-7-10 about 1 time in 5 (the 7-10 split is basically impossible without a purely lucky bounce off the wall and I never tried for it).

    The main exception to the inability to string strikes came whenever I was horribly stiff and sore from some major strenuous activity the previous day. The day after I took a comedy workshop from Ducks Breath Mystery Theater, which included a major prattfall class, I had two over-200 games in a row, then collapsed completely in the third game, basically from fatigue. I think I had something like a 120 in the last game, so that I don’t think I broke 550 for the series.

    spyder, I’ve met Aikido students at seminars who are well into their 70s; my dojo has two students in their 60s. Obviously the ukemi gets damped down as our bones and joints protest more and more, but I expect to be doing it until my body gives out, one way or another. I missed 15 years of training owing to chronic fatigue syndrome taking me out in my mid 30s, and I just don’t feel like letting go of it again. I’m recovering from some surgery on my arm at the moment, and I find myself working out ways of doing techniques one handed.

  8. on 11 Oct 2007 at 12:06 pm 8. The Constructivist said …

    Great post! Can someone help me place the random memory this post conjured up? Watching the pro bowlers on and the pro miniature golfers on tv after Saturday morning cartoons…that was the ’70s, right?

  9. on 11 Oct 2007 at 12:25 pm 9. spyder said …

    Oh James, you are starting to inspire. I do start every single day with yoga, simply because without it i can’t physically move without pain. Then some pilates in the middle of the day for torso conditioning and my daily walks. I do confess that the ukemi aspects are those with which i am most concerned (and anxious). Arthritic joints don’t wake up in the morning feeling all that pleasant as it is; and even with proper technique i cannot yet re-imagine how landing on the mat is going to feel “good.” Koshinage, and some of the other nage techniques, are also elements for which i feel no need to experience. Perhaps though, given sufficient inspiration and motivation. eeeeek

  10. on 11 Oct 2007 at 12:34 pm 10. spyder said …

    TC, i do believe you have the decade down if you include the last half of the 60’s too. ABC bought into Firestone’s willingness to produce a series of tournaments, the finals of which would be shown on Sundays (or Saturdays depending upon other live sports). I did learn that the PBA was one of the most “fascist” of the professional sports associations; rules coming down were rigidly enforced especially those regarding hair cuts, types of colors of pants, shirt collar and pressing (including starch use), and overt lack of interest in anything remotely resembling the contemporary (read 60’s) counter culture.

  11. on 11 Oct 2007 at 12:38 pm 11. James Killus said …

    spyder, I’ve been talking to my sensei lately about trying to develop “low impact” Aikido, or possibly just “Aikido movement” classes for seniors and other people with physical limitations.

    We generally don’t practice koshinage (hip throws, for those who are getting passed by the jargon) much in our dojo, partly because my sensei’s sensei (Chiba Sensei) has suggested that the Aikido hip throws are not as developed or as effective as those in judo. Me, I’m just happy not to have to take the breakfall.

    I’ve found that, paradoxically, my back hurts more when I don’t practice regularly. I suspect it has something to do with breaking stereotypical habits of posture and movement, or possibly just the upping of the body’s production of corticosteriods. In any case, I need to get back to it and I’m going to try some slow motion kata and suburi in the next day or two.

    As for landing on the mat, rolls almost always feel good to me and backfalls can be pretty gentle, (though I’d work up to them gradually for anyone older than I am). But there are a fair number of people on local mats who seldom take falls, for one reason or another, and I’ve always been okay with that.

  12. on 11 Oct 2007 at 7:02 pm 12. Kiera said …

    “Aikido movement” classes for seniors and other people with physical limitations

    Isn’t that kind of covered by Tai Chi?

  13. on 11 Oct 2007 at 8:05 pm 13. James Killus said …

    “Covered by Tai Chi,” Kiera? Like there should be no need for karate because it’s covered by Kung Fu?

    (crap, I told myself not to be snarky. Oh well).

  14. on 12 Oct 2007 at 6:59 am 14. Kiera said …

    (crap, I told myself not to be snarky. Oh well)

    That’s like a wingnut telling himself to be honest. Not gonna happen.

    Did you not see that my comment was phrased as a question? This means the comment was made as an invitation for you to share your knowledge and expound on the differences between what you propose and what already exists, to enlighten those of us who are not involved in this type of activity so that we can understand why there is a need or desire for both.

    Yes, the ever so gentle (don’t choke yourself with laughter) Kiera can be snarky too.

  15. on 12 Oct 2007 at 9:36 am 15. Oaktown Girl said …

    Yes, all snark aside, since Kiera’s comment, I too have been sincerely interested in what informed folks have to say about the differences/similarities between Tai Chi and Aikido for “older folks”.

  16. on 12 Oct 2007 at 1:09 pm 16. spyder said …

    Well i, for one, mix my morning yoga with a ten minute Tai Chi, and such movements do not encompass the range of motion in the torso and extremities that even modest Aikido exercises would provide. For example, the need for flexibility and stretching in the joints of the fingers, hands, wrists, elbows, shoulders is a must in Aikido, whereas most of the more obscure Yoga (rotational contortion postures), and none of the Tai Chi (you are not presented with resistance forces), would still not make this available. I still retain most of that flexibility in my arms below the shoulder (a plus for returning to the dojo), but my lower back and left leg would not withstand even the slightest rotational force or fall at this point (a definite negative in the dojo). Thus a low impact form of the discipline would be demonstrably different.

    There is also a tremendous degree of “trust” that needs to be developed among the practitioners to reduce potential injuries. Knowing how much pressure and rotation one can apply to another is critical and takes time. James is blessed to have such a cooperative and welcome environment.

  17. on 12 Oct 2007 at 3:18 pm 17. James Killus said …

    The snark was there because it was so late. I’ll give a more polite, though possibly overly technical answer now.

    Tai Chi is a kata form that is based quite closely on Kung Fu, which is more of a strike/block martial art than it Aikido. Realize that this is a profound oversimplification, because there are a plethora of forms of both Kung Fu and Aikido. Also, the Japanese/Okinawan/Korean striking forms derive substantially from the Chinese arts, such that I once saw a Tai Chi student and a Shotokan student comparing two kata that turned out to be basically the same, yet formulated in the characteristic fashion of each art.

    Similarly, I once did some comparison moves between Aikido and a friend of mine’s Kung Fu style, and there was some overlap.

    Nevertheless, there are also major differences. Aikido, in particular, draws a great deal from certain weapons, especially the sword (stylized as the bokken) and the short spear, which becomes a short staff, or jo. The moves used in the practice of these weapons are often transmuted to empty handed moves in Aikido.

    The result is that some of the most basic Aikido moves (expecially the irimi, or entering techniques) are considered very advanced in karate or kung fu. By the same token, strikes in Aikido are initially taught only as very elementary attacks, which are then used to initiate the defensive response. At higher levels, the strikes (atemi) become more important, but there is an ongoing debate as to whether the strikes are actual strikes, or rather feints, to redirect the opponent’s concentration. (My own answer would depend on the circumstances; I have no pre-determined compunction against striking someone in the throat, given certain provocations).

    “Low Impact” Aikido would begin with our standard flexibility warmups, with the obvious admonition not to do anything that hurt. Then there is basic footwork, and partner practice emphasizing connectedness and gentle stretching and flexing of the joints (depending on the individuals, of course).

    From there things would have to get even more individual. Some people can probably take basic falls; others could not. Often in my dojo, we go through a throwing technique up to the point of the throw. Part of this is that experience shows that students tend to hurry through techniques to get to the throw, but the throw is often the least important part of the technique.

    On the other hand, the strikes in bowling have no analogs in any martial art.

  18. on 12 Oct 2007 at 5:05 pm 18. Oaktown Girl said …

    Thanks for the martial arts info. While I “get” the basics of Aikido, I guess I just don’t really understand what Tai Chi is all about. Someone in the know explained it to me years ago, but obviously I haven’t retained it.

    My bowling is amazingly consistent as well, James. I go very rarely, and it’s always the same: first game not so good (because it’s been years, of course). Second game will be my highest score. Third game will suck because by then my wrist is tired. I imagine that’s about par for most folks rarely bowl.

  19. on 12 Oct 2007 at 6:57 pm 19. James Killus said …

    Tai chi is, (as nearly as I care to try to say from a non-practitioner’s viewpoint) “about” chi, also called gi, ki, prana, kundalini, and a bunch of other terms that all mean something similar.

    As for what those things are, that’s where people disagree. I touch on the matter in one of the posts I’ve got in the queue: Killing the Goat. Some people call them “life force” which smacks of vitalism, and is sort of suspect for that reason. I’ve known people who thought of it in terms of parapsychology, and (as you might expect), I don’t buy any of that.

    What I will say is that I know it when I feel it, in myself or others. I’ll also observe that I’ve now got some first hand experience with “phantom limb syndrome,” which is considered to be the mind’s image of a body part that is gone. We also obviously have some measure of control over our bodies, and we get sensations from them. My view is that chi, ki, gi, etc., are what you get when all those things, the will, the sensation, and the mental image, are in synch, and all your body parts are working to the same end, rather than fighting each other. The effective strength and power that then results can be rather impressive.