My parents decreed I, at 12, would join a bowling league at the Sunset Lanes in Albany, NY. They worried I spent too much time reading and felt demanding physical activity was in order. There was precedent for this. My father was regularly in the sports pages for his bowling prowess and had been for years. I went grudgingly, but I went. However, I have a minor defect in my vision and probably had since birth. This results in no eye-hand coordination, no ability to scoop up ground balls, no tennis ball thwacking and no bowling balls anywhere except the gutter. I quickly got ranked as the worst player in the league, I position I maintained all that winter. But the Sunset Lanes had yet more humiliation in store.
© 2024 John Oliver
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