Just Bowling

Willy's the man behind our bowling outings. For the past few months we've been going to Club 300 up in Markham to bowl every 4 to 6 weeks. Usually he manages to round up 5 or 6 guys. From pastor Tom to Winston Ling and everyone in between.

We've probably gone four or five times now. It's becoming a regular event. Most of us are beginners. Though, Tom, actually took bowling in college when he was back in Illinois. I guess they offer it in school in the U.S. Not so much here. He even has his own ball and shoes.

I don't know if that's what gave us the idea of getting our own shoes or not. Either that or we just worked the math out in our heads... if we were going to continue going this many times and we rented for $3.50 each time, how many times would we need to go before we could actually buy our own shoes?

Sid and Willy looked into buying shoes first. Sid found a couple of places in Mississauga. One was selling shoes for $40 a pair. I think I saw their website too. A couple of days later he told me he found a place in Scarborough at Lawrence and Kennedy. The store was in a bowling alley on the lower level of a strip mall. After talking with the owner a bit he bought a used ball and a pair of shoes.

Before our next bowling event Willy and I went there too. It was Sunday afternoon and we were actually on our way up to Club 300. We scoped out the alley and saw that they had a Sunday afternoon special - after 4:30 p.m. you could bowl for $2 a game. Wow... cheap!

We walked into the small store which was located right by the stairs where you enter. The owner remembered, Sid (who had yet to pick up his re-drilled ball with new custom-fit holes). We talked to him and he told us about bowling balls. Instead of buying a cheap new ball, he recommended getting a good used one for about the same price. It spins better he told us.

He also told us that heavier balls were better. We told him we liked using 10 or 11 pound balls. He said that's what the ladies used. Guys were supposed to use balls that were at least 14 pounds or more. Oh well. I guess I'm going to be bowling like a girl now.

We told him we were interested in getting shoes too. He showed us his cheapest pair at $60 before tax. They were the same ones Sid bought. We tried them on. They felt fine to me. I had no idea what they were supposed to feel like. We bought them.

We took them up to Club 300 where we immediately put them through their paces. Our first game wasn't very good. All five of us (Ray, Steve Chong, Sid, Willy and I) barely scored over 100. We took turns bowling for Tom who came late. He actually ended up with one of the top scores of that game due to our collective bowling prowess.

Our second game was slightly better. I improved the most bowling 152 if I remember correctly. Ray gave me a bit of advice about trying to hit the head pin on a slight angle. Ideally you would do it by spinning the ball. Since none of us could do that I stepped to the right a bit and tried to hit it from the side that way. It seemed to work. I got a number of strikes and spares that game.

19 more times... that's how many outings we have to go before we get our money back on our shoes. See you at the alley!