Technically It’s a Sport

The wife played softball growing up.  The wife played a lot of softball growing up.  For the first few years of our marriage it seemed we could not go anywhere without running into someone that a) she played softball with b) she played softball with their daughter or c) was a softball coach that she played for.  Before the car crash 3 years ago, she entertained thoughts of joining a church softball league.  From what I can tell she was a catcher.  It is not that she has not told me this 1,000 times, it is just that I have grown bored with the constant onslaught of stories (and retelling of stories when we ran into folks from her softball past (which, based on my math, is approximately 85% of the current population of Kokomo).

She often tells of her desire that her daughter would follow in her footsteps.  Her daughter, however, has an aversion to sweating (or running).  I am pretty sure I blogged a while back about her 2 games of soccer before she gave that up (too much running and sweating),  The wife has about given up on her I think as much as it kills her to do so.  The son it just not built for sports.  He is very thin and tends to have the kind of relationship to a ball of any sport that 2 magnets of like charges have to each other (I know I have blogged about his “keep a radius of 15’ from the ball” technique in soccer).  I can see the disappointment in the wife’s eyes when she realizes again and again that no child of hers will follow in her footsteps.

Since the kids have my genes as well as hers there may be hope for them in the sport of bowling.  The son has the build for it and bowling would be the kind of sport that the daughter might like in that you only walk a maximum of 17’ at a time and throw a ball (that is automatically returned to you) to (hopefully) knock down some pins (that are set back up for you).  I mentioned this to the wife the other day in an exchange that went something like this…

Wife (looking sad and dejected): Sigh
Me: You know, the kids could bowl.  That’s a sport.
Wife (long, uncomfortable pause)
Me: It IS a sport, you know.
Wife (quickly and defensively): I did not say it was not a sport.
Me: Yes, actually, you did with the long pause.  You sat there, pondered if you either wanted to hurt my feelings by telling me what you really thought of the sport or if you should stay silent or if you should agree to let the kids trying it know that they would a) probably like it b) probably be good at it and c) tell you that bowling was their sport and not soft/baseball.
Wife: Technically, I suppose, it is a sport.  How do you do that?  How to you read my mind!?!
Me: It is not that hard really.
Wife (looking sad and dejected): Sigh

Now I am not going to take the time here to defend the sport of bowling.  I defended it from my late teen years to my late 20s.  Bowling has a negative connotation with it in general but I had not expected the same comments from my wife that I heard for a good ten years.

I have never taken the kids bowling.  Most my bowling buddies cannot believe this.  It might be time to change that though, if for no other reason to get my kids in a (technically real) sport.

Jon