Bowling community grows to critical mass and I defend my title in commanding fashion
ADMINS: Please note that if this sort of content is not allowed here it is not intentional on my part and will refrain from posting such stuff in the future. I don't think I am breaking any rules but if I am, it is unintentional
The Danang Unadvertised Maniac's Bowling Organization (DUMBO) continues to grow and we are getting to the to the point where we are not going to be able to accommodate any newcomers or at the minimum we are going to have to put what I consider to be "too many" people on each of the lanes.
It's hard to imagine that just a few short months ago there was just 3 of us that wanted to go bowling for a laugh and a way to fill up a dead afternoon in a way that didn't involve booze (for once) and now we have grown to 20 members attending our weekly event with more planning on coming in the future.
We intentionally go in the morning because we know that most "normal" people are going to be at work or school and we can have the place to ourselves. It also coincides with the cheapest time of day to go bowling so it is basically a win / win for all involved.
The sense of community that these events inspire is pretty incredible and I have met a ton of people that I think I wouldn't otherwise know and now when I see them out and about it is pretty cool to know that I have a few new friends that may have been a bit stand-offish about talking to one another if it weren't for "the lanes."
This last Thursday I thought it was pretty awesome that one of our newest members is actually a professional pilot who flies for Vietjet airlines and came straight from the airport to the lanes. None of knew that "Big D" (most of us have fake names for the lanes) was a pilot until he turned up with his pilot rolling suitcase and uniform complete with wings or whatever the shoulder regalia is called.
In the championship match "Bubba" (me) was playing against "Magic" and well, while the odds were definitely benefitting me as I was a heavy favorite coming into this, I bowled about as well as I ever have in my life to the point where I started to feel bad for my opponent.
I can't recall a time in my life that I have ever bowled 5 strikes in a row and while Magic's performance in the frames was erased (I hate that their system automatically does that) I can assure you, He did not get to 109 total by bowling terribly well.
I really wanted to be the first person in our league to break 200 points and it was only because of a strong showing in the 10th frame that this was possible. I barely got past 200. Those 3 dead frames where I failed to spare of strike really hurt me, and even though it was extremely clear that I was going to win the match, the 10th frame was very stressful for me as i BARELY knocked down the 1 pin in order to get that spare. Had i missed it, my overall score would have been 191 - which is still a hell of a score but it just goes to show how absolutely essential it is to get those marks if you are going to have a high score.
Even though I am sure she doesn't care even a little bit, I brought my championship belt back to the house to show Nadi and she was just like "what the hell is this thing" when I forced her to pose for a picture
At our post match meeting at Vertigo sports bar, we celebrated and chose an opponent for me to face next week, who is going to be a man who goes by the name of "Dangerous." His name is ironic because he is probably the least dangerous person that you would ever meet.
He is about a 110 average bowler, so the vegas odds are once again very strongly in my favor. If I do win next week, It will mean I have been the champ for a month which will tie the record for longest reign at the top. I also solidified the "highest score the league has seen" medal breaking my own record of 178 with yesterday's 202.
If you find yourself in Da Nang and would like to join us, please do so. We meet at Lotte Mart at 11am every Thursday except for next week where we will meet on Tuesday since the mall is shut on Thursday for TET.
Looks like some serious fun and you have a great bunch of people joining in.
Dang! That is pretty awesome! 200 is a goal that I was always trying to reach when I was bowling quite regularly. Never got there. Congrats to you. This post is perfect for the sports community. We need more quality posts like this. I am going to jump over to my curation account and give you a good upvote.
Nice job!
thanks pal, it certainly felt great when it happened. I have bowled over 200 only twice in my life and the last time was over 25 years ago.
It is definitely something to be excited about for an average joe!
I don't get around to it much anymore but when I did bowl I was just happy to break 120. 200 is awesome and certainly something to be proud of. Nice belt, Cena would be proud.
well, you are a lot better than me that is for sure :) well done!
I envy you guys. We have only 1 bowling alley here and it is so poorly maintained that it is almost unusable. It's odd because bowling was all the rage in Thailand just a few years ago. We used to have 3 lanes in 3 different malls and now we only have one :(
To be fair I rarely went so I suppose I accidentally contributed to the downfall.
There was a bowling alley that was installed with I lived in Krabi and it was popular for like 2 weeks and then 4 months later or so it was out of business. I felt bad for the owners because it must have cost an absolute fortune to build it.
Things started going downhill once the allure wore off and every time we went to the lanes (which wasn't often, to be fair) fewer and fewer of the lanes actually functioned anymore as they were clearly salvaging parts from one lane to repair the others, by the time the end was nigh, they didn't even turn on the air conditioning until customers would turn up and since it was on the top floor of a building in one of the hottest parts of Thailand, it was a friggin sauna in that place.
This can't have been good for the wood floors either.
They are still popular in Bangkok (I think)... in the rest of the country they seem to have gone out of fashion. Oddly, we have an ice skating rink where one of the old bowling alleys used to be. This is a strange choice since almost zero Thai people actually know how to skate.
Great post and exactly what's needed here! I am happy to see the move to Da Nang is working out so well for you. Over here in Thailand, the bollocks just gets worse!
Best wishes and hopefully one day in the future I can get over to Vietnam once again.
@nathen007
How do you mean? Most of my friends that are there still don't seem to mind it so much other than the usual visa bullcrap
What fun here! I was in the school bowling league in high school and it was one of my favorite parts of it! I think my best score was somewhere over 150 or 160, not too shabby! I can only imagine hitting 200, that's wild!
Looks like a good time. I think there is only one bowling alley in all of Cambodia, but I've never been yet. I did maintain a 169 average as a teenager though, many, many, years ago.
an average of 169 is extremely impressive to me. I struggle with consistency and my game this past week was just over 100. I didn't look like i deserved to be champion in that title defense.
Nadi is like get this thing away from my toy!! lol. Concrats on the title retention. I have not bowled in probably 20 years.. unless we count Wii Bowling?? Then the last time I was bowling was about 5 years ago. Haha 😆
It's nice to have something to do and a few people that you can stand to be around long enough to do it. Looks like everyone had a good time.
For most of the people in our crew they also have not bowled in many years. It comes back to you pretty quick. For me it had been years as well but now all of us go at least once a week and some people go on other days to practice for the official Thursday.
I would say the only downside is the inevitable drinking that happens afterwards (which is an "upside" while it is happening) but the days after are always painful and I have only myself to blame for that.
Nadi was not happy about this thing being in her space. But after a few precautionary sniffs she realized it was harmless but since it can't be chewed on and is not fluffy, she did prefer it not be there :)
This is freaking awesome. Firstly having that many friends has to be an awesome feeling.
I love to go bowling, but don’t have a group that goes regularly.
It has to be feeling good wearing that championship belt. I’ve never hit 200, but I do remember the only time I ever got 4 strikes in a row. It was in front of a very competitive girl. She was pissed, but also extremely impressed which worked to my advantage 😜