Duckpin Bowling

Here's something I bet not a lot of folks these days can say with a straight face: I miss duckpin bowling. It is true. Growing up over three score years ago, one of my favorite activities was bowling with what we called the little balls and pins. In fact, it was very much a family activity as my parents, cousins and aunt and uncle used to belong to bowling leagues. One of my childhood birthday parties was, in fact, a bowling party. This was before tenpin bowling - the big balls and pins - came along. Even its arrival did not dampen my enthusiasm for the duckpins. I found it to be more challenging and simply more fun. To me, this sport, which had been invented in the late nineteenth century, was great.

Nowadays, of course, one would be hard pressed to find even a bowling alley where the little balls and pins are used. According to the New York Times, there are only a little over 30 certified lanes in the entire United States right now. (Back in the 1960s, there were as many as 450.) I find this reality to be sad, yet recognize that life goes on and as things, including us, evolve, not everything I may like  remains exactly as it used to. Such is the case with communication. While all of us still communicate, of course, we no longer do so in the manner we used to.

To give one obvious example, nowadays many of us text each other rather talk on the phone. This form of interacting even seems to take the place of I person conversing. I guess this is because people find it easier. With texting, one is more in-control of the interaction. You do not have to worry about being interrupted and you can even decide what you to say or ignore in response to text messages from others. Perhaps this is what makes, for many, a more perfect form of communicating. Not me. I prefer the messiness that comes with in-person interaction. It reflects more of who we are. Maybe that is one reason I miss duckpin bowling. It was and is the one sport in its entire history where no one ever has ever had a perfect score.