Bowlin Away

A friend of mine describes bowling as twee. It is hard, he says, not to see bowling in an ironic way, even as you participate in it. This I don't quite understand, though I suppose there is a certain kitsch value to it, helped along by movies like Kingpins and The Big Lebowski and by shows like Bowling for Dollars.

Bowlers do have a certain aura about them, I suppose, a certain look we expect--or that I expect. I think bowler, and I think of some overweight bald guy in a bowling shirt. He's someone who, if he were tough enough, would have been in a motorbike gang. Instead, he's a bowler. It's easier, and he gets to drink just as much beer.

But this is, of course, not what bowling is about, and I don't know that I've ever seen such a stereotype at a bowling alley when I've been there. Where, then, does the idea arise? This I don't know.

When I look at the two bowling movies mentioned above, I cannot recall any character fitting this description. In fact, if anything, the some of the bowling characters--in the form of Bill Murray in Kingpins and arguably John Tortillo in Lebowski--seemed consumed with maintaining a neat image. A whole page analyzing Murray's hair in that film could probably be written, if only I had seen the film recently.