Bowling for Change

Everything changes. Can you remember what your house looked like 20 years ago? The appliances, the furniture, even the paint or wallpaper. It's all different. I missed the 70s, but I've seen pictures and everything was various shades of green. Things were slightly more colorful in the 80s, if "darker than bright green" is a color.

Remember cars 20 years ago? All boxy, no real style to them. Computers, VCRs, TVs, everything changes.

Except bowling. Have you gone bowling recently? Me neither, because I'm not a middle aged man trying to get out of the house or a poor teenager with nowhere to go (I'm a poor twentysomething with nowhere to go). But I've bowled. The last time I can remember was something like 8 years ago, but it might have been more recently. But it doesn't matter. Because bowling hasn't changed in forever.

I assume the latest innovation in bowling was the introduction of computer monitors and automated scoring. I first went bowling about 20 years ago and these were already staples of my local alley. Ball returns, automatic pin set up, these things existed then as they do now. Even the shoes look like they're straight out of the 70s.

Why is bowling stuck in a timewarp? Or did bowling achieve perfection and thus it requires no further change? Wouldn't that be a kick in the pants. People constantly strive for perfection, no one ever attains it (there's a lesson here: aim low). It's a never ending battle to better oneself and the world around you, but it's a losting cause. Except for bowling. Bowling has attained nirvana. I can't think of anything more depressing.