* Bowling - The Game For The Masses

By Michael Russell

When people talk about sports, it's usually about baseball, basketball, football or hockey. Soccer is supposedly the worlds game, but soccer is an unpopular sport in the US. Golf, as a sport, has risen in popularity, but the expense associated with golf makes it a sport mostly played by people with high incomes. A sport, which is popular, but rarely gets talked about, is bowling. Bowling is played all over the world, but it's probably one of the most unappreciated sports in history.

The true origin of bowling is in dispute, but there is evidence that a form of bowling existed as far back as 3200 BC. The first mention of a bowling type game occurred in England, in the 1300s. King Edward III supposedly outlawed the game because it was distracting his troops from archery practice. Many forms of bowling have originated from Europe and these include, Italian bocce, French pentanque and Britain's lawn bowling. Some give credit to the Dutch, for bringing bowling to America, but in actuality, the English, German and Dutch settlers, all brought their own version of the game over.

Bowling landed in America in the 17th century and spent most of its life as an outdoor game that used nine pins. Indoor bowling became popular in the 19th century, after indoor lanes opened in New York, in 1840. Bowling became so popular, that people started gambling on it. Connecticut and New York both banned nine pin bowling, because of the gambling. In 1842, a tenth pin was added to bowling. Some thought the tenth pin was just a ploy to get around the ban.

The American Bowling Congress was formed in 1895. This organization was responsible for establishing rules, creating standards for equipment and promoting bowling as a competition. The first ABC tournament was held in 1901, this tournament allowed amateur and professional bowlers to compete against each other. In 1916, the Women's International Bowling Congress was formed, this organization created the rules and regulations for women bowlers. The Professional Bowlers Association was formed in 1958. The PBA created a tournament tour. In 1961, ABC was the first network to televise PBA competition.

Bowling is not immune to technology. There have been many changes affecting the game. The most important being to the bowling balls. Stone and wood was used in the earliest days of bowling. Rubber balls came in the 1960s, polyester in the 1970s and urethane in the 80s. The 90s saw the invention of the reactive resin balls and the latter part of the 90s introduced the proactive resin balls. Bowling lanes have also been upgraded. In the past, most lanes were made of wood, but now a lot of lanes have synthetic surfaces.

In spite of the lack of publicity, bowling is still one of the most enjoyable games around. And unlike a lot of sports, bowling is a game the whole family can participate in. The simplicity of the game makes it easy for anyone to learn. Considering how many people bowl in the world, it's amazing that people forget about bowling when they're discussing the most popular sports.

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* Bowling – The Basics (The Game)