Bowling Quote of the Day--4/14/10

"The lanes are always speaking to me, and I've always got to be listening. So if I'm listening to a lot of other things people are telling me, I can't hear and see what the lanes are doing."
--Anthony O'Neal

I lifted the quote above from an article about a guy, Anthony O'Neal, in Kentucky who recently bowled an 887 series in league to set a new state record. The article states that O'Neal becomes very focused when he bowls. He isn't exactly antisocial, yet he sees league bowling not as casual recreation but as serious competition where he wants to do his very best. And one of the ways he does this is to forsake unnecessary small talk between shots for concentration on how balls, his and others, are reacting on the lanes and to figuring out how best to execute and score well given what he observes. When he's doing this, he tends not to speak unless spoken to, and he shuts out extraneous thoughts and external stimuli.

I like his approach to bowling, and I act much the same way he does. Bowling for me is not so much a time to socialize as it is a form of prolonged meditation in which I try to bring body and mind together to execute and score as well as possible and to enjoy the aesthetics of the experience.

How about you? Do you like to socialize a lot when you bowl, or do you tend to keep quiet and concentrate?