Am I a bowler or a towel boy? What could I have been thinking? (Photo by Steven Vicik Jr.)
Sometimes you see a picture of yourself in action and mutter, “Say what?”
With my Thursday night bowling league coming down to the end of the season, I handed my teammate Steve my iPhone 4 and asked him to snap a few shots of me rolling the ball.
He slid over for the best angle and seemed to enjoy the added responsibility of personal photographer.
I figured a picture might come in handy in case I wanted to write about bowling one last time before our CiCi’s Pizza team started enjoying the off season.
But Steve got a tip of his finger in the corners, I noticed, so I asked him to do it again last week.
The main reason for the do-over, though, is that I hated the way I looked in the originals with that ridiculously long black towel hanging out of my rear pocket.
The sight shocked me so much, in fact, that the six-year-habit of Bialczak bowling with a towel tail is now over.
I can, after all, keep the towel folded on the seats behind the lanes for between-shot use. There’s also an air blower to dry any hand moisture while approaching the ball return.
I attempt to pick up a single pin spare, no towel needed.(Photo by Steven Vicik)
Yet even this towel-less version of my bowling self at right has me scratching my rather ominous and so-photographically-obvious bald spot. But the retreating hair I knew about.
Thanks to Steve’s iPhone camera work, I now have it in my head that I release the bowling ball too far back from the foul line. I may be crouched a bit too low. My left arm is too close to my body. My right foot is angled too steeply. The ball is dangling too far from my palm.
No wonder I average just 163 in a league full of 200s.
Luckily, Thursday is this season’s finale, a team tournament before everybody gets together two weeks from now at Spinning Wheel on Thompson Road for the annual awards banquet, a night of eating, schmoozing, drinking, and pocketing a bit of cash.
The best bowlers get trophies, too.
I will be left to ponder what I can do to win me some hardware come 2015.
Do I ask my dear wife Karen to accompany me on an off-season practice session to take video of my form, so I can really note all the things I may be doing wrong?
Do I sign up for a lesson from a pro?
Or do I instead concentrate on playing golf at the relatively same C+ level I have forever and go back to bowling next September with nebulous hopes and dreams for a better me, as usual?
Have you ever seen a picture of yourself participating in an activity that’s shocked you so much you wanted to sign up for lessons? Have you ever revamped your style totally in the pursuit of greater achievement?
Mark Bialczak 
i think you’re being much too hard on yourself, mark. the pics are cute and the giant black towel is quite funny though ) ‘you roll like you own it.’ i always say.
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Next season I will raise my average 10 pins, Beth. Really. You are right, though, I was kind of micro-picking out my flaws here. And, yes, that towel is a giant prop, I’d say! I never knew how long it looked as I owned it all these seasons.
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you will for sure, mark and i give you credit, you know i am terrible about pics of myself. ) and you always look good in yours –
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Awwwww. Thanks, Beth, and I do believe you look good in your cameo appearances on your blog world, too! Even the dancing raisin with the white-legging legs. )
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Oh yeah this link for the 1978 Sultans of Swing is my fav … wanted to share it with you Markhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-XRLMFRR-0 Hope you enjoy both … Have a great evening
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Cool, K! Love that song big time.
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Alright! … Good night Mark
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My dad used to film me during tennis matches to go over footwork and form etc. It used to bother him sooo much that my form was not ‘what it should be’ – I can’t remember how many times my coach and I went over the fact that as a girl who was about 1/2 a foot shorter min. than those I was competing against my form was not the standard as I had to compensate for height with strength and speed. Poor dad – he’s a little ocd about things and how they’re ‘supposed’ to be and it’s really hard for him to understand that sometimes things need to change or adapt.
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I’m glad your teacher was on your side, Jenni. I’m sure that made it better for you, even if the teacher couldn’t convince your OCD dad! At my bowling fears are self-induced from just what I see from the great bowlers in my league — including plenty of 300 shooters — vs. what I thought I looked like in the pictures.
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It’s why I hate photos of me doing ANYTHING other than sitting!! What you imagine and what is – well the two are usually far far apart. Don’t worry about your bowling and although getting awesome scores is pretty good I’m sure most of it is about enjoying some time with others etc [or at least that what others tell me – tad competitive myself so I’m not one to talk]
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Bowling is fun every week. But it is more fun when our team wins, Jenni. Yes, the competitive streak lives in me, too.
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Hey Mark … You may want to check out these amazing Photos by my Friend Vassilis D. Gonis of Dire Straits when they performed in Greece http://artourway.com/artourwayblog/ ~ cool Mark …C
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I am not an athlete, just a ‘game for anything’ kind of gal! This worked out in co-ed college or dorm sports. Since I could be in the back line or outfield, yelling and cheering but not really throwing (softball) or returning balls (volleyball)!
I guess it was the ‘rudest’ of awakenings when I watched in 1978, myself teaching a third grade class a Social Studies lesson. I said, “Um,” and also, “You know,” quite a few times at age 22. The kids adored me, as most students love younger teachers, but I straightened up my language and did much better the next time I got videotaped!
I was told while a child advocate in a courtroom setting that I should have become a lawyer! That was a major compliment by a judge and a lawyer, after the case where I represented a young four year’ old’s point of view on domestic violence. I got one other opportunity, during those years, to be ‘assessed’ by a senator, while presenting my point of view (at an Ohio subcommittee) on why children needed to have their own funding, in battered women’s shelters. He told me I could have been a politician! Now, I am not sure if he meant that as a compliment! Ha ha!
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Wow, Robin, you watched that tape as a young teacher and ran up to the top of the mountain! I am very impressed. Someday you have to talk to us here via a video!!
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Well, that was a foolish thing for me to share if I am to try to plea for mercy or other lawyer-ly things! It was not hard to represent a child in court. It was not too hard to read a grant to an Ohio senate subcommittee. I was given this opportunity, due to a ‘freak’ visit to Utica’s ice cream place where Senator Branstool, then a farmer/senator was eating an ice cream cone. I approached him, asked the steps needed to get more funding, etc.
You are a public speaker and I am sure you show much more flair and imagination in your speaking!! I meant to get back to this post, but had to go get a time extension to tell you this… I am not able to comment on the posture due to my poor athleticism, but I like the jaunty look of the towel in your back pocket, Mark!
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I can speak in public. What I do is pretend that I’m just talking to the whole crowd over a cup of coffee. Or glass of beer. Or Diet Pepsi. You get my drift.
Thank for noting my jaunty look, Robin. I am the swashbuckling bowler in our team.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QrsHsgMpIOU ~love this Mark …C ~ Sultans of Swing Lyrics ;D
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Que veux – tu dire ~ Straits ! ;D Sultan of Swings … Très bien Mark 😉
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I agree with the others… You certainly did tear yourself to shreds! I thought you looked good with the towel, though I admit you looked great without it. I think when you stop worrying about the score and the form, etc., and just have fun with it, that’s when you’ll bowl a 200. When you think about something too much, you’ve pretty much sealed your fate. Relax and enjoy! And know you look awesome! 😀
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You are very kind, Rachel, and I appreciate every word of it.
I have bowled 240 games and followed that with 120 games. No rhyme of reason I can think of.
I will relax this week and see what happens!
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When I was a kid throwing a tennis ball around at recess with friends I was always told that I had a weird throwing motion, but I could always throw the ball further than my friends so it didn’t bother me. Then some of my friends tried to imitate my throwing style and it looked really awkward and complicated. I never saw a video of myself throwing but their imitations were scary…I hope they were over exaggerating it because to me, I was just throwing normally. Not exactly the same type of story as yours Mark, but I didn’t let it bother me. We’ll never look exactly like the professionals we see on TV.
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It is a very similar story to mine, Paul, because it illustrates very well how our mind’s eye does not necessarily match up to our friends’ eyes.
They probably were exaggerating your throwing motion some. One, that’s what kids do. And two, that’s really what kids jealous that you can throw the ball further than they can do.
No, we’re not professional athletes. I can tell that by my bank balance.
Thanks for sharing your perspective.
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Practice makes perfect, as they say. With the exception of a foreign language or ukulele (on my brain), I’d ask for assistance with form and go from there. We, ourselves, can only determine if we need a good tweak.
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Are you getting better on the uke? I expect to go watch you at Shifty’s open mike night one of these months, Chris.
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I haven’t started yet; life’s schedule got complicated with this-and-that’s and my being sick. However, my lessons begin later this month. I’m super excited.
I actually may start incorporating uke videos for the heck of it. Writing is fun, but it easier to talk… another reason why I enjoy phone conversations over texting.
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I look forward to going along on the uke journey via video, Chris.
I would rather talk on the phone than text, like you, sure.
But I would rather write a story than talk on a video. I’ve done both. (Weekly Best Bets ….) That’s just me.
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I vote you have your dear wife video tape you. I did this of myself many many times in martial arts. I was always horrified by what I saw. It never matched the vision in my head. But it always helped. 🙂
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Yeah, that vision-in-my-head thing is what has me a little worried, Colleen. My buddies videotaped my golf swing 20 years ago, and I have a complex about it to this day.
I’m glad it worked for your martial arts.
It could for my bowling, too. You are right.
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It did help. But it never did match the vision I had of myself. 🙂 Let me know if you end up doing it. I’m curious to see if it helps.
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There could very well be a follow-up, Colleen. I shall see.
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I wish someone would have taken a picture of me bowling because unbeknownst to me I have more of a “spiderman” web throwing release on the ball then the more natural “normal” release. I hold it normal….my approach is normal but it all falls apart at the release. ~ just call me spidey!
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You have caught me in your web about your release, Jolene. I wish I could see that one, Spidey Bowler!
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Was wondering what that black thing was, but you kinda look like a pro to me.
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Why thank you so much for your kind praise, laflor! Much appreciated by this former towel-hanger.
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Be the ball, Mark … don’t give yourself the bowling yips!
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No yips. Yet. One time, though, Jim, the ball slipped off my fingers on the backswing and went thunk down on the lane. And another time my sliding foot stuck and I went tumbling forward, on my knees onto the actual bowling lane. In league play, both of those. Yikes!
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At my kids school they use ipads as coaching tools so the kids can see what they are doing and learn how to correct stuff (technical sporting term there). So you could go in that direction – all depends on how much you want to win.
I think I’d want to win.
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That is a slight nudge in the direction of video on the iPad, Rachel. I can tell. Thank you!
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If I can bowl without the kiddy-bumpers up, I call that progress.
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You don’t let your bowling mind go in the gutter. I like that, Ross.
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Well, you certainly picked yourself apart there. Your form is the sentence, and you’re editing away at it. I think as long as you are 1) engaged in a team activity and 2) moving instead of sitting, you are doing better than most of America, full of couch potatoes with selfish agendas.
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I like the way you look at my bowling, Kerbey. Thank you!
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I think we are so much harder on ourselves than others. I say if you’re having fun you should pay no mind to the numbers. But if you think better numbers would bring you happiness, I’d start with the video. My fingers are so scrawny they always slip out of the holes and my ball ends up in the seats behind me. It’s not pretty.
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Everybody who bowls with you has to keep on their toes, Sandra, or your wayward ball will smush ’em. The video may happen in between seasons for me. And, really, it’s just a case of always wanting to get better at everything I do.
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It’s how I bowl. 😉
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Appearing weekly at Stand-Up Lanes …
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Watch out!
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