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| Sisyphus (Painting by Titian) |
As the stories go, bad King Sisyphus was just plain mean. Because of this, divine King Zeus ordered him to endlessly roll a huge boulder up a mountain.
This vertical form of bowling was also endlessly frustrating. As soon as Sisyphus would score a strike by reaching the top, gravity would pull the boulder back down to the bottom again.
Then one day someone must have said, “How about we change things up a bit? How about we start rolling our boulders
horizontally?”
And so bowling was born…
These days, this ancient pastime (calling bowling a sport could only invoke the wrath of football fans everywhere) is in danger of dying. Or, at the
very least, of morphing into practically unrecognizable forms…
Patrick Clark of Bloomberg Businessweek reports that “blue collar” bowling alleys are fast becoming extinct.
In their place are the new ritzy centers, complete with “indoor go-cart tracks, laser tag games, and rock-climbing walls.”
Rock-climbing walls?
Perhaps Sisyphus isn’t as extinct as we thought. Perhaps he lives on in the hearts and minds of modern-day bowling magnates throughout our fair land.
Resources
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sisyphus
http://money.msn.com/investing/post--americas-bowling-alleys-are-vanishing
Copyright July 29, 2014 by Linda Van Slyke All Rights Reserved
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