Many of you no doubt have already seen this wonderful film and have laughed at the unfortunate reality of our summer time winterboot-wearing liger-drawing hero, Napolean. But the scene which I would like to discuss has nothing to do with Napolean at all. To those who I have already discussed this movie with, the following observation will likely be a repeat of earlier rants you have already suffered through.
When Uncle Rico and Kip decide they need to find a more private place to discuss the intricacies of becoming salesman for a mock tupperwear product, they naturally decide on the local bowling alley to lay out their plans. This scene begins with a ball making its way towards the pins as Kip is whispering something of the nature of "come-on-come-on-come-on...." and as the ball strikes the pins knocking down all but one we get to see Kip passionate close his eyes, raise his fist up to his forehead and bring it down to chest level with a quick jerk followed by an apparently very satisfying "yessssss!"
Now nothing struck me as particularly odd about this until I found myself bowling a few days later and it immediately dawned on me why that scene stuck out in my head so much. No one celebrates getting nine pins down on their first ball, or really, ever. Nine pins down, whether knocked down by the first ball, or by the second following a gutter ball, the usual response is some loud profanity, or at the very least, a great lack of celebration. The frustration is that the bowler was teased by getting all the pins down except for one, or rather, they were so close to a strike. I think it's pretty fair to say that getting 7 pins down is less frustration than getting 9 because at least you didn't feel you had as much of a chance of getting a strike and were, as we've all heard many times in the alley, "robbed!"
Now perhaps Kip didn't mean to instill a philosophical message to me with his bowling performance, but I think a lot can be pulled out of this. We should be celebrating the falling of nine pins, and I don't mean just in a "it could be worse," mentality. If it was our first ball we still have an opportunity to do something great. A spare often requires much greater skill than a strike. We must reevaluate our situation and try to take the best approach to achieving a successful outcome. If we get a strike, it's over, there's no place to improve and not much room to show how well we can shine in the face of possible disappointment. Sure, we might blow it and miss that last pin, but we might still be increasing our ability to take a small defeat in stride and focus on a small success. Very few people bowl 300s, and of those that do accomplish such a feat, I've never strove to be like them. They're professional bowlers for God's sake. A bowler is about as much of an athlete as a professional pool player or curler. Sure these games require skill and dedication, but so does interior decorating. Anyway, I guess I just wanted to thank Kip for reminding me that though 9 isn't ten, it's a lot more than zero, and with ball two, it could be even more than nine....and chances like that don't come very often in life.
-Suspeckted
