The Agony of Defeat: Lessons From American Bowling
I only end up bowling at company get-togethers. Is someone getting a promotion? Let’s go bowling. Is someone voluntarily leaving the company? Let’s hit the lanes. Did someone get sacked? Bowling it is.
I guess company outings are as close as I’ve been to being in a bowling league. And today is U.S. Bowling League Day, so company sponsored bowling events will have to do.
According to the United States Bowling Congress, roughly 1.2 million people play in officially sanctioned bowling leagues.
That’s possibly 1.2 million too many.
Why? Well, bowling is good fun…until it’s not.
I’m not good at bowling, which is not to say that I don’t enjoy bowling. I have fun when bowling—as long as my coworkers and I equally partake of shared bowling failures. But the fun quickly turns to self-hating anxiety the moment the company bowling shark steps up to the lane.
You know the type. This person “just” bowls for fun “on occasion” with their “friends.” There’s no need to worry, they say. We’re all here for a good time. Winning or losing doesn’t matter.
Except that—to them—it does. And they’re willing to slaughter whatever self-pride you thought you had in the process. As soon as their multi-colored shoe steps upon the overly slick lane, your innocent team building exercise turns into a medieval bloodbath of shattered egos and fragmented self-esteem.
You never leave this type of thing as the same, pure-minded person that entered. No. You leave as someone who clung to life when it was at its worst, as someone who’s seen the deepest depravity of humanity and lived to tell about it.
I’ve been there. And you will too one day.
I pray for us all.
Happy U.S. Bowling League Day!