The Ball is Round....

The ball is round or something like that.

For the past 10 years or more, our company’s bowling team had been constantly at the top of the annual inter-company tournament. The trend ended a year ago, when all our key players had been separated from the company due to various reasons. These were our main players:

The Boss – He is the Boss to all. All he wants is to win, and win at all cost. No one dares ask him to step aside even if it is his off night. He blames his golf when not doing well on the lanes. He always wants to be the anchor when he plays. Ave. 165.

The Painter – The cool steady hand of this old man makes wonders, especially after a glass of beer. The accuracy of his marks, made up for his lack of form. Before the game ends, he’s drunk already. Ave. 170

The Claims Specialist – He can do the most damage on most nights. Ave. 175

The Collector – He heads the C&C department. Before he left the company, he was able to collect 2 girlfriends, and 2 babies, nine months after. He said he’ll form the bowling team of his new employer. Ave. 165

The Rugged Mechanic - He comes to the game with greasy hands and shirt. If you look at his form, you can’t believe he can hit those strikes, doubles and even turkeys. Ave. 170

The Cool Captain – He’s the soul of this team. The opponents wondered how this guy played very well, when they do not see him practice. He has this unusual approach and armswing where the ball kisses the gutter before spinning to the middle of the lane. Turkeys and four-baggers, are a familiar sight in his scoreboard. Ave. 195

The Master – I’d like to call him the Master. Not that he’s a real martial arts master, or a bowling master. But he’s a cousin to the PBMI Master, and there’s an obvious resemblance. He’s the best of the reserves in our team. Ave. 160

I was on the reserve too. I was just happy to be included in the line-up then even though I only played very few games. Maybe we just needed to fill up the 12 names.

Now, the second stringers became the starters. Last night was our last game for this year’s tournament. Gone are the cheerers. Heads down and obviously lacked the passion. I must admit that I and The Master lacked the motivation. We played below our previous tournament averages and did not lift up the team. We also missed several games. Our opponents even contemptuously asked us about our ex-stars, and we had no ready answer.

We struggled all throughout and landed at the bottom three. I am not sure if we can still compete next year due to this year’s awful performance.

The ball is round. When can we regain our lofty position?