I Had NO Idea...There Were Two-Handed Bowlers

Last Sunday, I was not watching the NFL. No, my channel surfing lead me to something else, something I hadn't watched in years...maybe decades.

Pro Bowlers.

It was the intro that fascinated me. Before the bowling balls rolled and the pins fell (or did not fall...), the commentators, by trying to lure viewers, touted the upcoming tournament as exciting a bowling event as ever there was one.

Then, they said something that blew my mind. They said they had the best one-handed bowlers and two-handed bowlers in the world.

What in the heck is a two-handed bowler, I asked myself?

Turns out, it's a bowler that uses both hands to guide the ball toward the pins. That hooked me and I had to find out what it was all about. 

I didn't watch the entire tournament--I mean, that's a lot of bowling for someone who hasn't watched the sport on TV in a long, long time. Before cable, we'd watch bowling, figure skating, swimming, diving, golf, tennis--whatever they put on ABC's Wide World of Sports. It's all we had.

No way they had two-handed bowlers back then.

But, we have them now.

Football Games On Twitter...Pretty Cool!

I first heard the news months ago. The National Football League had reached an agreement to broadcast games on a new medium--Twitter. There was a time when I listened to sports radio programs and the gentlemen on those programs thought having games on Twitter was a little weird.

Tonight I'm watching my first game on the social medium and--though a little strange--it's a good thing. I took a few screenshots of tonight's game and put them here on the blog. 

I don't know why but over the past couple of weeks I've found myself saying over and over again, "We live in amazing times." It's so true. The fact that I can use my phone to not only watch shows and sporting events, but record them from remote locations and then watch those recorded shows and games from practically anywhere.

And that's just a minute speck of things that are available to us. We can download any work ever published (except some super secret government stuff...). We can listen to any songs from all over the world. We can hear radio programs, download podcasts, hear speeches given by everyone from the most influential people in the world to the simplest piano recital by the most humble child in the world.

And now we have football on Twitter. What will they think up next?

No Pony In This Race...

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When it comes to sports, I usually root for the underdog. But since my favorite sports team (my alma mater...) is no longer considered an underdog most of the time in both football and basketball, I still root for the boys in crimson and white. As of late, I really don't have a favorite NFL team.

That's why I'm not too thrilled about this year's potential Superbowl teams, from a "root for the underdog" standpoint. Last weekend there were four games and even though I didn't have a favorite team for which I rooted, I basically went 0-4 on the teams I wanted to win. Personally, I would like to see a team win the whole thing that has never won a Superbowl before.

In many ways, the results of last week can be a good thing for me. Since I'm not really a fan of any of the remaining four teams, I don't have to get emotionally involved in the games. And, since the remaining teams are arguably four the of the best teams in the entire league, these should be good games.

I guess we'll find out this weekend.

Yes, whoever wins will be able to add to their trophy room collection of Superbowl wins. I just hope when it's all said and done, the best thing about the big game won't be the advertisements.

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* Photos used without permission from: http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/