Tenpin Daycare

I promised a friend that I would make a long post about equipment advances in sports such as bowling, softball, and golf, and this was about two months ago.  Still haven't done it yet.  I've touched on the subject more than once, but still fell like I have a lot left to share for anyone who cares to read about it. It will have to wait a little more, but I'm hoping to do it within the next couple of weeks, or at least for sure when I have some down-time in Reno at the end of April.

For now, I just have a few bowling comments, as I was feeling nostalgic tonight.  Not about old Yellow Dots and Black Beauties, but rather something that was a sign of the times in more than one way: bowling alley nurseries.

My first memory of a bowling alley was being walked by my babysitter/day care provider to the bowling center's nursery, and seeing the pins in the distance. I was practically hooked on the game right then and there.

League bowling was popular enough back then, and enough women were homemakers, to make it work. The bowling alley I worked at in the early/mid-eighties had such a nursery, run by Vivian. I used the crib mattress in it once in between my college classes and league time.

As radical (laughable? ridiculous?) as it may sound today, I think the concept could work again. Perhaps bowling center proprietors would fear liability too much, but assuming that could be worked out with insurance or what have you (waivers?), I don't see why it couldn't be popular again.  Sure, not as much as it once was, nowhere near in fact, and not necessarily during weekdays. But if a couple of centers in a given Metro area offered it, I think it would have a chance, and here's why:

1) Bowling centers in states with indoor smoking bans, like Minnesota, are child-friendly now
2) Thanks in large part to #1, but other factors as well, bowling centers don't have the seedy "bowling alley" reputation of yesteryear
3) Every-other week leagues, or shorter seasons, could help remedy the big problem most people who are turned off by league bowling complain about, and that is the time commitment required

I'm sure I could think of a few more.  Perhaps my readers who are into bowling could chime in with a few as well.