That Ugly Word Choke

I have heard this a lot this week.  "Those American Ryder Cups guys sure choked on Sunday".  Couch potatoes that we are it is easy for us to know exactly what was happening to each of those players.  Poor old Phil Michelson got beat by a 3/4 court desperation shot.  Justin Rose's putt you know from where he hit that putt he probably could not see the hole but it went in.

I even heard today that Adam Greenberg choked last night striking out on three pitches.  I hope you know what I am talking about when we say Adam Greenberg the former Carolina baseball player who worked his way up to the major leagues and the first pitch he faced in the majors hit him in the temple in 2003.  He is lucky to see, let alone be able to work his way back through the minors and last night made it back to the majors.

He struck out on three pitches to the best knuckle ball pitcher in the majors.  Who cares that he struck out.  We should be raving about the comeback and hopefully last night is not the only major league at bat in Greenburg's future.

I want to tell you a sports story that I was a part of and you decide whether I choked or not.  I use to bowl while living in Ahoskie every Monday night at the bowling alley in Williamston.  I was in a league there for several years and my average ranged from 177-182 every year.  Each year the team that I bowled on went to the state tournament and this year when this story occurs it was in Winston Salem.

The state tournament take 10-12 weeks to compete as bowlers from around the state pick weekends and your team bowls.  This week we bowled singles where  five team members bowl the highest score they can for themselves.  Then there is a doubles where you and a partner combine you two scores.  The following day the team bowls trying to get the highest score possible for the team.  Then after the tournament is over depending where your scores are you may win money if you had a very high score during the entire event.

My first game in singles I had a rather dull 166.  I started my second game with four strikes in a row. Now you have to imagine that with your score on the screen over your lanes it doesn't take long that every bowler in the house knows that guy on lane 16 has four in a row.  Then five in a row and I can tell you I was sweating beads at this point as every bowler who is not throwing on his lane are gathering to watch me. 

Six and seven and everybody in the house is watching me as I approach my ball on the eighth frame.  My ball was always one of those kind that when I buried my ball in the pocket the pins just explode  or they all fall at once.  I'm not one of those guys that when the ball hits the head pin you can stand there and count them as they fall.

That eighth frame was the best ball I threw all night and all the pins flew except the ten pin that never moved.  I can tell you my worse night mare staring at the ten pin which to me is the worse spare in the world.  I can't throw a ball straight and every thing has to be right for me to make the ten pin.  As my ball approached the ten pin it was right where I wanted it but as it curved away it hit the ten pin and it wobbled but did not fall.  My perfect game ruined with an open in the eighth frame.

I finished with a 255 which is my all time high ever.  I got a check from the State Tournament for $54 as I had the 27th highest game bowled out of like 40,000.  Did I choke when I missed that ten pin or did I do the best I could and it wasn't good enough.  I think there are plenty of people willing to tell somebody else they choked sitting on the couch.