Bowling at the Skidmark

You may not know this about me, but I'm often referred to as the Ernie McCracken of Milwaukee. I had the chance to show off my bowling skills on Saturday night at Landmark Lanes (affectionately referred to as The Skidmark). After grilling some venison burgers at B & C's place, and then witnessing Francisco Cordero tragically blow his first save by allowing 4 runs in the 9th and a 4-3 loss for the Brewers (*tear*) nobody was feeling the bar scene. Bowling at the Skidmark seemed like a great idea. We met up with some dentists-in-training that B went to college with and threw a few games.

The Skidmark is a pretty awesome bowling alley. Going there is a little like going back in time. It's very old-school. There's no automatic scoring, so you need to have at least one person with you who paid attention for that week in high school gym class. I'm pretty sure the balls and shoes haven't been replaced (or cleaned) since the 1970s, and best of all, I don't think they've raised the price of beer (or cleaned out the lines) in that time either. They have a ton of different beers on tap at three different bars too. So we ordered a few pitchers and got started.

Remember two paragraphs ago when I claimed I was good at bowling? That was a complete lie. I bowled a 74 in the first game. In the second, after informing the rest of our group that I had been playing bad on purpose in the first game in order to hustle them, I led off with a pair of strikes Ernie McCracken-style. I then proceeded to play like garbage, dan-style. I ended up with a 120 or so. Somewhere in the 8th or 9th frame, one of our group members got his ball stuck in the gutter. He told the dude at the front desk who promptly came over, retrieved the ball, and essentially told us that we suck at bowling, stating "guys like you think that the harder you throw the ball, the more pins you knock down. Bowling isn't about power." Awesome. It must be about finesse. I'm all about the new and trendy drinking establishments, but sometime a bowling alley is the place to be.