When people talk about sports, it’s usually about baseball, basketball, football or hockey. Soccer is supposedly the worlds game, but soccer is an unpopular sport in the US. Golf, as a sport, has risen in popularity, but the expense associated with golf makes it a sport mostly played by people with high incomes. A sport, which is popular, but rarely gets talked about, is bowling. Bowling is played all over the world, but it’s probably one of the most unappreciated sports in history.

The true origin of bowling is in dispute, but there is evidence that a form of bowling existed as far back as 3200 BC. The first mention of a bowling type game occurred in England, in the 1300s. King Edward III supposedly outlawed the game because it was distracting his troops from archery practice. Many forms of bowling have originated from Europe and these include, Italian bocce, French pentanque and Britain’s lawn bowling. Some give credit to the Dutch, for bringing bowling to America, but in actuality, the English, German and Dutch settlers, all brought their own version of the game over.

Read the rest of this entry »