by Randy Ooney
My Nickel’s Worth by Randy Ooney
Reading, Writing, and Wristmatic
According to Wikipedia, the wrist is made up of two rows of small bones called carpals whose primary function is to connect the hand to the forearm. When the human body was designed a few million years ago, there were no bowling centers. People used the wrist to perform mundane tasks like scratching an itch, petting a serpent, or picking an apple. There was no thought given to lifting and turning a fifteen pound chunk of urethane and projecting it 60 feet down a runway.
In my younger days, I found the carpals to be adequate to perform all of the above plus swing a golf club. But as I got older I found that the wrist bones will morph and I now have about 230 carpals in my right wrist, of which at least 100 are no longer in line. So along came my friend Robbie, who invented an aid to help out during bowling. A clever piece of leather, metal, and Velcro, to assist the wrist. I also found that if you back off the approach between pitches and refasten the three Velcro straps, you get more TV time. This is called the Knoblach method, which has been adopted by many professionals. Now nearly all the bowling suppliers have some sort of wrist brace similar to Robbie’s which are equally as good. Some have even gone the extra mile and built wrist braces with more steel, more straps, hinges and knobs to adjust for different shots. Be careful when you put one of these on; if you drop it, it may cause injury to other body parts. And forget about putting your hand in your pocket, and you may want to high five your teammates with your other hand.
Although it’s a good thing to throw a shot with a lot of hand, I cannot give up my wrist brace for fear that my hand may stay in the ball sometime in the second game and travel down the lane a la Woody Harrelson in “Kingpin”. So I faithfully use my Robbie’s brace and resign myself to the fact that straighter is greater. The current issue of USBowler magazine has an article about wrist exercises and other ways to maintain a healthy wrist, but I’m afraid it’s too late for me.
However one of my bowling associates, and pro shop manager in the southwest suburbs, in an effort to improve his game, has spurned the wrist brace and decided to bowl with a naked arm. It allows him to get more hand into the shot, and also impress the women with his rippling forearms. I won’t mention any names, we’ll just call him Smilin’ C. After all, his game was faltering. His average had dipped below 240, and when he found out Lumpy had 1000 - 700 sets, he knew he had to do something. It seems to have worked. The average is back up over 240 and all is well. But if you’re like me and absolutely have to have a wrist support, go see Smilin’ C. He has many varieties of new wrist supports hanging on the rack………….or he might have a used one for sale.
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