On the nature of bowlers

[bbfreeburn]

I've been thinking about something and would like to read your thoughts.
As everyone will agree almost all of the people who post here are conservative. And have either bowled or been involved with bowling.

Where I came from I bowled in three leagues. The Eagles were very conservative. Almost as much so as you folks. The Tuesday night league was conservative to a very large degree. Not so much has here but much closer to that than to me. My other league was a senior league. I was one of the youngest in it. And, as you might expect, they were very conservative also.

This seems to be a universal - bowlers are conservative. Question is, what draws conservatives to bowling? What do they have in common?

Mind you, I have known liberal bowlers (some more so than me), but not many. Maybe the question should be what drives liberals away from bowling?

 

[Djarum300]

I don't know. I live in a conservative state to begin with. We generally did not get involved with political discussion at the bowling alley.

 

[WAMO]

IM NOT SURE ABOUT CONSERVATIVE OR LIBERAL. BUT I HAVE BOWLED IN 1000'S OF LEAGUES OVER THE YEARS AND I DO NOT REMEMBER A LEAGUE VOTING 100% ON ANY RULE, EVER.

 

[Greg T.]

Most of the people I've ever bowled with were hard core liberals, with the exception of my sons. But, I think it may be a regional thing. I'm here on the Canadian border so I think some of their socialist ideas are spilling over.

 

[9andaWiggle]

I hadn't really thought about it before. Probably because the places I've lived and bowled were predominantly conservative to begin with.

Here is a theory I came up with, though. Bowling is more likely to resonate with conservative, blue collar workers because it has fairly rigid rules and is repetitious. It mimics their life and their work where repetition is the norm. For this reason, it is less likely to be attractive to liberals, since these folks tend to be more creative and prefer fewer boundaries (rules) to impede their creativity. Bowling doesn't really allow for much creativity, and I suspect many liberals find themselves quickly bored by the repetitive nature of the game.

 

[sevenpin63]

Ha, I come from the Chicago area, way more liberals than conservatives. We still have a lot of bowlers, but we really never talk politics at bowling.

 

[bbfreeburn]

I hadn't really thought about it before. Probably because the places I've lived and bowled were predominantly conservative to begin with.

Here is a theory I came up with, though. Bowling is more likely to resonate with conservative, blue collar workers because it has fairly rigid rules and is repetitious. It mimics their life and their work where repetition is the norm. For this reason, it is less likely to be attractive to liberals, since these folks tend to be more creative and prefer fewer boundaries (rules) to impede their creativity. Bowling doesn't really allow for much creativity, and I suspect many liberals find themselves quickly bored by the repetitive nature of the game.

That makes a lot of sense. Thanks.

 

[livespive]

That's how it was with me......

I don't recall politics coming up during elections even.

Ha, I come from the Chicago area, way more liberals than conservatives. We still have a lot of bowlers, but we really never talk politics at bowling.

 

[bbfreeburn]

I'm not saying that politics were a topic of conversation in any league I've ever been in. But, you can easily get a sense of people's ideological leanings by other things. You know, like my doubles partner had a Confederate flag bumper sticker, the amount of tobacco juice in spit cups, whether or not one is an auxiliary deputy sheriff (i've never met a sheriff who wasn't conservative). .

 

[livespive]

Yeah, I get what you are saying, and I can usually pick that out, but there were a few that stuck out, but for the most
part they all drank ate pizza, and played cards. I was the baby back then so maybe I just didn't see it

I'm not saying that politics were a topic of conversation in any league I've ever been in. But, you can easily get a sense of people's ideological leanings by other things. You know, like my doubles partner had a Confederate flag bumper sticker, the amount of tobacco juice in spit cups, whether or not one is an auxiliary deputy sheriff (i've never met a sheriff who wasn't conservative). .

 

[AlwaysWrite]

I hadn't really thought about it before. Probably because the places I've lived and bowled were predominantly conservative to begin with.

For certain, the places I've lived in have tended to be predominantly conservative. My parents relocated a lot, and therefore, I lived in Illinois, Colorado, three cities in Utah, and Nevada before going to college at Vanderbilt in Nashville, Tenn.

I had done some bowling as a high-school student in Nevada, and a little while going to college, but I didn't start bowling competitively until joining bowling leagues in Casper, Wyo., in the 1963-64 season. And in 1966, after relocating to Sarasota, Florida (where I've been ever since), I became active in local and state league and tournament competition.

I have never thought much about teammates' and other bowlers' political orientation, but thinking about it in the context of this thread, I would assume that a good-sized majority of bowlers that I've interacted with were conservatives -- or at least, conservative-leaning.