Basically the only day of the week that I look forward to is our weekly outings at the bowling alley. The official day that is complete with awards and announcements and all the regalia is Thursday, but we also have a group practice day on Tuesday. We do have a bit of a rule where it is frowned upon to be practicing at the lanes on any other day if you are in the top 5 bowlers in your division. For the most part people don't violate this but the only reason that we do it is to try to keep things as competitive as possible. It isn't fun if one person is dominating everyone else in the matches.
Well recently one of my friends suffered a freak accident in his apartment and damaged some sort of tendon or ligament in his knee. He hasn't had an official diagnosis because we tend to not go to the doctor here in Vietnam since we don't really trust them. He self medicated and put some sort of brace on his leg.
When I caught word of this I presumed he was going to sit out of bowling for a few weeks but not for this guy. No way! He turned up to the lanes and still bowled even though he knew that he was not going to be able to perform up to scratch.
It's kind of funny because he has almost no flexibility in that leg brace and he has to approach the lane like an injured zombie. Of course his accuracy is thrown off quite a lot by not being able to use one of his legs very much, but every now and then he would get a strike anyway and that made the event even more special.
We have had people in the past that have not turned up for bowling for far lessor injuries than this. The worst kind of absenteeism is when someone went out drinking the night before and then come Thursday morning they try to claim they are sick. You aren't sick... you have a hangover you irresponsible lout. Brown bottle flu doesn't count as an illness.
You get a lot of personality points for turning up on days with a cast or a brace on because at the end of the day none of us really give a damn whether you are good or not. One of our longest running members, Dave, has turned up with a wide variety of injuries and at one point even taught himself to bowl with his left hand because his bowling hand was in a sling. Another person who looks an awful lot like me, turned up to the lanes with a broken back and near zero ability to move. I did not bowl because I could barely sit in a chair without being in pain. I did still turn up to support the crew though.
This is what DUMBO is all about. We are a group of dedicated friends who just get together for some fun and are more than willing to accommodate someone who has an injury. Bowling isn't a terribly physically demanding sport anyway.