Bowling is both painful and glorious.

We won!

I am sore. Sore, sore, sore. I feel like someone took a crowbar to my lower back and punched me in the butt about ten dozen times. Throwing 15- and 16-pound bowling balls after not doing so for months will have that effect on an aging body. Or so I discovered.

Our team has participated in the Chicago Media Bowling League for years, but it wasn't until late last season that I actually started bowling instead of just using the night as an excuse to watch beer and mingle with fellow writers.* But circumstances sort of dictated the team needed me after some personnel changes and I discovered I actually enjoyed it and didn't completely suck at it. We'd even occasionally win a game!

Last night the Media League kicked off the new season and now I'm the team manager. Weird, huh? Even weirder is that we won our first match of the year! I even threw out the very first roll of the season, but that was more due to everyone looking at each other across the lanes wondering if it was actually time to start or not. So I just rolled.

I'm such a rebel.

And now I'm paying the price, popping Advil, and hoping that by next Tuesday I won't be wincing every time I release the ball.

*There's also a softball league but that tend to attract more of the account side of the Chicago media landscape, meaning things can get SUPER competitive, so I don't really participate in that.