College Bowling: The Good Old Days

There is no better time than being a student-athlete. With my sister graduating from SFA this month, her collegiate career is over — and so is mine.

I promise I’m not pandering here, but there’s one scene from The Office that I particularly love.

After securing his dream job, Andy Bernard reminisces on his days at Dunder Mifflin, a tiny, mismanaged paper company in the middle of nowhere.

“I wish there was a way to know you're in the Good Old Days before you've actually left them,” he says.

I love college bowling. I loved bowling in college — more than anything I’ve ever done.

The camaraderie, the competition. It’s irreplaceable.

Which is why for the vast majority of college bowlers, and all college athletes, the Good Old Days are the ones as student-athletes.

I like to think one of my strengths is maintaining perspective, the ability to see the forest for the trees.

Which is why I was, um, quite emotional watching my sister Isabel’s collegiate career come to an end last week.

My college bowling tenure didn’t end the way I envisioned. I never got a chance to finish what I set out to do.

No rings. No TV appearances. No ATTs. No (real) senior day.

I didn’t even get a last shot. It just… ended.

I don’t think I will ever reach a point where I’m content with how that situation went down.

But after following my sister these past two years, living vicariously through her at Stephen F. Austin, I think I’ll be okay.

Watching those girls blossom from a frisky top-10 team to a juggernaut in the 2022 postseason was one of the greatest thrills of my life.

When SFA won the national title last year, it felt like I won too.

That moment validated every obstacle Isabel overcame in the transfer portal.

Every time the NCAA shut down a transfer request, she got back up. Every school that refused to accept the credits of a 4.0 student, she found a way.

THEY WON A NATTY!!!!

And yet, what those girls did this season might be even more impressive.

As the calendar flipped to spring and the postseason loomed, just as the team started to round into form, more adversity hit.

It seemed impossible that they could replicate their 2022 success under those circumstances.

In the literal sense, that proved to be correct. But if you listened to what Giannis said about failure the other night, you’d understand that losing a game does not mean you lost.

With seemingly every team in the building gawking at them — some with genuine empathy; others with morbid curiosity — those girls didn’t blink.

SFA pushed McKendree, the best team in the field, to six games and ultimately finished tied-5th at ITCs.

This came two weeks after coming within one match of making another Final Four run at the NCAA Tournament, which would’ve been Isabel’s third in four seasons.

They demonstrated more poise and emotional endurance over the past few weeks than any team I’ve seen in person.

For those that know the team’s situation, you’d know that Isabel persevered through four years of that daily, needless drama.

I could not be any more impressed or proud of her.

(Well, except if she had made that gutter-spare on TV last year.)

I’m not sure I’ll ever have the words to express what Isabel’s career at UMES and, particularly, SFA meant to me, personally.

She accomplished everything I could’ve dreamed of for myself — and more — and that’s good enough for me.

I’ll proudly wear #64 on my sleeve forever.

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College bowling is the best.

The lifelong bonds. The road trips. The inside jokes.

There’s no greater evidence of that than ITCs, witnessing the emotional waning moments of players' and coaches’ college bowling careers.

For those student-athletes still in college, embrace every last moment.

From the early morning workouts, to the late-night study sessions, and everything in between — remind yourself that you’re in the Good Old Days.

Take it from the 24-year-old, living his dream job, who’d trade it all for one more shot at the Helmer Cup.

For one last team dinner.