Guest Author - Gary King

I previously wrote an article which was unfair to the Iowa Games and what it stands for. I have found out that the extra dot on one lane came about because of a mistake someone made. They took steps to take care of it by using a plug to cover a hole. But the plug just happened to not be in place on that particular day. That hole was about the same size as a dot.

The bottom line is that it was a mistake that happened and it could have happened to anyone at any center. I made a mistake in making such a big deal of it, although it was not a good situation. I do think the plug should have been taken care of so that ALL bowlers faced the same situation. If bowlers on that one pair of lanes had to bowl with what appeared to be one more dot on one of the lanes, then everyone else should have been required to do the same thing. That way it would have been more fair in that competion.

The situation in that one incident was not fair but the Iowa Games IS FAIR and they work at being fair. I apologize if my article pointed a finger at the Iowa Games and labeled them unfair. They are NOT UNFAIR and I apologize for anything I said that pointed in that direction.

I have been participating in the Iowa Games for as long as I can remember and I have always enjoyed it. You meet a lot of nice people and you have fun. It is something I have grown accustomed to doing every year. I also look forward to participating again this year because I intend on doing it again.

I did learn one thing from that experience and that is that regardless of what the situation was, in bowling, we have to learn to face changes, either in lane patterns, or whatever. That is one reason I like bowling. It is competitive and one has to learn to face the challenges the lanes offer to us. I will be prepared the next time I bowl on a lane with more or less dots than we normally see. I will make different adjustments. So, the bottom line of all this is, it made me realize I need to overhaul some parts of my game.

One other BIG factor to this all is that I want to clarify one thing for sure. If I said anything that demeaned or belittled any of the sponsors of the Iowa Games, I want to apologize RIGHT NOW because it definitely was not intended and they definitely do not deserve that. The sponsors of the Iowa Games deserve medals for their time, support, and funds. They do it year after year, and most of the time may never see any returns. But they continue to do it. I commend them for that.

I received a call from someone about that previous Iowa Games article and we had a pleasant discussion. I appreciate that call and after I went back and read the article, I realized that while someone made a human mistake and a plug was not in place, I, too, made a mistake by the WAY I handled the article.

I am human, just like you all are out there and I make mistakes, too. One of them was to criticize the Iowa Games like I did because what they are doing for all of us out there cannot be measured in dollars and cents. So, thank you for being there Iowa Games and forgive an old warbird for shooting from the top of the mountain before checking out the correct way to get there.