I remember as a kid I would always marvel at the old ATBC posters that were posted at the bowl, showing all the different awards. I was always drawn to the 300 award and always dreamed of bowling one. As a kid I was always told that if you bowl a 300 you have the choice of a gold ring or a gold watch.
Even as an impressionable youngster I had already decided that should I ever reach the pinnacle of our sport that I was definately going to choose the gold watch (I never actually thought I'd throw one, so I never bothered to research it
)
Fast forward to a warm Townsville night in 1996, at Currajong Super Bowl, I finally realised my dream and threw my first 300. When the time came to fill out the award card etc I was asked "ring or watch?"
Without hesitation I chose the watch.
So a couple of months go by and my watch arrives and is presented to me in league. As I went up to receive it I remembered back to my days as a young bowl rat dreaming of that elusive watch. I was so excited.
So imagine my absolute horror when I opened the box to see a watch that looked like it had come from the jewellery rack at K-Mart (even some of them look more expensive). As many of the league came to look at the watch, I was almost embarrassed to show them as it look so ordinary.
Actually a few days after receiving my watch I was at home flicking through some junk mail, and there in an Amies catalogue was my 300 watch for the princely sum of $39.95.
I still to this day have never worn it.
It then took me 8 long years to bowl 300 number 2 - after which I just purchased the plaque (at least it looks nice on my wall).
Cheers
Steve
The American rings are so nice, I would love to have one of them.