Sport of the Future

I've seen the sport of the future, and it requires low fixed costs and a love for being outside. Zero technology required.

There's this lawn bowling club in Newport Beach I drive by every day, and I thought I'd check it out.  Seriously, there is something refreshing about simplified, pared down things in this day and age like the sport of lawn bowling.  All you need is a large open space and these lawn bowling balls.  And some friends.  I stopped by the Newport Beach Lawn Bowling Club one day and made some new friends.  Nicest bunch of people - it was a ridiculously sunny morning in the Orange Curtain, and these guys (clearly regulars there) were sipping cold beverages and unloading their lawn bowling balls over morning chitchat.  

My new friend (up above) donned a shirt that matched the benches perfectly.  He was kind enough to pose for me, and then gave me a newly issued, shiny $1 coin apparently just issued by the U.S. Mint fairly recently.  

The sport is like a cross between croquet, bowling and golf (in the sense that you have to stand outside for a long time, and it takes a lot of patience).  There were speakers playing music - going in I wasn't sure what I expected to hear, but was pleasantly surprised to hear the tunes of Duffy playing.

As you can see, it takes an easygoing, patient attitude to really enjoy it.  If you're able to let go of the whole ADD/iPhone/Blackberry/technology-driven persona our generation has adopted, it looks like a fun experience. 

Even the scoreboard is retro cool.   -C