Last Saturday, Sachin, Brian, Rishi, Suraj and I made plans to meet at Chelsea Piers, sort of a “guy’s afternoon out” to kill a few hours before going out for the night. Our plan was to enjoy the (relatively) nicer weather and hit the driving range, but upon arrival, we discovered a long waiting list for a spot. While waiting for the others to show up, Sachin and I browsed around the pro shop. We were checking out the putters when one of the employees kicked over a ball, letting us play around with the putting machine set up in the shop. Immediately, a wager was made.
“Let’s play for drinks.”
The rules were simple. We’d alternate shots. If one person made it, the other got a chance to match. If he missed, he owed the winner a drink that night. After a couple of early misses each, I finally sank the first putt. Sachin matched. I sank again. Sachin matched. Back and forth we went, both sinking more and more consecutive putts. With limited space, it was hard to find something to eliminate our competitive parity. Finally, during one of Sachin’s putts, I realized a way to create a challenge.
“Switch.”
Sachin, a lefty, and I, a normal person, traded clubs, both of us now putting from the ‘wrong’ side of the ball. I sank my putt. Sachin went wide left, the employee (immensely entertained by our wager) cheered, and I won the bet.
The rest of the group showed up, so we ended the wager. With golf out of the question, we contemplated the next move over a pitcher of beer at Chelsea Brewery, eventually deciding to hit up the the nearby bowling alley.
Again, a friendly wager was made. We’d play two games – lowest score in the first game paid for the beer, lowest score in the second game paid for food. The first game went by quickly, with Suraj isolating himself as the loser fairly early in the game. The second game started off slower with all of us (a few rounds of pitchers in) seemingly fighting for last position. It was during the third frame, as Sachin prepared to bowl his second ball, that Brian turned to me and uttered seven words that would take the game to a whole new level.
“5 bucks says he doesn’t make this.”
I looked up, saw that he was dead serious, looked back to see the pin layout, and said “You’re on.” Sachin barely missed the spare by one pin, and my loud, disappointed reaction immediately drew the attention of the others.
“What the hell are you so upset about that for?”
“We just bet on whether or not he’d hit that spare.”
“Dude, that’s awesome. I want in.”
“Me too.”
Everyone at once: “This is just like The Office”
And just like that, our friendly afternoon bowling session turned into a high stakes betting frenzy.
“Five bucks that he doesn’t hit this spare”
“That’s a tough one, man. You’ve gotta give me odds.”
“Fine, 3 to 1.”
“Dude, $1 bet, I’ll give you 100 to 1 if you hit this 7-10 split.”
“2 to 1 that you don’t get spare or better”
“Want to bet that I’ll hit this strike?”
“What kind of odds do you want?”
“5 to 1?”
“5 to 1???? That’s a $25 bet!”
“Yeah, but I’d have to hit this strike!”
Sachin was the first to actually nail this one. Since he had made the bet with all four of us, he earned himself $100 in one shot, and caused an UPROAR of emotion in the process.
“I can’t believe he fucking hit it!”
Fact is, every shot was met with a loud reaction. With a first-shot over/under set at 7.5, even 6’s were cheered for. Each bowl had the bowler focused in concentration, the other four on their toes. Each ball sent straight down the center elicited a crescendo-ing series of Oh-Shit’s and Come-On’s. Every drop of the pins created winners and losers. With 5 bowlers and 7 frames of betting, we probably made around 150 individual bets.
Fortunately, most of the bets cancelled each other out, minimizing the severity of net wins and losses. I was one of the lucky ones. At the end of the day, I came out ahead $50.
And one gambling addiction.
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