A bowling romance

Sport is about far more than performance. It's first and foremost a social activity, and that's a big reason LGBT sports clubs and events exist. Here's a great example of the power of sport to bring people together from Jeff Kagan in Next magazine:

Matt Graham likes his balls heavy. Of course, we’re talking about bowling—get your mind out of the gutter! In 13 years of bowling, Graham has bowled nine perfect games (that’s 12 strikes in a row, earning a score of 300), and he’s had dozens of games above 290.

With such high scores, many bowlers decide to compete in national tournaments, so two years ago Matt went to Columbus, Ohio, to play in the International Gay Bowling Organization (IGBO) Annual Tournament over Memorial Day Weekend. He didn’t bowl as well as he had hoped, but he picked up more than a spare in the hospitality suite after the games. Matt recalls, “I was hanging out with other fellow bowlers and friends when I saw a guy dressed in black enter our circle. He was smiling from ear to ear because he had bowled a 279 earlier in the day.”

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