thoughts of three and a turkey

shared by VJ Rabuy, her sister

I know I seem to gravitate towards sports related themes in several of my blog posts, so this one is no exception.

Although I am an A’s fan, I do admit that - as a baseball fan - I did enjoy this year’s World Series. During game three of the seven game series, Albert Pujols hit three homeruns! He became the third player in baseball history to accomplish such a feat in a World Series game, along with Babe Ruth and Reggie Jackson.

This made me think about how three is a magic number. Schoolhouse Rocks sings about it, and sports often strive for it. In basketball, there’s the triple-double. Hockey has the hat trick. And many sports celebrate the triple crown, including Baseball and Horse Racing, and I think it’s even used in Surfing.

Another famous “three” in sports is the turkey! A turkey is a bowling term for three consecutive strikes in a single game. I learned about a turkey about 16 years ago as I was invited to go bowling with Cindy and her then boyfriend, Jason Kawazoe. Jason was quite the impressive bowler and I believe he had faired well in several amateur bowling tournaments. At the time he was a high school senior.

So, Jason, Cindy and I went to the local bowling alley to enjoy a couple games. In the first game, within the first five or so frames, Cindy put up a strike, followed by a strike, and finally...a third strike! She was rather nonchalant about it, almost like she knew it was coming. Cindy and I joked by calling it a chicken - instead of a turkey - when the bird appeared on the screen upon her third consecutive strike.

Cyn hadn't bowled much, save the occasional birthday party, and in the first game she got a turkey! That is the only time I've ever seen a turkey while bowling with friends. It was a gobble-gobble of a good time and another fond sports memory I have of Cindy.