Tragedy Strikes Bowling’s U.S. Open as Nail Clipper Incident Results in Missed Spares
In the blink of an eye, or, more appropriately, the snip of a clipper, it was all over for Harvey Librette in the 2007 U.S. Open. The famous professional bowler looked down at the nail angle and instantly knew he’d made a life-changing error.
During his daily morning hand-grooming session yesterday, Librette clipped his right thumbnail at an angle 5 degrees too acute, leaving an extra millimeter and a half of exposed skin and dashing all his hopes for a fourth Open victory. He valiantly still gave it a go, an extraordinary effort considering the debilitating injury, but his attempts to compensate by shifting to a later release point, and even lowering his backswing a full inch, were all in vain as he simply could not develop a high enough revolution rate to effectively control his spare shooting. After three chops in the first two games and clearly struggling with the emotional pain of his injury, Librette threw in the towel, literally, as he threw his bowling towel over the seating area, the sport’s official method of showing that you quit.
It’s likely Librette will be physically able to bowl in about 2 weeks. The big mystery is what lasting effects the manicurial blunder will have on his mental state, as such incidents have previously caused completely normal pro-bowlers to lose focus and confidence in nearly all aspects of their throwing abilities.