References to bowling are everywhere. As an industry, bowling probably gets more free publicity than any other sport, including the sport we most commonly cite for comparison — golf.

Bowling can be seen in commercials, on billboards, on television, in magazines, in newspapers, in video games, in toy stores.

One of the reasons that tens of millions of people go bowling each year is because they are exposed to the activity in so many subliminal ways.

Bowling even finds its way into political-speak, as evidenced by the phrase “bowling in the fog,” which describes the decision-making process faced by so many local, state and national legislators. The phrase is used to demonstrate that it’s difficult to make important decisions on spending, restructuring government, etc. when one doesn’t have all the pertinent facts at his disposal.

Dane Smith recently devoted a column to this topic, sprinkled with bowling analogies, on the “Politics in Minnesota” Web site. If you’d like to read it, follow this URL:

http://politicsinminnesota.com/blog/2010/03/smith-let’s-try-to-stop-‘bowling-in-the-fog’

/