Tank Reed is king of 10-pin alley

Turns out Tank Reed isn’t just a pretty good CFL linebacker, he may be the league’s best bowler.

After being released by the Calgary Stampeders and coming to Ottawa a bit more than two months ago, Reed has been so busy with football, he hasn’t had a chance to bowl, but it isn’t far from his mind.

“My bowling ball is in its bag, crying right now,” said Reed. “I really love the sport. I picked it up a couple of years ago and got infatuated with it.

“Some old teammates in college took me out. They told me I’d get a lot better if I bought my own bowling ball. I bought one, got it measured for my hand. From there, you have different types of oil patterns. Heavy oil, you need a certain ball. For lighter oil, you need a certain ball. I bought four bowling balls.”

We’re talking 10-pin bowling, of course.

Said Reed: “The first time I went to a bowling alley in Canada, I went inside and said, ‘What’s this, I only see five pins?’ Ten-pin only for me.”

Reed’s high score is 268, a game which started with eight strikes.

“I messed up my perfect game in the ninth frame,” he said. “You get that many strikes in a row, my hand started sweating, you start looking at your arrow differently and stuff.”

As for what he’s done on the football field, Reed has been a solid presence since arriving.

“The coaches do a good job of getting me prepared,” he said. “Damaso (Munoz), he played the position, he’s helped me out along the way.”