Does West Virginia Really Need Anymore Help???

I was watching CBS Sunday Morning this weekend and Bill Geist was doing a story about "Irish Road Bowling", a past-time in Ireland, but one that has taken hold much closer to home in the small hamlet of Ireland, West Virginia.

Though new to me - it appears the game was played by soliders between battles during the Civil War. I'm not sure whose responsible for it's resurrection but from the report I gathered that you throw/roll small round balls down the road and the person who goes the furtherest distance with the least number of throws is the winner. The approach was kind of a cross between the running gate of a javelin thrower and the windmill arm motion of a fast-pitch softball player.

The part that probably amused me most was, just like Wayne and Garth playing street hockey in Wayne's World, the Irish Road Bowlers would all clear the road and yell "car" when one interrupted play.

I was kind of shaking my head at this whole thing when my husband laughingly pointed out - that this is my "heritage" because my mother's family is from West Virginia. Well, I suppose there are worse things...