Golf – Life of Brian

A Tradition Like No Other

Friday, November 13, 2020

I’ve had nine previous posts here on LoB on this subject and pretty much everyone of them starts out with me saying that we don’t play golf¹ and really only watch one golf tournament a year and the Masters is that one.

This is because we have actually trod the hallowed grounds of Augusta National. We moved to Aiken, SC in May of 1989 and when we found out that you could pay a measly $5 and get in to see a practice round² in the first full week in April of 1990 we took that Monday off and went over. We got there early, walked the whole course, ate a $1.00 palmetto cheese sandwich and drove home. That weekend we watched, just to see where we had been and it has become a tradition like no other ever since.

We did go back over a few times over few years until they instituted a lottery and we stopped getting picked. One year my brother (who does golf) came down to visit and he was fun to walk around with. He could tell us the names of the pros (and some of their history at the course) we would see as we wondered about. Another year my sister came down with her husband (who also golfs) and wanted to camp at at certain locations to watch as the players golfed through. That was in 1995 and I know that because that is when the photo above was taken.

And the only reason I still have that photo is because it is in one of five directories that are remnants of the Seattle FilmWorks era when you would get prints back and for a small fee, a copy in that new fangled digit format, in a staggering 640 x 480 pixel size. As you can see, the images leave a lot to be desired, but it was whiz-bang back in the day.

Here is another one to gaze at in wonder,
me in front of the famous scoreboard:

Hey, Where Ya Been?

Tuesday, April 16, 2019

I’ve been here, just one part busy, one part watching TV and one part not feeling like writing anything.

Turns out I wasn’t the savior the Red Sox needed. I watched half a game on ESPN then listened to the other half a game and they lost. I listened to a game and they won. I didn’t listen to two games and they won one and lost the other. Since the last time I posted they have played .500 ball, which if that trend continues probably won’t get them in the playoffs, but it may keep them from finishing last.

I have been re-watching some of my favorite Marvel Cinematic Universe flicks. Not because I’m anxiously awaiting the next Avengers movie, but more because everyone is talking about them. There are a ton of lists online how to watch all of them in order to prepare yourself to watch Avengers: Endgame. There are 21 movies released so far and I was surprised to realize that I had copies of more than half of them. Growing up I was a fan of both the Iron Man and Captain America comic books, so I have the movies with those guys in the titles. I was a casual Thor reader too, so I have those three flicks. The first Ant Man movies struck the right cord with me, so I got the second one too. Never knew of the Guardians of the Galaxy but the first movie was fun, so I picked up the second one as well. I haven’t re-watched it yet and I may not because if I recall correctly I didn’t like it as much as the first. But then again, I am a sucker for origin stories and so far I have liked the first movie of the hero’s series more than any of the followups.

Not just watching movies either. I went back and re-binge watched Season 1 of Killing Eve because Season 2 started last Sunday night and I wanted to remember what went on. I also re-binge watched Season 1 of Fleabag because Season 2 is coming to America soon.

Add on top of that, Donna and I spent nearly 32 hours over 4 days this past weekend sitting on the screened porch watching golf on TV. Neither one of us golfs and we don’t watch it any other time of the year, but, because we have actually trod the hallowed grounds of Augusta National, every year for the first week of April we become fans and watch The Masters. Thank heaven for masters.com where you can watch practically the whole tournament commercial free. You just need to select “featured groups” and they follow 2 groups over the whole 18 holes and when they finish you get 2 more groupings.

We also managed to sneak in a couple of short Moss Motoring Challenge trips locally. We snagged 5 on Saturday morning and 3 yesterday afternoon.

: Bet You’ve Never Seen This Before #2: Literally hundreds of private jets parked along Runway 26 and its taxiway at Augusta Regional Airport. This runway is probably unused all but the first full week in April every year when there is a little golf tournement here. (4/13/19)

: Flea Market: This is actually one of four in a small regional chain of Flea Markets. (4/13/19)

: Out Of This World #1: Space While driving around yesterday I noticed the Space logo from a ways off and headed for the building. Donna noticed the Yoga sign and asked if they offered the Hot variety. Yep, Sundays at 3:00 PM. (4/13/19)

: Hot Yoga Studio: While driving around yesterday I noticed the Space logo from a ways off and headed for the building. Donna noticed the Yoga sign and asked if they offered the Hot variety. Yep, Sundays at 3:00 PM. (4/13/19)

: Music Store: Toby’s TNT Music Store. I wonder if the TNT is in reference to the fireworks also availble inside. (4/13/19)

: Tailor: Never knew we had one of these in our fair city. It is a couple of streets past the prime downtown area, so I guess if you need one you will seek one out… (4/15/19)

: Best Bumper Sticker #1: May The Forrest Be With You This truck was parked right next to us in the grocery store parking. There was a large bumper sticker on the other side of the truck that read TREEHUGGER. (4/15/19)

: Out Of This World #1 – Blue Moon Beer Not being a beer connoisseur I couldn’t tell you if the taste is Out of the World, but drink enough of them and you can be transported there. (4/15/19)