Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Grow-A-Head


Updates will be provided as they become available...

Asterisk

This story really makes my day.

Background: The baseball that Barry Bonds hit into the stands for his 756th career home run (all time record) was caught by a fan named Matt Murphy and subsequently auctioned off for $752,467. Although other famous baseballs have sold for more, 700K was considered high considering that his record was clearly steroid fueled and that Bonds is a royal ass.

Zinger: It turns out that the ball was purchased by gazillionaire fashion designer Marc Ecko. He put up a web site to let fans decide the fate of the ball: a) donate it to the Hall of Fame, b) donate it to the Hall of Fame with an asterisk, or c) shoot it into space. The votes were tallied, and Marc Ecko will literally brand an asterisk to the baseball and donate it to the Hall! How great is that?

Monday, September 24, 2007

Turning Stone Resort Championship

The PGA tour came to town this weekend for the first annual Turning Stone Resort Championship! I went for the day on Sunday and was downright inspired.

The tournament was held at the Turning Stone's Atunyote course, which I am told means eagle in the Oneida language. It was the first event in the tour's Fall Finish. PGA golf is effectively finished for the year now that the FedEx Cup is over, but there are still a few more events on the calendar. The Fall Finish tends to draw tour players who still need to make some money so that they can keep their tour cards for next year (only the top 125 get to come back, the rest need to re-qualify). This means either youngsters (Andrew Buckle) or the slightly over the hill (Corey Pavin, Fred Funk). I did get to follow Stewart Appleby, who is a genuine superstar, as well as fan favorites like Tim "Lumpy" Herron. Steve Flesch ended up winning, and he's not exactly a slouch either.

The big highlights for me were hanging out at the driving range and being dumbfounded by how far these guys hit their drives off the tenth tee. The range was great, because I was able to sit no more than twenty feet behind the pros and soak in all their swinging greatness. I look at a lot of swings on YouTube, but the real thing is something else. It looks like they're swinging at half speed, but then the ball rockets off the club face and you say damn. The tenth and eleventh holes made a nice little loop, so I followed a few groups there. No big-name players means no big crowds, which was great. Walking from the tee down to where they hit their shots rattled my brain, because the hole is 420+ yards long and every one of them was within 100 yards of the green in the center of the fairway. That's 320 off the tee, and is much more impressive in person than on t.v.

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Race Day: Ithaca 5 & 10

Sunday was my first ever road race! Rae and I ran the 5-mile part of the Ithaca 5 & 10. We ran the whole way without stopping, hurray for us! Our time was 45:56, which works out to be 9:12 per mile.

I can report that running five miles in Ithaca was significantly less arduous than running four and a quarter miles in Syracuse (my longest run prior to the race). Having 150 people running with you helps motivate you along, and also the weather in Ithaca was cool and the course was flat.

I don't think running will jump to the top of my priority list, but I'm up for the Turkey Trot, which Rae and I are going to run Thanksgiving morning in Rochester. It's a bit shorter, and I think we can break nine-minute miles!

Saturday, September 15, 2007

Mill Creek Golf Club

I played in my fourth and final Golf Channel Amateur Tour event last weekend at the Mill Creek Golf Club outside of Rochester. This was a combined event for the Buffalo, Rochester, and Syracuse tours. Forty-five players entered, which is a great improvement over the previous events I played in this year.

The results are posted here. I am happy to say that once again I finished at the top of my flight (so what if there were only three people in it)! Even better, my 83 would have tied me for first in the next flight up (the Sarazen flight) and would have put me in solo second in the Hogan flight.

My overall experience with the Golf Channel's tour was definitely positive, but I'm not sure if I would do it again. The best part was that I got to play in bona fide tournaments, which I had never done before and hope to do more of. This was a great place to get my feet wet since there was a wide variety of skill levels and everyone was serious about golf but not ultra competitive.

Going in, I wasn't sure how I'd do in an actual tournament where everyone follows all the rules and there are strangers watching you play. It was a bit daunting, and indeed some players folded under the pressure (I have lots of theories on this, perhaps another post is in order). It turns out that I do pretty well and have fun doing it. The way I see it, I follow all the rules and put pressure on myself whenever I play, so this really wasn't any different.

The downside of the Golf Channel's tour is that it's too expensive. Even after winning three events, I was still out about $350. That's a lot for four round of golf, particularly in upstate New York. Next year I might enter some different local amateur events, like the Post Standard Amateur. Heck, if I knock another four strokes off my handicap, I'll be eligible for the US Amateur Public Links.

Photo credits: Mill Creek Golf Club web site