With the score tied 59-59 against Illinois at the 5:59 mark, I thought about how much this Woodson coached team has tried to defy my Rule of 60. The first team to 60 usually wins but in two of the last three games the opponent has crossed that line ahead of Indiana. Matthew Mayer hit a free throw 16-seconds later and then the back end to make it 61-59 in favor of the Illini. However, they lost in the end 71-68. Last game, Northwestern got there first, 60-56 with 2:26 remaining and went on to win 64-62. Previously, Michigan hit 61 on a Hunter Dickenson jumper at the 5:19 mark, then lost 62-61. Rutgers barely got to 60 at the buzzer and saw the I.U. side of the scoreboard turn over to 60 on a Trayce Jackson-Davis layup at 2:26, leading the Cream & Crimson to a 66-60 win.
The Hoosiers surpassed 60 against Purdue to lead by 11 at 11:45 and held on to win 79-74. Maryland left Woodson & Company 5 short of 60 for a 66-55 victory. You can begin to see how my magic number 60 consistently comes into play in the Hoosier game. Sixty is really an arbitrary defensive goal that I monitor during every game I watch or go to. It seems to be an effective barometer to an I.U. victory, especially if the opponent is held to under 60-points. Wisconsin only managed only 45, Minnesota 57, Kennesaw State 55, Jackson State 51, Miami OH 56, Bethune 49, and Morehead State 53, accounting for seven Hoosier victories. On the other hand, Rutgers held I.U. to 48 in the first game, while Maryland allowed only 55, equating to two losses. The fact is that when I.U. reached 60 first this season so far, they’ve won 18 games and lost one to Iowa, after allowing 91-points, not their best defensive performance.
If the opponent gets to sixty first, then the IU defense is not doing its job. This was the case in all the other I.U. losses this year: Arizona, Kansas, Northwestern twice, Rutgers, Penn State, and Maryland. Iowa has already been discussed. In those eight losses, the defense allowed an average of 78.2-points per game and the offense only scored an average of 67.5-points. Defense<60 + Offense>60 = WIN. It’s the magic formula for Hoosier basketball success.
College baseball season has started, just as catchers and pitchers report to spring training. Our neighborhood stadium featured Indiana State, Iowa, U. Conn, and Ohio State in last night’s Snowbird Classic, while Braves players are welcomed back to town this weekend as part of an open house. The first Grapefruit League game here is Saturday when the Red Sox visit Cool Today Park, just a mile from where we live.
I.U. basketball suffered another setback this past week, losing to Northwestern in the series that dates back to 1908. The Hoosiers lost that game 21-18, but at one point won 26-straight against the “Mildcats,” as they were once known, with an overall record of 119-56. The two teams have split the last ten matchups, but it’s a rarity when I.U. fails to win in both Bloomington and Evanston the same year. When this does happen, as it did this season, you can expect bazaar circumstances. All we can do is perhaps look forward to another opportunity to redeem ourselves in the BIG Tourney, although this year it’s in Chicago.
After storming the court against the Boilermakers last Sunday after the program’s first win over an opponent ranked No. 1 in the AP poll, the suddenly well-respected Wildcats (19-7, 10-5 Big Ten) jumped out to a 21-point bulge but needed a Boo Buie basket with two seconds left to ultimately put the Hoosiers (18-8 9-6) away.
I.U. was only able to score a season-low 20-points in the first half and trailed 39-20 at the break. They watched Northwestern attempt 18 3-pointers, mostly uncontested, plus gave up five dunks or layups and twelve perfect trips to the line. From this fan’s perspective, the worst moment was when two technical fouls were called on the I.U. bench, protesting a missed traveling call. Here’s how another obviously bitter fan reacted on the Inside the Hall website:
“Coach Woodson should absolutely file a formal complaint to the Big 10 about official Larry Scirotto. He has demonstrated a clear bias against IU in every match he has officiated (most notably the Iowa game and yesterday vs Northwestern.) He is an alumni of Northwestern University school of police and command which is a clear conflict of interest in any game they are contesting and he has a checkered past in which he was fired from the Ft. Lauderdale police department for discrimination in hiring practices. If the Big 10 conference is serious about cleaning up the myriad problems it has with their officials it should start with the dismissal of Mr. Scirotto who is clearly not impartial , doesn’t address issues which may endanger players from certain teams and appears to be on a power trip of his own. Enough with officials like these!”
Besides the team’s gutsy resilience in this game, the most positive factor was Race Thompson, no longer sporting a brace, looking like his old self, while hitting 4-for-4 from the field and 5-for-6 from the free throw line to finish with 15 points. Trayce Jackson-Davis had a game high 23 points, 10 rebounds, eight assists and two blocked shots after playing for all but one minute of this come-back effort. Disappointment is all I can say for Northwestern transfer Miller Kopp, who in three games against his former team has only managed a total of 11 points on 3-for-15 shooting from the field. Jalen Hood-Schifino added 13-points but could have made the Hoosiers hysterical if his half-court, last-second shot hadn’t bounced off the iron with the scoreboard reading 64-62.
Once again, I.U. lost the critical race to 60 at the 2:26 mark just as they did against Michigan, but in this case the ball didn’t bounce the right way at the end. The hapless Hoosiers had 13-turnovers while forcing only four, but they shot better from the field than the Wildcats (48.9% vs. 36.8%). One more basket would have positioned the Hoosiers just one-and-a-half games back of Purdue, who lost to Maryland. Instead, Northwestern took over sole possession of second place with a chance to catch the Boilers. “Mildcats” no more! The Illini are next on the schedule.
I’ve already written some about my life in the media business, starting with the Middlebury Independent and Crystal Valley Express, a newspaper and shopper that I sold ads for just out of college. My boss was David Summerfield, who was an executive with Coachman Industries for many years before buying the state’s oldest newspaper and the Square Nail restaurant next door. My title as Advertising Manager was certainly a step in the right direction towards getting involved in the business that I studied in college. I had previously worked fulltime as a supervisor for FORMEX, a Styrofoam company in Elkhart, while finishing my degree. Both of my bosses were named Charlie, if I remember correctly. I was hired by Coppinger as a production worker, advanced to be a supervisor under Bartlett, and eventually was laid-off. A headhunter then found me the job in Middlebury.
All the work before this were odd jobs. One summer, while home from college, I worked part-time for Speedgrip Chuck, a manufacturing company. They made “chucks,” just as the name implies, that firmly grips a rotating drill bit, for example. My friend Bob Grove had a girlfriend whose father owned the place, and we were hired to clean florescent lightbulbs. Bob and I used a forklift to raise us to ceiling height, cautiously removed the glass bulbs from the fixtures, cleaned them with soap and water, then replaced them and moved on to the next set of lights. It was tedious work with no supervision and thankfully no cameras to monitor us. Naturally, as teenagers, we spent a lot of time goofing off and it was difficult to see which ones we had cleaned and those yet to do. Hours were wasted flinging wet sponges into buckets of suds, like a basketball game, and each other. After we were done cleaning each night, we lounged around the main offices that were airconditioned and poked through the drawers of employees, finding all their hidden contraband. It was probably never reported when things were undoubtedly found out of place, since they shouldn’t have had these things at the office to begin with. Fortunately, we were not thieves, just curious young men discovering the unmentionable!
Two summers I spent working for Phillips Irrigation, putting in sprinkler systems and farm irrigation equipment. It was owned by two brothers, and I would arrive half-asleep each morning at 7 a.m. We would load our trucks with supplies each morning and usually be at the first job by 8 a.m. It was the first structured job that I ever had, and my mentor, Odie, was a mean S.O.B., with a slow southern drawl. He was probably some relation to the owner and lived on their property in a rusted-out mobile home, so he was always early. He hated college kids since he was probably only grade-school educated, but I managed to earn his respect through the years to the point that we worked together all the time. At first, he hovered over me, taking great delight in pointing out each error that I made. However, in the process, he taught me how to use tools properly and how to operate a Ditch Witch, a machine that laid plastic pipe under the sod or would dig trenches to bury this same type of flexible irrigation pipe. I also did a lot of shovel work on this job and would install what they called a “saddle” at points where the pop-up sprinkler heads would attach. The process involved carefully burning an opening in the pipe to allow water to flow to the surface and adjusting the “heads” to properly cover a specific grassy area. I learned all about pumps, wells, and various types of sprinkling systems, like the Rain Bird brand my dad had installed at our home. Odie was very careful about treating each man’s lawn like it was the 18th hole of the Master’s, so I learned well. I often wonder about what ever happened to Odie, my first real boss?
The next temporary job I held was painting a house between my freshman and sophomore years at Albion College. The house belonged to a friend named Alan Harper’s uncle, who made the mistake hiring two sloppy college students to paint his pristine, country club home. We rushed through the job, took the cash, and ran off to California, the most memorable journey of my life. I would go on to live with Alan at I.U. the next few semesters in two different apartments, after he convinced me to transfer schools.
Once Alan and I stopped being roommates, I worked briefly at the Indiana University library, a place I never visited as a student but should have. I stayed in Bloomington the summer between my junior and senior year and collected only a few paychecks before unexpectedly returning home to Elkhart, getting married, and finishing my degree at I.U. South Bend. I did enjoy the aura of being amongst the stacks of books, learning the Dewey Decimal System, and returning used books to their proper places on the shelf. With the quiet nature of the library setting, it was not the type of social experience that I might normally desire, interacting with customers and fellow workers, but that would come with future jobs. My boss was a woman, although I don’t remember her name, the first of many mostly positive experiences working with the opposite sex.
My working career slowly progressed from mowing lawns, into irrigation, light bulb cleaning, librarian assistant, and Styrofoam production before selling newspaper and radio ads. I then took an Account Executive position with B.J. Thompson Advertising in Mishawaka, Indiana. We handled the Burger Chef restaurants account, so my responsibilities centered around local store marketing. I assisted various store managers in their efforts to support their local communities, utilizing the Burger Chef and Jeff characters for promotions and appearances at key events. There were times when I even had to put on the costume or flip burgers in a restaurant. I learned a lot about the restaurant business from my female boss, Tacy Hendershot, but ultimately decided to go back into the media business.
Just before retirement, I spent a year selling men’s suits and accessories at Joseph A. Banks in their downtown Austin, Texas location, and worked part-time for the Austin Chamber of Commerce. Joseph Yazbek, was the tough-minded store manager who spoke with a Lebanese accent. Robert was my Chamber boss who I never saw eye-to-eye with, but soon moved on to the Austin Business Journal, going full-circle in the newspaper sales business. I did earn several sales awards while with this company under two women managers, starting with Lynne Chastine who hired me. When we moved to Portland, Oregon, I finished my career at Alpha Media, selling ads for six radio stations under several different managers. Likely, there will be more odd jobs in my future.
I went to visit my sister a few days ago at her winter home, a double-wide near Leesburg, Florida. She bought it just last year and will save me the trouble of lengthy trips back to Elkhart to visit. Hopefully, her kids will come to see her and me, their only uncle. They are the only family left in northern Indiana. As soon as we got comfortable around the dining room table with conversation, she placed two small boxes in front of me.
The first box contained a Waterford Crystal thimble (labeled #298) that I gave to my mother many years ago. I apparently spotted it at Bloomingdale’s in Chicago. She always had a knack for organization, so I’m sure there is a detailed list, documenting each addition to her collection. The second box was for me to give back to my son and held a glass thimble etched with Mickey Mouse ears (#279), a memory of the Disney gift he once gave his grandmother. My sister has a whole garage full of our parent’s stuff, but she chose only these two items to deliver. Neither of us have room for much, but fortunately most of my mother’s keepsakes were miniatures. My sister must have finally gotten to the point emotionally where she can begin to reluctantly part with these family treasures. Perhaps other items will be delivered on her next trip here.
My mother collected stamps and thimbles for fun, along with her other hobby of photography. I already sold her collection of postage stamps started by her father when he was the Elwood, Indiana Postmaster. She always had a fond appreciation of small things and maybe stories like Tom Thumb. She did some sewing, but I don’t really know where this fascination with thimbles came from. It certainly gave me something to look for when we traveled, bringing her back a souvenir from our journeys. I had also wrapped some up as Christmas gifts including a porcelain thimble as part of a hinged Limoges Box. It’s now part of my wife’s collection of these pricy, hand-painted trinkets, that like my mother have kept a numbered log of each special prize.
My mom’s interest in dollhouse miniatures and love of photography eventually grew into a small business called the Calico Cottage. She would personalize dollhouses with framed photos of family members, like you’d find in a real home, and shrink them to fit where Tom Thumb might live. She would convert a normal-sized family photo into a scaled-down version and build a tiny wooden frame around it to be hung in the bedroom, living room, or kitchen of a dollhouse. She also used antique jewelry settings as decorative frames and had metal frames manufactured in various small sizes. In retirement, she and my dad would travel to miniature shows all over the country.
As more of these thimbles that I gave as gifts come back into my life, I’ll certainly have many more memories to share. As a sidenote, there were some miniature room settings that she crafted with some of my personal photos, hanging on the walls of their retirement home. These rooms could have been part of a dollhouse but were designed for people that don’t want or can’t afford an entire miniature house. There were also cases filled with never-used photo-less frames and files of photocopies that customers sent to shrink down to fit these custom frames. She always sent the originals back as promised.
A faint memory of my mom that I’ll close with is a visit over 60-years ago to the Thomas Edison home in Ft. Myers. We were staying with my grandparents in nearby Englewood and went to the historical compound for the day. All of us were astounded with the massive dollhouse that he built for his grandchildren, complete with miniature working light fixtures. Perhaps, this was an inspiration to my mom long before she started her business. I went back to see it last year, but the scale-model home was no longer there. I could only imagine it filled with tiny framed Edison family photos.
Tomorrow is Valentine’s Day, but my wife and I have already celebrated our 24-year-old relationship with the Eddiversary on the 8th and Freddiversary on the 9th. For the first time, I’m not buying a Limoges Box, but I did write her a poem that I’m not sharing on this site. We might go to a movie together and see “80 for Brady,” but sadly that’s about as romantic as it gets at our age. I should probably get her an orchid, a favorite flowering plant, that she grows nestled in the tree bark of the palms behind our lanai. Maybe we’ll find romance in Las Vegas or at Disney World when we travel next month?
Speaking of romantic, we watched the Super Bowl last night. She was watching the Puppy Bowl in the living room while I sat through the pre-game festivities in my office, but we came together once the game started and enjoyed her traditional jalapeno pizza bread. She has a bridge game this afternoon while I pick up and entertain two of my grandkids. The youngest will want to swim, even though it’s once again a bit cool outside. I might take them for a bite to eat and to buy some Valentine cards to take to their classmates.
We’re preparing for several visitors later this week. My wife’s sister and her husband will stay with us for a few nights, and we’ll get together with their friends for at least one dinner. Part of the plan is also to go to Snook Haven, a bar and recreation area where Tarzan’s Revenge was once filmed. Once they leave, my friends from Ft. Wayne will take over the guest room. The beer will be flowing, so romance will NOT.
I can remember being in Ann Arbor back in 1976 during the undefeated season for an 80-74 road win. It was the first of three occasions where the two teams clashed that season, including the National Championship game. Crisler Center and its predecessors, have always been tough venues to play, with the Wolverines holding a 48-41 home advantage dating back to the 1917-18 series. The last time the Hoosiers won there was 2016.
When it wasn’t Purdue’s Zack “Big Maple” Edey stealing Trayce Jackson-Davis’ thunder, it was Michigan’s Hunter Dickinson. However, the Hoosiers were not to be denied on this trip to Ann Arbor. Although they struggled early, Trayce Jackson-Davis had 28 points and 11 rebounds, compared to Dickinson’s sixteen and seven performance. Jalen Hood-Schifino scored 21 points, after failing to convert during the first seven minutes, and No. 18 Indiana held on at the buzzer. I.U. played with only seven, as Race Thompson sat out for precautionary reasons. Geronimo started but at one point found himself on the bench nursing his leg with an ice pack. There was also a scary moment when Hood-Schifino hit the floor hard and came up in pain holding his elbow. It’s been that kind of season!
The Hoosiers couldn’t initially contain Jett Howard or Kobe Bufkin and ended the game with 13-turnovers. Late in the first half, Michigan led 32-21 on a Bufkin layup and Indiana looked to be roadkill. Hood-Schifino then went on a roll and scored eight straight points to bring Indiana within five at 34-29 at the half. A couple of errant layups could have evened the score.
In the second half race to the “Rule of 60,” Indiana finally grabbed the lead at 40-39 on a Jackson-Davis bucket, but the Wolverines responded with a 10-2 run and soon led 56-54, on the verge of defying the magic. With 5:19 to go, Michigan crossed 60 on a Hunter Dickinson jumper to lead 61-58 but never scored again, as I.U. survived for its 18th victory of the season and ninth in conference play. The win was good for sole possession of 2nd with a 9-5 record, if Purdue bests Northwestern as expected. This means the Boilers would take a commanding 3.5-game conference lead over the Hoosiers with 6-games left in the regular season.
Only six of the seven Hoosiers who played put points on the board, since Tamar Bates was held scoreless during the 17-minutes he was on the court. To make matters worse, Reneau only had 2, Kopp 3, and Galloway 4. As a result, 79% of the offensive production came from Jackson-Davis and Hood-Schifino. The other oddity in this performance, was that we lost the race to sixty but won the game!
Since losing to Penn State and giving up 85-points, the Hoosier defense has held nine opponents to an impressive 64-point average. It’s resulted in eight wins with the sole loss in that stretch to Maryland, whose stingy D held I.U. to only 55-points. By comparison, in the first three losses of 2023, the Indiana defensive average was a pitiful 86.67. This was after starting the BIG campaign at 1-1, managing only 48-points against Rutgers in a 63-48 loss before topping Nebraska 81-65. Defense is clearly the key to winning, especially when the offense then produces over 60-points.
While the men have been on a roll, the #2 ranked Hoosier women knocked off arch-rival Purdue 69-46 and then beat #5 Iowa 87-78, in front of record crowds, taking another big step to the conference championship. The Hawkeye’s all-world player Caitlyn Clark had 35 points, but her teammates were shut down, while Grace Berger and Mackenzie Holmes combined for fifty-points. The Lady Hoosiers are now 23-1 overall and 13-1 in the BIG league.
We were unable to get to a movie theater this past week but continue to wade through the many seasons of ABC’s Lost. Each T.V. episode seems to factor in another hard to believe coincidence that has us scratching our heads. I think we’re only about halfway through. Tonight is I.U. basketball and tomorrow evening is the Super Bowl. It’s good to stay close to home for a few days, after 800 miles of local travel this past week. Hoosier company is coming these next few weeks, so we should have a full month of home brew before heading to Las Vegas and Disney World.
My Running Streak continues at 5,158 days. It’s a daily grind with a couple of shorter runs this past week to accommodate the local travel but a nice 5k around Anna Marie Island to break up the monotony. The Margaritaville lifestyle was appealing but the cost of beach property and related maintenance is salty. Million-dollar shanties were prevalent. Wind and water levels would be a constant worry for me, but obviously worth it to many.
Yesterday afternoon, we were dining on the Palmetto waterfront at the Riverhouse. It was my second LIN-TV reunion this week. This one was with our WISH-TV-Indianapolis colleagues, including an executive assistant, receptionist, and chief engineer. Last weekend, it was fellow GMs and a Local Sales Manager. Each interaction brought back lots of memories and forgotten names as we reflected on our years together. Retirement is only possible because of the pensions that we earned working there, so each of us is grateful to get a monthly check. Many media companies did not offer this benefit.
My wife will dig out her Longi’s pizza bread recipe for our traditional Super Bowl feast tomorrow. We first enjoyed this treat on Maui in January of 2005. Three years later, we went back for more with friends as part of the Maui Classic. We also typically have chicken wings on this special football occasion, where once again the ads will be more appealing than the game. It’s an annual reminder of when we were responsible for selling the local ads for this event that commanded the highest rates of the year. It was a huge revenue boost for the network affiliate lucky enough to carry it each year and serious competition, earning bragging rights, for outperforming the previous year’s spot rates. Super Bowl, Super Food, Super Weekend!
I’ve done a lot of driving this past week, and my State Farm Safe Driver app doesn’t like the results, dropping my score below 90% for traveling too fast. What it fails to take into account is that if you go slower than 80 mph on Florida’s I-75, you will get run over. If they raised the speed limit, the pace would grow exponentially. Plus, if you get off on a side road, it gets even crazier. Yesterday, I watched a truck pass four cars in a no passing zone, push oncoming traffic off to the side, suddenly duck into traffic, and swerve after catching its wheels in the dirt shoulder. We are all lucky to be alive today.
In the last five days, I’ve driven to two golf courses near Bradenton, up to Anna Marie Island, down to my granddaughter’s pre-school in Port Charlotte, over to Leesburg to visit my sister, and this afternoon to a luncheon in Palmetto. I don’t enjoy driving anymore, so it’s always a hassle to leave the safety of my neighborhood. I’ve also now been relegated to childcare duties on Mondays and shuttle service on Thursdays. As a result, out goes “Matinee Monday,” and writing time, while I’m now setting an alarm to get up earlier to run.
In the long run, I may not even have time for a part time job with the weeks passing by quicker, as my alone time lessens. The only way to escape all of this is to travel and that doesn’t happen for another month. Plus, being away from home continues to get more and more expensive. We probably should have stayed in Portland, miles away from family responsibilities. Admittedly, I was getting a bit bored with my daily routine, but now I’m starting to feel like I’m no longer retired.
As an I.U. fan, it’s been frustrating to watch this team struggle with inconsistency. They’ve overcome injuries, but every time a player hits the floor, I wonder if they will get up again. Geronimo and Duncomb are out again, while Thompson is a step slow, and X has yet to return. Yet, they’ve won four straight, but Maryland has also been hot, winning three of the last four after being edged by Purdue. Plus, they’ve yet to lose a conference game at home.
Unfortunately, this streak continued for the Terps as Indiana shot just 38 percent from the field with only three made 3-pointers on 11 attempts. Maryland was even less effective at 34 percent, but with five 3-pointers on 22 attempts. IU allowed 22 mostly uncontested shots from beyond the arc. With just under five minutes to go in the first half and in a span of one minute and 36 seconds, the Hoosiers turned the ball over three times and gave up five points. Entering halftime, they trailed 37-29.
The Hoosiers never got to 60 and watched Maryland cross that threshold at 3:01 with a nine-point lead. 66-55 was the final, after the home team went 25-29 from the charity stripe and Jahmir Young led all scorers with 20. TJD countered with 19 and Race totaled 11, but it wasn’t enough, as IU fell another game behind Purdue in the standings. The #1 Boilermakers were headed to Bloomington with a 9-game winning streak.
The good news for the Hoosier faithful was that Mackenzie Holmes delivered 28 points with four blocks while Sydney Parrish contributed 23 points, five steals and eight boards to help the No. 4 Indiana women soundly defeat Minnesota 77-54.
At last, despite the road loss to Maryland, the Hoosier men were back in the Top 25. It was time for Hoosier fans to raise the roof at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall, also referred to as “Ass Hall” by my Boiler buddies. It turned out to be a classic rivalry battle to the 60-mark that saw IU take down it’s first #1ranked opponent in a decade. The Hoosiers jumped out to a 15-point halftime bulge, scoring a masterful 50 at the mid-point buzzer.
It was Edey vs. TJD, battling for Player of the Year in the country, if not certainly for the BIG individual crown. In the end, Zach had 33 with 18-rebounds while Trayce managed 25 and only seven. Purdue was dominant on the boards 38-22 but I.U. won the game 79-75. In the process, the Cream & Crimson also won the race to 60 at 12:46 on a Schifino jumper. Jalen was also the biggest scoring factor down the stretch. The rivalry would continue in three weeks, but first a visit from the #24 Scarlet Knights.
It only seemed appropriate that Trayce Jackson-Davis finally won a series game against Rutgers and in the process became the 6th player in Hoosier history to exceed the 2,000-point achievement. The victory also moved I.U. into a 2nd place conference tie after prevailing in seven of their last eight games.
I’m back from a Florida weekend of hacking up two golf courses. Our group played 36-holes, but I gave up on half of them. I landed in just about every pond possible, hit the roof of a house, nearly took out a member of our foursome sitting in his golf cart, and somehow managed to strike two narrow 150-yard marker poles that couldn’t have been done intentionally in a million tries. I tried my best to patch the divots and keep my sanity. There was one moment of glory when I reached the green in two on a par-four and barely missed the birdie putt.
I also drank too much whiskey and got too little sleep. My roommate was wearing a monitor for his daughter’s diabetes that failed to wake him up but seemed to torture me every time I was ready to drift off to sleep. We acted like we were teenagers, with the youngest 59 and the oldest 75. Each of us was once responsible for millions of dollars in television advertising revenue on our respective stations in Ft. Wayne, Terre Haute, Decatur, and Lafayette. Only one of us was still employed. It was a great weekend of off-color jokes and treasured memories.
We were staying in a 1.2-million-dollar-man-cave about a block from the Gulf of Mexico on one side with the bay close by out the opposite window. It was decorated with lots of signs that announced things like, “if you’re not barefoot you’re over dressed,” and “Live the Salt Life.” A hammock was strung between trees next to the hot tub and I was tempted to sleep in either for some peace and quiet. Despite heavy eyelids and a hangover each morning, I still managed to get my miles in to keep “The Streak” alive before our daily tee time.
There were two I.U. fans, one for Purdue, and the fourth betting on the Hoosiers to blow their 15-point halftime lead. We were in two cars acting like the four stooges, our GPS systems sending us to two separate Gecko Restaurants before finally hooking up in front of the same T.V. This was even while all of us were still relatively sober since two were involved in serious match-play all afternoon. I was simply comic relief, with the end result being sore muscles and a chiropractor adjustment that I had wisely scheduled in advance for the way home on Monday.
Our farewell Sunday-night dinner after golf was at Bonefish Grill, because most of the island locals were closed. We had earlier met a fifth LIN TV associate to break bread (toast) at Another Broken Egg, a Dick Vitale breakfast haunt. It was unlikely that we would see him at breakfast where he often makes an appearance since “Dicky-V” was honored at halftime of the IU-PU game. He resides in Sarasota, near the Legends course, designed by Arnold Palmer, that we played. Arnie would have been horrified at how I tore up his beautiful creation but pleased that at least three of us were good golfers, enjoying competitive match play.
