A Fine Saturday

Assorted injections over the past few weeks? Check

Perfect day for golf? Check

First time on a golf course in 3+ months? Awesome.

After ALL the back and shoulder medical mini-drama over the past few months, I was FINALLY able to tee it up today after a long respite. It could not have gone better.

Wade put our usual foursome together for an 11:30am tee time. This is the perfect tee time for me since I loathe mornings and it's not too late where it affects saturday afternoon nappy time.

I was pretty sure my clubs were still up at TPC but I had no idea what was in my locker so I loaded up on golf balls that I received for my birthday and Christmas, tossed a light jacket in my car and sped off.

Nervous? Nah. I had worked myself up into the usual state of mind where trash talking reigns supreme. Some guys can handle, some can't. The guys I play with can and that what makes it fun.

No problems on the range. Everything felt great. Better than I'd felt in years. Alas, my glory was short-lived. I made par on the first hole and the rest of the group each made a bogey. I was in the lead. This didn't last long when my tee shot on #2 hopped into the desert, and my 3rd shot landed in the greenside bunker. An up and down for bogey was a welcome score.

At the end of the round, I tallied up the scores: I shot an 86 - higher than usual, but I was quite pleased with the result. At the outset of the day, I told myself I'd be happy breaking 90 and I did. My shoulder and back? Not a peep out of either. I was very happy about this.

Afterward I had to go over to my moms and fix her dishwasher (I'm a renaissance man- I do it all). Once home, the couch was screaming at me and I settled in for a nice long Saturday afternoon nap before heading off to the UNLV-BYU basketball game.

For the first time in some 15+ years the Thomas & Mack was sold out. I was skeptical since I saw a few solid sections that didn't have anyone there, but hey, if that's what they want to say to get the crowd fired up, so be it.

I was excited to see what the crowd mix was going to be tonight. With an 8pm start, this meant an extra hour of drinking for the cocktail crowd. For sure many a rebel fan would be inebriated to the point of embarrassment tonight. We saw a lot of these folks as we took the escalator up the stairs and in line heading into the building. I didn't see much blue - a good thing. Despite my dislike for BYU, I really didn't want to see the UNLV fans humilate themselves again in front of the coogs. We like funny drunks, not sloppy mean ones.

The game was outstanding. The first half sucked but both teams more than picked it up in the 2nd half. Just when people were streaming out of the arena with a few minutes left, BYU puts on a furious rally and the rebels held on for 75-74 win for a season sweep of the hated cougars. The rebels are still a full game back in the loss column behind New Mexico, San Diego State, and BYU. They are 3 games behind Utah and play them on Wednesday in SLC. All the teams in the Mountain West will probably lose 1-2 more games, and Utah tends to implode so we may end up with a massive 5 way tie for the title. Then again, the only lock for the big dance goes to the winner of the conference tournament. Luckily for UNLV it's held at home so just pencil the rebels in for one of the conferences spots - they'll probably get 3. I hope they don't pick BYU since they lose in the first round all the time, and have that pesky rule where they won't play on Sunday so IF they make the NCAA tournament, they have to play the Thursday/Saturday bracket.

Beggars can't be choosers. But they are.

And that's why we don't like them.