As always, i woke up 5 minutes before the alarm went off, at 6am. Last night, when we realized that the US Open of golf was being played 20 minutes from Pittsburgh at the famous Oakmont course, we decided to check it out. I was worried about getting tickets, but the minute we pulled into the complementary parking lot, our car was mobbed by scalpers desperate to sell us tickets at face value.
The US Open was a pretty special experience. We spent a lot of time at the infamous 10th hole, possibly the hardest Par 4 in the history of golf. The green might as well be paved over and covered with an inch of ice. The hardness and tilt combine to make even the light brush of the ball a recipe for disaster - if a putt doesn't land in the hole, it stops rolling just as it reaches the 6-inch rough. The following two players, Ian Poulter and Shingo Katayama, were part of one epic pairing:
Mr. Friedman insists on ambulating from location to location not only at breakneck speed, but also with reckless disregard for social etiquette. I was unwilling to follow him as he whizzed past elderly couples, inches from causing a cane to come out from under some recent hip transplant. But Mr. Friedman had more bad behaviour to come.
The original plan for today was to hit Cincinnati to see the Reds play, so after we got tired of golf, we headed in that general direction. We knew we'd be late, but we wanted to buy $5 tickets and tour the park. Here's a picture of Friedman trying to get in around the time we expected the 6th inning to be underway:
Yes, he was responsible for scheduling this game. We ate at the local cult-favourite "Skyline Chile," and came to Comfort Inn, of the free wireless Internet.
2 comments:
I think your Friedman rating system is too coarse. I know, we're all waiting for the day he pushes an old woman in front of a bus because she was preventing him from picking up his dry cleaning on time, and a `0' should be reserved for that day.
But the first day seems more than acceptable -- one might even call it pleasant -- and Friedman should be rewarded with a 6.
On the other hand, missing a baseball game due to pure negligence (and the uncouth behavior at the US Open) seems like it might deserve a lower score. Perhaps a 3.5 or even a 3.
Dude, that Ian Poulter guy looks kind of like Jonathan in that pic.
Rick
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