Monday, August 6
I'm at the annual feeding frenzy known as the flymart. Oh my god is this fun. There's gotta be 100 people, they're selling all kinds of wild crazy stuff. I'm happy to report that I found some stuff I loved.
Today was the start of Worlds for me -- that is, divisional doubles. I played Open with my partner Harold Duvall… you know, an owner of Innova. How did this happen? I haven't a clue. I registered for doubles, wanted to play Masters, told the Administrator that I had paid for myself and my Masters partner, then I get a call a day later saying it's all full the only person I can play with is Harold, and only in the Open division. You see, Harold is not old enough to play Masters. So hey, what the heck, absolutely. I got no problem with that. You think I have a problem playing with a two-time World Champ as my doubles partner, no way. Harold played great, and if I'd been any help, we probably would have done fabulous.
The heat and humidity has been unbelievable. It broke 100 degrees today, in fact the outdoor temperature gauge in my car showed 104 degrees, and the humidity is darn close to 100 percent. It is terrible. Normally it might be the hottest from noon to 2pm, but oh no. Here it peaks at about 5 or 6 pm. This is the kind of weather where you open your car door and you step out and your glasses are already fogged by the heat and humidity. You can't see the speedometer a foot in front of you. This is just terrible…terribly ridiculous heat. It's unbelievable.
Surviving the second round of the day is difficult -- more than difficult, it is truly oppressive, it is nasty. I think the only saving grace is that Michigan has long, tough, nasty 24-hole courses, so I'm used to playing 24-holes on tough courses. Here the courses are a tough 18. Guess I should be able to deal with it, but oh my.
I've talked to a dozen Southerners who say this is worse than where they're from. I've talked to Floridians and Alabamans, people from Georgia, and South Carolina… they all say this is worse than they normally deal with. Stan McDaniel -- who is a multiple World Champ -- said today that 'only twice have I ever been in heat this bad. Once was the Great Lakes Open in Michigan, when the heat and humidity were terrible; the other was the Pro Worlds in Alabama.' Stan said those are the two worst he's ever dealt with. This guy knows, and he says this is as bad as those. Let me tell you, it is nasty, nasty and nasty. And what is the weather report for the rest of the week? More of the same, except it's supposed to rain on Thursday, thank you very much. Thunderstorms, they say.
