Upon Further Review: Attack on my game uncalled for
As many of you know, I’m not one to let words get me upset or let little things bother me too bad.
For the most part, I’m pretty easy to get along with. I usually don’t respond to threats — or even slander. But when it involves sports, I draw the line.
Yes, I’m a very competitive person and I don’t like to lose. But sometimes it’s better to turn the other cheek. Well, not this time. Mr. Nunley did everything he could last week to insult my golf game and even made slanderous remarks that last year I teased him about breaking his high score of 100 while on vacation. The truth is I was wishing him the best on his vacation hoping he would enjoy himself and bring back some memorable stories from his golfing trip.
Yes, many of you expressed your desire to see us battle it out on the links and even wanted to see a little wager on this exhibition of golfing perfection. But like Mr. Nunley said, we’re not the gambling type. We did happen to run into each other one day and paired up on one of our favorite courses — and yes, I did manage to win that day. But I would never brag about it. I was more concerned with Rob’s reaction to defeat than anything else.
For the most part this column was going to be a nice little piece on Mr. Nunley and his bride-to-be. But his attack on my ethics of celebration and defeat caused great pain, so I had no choice but to get out some of my frustrations with this rebuttal.
On Friday, Rob will join the ranks of the married man’s club and I thought it was only fitting to wish him the very best. Life, as he has known it, will be forever changed. No more getting up and running off to the golf course when he feels like it. He will spend every spare moment — as he should — with his family. And golf will become something of a, well lets just say he won’t be playing as much anymore.
If I had known that Rob was going to tie the knot, I may have been a little more sensitive to his golfing manhood last year. And at times I even did what I could do to ensure that the memories of his last year of golfing as a single man would last him a life time. Many of us already know what lies ahead for Mr. Nunley and honestly, it’s not too bad. Look at me, I’ve been married for 22 years and my game keeps getting better. But for better or worse his golf game will never be the same. Hopefully in Rob’s case it will get better and he will be able to own bragging rights a few more times than he did last year.
Now getting back to his attack on me last week. We all enjoy a competitive round of golf and when we play a special course or have a super day out on the links, we tend to keep the score card. Some people never keep them and some only keep the ones which show them as the winning round on the day or even when they post one of their lowest scores ever.
In Mr. Nunley’s case he is a keeper only when the score is in his favor and if I remember correctly — and I do — He only kept two cards last year out of 20 rounds or so. Now this would not be an issue if not for his way of throwing those two scores in my face every now and then.
Now Rob will be a changed man the next time we enjoy a round of golf together. I anticipate he will take his game to a higher level this summer. Marriage has a strange way of getting your blood boiling and making it easier to drive the ball farther down the fairway.
In closing I just want to say congratulations to Rob and a thank you to his new wife Gina for improving his golf game and hopefully for making our outings more of a challenge this year.