Welcome Tucker Shelton

Overthinkers Anonymous

Noah,
As you know I am a huge sports fan, but right now baseball is front and center with the World Series. If not for the heroics of ARod, the Yankees would have nothing to yell about but another wasted season and a bunch of wasted money. However, in the first two games he has gone 0-fer(without a hit). In listening to Colin Cowherd analyze this this week he stated that some people in life are overthinkers. I guess I have to put myself in that group. Now everytime A-Rod is at the plate he is analyzing every little thing about his swing. I'm that way with golf in general. By myself, I kill drives and hit 15ft. putts. But when I have to hit a 2ft. putt to save face with someone who is better than me I choke and the rest of the round is done. Perhaps they have a group at a YMCA somewhere for people like me and A-Rod.

Dad

Latest Quote

Noah,
This has nothing to do with sports but I was listening to ESPN Radio the other day and Colin was speaking about an article he read in the New York Times about airline pilots. The bulk of the article was about how most planes today pretty much run on auto and the pilot is in the cockpit in case of an emergency. The article went on to say that the biggest problem they now have is keeping the pilots engaged during flights. So, here is one of my favorite quotes for the week...
"You understand about pilots, right? Pilots arent paid $140,000 a year for 99% of the flights. They are paid for the 1% when they have to land a plane in the Hudson River."
-Colin Cowherd

Making my way to Cleveland

Noah,
Just to recap...
Eagles 38
Panthers 10

Needless to say, I am more than disappointed. Now, I have listened to the radio all week and heard all the "Jake-haters" say boo this and boo that and get out of town, Jake; however, I am not a Jake lover or hater. But one thing needs to be said..the demise of the 12-4 Panthers does not start with Jake Delhomme or the salary cap or paying Julius Peppers 17 million dollars this year for his four sacks this season, but it starts with the front office and the stupid decisions made in the offseason that have predicated this position. Brentson Buckner made a very valid point this week.."Ok, bench Jake..who you gonna put in...McCown is out for the season, Matt Moore took like ten snaps one preseason game and now theyve signed the Philly reject AJ Feely, I mean come on".
This week it gets no better..the Panthers face the Falcons in Atlanta. As you have read the title of this blog, if the Panthers dont have a good showing I have told my boss that I will become a Cleveland Browns fan. Because the Browns are good?? No, not even close. Some would say they are horrible. But there is no let down with the Browns. Cleveland fans know they are awful and that is part of the mystique of it all, that maybe just maybe Cleveland may one day make the playoffs. Now, I did not say the Panthers had to win, just have a good showing and show me some marked improvement in the offensive line, receiver route running and defensive secondary. Until then...Go Browns.

A Good Lesson

Noah,
Sorry I have not wrote in a while. By the time, you are able to read this it wont matter much because you will read them all at once probably. Yesterday, I kept you all day and we hung out and played and did stuff. Most importantly, we watched the Disney Channel. You like them all, but i'm not usually impressed by "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse". But yesterday, I was somewhat aghast at the episode and at the same time somewhat proud that Disney is going the extra mile. The episode was entitled "Mickey's Comet". And it was filled with learning on science, comets, the solar system and the like. It also had a great lesson on three dimensional figures. It incorporated analyzing polyhedras such as cones and spheres and recognizing how three d figures change with visual interpretation. I was so excited to see that toddlers and preschoolers at such a young age are being introduced to higher level thinking orders and analyzing geometric shapes and such concepts as surface area and volume on a preschool level. Go Disney!!!

Beach Pics

Noah, you got very sandy on the beach

Noah and Dad on the infamous golf cart

Noah in his car in the pool

Noah playing in the sand

Noah likes the pool best

Noah found a seashell

Mom, Dad and Noah on the beach at night

Beach Trip

Noah,
You, mom and myself made the arduous trip to Surfside Beach, SC last week with your mom's family. It was very hot, the water was warm and it was rather uneventful...no one was injured. You kept me on my toes. We took lots of rides on the golf cart...and even got free popsicles!! I stunk up the golf course and in turn vowed never to play again. Of course, the next day I was ready to go to a driving range to figure out why I cant hit my new driver. All in all it was fun I guess. The object of vacation is to relax...relax is not so much in my vocabulary. As your mom will tell you, I was the only one not to nap at any point during the week. Talk later.

Dad

People are crazy

Noah,
Over the last little bit I have been talking about golf quite a bit. I thought I would do that once again. On the way to play the other day, I heard a pretty good song.."People are crazy". It just talked about how weird guys can be, and the things that make them tick. I guess my ultimate tick would be golf. Nothing frustrates me more than killing my drive, getting about 50-75 yards from the green and still bogeying the hole. Now, I take into consideration that I am not playing a PGA Tour course, but on the same note I should be birdying most holes where Im on in two. However, I normally overshoot the hole and end up with a 40 foot putt for birdie, then choke the putt and end up three putting. Like the song goes...people are crazy.

Dad
P.S. Golf is the only game where you can have 75 bad shots and 1 good shot and it will make you want to come and play again.

BriarCreek

Noah,

I took a picture of an iris in our backyard that grandma luce thought was nice.

Ok, later in life you will see the humor in this but this was an Oscar Mayer Weiner Mobile in Gatlinburg and I just had to have a picture.

Finally, this was my scorecard yesterday. I walked the front 9 at BriarCreek in High Shoals. Its a cow pasture conversion, but it still tests every facet of your game. There are two par 3, two par 5s and hard, fast greens. But, the greens is due to the fact that the course is not manicured properly. As you can see, I had a dreadful start but ended up pretty good. I actually miscalculated in my head. I actually shot a +5 41. I double bogied the first hole, but then had several birdie attempts throughout the day but could not convert.

Dad

I Need a Witness

Noah,
It has been a while since I last responded. By the time you are able to fully read and grasp the entire concept of this blog page, a lot of things may be outdated, history or just plain weird. But inasmuch as I am a fan of baseball, I believe over the years moreso I have become a fan of golf. Not because I stink at it, but because it tests all the virtues I seem to lack...dexterity, patience, luck, and the innate ability to not see an outing of golf as some primeval competition as to see who can hit the hardest or the longest or putt the farthest.
This past weekend was The Players at TPC-Sawgrass. And I must commend the GolfChannel on their superb coverage. As you know, sometimes I dont get home from work til dark. And I was glad to know that they were replaying the days' action for us cheap people who dont have DVRs or TiVo. The overall tournament was good. Its a very challenging course to say the least, and I dare say I could never play there due to money as well as talent. A lot of the field were tried at #17 where its nothing but water. As I sat there, I listened to the commentators speak on the toughness of the course and how many were three-putting Par 5s and how hard the greens were. Then your papaw said something that provoked the entire blog entry..."Hey, thats going to be us in another month". Well, not literally. My lifelong aim in life since the age of 15 when I began playing this four-letter puzzle they call a game is to shoot below 72 just once. The problem with golf is you have to have witnesses. You cant just fill out a card and say"yea, i shot par". When you get old enough i will teach you all the nuances of a golf course, like, stay on the cart path, dont cuss if its on the green, and old guys hit it straight...dont play with really old guys. Thats enough for now.

Dad