The Love of the Game

This is something I wrote sometime ago about the game of golf and its true meaning. Sometimes I have to read it just top bring myself back to why I do what I do for a living. Enjoy!!!! "The Love of the Game Just over a year ago at Chesley Oaks we lost one of our most beloved employees. Bobby Lepard was a hulk of a man with the heart of the sweetest of grand mothers. Bobby always carried a smile that automatically would befriend to him. When anything was ever asked of him he would always respond with unbridled enthusiasm and would give more of himself than asked. In the golf business, the days start before the sun comes up and end after the sun goes down. For the year that I worked with Bobby it seemed that I couldn’t get here before he arrived and I would always leave before he left. I would see something that needed to be done a before I could ask anyone he would have it done. Plainly put he just loved being around the golf course. His interest was not solely on just working for the golf course, Bobby had been bitten by the bug that so many before him had already encountered. He had a true love for the game. His enthusiasm for the game was like that of a child coming down the stairs on Christmas morning. Every new part of the game that was reveled to him he greeted as if it were a gold nugget. Ask anyone who frequents Chesley Oaks and they will offer you one hundred stories of Bobbys’ plain love and respect for the game of golf. My personal favorite story with Bobby is one I have mostly kept to myself. One day I was watching Bobby hit balls on the driving range and as most know golf can be a very humbling game. He was having no success at hitting the long perfect shot and was becoming quite frustrated. Shortly after we talk briefly about the short game and how a three foot putt counted the same as a 300 yard drive. He quietly went about working on his putting instead of the labored search for the long ball. A few days later he told me how he had beaten someone he earlier could not compete with just because his short game had gotten better. In his eyes was a twinkle I will never forget. Whether it was hitting a good shot, playing a few holes with anyone, learning the rules of the game or about the maintance of the course, or just finding a ball someone had lost he was always at home on the golf course. And that became so very clear after he passed away. A few weeks before Bobby became ill he spent many hours clearing and cleaning part of the golf course between our second and third holes. It was not necessary and it was not asked of him, he just seemed to be on a mission. With the job completed he seemed to be at peace with himself. Within days Bobby suffered a massive heart attack and stroke and was taken into Gods arms. We later found out that he had requested to be cremated and placed with a memorial on the spot that he had worked so hard to clear, and forever become a part of the course and game that he love so very much.

Bowl Season???

It is hard for me to believe that for the first time that I can remember, college football bowl season has so far held no interest for me. Looking back I have fond memories of the Gator, Peach, Sugar, Cotton, Rose and Rose Bowls. My family annually would go to the Gator Bowl and watch two teams that had somewhat respectable seasons play for pride and the love of the game. Today I am sure that there is a game being played, for there are only 83X10 to the nTh bowl games this year. But for the love of me I couldn't tell you who it is. Equally I am sure that there have already been that many bowl games already played this year for which I can name no match up. I am not going into reasons, politics, or solutions for the ridiculousness of the bowl situation that we have now. I do want to talk about just one game that was played last night. Arizona State and Boise State played in the whatever it was bowl. And that could have been the name, I just don't know. This game matched a senior laden Boise team that was 12-1 and ranked 7th in the nation against a talent laden ASU team that had a season record of 6-6. Boise had all of the intangibles in its favor, ASU none! And it showed. Boise wanting to send its QB out as the winningest QB in college history, true team spirit, and high regard for the school and coach played with class and style while a uninspirited ASU team came out and barely went through the motions of playing. But who could really blame them! They were playing for a coach who had been fired, they had fallen short of their expectations for the season,and its Christmas! With really no incentive after a disappointing year who could blame them for not being at their best. Most of them are young men who are not going to make a career of football so why should anyone expect any differ ant. Even the most highly regarded ASU player who is going to be a first round NFL pick played like a Division III player!

All of this brings me to my point. Somehow a motivated 12-1 team got matched against an I don't want to be here 6-6 team in the I don't know bowl on the Thursday night before Christmas for what reason???? I think we all know and it very saddening to me that its has gotten to this point.

Growing Up Fast II

Yes there are growing up!!!! Gracie turning 16, Tyler playing high school football and the both of them being sweet!!!!

What Next

So "Whats Next?" Anyone,...Anyone!

Remembering 30 Yrs

Wasn't able to attend my 30th high school reunion this past weekend but due to the wonders of the internet and social networking I was able to see a number of pictures that friends posted. All of the folks there seemed to have a grand time and the funny thing about it was that most of them had not aged as much as I would have expected for a bunch on the verge of 50 years.

It brought back lots of fond memories most of them good and it also left many questions that I have in my mind unanswered. Mostly questions about what happened to this person and...... As I was browsing some of the pics I came upon one titled "Friends lost but not forgotten". This in a bad way answered some of the questions. So heres to friends, current and past, alive and passed, all who have left me something no one can take away, Memories! WML to ALL

Sun Doggie

No kidding! He was just sitting there loving the sun!!!!!!

They Grow Up Fast

At the beginning of the school year I was the tallest of the family and then bam, I am now third in line for that honor. It seems that time is going by faster now than it ever has before. I have always heard that it does the older you get, so I must be getting old!!! My theory on this is that our brain cells just can't retain enough or as much of what is going on around us so it just makes it seem that time in going faster. Could also be that we have so much more to occupy our time that we just don't see it slip away! Who knows. I do know that my two children are growing up to be beautiful and very special people. Just look at the pictures, Who could argue!