Cyberzahm Reunion 2001
A Spaced Oddessy
Some of my (Fox's) recollections. Photos courtesy of Andy, Hans, and Ike.
Thursday
I'm the first to arrive, late morning. Ike is just heading out on an errand so I hold down the fort, answer the phone, and let
the cable TV guy in. I actually do some work and then play with the new TV channels ... hundreds of em!
Andy and Hans caravan in about an hour later. Ike is back at
about the same time. Hugs and hellos all around. We head to Leatherstocking and meet Albert there. A quick lunch and a
beer on the patio ... Albert fills us in on he and his family's trials during the terrorist attacks on Tuesday. Finally,
we're ready for golf ... the tee Albert tosses that always points uphill (try tossing a golf tee on a smooth macadam
hillside some time) determines that its Al and Andy in a twosome and Ike, Hans and I in a threesome.
Its a great day for golf. The course is beautiful.
Hans asking which way the hole is
We make it a fivesome for a few holes but are forced to split back up when a twosome catches
up to us. We have a single join us on about the sixth. Nice enough guy and he has enough cans of cold beer for all of us the rest of the way!
At one point this guy (Nick?) is off the fairway, but has a clear shot back towards the hole except for one thin tree, about 30 yards away. He
says "I'm gonna aim for the tree ... that way I'll miss it." Swing, thack, he hits it dead center and the ball ends up back behind him
to his left. Albert and Andy, just coming down the next fairway watch in amazement as I bust up laughing at Nick. I thought it was hilarious
that he hit the tree considering his plan. Al makes a note to discuss golf etiquette with me before the weekend is over.
I play fairly steady on Thursday. Mostly stay out of trouble. I think
LeaherStocking is an "easy" course for a high
handicapper if they can stay out of trouble. On most par fours, two semi-decent shots means you are chipping from greenside - get it
somewhat close, two putt, take your bogey and collect your winnings. Too bad the next day I forgot about the "stay out of trouble" and
"semi-decent shots" parts of this plan.
After golf we head back to the ranch. Cheese and crackers.
Plenty of shrimp. Beef on the grill. A huge hunk of meat. At this point I become Andy's disciple on his "modified Atkins
diet" - you follow the Atkins diet except you also drink alcohol. Andy and I clearly enrapture the rest of the group for the remainder of
the reunion, discussing the dos and don'ts of the diet at every meal.
Mags arrives in the middle of dinner, or as Benjamin would point out, actually it was about 1/3rd of the way through dinner. Thanks to Atkins
there are still potatoes for Mr. McGee. And plenty of beef. All the beef you want. Ben and Alison join us for dinner and we discuss priests and
terrorists and music and football and gubment and Andy and Albert have a few minor disagreements
and some stories are told ... you know the routine. Its great to be back in the dorm. And its great to have Alison and Benjamin join us. After dinner someone mentions cigars and then I find myself in the garage enjoying the secondary smoke.
Someone drives us back to the White House, our Cooperstown B & B. One classy place. Very nice.
As Albert said - "don't tell the wives about
this".
Friday
The White House serves a great breakfast.
We check the TV for the latest news, drink some coffee,
talk with our host and hostess and head back to LeatherStocking for the tournament. Pairings are Ike, Albert, and Mags; Fox, Hans, and Andy.
Tom Eichler, Tom Hansen, Andy McDermott, Albert Danza, James McGee, and Dan Joyce
My game goes south as I start to try too hard and swing too fast. Hans is exactly right when he tells me he thinks my tempo is off. But I'm happy I settle down on the back nine and finish par - par - par on the dangerous final 3 holes. Meanwhile, Mags is having some problems of his own:
as his ball comes to rest in a tree.
On the 12th hole, a short straight downhill par 3 that is much trickier than it sounds, Albert makes a hole in one.
Since our group is just approaching the 11th green we are all there to enjoy the celebration. Big smiles all around.
Andy begins to inform everyone we run into to "head to the clubhouse in about an hour - my buddy got a hole in one - he's buying at the bar."
To top it off Albert holds on and wins both ends of the tourney, both gross and net. Here's a view of some golfers on the 17th tee:
Back to the White House or the Ponderosa, get cleaned up, and head to the
Baseball Hall of Fame. The real house that Ruth built.
Kinda a cool place to have essentially right
up the street. The boys politely ignore the Andy/Fox dietary restrictions and pig out at a pizza place on the way. I slip away to the DoubleDay Inn
for a pint ("remember, this is Irish Atkins diet"). Mags soon joins me and
we discuss the probable ages of some lovelies for awhile, then join the others in the hall. Nice place - if you haven't been in awhile, you should go.
They've added some stuff since my last visit in 1957.
Dinner this night is at the super ritzy (how much a night ... $300?) Otesaga
Hotel shown here from a view including Hans on the 18th green.
First cocktails on the veranda overlooking the lake and the 18th
and then dinner in the Hawkeye Grille. Great food. Hold the potatoes.
A BIG THANK YOU to Gabes who sent a gift of $300 for drinks to go with dinner. We play fast and furious with that liquor menu, let me tell you. I had things I couldn't even pronounce. We even had a taste test, comparing the $8 glass of sherry to the $20 glass.
The latter won - proving we weren't wasted yet, although if you look carefully at the above photo you'll see somebody was stuffing bills into wine bottles. We were burning those twenties left and right all dinner! But we were well behaved - don't want to embarrass the good doctor in his home community. Instead we decided to reach out to them and impress them - for example, here I give the locals a golf lesson, using the wine bottle with twenties.
After dinner we moved to the next room where a three piece combo began playing to a very sparse audience. Very unique - they asked if anyone had any requests,
then played whatever they wanted to since they didn't know anything that anybody wanted to hear. Andy and I tried to liven things up with a little
ballroom dancing but neither of us liked having the other one lead.
My toes still hurt (Atkins or not, he's still a big boy). Andy, being the bashful fellow that he is, was soon working the room. Among others he met a very nice "mature" couple.
I was there when the nice lady said to Al "So you're the one
who got the hole in one ... which hole was it?" I only stayed for the beginning of Al's reply "I first was introduced to golf in college ..."
The dinner and music were great but the night was still young. We head back to the Ponderosa. More friendly discussion, star gazing, drinking and we head to the
garage for stogies and scat. The evening is sort of hazy since Ike introduced me to a bottle of nice sippin port ... I think
we killed it.
Hans cuts out a little early -- he's got a long drive in the morning. All the way
home to Chicago. Hans ... you da man!
At about 2 Andy finally goes out back to take a pee. I think it was about that time the Eichler's started having trouble with their plumbing. Deprived of all
that interior warmth Andy decides he's freezing and heads inside for a rendezvous
with Hershey, Ike's great Labrador Retriever. Hershey loves the company. Does anybody
have a cigarette?
Somebody drives us back to the White House.
Saturday
We sleep in a little but all make it up to say goodbye to Hans. By 8 pm he's talking
to us on the phone from home.
Although several people threatened to play a third round of golf, that group eventually dwindles to zero. We spend a relaxing day at Ike's - throwing horse
shoes (Ike and Albert swamp Andy and Mags),
walking around the pond, following Benjamin through the barb wire and into the woods to see the creek, making a few more phone calls,
and trying to fix the plumbing. Alison notes that the last time this happened was when Fox was here too --- honest Alison, it wasn't me!
A look at the Ponderosa from the pond
Mags, Andy, Ike and I check out the Brewery Ommegang - take the tour, sample the brew and visit the gift shop. Cool place. Albert takes a nap.
Brewery Ommegang
We all make the 5:30 mass at the Parish of Our Lady of the Lake - not kidding. Nice mass. Good music. Very poignant tearful request by a young lady at the end
of the mass for people to join her in creating a gift "basket" for a firehall in New York City where her brother in law works. She talked about how they all
keep working even though their shifts are over. Nicely done.
Back to Ike's for the famous Dinosaur Ribs and Chicken -- all that you want! The boozing is a little more controlled tonight -- we try to finish calling all
of those who couldn't make it. Its nice to talk to everybody.
I drive back to the White House with Albert ... Mags and Andy follow shortly.
Sunday
One more great breakfast at the White House and we head to Ike's to say goodbye (except Albert who is dreaming about holes in one and finds himself 5 miles
outside of town when he wakes up and calls in his goodbye.) Hugs all around again and we head home.
Even though Tuesday's tragedy impeded on attendance and was always in the backs of our minds and the front of our discussions through the weekend I'm glad
those of us that could, got together. It was important.
Thanks Albert, Andy, Hans, and Mags. And a big thanks to Ike and Alison and Benjamin.
Fox