All: Cooperstown would be an excellent site for a future Bustoutathon but I think we're at least a year (i.e., 2001) from being able to properly host the event. Beautiful golf course, HoF, lake for fishing/boating, a few bars/restuarants. We have a lot of land but not a lot of rooms for participants. Stocked pond in the backyard, woods to hike in, etc. Some folks could stay here, others in the village. But by 2001, we may have some of the proposed renovations to our place done. Just a thought. Somewhere down the road, give Cooperstown strong consideration. Induction weekend is usually at the end of July. Rooms are impossible to find but the Ponderosa is about 2 miles from the Hall. We'd love to have everyone! In 2001! TE *********************************************************************** > Let's book it! > > Can we reserve the weekend that Sprewell will be inducted? > > Fox *********************************************************************** Rooms are already scarce for the Sprewell induction! Word on the street is that Mike Tyson will give Spre's induction speech ("He taught me everything I know..."). Does the name "Bustoutathon" continue from year to year or do things change according to the year/venue? 2001: A Spaced Odyssey? TE *********************************************************************** Date: Tue, 21 Dec 1999 13:29:32 -0500 From: Ike Re: 2001 in Cooperstown, I'm assuming folks would be most interested in coming over Induction Weekend. That is usually the third weekend in July with the HoF game that Monday. Hotel rooms are usually hard to come by and the crowds are impressive but I'll do whatever the majority want. Any other time, even September, will be okay with fewer crowds, easier access to hotel rooms and the beauty of autumn in upstate NY. No decisions need be made now but I'm just throwing out some ideas. ************************************************************************** Gentlemen: Let's re-visit the CyberZahm Reunion plans for "2001: A Spaced Odyssey" in Cooperstown. As you may (or may not) know, Cooperstown is a resort community with heavy tourista traffic from Memorial Day through Labor Day. This directly affects any plans that we might put together insofar as summer dates are basically out: no rooms. I did, however, speak with the owners of the White House B&B this AM. Margie and Ed are good friends and have two outstanding B&B establishments in Cooperstown. Margie and I kicked around several dates and here is what we have come up with: September 13-15 (Thursday-Saturday) or October 4-6 (Thursday-Saturday). Based on double occupancy, rooms would be $135/night which includes a tremendous breakfast (total: ~$200 for room and breakfast for three nights). This would likely be your major expense other than getting here. Albert, Fox, Mags, Andy, Kell and Willo should all be able to drive here. Since the Albany airport is 90 minutes away, it might be prudent for some of you to fly into Rochester and come in with Andy or to Boston and come in with Willo. Whatever. I envision a set up similar to the superb gig put together by Hans in 2000. Get in Thursday AM or PM with early arrivals on Wednesday staying at the Ponderosa. Golfers can golf on Thursday at the Leatherstocking to acquaint yourself with the layout in preparation for the annual tournament on Friday. As far as I know, there are no conflicts with the course being closed for a tournament or anything. Fishermen can either hang out at the Ponderosa and fish in the stocked pond or I'll arrange for a boat to fish on the lake. The only meals I'm reasonably certain about will be Friday evening at the Otesaga Hotel (cocktail reception pre dinner on the veranda overlooking the lake and the 18th green with rocking chairs for the needy) and a Saturday evening cookout at the ranch. Horseshoes for pitching will also be available at the Ponderosa. Mass on Sunday AM is at either 8 or 11 AM. Hall of Fame visits will be arranged in advance as well as setting up a tour of the archives. If the HoF President is in town, we'll try to get him for golf and/or dinner and/or a private tour. I'll take care of that. That's the preliminary preliminary plan. For those of us who arrange our autumn schedules according to the ND football schedule, 9/15 is the Purdue game, on the road, and 10/6 is the Pitt game at home. Kick this around with your families ASAP. I'm planning to get back to Margie re: rooms in the next 24 hours. If I see a clear trend toward one weekend over the other, I'm going to book it. Let me know! Your host, TE *************************************************************************** Gents: Plans for the 2001: A Spaced Odyssey continue. I think it would be prudent to start thinking about travel plans. Several of you should be able to drive to Cooperstown: Andy, Mags, Fox, Willo, Albert, Curly, Kell. I expect the others will fly: Sobo, Prep, John, Gabes, Hans, DD, Puss, Terry and Kerry. There are some obstacles that need to be addressed. The two closest airports are Syracuse and Albany, both 90+ minutes from C'town. Obviously, multiple trips to either of these sites to retrieve bodies and baggage is not feasible. Likewise, coordinating flights so that several of you can limo to Cooperstown could be difficult, but do-able. I'm trying to get some prices on limos and hope to be able to tell you more in the next day or two. Another possibility may be for some of you to fly to other cities and ride with those folks who are driving: Rochester (Andy, Curly), Philly (Fox), LaGuardia (Albert), Albany (Mags), Boston (Willo). I'd like you guys that are driving to consider this scenario. The White House Inn, where y'all will be staying, is not available until Thursday evening. I'm planning a round of golf for Thursday afternoon with tee times beginning at ~1PM. Consider driving times and arriving with enough time to get settled. I know Mags is is about 2 hours away, Andy and Curly ~3 1/2 hours. Willo is ~ 5 hours, as is Fox. Albert is about 3 1/2 hours. If you think you want to arrive Wednesday evening, let me know and I'll try to get to Albany to shuttle you back to Cooperstown. You can crash at the ranch. If you think you're leaving before Sunday, let me know (Prep?). We may need to rearrange the schedule a bit. Looking forward to September 13-16 (Thursday-Sunday)! TE *************************************************************************** I've written about ten of these itineraries over the past couple of months. Here's tonights' effort: Wednesday: Sobo and Hans arrive in Cooperstown, stay with TE. Hans will drive over from Ithaca; TE will pick up Sobo at the Albany Airport at 5PM. Others will arrive in Rochester for transit with Andy on Thursday AM. Dinner at Chez Eichler. Thursday: Arrivals from hither and yon. Willo from Boston, Albert from metro NYC, Fox from metro Philly, Mags from Albany (anyone in tow?), Andy from Rochester with Gabes and John. Dave, I believe you're coming with Andy, correct? Preps plans were still in flux. Our tee times are just before 2PM. This allows for a somewhat leisurely round that should finish before dark. I have two tee times to accommodate 8 golfers. John and Dave are not playing and will be fishing at the house in the backyard pond unless I can finagle a boat to fish on the lake (rental prices are outrageous). Last year, Andy and Gabes fished on day one. Will that be the case this year? I can probably swing another tee time if we need it. Next, check into the White House Inn on Chestnut Street. Some of you will have roommates, others will not. I'll try to get a better handle on this for you. Clean up, relax. Dinner will be at ~8:30PM. Venue TBA. Pairings draw for Friday will be done after dinner. Friday: Early tee times, ~8:30AM (I have to check these tomorrow). Breakfast will be at the White House Inn. I have cleared John and Dave to have a cart to follow if they choose. Per the pro at The Leatherstocking, we cannot bring coolers onto the course. All beer, etc. will be purchased through the grill. Dave and John will be allowed to run beers to us on the course. I'll run a tab at the grill to facilitate this. Lunch at the course will follow the round. After lunch, back to the White House for clean up. We should be at the Hall of Fame between 2:30-3PM. We'll spend 2-3 hours there. Still working on some 'behind the scenes" stuff. Next, we head to the Otesaga Hotel for cocktails on the veranda overlooking the lake at ~6PM. Dinner will follow at 7PM downstairs in the Hawkeye Grille. Depending on when we finish and who's still awake, we can walk down to the Hoffmann Street Bistro for drinks after dinner. Saturday: Breakfast at the White House Inn. Back to the Hall of Fame at 10AM for more exploring. Check out the shops on Main Street, shop for souvenirs. Lunch at the Doubleday Tavern. Check out Doubleday Field after lunch, the reputed site of the first baseball game (myth). Next, the ND-Purdue game, venue TBA (multiple good options). Relax after the game. Mass at 5:30PM for those interested. Closing dinner at Chez Eichler (here's where some of that Brooks' Barbecue may come in, Mags...) with time for drinks, scat, lies, etc. Sunday: Breakfast at the White House Inn. Masses are at 8 and 11AM. Head for home. More random thoughts: I'll have plenty of beer, wine and booze available. I'll also have some cigars (Monte Cristo Double Coronas). Available activities include horseshoes, basketball, fishing, hiking, music (600+ CD's, piano), lounging on the deck, playing cards. Ed and Margie Landers, who run the White House Inn, have assured me that we have the entire Inn. Card playing is welcome but smoking is not. There's also a pool in the back of the Inn. I'll check to see if it will still be open when you arrive. Remember, the nights can be cool in upstate NY in early autumn. Bring a sweater/jacket for the evening. It's been a very dry summer but we did have rain today. An umbrella is a consideration. Check the forecast before you leave town. If you need to reach me at work with questions, suggestions, etc, call 607-5476-3510. I may be at one of the other offices but they'll know how to find me. Home is 607-544-1387. You can call up to 10PM. Start taking your vitamins, boys! TE ---------------------------------------------- For the record, gents, Thursday's tee times are: 1:56, 2:04 and 2:12PM. I've just finished a load of emails from everyone. It looks like Gabes, Fox and Dave are definitely fishing/"other" on Thursday while John is flirting with Q School and Mags is golfing but may to be fishing. That gives us 6-8 people for golf on Thursday. We've got time to make final decisions before next week (heck, we can make them the night before) but I just don't want anyone playing alone on either day. Just give me some time to grab a couple of friends from here to fill in. Friday's Championship Flight begins at 9:00, 9:08, and 9:16AM. Anticipate 4-4.5 hours/round. This may push our visit to the HoF back an hour or so, probably closer to 4PM. We'll be back there on Saturday AM, however. Right now, it looks like Hans, Sobo, Prep, Gabes, Fox, Andy, Albert, Mags, and myself for golf on Friday, +/- John. My thoughts on this are in another email. I will round up 1-3 additional folks unless some of the aforementioned choose not to play (maybe get the early jump on the HoF). Let me know. The Leatherstocking is not a long course but fairly challenging. The course measures 6,324 yards from the green tees with a slope of 124 and a rating of 71.0, The distance from the white tees is 6,053 yards with a slope of 120 and a rating of 69.3. Water comes into play on 4 holes (5 if you really suck) and the 3 finishing holes are especially pretty and moderately challenging (the #8, 10 and 4 handicap holes, a par 4, 3 and 5, respectively). I think you'll all enjoy your rounds here. Dinner Friday evening is set for 7PM with cocktails at 6PM on the veranda at the Hotel. Attire comes into play here, as well. I suggest a pair of khakis and a golf shirt, +/- a sweater or a sport coat. I think you'll feel underdressed in jeans. Those of you so inclined may want to bring a camera. Someone mentioned "bar-hopping". It shouldn't take too long. They're all within walking distance. Most of them I've never been inside (sad, but true...). The Fenimore Museum IS awesome and sits next to the golf course. The Country Club closed on Labor Day but there are tennis courts across the street from the Otesaga if any of you wish to play. More later. TE ------------------------------------------------------------- FisherBoys: I have secured an 18' pontoon boat for your fishing pleasure on Thursday from 1-4PM. Cost is nominal: $65. Benjamin's and my fishing poles are available and my partner has at least one that you can use. Depending on the number of fishermen, I'll look for more. This should be great! The boat will take off from the lighthouse in town and you'll be sailin' smooth! Just remember, that if you're planning to fish that day, be in Cooperstown by noon so we can pull this all together. More random thoughts: I spoke with Frank Maloney today, the manager of the Otesaga Hotel. Frank has arranged for us to watch the Purdue game in a private room adjacent to the bar. Frank went to ND for a year and--you guessed it--he lived in Zahm! Great man. He'll join us for drinks Friday evening. Thursday evening's dinner will be at Chez Eichler. Beef tenderloin on the grill...red wine...beer...liquor...cigars on the deck...7:30PM. Cheaper, funner, cooler... Getting closer....