AT&T National Report #2

OK... today's report is way better than yesterday's. First off, more players arrived, including Fred Couples, Davis Love III and Camilo Villegas (who the ladies love, by the way... and has huge biceps).

I talked at length with Charles Warren's caddie, who was really cool and was as interested in what I do as I was about what was going on there. As he waited for Warren to arrive (about 10 minutes), we talked about all kinds of things. Given all of the inflated egos out there... it was refreshing to meet someone down to earth.

Also spent a good bit of time talking to a reporter from Golf Magazine. Fascinating talk with him about some of the players on the tour and what his insights were as far as their real personalities. He wrote an article recently on Aaron Baddellay, which you can check out here. I also fetched some Callaway XI's for Notah Begay (who is probably best known as Tiger Wood's teammate at Stanford).

My job for most of the day was to put out names signs as the players entered to hit balls on the range. This was easy for players that you recognized like Couples, Parnevik, Mayfair, Begay, etc... but some of these guys... the only way I could tell was by looking at the names on their bags... which are printed on the underside of the bags as you carry them. So, the trick was to discretely look at the names without the player seeing you. This was sometimes a difficult task and created for some funny moments as you wrench your body to try to catch a peek at the name. Thankfully, I never misidentified anyone...

Ok, then, at one point, I look over and Brian Mitchell is standing there on the railing. For those that don't know, Brian Mitchell is a former Redskin great that was loved by the fans (we'll forget about his stints w/the Eagles and Giants because those weren't his fault). Anyway, so I went up and introduced myself and had a short chat with him. He sounded genuinely excited to talk to me... which was weird... I'm not that exciting.

Alright... the most blog worthy moment of this came after I headed home. I decided to pick up some Phish Food Ben & Jerry's ice cream for Kelly as a way of thanking her for letting me go do all this crazy stuff. So, I go to Harris Teeter because it's on the way home. Well, Harris Teeter had Ben & Jerry's on sale for 2 for $6... so, naturally, I get two. Then, I head up to the line and realize I don't have one of those stupid VIC cards that gets me the "sale" price... No problem, I thought, because the cashier usually just scans theirs for me. Well, the "manned" lines were too long, so I go up to the self-checkout thinking I'll just ask someone that has their VIC card out to swipe their card for me.

Well, so, I get up there and look to the dude to my left to see if I can get his attention. Just as I look over....I realize it's Jason Campbell... ya... that Jason Campbell... Redskins Quarterback Jason Campbell. So, then I turn back real quick and a million thoughts go through my head. I CAN'T ask JC to scan his VIC card for me... I mean... he's a millionaire and I'll look so cheap and desperate by trying to save .75 by asking him to scan his card. So, instead, I look over and say the cheesiest thing I possibly could: "Hey Jason, Good Luck this year!"

GOOD LUCK This year...!!!!! What a dork. I could have TOTALLY made this an awesome blog entry by getting Jason Campbell to scan his VIC card for me.... but I copped out .... BIG TIME... and worse yet... all I could muster was "Hey Jason, Good Luck this year!" I carried a freaking watermelon... AGAIN.

Well, for what it's worth... he said "Thanks, Man."

So... that's my day.... more to report on Friday (I'm off' tomorrow.)