Monthly Archives: August 2025

Posted in travel

Alberta, Canada – Where My Golf Balls Go to Die

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by Bob Sparrow

Gang at the top of gondola

I never tire of losing golf balls in Alberta, Canada. This year’s golfing trip to Banff marked our fourth golf excursion to, in my opinion, one of the most beautiful places on this planet – the Canadian Rockies. And while the scenery, weather and company were magnificent, the golf left something to be desired. But, hey, I didn’t go there for the golf, I can golf miserably at home, and, in fact, often do . . . on many occasions. I went there for the scenery.

The group that witnessed the passing of sleeve after sleeve of my golf balls included Jack & JJ Budd, Bud & Carol Laughlin, John & Judy VanBoxmeer and my lovely wife, Linda. We stayed in two VRBO condos in Canmore (more about Canmore later), which we can highly discourage anyone for ever staying in; its only saving grace was that it was a short walk to the liquor store.

Silvertip scorecard

 We weren’t sure if we would even get in our first round of golf, as it had been raining for several days and was still sprinkling as we traveled to our first course, Silvertip. It is a visually spectacular golf course, nestled beneath the majestic mountains and cut through forests and valleys; even the scorecard is beautiful (see photo). I thought twelve balls for the three rounds of golf we were scheduled to play would be plenty for the trip. My supply was half gone by the end of the first round. But I take some consolation in knowing that they are resting in peace in a beautiful place.

Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel

The next day we took a break from golf and scheduled a gondola ride up Sulphur Mountain, just outside of Banff. Once at the top, we had spectacular views of the Canadian Rockies, Bow Valley, the historic Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel and the Bow River, where in a couple of days hence, would provide a watery grave from several of my golf balls. After the gondola ride we had lunch at a rooftop restaurant/bar in Banff. After lunch there was some differences of opinion about what to do next, so they guys got in one car and drove back to Canmore looking for a place for dinner, which was code for bar hoping, while the girls stayed in Banff and shopped.

Ice cream school bus

As I mentioned, this was Linda’s and my fourth trip to Canmore/Banff, and we thought the city of Canmore was nothing more than a couple of restaurants and gas stations along the road to Banff. But we discovered that ‘downtown’ Canmore has a really cute main street, filled with quaint, local art shops, restaurants and bars . . . and a great ice cream shop made from an old yellow school bus. We all walked back to our condo with an ice cream cone.

Our next golf experience was the following day at Stewart Creek Golf Club, which provided plenty of flora and fauna to hide several balls from various errant shots. If you’re thinking that by losing so many balls I must have shot some really bad rounds of golf, you’d be right, but it was beautiful. I found solace when I lost balls that son Jeff had given me for Christmas with a photo of their daughter, Brooklyn, on them. Jeff, please know that she is resting in a most beautiful place!

Bow River a little higher due to the number of my golf balls in it

Our final day of golf was at the Banff Springs Golf Course, which is a beautiful course with magnificent views of the Banff Springs Hotel and the Bow River. The round of golf for both Linda and me, and a top for Linda and a Banff ball marker for me (she told me they were of about equal value!), the round cost us over $1,000.00! But I was told that that was in Canadian dollars, so I was reminded of how much I saved not being in America! On this course it was the Bow River and the surrounding pine forest that collected the last of my golf balls, but Hey, I was going home the next day anyway, so I was just making my golf bag lighter . . . significantly lighter.  

Posted in opinion

DO NOT DISTURB UNTIL JANUARY

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By Suzanne Sparrow Watson

Finally, after the sports wasteland that exists between January and August, college football is returning this week. Earlier this year a friend mentioned how depressed she gets when the holidays are over. I responded that I am usually relieved when the holidays are in the rear-view mirror, but the day after the College Football Championship game? I’m close to slitting my wrists. I’ve been a college football fan since I can remember. Growing up with two brothers who were star football players in high school and college, I think it was probably a sink or swim situation. Dinner table conversations at our house always centered around sports, and never more so than in the fall, when football season was in full swing. I recall once protesting that we should talk about something “girlie”, but that dog just didn’t hunt. So, I learned to love football. I wasn’t immediately attuned to the game, however. I was a cheerleader for our local Pop Warner team and on returning home from a game one afternoon my dad asked how it had gone. I replied, “Great! We had a LOT of 4th downs!” Needless to say, I’ve increased my knowledge of the game considerably since then.

The first slate of games this year occur on Saturday and as typically happens, the games scheduled this early in the season are not really barnburners; Sam Houston vs. Western KY is one of the afternoon games. But whether by luck or good planning, the morning starts with a game between two ranked teams: Iowa State vs Kansas State. I’m not particularly invested in either team, but you can bet that I will be planted in front of my TV watching it. Hopefully eating something entirely fattening and non-nutritious. A chocolate Long John springs to mind. My husband and I used to joke that we loved our “Saturday pants” – sweats with a very forgiving waistband.

Ben Herbstreit

Next Saturday, August 30th, begins the “real” season, if for no other reason than “College Game Day” returns. I think Game Day is one of the most fun ways to start a weekend ever invented. There is humor, knowledgeable discussions, irreverent signs waved by a (mostly) drunk student body, and, maybe best of all, Kirk Herbstreit’s golden retriever service dog. Last year his dog, Ben, was the highlight of every college campus he visited, even receiving field credentials. When Ben died in November, Kirk gave a tribute to him that reflected just how much Ben meant to him, and to the entire college football community. If you can watch the video of that tribute without crying, then you aren’t human. Late last season Herbstreit brought in his second stringer, Peter, who will continue in Ben’s honored position this season.

The 2025 Game Day cast will be without Lee Corso, who announced his retirement earlier this year. Corso has been on the program since its inception in 1987. He is a quirky figure, to say the least, but he has grown on me over the years. Each week he ends the program by selecting the mascot headgear of the team he believes will win the featured game. His antics got more elaborate as the years wore on, but somehow he became more beloved. My husband used to swear that he was biased against USC (a mortal sin in his opinion) but in fact, nothing could be further from the truth. Corso has donned the USC headgear 17 times and boasts a flawless 17–0 record when backing the Trojans. Game Day has already announced that the tradition of donning the headgear will retire along with Corso. And if you can’t wait until Saturday for your Game Day fix, on Friday night ESPN is broadcasting a special tribute to Corso called, “Not So Fast, My Friend”, which is one of his signature phrases.

It’s an exciting time and I’m almost (but not quite) as excited about the NFL games. I foresee a fall and early winter that will be chocked full of football from Thursday nights through the following Monday nights. I know that I will have to make time for friends and family and I’ve done so – I’ve penciled in all of my catch-up phone calls for Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Depending on the schedule, I’m willing to forfeit an NFL game to chat, but on Saturdays I’ve got the “Do Not Disturb” sign up until the end of January. Unless you’re bleeding out, I’m not available. Fight On!!

Posted in Neighborhood

Remembering ‘The Trail Boss’

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by Bob Sparrow

For those who read our blog regularly, some of this will sound familiar, but last Saturday was such an emotional event that I simply couldn’t ignore it.  It’s the annual ‘Patrick Hike’, honoring our dear friend and neighbor, Patrick Michael, who passed away in April 2021 at the age of 61. He was an integral part of our amazing neighborhood that he helped build.  Everyone thought of him as their ‘best friend’. I never heard him raise his voice in anger, and he was just always there to add a humorous note or to help fix something with the assortment of tools he had in his garage. He was never boastful but had every right to be, as he graduated with a degree in mechanical engineering and was the owner of a very successful business that had something to do with pipes (the kind that transport stuff, not the kind you smoke!). He rarely talked about his success in business, so very few, including me, knew much about his business, which is now run by his daughter, Britney.

There’s a hole in the lineup

As I’ve mentioned here before, he was also our ‘Trail Boss’, getting several of us guys in the ‘hood to do a few hikes, culminating in 2008 with the climbing of Mount Whitney, the highest mountain in the Continental United States at 14,505 feet. Patrick and I went on to do several other hikes, including a week in the Himalayas in Nepal and a four-day hike to Machu Picchu in the Andes Mountain Range in Chile. For last week’s hike, the five remaining Whitney hikers didn’t call each other, but each of us separately decided to honor Patrick by wearing the shirt we purchased when we hiked Whitney. The photos of us together show us leaving a space for our Trail Boss and including Patrick’s wife, Pam.   

Whitney hikers with Pam

This year’s ‘Patrick Hike’ included thirty participants, counting kids and dogs, who took off at 8:00 am, on a three-mile hike in Peter’s Canyon Regional Park in the Orange County foothills. Those unable to do the hike, met with the hikers at Marc & Lisa Webb’s home, next door to the Michael’s, for an amazing potluck breakfast that was served along with Mimosas, and the famous Marc Webb Bloody Mary, which are the best I’ve ever tasted, so I think I had more than one!

Patrick Michael RIP

We have started a charitable fund to honor Patrick and will be working with Habitat for Humanity to help build something in the area for a family in need of shelter. Patrick would have been the person running this kind of project, so we’ll all be thinking, “What would Patrick do?” as we work with this charity.

Patrick’s wife, Pam remains a solid member of our neighborhood community and often hosts parties which bring us to an amazing table in her dining area that Patrick built. I literally tear up when I rub my hand over its smooth redwood finish.

We should all be so well-remembered.

Posted in opinion

MY FREEBIE BIRTHDAY

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By Suzanne Sparrow Watson

Whelp…this week I will celebrate another birthday. Actually, a rather large birthday. I won’t say how old I’ll be, but when I mentioned my age in my Pilates class last week the other (younger) participants looked at me like I was a relic from an archeological dig. They could hardly believe that I was still roaming the earth, much less making it through a 50-minute exercise class. In fairness, twenty years ago I would have thought the same thing, but somehow the years creep up and although I’m certainly not in the shape I was back then, I’m still able to move with a minimum of creaking. There are lots of reasons I’ve been able to stay in reasonable shape, foremost among them Dooley, who is a greater task master than my Pilates instructor. He goes to the dog run door multiple times a day, sometimes for good reason but mostly for the fun of watching me hoist myself off the couch to let him out and then stand there with a look on his face that screams, “Hah! Made you get up again, you idiot!”

Clint – on his birthday quest

Because of my impending birthday I was especially interested in an article in the Wall Street Journal last week about people who make a game out of collecting birthday “freebies” from businesses. They are otherwise known as “birthday freeloaders”. Their objective is to collect as many freebies as possible within the 24 hours of their birthday. The Journal story featured a Southern California man, Clint Svatos, whose goal was to break his record from last year of collecting 35 freebies. This year he dragged his children along to help eat some of the more sugar-filled gifts. Even he admits they were embarrassed by his antics. But by early evening he had set a new personal record — 40 freebies. His freebies included 10 free beverages, 14 free desserts, 12 free food items including wings, burgers, tacos and popcorn, and four other discounted products. 

Another person, Eva Larson, approaches her birthday as a marathon. She discovered that some places allow you to collect your birthday prize up to 30 days after your birthday, so this year, she spread her freebie crusade over nine days in June, which allowed her to grab 61 deals. She makes Clint look like a piker. She admitted that her birthday freebie grab has become almost a full-time job for a week, estimating that she spent at least 40 hours driving around Southern California, scheduling five to eight stops a day. And because some of the deals require that you purchase something in return for the gift, she ended up spending $258.17 to receive $509 in freebies. That’s a “profit” of $250.83 but when you add in the time spent driving around Southern California for 40 hours…well, I think Eva came out on the short end.

I don’t know…the whole birthday freebie thing seems like a lot of work to me. The sugar content alone would be enough to take ten years off of my life. This year I plan to get my hair cut, take Dooley to a “Brain Game” class (I’m not sure if it’s his or mine), indulge in a lovely dinner with friends, and then eat cake like I am “going to the chair”. I think I’m going to have to spend extra time in Pilates class next week, but unlike driving for 40 hours, birthday cake is always worth the price.