A Little Tobacco in My Mustache

As promised, I'm here to give a MOvember update and show off some of my "Portraits of Guys with Mustaches on Cards" Set that I built sporadically over the past year.

Coincidentally, this week also marks my two-month anniversary of being tobacco-free (although, thanks to daily fistfuls of nicotine gum, I'm not yet nicotine-free).  After a dozen years of using chewing tobacco, my wife finally persuaded me to give up the habit in exchange for a new golf cart. 

I've already put thousands of yards of golf on these wheels so it's definitely been a great trade in my book.

So, to tie it all together, mustache cart - tobacco = tobacco-era cards featuring guys with mustaches.

Dr. Livingstone, I presume?

And, by scanning these gorgeous cards, the tobacco card itch may be the one that needs scratching to get me back in the game.  Maybe I was being a bit hasty in my wanting to sell off the Murads.  Guess I need to think it over a little more before I pull that trigger.

And, what I'm sure you've all be waiting for, the unveiling of my week-old mustache.

Isn't it fabulous? 

*crickets*

My MOvember team, Team Lame-MO, has grown to a robust 14 participants and has raised a team-record $660 so far this month.  Our goal is to raise $1000 for prostate and testicular cancer research, and I'm very proud of how we are progressing.  If you would like to donate to this very worthwhile cause, please go HERE.

Golf Cart

I bought a golf cart last week.  It's a 2004 Yamaha G22 gas engine cart, which is a much needed upgrade from the 1985 EZGo my dad and I have been putzing around the course in for the last dozen years.

Then only problem with it is that it's from a golf cart fleet, which means it's not very flashy in the looks department.  Beige and black. Plain Jane.

Well, I've solved that problem in the only way I, as the owner/operator of Manupatches and Mustaches, know how.

Booyah!!!  Mustache Cart!  Now I just need to get back to tracking down some "duckies and bunnies contact paper" like dayf suggested.

Trade Report: Who Are You Calling a Fathead?

I'm pretty sure all of the puns/double-entendres have already been made about Spankee and his Cardboard Mistress blog, so I chose to take the high road and pretend that he called me a mean name during our trade. 

Well, he didn't call me a Fathead, but he did send me one.

I've placed it next to a Gypsy Queen mini and base card of Moose and Country Breakfast, respectively.  Since it won't fit inside my library card file cabinet, I found it a home on top of the cabinet and it looks great.

And, since he already included one "tradeable", Spankee decided to add a few more Royals and a couple of CarGo Rocks.

And, the pieces de resistance, a couple of cards that I'm glad to add to two of my severely neglected collections.

Annika and John.  There's a joke to be made about the shorts in these pictures, but I haven't stumbled upon it just yet.  Help a brother out?

Thanks for the great cards Spankster!

And don't forget to (shill) bid on my current card auctions!

I've Got The Posting Bug

As I sit here watching the Golf Channel talk up the US Open which starts tomorrow, I thought I'd post something golf related.

Since my wife and I moved back to my home town of Fowler, my home away from home has become Cottonwood Links Golf Course.  In January I was elected to the course's board of directors where I am currently the treasurer.  I've had a great time on the board and so far the highlight of my tenure came this past Monday when I convinced the other members to bring something new to the pro shop: poker chip ball markers with our logo.

As I sit here typing, the chips are being produced and should be on the pro shop shelf in a couple of weeks.  So, if you ever find yourself driving through Colorado on US Hwy 50, be sure to stop by the course for a round of golf.  And don't forget to mark your ball on the green with one of these chips.

I hope to return to our regularly scheduled programing later this week when a few of the Murad and Hochevar cards I've recently purchased arrive.  Until then, I'll be enjoying the US Open in between my daily rounds at Cottonwood Links and a 3-man scramble at the course on Saturday.

Contest Results: A Big Pile of Royals and Randoms

I was one of the lucky dozen participants in the Royals and Randoms Big Pile Contest.  Luckily for me, I'm a HUGE fan of both Royals and Randoms!  Here, in classic Fave Five Fashion, are my winnings.

FIVE:  The Royals and Random Baseballers

FOUR: An Avalanche Stopper

THREE: Swingers

TWO:  Random Roundballers

ONE:  Not so random Broncos -- Eddy, Terrell, Karl, and Shannon

This was one time when I was glad to have a Big Pile dropped off at my front door.  Thanks Josh!

Trade Report: Spelunking in the Quarry

I love making trades with Johnny from Cards from the Quarry.  My Rockies collection would be piddly were it not for his willingness to send so many of his duplicates my way.  This trade was no exception.  For one of my Dexter Fowler autographs, I am now the owner of the following cards, which I'll give a Fave Five treatment.

FIVE: My first serial numbered golf card.

Incidentally, I'll soon be posting the results of the box of 2001 Upper Deck Golf cards I recently won on the Bay.

FOUR:  Heltons

The first card in the scan may be my first Helton Rookie, which means I've completed 2/3 of a Helton trifecta.  I'm definitely going to keep my eyes peeled for a Helton autograph this year.

THREE:  Tulo

TWO: A&G Relic

This was the second Allen & Ginter Rockies relic I've received in as many days and I can definitely see why people like them so much.  Very cool looking cards in hand. 

 ONE:  Mitch Maier Autograph

This is my second autograph of the eldest outfielder on the Royal's active roster, which is a horrible sentence to write because it means that 2012 is the year I realized that I'm older than an entire MLB team's outfield.  Bummer for me.

Thanks for another fantastic trade Johnny and be sure to take good care of Dexter!

My First Golf Autograph

In an effort to beef up my golf card collection, I decided to pick up a golfer's autograph.  Since I'm a budget collector, I decided to forgo the obvious (and expensive) autographs of some of the more famous golfers -- Woods, Mickelson, Nicklaus, Norman, Palmer, Player, etc. -- and select a player with which I have a more personal connection.

I selected this 2002 Upper Deck SP Scorecard Signatures card of Jeff Maggert.  While the card is not serial numbered, the autograph is on-card and very legible, which are both very big pluses in my book.

While I've never personally met Mr. Maggert, he is my best friend's sister-in-law's first cousin.  Sure, it's not the greatest connection in the world, but it's always been enough for me to root for Jeff whenever he's been on tv.

The closest I ever got to meeting him was when my dad and I followed him for a dozen holes when he was playing in the now-defunct International Golf Tournament in Castle Rock, CO.

And if the above humble-brags weren't enough, I've also swung his old Ping driver that he gave to his cousin-in-law (who is my best-friend's brother).

Anyway, I'm glad to have his autograph and I'm hoping this will keep me motivated to build up my golf card collection in the future.

Club Champion

Yesterday was the golf course's Club Championship, which I've been looking forward to for months.  Its the first one I've been able to play in for a half-dozen years for numerous reasons.  It did not disappoint.

The event is relatively laid back as the organizers allow people who are in different flights play together to ensure everyone has a cart to ride in.  I shared a cart with my Dad and here is our score card for the day.

The highlights of my round were draining a 30-foot birdie putt on hole 3 to start the day and my back-nine holes.  I ended the front side with triple bogie, bogie, double bogie, and I was not a happy golfer at that point.  Luckily I pulled my head out of my ass and threw together a two-under backside.

I also enjoyed being able to play the round with my Dad.  I usually play really well when I'm golfing with him and yesterday was no exception.  As for Dad's score, his 87 was one of his best rounds in the past couple of years.  He said he thought he posted a 105 in last year's tournament, so he improved by nearly 20 strokes. 

The fact that I played so well on the back-nine actually won me the low-gross portion of the tournament which is the title that I wanted to win.  One other player came in with a 78 and I beat him on the first hole of the score-card playoff. 

Winning the Club Championship was the icing on the cake of this summer of great golf.  I have one last tournament scheduled before the year ends as I'll be hosting a Skins Game tournament at the course for my 30th birthday in September.  It should be a ton of fun, but I doubt there is any way it is as satisfying as winning yesterday's tournament was for me as a golfer. 

Now it's time to start practicing so I can defend my title in next year's event.

Two Major Milestones

This past week I reached two major milestones at the golf course.

The first one came last week when I carded my first even-par round of golf -- one-over on the front-9 and one-under on the back-9.  It came in the middle of a day that I played 81-holes of golf.

 And the one-under 35 to end the day as I ran out of daylight wasn't too shabby either.

Then, yesterday, I reached another one of my summer golfing goals, when I played 108-holes of golf in one day.  It took 8.5 hours and 487 strokes to do, but it was some of the most fun I've ever had on a golf course.

Some of the scores didn't scan very well because I didn't write over them in marker like I usually do since the golf course superintendent said he'd hang the card in the golf course clubhouse to honor my accomplishment. 

My new goal this summer is to have a round under par, hopefully in the 60s, but I'd settle for a one-under 71.  Any other suggestions?

Sub-80 (Twice)

SURPRISE!!!!   It's a golf post, but I disguised it by not putting the word "golf" in the title so that you wouldn't skip over it while you scrolled through your blogroll.

(ASIDE:  How important are blog titles to everyone else?  For me, an interesting, descriptive, or intriguing blog title is 90% responsible for my visiting a post on most days.  And vise versa.) 

Yesterday was probably my most successful day golfing in my life.  I'll spare you all the details, but suffice it to say that every aspect of my golf game was running full-throttle and I was able to keep my mistakes to a minimum.

It also helped that there was virtually no one on the course for either round which allowed me to play 36-holes in a little over 3-hours.  I like to be able to zip around the course unencumbered by other players, so I typically try to play when its the hottest, because the heat seems to keep away the slow players.

I shot a 78 on my first 18, which is my lowest score in my career, and felt so good I decided to play a second 18, where I posted a 79. 

I was hoping to keep my low scores going today, but alas, I'm back on the 81-train.

And, for the sake of posterity, here are the rest of my scorecards from the past two weeks.

I was able to reach one of my goals, breaking 80, which leaves me with one other summer golf goal:  playing 100+ holes in one day. 

I'm fully convinced that it is achievable.

Fave Five -- Most Wanted

Every collector has a wish list of cards they would like to someday own.  Here are my Fave Five Most Wanted cards.

Number Five:  A Roy Halladay Autographed card

When it comes to my Colorado Collection (where I get an autographed card of athletes born and/or raised in Colorado), it looks like the hardest one for me to track down will be a Roy Halladay autographed card.  He is a successful and popular pitcher and it appears that he hasn't signed a ton of cards.  Therefore, he's going to be tough for me to pick up.

Number Four :    1910 Murad Tobacco College Series, especially the golf ones.

If I ever begin to venture into tobacco cards, the 1910 Murad College Series cards are the ones I'd like to focus on first.  These cards seem to be reasonably priced, which is great for me.  I also like that they feature American colleges and multiple sports.  If I am unable to collect the entire set, I'd like to at least like to add the golf cards to my collection. 

Number Three:  2009 Topps Finest #163  Dexter Fowler Autographed Manupatch Letter E

My trek to find the elusive E is so desperate, I can't even find one listed online so that I can borrow their picture of the card for this post.  Imagine the above card as an E. 

A couple of weeks ago there were two listed on eBay, but I had to let them go once they got out of my price range. 

UPDATE:  Well lookie-here.  But a 9-day auction?  Seriously?

I'm tempted to settle for the 2009 SP Authentic Letter E, which looks similar to this one. 

But I haven't become that desperate.  Yet. 

Number Two:  2007 Bowman Chrome Prospects #BC230 Luke Hochevar Rookie Autograph

I'd eventually like to have this card in the Base, Refractor, Blue, Gold, and Orange parallels.  Those are plausible pickups.    As for the Red and Superfractor parallels, those would be icing on the cake if I was ever able to afford and/or find them. 

Surprisingly, I won an XFractor of this card (which is numbered to /250) for a mere $10 last week.

Number One:  A John Stockton Autographed card

This card is in the number one spot because John Stockton is the first player I seriously collected.  As a Hall of Famer and one of the greatest players in NBA history, these cards are quite expensive.  But, it will make owning one of his autographed cards that much sweeter once I do track one down.

This Week In Golf: 5/20 to 5/29

Since my membership at my local golf course means I can play as much golf as I want and because I have a lot of free time on my hands, I thought I'd do a post every week or so (i.e. whenever I can remember to bring home the scorecards) featuring my golf scores from the past week.

05/20/11 and 05/21/11 -- I sometimes use the same card for multiple rounds. I'd love to claim it was because I am being environmentally sensitive, but it's usually because I forget to grab a new one in the club house.

Also, I noticed that the pencil marks didn't show up very well on my scanner, so I went over the scores with a pen. 

05/25/11

05/27/11

05/28/11 and 05/29/11 (with my Dad)

I'm still chasing that ellusive 79.  I've had multiple rounds where a sub-80 score was possible, but I keep letting them slip through my fingers, including yesterday's round with my Dad where I hit a drive out-of-bounds on the back-nine.  That two-stroke penalty kept me above 80.

But the summer is young and I've been playing the best golf of my career, which is encouraging.

One of my other goals is to see how many times I can loop around the course in one day.  I think 100-holes in one day (ten times around the 9-hole course) is doable.  But I'm going to have to spend some time building up my golf-stamina if I want to make it happen.

I hope everyone has a relaxing Memorial Day.

My Other Cardboard Collection: Fowler, CO

Well, we put together our house this past week.  Still no new cards added to my collection as money is REALLY tight right now.  Also, we now live about 40 minutes from the nearest Walmart or Target, so I haven't even been able to snag a pack or two while we shop.

However, my wife did surprise me by scrapping together enough cash to buy me a membership to our local golf course, which happens to be the course where I learned to golf.  The main perk of this membership is that I can play as much golf as I want, whenever I want.  My dad also has his personal golf cart at the course, so I don't even have to spend money to ride.

I present Cottonwood Links Golf Course.

Cottonwood Links is a 9-hole course, so I'll usually zip around the course a few times before I'm tired.  In fact, I played 27-holes last week in under 3-hours.  Good luck doing that in the big city.

The course is typical of courses found along the Arkansas River in southeastern Colorado: prairie golf at its finest.  The fairways are hard and fast, so 300-yard drives are not uncommon.  The greens are small and unforgiving, which places a premium on accuracy.

Unlike Omaha golf courses, the hot and dry climate means that the golf courses must water the course to keep it alive.  Since water is the life-blood of the farming community surrounding the course, tee-boxes and greens get first dibs on water and fairways are sprinkled enough to keep them a light green.  Trees are few and far between and, as you can see from the picture of the golf course above, many fairways run parallel to each other, so errant shots are not as penalizing as they are on courses found on the Golf Digest Top 100 Course list.  In between the fairways are areas of prairie grass, so at least if you miss a fairway, you aren't always greeted with a clean lie.

Some golf purists might turn their nose to Cottonwood Links if they saw it while they were driving down Colorado Highway-50, but I love it.

I love seeing groups of old-timers and local farmers rambling around the course during the week, playing for a nickle a hole after their morning chores have been done.  I love that tee-times are unnecessary.  I love heading out on Tuesday nights for Men's League where, for $2, anyone can show up for 9-holes of blind-draw scramble golf.  I love that on weekdays, no one minds a group of five or six players chasing around a little white ball.  I love that the driving range is only 150-yards deep, so no long-irons, woods, or drivers are swung until the first tee, and the range balls are a rag-tag group of reclaimed golf balls once lost on the course.  I love that most people know the combination of everyone else's cart shed in case a cart breaks down mid-round or an extra cart is need for a spur of the moment round with a large group.

In short, I'm glad to get back to my golf roots this summer.  I hope to get out there at least once a day this summer while my wife studies for her bar exam.  I also hope to be able to get a round or two in at some of the other southeastern Colorado courses, which I'll be sure to show off on this here blog.

Golf Weekend Filler: 2006 TriStar Farm Hands

Today begins my weekend of golf with two of my college golf teammates and a few of my friends in Omaha.  Today, my friend Brett (who flew in last night) and I are driving out to Gothenburg, NE, where we'll meet up with Dave who is driving out from Denver.  We'll be playing a round of golf at one of my Top 5 favorite courses of all time, Wild Horse Golf Club.

Wild Horse G.C. is a links-style course set in the Sand Hills of central Nebraska with wide-open fairways; large, receptive greens; strategically placed bunkers; and not a single, solitary tree or water feature to be found.  In other words, it's perfect. 

Just like this on-card auto.

My Other Cardboard Collection: Council Bluffs, IA

I finally had some free time on a day that was halfway warm, so I decided to go play a course that I've been wanting to play for a long time, Bent Tree Golf Club in Council Bluffs, IA, and I'm sad that I waited so long to play it. 

Bent Tree is a links-style course in the Loess Hills of east Iowa.  The fairways are wide, the greens are receptive, and there are scant few trees to get in the way of tee shots or approach shots, which is the perfect setup for my game.

The day I played Bent Tree the sky was overcast, there was a stiff breeze, and the humidity was thick, which together with the links style golf course, I felt like I was golfing in Scotland.

For my first golf outing of the year, I struck the ball well all day, but couldn't putt and chip, so I was fairly happy with the 86 on my card at the end of the day.

Bent Tree is a great course and was a nice change of pace from the typical Omaha-metro golf course.

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Also golf related, I recently received the May 2011 Golf Digest which has the annual "America's 100 Greatest Courses" and "America's 100 Greatest Public Courses" lists in it and I searched through the lists to see if any of the courses I've played received honors this year.

Sadly, I've not played any of the courses on the "America's 100 Greatest Golf Courses" and was nearly shut out of the "100 Greatest Public Courses" list.  Of the ones on the former list, the following courses are on my Golf Bucket List:

• (#9) Sand Hills Golf Club -- Mullen, Neb.
• (#15) Pacific Dunes & (#63) Bandon Trails -- Bandon, Ore.
• (#25) Prairie Dunes C.C. -- Hutchinson, Kan.
• (#29) Castle Pines G.C. -- Castle Rock, Colo.
• (#67) Cherry Hills C.C. -- Cherry Hills Village, Colo.
• (#95) Ballyneal Golf and Hunt Club -- Holyoke, Colo.

The "America's 100 Greatest Public Golf Course" list, on the other hand, did have one course that I've had the pleasure of playing:

• (#28) Wolf Creek G.C. -- Mesquite, Nev. -- I played this course three times during the summer of 2006.  The principal of the school at which I was working put together a buddy-golf trip that my dad and I joined.  We spent three days and two nights in Mesquite and played 36-holes of golf each day (and the nights were spent at the casino).  We spent a day and a half at Wolf Creek and it is one of my five favorite courses I've ever played.  

Of the courses on the Greatest Public Golf Course list, I hope to someday be able to play the following:

• (#3) Whistling Straits -- Haven, Wis.
• (#31) The Broadmoor G.C. -- Colorado Springs, Colo.
• (#39) The Harvester G.C. -- Rhodes, Iowa
• (#88) The G.C. at Redlands Mesa -- Grand Junction, Colo.
• (#95) The Chase at Coyote Springs -- Coyote Springs, Nev.

I especially love the photographs that Golf Digest includes with their annual list.  Even if I never get the chance to play any of these courses, I enjoy envisioning how I would play each hole of these fabulous courses.

Also included in this month's Golf Digest is the "Best in State" list which ranks the top courses in each state.  This list is more inclusive, which means I've played more of the U.S.'s top courses, including:

Top Ten Courses in Nebraska:

• (#4) Wild Horse G.C. -- Gothenburg
• (#6) Quarry Oaks G.C. -- Ashland
• (#7) Arbor Links G.C. -- Nebraska City
• (#9) Champions Run G.C. -- Omaha

Top Ten Courses in Iowa:

• (#8) Tournament Club of Iowa -- Polk City

Top Five Courses in South Dakota:

• (#4) The Golf Club at Red Rock -- Rapid City

I've been lucky to have been able to play so many high-quality courses and I look forward to playing many more in the coming years.  Until then, I'll spend my time dreaming of what it'll be like to step foot onto one of America's top 100 courses.

Master's Weekend

UPDATE:   The venerable Joe Posnanski has a great write-up on the results of today's round of golf at Augusta and the history of the Slum of First Round Leaders at Augusta.  And if you aren't reading Joe's blog on a daily basis, then you are missing some great stuff. 

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I'm a huge fan of golf, but not much of a golf fan.  (I'll give you a second to wrap your brain around that concept.)

What I mean by that is I spend most of my spare time thinking about golf, thinking about where and when I'm going to play my next round of golf, reading through golf magazines for tips on how to improve my golf score, searching through golf websites, swinging my golf clubs in the backyard, and figuring out how I'm going to convince my wife that I must reshaft my clubs this season or else I'll die.  So, I'm a huge fan of golf.

But  I don't follow the PGA standings, I can't tell you who won any of last years majors, I can't tell you who is and who isn't in the top-10 in the world rankings, and I have no idea which course is hosting this year's US Open.  I'm not a golf fan.

However, I do enjoy watching the major tournaments.  Today kicks off the first of four majors: The Master's Tournament (but don't ask me which Major is next, I'll have not idea).

In honor of today's big tourney, I thought I'd show off some golf cards I picked up off eBay a few weeks ago.  I got these three on the cheep, but I'm going to hold off buying any more golf-related cards until I can pick up a hobby box of some early 2000s UD golf cards.  And, as usual, if anyone has any golf cards they'd like to trade to me, let me know.