Yea! The constant on again off again rain that had plagued our area because of a last minute hurricane finally went away. We were able play once again in the annual charity golf tournament. We did have to however play through a constant wind of 25 miles an hour, sometimes gusting higher throughout the day. But it certainly beats playing in the rain. Course conditions were great and the wind did aid in drying out the course.
We did good, not enough to win but we were in contention through out the day. The format is called best ball in which each person shoots and the ball in the best position is where everyone shoots the next shot.
We were in great shape on each hole and had many birdie attempts, making many of them and only one bogey (one over par) the whole day.
We shot a 66. We were very happy.
The winning score
61.
The worst score was a 94!
So you can we we fared well, not something we could individually but as a foursome, we rocked.
There were many outstanding shots throughout the day, and a couple that would have made the highlights on ESPN. I had my share of the good, the bad and the ugly, but trust me, the good far out weighed the bad and the ugly, well, there were only a couple of those thankfully. Someone was always there to come to the rescue. Afterwards there was a dinner and prizes raffled off, which we managed to win a few, including a few rounds of golf for a foursome which is very nice.
But one of the guys is suffering with a vocal cord condition that sounds like a bad case of laryngitis. It is an on again off again problem he has had for over a year. Last year, he was out of work for nine weeks. He is in sales so you can see the problem he has. The doctors finally figured that is caused by stress and work conditions are a major cause of it. Surprisingly, by clearing his through, he is able to talk in a normal voice for about five or six words before it goes on him, long enough to drop an f-bomb or two. Very funny!
He works for my former employer. The stress part I totally understand.
I said he needs to go work somewhere else and look after his health. He didn't reply but I know he is trapped in a better job then he would be able to find elsewhere.
It was a very long day as usual. I left at 8:30 a.m. and came home at 8:30 p.m. No, it doesn't take that long to play a round of golf. Normally a round will take 4 to 4 1/2 hours to play, in a tournament one can add on one to two hours. We started off with a nice breakfast early, sign in , some putting, some driving range hits, standing around having a few beers, flirting with the beer ladies, ( who me? ) and the waiting for the 12:30 start. You can feel the excitement building as you wait and finally off we go.
I came home tired but sober, took some Nyquil as my throat was feeling bad and went to sleep. Now as I sit here, the lawnmower beckons and my moment of rest is all but over.
I can't wait until next year.
coffee time
ray
First female football scout
- Connie Carberg
The New York Jets are going to have it tough this weekend against the Dolphins and will need Tim Tebow and perhaps even some Broadway Joe to help them win.
It's not a prediction coming from some television or newspaper pundit, but rather from Connie Carberg, a 61-year-old Coconut Creek woman who really, really knows the New York Jets.
"I am not going to say they are going to lose, but they are going to have a hard time with the Dolphins this weekend," Carberg said. "I see [Ryan] Tannehill and I see the Dolphins have a very good quarterback."
Carberg has been making predictions about the Jets ever since 1974 when she became the National Football League's first female talent scout for her beloved team.
A pioneering woman in a sport teeming with testosterone, Carberg's opinions on players and her ability to spot talent by watching hours of film earned her the job and the title "Ms. Jet.
Remember Mark Gastineau? She discovered him.
"They inducted him into the Ring of Honor this year, and he wanted me to go and do the Sack Dance with him," Carberg said. "He's definitely my biggest find."
Carberg's affiliation with the Jets began when she was a teenager. Her father, Calvin Nicholas, and her uncle, James Nicholas, were team doctors. It was normal to see players such as Joe Namath and coach Weeb Ewbank just hanging around her house in Long Island.
Her admiration for the team went beyond just being a fan. She remembers conducting her own mock drafts and preparing player reports after each game.
After graduating from Ohio State University, she became the first woman hired by the Jets, as a secretary of sorts. She answered phones, made coffee, ran errands, baked pies and arranged meetings with players and fans.
"Back then it was all very different. It wasn't like the big business that it is now. People would just show up and wanted to say hello to the players," she said. "It was a one-story building and I could just go back to the locker room and say, "Hey, Joe, one of your fans is here to meet you.' "
But her job soon evolved as she impressed coaches and assistants with her football knowledge. The coaches soon began assigning her to watch film and visit colleges. They invited her into the team's draft room.
In 1975, she was asked to make the team's last draft pick during Round 17. She went with Ohio State tight end Mike Bartoszek.
"He didn't make the team, but he wasn't the first or second to be cut that summer," Carberg said.
Carberg went on to become a full-time scouting assistant with the team. In addition to being credited with finding Gastineau before the 1979 draft, she along with other scouts picked Wesley Walker, who became a two-time Pro Bowl receiver and the team's MVP in 1978. Scouts from other teams had shunned Walker because he was legally blind in one eye.
Carberg said she never really thought about the uniqueness of being a woman in a man's sport during the 1970s, and believes it was that attitude that earned her respect from the players with whom she worked.
"It was something that I loved so much. I saw an opportunity and took it and never really looked at it as a pioneering sort of thing," she said. "I worked hard on it and I think the players all saw that and consider me as one of the staff."
Carberg left the team in 1980 after her husband took a job in Coral Springs, where the couple moved to raise a family.
Carberg said she still watches football, both college and pro, all weekend. Just as she did when she was a teenager, she still enjoys taking notes during games and writing scouting reports on the players she's keeping an eye on. She returns each year to New York to attend summer camp and keeps a blog on Jets news.
Carberg, now a public relations manager with Al Hendrickson Toyota/Scion, said her loyalty to the Jets has kept her from trying to get a job with the Dolphins all these years.
"I just can't bring myself to do that. I love my Jets too much," she said.
And while almost everyone — including some Jets fans — finds it fashionable to say Tebow stinks, Carberg is not ready to sack him.
"I love Tim Tebow; he's a great human being. He's always been a winner," she said. "I just wish they'd give him a little bit more playing time."
ijrodriguez@tribune.com; 954-356-4605 or @GeoRodriguez on Twitter
