August 12, 2020

 

Today was a bit somber as it began.  For the last twenty years or so I have been organizing a golf tournament that I, for the lack of a better name, I called the Pierce Invitational.  It got the name while we were playing in Myrtle Beach when a staff photographer took a group picture of our 16 golfers and asked what she should put on the plaque when she brought me the photo back.  I said just call it the Pierce Invitational.  The name stuck and we have called it that humble name ever since.

 

Today, in Minden, Nevada is the first of five days of the 2020 Pierce Invitational.  Minden is about thirty miles south of Carson City and has a wonderful resort hotel and casino with fantastic golf courses within no more than a half hour drive.  Wednesday is always the arrival day and all the golfers get reacquainted or meet for the first time at a group social that evening hosted in my suite.  Of course, I will not be able to attend and I am a bit sad about that.  This year we have 25 golfers, down from an original 31 as 6 withdrew with fears of COVID. I knew, as I was working out in the fitness  area that twenty five guys were either flying or driving to the Eastern Sierra town downhill from the Heavenly Valley ski resort for five fun days of hanging out and four days of golf at four separate courses.

 

I was also bummed because my father had to withdraw for health reasons not related to COVID. He recently had eye surgery that he hadn’t healed properly afterwards. His eyes burn and his vision is blurred so playing golf was out of the question.  This is the first Pierce Invitational he has missed (mine as well) and I am not sure how many more he has in him.  He is eighty five years old with health and mobility issues that come with advanced age.  He is the reason I started this event.

 

Since I moved to Arizona away from my immediate family I wanted to do something that would guarantee me being able to hang with my father at least once a year.  Not that I didn’t want to hang with my mother, don’t get me wrong, I love doing that as well, but my dad always loved golf and I had been on a golf outing with another group of golfers so I thought I would give it a try and host my own tournament.  The first year we had sixteen golfers and went to Myrtle Beach.  Since then it has grown to as many as thirty two golfers from all over the place. It has become quite the tradition and I vowed to keep it going as long as my father was around to enjoy it.  I hope this is not the last year.

 

I’m off again today so I, of course, filled my hours with obligations. I’m not a fan of idle time so after lunch I had a phone conversation with a publicist that is going to help me start my own blog so I can share by NBA bubble stories with people that may be interested in what is going on in here, at least from my perspective.  I started documenting as much as I could from day one as I felt this was going to be a unique experience and I wanted to be able to recall as much as I possibly could.  She will look into getting a url, setting up the social media platforms, and assisting with getting a decent following that will hopefully result in more readers.  This was never my intent from the beginning, but it seems there is ample evidence of people interested in what is going on inside the bubble that I thought, what the hell, let’s do this.  I’m writing every day anyway, so why not share it with whoever may be interested? 

 

Speaking of interested parties after the phone call I had a forty five minute Facetime Live interview with Kristi Staab.  I have known Kristi for about twenty years, dating back when I met her at a softball tournament that I was shooting. She was a participant on one of the teams and I continued to shoot the tournament annually, her team kept coming back, and I have developed many friendships as a result of that softball tournament.  She is now a motivational speaker and business trainer and contacted me about doing an interview about my bubble experience.  I was flattered and excited about doing so today was the day.

 

It was like speaking with an old friend, although I hadn’t actually spoken with her for at least seven or eight years.  She hadn’t played in the softball tourney for several years and that was the only time I had the pleasure to see her.  Our conversation was very natural and I didn’t feel like I was being interviewed at all. It was forty five minutes of conversation. Many viewers submitted questions to her and I did my best to answer them.  I had no idea when it was over that we had spoken for that length of time.  The session was viewed by enough interested people that we agreed to do it again later on as the playoffs progressed.  I am confident I am going to experience occurrences within my sterile environment between now and then that will be of interest.  I am looking forward to the interview and the increased excitement of playoff basketball.  

 

I was supposed to have gone out and hit a few golf balls in the parking lot with Joe, one of the camera operators from New York, but the interview ran so long that wasn’t a possibility.  I decided to walk out to see if he was still there and apologize for my absence.  One thing about the grounds at the Coronado Springs is there are signs to beware of snakes and alligators.  I have not spotted on snake and I am dying to see an alligator.  I have only spotted a couple turtles swimming about the lagoon but no snakes and certainly zero alligators.  But what I have seen a ton of is lizards.  I’m not sure if they are lizards or geckos or some other species but they are running about everywhere.  They are quick as hell too.  They dart in front of you as you walk but there is never the chance of accidentally ending their life with a squish because they are just too fast and seem to have eyes in the backs of their heads. They are brown in color and some will stop once they are out of danger then bulge their throats exposing a bright red hue that really stands out against the green grass they stand upon.  I don’t know if that is a mating move or what, but it is rather amusing.

 

But on my walk to apologize to Joe, I saw a jet black lizard, a type that I hadn’t seen before.  All the other lizards were brown and this looked just like them, only really dark in color.  When he, or she, extended the red throat or whatever that ritual is, it was freaking awesome.  I stopped and checked this little dude out until he grew tired of my spying on him, then he bolted into the bushes for a little privacy.  Hey, I’m discovering something every day, even if it is only a lizard of a different color.

 

After dinner outside with some of my brethren I made my daily call home to speak with my wife.  The novelty of me being gone and in the NBA bubble is slowly eroding with her.  I can sense the loneliness in her voice, the short answers, the limited content of the conversation.  This is not a good day for her.  Some days she is excited to talk while others it comes across as a chore.  This is what I would consider the hardest part of having this privilege.  It’s not just about those of us inside the bubble but those close to us that are outside the bubble.

 

It makes me feel helpless.  Two and a half months is a long time, especially if your relationship is not conditioned to such separation. I struggle with things I cannot help with yet strive to remain positive throughout.  Luckily for me I am one of those people that can and will make the best out of whatever situation I am in.  Others don’t possess that same ability.  We are all different and that’s what makes us unique.  I sometimes wish my wife was more like me in this respect but I think that for selfish reasons.  I am sure that if she got along just fine in my absence, although I wish that were the case currently, that it might cause undo concern from my end.  The situation is not easy and it requires us both to understand from each other’s circumstance.  If I had my druthers, I would be home.  But that is not the case. Let’s put our heads down and get through this thing and really appreciate the times that we are together.  Absence makes the heart grow fonder right?  As long as absence doesn’t make the heart go wander…