Here I am posing with a baseball trophy. I think this one was for “graduating” from Little League, which in retrospect is pretty silly. But the trophy is not the flashiest thing in this pic - those Miami Dolphin colored sneaks are quite stylish. I wonder if I could find a pair like them now...

So last night I carried my golf clubs into the basement for the winter. This year is the least I've played golf since Steve convinced me to give it a try way back in 1990- I only played three times, for a total of 27 holes. And I didn't go to a driving range even once. Not a great debut season for my fancy new clubs, which I bought at the end of last year. Still, while it was a short season for me, it was not without its highlights. I managed to "win" the little tournament that was part of Adam's bachelor party, netting me some unexpected cash. And I managed to take possession of the "Kulla Golf Champion" trophy after defeating my brothers at our traditonal venue. It's kind of like The Masters - always at the same course. Well, except for the fact that none of us are good, there's no crowds or TV, the course is very short and the primary source of fun is ragging on each others' mistakes. This year, I benefitted from some controversy that sapped the concentration of Adam & Larry on the last hole, and my par 4 sealed the deal. As you can tell, the trophy presentation was an elaborate ceremony.

My bros and I got together for our annual golf outing today, but before we hit the road we played another ancient and revered game... hackey sack. The footbag we used has been in my parents' kitchen for decades now, having even been placed back into it's spot on the top of the door moulding in the corner even after the kitchen was completely remodeled. We only played for a minute but we achieved a "hack", with all of us getting a touch before the bag hit the ground. Actually, it was a hack-plus, as a certain diminutive member of the family managed to head the ball down to the ground in classic soccer style. So off we went to golf, where I was the heavy favorite. Things were going as predicted for much of the round, and I was thinking I had a good shot to break 40 for nine holes. Then it all went wrong. I hit a bad drive on the sixth hole (the second time I had to yell "Fore!") but recovered somewhat. Then on #7 I hit a five iron along the tree line and lost the ball. I tried to keep my cool but my concentration was broken. I finished quite sloppily (two more lost balls), while Adam put together a few good holes in a row to take the win. Larry and Steve played pretty well also, and the scores were much improved from last year. There was no trophy presentation, as I had not even bothered to bring it. D'oh! It was still a great time as always, and hopefully we'll get out there one more time before it gets cold.