It's The Bag I've Always Wanted, And Now I Have It

Who wants to bet that my handicap index climbs from 2.3 to about... oh, 23? Haha..

Daly Uses Beer Can As A Tee...

Who thought that a Daly/Kid Rock pro-am combo would be a good idea???

Ty Keeps On Tryon

STORY

UPDATE 6/23/08

Before getting to the update, I wanted to point out that it was a big weekend for FPGPers... the big news comes from Shane of the Shane/Jay "darooks" team. Proving once again that a hole in one is 99.99999% luck, Shane made one on Saturday. Also on Saturday, David of the David/Mark team shot a remarkable 81 while playing with me at Frisco Lakes... it's remarkable because two days earlier, he shot 98. And finally, JG got to play some competitive golf on the weekend for the first time in a while... hopefully the big guy is feeling better now and can start cashing some bigger checks.

Ok, on with the update... Stan the Man has taken the lead.

BOCA BANDIT STEALS VICTORY IN MAJOR#2

The final numbers are in and the Bandit has taken the second leg of the Majors Challenge with a prize money total of $457, 298, Talonflier was second with $392,800, da Rodent was third at $370, 848, and speaking of in the rear, the Bangkok Bomber scored $219, 903. Running season total has Talonflier with $1,417,675, Bandit at $1,154,173, da Rodent close by with $1,085,692, and the Bangkok Bottomless Basket Boy at $864,622 (I don't know what that is in baht).

No Update

Sorry peeps... with the Monday playoff pushing back the updated money list and a fun trip to Wichita this afternoon (yippee), I don't have time to get to the spreadsheets this week. We'll get 'er updated next week for sure. Probably.

The Bandit Triumphs Amidst Mediocrity

The final dollar figures are not in, but Bandit will win The US Open leg on the strength of Ogilvy (T9), Cink (T14), Garcia (T18), and Mickelson (T18) for a total of 59 places. Second and third will depend on how the money falls with Talonflier finishing with Goosen (T14), Cink (T14), Mickelson (T18), and Scott (T26) for 72; Da Rodent scurried in Ogilvy (T9), Garcia (T18), Mickelson (T18), and Leonard (T36). Guaranteed to be last is "The Bangkok Boy" who suffered with Garcia (T18), Stricker (T29), Verplank (T29), and Harrington (T36) for a tidy 112. The collapse of Luke Donald (77-WD for rounds 3 and 4 respectively) clearly robbed me of victory though I am confident I will maintain a money margin going into the British. Finals figures upon release...go Rocco!!!!

Congratulations

To, well... me for taking Excal down in our US Open bet and squaring our season up.

And to The Shize, for shorting Rocco Mediate. Way to pick 'em rook!

Bandit: The Last Man With Balls

During my thread with Excal in which we were making our U.S. Open picks, I commented on the absurdity of taking Justin Leonard. I even offered Excal a $10 side bet that the Texas Grinder wouldn't make the cut. And, Excal summarily rejected my offer.

Huh?

You pick a guy with the 3rd pick in your draft, and then won't take a $10 bet on him MAKING THE CUT? Although Excal claims to "leave a little of himself behind wherever he goes" I am wondering if this is possible without functioning testicles.

However, Da Bandit emailed me this morning and said he'd take the bet, and of course when one honorable Pollack offers another honorable Pollack such a wager, the second honorable Pollack will accept. Hold on, I'm confused. Which Pollack am I? Oh, nevermind...

The bet is on, only with Da Bandit. $10. Will Justin Leanoard make the cut? I say yes, he say's no.

Thanks for a little action Bandit, and thanks even more for showing how PATHETIC Excal is.

The Picks R In

Talonflier: Donald, Mickelson, Cink, Scott, Baddeley, Goosen (-5)
el Rodent: Garcia, Mickelson, Singh, Ogilvy, Immelman, Leonard (-4)
John: Mickelson, Ogilvy, Harrington, Casey, Cink, Garcia (+3)
Sudsy Master: Harrington, Garcia, Clark, Stricker, Cabrerra, Verplank (-2)

US OPEN BET

It's that time again.

Me vs. Excal.

5 player teams. Team with the most earnings wins $50. If the winner of the tourney is on your team, that's an extra $50. I'm already down $50 from our Master's bet, but I have the first pick this time around. We'll put our picks in the comments section.

Fax - On

Johnny V., Faxon is starting his comeback. Well if shooting 79-77 is a comeback, then that's what he has going on for US Open Qualifying.

Congrats to our boy JG59. He qualified and will be kicking Tiger's ass up and down Torrey Pines.

UPDATE 6/2/08

Before getting to the update, I wanted to let everyone know that Tev made a trade last week, but I forgot to post that info. He dumped Jim Furyk and picked up Frederick Jacobsen.

Ok, here's this week's data. Jeff hasn't updated the sidebar for a couple weeks, so I'm not going to bother with sending him the spreadsheets. You can see all of the individual team data by clicking on the FPGP Data link, and then clicking on the "FPGP Picks" link in that file.

389 .... Steve T. / Tex
361 .... Stan the Man
331 .... Vic
328 .... Tev
308 .... Shades
266 .... Shize
261 .... Bandit
259 .... Shane/Jay
227 .... MG
226 .... Excal
176 .... Stevie V.
99 .... CASWAS
-5 .... DTM
-57 .... David / Mark
-95 .... Johnny V.
-169 .... Robbo
-265 .... Ryan

UPDATE 5/27/08

We have a new leader...

360 .... Steve T. / Tex
355 .... Stan the Man
337 .... Tev
336 .... Vic
316 .... Shize
311 .... Shades
263 .... Bandit
256 .... Shane/Jay
220 .... Excal
189 .... MG
185 .... Stevie V.
41 .... CASWAS
-83 .... DTM
-105 .... Johnny V.
-117 .... David / Mark
-178 .... Robbo
-318 .... Ryan

It looks like Da Bandit's move to trade Lil Timmy Clark backfired... ouch.

Remember people, THIS IS THE LAST WEEK TO MAKE A TRADE. If I don't hear from you by Friday, then that's it. You can look at the more fine grained data on the FPGP DATA link on the sidebar, if you need that kind of info to make an informed trade decision.

UPDATE 5/19/08

Before getting to this week's update, a big FPGP tip-of-the-hat to Shades... our boy played in the Charleston City Am this weekend and won his flight. Way to go Shades!

Ok, on with the update... like the great Phoenix rising from the ashes, your (not so) humble defending champ / commish has a team on the come baby, just one point behind Stan the Man. How did you guys miss Kenny Perry this year? Yikes. Anyway, not a lot of movement other than that...

361 .... Stan the Man
360 .... Steve T. / Tex
340 .... Vic
336 .... Tev
302 .... Shades
279 .... Bandit
275 .... Shize
250 .... Shane/Jay
219 .... Excal
201 .... MG
196 .... Stevie V.
18 .... CASWAS
-128 .... DTM
-141 .... Johnny V.
-172 .... David / Mark
-207 .... Robbo
-349 .... Ryan

O Omar!

Are you kidding me, -7 today!!?  Way to go Shades.

UPDATE 5/12/08

That blur you see going by? Yeah, that's Excal's team free falling down the standings. Ironic that the same weekend that Excal attended an event that featured Pete Dye, his safest short pick finishes 2nd at Dye's signature course.

354 .... Stan the Man
347 .... Tev
336 .... Vic
329 .... Steve T. / Tex
286 .... Shades
280 .... Shize
268 .... Bandit
255 .... Shane/Jay
244 .... Excal
216 .... Stevie V.
175 .... MG
8 .... CASWAS
-111 .... DTM
-112 .... Johnny V.
-167 .... David / Mark
-182 .... Robbo
-346 .... Ryan

The Good & Bad of Major Tournaments

Either your short pick is going to hurt/kill your team, or you get lucky enough that they miss the cut and help you a bit. Mr. "phoning-it-in" Appleby just keeps making cuts. Good for him, bad for me. Mr. "10 years of Q-school" Wilson luckily hasn't made too many of these cuts and when he has, he hasn't overachieved. Then there are Woody Austin and some guy named Paul. They try and make other top teams interesting.

Trade: Vic Makes His Move...

Vic has dumped Bubba Watson and picked up Jesper Parnevik.

UPDATE 5/5/08... Dead Heat!

Excal's once huge lead has completely evaporated, and he finds himself in a tie with Tev. Lots of FPGPers nipping at their heels also. Hell, even Stevie V. got back in this thing over the weekend thanks to the performance of Ben Curtis.

354 .... Excal
354 .... Tev
315 .... Steve T. / Tex
313 .... Stan the Man
291 .... Vic
281 .... Shize
274 .... Bandit
261 .... Shades
243 .... Shane/Jay
215 .... Stevie V.
183 .... MG
22 .... CASWAS
-94 .... DTM
-110 .... Johnny V.
-164 .... David / Mark
-205 .... Robbo
-353 .... Ryan

Trade Reminder

The Trade Window remains open for the month of May... as of June 1st, no more trades will be allowed.

UPDATE 4/28/08... Great Scott!

Looks like I was right about Shades' move to dump Adam Scott...

Here are this week's numbers. Shades will make 'em perty when he gets back home.

375 .... Excal
338 .... Stan the Man
326 .... Steve T. / Tex
318 .... Tev
270 .... Bandit
265 .... Jeff / Shades
251 .... Vic
249 .... Shane/Jay
245 .... Shize
198 .... MG
101 .... Stevie V.
11 .... CASWAS
-109 .... DTM
-163 .... David / Mark
-198 .... Robbo
-233 .... Johnny V.
-380 .... Ryan

Nelson Recap

Well, I hope the boys would chime in with a "great time was had by all" because I know that I had big fun. In the span of 4 days, we were able to squeeze in 72 wind-swept holes of golf, plus a day and a half at the Byron Nelson tourney. The biggest mistake I made all weekend was constantly forgetting to bring my camera with me, so there are no photographs of the group, or more importantly, Excal teeing the ball up 5 yards in front of the markers, which were already colored white.

Several wagers were made...

On Thursday, Shane and I took on Shades and Excal in an 18-hole match-play match were we used the combined score for each team. Shane and I won 6 and 5, as poor Excal was as rusty as it gets, and Shades couldn't get it going. Worse for Jeff, he proposed a "credit card roulette" game at Hooters (the match was for the tab), where he tossed his and Excal's credit cards face down and asked the waitress to pick one.... and she picked Shades'. Ouch.

My annual 54 hole match play match with Jeff started on Friday when we played 36 holes. Despite pushing him into a 6 hole deficit on the back 9 of the final 18, he closed it to just a 1-down gap by the end of the round. I took Excal as my partner in the same kind of match as the day before, and we summarily destroyed Shane and Jeff. Excal hit his MBP (that's "Maximum Beer Potential") quite early, and we cruised. Amazingly, through 54 holes, Excal was tied for "most birdies" (with a paltry 2, but still).

Saturday was Nelson day... the course looked good, and the players were struggling. A great combination. There were two groups on the par 5 7th tee during the afternoon... sucks for them, but I like to see the pros playing in the same slow conditions as us hacks from time to time. Shades and I officially have man-crushes on Adam Scott.

We were a man-down on Sunday as Shane couldn't handle the Dallas lifestyle... too much drinky drinky, and he couldn't get himself out to the golf course. Shades won the first 3 holes to go 2-up on me, before giving a couple back. It was back and forth most of the day, until he hit an iron shot into tap in birdie range on 14. When I left my 30 footer for birdie short, he was 2 up with 4 to go, and he was getting a stroke from me on 18. Not good. A par and birdie on 15 and 16 pulled me even, and then it was finger nail biting time... The 17th was a 180 yard hole with swirling wind. At first I thought the wind was in our face, and I had a 5-iron,... then it seemed to switch to our back, so I grabbed a 7. Then I didn't know what to do, so I just said "screw it, hit a hard 6", and I got it up about 25 feet from the hole. Shades hit his a little right into a chipping area and made a great chip shot to tap in range. We both parred... all even on 18. You could cut the tension with a knife... even Excal managed to stay quiet. 18 is a tough driving hole... I found the fairway, but Shades was in a fairway bunker... he hit a great shot from about 165, but it flew long and was over the green. I had wedge in and chunked it a bit, and left myself about the 50th 30 foot birdie putt of the weekend. Shades chipped his up about 8 feet from the hole, which was a good shot... that putt was to win The Cup. He got over the ball, said "trust it"... and then backed off. Uh oh.

He missed it.

I tapped in for par and we finished "all square". We've always played this match with Ryder Cup rules, in that the current holder of The Cup keeps it in the event of a tie.

Phew.

So, 72 holes of golf, 72 (at least) bottles of beer, many laughs, etc. I don't anticipate touching a golf club for a few weeks... I'm burned out and my wife would kill me.

Nelson Weekend...

Let's just say that it was an exhausting weekend... Shane and Excal are on their way home, and Shades is still here. He won't be taking The Cup with him.

I'll do a recount tomorrow... I'm too friggin tired now.

Oh, and thanks Adam Scott!

Nelson Weekend, Day 1

Amazingly, all of the boys made it to Dallas despite ridiculous storms on Wednesday night/Thursday morning. Shades and Shane made it in Wednesday night, with Excal joining the crew on Thursday. We spent the morning and early part of the afternoon at the Byron Nelson on Thursday, most of which was spent watching Shades' friend and badges provider, Tommy "Two Gloves" Gainey. Although the Four Seasons course was an absolute mess/disaster last year, the $10 million that they put into it over the last 12 months has made it pristine. If the Tour players gripe about these conditions, I may have to stop watching golf.

Speaking of mess/disaster, we played 18 in the afternoon... and it wasn't pretty. Lots and lots of crooked letters. Excal told me that he had not played in 4 months... never a good thing. We set up a little match pitting me and Shane against Shades and Excal... and it was never close. The match was match-play format (i.e., no carry overs), total combined score per team per hole. We won the first 3 holes and never looked back, eventually putting Team Excal down 6 and 4. The individual scores were pretty ugly... I had 78, Jeff was in at 91, Shane was in at 92 and Excal put up a 97. We were playing in 30 mph winds, which was tough... but still. Yikes. Anyway, thanks for dinner guys!

We have 36 holes planned for today. Several matches going on today... Jeff and I will play for our trophy that we've passed back and forth for the last 10 years. Jeff is also taking on Shane (giving him 6 strokes) and Joel (giving him 10). I'm going to propose another team bet with me taking Joel... we agreed to let him move up to the white tees today because he was reallllly struggling from the men's tees yesterday (we didn't even play the tips). I'm expecting a big come back performance from the big Canadian.

I'm taking the camera out with us today, so tune in for some photos/b.s. tomorrow.

JG's Cobra Ad

Pretty cool ad... great acting too!

UPDATE 4/21/08... Bunchin' Up

Here is this week's update...

389 .... Excal
347 .... Stan the Man
284 .... Tev
276 .... Da Bandit
259 .... Shane / Jay
248 .... Jeff / Shades
238 .... Vic
217 .... The Shize
204 .... Steve T. / Tex
173 .... MG
108 .... Stevie V.
-47 .... CASWAS
-79 .... DTM
-178 .... Robbo
-211 .... Johnny V.
-254 .... David / Mark
-359 .... Ryan

Trade: Da Bandit Makes Da Move...

Da Bandit is dumping Tim Tim Timay! Clark and picking up Davis Love.

Our next update will reflect this change.

There are two great truths in golf...

1. "The Masters starts on the back 9 on Sunday..."
2. "The FPGP starts once Bandit makes a trade..."

The game is officially on now.

FPGP Summit

The top 5 teams in the FPGP will all be in Dallas next week (Stan and I already live here, Shane, Jeff and Excal are coming into town). The plan will be to play golf, watch golf, and eat/drink like champs. I have 4 rounds of golf planned for the boys, and we'll also spend some quality time at the Byron Nelson tourney. Good times shall be had, and photos, scorecards and other relics of the weekend will be featured here. Remember last year when Joel was in town for The Colonial and he surprised me with his mime outfit... who knows what the Clown Prince of the FPGP has in store for us next week?

Stay tuned...

UPDATE 4/14/08... "Da Rooks" Make Big Move

Well, well, well... Excal dodged a MAJOR bullet yesterday as Steve Flesch not only looked physically like Shades, but he also started playing like him. Still, Flesch's finish was enough to give him a decent paycheck and drop Excal back to the field where he now holds a very thin margin over Stan the Man.

And how 'bout Da Rooks? The Shane/Jay team was the only among us to have the foresight to have lil Trevor Immelman on their squad, and it paid off huge dividends. This former cellar dwellar team is now in 4th place.

One in the books!

The kickoff event of the Major's Challenge is in the books, but I believe this is my hymen popping victory. The dollars are not in as of yet but my team holds the highest finishes. Talonflier (Cink-T3, Harrington T-5, Mickeslon-T5, Furyk-T33); Rodent (Harrington-T5, Mickelson-T5, Goosen-T17, Scott-T25), Bandit (Harrington-T5, Mickelson-T5, Goosen-T17, Rose-T36), and Voodoo (Cink-T3, Goosen-T17, Furyk-T33). Voodoo jinxed himself with all the talk of easy money. So, it just a matter of how much...but I think it is close enough to keep everyone very much alive for the season title.

MASTERS SIDE BET... TEX V. EXCAL

It's that time of year once again... the birds are singing, the bees are buzzing, the azaleas are bloomin' and Excal and I must wage war with each other in our traditional Majors Side Bets.

The rules are the same as always. We each pick 5 players in draft format. The team that nets the most earnings wins $50. If a team includes the winner, that's an additional $50. Tiger is off the table.

As always, we'll do our draft in the comments section of this post. Having destroyed Excal in these little wagers over the years, I will once again allow him to start the season off with the first pick in the draft. I'll get first pick for the US Open, he'll go first for the British, yadda yadda yadda.

OK, Excal... it's your move. Take Mickelson and get it over with.

UPDATE 4/7/08

Bob Estes' performance solidified Stan's position in 2nd place, and Chad Campbell helped me inch a little closer to the money (look out Jeff, I'm in your rear view mirror). Excal is still running clear away from the pack though.


445 .... Excal
374 .... Stan the Man
239 .... Jeff / Shades
216 .... Tev
212 .... Steve T. / Tex
209 .... MG
185 .... Da Bandit
184 .... Vic
157 .... Shize
120 .... Stevie V.
104 .... Shane / Jay
-32 .... CASWAS
-51 .... DTM
-198 .... Robbo
-326 .... David / Mark
-356 .... Johnny V.
-421 .... Ryan

Adam Scott's intials this week: WD

New Tex tells me on Thursday how bad a decision it was to drop Adam "all the talent, but all the missed expectations too" Scott. Maybe it was, but maybe he just jinxed him too.


Sydney Morning Harold story about Scott's WD.

Communication Breakdown

The Shane/Jay (aka, "da rooks") team and I had a little communication breakdown last week with some email problems. They intended to make a trade, but the email came through my junk mail and I didn't see it until this week when Jay emailed me to see what was going on with the standings. As such, I'm allowing the trade to go in like it should have.

The boys dropped Ian Poulter and picked up Mathias Gronberg.

Next week's update will reflect this change.

UPDATE 3/31/08

Not a lot of movement this week...

Romero not the only happy one

If New Tex was watching golf on TV today, I bet he was giddy over Woody Austin's topped ball in the ruff on 18 and then having Woody shooting his 3rd shot on the par 5 into the water right of the green. The Dart Throwing Monkey (DTM) may be throwing darts, but it was New Tex who seemed to dodge one where it hurts today thanks to Woody.

UPDATE 3/24/08

Excal's rear view mirror is officially clear... the man is pulling away. After a solid top 5 in Puerto Rico, even Kevin Stadler is hitting on all cylinders. The battle for 2nd and 3rd is getting tighter as well.

Way to go Shize

The trade for Ogilvy is going to pay off nicely, even if he did try to limp his way to victory.

This Week's Trades

I (New Tex) am swapping out Jim Furyk and picking up Adam Scott.

Shades is dumping Robert Allenby and picking up Ian Poulter.

Stevie V. is saying sayanara to Chris DiMarco and taking on Ben Curtis.

So it is written. So it shall be done.

Trades

In an attempt to stay as transparent as possible, I'm going to put it out there that I am making a trade this week. I'm going to email Shize and tell him what the trade is, so that no one can accuse me of sniping them if the same trade comes in tomorrow or Wednesday. I'm emailing Shize because he's the only person who already pulled off a trade that couldn't pull off another one (so that eliminates Jeff). Plus, no one talks to Shize, so he won't give my genius away!

UPDATE 3/17/08... March Madness Edition

It's March, so you know what that means... DUKE will play well!

Duke's performance this week was a real kick in the crotch to those of you who shorted him... and to Jeff who told me he was about to pull the trigger to trade for him, but didn't. Ouch.

Here are the standings this week, which include last week's trades:

432 ... Excal
320 ... Jeff/Shades
299 ... Tev
277 ... Stan the Man
239 ... Steve T./Tex
233 ... Vic
162 ... Da Bandit
159 ... Shize
131 ... MG
18 ... DTM
-29 ... CASWAS
-35 ... Stevie V.
-45 ... Shane / Jay
-247 ... Robbo
-308 ... Johnny V.
-324 ... Ryan
-326 ... David / Mark

TRADES

Three trades this week.

CASWAS trades Adam Scott for Shaun Micheel.

Shize trades Jim Furyk for Geoff Ogilvy

DTM trades Henrik Stenson for Jerry Kelly (this was done with the same random number generator that "picked" DTMs team in the first place, but I made an executive decision that even a Dart Throwing Monkey would dump a guy with no Tour membership).

These trades will be reflected in next week's standings.

Trades

I have at least 3 trades to post, but will wait until tomorow morning to do so. Well, I am going to be in Birmingham, AL, so it may have to wait until Friday. Not sure if the internets make it all the way down yonder.

Butch Harmon Is A Jackass

I am sick and tired of the Cult of Personality among golf instructors and this has put me over the top. If Harmon wants to "drop" John Daly as a client, fine. But for him to make comments about how Daly is more interested in getting drunk than playing golf... that is way over the line in my opinion. Who the hell is Butch Harmon to make such a judgment call, and who the hell gives a rats ass about his opinions anyway? This is the same guy that Tiger dumped, right? Just checking. Too busy to invest his time and efforts... what a complete and total prick. Yeah, keep working with a bunch of wealthy 17 handicappers Butch... you're doing the game a real service.

Jackass.

Is Daly wasting his talent? Probably. But I think this was Harmon's chance to grab a much needed headline, and that is despicable. Maybe I'm just a sentimental, overweight, occassionally hard drinking, erratic golfer, but I've always wished the best for Daly and will continue to do so. If he wants to waste his talent, that's his business. If sponsors want to continue to give him exemptions, that's their business. I know this... I'll be in Daly's gallery at The Nelson this year, and I won't be alone. And if he misses the cut, at least I know where me and the boys can find him... at the local Hooters.

Give 'em hell John.

BTW, we are having a mini-FPGP outing at the end of April... Excal, Shades and Shane will be in town for some "golf". If anyone else is interested in coming down, let me know... we have plenty of room at Casa d' Tex.

UPDATE 3/10/08

Here is this week's update, our first during the so-called "trade window". We'll do our best to update every week during the trade window so everyone can make informed trades. If you want to look at more precise FPGP Data, click on the FPGP Data link on the right. Until I can figure out Google Spreadsheets a little more, I'll refer you to the link on the right because the actual link may change from time to time, but I'll keep it accurate on the sidebar.

Anyway, on with the update... Jeff has slid into the 2nd spot in Excal's rear view mirror, slightly ahead of Stan the Man. Vic remains in striking distance, with Tev chugging along. I'm holding down my permanent spot in 6th, and then it drops off pretty fast. Shize continues to lead the rookie class, but that is not the most impressive feat considering this year's group. The Dart Throwing Monkey (DTM), my "random" picks, is ahead of 4 players. Pathetic. BTW, DTM is making a trade to get rid of Henrik Stenson, so he may gain on everyone else...

LET THE TRADING BEGIN

Trading is now available, and will be for a couple of months. As a quick reminder:

1. You can make 1 trade, for $20.

2. If you make a trade during a tournament, it will not be effective until the next tournament.

3. You may trade for a player who is ranked LOWER than the player you are dumping on the 2007 money list.

4. Any (presumably) negative points that your dumped player "accumulated" is erased. It's like they never existed on your team.

5. You get the benefit of the new player going forward... so their "trade rank" is where they were on the week that you picke them up, NOT their 2007 money rank. Also, you only get the benefit of the dollars they earn going forward.We'll have this week's update up soon.

Shot of the Day: JG

Link

Ok, it's a nice putt, but seriously... no one knocked it stiff from 180 today?

If only he could really putt....

Bay Hill Invitational Field

This may only be a partial list.

http://www.arnoldpalmerinvitational.com/GUIDE/pairings.aspx

O-Man is the worst pick of the year?

I realize the O-Man hasn't done squat, but he is far from being the worst pick of the FPGP year-to-date. In fact, the O-Man is in positive points as of right now. Who is the worst pick? That pick would be Henrick Stenson. After that there is Sean "Anyone know a good sports psychologist" O'Hair, Tim "The shortest guy to use a long putter" Clark, and a few more in negative numbers that would compete for "worst pick of the year".

Check out the point totals YTD on the FPGP Data page.

UPDATE 3/3/08

Excal is cruising... his team is a near perfect blend of players. He's not hanging his hat on any one guy, and they are pretty much all producing for him at this point. A Tour de Force. Unstoppable? Perhaps. I know this... we all better start pulling for Paul Goydos and Steve Flesch.

Better short pick: Calc or Duke?

With Woody Austin making at least $130K in the Accenture Match Play thru Friday, it looks like either Calc or Duke could be the best of the short picks. Ken Duke made $1,927,102 on the PGA Tour last year, while Mark Calcavecchia made $2,993,332. Both players may have way overachieved last year. Time will tell, but with short picks in the FPGP consisting of Steve Stricker, who is over $1 million in earnings and KJ Choi, who is over $1.3 million in earnings, it could be Calc or Duke that turn out to be the best short pick.

I'll keep hoping that Mark Wilson finds a way to miss cuts and in no way defend his win at the Honda Classic in 2007. And as for Mr. Appleby, damn you ESPN's Jason Sobel. I listened to your comments on Appleby and all he has done is overachieve this year. If Appleby is going through the motions, I bet New Tex will be psyched when Appleby applies himself. Couldn't Appleby do what other foreign golfers have done and hang out in Europe until March. Nooooooo. That would have been the right thing to do. Instead he has to come here and have top 10 finishes and beat Mickelson in match play. Damn you Appleby. Damn you!

And The "Experts" Pick?

He's in the Honda field, but will he show up?

UPDATE 2/24/08

Huge movements this week people. Huge. The problem is, most of them were backwards. There are a lot of picks out there who made their first (small) check this week at the WGC, and yikes,... putting those checks on the board killed some guys.

Also, I invoked the Gossett Rule this week. Enough guys have had a check, and there are 221 players on the money list now, so it was time. Only a few players were affected:

Darren Clarke
David Duval
Brad Faxon
Brett Quigley
Henrik Stenson.

Yes, Henrik Stenson. If you know "Ryan" you may want to tell him he has a problem with his Stenson pick (so does the Dart Throwing Monkey). Turns out, Stenson is not listed on the Money List, which means he got Gosetted. I'm thinking that Stenson is not a member of the PGA Tour this year, and as such, won't get listed on the Money List. Now, if Ryan were actually competitive and not hitting new lows in FPGP history, I'd suggest he trade Stenson as soon as possible. But frankly, it's not going to be worth the $20.

Let's Start A Movement

On another thread New Tex reminded me to rekindle the revolutionary forces to end the season after the Tour Championship. Look people, it makes no sense to trash the season with events that wouldn't even make coverage on "the ocho". Let's review these quality events:

Oct. 2 - Oct. 5 Turning Stone Resort Championship Atunyote Golf Club at Turning Stone, Verona, NY
Everybody knows Verona is "mobbed up". This whole event was developed to wash money. Let's not become co-consprators in a Ricoh case by lending FPGP validation to this event.

Oct. 9 - Oct. 12 Valero Texas Open La Cantera Golf Club, San Antonio, TX
Isn't Valero that company that films porn flicks?

Oct. 16 - Oct. 19 Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals Open TPC at Summerlin, Las Vegas, NV
Too easy, it has Justin Timberlake and Shriners in the name. One sings like he has an enlarged prostate and the Shriners are the reason we suffer through Avodart commercials on every PGA broadcast. If I see that miniaturizing bastard crumple up that clay boulder one more time...

Oct. 23 - Oct. 26 Frys.com Open Grayhawk Golf Club, Scottsdale, AZ
If you want a 42" flat screen for $199 then go to Fry's, if you want a quality event, stop after the Tour Championship.

Oct. 30 - Nov. 2 Ginn sur Mer Classic at Tesoro Hammock Beach Golf Club, Palm Coast, FL
I only have three things to say here" N-F'n-L. It's the Palm Coast people. You can watch the greatest team sport or a bunch or painted up NY yentas and their mates in poly and plaid watching tour players make a dying grasp at "spot last" on the money list while the observers test the tensile strength of their pull-ups.

Nov. 6 - Nov. 9 Children's Miracle Network Classic Walt Disney World Resort, Lake Buena Vista, FL
A great cause yes, quality play...hardly. The miracle is if anybody in the top 150 plays. This is a Mickey-mouse event, literally.

I rest my case. Let's not cheapen the FPGP, er..any further.

Nope, DiMarco might be the worst pick

Found this on the internet(s):
Chris DiMarco of America and home favourite Yong-eun Yang, one of a select group to have got the better of Tiger Woods in recent times, have added their names to the field for next month’s Ballantine’s Championship.

The first-ever European Tour event to be staged in Korea, it will also field reigning Open Champion Padraig Harrington of Ireland, Korean No 1 and World No 8 KJ Choi, Ryder Cup stars Colin Montgomerie and Paul McGinley and the man they call the 'Great Dane', Thomas Bjoren.

Between DiMarco's XM Radio show and now this stupid travel to the other side of the world during the PGA Tour season, I have a feeling that DiMarco was too high on the 2007 money list. He sucked on the west coast and unless he does something good at the Honda, this could be a lost year for DiMarco and for just another of a string of bad picks I've made this year.

Better FPGP Team: Shades or CASWAS?

While we are throwing out the early season questions, I'd thought I'd toss this one out there. Which of Shades' teams has a better chance to cash, his original "Shades" squad, or the one he assigned to his kids' initials, "CASWAS"?

Both teams have Nick "holy crap, this isn't the Nationwide Tour!!!" Flanagan, and Omar "could someone get me a phonebook so I can boost myself up to see over the steering wheel on the golf cart" Uresti, and of course David "I'm free this weekend, you guys want to go snowboarding?" Duval, so they don't factor into the equation. It also says without question that these were the most sure picks that Shades could come up with, as they are the base of both of his teams. Uh yikes. And double yikes for me for having two of these ass clowns on my team (Duval and Flanagan). Stupid Kool-Aid.

Let's look at the short picks... Shades chose Mark Wilson, a man who spends more time in Q-school than Excal spends at his local bar. Unlike Excal though, Wilson seems to have kicked the habit, and is having a wonderful little start to his year. Always nice to see a journeyman do well out there, unless of course you short him. CASWAS shorted Stuart "foreign player with all his success in America" Appleby, who's also off to a good start. Hmmm... two bad short picks, it's hard to figure out which will be "better"...

The rest of the teams look like this...

Shades: Robert Allenby, Ben Crane, Phil Mickelson, Tag "you're it" Ridings, and Chris Stroud.

CASWAS: Chris "Duval without the major" DiMarco, Dudley "do right" Hart, Jeff Overton, Justin "I actually am a foreign player and won't play much here" Rose, and Adam "I played like Eve against Aquaman the other day" Scott.

Hmmmm... I don't like either of these groups as a whole. Lots and lots of risk, particularly when you factor in the short picks that are killing both teams, and the "base" that has made exactly 2 cuts between them. Tough choice, tough choice... it's like picking between root canal surgery and a colonoscopy (discuss!).

Here's a more sporting thought... COMBINED will these teams crack the top 3?

Respectfully submitted,
Steve "I hate my team too, but screw it, I won last year" T.

Way to go Boo...

Boo Weekly just beat down Sergio Garcia at the WGC Match play. Scorecards here.

I for one am glad to see El Nino go down to Boo. It's been reported a good bit and you may remember that Boo kept an incorrect scorecard for Sergio last year, which Sergio subsequently signed. And of course, Sergio was DQed. There were reports that Sergio wanted "revenge". As ridiculous as this sounds (that is, "revenge" on a golf course), if it is true... REVENGE FOR WHAT? Back in the day, I played in my share of USGA Qualifiers and other Am tourneys, and surprise surprise... we were reponsible for signing a correct scorecard even though one of the other players in the group kept the score! If I ever signed a wrong card and got DQed, I don't think I'd blame the guy keeping score for me (afterall, adding 6s and 7s can be quite taxing).

Sergio is a such a little punk/bitch.

Oh, and with apologies to Excal... who the hell carries two putters???? Exactly what level of yips do you have to have to sacrifice a club in your bag (note to Excal: you can only carry 14 clubs) so that you can have TWO putters? This is the guy that was going to overtake Tiger? Don't hold your breath. It sickens me that this over-rated hack continues to get the cool endorsements, while more talented players just continue to grind it out week in and week out.

And... scene.

Poor Franco

From the comments left on some blog posts about one golfer and from some known issues with another golfer, it seems that poor Carlos Franco will have to suffer for the first two rounds.

11:35 am
Gamez, Robert
Franco, Carlos
Uresti, Omar

Watch out Carlos. I don't know much about Omar, other than the fact he has no short game, but Gamez cheats. Saw him do it myself. So Carlos, walk on the other side of the fairway and watch your back, unless Omar is hitting toward you. As long as you are near the flag or more than 40 yards away, he can't hit you with his shots.

Live Brackets

If you're looking for live updates of the WGC Match Play tourney, you can find them here.

MDF (Made cut Did not Finish)

From Jason Sobel's ESPN Article:

For those against "Rule 78" -- and that seemingly includes most PGA Tour players these days -- Exhibit A of their argument was on display at Riviera. When John Merrick missed a 4-foot par putt on the final hole of his continued second round Saturday morning, it meant that instead of 79 players making the cut, with those on the number (would have been nine total players at 3-over) not being eligible to play 36 more holes, there were 78 who reached the weekend -- the maximum number allowed to compete for all four rounds.

And -- surprise, surprise -- some of those who otherwise wouldn't have gotten a chance to play made the most of their opportunity. Marc Turnesa shot 67-70 over the weekend to rise from a share of 70th place through 36 holes to a T-22 result at the end of play on Sunday -- his best career PGA Tour finish.

Turnesa won $53,044 instead of ruffly $10-11K he would have won if he didn't get to play over the weekend.

UPDATE 2/17/08

Here's this week's update... Brandt Jobe's ability to make a cut was a biggin' for Stan, who is now just 1 point behind our favorite Canadian. Meanwhile, Adam Scott and David "The Lil Grinder" Toms' ability to make a cut was a real killer for team David/Mark. It's a long season boys... just because you are twisting your ankles and pulling hammies early shouldn't be a concern.

Uh huh.

I am going to kick in the Gossett Rule after next week... most of our guys will have some $$$ by then, as the WGC gives it away for losing in the first round.

Round of the Day...

Big props to JG today, who tied Mr. Smiles, Matt Kuchar, for the low round of the day at Riviera (67). Great stuff. I think I can speak for a bunch of us when we say "great for you, but what happened to starting off slow and getting hot in the summer? You were at the top of my FPGP trade list!!"

Couldn't have said it better.

David Duval: pain in the neck

By Kevin Robbins [The Statesman - Texas newspaper?] | Friday, February 15, 2008, 11:22 AM

Get it? Get it? Sometimes I just can’t resist cheap wordplay.

The first, last and only PGA Tour player to decline (such a gentle, misleading word) an interview request from me because I didn’t actually watch him play all 18 holes withdrew yesterday from the Northern Trust Open after one birdie, three pars, six bogeys and a double. David Duval cited “neck pain.”

Love that irony.

I supposed I’d be hurting too if I were 7 over par after 11 holes — and I haven’t played a regulation round since Dec. 7.

Duval now has missed three cuts this season in addition to the WD.

Enuff with the Leadbetter

If you get Golf Digest magazine you will see that David Leadbetter is on the cover. Is it me or is this one of the most overrated guys in the golf industry? I'm sure he is a good teacher, but do we need to get Leadbetter over promotion every week. And now Golf Digest is over promoting him this month. Let's not forget this is the same guy who instructed Michelle Wie and Ty "Keep on" Tryon. His best student may be Charles Howell III ("3 Sticks") and he may be one of the best inconsistent players on the PGA Tour.

Don't get me wrong. I'm sure he's working with some good guys on tour. My point is that as a fan of the tour, I'd rather see the shot maker and not the swing maker.

And don't get me started on Butch Harmon.

E is like +3 at your home course.

Team G, what happened? Even today at a golf course just a short, but beautiful view from your alma mater. Just kidding of course. Watching on tv (in HD), I've never seen more putts go the opposite way then the players were thinking they were supposed to go.

By the way JG, what is your handicap? +2, +3?

Profiling Steve...I just don't see it!

UPDATE 2/11/08... Excal "Ridings" A Wave of Points

Do you see what I did there? "Ridings" a wave of points? Because Tag Ridings had a top 10 and gave Excal a huge boost?

Sigh.

Thought/Question of the day: Has this pool ever seen a more amazing fall from grace than Robbo's? Ever since he pulled the trigger on that suspect Rocco Mediate trade two years ago (the famous "feets don't fail me now" season), his teams have been awful.

The Law

You're damn right it's profiling! Some allege that I have an "ethnic" look. Hmmm -- this is probably why my baggage always gets scrutinized when I re-enter the U.S.

Robbo forgot to note that he almost got me shot when I attempted to answer his phone call while still at the scene. Police officers do not take kindly to motorists reaching inside their computer bag while they're issuing citations.

As for New Tex, I actually have had a few bad incidents in golf carts. A quick left turn while heading downhill in a fairway threw my sister out and she broke her elbow (why no seatbelts?). I backed, and got stuck, in a fairway bunker (would have been there a while if not for the assistance of former Saint's receiver Eric Martin). And I apparently failed to adequately secure the parking break -- although I contend equipment malfunction -- so, the cart sped rapidly downhill toward a small lake (I was busy lining up an important putt). Thankfully, it hit a tree and didn't get wet. I made the putt ---

A Sign Your FPGP Pick Sucks

Omar Uresti - 2nd Round at Pebble Beach on Friday
Play by Play for the Par 5, 543 yards 18th Hole

Shot 1: 256 yds to left fairway, 273 yds to hole
Shot 2: 212 yds to left fairway, 69 yds to hole
Shot 3: 55 yds to green, 42 ft to hole <---- 42 feet to the hole from 55 yards?????

Yo! Omar. Practice your short game!

Vodanovitch: Roadway Menace or Libertarian Traiblazer?

Witness the recent cage match with your favorite FPGP Libertarian Steve "Mr. 38" Vodanovitch going up against Escambia's finest. On this sunny day our fellow FPGPer racked up his 38th ticket...no there were no balloons, no confetti, and no $1000 shopping spree. Our lectern-jockey, at the tip of the taser, issued no sarcasm and opted not to reach into his overflowing cornucopia of expletives, not even a muted "don't tase me bro" flowed from his cajun cakehole. No worries my friend, that traffic point system is as meaningless as those pesky speed limits, registration stickers, and that cumbersome seatbelt. Pishaw, pishaw, a bench warrant is no reason to give up your Nathan Hale attitide, to sacrifice your pride..that should be reserved for when you start begging students or da Rodent for rides.

UPDATE 2/4/08

Here is this week's update, and you can see all of the data here. There are 3 tabs at the top of this link, one that opens up when you click in that shows how the individual points are made, another that has all of our teams and "leaderboard" and one that is labelled "accounting" which is just how I keep track of the money into the pool.

422 .... Excal
409 .... Da Bandit
326 .... Stan the Man
305 .... Tev
291 .... MG
284 .... Vic
274 .... Steve T.
247 .... Shades
210 .... Stevie V.
111 .... Shize
85 .... CASWAS
62 .... DTM
-15 .... Shane/Jay
-30 .... Johnny V.
-37 .... Dave/Mark
-44 .... Robbo
-75 .... Ryan

FPGP DATA

If you want to see the actual data used to calculate the standings, you can click here. I've put this link on the sidebar as well, so you can come back from time to time and check my math.

Now... if there is a mistake, try not to get your panties in a wad. It will be easily corrected. I do suggest that everyone looks at their players to make sure I have the starting values correct.

UPDATE 1/28/08

Here is your first update of the year... it's a marathon not a sprint, yadda yadda yadda... still, not surprising at all that Bandit jumped right out of the gate and into the lead. The man is a machine. Also not surprising is that the newest bigmouth to the pool, "The Shize" is plugging away with a whopping 12 points.

429 .... Bandit
416 .... Excal
329 .... Stan the Man
316 .... Vic
299 .... Tev
263 .... MG
263 .... Shades
246 .... Steve T.
210 .... Stevie V.
128 .... CASWAS
107 .... DTM
12 .... The Shize
-11 .... Johnny V.
-37 .... Robbo
-39 .... Dave/Mark
-81 .... Shane/Jay
-87 .... Ryan

Now, before you all get in a tizzy, these are the point totals that include PGA players who have made at least one cut. I am not going to invoke the Gossett Rule until the beginning of the trade window. As such, the following Tour players were not used in the calculations of these totals:

Clark, Tim
Clarke, Darren
Curtis, Ben
Duval, David
Els, Ernie
Faxon, Brad
Goosen, Retief
Immelman, Trevor
Jobe, Brandt
Johnson, Richard S.
Love, Davis
Overton, Jeff
Poulter, Ian
Quigley, Bret
Rose, Justin
Scott, Adam
Stenson, Henrik
Toms, David
Mediate, Rocco (short)

I will email the spreadsheet to Shades in a minute, and hopefully he'll be able to perty up the sidebar so you can see where your points are coming from on a player by player basis.

Gore/Licklighter & the Navy Seals

Watch the video HERE.

Good stuff JG!

Update... TOMORROW!

Get ready for the shit to start flying... I'll post our first update of the year tomorrow. I am not going to invoke the Gossett Rule until the first week of trades though, as doing so will completely screw up the standings. So, if you have a player who has not made a cut or played in a tourney, they will simply be at 0.

And The Early Favorite...

For next year's most popular short pick is...

TRASHCAN!

Is anyone else out there amazed that this d-bag is a multiple winner on Tour?

King's, Bear's, Sawgrass and You?

I must like failure, but here I go trying to really put a plan together for an FPGP 2008 Golf Event(s). Regardless, here we go...



September 12th - 15th
3 Nights, 3 Rounds of Golf
World Golf Village, St. Augustine, FL
Stay at the Grand Villa's at the WGV.
2 Rounds at the King & Bear Course at the WGV & 1 Round at the TPC Sawgrass Stadium Course (#17-Par 3 shown above.)

Cost is $739 PP Quad (so we need 4 or 8 to make this a good deal.)



I figure the Florida FPGPers and I could drive so we wouldn't need a rental car.

Any thoughts, comments or suggestions?

Which A-list Stars Are Playing With Your FPGP Team?

Click the image to enlarge.

2 Suggestions for the FPGP 2008

1. [Don't shoot my moderate-left heart]Would anyone else want to second or third that we donate all the trade fees to the charity of the winner's choice?

2. FPGP meet-up, golf, drink, golf, drink, etc. We tried to get a get together for Myrtle Beach last year, but that was like pulling teeth. So here's the deal. Who wants to meet up in Vegas? I'm thinking late July or early August. "It's hot in July and August", so what? We live in an era of global warming. It's hot everywhere. So if you're interested, let me know and I'll start putting together the details.

UPDATES

I'll start posting weekly (give or take) updates in a couple weeks... we need a few full field events to make the standings make a little sense.

It's not Tiger that some in the FPGP need to worry about.

it's KJ CHOI!

Here's the Field for the Bob Hope

Could this be the first tournament with 2 Dick Johnson's?

Just click on the image to expand it to a readable size.

Pop Quiz:

What's worse than shorting Steve Stricker?



Answer: Shorting KJ Choi!!!!

Congrats, you made the cut, but you aren't playing.

The new rule this year on tour is that while you may make the cut, only the the top 78 get to play. So if you "make the cut" but more than 78 also make the cut, the cut line moves up a stroke and you don't play on the weekend. The good thing is that you get last place money. So at the Sony, players finishing at Even will not play this weekend, but will earn about $11,000 for "making the cut".

Congrats to Tommy "Two Gloves" Gainey for making his first cut.

Our first W/D of the year goes to......

Frank Lickliter II. Way to go Frank. 1st in Q-school and now 1st in W/D's. Frank was injury riddled last year, so is this something that will dog him all year? Good luck finding out on the internet(s). Reasons for W/D's and player injuries in general are very tough to find. I don't understand why. In just about every other major sport you can get the player's MRI somewhere online.

UPDATE:
Frank W/D'd because his wife gave birth to twins. They were born premature and thus the surprise W/D. Congrats to Frank and his family!

Official 2008 PGA Tour Exemption List

I have no idea why it took this long for the PGA Tour to get this page up on PGATOUR.com, but here it is in case you wanted to see who is on a medical exemption or some other reason: http://www.pgatour.com/players/pgatour-exempt/.

2008 Rosters...

Timmy will not be re-joining us this year, but I'd expect him to throw some bombs from the sidelines...

Jeff has the spreadsheet and will be posting the rosters shortly.

Good luck everyone!

On Tim and the Shorting of Steve Stricker...

I heard back from Tim... he's had a bunch going on and wasn't able to access his email for a couple weeks. I told him he could do the late picks with Mercedes penalties, and I'm waiting to hear back from him. Either way, I'll send the rosters to Jeff on Thursday so we can all see what we are up against this year.

And yes... a few teams shorted Steve Stricker. I've never been a big fan of shorting good putters, because they tend to get hot as hell from time to time... We'll see how it all works out, but I am sure a few teams breathed a sigh of relief last night when Strick lost the playoff to Chopra.

FPGPers Against Calc!!!

There's a lot more hills to climb in Hawaii.

EDITORIAL CORRECTION

Bandit has won this baby THREE times, not twice.

A bad short pick?

I'll admit that I didn't short Mark Calcavecchia, but he was on my list of guys to short list (Sorry Tev). But given Calc's age (born in 1960) and, err... shape/conditioning (6'/225lbs? - 225 my ass), why wouldn't he be a good short pick. He made about $2,000,000 more in '07 ($2,993,332) than in '06 and would he really win again this year? Maybe if he keeps having score cards that look like this.

Even in this limited field that was the low score of the day and thru 2 rounds Calc is only 3 shots back of the leader.

Get To Know Your FPGPers...

With a big influx of rookies this season, I thought I'd take a minute to "introduce" each team and give a little background,... that way we all know who is talking smack to who.

LAST YEAR'S MONEY WINNERS

New Tex/Steve: Hey, that's me! I'm your commish, which means I have to deal with all of the bullshit rulings and I also tabulate the updates each week. I'm the current defending champ of this pool, and one of two two-time winners over the pool's 10 year history.

Da Bandit: Also referred to as Da Boca Bandit, this is our career money leader, as far as I can tell. The first member of the two-time winner club, Bandit has cashed in this pool each of the last four years, including a 2nd place finish last year. His nickname comes from his penchance for stealing other player's picks.

Excal/Joel: The man who founded this pool, and also made a late charge last year to finish in da money. The man loves to bet, smoke cigars, drink beer and play golf, although he's only proficient in two of those activities. When he plays, he carries a minimum of 18 clubs, tees the balls from 3 feet in front of the markers, takes all putts inside 5 feet, and hollars "no justice!" at every bad bounce. He also has one helluva mime outfit.

Tev: This is Tev's sophomore season, after a "succesful" rookie season in which he won the Duffer Award, a one-time prize for the last place finisher in the pool. He's an in-law of Jeff, but is otherwise a good guy and pretty quiet. Don't expect a lot of chatter from Tev.

RETURNING VETERANS

Shades/Jeff: My right hand man at FPGP Central. Jeff is the person who maintains the blog and makes the updates "pretty". If you are ever on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, make sure you add Jeff to your "call a friend" list, because you might just get a question on the swing weight in Tag Ridings driver... and Jeff would know it. Jeff is 0 for life in the blog, which is to say he is our greatest contributor.

Murph/MG03/JG59: Murph is the money person making picks for a certain Tour family, who's name is never to be uttered on this blog. MG fears being the Janet Gretzky of the golf world. We thought this team would have a ton of inside information last year, but not so much. We expect big things out of them this year though.

Talonflier/Vic: This is Vic's 3rd season in the pool. Last year he had slight hold on 3rd place money, but his team collapsed after the Fed Ex Cup finals, prompting him to petition a "let's end this pool after the Fed Ex Cup!!!" request. Despite being a Yankee fan, he's quite funny. Some of you youngins may need a dictionary to understand his posts.

CASWAS: This is Jeff's second donation team, representing his kid's picks. Let's hope they inherited their golf picking genes from their mom.

Stevie V.: An FPGP veteran who was awful in his early years but has come into prominence as of late. He's a colleague of Rob/Rodent, he knows Bandit "professionally", and his brother is also in the pool. Needless to say, he is a great slinger of da smack.

Johnny V.: Brother to Stevie V., and legendary man about town in New Orleans. Let's his picks do the talking, and never contributes to the blog.

Rob/Rodent/Diddler: It takes a special man to have this many nicknames. I won't get into why some of his friends call him "da rodent", but he's known as "da diddler" for making late decisions and having to ask his wife if he can spend money. The man does like to gamble though, so if you are looking for side bet action, look no further. Robbo and I were in a virtual dead heat in the 1st ever FPGP with one week to go, a year when we played "winner take all". I offered him a draw right before the last tourney started and he declined... and lost his half of an $800 pot. Like I said... the man likes to gamble.

Stan the Man: A colleague of mine who doesn't contribute to the blog.

ROOKIES

Shane/Jay/Da Rooks: Shane is a friend of mine from Illinois who was too cheap/scared to enter his own team, so he hedged with his neighbor, Jay. Together, they are "da rooks". At least they got the "da" part correct.

David/Mark: Another two-headed team, David is a colleague of mine from New York (yes, another fucking Yankee fan) who pulled in his old college roomate to put together a team. Special note: Mark is running a death pool this year, so you know these guys are twisted.

Drew/The Shize: Drew is Jay's brother, and he wants to call his team "The Shize". Ugh. Thanks for the donations rookie.

Ryan: A co-worker of Jay. I know nothing of this man.

AND A SURPRISE...

Da Dummy: YES! Da Dummy is back! Old-timers may remember when I used to draw random players for a Dummy picks team. Dummy doesn't contribute or win the pool, but he does set the benchmark for awful picks. I mean, if you can't beat a randomly generated team of players, how horrible are your picks?

GROUND RULES

Feel free to egg each other on, talk smack, etc. If you personally know someone, feel free to flame them... but don't flame people you don't know. If the shit-talking gets out of hand between people who are strangers, or if anything truly offensive is put up on the blog, I reserve the right to kick your ass off the blog and make you sit quietly in the corner. That said, your money is in and no matter how much of a shit you may be, you're in the pool for the entire year. Just be cool on the blog. For example, it's ok for the Florida guys (bandit, stevie v., rob) to give each other all the crap they want... but if a rookie jumps on and goes over the line, I'm shutting you down. Keep the shit talking to comments about the picks, and all is well.

ROSTERS... Next Week

We have 16 teams in at the deadline. Normally, I'd pass the rosters along to Jeff so he can put them up on the sidebar, but Timmy D., aka "Bimma", seems to be MIA. I've emailed him and Bandit has tried to track him down. Given his involvment in the pool/blog last year, I can't imagine he is just bagging this thing without letting us know, so something may be up. I've made an executive decision to let him come in as late as next Wednesday. His penalty will be that if he picks any of the players that were in the Sony this week, he will not get the money they earned.

Because Bimma may still be out there and interested, I am not going to post the 16 rosters until I get word from him on his intentions, or when the late deadline passes. Unless you want to open the door to potential sniping and banditing (remember who brought Timmy into this pool last year...), do not post your picks on the blog or in the comment sections. Just hold your horses for a few days.

Oh, and for "DaRooks"... we already have a Jeff/Shades, so I don't need phone calls after every shot is hit in every tourney. For fuck's sake, this is a marathon, not a sprint. True story... Jeff IMs me yesterday to say that Stephen Ames is either struggling or hitting a hybrid off the tee, because his driving distance average was only 240 yards. Yes, Jeff was IMing stats after less than 9 holes of play.

This is going to be a long year.

Glib Rodent

It's the beginning of the FPGP year and da Rodent is typically smug about his chances. He's already taken on 2 side bets with me and da Bandit. Jump in while the water is good. He won't be taking any bets after his team starts to fade in early summer.

The only caveat is that 2008 is the Year of the Rat!!!

Zero Hour

Just a few more hours remain to get those picks in without penalty... so far I have 10 teams in, and I am expecting at least three more (Stan the Man, and two two-headed newbie teams), and quite possibly a small fistfull more after that. Shades has decided to hedge his bets by entering TWO teams this year, one for him and one for his kids. This is not unprecedented, as Excal has done this in the past as well.

If anyone else wants to enter a 2nd team, by all means, just let me know. And no, you do not get a discount for refering yourself.

I'll be in Phoenix for a couple weeks starting on Sunday, but will try to get all the rosters set up and sent to Jeff for posting this weekend.

Good luck everyone.

GAME ON! TEE IT UP!

Number of Picks...

People... you get NINE total picks... not eight.