Lord Byron

So, last Tuesday, I was called into the boss's office and told that I had won two tickets to attend the Byron Nelson golf tournament in Dalals. The tickets were good for any day, but Sunday was mother's day, Saturday was Olivia's soccer tournament, Friday we were leaving for Olivia's tournament, so Thursday was the only day to go. Mike managed to get out of any scheduled inspections he had and went with me. He did not get off work until 7:00, so he picked me up after that and we drove over to Texas Stadium where we were able to ride the Byron Nelson shuttle to the course. No cell phones and no cameras were allowed, so we were off the grid all day. We got there and walked up the hill through the big store that all entrants must pass through, buying a hat for each of us (mine was blue, his was black). Then down through the corporate booths giving away bits of crap. Discovering Sergio Garcia and Ernie Els were in the same group, teeing off about 40 minutes after we got there, we decided to follow them around. So, we milled around a bit, seeing Greg Nelson's long lost twin, hearing some guy talk to Omar Uresti, a longhorn who was in the group in front of Surge and Earn, and being very close to the first hole. Eventually Sergio and Ernie teed off and we started to walk the course with them and about a million other people. It was actually not a huge crowd. The weather was beautiful, whenever it got close to hot, a nice breeze blew and made things rather pleasant. We were able to get very close to Garcia and Els several times. Mike called out something like go Sergio and received an almost imperceptible nod. It was good times. A couple of times we decided to avoid walking around a horseshoe and would leave them for a hole or two. On one such occasion, we experienced the highlight of the day, seeing the Big Bill. The Tuna himself. Bill Parcells. He was there with his son/daughter/niece/nephew and his/her significant other. It seemed like nobody knew who they were, or at least nobody noticed them. Mike and I stopped and stared at him for about ten minutes, quaking in our boots. We were within ten feet. It was pretty cool. On another suck walk across, I greeted Omar and was responded to with a wave. That turned out to be pretty cool, since he ended up almost winning. I feel like the positive energy I gave him pushed along a little bit. Those were pretty much the highlights of the day. The rest was walking around watching guys play golf. Famous guys, but guys nonetheless. I'm glad I went, and I'm glad it was free, but I don't think I would ever pay to go. A good time, though.