It was all set. I had my credential in hand for the 37th Ryder Cup Matches, this time at Valhalla GC in Louisville, KY. It had those little  black bars on it that they can scan to make sure it's me, a place to stay for four days and a small assignment for the Bradenton Herald, captain Azinger's hometown rag, to cover some of the gas money.

Then, as luck would have it, a big freak named Ike came through Texas, shutting down gas refineries left and right, driving up the price and limiting supply of gasoline all up and down the I-75 corridor. He didn't stop there. Going through Kentucky on Sunday he took out the power to the place I was going to stay for the Matches, a high school friend's home in Louisville. My friend explained he didn't expect to get power restored until Friday.
 
I was shut out. Ike is a prick.

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If you've ever been without electricity or gasoline you understand better than anyone how your world is more than just a little upset by their absence. The guy was a great friend in high school, but I hadn't talked to him in 30 years, and to put my fat ass in his already messed up routine with a wife I've never met and a teenager who messed up his bathroom this morning because it has a window and hers doesn't.

But because of the electronic age, I can still get transcripts and video from the site and not have to get the aforementioned fat ass off the couch. Add this to wire-to-wire coverage by the television networks, and shoot, it's almost like being there. So, during the Ryder Cup Matches I'll interject things I find interesting and see if anyone else in this cyber wonderland thinks so.

My first Ryder Cup was 1995 at Oak Hill in Rochester, NY. I was lucky enough to have Mike Mersch, then the Sports Editor for the Herald, allow me to get a credential to attend the event and pay me a correspondent fee for my effort. It wasn't enough to cover the airfare, but I went anyway. I was young and adventurous and had just started writing golf with Mersch's blessing. I was wide-eyed and eager. You know, now that I think f it, the newspaper business hasn't changed much since then, even if they say it has. They still pay the same to cover a Ryder Cup only now it doesn't cover the gas to get there and back, let alone a plane ticket.

Although I'm not there in person, im certainly there in spirit, hoping for nothing else than to see Azinger win the damn cup back for the United States, something we havn't done since 1999 in Boston. I just wish I could have made the trip.