It's that time of year again....

And lo, the mighty men of valor did enter the cave of Friego the Frost Demon and with blades of fire they did slay the evil beast. Exuberance spread through the valley as the denizens emerged from their dwellings to find the sun draping its warmth and embracing the land with the fire of life. For the first time in nearly a century, the ice gave way to earth. The death cycle was broken, and the world was born anew.

Perhaps that's a bit too Tolkien, but it does offer a pretty sound explanation for this past winter. Seriously...that sucked. For everyone on the east coast, the winter of 2010 will go down as the time we all learned to appreciate not living in Buffalo. For myself, this winter served as yet another reminder of my ineptitude for prognostication.

Flashback to Summer of 2009:

I'm in a car with 3 other friends traveling north on I-95 towards fabulous Atlantic City New Jersey (yay). We've just picked up a buddy from BWI airport, and are making good time through the norther section of Maryland. Traffic is light and traveling at a brisk and steady pace.

"How much longer?" One buddy asks.

"Maybe another hour," I reply

"No way," says another "we're not even to Delaware yet."

"Delaware?!" I scoff, "Delaware is only like 10 miles long. We'll be in and out in under 15 mins"

Approximately 7 mins later...at the toll plaza guarding the Delaware border...my buddy slammed into the back of an SUV. No one was injured, but his car was totaled (Dodge Caliber vs Lexus SUV...cosmetic damage to the SUV...completely crushed Caliber). After waiting for the Highway patrol officer to fill out his report, we all piled into his cruiser and thumbed a ride to a local Howard Johnson. We found a rental and 3 hours later we were back on the road...exiting the state a mere 2 hours and 45 mins past my initial estimate. Since making that proclamation, I've traveled the I-95 stretch through Delaware a half dozen times....with an average time of an hour and a half for that 10 mile stretch of hell on earth.

Flash forward to the Fall of 2009:

After playing a round at South Riding, a group of us start to weigh the benefits of the South Riding "Player's Pass." Essentially, for $300 we'd receive a discount on rates for all of 2010 - to the tune of $15 - $25 per round. Figure we play a dozen rounds out there and it basically pays for itself...not a bad deal. BUT the kicker was the "Free golf in Jan & Feb!" Pretty sweet right? The problem is you never really know if the weather will cooperate....well, you may not know, but apparently I know everything.

"Think about it," I said "we're guaranteed at least a couple of weekends in the 50's, and we always get a random weekend in the 60's..."

While I managed to squeeze in 5 free rounds in January, the weather completely shut down the course in February. The interwebs would call that a big ol' FAIL. The lesson? I need to just shut the eff up. I'm a jinx...and apparently I can control the weather. Maybe I have some kind of negative cosmic Qi. My karma beat up your dogma....or some hippie BS like that. Bottom line, I should never utter, even jokingly, any of the following lines:

• My hair is really thick...I'll have a full head of hair for a long time...
• At least my girlfriend isn't pregnant...
• As long as I bogey the next 3 holes, I'll finish under 90...

But all that is behind us now -- it's springtime for Washington and golf are GO! Blah Blah Blah Obscure Youtube Link, Blah Blah Blah Blah! Where was I going..oh yes...golf is in the air people. No more sludging through wet soggy fairways. No more fighting through frostbitten polar bear rounds. No more blaming the wind for pulling the ball into the trap. Well, that last one will probably stick around....but goodness is upon us! Let us lift our heads to the sky and rejoice!

After all, THIS is the year I break into the 80's!!!

~Saps