Introducing Man Challenge Roadkill #1: Jeff Takahashi.
But come on....it was just a matter of time. The newbie (and youngest of the challengers) was a stretch at best to finish high in the competition to begin with. SOM is not for the lukewarm, weak or flaky. It takes commitment, passion and dedication. It's not wonder that people drop out each year. If it were easy everyone would do it is my mantra when it comes to running marathons and this motto naturally fits with SOM as well. Certain competitors have likened Summer of Man to a job and I would tend to agree with that comparison. Although it kicks way more ass than any job I've ever had. Pay me to compete weekly with my closest friends in a various array of challenges and then write about it. Please. I'd do that job any day of the week. And I do. Which cannot be said of one Jeff Takahashi. SOM ended up being too much for the kid. Too much time, too much commitment, too much competition. It's hard not being the best at something and SOM will frustrate as much as it inspires.
It will be sad to lose a competitor, but when it's all said and done there's no room for boys in a man challenge.
Two weeks of down time eats at you a bit. Looking back on last summer, we didn't have the luxury of time off. It was balls to wall every week for the entire summer. We started on March 29th and by July 25th we had burned through 50 events. Competition raged bi (and sometimes tri weekly) last year. This year we've eased up a bit on our scheduling, realizing the benefit found in stretching it out. It's the journey not the destination. At this rate, we're looking at SOM lasting into mid to late August and maybe later. Ideally if we could, I would have YOM with competitions continuing throughout the year, but the body and the mind need the rest. The two weeks in between Arcade Night and the now traditional three event night was the window for that rest. And just when you thought a little time away from the man challenge would be good, I'll be damned if I didn't find myself looking forward to it more and more. I also had a little added motivation to get back into the challenges. The yellow last place High School Musical bracelet on my right wrist was getting heavy. After a poor performance at the arcade, I found myself sporting the turd jewelry for two consecutive events (almost 2 and a half weeks). That's a long time to have a band around your wrist supporting a terribly gay tweener musical. I was stoked when April 26th rolled around and the possible 24 points up for grabs. Oh how soon that would change.
The three event night consists of the Holy Trinity of Awesomeness. 36 holes of mini golf followed by a pool tournament, capped off with a game of darts. Del Mar to Society to The Fox. A great night any way you cut it. Win all three and you're looking at 24 points in the bank; lose all three and you may find yourself looking up from a very deep, dark hole.
Ladies and Gents...welcome to my hole.
Del Mar Pelly's Surfin' Safari and Ocean Adventure Put Put Golf Course is the Augusta National of the Mini Golf world. With water spouting whales and trick shots that make Torrey Pines South Course look like a walk in the park, there is no better battleground than Pelly's 36 nightmarish holes.
To the BayHorse, it was more dream than nightmare though. With his unconventional one hand putting technique and a belly full of Fireball, Sean went on a tear, acing 7 holes on his way to a 4 under par performance. It was a more dominant display of mini greatness than Bing's 3 ace, 1 under par game from SOM 2010. Bing didn't defend his mini title, but he didn't fall far either. On the 36th hole, Jantz gambled and lost and with a Bing lay up, he clinched the second spot which is not bad for the self proclaimed "World's Greatest Putter." Couls' 4th place finish wasn't great, but it was enough for him to retain the first place watch for yet another challenge. A tie between Johnson and zVirus came down to the final hole where a disasterous decision made by the reigning last place man resulted in another last place finish. Compared to last year, Bing shot a 87 to win it so we keep the tradition going that overall, 2011 has been a more competitive year than '10.
When it was all said and done, the Mini Golf results:
1st Sean....Front 18--40 Back 46---Total 86....5 Hole in Ones!!!!
2nd Bing....Front--44 Back 44---Total 88
3rd Jantz....Front--44 Back 45---Total 89
4th Couls...Front--53 Back 45--Total 98
5th Johnson...Front--57 Back 50--Total 107
6th Zach....Front--54 Back 54--Total 108
DQ Peter (a last minute conference call impeded the Pistol, causing him to miss his second straight mini golf round)
The caravan then moved back local to PB, where The Society Pool Hall was waiting to host the second leg of our epic night. With Too Tall Jones with the Boobs serving up the cocktails and two tables locked down for a couple hours, we began the process of completing a double elimination head to head pool tourney. If you've never done this before, beware. It takes a lot of time. Two play in games for a bye and a loser's bracket makes for a long night of comp. If you lose your concentration, it could prove costly. After a couple beverages and a little light hearted flirting with Too Tall, I found myself at the bottom of the heap once again. I had lost the eye of the tiger and with it any hope of getting the turd jewelry off my wrist.
In the end Pool Standings:
1st Jantz
2nd Johnson
3rd Bing
4th Couls
5th Sean
6th Zach
DQ Peter (absolutely no reason for a no show...the call was made, but no attempt to come play pool by the Pistol gives him a second straight zero on the night. Sidenote: the 24 point night marked the anniversary of the GWH's bitch out from the Man Challenge a year ago)
And then I got to be honest with you...the scores I remember from this point on is Grateful Deads 2, Jack and Gingers 9, Zach 0.
Apparently darts were played or an attempt at darts were played in Bing's garage. Jantz scaled my ex girlfriends wall to do what we don't know? He did make it clear that it was ok because he was a fireman. Darts were broken, lost, thrown into the alley. It was a bad beat all around. All I know is that in the end darts were cancelled and pushed back due to a black out. It was the Man version of a rain out in baseball.
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