Did I ever tell you about the time my dad made a field goal that was 2 miles in length? I got to thinking about it recently when that kicker from Hawaii made the headlines, nailing the winning field goal as time expired to beat Stanford in their opening game. His name is Kansei Matsuzawa (yes, I copied and pasted) and he’s from Tokyo. And, get this: He learned to kick by looking at videos on the internet! When I was young, there was no internet and I learned how to not kick by trying it for a while and then deciding my gifts lie elsewhere.
Oh, and speaking of lying, my statement about the 2 mile field goal is not exactly a lie, but it’s not entirely true, either. What my dad did was hit a hole-in-one at Quail Ridge Country Club near Gardendale, Alabama. He wasn’t a pro or anything like that, he was just a duffer. But on that day he was a happy duffer. And a lucky one. Aside from the fact that it takes a little luck even for a professional golfer, there was some other luck, too.
A couple of guys who had just finished the same hole happened to be lingering for a moment, and they saw the battered spheroid roll into the hole. It does help to have the support of eyeball-witnesses. And they had a little fun with him. My dad lost sight of the ball and did not realize what had happened. He looked in the sand traps, he looked in the rough all around the green. Finally, one of the guys said, “Try looking in the hole.”…