Weather permitting, I have a weekly golf match with a fraternity brother of mine. We’re probably going on 10 years of playing weekly – always mid week. A simple $2 Nassau, with $1 trash for greenies, birdies, and sandies. I keep track of the money and the stats for the trash. At year end, usually around November, the money leader gets to claim a trophy; and significantly more important, the bragging rights over the other for the winter layoff. We also have a Tiger Woods’ bobble head, which goes to one who makes the most birdies during the year. Currently, I hold the bobble head from ’06, while my pal, Ron, has the trophy.

     We refer to our competition, as do many of our mutual friends, as the Las House Classic. Although my buddy, Ronald Alva Cain, Jr., is 5 years my junior and actually a classmate of my younger brother, Walter, we been running mates for 30 years now. As do most males who have been friends that long, you have nicknames for each other. I am the House. Not because I sell them, but because during my second go-round at UVA when I met Ron, the song, Brick House, was huge. 

     How Ron became Las is much more convoluted. I have another fraternity brother and classmate, Jim Farmer. Since Jim and I were pledges together, my misbehaving with and nicknaming of Jim had a 5 year head start on Ron. Sometime in the earlier 80′s, Ron and Jim were dating two girls who were friends and roommates. At this stage in Jim’s life, he was seeing the sun rise on many a weekend morning. Due to Jim’s "always open never closed" lifestyle, I started referring to him as Vegas. Now that Ron was often in Jim’s company, since they were dating roommates, he became Las. Las Vegas, get it. 25 plus years later, Ron is still Las. Jim is now still Chili Vegas and you don’t want to know why the Chili was added. 

     Before I blogged and only when I was winning, I would write articles about our matches, which I would then circulate among our mutual friends. The gist of all of these stories were naturally what a better golfer I was than Ron. I still have most of them, and if any, are topical, I might post them. Currently, Las holds a $17 lead in the money for ’07, while I am ahead on the birdie count by 1. There are 2 months or about 8 more matches before the LHC trophy is awarded for the year. Just like the Chase or the FedEx Cup, it’s time for me to kick it in to high gear. If you don’t hear anymore about this, than you can guess the consequence – the LHC Trophy is residing elsewhere this winter. Give a nod to the Golf Gods for me, would ya?