Jamey Tucker

Beside the Point

Archives

  • July 2018
  • June 2014
  • September 2012
  • September 2010
  • August 2010
  • July 2010
  • February 2010
  • January 2010
  • December 2009
  • November 2009
  • October 2009
  • September 2009
  • August 2009
  • July 2009
  • June 2009
  • April 2009
  • March 2009
  • February 2009
  • January 2009
  • December 2008
  • November 2008
  • October 2008
  • August 2008
  • July 2008
  • June 2008
  • May 2008
  • April 2008
  • March 2008
  • February 2008
  • January 2008
  • December 2007
  • November 2007
  • October 2007
  • August 2007
  • July 2007
  • June 2007
  • May 2007
  • April 2007
  • March 2007
  • February 2007
  • January 2007
  • December 2006
  • November 2006
  • October 2006
  • September 2006
  • August 2006
  • July 2006
  • June 2006
  • May 2006
  • April 2006
  • March 2006
  • February 2006
  • January 2006
  • December 2005
  • November 2005
  • October 2005
  • September 2005
  • August 2005
  • July 2005
  • June 2005
  • May 2005
  • April 2005
  • March 2005
  • February 2005
  • January 2005

Blogroll

  • My Podcast
  • The Tech Guy
  • What the Tech

Powered by Genesis

Why Tom Watson Needed to Win The Open

July 20, 2009 by jameyt

I needed Tom Watson to win the British Open. Not because I had money on the tournament or any vested interest in Watson. I needed Tom Watson to win the British Open because I’m watching other parts of  my childhood fade away.

Notice all of the irony here: when Tom Watson won his first Masters, Farrah Fawcett was Jill Monroe every week on Charlies Angels. Waltefarrah-fawcettr Cronkite was telling us “the way it is”,  Ed McMahon was sitting at Johnny’s desk, and Michael Jackson was still part of The Jackson’s and just a few months away from recording  “Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground)”.

Now Farrah is gone. Walter is gone. Ed McMahon is gone. Michael Jackson is gone. And he was 50.   50!

amd_michael_jacksonAnd if Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson are old enough to die, so are the baby boomers who grew up watching them. We’re not ready to think about stuff like that, but we have to now.

This is already going to be remembered as the summer the 1970s died. Back when I was in the 6th grade with a tv in my bedroom, a nerf hoop on the back of my closet door and a Juliette model stereo tuned to Q-104. My room was painted blue with burnt orange shag carpet and I had posters of Dr. J and Pat Sullivan on the wall. I talked to my girlfriend, Kathy Driggs on the phone nearly every night. With a long telephone extension chord my dad got so I could take the phone to my room for privacy.

But I don’t want those days to be 30 years ago, at least I don’t want to feel like they’re 30 years ago. I want to remember them like I’ve always done, like they were yesterday.

So when Tom Watson walked down the fairway of the 18th at Turnberry, leading The British Open,  I got a lump in my throat. Suddenly, it felt like 1977 again, and I needed him to make that darned 10 foot putt.

If people could will something to happen, I think every over 40 man in America would have caused that Titleist to drop in that cup like there was a string attached to it.

We needed something good to happen for one of our memories of the 1970s.

But it didn’t fall. And it’s 2009. And our childhood is literally beginning to pass before our eyes.

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)

Related

Filed Under: Personal

Comments

  1. April Cummings says

    July 23, 2009 at 9:34 pm

    Jamey – how are you? Its funny how some things transcend… we are back in the Cayman Islands where I’m from and we too have been mourning the loss of our childhood icons. Michael Jackson before it all went crazy.. listening to Walter Conkrite on shortwave radios (we weren’t tv early adopters on this island) and how insecure we were because we couldn’t look like Farrah (although I’m still working on that same haircut).

  2. Dad says

    August 1, 2009 at 6:33 pm

    Son: I miss those days also. I miss you too. Love….Dad

  3. Cindy Ericsson says

    August 31, 2009 at 9:08 am

    My younger son loves all things superhero, and he’s been reading about 70’s and 80’s pop culture. He asked me the other day if I knew anything about Charlie’s Angels. He was a little confused and asked me about their superpowers. I really felt like saying “controlling (or at least occupying) the minds of the U.S. male population.”

Blogroll

  • My Podcast
  • The Tech Guy
  • What the Tech