Father’s Day fell on June 15th during the two thousand and eighth year of our lord. Or we could call it the common era if that suits you better. Ultimately that’s what this is all about: what suits you better.
Golf was always a favorite pastime of my family. I imagine that you think I’d tell you it was a favorite pastime of just the unfairer gender except that the most fun I’ve ever had playing a round was with my sister. We didn’t take every shot, we never once looked for a ball we lost, and sometimes all we did was putt on the particular hole. I don’t know that she would say it was one of her favorite pastimes, but I will tell you that her playing was one of my favorite pastimes. I don’t know how to label that, but labels ruin things.
At this point I would apologize to every other person I’ve ever played golf with, but I’m just not sorry. My sister understood the spirit of the game in a way that none of the rest of us did. She played for fun. Almost as if “fun” was some real person we were trying to appease.
So now I have to tell you Nick Foles the Super Bowl MVP and champion, you’re on a long list of men who couldn’t stack up to my sister’s golf spirit. That being said, the round we played was memorable and unless you have some terrible memory for pivotal days in your life, you’ll remember that round for the rest of your life too.
Careers have a funny way of getting off track no matter how well you aim at your destination. Outside factors we all call “life” seem to push us off our game. When it happens we gather ourselves the best we can and recalculate our new route that targets our same old goal. That’s pretty much how my dad and I play golf. We approach the tee box thinking about a career goal we can call “a par”, but then outside factors called “a flawed swing” cause our ball to be pushed off course in a swift motion I like to call “a shank”. You walk over to your shank, recalculate the distance to the goal I call “a par”, shank again and move on. Golf and careers are something some people are good at and others shank at. Some shank worse than others. It just happens.
On Father’s Day of 2008, I promised to take my dad out for a round of “career reenactment”. At that time I had a turd of a career going at a little place called Apple Computer Company. In order to climb to a staggeringly mediocre career plateau, I had to work a schedule with Tuesday and Wednesday as my ‘weekend’. That was a dirty trick Apple Computer Company, but the trick is on you because I got to play golf with Super Bowl MVP Nick Foles during one of your many ‘Apple fraternity initiation weekends’. How do you like them apples? You too Matt-Damon.
Being the big baller that I was, for Father’s Day I was able to get my dad and I on at Lions Municipal Golf Course on a busy Tuesday summer afternoon. The course was full of so many ballers like myself that there was a wait at the first tee. The golf pro that managed the course walked up to our Father’s Day pairing and informed us that we would be playing with the MVP of that little game called the 52nd Super Bowl. LII. A.K.A. Tom Brady’s last stand. The ultimate prize game of prize games. Of course, this was the two thousand and eighth year of the common era, not 2018. The golf pro didn’t know this stranger’s name and neither did we. That being said, Nick Foles is a friendly fellow and he’s not shy either, “Hi, I’m Nick. You mind if I play with you guys?”
Age cometh before beauty, right? So Dad took his shot first, went past the fairway on a dog leg right but his ball still had a view of the green. Good job. That 3 wood seemed a bit much though, dad. I switched to a 5 wood, aimed over the trees and made it. Fantastic start. Nick Foles grabs something like a 6 or 7 iron and puts the ball in play perfectly like you’re supposed to. He pars the hole and we get bogeys. Single? Double? Triple? Yes, sure. One of those.
“Can I keep your score, Nick?” My dad asks.
“No thanks, I’m just playing for fun. I’m not keeping score.” Says the future Super Bowl MVP.
Nick proceeds to pull a cell phone out after those words and made a telephone call while he walked to the next hole. As we rode to the next hole in our municipal baller-only cart, we thought he might be a little rude making a call during a golf threesome and he knows it too. He gets off the phone before the next tee and apologizes profusely. He tells us he’s a college quarterback at Michigan State and it’s not suiting him better than another school would. He’s looking for a better fit for his career as a quarterback. I don’t know what you think, but I’ll call his year at Michigan State a “shank”! It’s okay though, we all do it.
My dad and I completely are familiar with this sort of shanking on a golf course. Say no more Nick, that cellular phone call was far more important than this game Father’s Day career reenactment.
Next hole is a par 5. Dad flubs it 50 yds, I crush it with some nice spin that pushes it onto the fairway of the adjacent hole and Nick casually hits a floater 350 yds down the middle of the proper fairway. Best ball, Nick? I kid, I kid.
Nick lets the father/son pros play zig zag while he putts it for par again and then he gets on the phone. Eventually.. Dad and I save bogeys. I won’t say which (quadruple) version. Meanwhile, Nick is on the phone getting his career path aimed towards the fairway again and he’s trying to save career par. He tells us to go ahead. Dad puts his drive to the right side, but it’s on the fairway. Not too bad! I step up and actually crush it for once for about 315 or 325 yards and just left of the fairway. I’m a short chip away from being on the green. I’m thinking, ‘beat that college quarterback’! Nick got off the phone but this time you could tell it was good news. He didn’t say what it was, but suddenly he seemed far more relaxed and focused on golf. Nick Foles drove the green from the blue tees on the 3rd hole at Lions. It’s listed as 393 yards. I know what you’re thinking and no I don’t play from the blue tees. At this point I realize that this young man is a freakish athlete. Eye hand coordination like you wouldn’t believe and he’s strong enough to make a drive like that look routine. He’s not even that excited. He’s probably done this enough times that it’s half-expected.
Nick would later tell us that he was given the chance to battle for a starting position at Arizona. The football powerhouse Arizona State? No, the football powerhouse Arizona. I’m not sure how this puts him at ease, but I’m worried for him. Arizona is terrible at football.
Foles only played the first nine holes with us and his sister picked him up. He didn’t even own a car. He couldn’t have been a nicer man. He kept apologizing for the calls he was making earlier in the round and explained his situation at the same time. You could hear in his voice that he knew he had that special something, but he needed someone to give him a chance. Arizona was going to give him that chance even though they weren’t traditionally a strong team.
I followed his career knowing how gifted he seemed to me. He won the starting job at Arizona and played three years. During those years, it seemed like the better Nick played, the worse Arizona seemed to fair overall. First year he threw for 2500 yds and the team went 8-5. Next year, 3200 yds while the team wants 7-6. During his senior season he threw for 4300 yds but his team was 4-8. Here he is, just a stud of an athlete and his team fails to even make a bowl game. This is the year he needs to shine for the NFL draft, but the team didn’t seem to be suiting his career very well. And that’s because we all know football is about winning.
During the NFL Draft in 2012, the Eagles drafted Nick Foles in the 3rd round with the 88th pick overall. At this point he would have a chance in the sport of football, but his chance was just to make the team. Not lead it from within the huddle. He started his career in the NFL backing up Michael Vick. Vick got hurt and suddenly Foles finally had a chance at making it this world. As a starter, his team went 1-5 and things seemed less than promising.
The next season began and he was back on the bench to backup Michael Vick. Third game into the season, Vick gets hurt again and Foles takes the reigns against the New York football Giants. He wins the game and wins the starting position for the rest of the season. He wins 8 games as a starter and only loses 2. Nick is finally winning in this sport where winning is all that matters. He even ties an NFL record by throwing 7 touchdown passes in a single game that year. Three in any given game would be considered ‘good’ but he’s thrown seven! He’s playing an amazing game for sure.
The third year of Nick’s NFL career begins and he wins 6 out of 8 games, he injures his shoulder after being sacked multiple times, and he’s out for the year. The offseason comes around and Nick Foles is traded away from Philadelphia even though he’s won 15 of 25 games as a starter and 14 of 18 as a non-rookie.
The St. Louis Rams start him and it doesn’t go well, he ends up playing one game for the Chiefs the following season and even though he does well his place within the organization doesn’t stick.
Eventually Nick Foles finds a new home in an old place. He’s back in Philadelphia and he’s a backup to Carson Wentz.. the heir apparent to the club. Nick watches from the sidelines as Carson leads the club to an 11-2 record, but Carson gets hurt. Three games remain and Foles does his job. They make the playoffs, win enough games to make it to the Super Bowl and suddenly Nick is in the biggest game of his life as the starting quarterback facing the winningest quarterback in Super Bowl history, Tom Brady.
The game was close, but Nick was better than his counterpart. He won the MVP and the right to hold the dearest trophy that any football player can hold above their head, yet next year he might be on a telephone asking coaches if he’ll be given a shot to lead the team.
Nick Foles, this time I hope they call you while you’re on the course. You shouldn't have to be calling them. And if you need two inferior golfers to play alongside you while you field calls about your career, my dad and I would be happy to do it. That being said, if you want to truly enjoy a game, my sister should be there too. She inherently knows how to play the game the right way.
