Flying fish at The Phil

My eldest daughter, Megan, is a nurse at the Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis. The work that she does with these children is beyond my capacity to comprehend. I am the type of person who just can't stand others being sick; it saddens me way too much and I feel so helpless. The thought of children being as ill, as many of these kids are, would be far and away too much for me to handle. I love being around kids, but I'm sure that I could never handle the emotions of working with these sick and injured children on a daily basis. I'm afraid that I would be in tears constantly.

This past weekend, Jerry and Gayle Margraff, once again sponsored the annual Big Mac Attack at the Phil Harris Golf Course. This tourney is a charity event for the Ronald McDonald House at the Riley Hospital for Children. The Ronald McDonald House provides living accommodations for families who have injured and sick children at Riley. If you didn't get the opportunity to participate in this event, you can still donate to a wonderful cause, just follow this URL: http://www.rileyhospital.org/information...

Jerry and Gayle have always put a lot of money, time and effort into this event and I salute them for their dedication to such a worthy cause. I have the greatest amount of respect for all who worked so hard to get the tourney completed this weekend in such trying conditions. I'd like to thank Bart Beard and his family, Brooke French, Paul Dunkerly and his sons, Dale Kinnett, and Jill Powell for all of the work that they put into making this tournament a success. I know there were others whom I have missed with this recognition and I mean no slight to anyone. Thanks to all who worked to make this such a great weekend.

This weekend has always been a holiday of sorts for me, just to be able to get together and play golf with Matt and Rusty, plus to see and compete against so many old friends. We were extremely fortunate this year to be paired with Rich Montgomery, Beth Wernz and Curt Hatton on the final day. I couldn't have asked for a greater group of people to spend the afternoon with. It was a wonderfully competitive battle all day Sunday against a trio of inspired challengers, who would just never give up. Matt, Rusty and I had a two stroke lead with three holes to go and wound up going into the last hole all tied up. All the while, both teams stood rooting for the others all the way through. It was an experience of pure sportsmanship that I will remember for a long time.

Matty has started a tradition over the past few years of having brunch at his house prior to teeing off on Saturday. It was really nice to have so many friends stop by this past Saturday and chow down on the pork chops, eggs and taters. Not to mention the occasional Bloody Mary. It is always a great start to the weekend and as a result, I now have a few new jokes to tell.

Hurricane Ike did its' best to spoil the day on Sunday, but the majority of the golfers hung in there, smiled in the face of adversity and finished it off. A big thanks to all who persevered and supported this tourney.

After coming off of the 10th green on Sunday, with the wind just a-howling at its' highest peak of the day, Curt looked at me, smiled, and said, "Simmons, no matter how bad we've got it out here, it's nothing compared to what those kids go through at Riley." Amen Curt, a big amen.