Picking up the pieces after a long Goodboys Invitational week and day-long return trip back to Arizona:

July in New England means alternating periods of hot, sticky days and warm, muggy nights followed by bright, clear dry days once the obligatory thunderstorm(s) roll through. The Goodboys saw it all this weekend, and I for one enjoyed every minute of it. While playing golf in the rain is typically one of my least-favorite things to do in life, I had to admit this weekend provided a refreshing change, especially given the incredible spell of 110s we’d been having in Phoenix.

…Until last night, that is, when we experienced one of the most violent electrical storms I have ever seen. Two inches of rain in 45 minutes, incredible lightning crackling everywhere, and very heavy winds that did a nice job pruning our mesquite tree. May and Chris thought so too.

The day before, I had the coldest, freshest Sam Adams Boston Lager at Boston’s historic Green Dragon Tavern, courtesy of “Lugs” the bartender. I asked Lugs if that was his real name. “Nope”, he said, “it’s Ryan. Lugs is my nickname”. “Mine’s The Great White Shank, says I. “Great nickname!”, says Lugs, “but I like mine better”. “Why do they call you Lugs?”, I ask. “You don’t wanna know”, he says. Turns out the Green Dragon has quite a history dating back to Revolutionary War times, when the Brits used a spy stationed there to uncover Samuel Adams’ and Paul Revere’s plans to ride to Lexington and Concord and warn the colonists to arm and prepare for the Brits. Fortunately, the spy never worked for the New York Times and was discovered by the good guys and locked up in the tavern so he couldn’t reveal their plans. The Green Dragon Tavern – a nice old dark bar in which to take refuge on a hot summer’s afternoon.

I’m amused at the clarion calls by the world’s leaders for a cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah. Easy to call for the two combatants to put down their arms when everyone knows Hezbollah and its backers in Iran and Syria have no intention of allowing Israel to live in peace. I guarantee if Iran, the French, Germans, and/or Russians had missiles being fired at their cities they would retaliate in force just as Israel is. One of these days, the world’s leaders will come to understand what Iraq’s Prime Minister told a joint session of Congress today – that the only way to defeat violent, rogue terrorist groups like Hamas and Hezbollah is to kill them and stamp out any remaining desire for violence against civilized nations.

The problems with Boston’s “Big Dig” are so widespread and complex that it will take millions (if not billions) of dollars to correct the many design flaws and shortcuts that took place during its construction. This time, however, be assured it will be the people of Massachusetts – not the federal government – who will be picking up the tab, as there’s no way the feds are gonna do anything to come to the Bay State’s rescue. The old adage, “fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me” comes to mind.

My hope is that the Big Dig’s problems mean that the days of Massachusetts’ inherent “culture of corruption” are finally about to come to an end, as no one is going to be able to wink, blink, nod, or yawn their way out of this when all is said and done. Make no mistake about it: it will be the Massachusetts’ taxpayers who will take it up the you-know-what on this, and when its already overtaxed business owners and homeowners see the bill they’ll be footing for this, there’ll be the devil to pay. Already faced with a shrinking population and one of the highest costs of living in the nation, things there are about to get a whole lot worse before they get better.

Ron “Cubby” Myerow (third from left in the pic) is one of my favorite Goodboys, and a graphic designer to boot. If you have any needs in that regard, please check out his website. He’s also listed on the Goodboys Nation blogroll, so if you have any future needs you can find him there. Go Cub!