Defining Moments

Sometimes fate is decided by nothing more than a split second or a half an inch. (photo by Lon Horwedel)

No one knows for sure when a moment in time will be thrust upon him or her in such a way that it will change their life forever. Sometimes it comes and goes without so much as a blip and it’s not until much later that the significance is even realized.

Sometimes the moment happens by not happening at all. The plane you didn’t board, the road you didn’t take, or maybe you avoided a horrific crash just by leaving somewhere 10 minutes early … or 10 minutes late. Every fiery crash you see on the highway could have been avoided by either party if not for bad timing.

I’ve thought a lot about defining moments lately. Not just my own, but other’s as well. Especially last week when Armando Galarraga of the Detroit Tigers came within a whisker of pitching a perfect game against the Cleveland Indians. His defining moment came on what should have been the last batter of the game, Jason Donald, who hit a routine grounder to second base.

Only it wasn’t quite that easy. The Tigers’ first baseman Miguel Cabrera ranged far off the bag to try and field the grounder instead of letting the second baseman take it. Now, realizing no one was covering first, Galarraga hustled over to cover the bag fand try and cement his place in history.

Donald was busting up the line to try and beat the throw, but Cabrera threw a perfect strike to Galarraga, who got there a step ahead of the Indians’ runner. The stadium was set to erupt, the players were set to erupt, but then came the parallel arm motion of first base umpire Jim Joyce. It seemed puzzling at first because it wasn’t what anyone expected – not even Jason Donald.

Joyce had called him safe.

Stunned silence filled the air. It couldn’t be. Television replays started showing the play from a million angles, and every angle showed the same thing – Donald was out by a wide margin and Joyce had blown the call costing Galarraga his shot at the history books.

Fans began to boo Joyce as Tiger manager Jim Leyland and first baseman Cabrera gave the ump a tongue-lashing. But not Galarraga, he seemed unaffected as he walked calmly back to the mound to record his 28^th out of the night.

Later, Jim Joyce, regarded as one of the best umpires in the American League, would see the replay and break down in tears. He now knew he had blown the call and he felt terrible. So terrible he did something unprecedented for an umpire. He payed a visit to the Tigers clubhouse to seek out Galarraga and he apologized.

Joyce wouldn’t sleep that night; in fact, he still had tears in his eyes the next day as he tried to ready himself to be the home plate umpire for final game of the Tigers and Indians three-game series. Ina show of true sportsmanship, Galarraga walked the lineup card out to Joyce. When he arrived at home plate, he gave the tortured umpire a pat on the back. Joyce wiped away his tears and returned the gesture. It was nice moment between the two who now were forever linked by a routine grounder with two outs in the ninth inning of what would have been a perfect game.

It’s become their defining moment. A half an inch higher on the bat and Donald pops out to right field – no controversy. A half an inch lower and he strikes out - a perfect ending to a perfect game. If anyone other than Jim Joyce was umping at first that night, he probably calls Donald out and Jim Joyce could tell his grandkids about the perfect game he got to work one night in Detroit.

I feel for both men, but especially Jim Joyce because I know what it’s like to lose sleep over a mistake – to question your worth, even when you know you’re good at what you do. Galarraga’s almost-perfect game couldn’t have come at a stranger time because I had my own defining moment the same week and it nearly cost me my job, and just like Jim Joyce and Armando Galarraga, I had no clue that something so routine would turn out to be so huge.

Of course mine wasn’t a ground ball to second base, mine was my normal drive home from work – something I’ve done on the same route, five days a week, for the past 16-years. Only on this particular day I saw something that wasn’t routine at all - a dead man. It was so striking to me, I wrote about it a few weeks back in my piece called “Slipping into Silence.”

Originally published on my blog with little fanfare, the piece took on a life of its own when my employer, AnnArbor.com, published it. Some people loved it – others not so much. I was called a racist, a terrible writer, a terrible person, a liar, etc. Some thought I made up the whole story. When I was asked to verify the details of the man I thought was dead, I found out I was wrong. The man I assumed to be dead, was indeed lifeless, but only because he had just suffered a seizure.

Maybe he died later, maybe not. I’ll never know because HIPPA laws prevent hospitals from giving out information about patients. But it didn’t matter. My employers deemed my error unacceptable and I was sent home for two days while they tried to decide my fate.

It’s hard to put into words how you feel sitting at home on a beautiful day not knowing if  you’ll have a job or not when the phone rings. I couldn’t really enjoy the weather because I felt like I might puke. I couldn’t really get up enough energy to do anything but worry. After 25-years as a photojournalist, I had a hard time believing what was happening.

How could my career come down to one mistake?

How could an anonymous man control my destiny?

Was my job really going to boil down to if a man was alive or dead? How could I possibly hope for someone's death just to save my job?

In the end I kept my job. But not until I was smeared publicly by a gaggle of commentators who were, and still are, calling for my head. I’m now forever linked with that elderly black man on the bench who I thought was dead - just like Galarraga and Joyce are forever linked. The only difference is the man on the bench, if he’s even still alive, doesn’t know it.

It’s been a strange few weeks. People keep asking me what happened and I keep telling the same story over and over again. I’m no longer allowed to write for AnnArbor.com, but that’s all right because I’ll continue to write on my own blog as I’ve done all along - at least through the end of July. At that point I plan on starting a book about my childhood.

In the meantime I’m rediscovering the joys of running and working out and breathing air again. I love to write and I love to take pictures, and coming up with something fresh and new every week for four straight years was a hell of a challenge. I’m proud of what I produced in that time span, and I plan on doing it for a while longer, but then it will be time to move on to try something new.

Who knows, maybe that will become my true defining moment.

 

Losing His Stripes

Tiger Woods tees off during the 2004 Ryder Cup at Oakland Hills Country Club. (Photo by Lon Horwedel)

Tiger Woods turned 34 yesterday. My guess is it wasn’t all that happy a birthday. I suppose I shouldn’t really care what happens to Tiger. He made his bed, now he has to sleep in it (or the couch, or maybe the garage). But for some reason I can’t seem to stop thinking about Tiger since his “transgressions” came to light a month ago.

Maybe I’m so intrigued by his situation because I’m a golfer myself. Or maybe it’s my love of history (and let’s face it, Tiger Woods is a historical figure in our culture, like it or not). But for me, my fascination with Woods started kicking into high gear in October of 1999.

At the time Woods had just won his second major and helped the United States Ryder Cup team win back the cup from Europe. All the signs were there for super-stardom. It seemed like nothing could stop him in his quest to shatter every record in the books. And in 2000, he did nothing to derail those plans, embarking on the single greatest year any professional golfer has ever had by winning three more majors and dominating professional golf like no one thought possible.

But on October 25th, 1999, the golf world cared little about Tiger Woods or his enormous potential. Instead, our attention was tuned into 2-time U.S. Open champion Payne Stewart and his private jet, which was silently streaking several thousand miles off course before running out of fuel and death-spiraling into a South Dakota farm. It was then and there that I had the sickening premonition that “something really bad is going to happen to Tiger Woods.”

Since that fateful day, I’ve had the opportunity to photograph Tiger Woods in action several times. I even prompted my daughters to shout out to him during a practice round at the Buick Open a few years ago.

“He won’t acknowledge me because I’m a grown up.” I told them. “But he might say hi to you.”

Sure enough, as Woods walked by us on the first fairway, my girls shouted out, “Hi Tiger!” and to his credit, he stopped in his tracks, turned toward them, and then smiled and waved. They nearly peed their pants.

To see Tiger in action is truly spectacular. He has an aura, a focus, which is unrivaled. He does things on a golf course that defy logic and reason (and sometimes physics). It’s rare when he doesn’t pull off the seemingly impossible.

But despite my intrigue and respect for his talent, I’ve never been a big fan of Woods. I always found his behavior to be boorish. His club-throwing, spitting and incessant use of obscenities seemed immature to me, and he treated photographers with absolute disdain, often dispatching his thug/caddie Steve Williams to rough up a lensman or two if they, God forbid, snapped off a picture of Woods at the wrong time.

It’s not that I don’t like Tiger so much as I always kind of felt sorry for him. Where most golfers I know would have loved to have been Tiger Woods, I never in million years would have traded places with him - even before he was found to be a fraud.

Tiger never seemed happy to me. And when somebody supposedly has everything – immense talent, fame, fortune, a beautiful wife and two beautiful kids – and then throw it all away, were they ever really happy?

Tiger was our (golfer’s) Santa Claus. He wore the same color red, he always came through in the clutch, and he did things that seemed impossible. The only difference is, unlike Santa, who we put our faith in cookie crumbs and an empty glass of milk as proof of existence, we actually saw Tiger perform his magic.

Now we feel like we’ve all been had. We don’t know what to believe. It’s like we’re all third graders again, the ones who stood up for Santa when our classmates laughed at us and told he wasn’t real. But he was real - he had to be real. Right?

Imagine our disappointment when we found out our classmates weren’t lying.

So something terrible did happen to Tiger Woods. It turns out he isn’t real after all. At least not the way we hoped or thought.

And that is sad.

Slade leads after first day of county tourney

Spencer Slade of Ann Arbor takes a one-shot lead into Sunday's final round of the Washtenaw County Men's Golf Championship after firing a 5-under par 67 Saturday at Pierce Lake Golf Course in Chelsea.

Slade, the 2007 Ann Arbor city champion, leads 2008 city champion Adam White by one shot. Neither has previously won the county tournament.

Rounding out the top four are 2008 Ann Arbor city senior champion John Richart, who shot a 2-under par 70, and three-time Ann Arbor city champion Andrew Walton, who fired a 1-under par 71.

Benign weather conditions and soft greens made it the lowest scoring opening day in tournament history. Five golfers in the field of 42 shot par or better for the day, and more than half the field broke 80.

The final threesome of Slade, White, and Richart tee off Sunday at 12:20.

County Tournament Returning to Pierce Lake

The many forced carries over wetlands on the back nine at Pierce Lake Golf Course await this year's field in the Washtenaw County Men's Amateur Golf Championship, September 26-27 in Chelsea. (photo by Lon Horwedel)

For the first time in three years, the Washtenaw County Men's Amateur Golf Championship will return to Pierce Lake Golf Course in Chelsea, the weekend of September 26-27.

Pierce Lake was the original site of the county tournament, hosting the championship from 2001 through 2005. Washtenaw Country Club hosted the tourney in '06 and '07. Last year's tournament was held at The Polo Fields Golf and Country Club.

The change of venue back to a public course owned by the county, seems fitting for 6-time tournament champion, Mike Ignasiak, Saline, who practices and plays most of his golf at Brookside Golf Course in Saline, a public track.

Ignasiak's domination of the tournament at Pierce Lake began in storybook fashion when he sank a 210-yard 4-iron for a double eagle on the par-5, 4th hole en route to a final round 66 and the first of his five straight triumphs in 2001.

The only two times Ignasiak didn't win the county championship were in 2006, when he was beaten by Mark Doyle in a three-hole playoff at Washtenaw Country Club, and again at WCC in 2007, when he was playing in the U.S. Public Links championship in Oregon and wasn't in the county tournament field. Last year he returned to form winning his sixth crown at The Polo Fields. 

The field for the county amateur is limited to the first 78 players with a USGA handicap or 8.0 or less. Historically, the field has topped out at 56 or 57 players, but the past few years members of the Washtenaw County Golf Association have made a concerted effort to up those numbers by opening the tournament to junior golfers.

This will be the second year the boys high school golf season won't conflict with the county tournament since the MHSAA (Michigan High School Athletic Association) switched the boy's golf season to spring and the WGA hopes all young golfers add the county tournament to their competitive schedules.

To get an application for the tournament, visit your local pro shop or go to milesofgolf.com. The cost is $90 for golfers over 18, and $60 for all junior golfers. Golfers over the age of 50 are automatically entered into a senior division for the tournament.

Mann is the man! - Dr. Mark Mann wins Ann Arbor Senior Golf Championship in dramatic fashion.

In the above photo sequence, Dr. Mark Mann watches his 45-foot chip shot disappear into the cup for a tournament-winning birdie on the 18th hole at Leslie Park Golf Course before exploding with joy during Sunday, August 23rd's final round of the Ann Arbor Men's Senior Golf Championship. (photos by Lon Horwedel - to see a complete photo gallery from the final round, visit annarbor.com and click on the sports tab.)

In the annals of golf championship history, there have been many fantastic finishes.

Jack Nicklaus' final round charge to win the 1986 Masters. 

Tom Watson's chip in on the 17th hole at Pebble Beach to win the 1982 U.S. Open. 

Corey Pavin's amazing four wood approach shot that stopped six feet from the pin on the 18th hole at the 1995 U.S. Open and even last week's three-hybrid approach on the 18th hole from 235 yards over a tree to 10-feet, by little-known Korean golfer Y.E. Yang, helping him beat the unbeatable Tiger Woods in this year's PGA.

Add to that list Dr. Mark Mann of Ann Arbor who stepped on to the 18th tee at Leslie Park Golf Course in Ann Arbor, tied for the lead in the 2009 Men's Senior Championship, Sunday afternoon.

Mann had just missed a seven-footer for birdie on the 17th hole that would have given him a one shot lead over Dave Kempner, Ann Arbor, with one hole to go. Now all bets were off as he made his way to the difficult 18th.

It had been a see-saw battle between the two for much of the afternoon, they just didn't know it. With no scoreboards on the course and the two men playing in different groups, neither was quite sure where the other stood until the par-3, 17th hole.

"I saw Dave make his birdie putt on 17," Mann said, "and I heard he was around par so I knew it was close."

Kempner, had, in fact, tied Mann at one under par for the 36-hole tournament after sinking his 12-footer for birdie on the 17th, but he also wasn't certain where he stood in the tournament until he being informed his final round two-under par 70 had him tied for the lead. Meanwhile, Mann was making his way down the 18th hole toward his tee shot which he pushed into the right rough.

From there, Mann had to watch as both his playing partners, Bruce Wagner and Jack Stollsteimer, knocked their approach shots close to the pin on the tough finishing hole. Now it was his turn to try and do the same.

With Kempner watching from just off the 18th green, Mann's approach shot landed pin high, but with no chance of spinning the ball from his lie, it skidded off the back of the green and into the first cut of rough, some 45-feet from the hole.

With the hole cut in the back-left portion of the tricky green, getting up and down was hardly a foregone conclusion for the Ann Arbor dentist and Travis Point Country Club member, who carefully patrolled the real estate between him and the pin before settling in over his shot.

After several practice swings, Mann gracefully sent his chip shot floating over the apron of the green before it began its descent toward the pin. The line of the shot looked good from the start, but it was picking up speed as it neared the cup; a six-footer or more for par seemed a certainty. And then it happened, the ball slammed into the pin and dropped into the cup.

Mann leaped into the air, partly in shock, partly in joy. Just like that, the tournament was over - no playoff necessary.

"I honestly thought he hit the shot a little too hard," Kempner said of Mann's chip, "I thought he was going to have a tough putt coming back, but congratulations to Mark, that was a hell of a shot."

On a round that saw him hit 17 greens in regulation, Kempner managed to shoot only two-under par, noting his putting had let him down. "A pro would shoot a 62 or 63 if they hit that many greens," he said, "but I couldn't get any putts to the hole."

As for Mann, he thought he had blown the tournament when he failed to make his birdie putt on the 17th hole.

"I was disappointed when I missed that seven-footer for birdie on 17 after I hit a lucky shot." Mann said, adding he felt if he could go out and play par golf and someone still beat him, "then so be it." 

"This was stronger field than I thought," Mann said, "and to beat a player of Dave Kempner's caliber, I don't know ... it means a lot; I'm in a cloud right now."

Bruce Wagner fired a final round one-over par 73, 145 total, to finish solo third in the tournament. Rounding out the top 10 were Ernie Sellers and Terry Jourdain at 146, Ed Shaffran at 147, George Washburn at 148, Jim MacDonald and past champion Lawrence Clemons at 149, and first round co-leader Jack Stollteimer and Fritz Reifert at 150.

This year's senior championship field drew a record 107 golfers giving Leslie Park yet another feather in its cap in a year that already saw the popular track receive the honor of being named the best municipal course in the state.

Championship Results:

Name	City	1st. Rd	2nd. Rd	Total
Championship Flight
Mann, Dr. Mark	Ann Arbor	71	71	142
Kempner, Dave	Ann Arbor	73	70	143
Wagner, Bruce	Ann Arbor	72	73	145
Sellers, Ernie	Monroe	75	71	146
Jourdain, Terry	Toledo, OH	77	69	146
Shaffran, Ed	Ann Arbor	75	72	147
Washburn, George	Frederick, MD	75	73	148
MacDonald, James	Ann Arbor	75	74	149
Clemons, Lawrence	Canton	77	72	149
Stollsteimer, Jack	Ann Arbor	71	79	150
Reifert, Fritz	Ypsilanti	76	74	150
Gregg, Daniel	Ann Arbor	76	75	151
Rullman, Karl	Grass Lake	77	75	152
Richart, John	Ann Arbor	78	75	153
McQuarrie, Neil	Livonia	77	76	153
Breier, Randy	Ann Arbor	75	79	154
Redmond, Tim	Dexter	77	77	154
Hahn, Eugene	Ypsilanti	77	80	157
Stadtmiller, Martin	Northville	76	83	159
Mile, Chris	Ypsilanti	78	82	160
Frontier, Greg	Waterford	78	85	163
First Flight
Adler, Tim	Ann Arbor	79	73	152
Maidment, Ray	Saline	79	75	154
Kuhl, Roger	Jackson	79	78	157
Bretting, Michael	Canton	80	78	158
Bishop, Dave	Milan	80	78	158
Kim, Kyu	Bloomfield Hills	81	78	159
Stark, Tom	Hartland	79	81	160
Baker, Doug	Ann Arbor	82	78	160
Kozlowski, John	Saline	81	79	160
Husak, Dave	Dexter	81	80	161
Carden, Robert	Ann Arbor	82	80	162
Bostick, Andrew	Horton	80	82	162
Kuehn, Brian	Ann Arbor	79	83	162
Russ, Ron	Farmington Hills	79	85	164
Choi, S.C.	Ann Arbor	79	87	166
Ridenour, Robert	Ann Arbor	82	85	167
Harrison, Pat	Ann Arbor	81	86	167
Hart, Kevin	Ann Arbor	80	88	168
Gilboe, Gerald	Whitmore Lake	79	89	168
Mangan, Tim	Plymouth	81	90	171
Rasmussen, Bob	Ann Arbor	82	90	172
Parsell, Richard	Ann Arbor	82	91	173
Second Flight
Prince, Donald	Shelby Twp.	83	72	155
Orians, Greg	Ypsilanti	83	73	156
O'Neill, Mike	Troy	83	77	160
Young, Song	Ann Arbor	83	78	161
Bigge, Christopher	Ann Arbor	85	77	162
Kennard, David	Ann Arbor	83	82	165
Wojcik, Tom	Saline	87	78	165
Everett, Bruce	Brighton	84	81	165
Gatscher, Dennis	Dexter	84	82	166
Brown, Bennie	Northville	87	80	167
Brousseau, Marc	Ann Arbor	87	80	167
Burnley, Kenneth	Ann Arbor	87	80	167
Hatto, Jeff	Ann Arbor	83	85	168
Monger, Bill	Brighton	83	85	168
Pritt, Jeff	Jackson	86	83	169
Laughlin, Harry	Ann Arbor	85	85	170
Chonko, George	Fraser	84	86	170
Grant, Bob	Ann Arbor	83	87	170
Talik, J. Michael	Ann Arbor	87	84	171
Gliha, Greg	Plymouth	85	89	174
McClellan, Ed	Ann Arbor	87	88	175
Poszywak, John	Ann Arbor	86	89	175
Piotrowski, Skip	West Bloomfield	86	90	176
Toma, Jeff	Ann Arbor	87	90	177
Kauffman, James	Ann Arbor	86	92	178
Callender, Jeff	Ann Arbor	87	92	179
Hickey, Brian	Chelsea	86	WD
Third Flight
Hollander, Tom	Ann Arbor	89	79	168
Faerber, Gary	Ann Arbor	89	83	172
Cohen, David	Ann Arbor	88	85	173
Nichols, Steven	Ann Arbor	90	84	174
MacInnes, Bill	Ann Arbor	90	84	174
Bluhm, Rick	Ann Arbor	88	86	174
Erwin, Michael	Ann Arbor	88	87	175
Wallace, Pat	Manchester	90	87	177
Emmitt, Jerry	Ann Arbor	90	87	177
Sewell, Emmett	Ypsilanti	90	88	178
Acosta, Lou	Ann Arbor	90	88	178
Smith, Bob	Ann Arbor	90	88	178
Pigford, James	Ypsilanti	92	87	179
Betts, Jim	Milan	88	91	179
Ann, Chan	Ann Arbor	91	89	180
VanBlack, John	Ypsilanti	92	89	181
Burke, Rick	Ann Arbor	92	96	188
Maier, Bill	Ann Arbor	89	101	190
Newcom, Mark	Saline	92	99	191
Mrokowski, Jerome	Lathtrup Village	91	103	194
Fourth Flight
Vlisides, William	Saline	94	80	174
Cox, Terry	Ann Arbor	93	86	179
Brigham, Mike	Chelsea	93	87	180
Markel, Tim	Ann Arbor	96	88	184
McCarthy, Tim	Livonia	96	88	184
Brownlow, Ron	Ann Arbor	93	94	187
Kempfert, Vernon	Ann Arbor	95	95	190
Lundy, Michael	Ypsilanti	101	91	192
Harmon, Mike	Ypsilanti	97	97	194
Faron, Bob	Ann Arbor	105	90	195
Carps, Dan	Farmington Hills	93	102	195
Schielke, Jerry	Ann Arbor	104	95	199
Germa, Jacques	Ann Arbor	100	101	201
Moran, Tom	Ann Arbor	105	99	204
Mac Arthur, John	Ann Arbor	113	101	214
Drake, Kay	Ann Arbor	116	118	234
O'Brien, Gail	Milan	117	130	247
Medaugh, Stephene	Ann Arbor	94	WD
Mihailuk, Mark	Allen Park	94	WD