And one day I picked up and moved to Seattle.  I brought with me my high level of expectations from Harold.  I ended up with speaking with Kim Taylor of Allstate.  And while helpful I always felt something wasn’t quite right.  And yet when one day my insurance was transferred to John Davis’ Allstate Agency I stayed with him because of the loyalties from Harold.  I was pleased to have another shot with a different agent.  John was ok until one day Kim showed up in his office.  Turns out that my policy of 17 years had lapsed because I was late in making my payment.  Shame on me for that.

But Kim said ‘We’re not obligated to call you about a cancellation in your policy.’  And I thought I’m not obligated to be your customer, Kim.  As someone who doesn’t like unnecessary risk I was livid that I wasn’t covered and hadn’t been in over a month.  And that they couldn’t fix it for 5 days.   17 years of Allstate customer loyalty flushed down the drain because of the worst customer service I’ve ever experienced from an agent.

Since this occurred on a stopover flight to Chicago I pinged a couple friends about who they used for insurance.  One suggested GEICO, but even with their cute Aussie lizard I’ve always found their claims of lower prices didn’t translate into reality.  And there’s State Farm but I always wonder why they’d spend millions suggesting that their existing clients would need to call for a Discount Double check.  Aren’t their agents working to find them discounts and save them money.  Sounds a lot like Comcast and who likes dealing with them?  Nobody.

But another friend suggested PEMCO, Washington State and Oregon firm.  And so after 15 minutes with Sue Humbird I was bonded for car insurance, renters insurance (not a big fan of home ownership), and a personal liability umbrella (you should always get this.)  And walked into Enterprise a couple hours later and out with my car fully insured.  Thanks, Suzanne!

I called John’s office and let him know I didn’t need their services anymore.

So when you think about the customers you have, remember you’ve already paid the acquisition cost.  I stayed for 17 years.  So when there’s a problem.  Fix it because those customers are golden.

It’s that time of the year.  Tomorrow our nation will come together to watch the Super Bowl and the ads for the Super Bowl.  A few years back I told a gal friend of mine that Super Bowl parties were great places to meet men even if you know nothing about football.  You see with a huge group of men all interested in the game the only thing that would be it better is a gal who actually wanted to talk about the game.  And the best part is you don’t need to really know anything about football.  Once you ask the questions the guys will do all the talking (which I guess is par for the course.)

Armed with my 3 questions my friend came out of the party with 4 dates.  At some point in the chat she had to fess up about not knowing much about football.  But hey, it works.  And so, in response to the 1000s of requests I get each year I bring you the ’3 Super Bowl Questions Every Woman Should Know’:

• Do you think New York’s defensive line is going to pummel Brady like a pinata?

So the NY Giant (in the blue uniforms) have one of the most impressive defensive front lines in football.  And what’s so amazing about it is that some of their best players came back from injuries just a couple games before the playoffs.  Mid-season no one expected to see the Giants in the playoffs.  It’s their defensive front line who’s made that happen, those are the 4 guys who are directly opposite the offensive line.

• Think Gronk’s ankle will hold up in the 2nd half?

Rob Gronkowski is one of two massive tight ends for the Patriots (they wear silver helmets with the logo on it.)  The other is Aaron Hernandez.  Gronkowski set several records for tight ends this year.  He’s very fast for a 6’5″ 265 guy and has great hands.  He has a high ankle sprain from the last game he played.  It’s been talked about 2x an hour on ESPN Sportcenter for the last two weeks.  He’ll be able to play ok for the first half.  But the long half time at the Super Bowl will mean it could really hurt in the second half.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rob_Gronkowski

• Which do you like better Gronk’s TD Spike’s or Cruz’s End Zone Salsa

So Gronk spikes the ball after a touchdown.  It’s a throw back move to a different era.  It’s just that he spikes it really hard.  It’s his signature move.

Victor Cruz is a slot receiver for the Giants.  An undrafted player who ended up starting because of injuries and has had a huge year.  Cruz’s signature move after a TD is a little salsa dance.

So yes, I realize I’ve written this at a beginner’s level.  And in case you truly don’t know anything about football, know three things.  A touchdown is 6 points and afterwards you can get another point for a field goal or 2 points if you get the ball in the end zone from 2 1/2 yards.  A field goal is 3 points.  On offense when you have the ball you have 4 downs to move the ball 10 yards.  If you move it 10 yards you get 4 more downs.  All of the rest of the rules make football seem like Law and Order.

Have fun!

Ken Igawa was a high profile signing for the Yankees costing them $46M.  He played 16 games in the majors and has spent the last 4 years in the minor leagues.  It’s and intriguing and well told story.  The question is where does Ken end up next year?

This is a terrific in detph profile of Ken Igawa by Bill Pennington of the NY Times.  It’s a bit unusual because he’s really the NYT’s main golf personality.

US Only and you have to have more than 25 followers.  Limit around 80 (or whenever we run out of chips!) Thanks from TheAPosition.

This was made more interesting this week because Chambers Bay was so difficult.  Occasionally, I’d hear non-printable exasperations coming from golfers as they worked their way through the course.

But stroke play makes the most sense because the initial field for the tournament is 312 players.  The best way to cull the field is stroke play.  It’s the same on the PGA tour where they play 2 days of stroke play to determine ‘the cut’ or who moves on to play the next round.  Not making the cut used to mean sometimes not eating on the tour.  No so such any more.  On the PGA Tour you keep your score as you continue onto 2 more rounds of stroke play.

But the USGA Amateur Open moves into match play after the cut is made.  Match play is somewhat described by the USGA and described in excessive detail on wikipedia.  But in it’s simplest form the players to out to play 18 holes essentially try to win the most holes.  Total stroke count for the round is ignored.  If both players score the same on the hole, then it’s halved meaning neither of them score.  When it’s tied it’s called ‘All Square’  So the score is said ’2 and 1′ so that regular folks need to look at wikipedia to have any understanding of what’s going on.

The best part about this scoring system is when Tiger Woods gave a news conference after beating Stephen Ames.  Ames had called out Woods on how is drives seemed to land all over the place.  Woods when asked if the comment had lit a fire underneath him would only respond ’9 and 8.’  Which means after playing 10 holes Woods had won 9.  with 8 holes remaining Ames couldn’t make up the difference and was defeated.  Winning 9 out of 10 holes is a major spanking.

Today the field was reduced to 32 players.  Tomorrow there are two rounds to reduce the field to 8.

Copyright Bob Senoff

It was chilly Sunday morning when I walked up to the driving range at Chambers Bay for the final round of the US Amateur.  Peter Uihlein was warming up and his dad was sitting on a bench watching.  We were the first three folks there.  David Chung was over on the putting/pitching range and had not showed up yet.  A few minutes later Peter’s mom showed up and talked about the possibility that she might need some warmer clothes before we started.

As I watched Peter I tried to think what it must feel like to be warming up for a chance at winning your first major.  Is it hard to calm yourself?  To stay focused?  Is your stomach tight?  What do you do to maintain your concentration?  There’s a reason I’m a Venture Capitalist and not a professional golfer.  Besides not having anywhere near that level of talent I’ve also known for years that I would have had to be wired in a completely different way.  But I did appreciate that his dad was sitting away giving him the mental space he probably needed.  The next thing I noticed was the Oklahoma State University colors that Peter was sporting.  Somehow it reminded me of the all orange OSU outfit that Rickie Fowler sported a couple weeks ago.

Then David showed up.  It was just a terrific moment.  Two friends knowing what was at stake embraced hello.  No cold shoulder Tiger Woods attitude here.  Just two kids playing for a national championship.  Out of the over 6,000 golfers who tried to qualify for the US Amateur, it came down to these two friends.  History in the balance.  No biggie.

After the warm up was done everyone traveled to the first tee.  After Peter hit the ball I ran into his mom.  We started chatting about Twitter and she mentioned that Rickie Fowler was nice enough to tweet his support for Peter and she wanted to thank Rickie for reaching out and cheering for Peter.

So thanks, Rickie, from Peter’s mom.  Just passing it on.

Just in case you missed the OSU Belt Bucket when Peter was teeing up, he was flying the school colors on his bag, too.

Copyright Bob Senoff

Copyright Bob Senoff

Copyright Bob Senoff

Copyright Bob Senoff

So first up Nick Price takes the easy route and drives it straight down the fairway.  Then Freddie steps up.  It’d be easy to put it where Price did and take the safe route.  But Freddie had the hometown crowd rooting for him.  Just like when your buddies tell you to go for the green in two on a par 5, Freddie did the same.  Playing two strokes behind Price and one ahead of Langer, I’m sure the idea of pressing Langer had some appeal.  I mean Langer did beat him in the US Senior Open in his home town just a couple weeks ago.

With the easiest swing Freddie stroked a beautiful shot about 290 yards just to the edge of the green.  The crowd exploded as the drama of the moment was palpable.

With Price and Langer 80 yards from the green they were both pressed to pitch in well.  Price pitched to within 25 ft. and Langer to within 12.  Freddie missed his 45 ft. putt for eagle failing to capitalize on the risk he took with his drive.

Price nailed his birdie putt and then Langer putting 1000 times faster than his last round at the US Senior Open holed his putt for birdie.  Freddie missed his 6 ft putt birdie coming back.  You could feel the momentum change.

“It’s my father…My God! I’d only seen him years later when he was worn down by life. Look at him. He’s got his whole life in front of him and I’m not even a glint in his eye. What do I say to him?” -Ray

But the effect is not lost.  These future greats were forged here.

The USGA Amateur at Chambers Bay is a worthy test.  The type of test that commands respect and that creates a true champion.  As I watched a group of 3 players hit their approach shots to the 1st hole, two of them fell 10 yards short of the elevated green only to watch their balls roll back down to 80 yards from the green to be rehit again.  One of them hit the next shot to within 8 feet and saved par.   Some of the greens are the size of small living room with 2 tiers and there is no fringe around the green to stop balls from rolling and rolling and rolling.

Another feature of the course is the dramatic changes in elevation.  As one caddie said ‘I’m glad we get to play The Home Course tomorrow.’  If you’re not used to a vigorous hike with your golf you’re in for a surprise.  It should be interesting to see the effect on players of having to walk around the course so much in order to win the tournament.

Chambers Bay is so incredibly striking with it’s soft tall brown grass, bunkers the size of whales, mounds in the middle of the fairways.  But the strongest element on the canvas is the bay.  It’s not the crashing waves of Pebble Beach or Cypress Point.  It’s the immense majestic bay of the Pacific Northwest.  Quiet.  Still. Significant.  Present.  That part of the course won’t quite show on television but is the critical element in what makes Chambers Bay unforgettable.

The first two rounds of the tournament are stroke play.  The top 64 golfers with a combined score from a round of golf at Chambers Bay and a round of golf at The Home Course in Dupont, WA move on to match play.  After that it’s golf’s equivalent of March Madness.  There are four rounds of match play, two a day, with the winner moving on until there are only two players left.  The final two players play 36 holes to determine the champion. All played on a grinding, demanding of a course built on top of a gravel pit.

The crowd on the first day consists mostly of the supporters of the golfers.  Following and cheering for them like any high school sports event.  This is not the PGA tour.  It’s accessible.  You can walk with or near the players.  And they’re young.  They haven’t developed the veneer required for the PGA tour.  They show their emotions good or bad like Lucas Glover on the back nine Sunday last week at Wyndham.  They’ll chat with you as they play.  It’s nice.  When someone loses a ball the entire entourage helps look for it.  Mostly out of good sportsmanship and also to avoid a slow play penalty.

The field is a mixture of college players, young men preparing themselves to qualify for the tour, workday professionals with game.  And some of them have earned the right to play as Amateurs in major golf events like The Masters and the US Open.  They can play.  One of the golfers said the average driving distance of his peers is 320-330 yards.   It all lines up to create a great tournament and challenge for the rest of the week.