On Saturday, I made the long trek to the Cities for Dave’s big bachelor party. I must really be getting old if my baby brother is getting married this week. We had the great fortune of holding the party at my other brother in-laws house. To say their house is amazing is a bit of an understatement. If I could have everything I ever wanted in a house (if money were no object), I’d be about halfway to everything in this house. It really was the ideal place to hold a bachelor party. Check out the photo gallery for pictures of the crib.
We started out by playing some hoops on their outdoor court. This marks the first time I’ve even played a pickup game in over 2 years, plus I was wearing my brown dress shoes, so I had plenty of built-in excuses. I needed them too, because I wasn’t very good. After working up a sizeable sweat, we headed out to the lake to do some jet-skiing. The lake is so shallow that despite an 100ft dock, the water is only 2-3 feet deep out there. So we had to walk the jetski out another 100 ft before we could even get on it. That being said, it was definitely a fun ride around the lake. After that we headed in for some burgers and brats. While waiting for the food, I played some pool against Dave’s fiance’s younger brother. Nate served in the Marines for 4 years and was over in Baghdad providing security at the US Embassy for 6 months. It was interesting to hear his stories about the senators who visited and how to protect the Prime Minister’s motorcade. Anyway, don’t play pool with him for money – he’s pretty tough.
After supper we headed back outside for some more b-ball. I watched a very intense 2 on 2 game between former Gustavus college players. They were in severe violation of my pickup game rule – defense is not to be played in a pickup game. You stand in front of your guy, but if he goes around you, you’ll just have to congratulate him for his bucket. After the game cleared out, my two brothers and I just shot hoops and shot the breeze. That was a lot of fun – it’s probably been 10 years since we had done that. We did it all the time when I was in high school and back from college.
Next I had to organize a poker tournament for the 12 attendees. We split into two groups of 6 and started at 2-4 with 300 chips. I failed to make the necessary adjustment against these players – I bluffed (bad idea against people who never fold) and I called a big all-in bet (strong players usually do that to try to get you to fold, weak players do that when they have the nuts). So I watched a Robin Williams special on the big screen in the Theatre room while the rest of the tournament went down. My brother Marc ended up winning, so that was great.
At about 2am, I started thinking it would be nice to go to sleep. I was able to find a room on the top floor where I could avoid the noise of the party below. Apparently the party stopped about 4:30, so I’m glad I got a little more sleep. Marc had to work the next day at 8, so I can’t imagine that was a lot of fun.
I believe everyone had a good time – it was fairly tame for a bachelor party, but that was perfectly fine with me. Dave is definitely excited about taking the plunge and he really enjoyed spending one last single night with his best friends. He’s got a good group of friends and we’re all happy to have him back in the state.
Eric's space 