was heated up by the arrival of shot genius, Steve Unfred. Unfred
joined the game in an event that provided some great creativity needed
to the sport. It the event I would dub " Creative Friday" Steve, Brandon,
and one-timer Travis added new difficulties to the sport. It was rainy
and we needed new shots.
Steve and I created the original Bob Bastard Box were all three of us
jumped a ramp to get into the box and smashed it hard to get out. Hose
Bag was created in place of the popular sprinkler. Truck Under became
the norm of the day and so did the Wood, The Bad, and The Ugly. The
famous street post end stick was used for the first time. The greatest
of all, The Frog Shot was born. The weird angle shot where a happy,
twenty-year old frog stood behind a ring was born. The sport truly
took off. A lot of marvelous shots the pushed the sport away from
croquet were made that day.
Then came the famous event that forever changed the sport. On a hot
July day in 1998, the " Big Seven" event took place. The most people
to ever attend the same event. This event had the first appearance of
future Ironman stars such as Jon, Mike, and Amy. It also included
another one-timer, Cody Duncan. But the course like the weather was
brutal. Steve won that day, Jon close behind, and Brandon and Mike
struggling to finish. The other three dropped out of the three hour
event. This is were most of the rules were made, enemies born, and a
dislike of the ever winning Steve....
That was the biggest event of the year but other events shaped the sport.
A few days after the "Big Seven", Ben, Brandon, Mike, and Steve played at
Steve's home for the first time. It was an annoying difficult course that
went on for hours so ,of course, we had fun. It ended with Mike and
Brandon keep falling on the wrong side of Steve's steep hill and Ben went
on to win.
The last big event that year was " The Day and Night Festival". Brandon
had Nathan and Alan over for a party. We were waiting for Jon and Steve,
so Brandon, Nathan, Alan, and Ben played. Nathan won this difficult course
ending at the cherry tree and retired a winner. Then when Nathan and Alan
had to leave for a while, Steve and Jon showed up late......( grrrrrr)
and we played a event with Brandon, Ben, Jon, and Steve. When we reached
the end of the course it was pitch black and Jon narrowly beat Brandon.
Ben using the black ball had to keep running to get a flashlight so he
could finish.
There were a few more legendary duels between Brandon and the "Living
Legend" Scott Balthrop when Scott came up from California. But the
season ended. It seemed like this sport would just remain a hobby of
ours until one fateful day on April 16, 1999 when Brandon, Ben, and
Steve wanted something to do on a warm April day.....
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