nathan jara

Last night I was reminded in the best way possible that it’s time for hockey again. Thanks to a fellow co-worker, I was fortunate enough to attend the first game of the Pittsburgh Penguins pre-season. And there was an added bonus, as this game was the very first game to be played in the Pens’ new arena, the Consol Energy Center. Wow, what an awesome facility! The state-of-the-art feel to the building makes you forget quickly about the old igloo, even though it will be missed. The experience was also exciting for me because American Eagle is a major contributor and sponsor for the Pens and the new arena. It was a cool experience to look around and see our logo all over the place. And what a game! The Pens looked great! Lots of new young talent skating, passing, shooting, and hitting. The Pens left their first official game on the fresh arena ice with a 5 -1 victory over the Detroit Red Wings. What a great way to start off the season! Let’s go Pens!

I love golf. And I love Pittsburgh Penguins hockey. Today, thanks to my friends at American Eagle Outfitters, I was fortunate enough to combine these two things as I attended and participated in the 13th Annual Pittsburgh Penguins Alumni Golf Classic. The event took place at Valley Brook Country Club, located near Canonsburg, PA. This year, the Pens Alumni brought together a great group of past Penguin goaltenders. The elite group included players such as Les Binkley, the first Penguins goalie from 1967, Ken Wregget, from the Pens second Stanley Cup year, and Gilles Meloche, who tended the net from 1985 – 1988 and currently is the goaltending coach for the Penguins. I was actually able to play golf with Mr. Meloche today. What a great guy! He was a lot of fun and also is a great golfer. There were many times today during the scramble format of play that we didn’t think we’d have to even hit our shots after Gilles because he put it close just about every time. It was great to visit and talk with Gilles about golf, life, and hockey of course. He said he has a good feeling about the upcoming season, which was great news. He also gave me a few swing tips :) After our round we headed to the clubhouse for dinner and awards. I was able to mingle with some more great names like Dan Bylsma, the Pens’ head coach, Todd Rierden, the new assistant coach, Bob Errey, Dave Hanson of the Hanson Brothers, Paul Alexander from FSN Pittsburgh, Ed Johnston, Francois Leroux, Troy Loney, Joey Mullen, Bryan Trottier, and Ken Wregget. Check out some photos below to see some of my favorites. It was a super awesome day and one I will never forget. And I didn’t hit the golf ball half bad today either :)

This past weekend, I attended for the third year in a row the World Golf Championships Bridgestone Invitational in Akron, Ohio. The PGA Tour event takes place at Firestone Country Club every year. This year, Hunter Mahan was awarded the cup with his twelve under par championship performance. I walked the course during the Saturday round of competition. The tournament was a great time once again this year. It’s so cool to go and see the pros in person. Every time I get the chance to see a live event, I’m continually impressed with how easy these guys make it look. Driving the ball, irons, chipping and putting look so effortless, then I go out on the course and find a different result :P Just seeing the golf course is fun too. The fairways and greens are so well manicured and maintained providing a beautiful backdrop to the golfing. Now I know that there aren’t too many people that get excited about watching golf, but I really think that if you haven’t been to a golf tournament in person, you’d enjoy it more than you think.

While being stuck in the house over this past weekend wouldn’t have been my number one choice for spending my days off, it did grant me the opportunity to watch the 2010 British Open at Saint Andrews. Being one of my favorite tournaments to watch, it was great to be able to catch finest golfers of today battling it out on the grounds where golf was born hundreds of years ago. I’d love to play the course someday. I’m sure it would tear me apart, but I’d enjoy every minute. Tight fairways rolling onto tighter greens. Pot bunkers so big you could live in them. And wind ripping across the grass so hard it’d knock you and your golf ball into the fescue. There was plenty of wind at this year’s Open. The Royal & Ancient had to suspend play for over an hour on Friday’s round because of the wind. Yes, they had to stop golfing because it was too windy. At the British Open! Crazy. Mr. Louis Oosthuizen, who nobody knew of until this past weekend, didn’t seem to let the wind bother him. He ran away with the Claret Jug on Sunday and didn’t look back. It’s cool to see the little guy win every now and then.

I took the new sticks out to the range today for the first time. Mizuno MP-58s for the 3-8 irons and the MP-68s for the 9 iron and pitching wedge to round out my new Mizuno iron set. They are awesome. I had the set custom fitted to my swing. We ended up making the length .25 inches longer, added another layer of tape to thicken up the grips, kept the standard lie angle and adjusted the loft angle to 2 degrees stronger throughout the set. These were most definitely the right adjustments. I was hitting the ball longer and more consistent than ever. I’m sure that I’m getting at least 10 more yards per club, which is a most welcome change. Needless to say, I can’t wait to take them on the course this coming week.