Mark Fever 2026

I picked up Mark at the airport on Thursday night. First stop was KC Soda Co. where we each made a six pack of good stuff like Sprecher's, Boylans, etc. 

Then we went to Scheels. 

Here he is embodying championship spirit. 

Here he is embodying wild-card spirit.

Here he is grabbing for a Rome Odunze jersey, I guess he wanted one.

At Scheels, we played mini bowling and I won 62-60.

Then we popped over to 810 Entertainment (named after 8-ball and 10-pins not an area code) because we wanted to play bocce. But instead these great dartboards caught our eye. Very funny because a year ago we really wanted to play darts and couldn't find a good board, and we just lucked into one immediately.

Look, at this point it's a little gauche to post our score in darts. But just for future reference, I won all three games. Two games of cricket and one of 301. Given Mark's competitive spirit, not the way he wanted things to go but hey, things could always turn around for him. (Foreshadowing.)

From there we went to Q39 South, our favorite jam. We ordered a freaking feast.

Full slab of ribs, Mr. Burns, Mac & Q with pulled pork, fries, street corn. It was amazing.

Also, Q39 was the site of of the 2026 Fantasy Football Owner's Meeting and was up there with the best of them.

We came home and played a bunch of games with the fam including Deadwood, Wavelength, Tsuro, Clubhouse Games and Mario Party on the Switch. 

Friday was a work day so we caught up on somehings and hung out a bit during the day. 

Then around 5 we went to Dave & Buster's with the whole crew. There we won the World Cup.

We ate some great bar food there and then afterward, the three adults went to Chicken n Pickle for some drinks and catching up. 

Saturday morning we headed out at 11 to Blue Valley Disc Golf (aka Prairie Pass) at Pleasant Ridge Middle School. 

I got off to a rough start. On the first hole, I threw it way right and almost lost the disc, but then recovered and had a makeable putt to win the hole and missed it. We carried it over. Hole 2, I missed a putt again, and so Mark was up 2-0. Holes 3 and 4 we tied. Hole 5, I had a great drive, was ready to go up 3-2, and I missed not one but two putts. Now I was down 5-0 after five.

Mark was up 7-0 after seven, and it was looking real bleak. 

I won Hole 8, making it 7-1. Then I got it up to 7-3 after ten, so I felt like I had momentum. I was shouting, "I am the disc!"

We tied the next one. Mark won the one after that, so he was up 9-3 after 12 and had at least secured a tie at that point.

At this point, I was still calculating a path to victory that included winning the 18th hole, not losing any more holes, and then winning in sudden death. That was my path to victory. I did win the next hole, so it was 9-4.

Then Mark won the 14th hole. He won 10-4. Good buddy.

We came home and got the crew together to go out for street tacos at Taco Republic. The most impactful moment was me winning the fantasy football coin flip.

Mark was not pleased.

After tacos we played more games and booked an escape room. 

Mark and I did pop over to Burg and Barrel to have a drink and name baseball teams and hockey teams.

And then the nightcap was breaking out of Y2K at Breakout KC with 15 minutes to spare.

Heck of a trip.

Mark Fever 2025

I have to come clean about this. I didn't make this blog post in 2025. I'm making it in 2026 after Mark just left, and I realized when making the 2026 mark fever post, that I didn't make a 2025 one. So I'm going to post what I can remember. 

Here's what I know for sure happened:

The whole family went out to dinner at Q39.

The three adults went out to Coach's for some drinks and conversation.

And then Mark and I went to Fox & Hound for the Fantasy Owner's Meeting.

And then the next day Brit and I drove Mark to his sister's in St. Louis.

What other stuff happened? Who knows.

Mark Fever 2024

Mark Fever at the same time as Olympic Fever? This could get dangerous.

Our St. Louis adventure began with me picking up Mark and going to Hotshots (Webster Grove area) for wings, burger, and beers.

We played some darts, starting with a game of cricket.

This was a particularly nice round of mine. It was pretty tight, as soon as one of us would close a number to open up the scoring, the other person would come in and close it off for good. I just closed (opened?) 19 so I could start scoring on it, when he comes in with a triple 19 and closes it for good.

But I had a decent lead throughout and it was never really in question. Sally for the win.

Then we played 301 and Mark had some chances to win, it came down to the final double-out and I got mine first. 

From there we headed to Puttshack for some high-tech mini golf.

Mark took an early lead, then I stormed back with a bank shot hole in one.

Heading into the last hole, I was up 20, but botched my shot and only got 30 pts.

Here's mark, down 50, about to take his final shot.

And he actually hits the yellow 50. So we tied.

We look up and there's a fun animation revealing the winner as:

No explanation of why my 385 is better than Mark's 385, but I did have more holes in one, so that must be the tiebreaker.

Pretty bananas. Mark definitely had a right to be pissed.

We stayed at Puttshack for some drinks and to have our Fantasy Football Owner's Meeting. This was the main event and it lived up to top billing.

The next morning, Mark and I went back to Unger Park for a rematch of the 18-0 skins game from 2021.

One nice feature was many holes now had disc charging stations:

Thru the front 9, I was up 5-4. I think it was the 7th where there was a Mando (mandatory) to go right of a tree, and after three shots I still went left of it. So I lost that one pretty handily. 

Unfortunately for Mark, no more Mandos on the back 9. I clinched the match on the 15th hole, up 10-5. We tied the last three, so 10-5 was the final. Mark definitely redeemed himself from the 18-0 game, credit where credit is due.

After disc golf, I had lunch with Mark's whole family at Fitz's. And now I know the secret to parenting: one water with ice, one without.

A great trip. Mark traveled 10000km to be here and I only had to travel 400.

Mark Fever 2021

In 2019, my family met Mark's family in STL and even got to go out for an Italian dinner together. 

In 2021, it was just the two of us in STL to pay off a serious debt. 

The day before my trip, my car AC stopped working and it's hot outside. I came up with a solution. I filled up an orange Home Depot bucket with the ice from my fridge. I figured it will be a coolsink and lower the temperature inside. Guess what, the bucket does NOTHING. It melted within the first 30 minutes and provided no cooling. So now I'm just driving with this dirty bucket of water sloshing around. 

- - -

Back in 2011, we made a bet of who would get to the Super Bowl first, Lions or Chiefs. Over ten years later, Mark took me out for a steak dinner. We toasted to Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid.

Here he is when he got his food.

Here he is when he got the bill:

I ordered the $64 16oz prime dry-aged ribeye. It was the best steak of my life. 

We also had the Fleming's potatoes, burrata and brussels sprouts. It was a seriously great meal. Now that all our debts are paid and we no longer have any meat-related bets on the table, I made Mark a promise. If the Lions ever win the Super Bowl, I'll return the favor and take him out for a steak dinner. Has to be a win though, we're not toasting to losers. 

The over/under on paying out this promise is 2065. I'm taking the over. 

After dinner we played foosball on the worst tables I've ever played on at Westport Social. Then we played some gang war Tsuro and won a game of Codenames Duet.

In the morning we went to Unger Park to play disc golf. As always, we play a skins game.

I took the first three holes. But then we tied and kept carrying-over. On the 7th, we both had long putts. I made mine which surprised me. Then Mark let a high putt go and it sailed over the basket, catching the back lip, and bouncing back in. He made his putt without even touching the chains. What a shot. 

After the front nine, I was still up 3-0 with 6 skins carried over. I joked that if we kept tying, I could win the entire match 3-0. We got to the tee box of #10. It was a tight fairway with a sharp right turn. The direct line to the basket went over a ravine and was even more congested with trees. But it was reachable. Going first, I said fortune favors the bold, and aimed over the ravine. Somehow my disc made it through the trees and landed near the basket.

I forced Mark to also go for it and his drive wasn't as lucky. He hit at tree and landed just at the edge of the ravine. I tapped in for two and was now up 10-0 with 8 holes to play. Secured the victory. 

At this point, the only question was would Mark win a single hole. 

After 16 holes, Mark was 0-16. He was also wearing his Lions shirt. It was too perfect. 

We tied the 17th. Which meant that the final score would either be 2-16, 0-16 or 0-18. Mark hit a tree on his drive and I didn't so it ended up being 18-0. 

Between Mark buying me the best steak I've ever had and winning disc golf 18-0, I'd say this edition of Mark Fever definitely came up Fymbo.

Also, here's some good general life advice: Put it in the fairway and bang your putt.

Mark Fever 2017

The last time Mark came I wrote "2015 was a short trip, but we jammed as many games as we could into it." That's a pretty good description for 2017 as well. 

He landed Tuesday afternoon and Brit picked him up with the boys and went to Legoland. I met them for dinner at Char Bar. Burnt ends, ribs, good stuff. 

That night we started in on games: Codenames with Brit, Ice Cool, Tsuro (gang war variant after boys went to sleep), Sushi Go, Burgle Bros.

Wednesday we went to Dave & Busters and did an Escape Room (The Cure: Prevail or Perish at Breakout KC) (We perished) and then hit Boulevard for a flight and then had Pizzeria locale before playing more games. 

Thursday we built an American Gladiators assault course with nerf guns and had lunch at Q39 before taking him to the airport. Mr Burns sandwich + ribs were big winners. 

Always a blast.

Mark Fever 2015

2015 was a short trip, but we jammed as many games as we could into it.

Mark landed and we went straight to Fogo de Chao (lunch edition). After that, we played frisbee golf at Ken Caryl, then picked up Brit and the boys to go bowling.

Then we started in on the board games: Tsuro [gang war variant], Roll For It, Love Letter, and A Duel Betwixt Us.

On Tuesday, we hung out with the boys at Monkey Bizness, Which Wich, Crave, and played with the water guns.

We ended the night at JD's Bait Shop, playing foosball, darts and shuffleboard. We played a lot of games, didn't even have time to make any six-packs, but it was a great time. Below, was a 4-pointer in shuffleboard I got.

Mark Fever: Make Your Own Six-Packs

Between the two of us, Mark and I consumed 11 bottles of beer at home, from Friday to Sunday. The picture above shows my rankings visually, best on the left.

Mark agreed in some places, disagreed in others. I know he liked the Red Banshee better than the BigLeaf Maple. Overall, these weren't as good as last years.

Blue Moon Farmhouse Red - Blue Moon Brewing Company - Golden, CO

This was the favorite for both of us. It just had a really great taste, exactly what you want a red to taste like.

BigLeaf Maple Autumn Red - Anchor Brewing Company - San Francisco, California

We didn't taste any maple, but this was another solid red. Mark thought it was too hoppy, but I liked it a lot.

Colorado Native - AC Golden Brewing Company/MillerCoors - Golden, CO

This is third in my list, but wasn't that great. It was a decent simple lager.

Sawtooth Ale - Left Hand Brewing Company - Longmont, CO

This was the first beer I've had from this craft brewery and I liked it. Simple but smooth. I'd try some of their other beers.

Jack Whacker Wheat - Tommyknocker Brewery - Idaho Springs, CO

Last year a Tommyknocker beer was our favorite, so I tried a different style. The bottle claimed notes of lemony-citrus but that was almost too much. Still it was easy to drink.

Lands End Amber Ale - Kannah Creek Brewing Company - Grand Junction, CO

This was totally unremarkable. I thought it was boring, verging on bad.

Red Banshee - Fort Collins Brewery - Fort Collins, CO

I thought I was going to love this as I've really been into reds lately. Unfortunately it tasted like a brown beer to me, and a boring one a that.

Angry Orchard Crisp Apple - Boston Beer Company - Boston, MA

Eagle-eyed readers will see that this is the 1 of 12 that we didn't drink. I had a couple of these last fall so I feel like I can place it here, it's a good cider, but that still won't beat out a good beer.

Doggie Style Pale Ale - Flying Dog Brewery - Denver, CO/Frederick, MD

I thought I was going to love this because I've loved it before. I suppose my tastes have changed in the last five years. It was a very hoppy pale ale (as you would expect) but that made it hard to drink.

Hofbräu Maibock - Hofbräuhaus München - Munich, Germany

I didn't think I was going to like this, and I didn't. I only had a sip. I generally don't like European beers and this was no exception. Tasted bland and watery to me.

Bitch Creek ESB - Grand Teton Brewing - Victor, ID

This was the worst beer (not a cider) that we had. It was so dark and bitter, it was just undrinkable. I finished my half-bottle, but I don't think Mark did.

Woodchuck Hard Cider Pear - Vermont Hard Cider Company - Middlebury, VT

This was some of the worst shit I've ever tasted. I got pear specifically because Brit likes pear drinks and I thought it sounded good. It was vile. No one finished their glass. Truly, truly horrendous.

Mark Fever: 2014 Recap

Another fun trip. He got in Thursday night and for dinner we had buffalo chicken dip, first discovered in this post. It was really good.

Over the course of the weekend, we played lots of Pandemic, Forbidden Island, Zombie Dice and one game of Cleopatra. 

Friday we set out to do something that's been on my list for over two years. We drove 35 minutes west to Conifer, CO to play a 23-hole disc golf course set on a mountain. It's a hike so we loaded up with 2 liters of water per person, new discs, sandwiches and a protein bar (brownie). We played a skins game (with a max of 3). If you lost the hole, you had to carry the backpack. Mark won the first hole but then I won five in a row. My lead was between 3 and 4 all the way until the 13th where we had our first tie (I was up 3 at the time.) On the 14th I hit my best shot, a 20-foot putt that tied that hole. And on the 15th Mark made the great putt to get all three skins and tie the game. 

And then it started to rain. First a sprinkle, but pretty quickly it was pouring and we were in the middle of the woods. We picked up our pace and got through as much as we could. I opened a one or two shot lead and maintained that through the 21st hole. Up two, two to play. We tied the 22nd meaning, the last hole would be worth two. So either we'd tie, I'd win by two, or I'd win by four.

And then it started to hail. I've never been hailed on before. It really hurts. We tried to shield ourselves under trees but that only works so well. Luckily, it only hailed for a few minutes. We played the last hole and it was also a tie. 

On the way back we went to Tipsy's Liquor World, a liquor store with a square footage that rivals Cowboys Stadium. We each made our own six-pack. That night we went to Crave with Brit and split a Texas and Sin City burger, redeeming the burger Mark owed me from the Chiefs-Lions bet. 

Afterwards the three of had drinks at Brothers, sitting outside on a couch by a fire pit, including a semi-heated discussion of the Hobby Lobby decision. 

Saturday, Mark and I took the boys to Chuck E Cheese and got lunch at Chick-fil-A. Brit had evening plans so more board games that night. 

Sunday, all of us went to the Farmer's Market, including the bookstore and toy store. Mark bought the boys a train with the first letter of their names. We got peach and apple flavored almonds and then took the kids to lunch at Noodles and stopped at Rocket Fizz for candy and a root beer. 

We set up the adjustable hoop in the backyard and did some rad dunks and I lost some games of HORSE. For dinner, all of us went to Il Vicino for pizza.

After the kids went to bed, Mark and I went to J.D.'s Bait Shop Sports Grill. This place had free darts, free shuffleboard and foosball for $1. The beer selection wasn't the best (I got a Fat Tire) but the Tackle Box appetizer was pretty good and the games weren't crowded. Mark kicked my ass in foosball and I kicked his ass in darts. Shuffleboard was a draw. 

Good games, good food, good times. 

Mark Fever - 2013 Recap

Mark Fever was a lot of fun.

In addition the make your own six pack, we played bocce ball at work, disc golf, shuffleboard at Park & Co, knee hockey and horse (basketball) in the basement, vibrating football, 6 games of Pandemic, we took the kids to Chuck E Cheese, and a park. Plus, we went out to eat at Brickyard BBQ, Crave Burgers, Lodo's with the mountain view and had an excellent grill session in our backyard.

Make Your Own Six Pack - Mark Fever

As part of Mark Fever 2013, we went to a liquor store the size of a Target and made our own six pack. Here are my order of rankings, best on the left.

Maple Nut Brown - Tommyknocker Brewery - Idaho Springs, CO
This was a brown ale with just the right amount of sweetness. Crisp and light.

Twilight Summer Ale - Deschutes Brewery - Bend, OR
This was a great summer beer. It was simple and pleasant, but with good flavor too. If I was bringing a six-pack to a summer party, this would be a great choice.

Major Tom's Pomegranate Wheat - Fort Collins Brewery -  Fort Collins, CO
Didn't taste any pomegranate, but was very crisp. The top three were very close in my head.

5 Barrel Pale Ale - Odell Brewing Co. - Fort Collins, CO
A good strong pale ale, very hoppy. Not as easy to drink as the first three.

Honey Brown Lager - Dundee Brewing Co. - Rochester, NY
Sort of simple, sort of good. Couldn't taste that much honey, but it was pretty good.

Agave Wheat - Breckenridge Brewery - Denver, CO
The only beer I didn't like. It just didn't have any flavor. Tasted like nothing.

For the record, when we out on our last night, I ordered a Angry Orchard "Crisp Apple" Cider. Brit and I both liked it a lot.

Mark Fever

We started Sunday at Red Rocks. We hiked an epic 1.4. Slayed it.

And then we went to the Coors brewery tour. A fine thing to do, but one I probably don't need to do again.

After that it was off to Park Burger where I fulfilled the 2011 burger bet. And then this evening we went bowling. Mark won the first game with a 122. I won the second game with a 122. And then I won the third game with a 162, including a turkey.