^
In golf, the term is "sandbagging."
That's what Barack Obama must have been doing in the first debate. I mean, there's no way he could have been that bad unless he was trying to be that bad, right?
So yeah, that's the ticket. He sandbagged. He carded double-bogeys, couldn't get out of bunkers, chunked chips and got a terrible case of the shanks. He got Mitt Romney overconfident, gave the Republicans hope and lowered expectations on himself.
Then, just when people were starting to bet on the other guy, though, President Obama showed up for Mitt vs. Barack II and started raining birdies.
Nice strategy, chief!
This time, Obama wouldn't let Romney get away with blatant lies. Obama got the last, best word on oil production, on the auto bailout, on tax policy and on Libya. Not that politicians even seem to care anymore, but the fact-checkers generally confirmed that Romney had less truthiness (how's that for a word?) than Obama.
And the president brilliantly used his closing statement to condemn Romney for his infamous 47 percent of the country is not worthy comments, thereby preventing Romney from defending himself. The challenger didn't have the chance to blame everybody else for the true feelings he had shared with his audience of gazillionaires.
One final birdie in the heart of the cup for the sandbagger.
Had this Jack Nicklaus Obama showed up for the first debate -- instead of Judge Smails Obama -- the election already would be over. But he didn't and it isn't.
The temptation now is to say that the debate score is 1-1. Or maybe that the Obama ticket is even slightly ahead when factoring in Joe Biden's takedown of Paul Ryan in the VP debate. That, however, is not the case.
Obama's victory last night was not nearly as lopsided as Romney's was last time. Plus, by mopping the floor with the president in the first debate, Romney was able to get out from under having called nearly half the country victims, leeches and losers.
Romney completely stole the momentum during No. 1. Obama merely stemmed the tide in No. 2, showing America he was willing to fight.
I'm already looking forward to No. 3. It's been pretty darn good television theater.
---
In much more important news, Blue Thunder, our geezer-league softball team, reached a new high last night. We won 30-5 in a game that was even more decisive than the score might suggest.
In an effort to prevent runaways, the league has a rule that caps scoring in any one inning at 5 runs. Well, we had six offensive innings last night. And in each of those innings, we scored 5 runs. Our opponent wasn't very good and gave us extra chances, but the fact is that we were smacking line drive after line drive after line drive.
Our leadoff guy, Wheels, went 5-for-5 with four singles and a double -- every time delivering a clean hit, as if he were some kind of line-drive machine. Several players had four hits. I went 3-for-3 with a walk, including my first triple of the season.
All of this happened after one of our core players, our pitcher Pat, got bloodied in the first inning when hit in the face by a hard shot. Pat had to go to the hospital to get a few stitches, but the good news is that he is fine and should be back next week -- when we'll be trying to wrap up a perfect 9-0 regular season!
---
If you are going to ever read one of my personal finance articles at the Seeking Alpha web site, make it my most recent entry about Roth IRAs. Everybody who can have a Roth should have one, and I give the hows and whys in this article.
Plus, I get paid per page-view. So hey, everybody who clicks can help me fund my own Roth!
^
Showing posts with label Jack Nicklaus. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jack Nicklaus. Show all posts
Wednesday, October 17, 2012
Monday, June 11, 2012
Casey Martin rides again!
^
Remember the caterwauling more than a decade ago, when Casey Martin won the right to ride a golf cart in professional tournaments due to the rare circulatory condition that renders his right leg almost useless?
Dozens of players will start claiming medical reasons to ride, ruining the very fabric of the sport! Golf has an endurance component to it, and this will give Martin an unfair competitive advantage! Walking is traditional; golf is tradition-bound; ipso fatso, this will end tournament golf as we know it!
"Someone else along the line will use this, I promise you," Jack Nicklaus warned after a court order allowed Martin to use a cart lo those many years ago. "It will happen. There will be another mess someplace."
When it comes to golf, Jack isn't wrong often. But he and the many other top golfers of the time who argued against Martin were dead wrong about this.
Not one other championship-level golfer has tried to gain the right to use carts during tournaments. Nobody has suggested that carts be used in events on brutally hot days. It's a non-factor, a non-issue.
Somehow, golf has done just fine despite Martin's attempts to "ruin" the sport.
Martin is back at the U.S. Open, his first competitive event in five years. He got the right to play this week in San Francisco the hard way: He earned it through qualifying. (And, yes, he did use a cart to get around the course.) He is now a 40-year-old golf coach.
I'm rooting for him to at least make the cut.
---
On a completely unrelated note ...
I wrote another financial article for the Seeking Alpha site last week. Here's the link:
http://seekingalpha.com/article/646301-johnson-johnson-yielding-4-lockheed-martin-5-not-so-fast
No guarantee that reading it will make you a billionaire.
Or even a hundredaire like me.
Remember the caterwauling more than a decade ago, when Casey Martin won the right to ride a golf cart in professional tournaments due to the rare circulatory condition that renders his right leg almost useless?
Dozens of players will start claiming medical reasons to ride, ruining the very fabric of the sport! Golf has an endurance component to it, and this will give Martin an unfair competitive advantage! Walking is traditional; golf is tradition-bound; ipso fatso, this will end tournament golf as we know it!
"Someone else along the line will use this, I promise you," Jack Nicklaus warned after a court order allowed Martin to use a cart lo those many years ago. "It will happen. There will be another mess someplace."
When it comes to golf, Jack isn't wrong often. But he and the many other top golfers of the time who argued against Martin were dead wrong about this.
Not one other championship-level golfer has tried to gain the right to use carts during tournaments. Nobody has suggested that carts be used in events on brutally hot days. It's a non-factor, a non-issue.
Somehow, golf has done just fine despite Martin's attempts to "ruin" the sport.
Martin is back at the U.S. Open, his first competitive event in five years. He got the right to play this week in San Francisco the hard way: He earned it through qualifying. (And, yes, he did use a cart to get around the course.) He is now a 40-year-old golf coach.
I'm rooting for him to at least make the cut.
---
On a completely unrelated note ...
I wrote another financial article for the Seeking Alpha site last week. Here's the link:
http://seekingalpha.com/article/646301-johnson-johnson-yielding-4-lockheed-martin-5-not-so-fast
No guarantee that reading it will make you a billionaire.
Or even a hundredaire like me.
Monday, June 4, 2012
Tiger is golf, but he's still not "back"
^
While working at the golf course yesterday, I parked my cart in front of the pro shop and went inside to use the men's room. On my way back, I stopped briefly in front of the small TV in the shop. Seconds later, one of the club members walked next to me and asked, "How's he doing?"
I didn't have to ask who "he" was, and the member didn't need to say a name.
Even though it has been nearly four years since he won a major tournament, and even though he pretty much fell off the golfing map for the better part (or worse part, in his case) of two years, Tiger Woods is golf.
Sometimes people complain that he gets too much hype or that ESPN focuses on him too much or that golf writers can't write any golf story without mentioning him -- even if he didn't play in the tournament about which they are writing. There's a reason for all that:
Because he's Tiger Freakin' Woods.
Whether you are a Tiger fan or whether you are a Tiger hater ... whether you are a huge golf fan or barely even a casual observer ... whether you enjoyed Elin taking a 9-iron to his head or thought she should have used a wedge ... his name resonates.
He is golf.
I do not care if Tiger Woods wins or loses, but I prefer that he be a factor whenever he plays. If Tiger is contending on Sunday, a tournament is more interesting. It simply matters more.
In winning Jack Nicklaus' tournament on Sunday -- thereby tying Jack for second on the all-time wins list -- Tiger made a high-risk chip shot so incredible that Nicklaus himself called it "the most unbelievable, gutsy shot I've ever seen."
That's two wins this season after a long dry spell for Tiger, and many have declared that he is "back" just in time for the U.S. Open, which takes place in two weeks.
Sorry, but I'll believe he is back only if he wins the U.S. Open.
He impressively won Arnold's tournament on March 22, leading many observers at the time to say he was back. His next three events: tied for 40th; missed cut; tied for 40th.
He wasn't back.
Tiger himself measures success by the majors. He has been sitting at 14 major titles, four behind Jack's all-time mark, since winning the '08 U.S. Open.
By his own measure, he has failed for four years. Why should us mere mortals measure him any other way?
I'm glad this year's U.S. Open is San Francisco, because that means Sunday's final round will be on in prime time on Father's Day. I'll be home from work and sitting on my La-Z-Boy, watching the entire final round, a bowl of guacamole on one side and a platter of pita chips on the other.
I hope I'm watching Tiger Woods at his best, because the entertainment will be better if he is.
Oh, I'll enjoy it whether he wins or loses. The U.S. Open just about never disappoints.
But if he wins, I'll lift my glass to the TV and say: Tiger is golf ... and now he's finally back.
^
While working at the golf course yesterday, I parked my cart in front of the pro shop and went inside to use the men's room. On my way back, I stopped briefly in front of the small TV in the shop. Seconds later, one of the club members walked next to me and asked, "How's he doing?"
I didn't have to ask who "he" was, and the member didn't need to say a name.
Even though it has been nearly four years since he won a major tournament, and even though he pretty much fell off the golfing map for the better part (or worse part, in his case) of two years, Tiger Woods is golf.
Sometimes people complain that he gets too much hype or that ESPN focuses on him too much or that golf writers can't write any golf story without mentioning him -- even if he didn't play in the tournament about which they are writing. There's a reason for all that:
Because he's Tiger Freakin' Woods.
Whether you are a Tiger fan or whether you are a Tiger hater ... whether you are a huge golf fan or barely even a casual observer ... whether you enjoyed Elin taking a 9-iron to his head or thought she should have used a wedge ... his name resonates.
He is golf.
I do not care if Tiger Woods wins or loses, but I prefer that he be a factor whenever he plays. If Tiger is contending on Sunday, a tournament is more interesting. It simply matters more.
In winning Jack Nicklaus' tournament on Sunday -- thereby tying Jack for second on the all-time wins list -- Tiger made a high-risk chip shot so incredible that Nicklaus himself called it "the most unbelievable, gutsy shot I've ever seen."
That's two wins this season after a long dry spell for Tiger, and many have declared that he is "back" just in time for the U.S. Open, which takes place in two weeks.
Sorry, but I'll believe he is back only if he wins the U.S. Open.
He impressively won Arnold's tournament on March 22, leading many observers at the time to say he was back. His next three events: tied for 40th; missed cut; tied for 40th.
He wasn't back.
Tiger himself measures success by the majors. He has been sitting at 14 major titles, four behind Jack's all-time mark, since winning the '08 U.S. Open.
By his own measure, he has failed for four years. Why should us mere mortals measure him any other way?
I'm glad this year's U.S. Open is San Francisco, because that means Sunday's final round will be on in prime time on Father's Day. I'll be home from work and sitting on my La-Z-Boy, watching the entire final round, a bowl of guacamole on one side and a platter of pita chips on the other.
I hope I'm watching Tiger Woods at his best, because the entertainment will be better if he is.
Oh, I'll enjoy it whether he wins or loses. The U.S. Open just about never disappoints.
But if he wins, I'll lift my glass to the TV and say: Tiger is golf ... and now he's finally back.
^
Monday, June 20, 2011
Hoping 2012 U.S. Open comes down to Tiger-Rory playoff
^
The Bald Truth
I miss Tiger. Really.
Sure, I was in awe of Rory McIlroy, both his incredible swing and his can-do demeanor. And I'll admit I was rooting for him to keep going more and more under par.
But as was the case when Tiger Woods was winning tournaments by double-digit totals, I grew a little bored as I watched McIlroy's runaway U.S. Open victory. I'll take a nail-biter of a tournament that goes down to the final putt over a record-setting rout every time.
I mean, how many times should one have to listen to Johnny Miller chuckle at the absurdity of McIlroy's near-perfect shotmaking?
McIlroy certainly looks like golf's next big thing. Wouldn't it be delicious if the sport's last big thing got healthy, got his game back and took all this adulation being heaped on McIlroy personally?
Wouldn't it be great if Tiger Woods acted like his buddy and role model, Michael Jordan, who used such challenges to motivate himself and amaze us all?
I covered the PGA Championship at Medinah in 1999, when a baby-faced Sergio Garcia almost stole the show from Woods. At the time, we all assumed we'd be treated to Sergio vs. Tiger for the next two decades. Unfortunately, Sergio lost his copy of the script.
Now that Tiger is the hunter instead of the hunted, will he be able to play his part? Can he be the Arnie to McIlroy's Jack?
Wouldn't that be something?
The Quote
"He lapped the field, and for such a young age, how mature he is." -- Jason Day
The U.S. Open runner-up is 23, an old man compared to the 22-year-old champion.
The Balder Truth
My favorite thing about McIlroy -- and there are lots of favorite things with this kid -- is how quickly he plays.
He doesn't stand there for five minutes trying to figure out how a 2 mph breeze will affect his next shot. He doesn't examine every putt from 14 different angles. He doesn't agonize for 30 seconds after every miss or pump his fist 20 times after every make. He doesn't confer with his caddie for 10 minutes and change clubs three times before addressing the ball.
He walks up to his Pro V1, hits it and gets ready for the next shot.
All of us would be wise to copy McIlroy's picture-perfect swing. All of us also are wise enough to know we can't.
One thing we can copy is his desire to play the game quickly.
The more time under 4 hours a round can take, the more time there is for the 19th hole.
Who's No. 1?
If it's too early to say for sure that it's McIlroy, we don't really know who No. 1 is. But we know who it isn't.
Luke Donald has to be one of the great pretenders in recent sports history.
THE BALDEST TRUTH
Americans aren't winning golf's majors. They aren't contending at Wimbledon, either.
Which means ... what? ... we're supposed to be ashamed to be Americans or something?
Our elected leaders do plenty to make us ashamed. What happens in our sporting venues is immaterial.
It's only sports, you know?
^
The Bald Truth
I miss Tiger. Really.
Sure, I was in awe of Rory McIlroy, both his incredible swing and his can-do demeanor. And I'll admit I was rooting for him to keep going more and more under par.
But as was the case when Tiger Woods was winning tournaments by double-digit totals, I grew a little bored as I watched McIlroy's runaway U.S. Open victory. I'll take a nail-biter of a tournament that goes down to the final putt over a record-setting rout every time.
I mean, how many times should one have to listen to Johnny Miller chuckle at the absurdity of McIlroy's near-perfect shotmaking?
McIlroy certainly looks like golf's next big thing. Wouldn't it be delicious if the sport's last big thing got healthy, got his game back and took all this adulation being heaped on McIlroy personally?
Wouldn't it be great if Tiger Woods acted like his buddy and role model, Michael Jordan, who used such challenges to motivate himself and amaze us all?
I covered the PGA Championship at Medinah in 1999, when a baby-faced Sergio Garcia almost stole the show from Woods. At the time, we all assumed we'd be treated to Sergio vs. Tiger for the next two decades. Unfortunately, Sergio lost his copy of the script.
Now that Tiger is the hunter instead of the hunted, will he be able to play his part? Can he be the Arnie to McIlroy's Jack?
Wouldn't that be something?
The Quote
"He lapped the field, and for such a young age, how mature he is." -- Jason Day
The U.S. Open runner-up is 23, an old man compared to the 22-year-old champion.
The Balder Truth
My favorite thing about McIlroy -- and there are lots of favorite things with this kid -- is how quickly he plays.
He doesn't stand there for five minutes trying to figure out how a 2 mph breeze will affect his next shot. He doesn't examine every putt from 14 different angles. He doesn't agonize for 30 seconds after every miss or pump his fist 20 times after every make. He doesn't confer with his caddie for 10 minutes and change clubs three times before addressing the ball.
He walks up to his Pro V1, hits it and gets ready for the next shot.
All of us would be wise to copy McIlroy's picture-perfect swing. All of us also are wise enough to know we can't.
One thing we can copy is his desire to play the game quickly.
The more time under 4 hours a round can take, the more time there is for the 19th hole.
Who's No. 1?
If it's too early to say for sure that it's McIlroy, we don't really know who No. 1 is. But we know who it isn't.
Luke Donald has to be one of the great pretenders in recent sports history.
THE BALDEST TRUTH
Americans aren't winning golf's majors. They aren't contending at Wimbledon, either.
Which means ... what? ... we're supposed to be ashamed to be Americans or something?
Our elected leaders do plenty to make us ashamed. What happens in our sporting venues is immaterial.
It's only sports, you know?
^
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Nice of Tiger to contend - and to choke
^
I have this weird observer/athlete relationship with Tiger Woods ... and no, I'm not a stalker.
On the one hand, I want him to do well, especially in the majors. Because when he's in contention, the tournament is always more exciting. I want him to set the bar high and make the other golfers leap to his level.
On the other hand, we all know that Wood is a reprehensible human being, the kind of guy none of us want to introduce to our daughters, nieces and nannies. He's crude, lewd and really quite a pathetic dude -- a club-throwing, foul-mouthed, self-worshipping jerk.
So even as I root for him to stay near the top of the leaderboard, I can't possible hope he wins.
As it turns out, then, this was a practically perfect Masters for me.
Woods roared back from a deep deficit to take the lead ... only to choke on a 2-foot putt and fall just short. It was part of a wild final round that saw a half-dozen golfers contend right to the end.
I don't follow golf quite as closely now as I did when I covered it fairly regularly, and I admit I never had heard of Charl Schwartzel until this weekend. That the South African seemingly came out of nowhere to beat Woods and the rest of the field made the tournament all the more dramatic.
The only way I'd have enjoyed it more would have been if 71-year-old Jack Nicklaus had played and won one more time -- tacking another major title onto his record and making it even more unlikely that a wretched cur named Eldrick eventually will equal one of sport's great accomplishments.
^
I have this weird observer/athlete relationship with Tiger Woods ... and no, I'm not a stalker.
On the one hand, I want him to do well, especially in the majors. Because when he's in contention, the tournament is always more exciting. I want him to set the bar high and make the other golfers leap to his level.
On the other hand, we all know that Wood is a reprehensible human being, the kind of guy none of us want to introduce to our daughters, nieces and nannies. He's crude, lewd and really quite a pathetic dude -- a club-throwing, foul-mouthed, self-worshipping jerk.
So even as I root for him to stay near the top of the leaderboard, I can't possible hope he wins.
As it turns out, then, this was a practically perfect Masters for me.
Woods roared back from a deep deficit to take the lead ... only to choke on a 2-foot putt and fall just short. It was part of a wild final round that saw a half-dozen golfers contend right to the end.
I don't follow golf quite as closely now as I did when I covered it fairly regularly, and I admit I never had heard of Charl Schwartzel until this weekend. That the South African seemingly came out of nowhere to beat Woods and the rest of the field made the tournament all the more dramatic.
The only way I'd have enjoyed it more would have been if 71-year-old Jack Nicklaus had played and won one more time -- tacking another major title onto his record and making it even more unlikely that a wretched cur named Eldrick eventually will equal one of sport's great accomplishments.
^
Monday, August 17, 2009
Bad for Tiger, good for golf
^
The Bald Truth
Obviously, it's not good for Tiger Woods, Elin Nordegren and Eldrick's legion of worshippers that Tiger gagged down the stretch at the PGA Championship. Perhaps a little less obvious: It definitely is better for the sport of golf that his failure helped Y.E. Yang become the first Asian-born man to win a major tournament.
Tiger will win plenty more majors before he is through. He will eclipse Jack Nicklaus' record with room to spare. His legacy is assured. Golf needs Woods to excel and to be in the hunt so TV viewers tune in to the sport's main events. But golf doesn't need Tiger to win.
On the other hand, a South Korean man - or any other man from any other place (including the United States) - beating the world's No. 1 golfer head-to-head in a marquee event helps the sport grow.
No doubt, tens of thousands of Korean kids are going to start playing golf this year simply because Y.E. took down Eldrick.
The Quote
"I did everything I needed to do - except for getting the ball in the hole." - Tiger Woods
Welcome to the club, dude.
The Balder Truth
I love the majors. I love when Tiger contends in majors. But I really don't care if he wins or loses because, either way, the theater is great.
Either Tiger wins spectacularly and builds upon his legend ... or he loses, which means an underdog has overcome enormous odds.
Sunday's round was great sports theater. For that, I thank The Legend and, especially, The Underdog.
OK, So I'm Not Carnac
My Steve Stricker prediction fell just a little short - he didn't even make the cut. But I don't feel too bad.
A lot more people predicted Tiger Woods would win the British Open ... and he was sent to his room for the weekend.
THE BALDEST TRUTH
I've often wondered why South Koreans win so many women's majors but the country's men barely create a ripple in the PGA sea.
Maybe Yang's victory was the start of something big for South Korean male golfers. Or maybe it was just a fluke that will never be repeated.
Regardless, I'm guessing that a lot of good South Korean men who have been laboring in anonymity feel at least a little better about their chances today than they did yesterday.
The Bald Truth
Obviously, it's not good for Tiger Woods, Elin Nordegren and Eldrick's legion of worshippers that Tiger gagged down the stretch at the PGA Championship. Perhaps a little less obvious: It definitely is better for the sport of golf that his failure helped Y.E. Yang become the first Asian-born man to win a major tournament.
Tiger will win plenty more majors before he is through. He will eclipse Jack Nicklaus' record with room to spare. His legacy is assured. Golf needs Woods to excel and to be in the hunt so TV viewers tune in to the sport's main events. But golf doesn't need Tiger to win.
On the other hand, a South Korean man - or any other man from any other place (including the United States) - beating the world's No. 1 golfer head-to-head in a marquee event helps the sport grow.
No doubt, tens of thousands of Korean kids are going to start playing golf this year simply because Y.E. took down Eldrick.
The Quote
"I did everything I needed to do - except for getting the ball in the hole." - Tiger Woods
Welcome to the club, dude.
The Balder Truth
I love the majors. I love when Tiger contends in majors. But I really don't care if he wins or loses because, either way, the theater is great.
Either Tiger wins spectacularly and builds upon his legend ... or he loses, which means an underdog has overcome enormous odds.
Sunday's round was great sports theater. For that, I thank The Legend and, especially, The Underdog.
OK, So I'm Not Carnac
My Steve Stricker prediction fell just a little short - he didn't even make the cut. But I don't feel too bad.
A lot more people predicted Tiger Woods would win the British Open ... and he was sent to his room for the weekend.
THE BALDEST TRUTH
I've often wondered why South Koreans win so many women's majors but the country's men barely create a ripple in the PGA sea.
Maybe Yang's victory was the start of something big for South Korean male golfers. Or maybe it was just a fluke that will never be repeated.
Regardless, I'm guessing that a lot of good South Korean men who have been laboring in anonymity feel at least a little better about their chances today than they did yesterday.
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