Tiger Woods loses and still takes home 10 million $$$s.

[  Were you watching? Have some comments to share? Feel free to either leave a comment here if you're registered, or email me and I'll post your comments myself, below. Please indicate in the subject line that it's regarding the golf blog. I won't include your name or email address, unless you expressly tell me to use your name.  Email me at   golfbythecupful1405@verizon.net  You may need to cut/paste my address into your email's 'TO' field. ]

If you're a Tiger fan, it was hard not being upset by his loss on Sunday in the final Fed EX playoff, The Tour Championship. I mean, we knew he was likely going to win the FedEx cup again, but how many of us came out of our seats at the numerous misses and lip-outs of putts during the final round? I was half way to my feet countless times to only end up sitting down and murmuring, "Tiger, Tiger, Tiger - WHAT'S YOUR PROBLEM?" The tournament within a tournament had plenty of ups and downs for several players.

Sean O'Hair on Saturday looked like he could bring it home, easily, but failed on Sunday. I have to say, that watching O'Hair's game go south was painful. Steve Stricker had both tournaments in his sites, but fell apart at the crucial times. Same with Kenny Perry and Ernie Els. Both those men played outstanding golf, but near the end stumbled. Padraid Harrington, like Tiger, didn't play like he really wanted to be in the last group. Very strange.

And, then there was Phil Mickelson who came from 4 behind to win the tournament by 3. Needless to say, it was a good day for Mickelson, on so many levels. Several weeks ago I said I hoped Phil won whatever the tournament was they were playing that week, because he really could use something to celebrate. He'd been through a very rough spring and summer with both his wife, Amy, and his mother, Mary, being diagnosed with breast cancer. Even though winning a golf tournament would be minor compared to getting good news regarding the two most important women in his life, I was pulling for a win, none the less - any little thing to up his spirits.

Sunday his putting was nothing short of spectacular. When the putts are falling like that, we surely have the saying, "Drive for show, putt for dough." brought home in the most basic way. Not just his putting - Phil's short game from the green-side roughs was equally grand to witness. (Should be a lesson to all us 'hackers' who only see the need to visit driving ranges, and skip the short game practice - other than a little putting - altogether.)

Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods both won on Sunday. Phil had to have been basking in the win for what it was, but also because he beat the game's very best by 3 strokes at the end. THAT stat alone must have made him giddy. Not to mention that he won well over a million dollars to boot.

But, don't feel too sorry for the big cat. Tiger took home the big, annuitized money win of $10 million, for the 2nd time in 3 years. That's still hard to fathom, in this economy. Shoot - Phil's meager one million-plus is equally hard to grasp.

Like I said, I wanted to be sad for Tiger, but I just couldn't muster much sympathy. 10 million dollars makes sadness totally impossible.

/Golf, Politics and Beyond

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I wanted to cry for poor Brandt Snedeker . . .

I wanted to cry for poor Brandt Snedeker . . . and, then I just burst out laughing. I know, I know - how unfeeling of me, but you got to admit, as a golfer you were thrilled to see one of the big, cool kids 4-putt. Not just 4-putt, but slap the ball around so nonchalantly. Grab a tissue and click here to watch his painful meltdown.

To put this meltdown in perspective, Snedeker only needed to 2-putt to get into the Fed Ex playoffs next week in Atlanta. There's big, big bucks those Fed Ex playoffs. So, in all honesty I'm not at all glad that the Opie Taylor look-alike missed the two putts he needed to move into next week's tournament. But, it sure lessened the pain I feel when I recall the last time I 4-putted - which was . . . well, like every time I play the danged game.

Yep, each one of those putts we carelessly slap about deserve all the respect we can muster.

Next week should be interesting, and it's certainly not a foregone conclusion that the $10 million will go to Tiger. I'll be watching - how 'bout you?

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9/11/2001 on its FIRST anniversary

[ Late in the evening of 9/11/2001 I pulled out a yellow legal pad and jotted down disjointed thoughts and notes because I knew there would come a time I'd need help remembering feelings and observations of the day. Sure enough, weeks before the first anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, The Virginian-Pilot requested recollections from its readers of that dreadful day. I sat down at the computer and stared at the words I'd written nearly twelve months earlier, and in seconds it was all back. I wrote my short piece and The Pilot printed it along with all the other recollections they received. The feelings and visions are as vivid today as they were on 9/11/2001, 2002, and every anniversary since. My notes were hardly needed at all. Here it is as it appeared under the headline, "Readers reflect on 9/11" in September, 2002. ]

STRANGERS AND ZOMBIES

Something uncontrollable happens when my mind wanders to that day in September 2001. I doubt if anyone else notices, but I feel a slight furrow forming between my eyes.

The first time I noticed it was the afternoon of Sept. 11 when, after spending the long morning glued to the TV set, I finally put my dog, Rufus, on his leash and we headed out for our daily ritual.

From the moment we stepped off the porch, the world felt different. Everything seemed quiet - eerily and noticeably quite. No airplanes hummed overhead, no rock 'n' roll from the construction crew building a new house a few blocks away. Almost no cars moved down the streets.

My tennis shoes were soundless as they made contact with the concrete and I could barely hear myself breathing. For some strange reason there was a sense of not wanting to make any noise.

The sky was cloudless, the sun was brilliant and the breeze was warm and gentle - a perfect day, the kind that normally would have inspired a silent prayer of thanks. A day that all should have been right with the world.

Nothing was right, though; and that afternoon I felt no particular reason to give thanks.

The people I encountered on the walk had the same look on their faces as I must have had on mine. We looked like zombies. Strangers, most of us, if our eyes did meet, we could only lift our arms and give the vaguest semblance of an acknowledgment. And, even that was not so much to say, "Hi, how you doing today?" but rather, "My mind is numb, I have no words for you - don't make me stop."

The dog, Rufus, seemed to sense my mood and bypassed many of his favorite spots and even left the squirrels alone. He understood his unusual mission that day - take "the woman" for a walk and be quiet about it.

How has Sept. 11 changed my life? I fear I'll never look at a beautiful, blue-skied, cloudless, balmy day again without remembering the day I watched buildings I'd walked in, in a city I love, disappear in monstrous clouds of smoke. The day that comprehension was impossible. The day neighbors could not speak and the world was way, way too quiet.

The day the dog had to take me for a walk, and the furrow became not just a physical feature, but a part of my heart and soul too.

Jane Massey , Norfolk

Feel free to add your own memories of that day if you would like to. Do so by emailing me at  golfbythecupful1405@verizon.net  (You may have to cut and paste that address into your email's TO field.)  I'll add your comments myself. You can also use the 'comment' button below if you are registered.

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No reports of 'socialism' or 'communism' breaking out in America's schools yesterday.

I got up early this morning to read the paper and watch the news. How many children, I wondered, were going to ask the government today to bail out the ice cream man? How many parents would we hear from who were baffled when their Tylers and Ashleys requested over dinner last night that from now on they prefer being addressed as 'Comrade'?

As I read and listened to the news guess what I found - nothing unusual. There were no reports of anything strange happening among the millions of children who watched President Obama's address to the students on their first day of the new school year.

I watched the president's speech and all I heard was what I expected - President Obama telling kids to stay in school, telling them THEY have responsibilities for their education just as their parents and school systems do. Scary stuff to some, I assume, but intelligent language so far as I was concerned.

One thing the president did annoyed the heck out of me. Either he or his speech writers decided to take out the part in the speech where he suggested the children might leave with a 'take away' assignment. This shouldn't have been removed - kids would have loved it. For some reason it seemed to send some parents into orbit, as I heard pre-speech claims that the administration was attempting to indoctrinate their children. Who knew that all it takes to indoctrinate a child is to tell them to be responsible, stay in school and to realize they can make their dreams and goals come true if they work hard and stay focused on what they want?

If that's a form of mind control I dealt with it throughout my entire school years, and I imagine anyone reading this did too.

Anyway,  the 'take away' assignment was removed from the speech. I guess it was because as one guy I heard on TV said, parents thought too much personal information was being requested by the president. They didn't want him getting into their children's heads. The guy being interviewed pointed to some ridiculous law suit someone had brought against a school system in Texas. I'm guessing here because the man wasn't too clear about what his gripe actually was.

I had to laugh when I heard this law suit had occurred in Texas. I mean, well, you know what I mean. Why should we care what happens in Texas when Texas won't be a part of the USA anyway, if  the governor there, Rick Perry, gets his wish for the state to secede. Not to mention that a couple other folks running grass roots campaigns for the governor's seat next term also think the state should secede.

I fear for the children of people like this - people who would keep children home from school because the President of the United States takes time out from a busy, hectic schedule to talk to them; and children who watch their parents stand before cameras and scream for votes because they 'hate the United States' and want out of it. I mostly fear that children of people like that will grow up to think like them.

Thank heavens children are smarter than some parents realize, though. Children eventually recognize ignorance and hate even when it spews forth from Mom and Dad.

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/Golf, Politics and Beyond

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John McCain's hosting a Town Hall type meeting on TV right now. What's missing?

Oh gee - where are the screaming you-know-whats, shouting McCain down and struttin' their stuff outside with their fire arms? Where are the Nazi signs and 'water the tree with blood' signs, a.k.a. Jefferson?

The closest thing to a scuffle was John McCain interrupting a lady about 5 times who dared to ask him why his and the Republican great concern now about health care, when no one from the past several Republican administrations cared enough to even mouth 'health care'? Other than that, it was normal.

Too bad the Republicans don't have the manners or the know-how in how to act at the these meetings.

Oh, here we go. A women now is saying she's not so worried about her health care, (she's most likely has health care) but for the first time in her life she's worried about her freedom . . . blah, blah, blah. These people couldn't look any dumber if they hung from a tree and sprouted apples on their fingers. You should be worried lady - since you probably had no problems with the last administration's total disregard for the Constitution. Your freedom has been in a whole lot more peril than anything occurring in the country, today.

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You Gotta Love the 'Town Hall Faces'

Remember when our Moms used to tell us not to make ugly faces because,  ... "You wouldn't want your face to freeze in that position, would you?" We didn't pay her any attention as 6-year olds, and it appears that many folks aren't channeling Mom's good advice, these days, either. (This look takes intelligence to a new high, don't you think?:   http://www.newsweek.com/id/212162 )

We're seeing a whole bunch of folks the past couple months on TV and in newspapers with the goofiest of outraged faces imaginable. I sure hope their faces aren't stuck like that, and if so I hope to never meet them.

I don't know about you but when I see these folks at Town Hall meetings, red-faced, veins bulging, teeth bared - it makes me feel down right genius like. It's a great feeling.

Keep up all the screaming, ranting and maniacal raving, dudes and dudettes. You're making a lot of us plain old, regular people feel great about ourselves and our minds. I do have to say, though, those of you pacing around, yelling at Governors, Senators and House Reps, I love your new fashion accessory - your strapped on weapons. Great touch! The looks says:  "Look at me - I'm ticked, I'm wired, my face is red, my veins are poppin' and, by gummy, I got 'old steel' fastened to my leg. I look danged good!"

What do I think about your attire? I think your missing one key accessory to complete the look - a straightjacket.

This guy's Mom really would be appalled, don't ya think? http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/14/AR2009081401216.html?hpid=topnews

Here's a few more of the cerebral thinkers out there:   http://www.newsweek.com/id/211920

Wanna comment? You know how - go for it.   / Golf, Politics and Beyond

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Phil Mickelson Needs a Celebration This Week.

I thought I was going to have a dilemma this week as the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational at Firestone Country Club gets underway tomorrow. I always pull for Tiger Woods to win whatever tournament he's playing - what can I say -  I'm a Tiger fan. We golfers are every bit as serious and demanding of our favorites as you baseball fans are about your Cubs, Yankees, Pirates and Red Sox, and the football fans and basketball fans.
 
But this week, I'm pulling for Phil Michelson. I'm not the biggest of Phil fans, but I think he and his family have been zapped these past several months with such panic, pain and scariness that they could use a win. Any win.
 
Amy Mickelson, Phil's wife, was diagnosed with breast cancer several months ago and they had to get through the months before her surgery in the most public of ways. Phil couldn't avoid getting asked about it and his concern was palpable as we watched him muddle through the same questions over and over. 
 
Now, if you're thinking that's pretty bad stuff for him to deal with, add to his state of mine the heartbreak of his mother also being diagnosed with breast cancer just six weeks after his wife. How on earth does someone deal with finding out that the two most important, most loved women in his life are suffering with this relentless disease?
 
Phil has been a care-giver to Amy before. After they started dating and he was fairly new on the PGA tour, she was hit with some kind of serious flu-type illness. Without talking a lot about it, or giving the decision too much attention, Phil simply stepped up, put his wondrous flop shot and famous 'lefty' golf swing on the back burner, and said he was taking some time off to care for Amy and be with her.
 
We women watching and listening and taking all this all in, quietly stored Phil's action away. We also quietly observed what we were seeing - a true love story.
 
He has been the subject of several of my blogs because I don't find him to be the most exciting guy on the course to watch, although Phil's fans are the closest we'll ever see to Arnie's Army.  But, it struck me that Amy Mickelson and Mary Mickelson are two lucky ladies - cancer, surgery, chemo and all treatments aside.
 
Amy and Mary have a guy on their side, rooting for them like crazy and not just talking the talk, but also WALKING THE WALK!
 
Phil gets it when 'it' happens to be supporting the women in his life. Now, I believe that 99% of men facing this same thing with family members are there to help in any way they can - but, Phil seems to instinctively KNOW what that 'any way they can' is.
 
 Phil could use a few moments of celebration and lightnesss not associated with anything serious or of a medical nature. His entire family could, for that matter.
 
I wish Mickelson well this week and in this tournament. I would love to see Tiger make it two-in-a-row soon - just not this week.
 
 
http://blogs.golf.com/presstent/2009/07/phil-mickelson-says-both-mother-and-wife-are-doing-well-in-breast-cancer-fight.html
 
Feel free to email me if you'd like me to post your comments here. My email is golfbythecupful1405@live.com . (You may need to do a cut and paste into your email 'To' field.)
/Golf, Politics and Beyond

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Ex-Gov. Sarah Palin could learn a lot from Officer James Crowley.

I'm sure Sarah Palin won't recognize that Officer James Crowley's press conference offers a 'teaching moment', but there is much from that 15 minutes that could have served her well. Actually, we all could learn something.

Officer James Crowley, of course, is the Cambridge, MA police officer who arrested Harvard Professor Henry Louis 'Skip' Gates when Gates refused to cooperate, and began mouthing off at Crowley. President Obama weighed in and then we were ALL off and running toward all kinds of accusations of racial profiling, hurling racial comments at the police, followed by what some felt was a blatant case of the President verbally abusing a private citizen.

Whew - personally, I think all three men handled their parts shodilly, but they seem to be working hard to correct it. But, back to Palin.

I hope the ex-Gov. was watching Officer Crowley's news conference. I hope she noticed how gracious the man was and to what lengths he went to not insert any snippy little digs or innuendos into his prepared statement or the answers he gave to reporter's questions. He refused to get pulled into any finger pointing at either the President or Professor Gates; but instead took a route that allowed him to compliment each of the other men's willingness and desire to have a dialogue about the part race plays in America.

As I think back to the first time I saw Sarah Palin, I can't help but contrast her performance with the Crowley performance. Where Crowley felt the need to be cordial and win people over to him, in spite of all the negativity he'd faced these past two weeks, Sarah Palin used her initial address to the country at the Republican National Convention to be as divisively mean-spirited toward Sen. Barack Obama and Democrats in general as possible. Instead of taking a grown-up approach to introduce herself to Americans of all political parties, she went the way of a bully in junior high school.

Where James Crowley sought ways to build up the other two men who were involved in all the craziness, Sarah Palin chose to make rude comments regarding candidate Obama's need to protect the rights of people, even as we hunted them down.

I came away from the Crowley press conference thinking that this entire incident and each man's involvement was unfortunate, but forgivable. I came away from Palin's arrival wondering what her underwear was washed in - for something was obviously chafing her big time.

Crowley arrived at his press conference ready to reach out and put the madness in the past, whereas Palin arrived on stage in St. Paul mad and ready to demean and incite.

People who initially thought that Officer Crowley should be fired for not being able to contain a minor domestic situation after realizing it involved no weapons other than a biting tongue from and old guy, probably heard Crowley yesterday and are ready to give him the benefit of the doubt. I think we're ready to say about the whole situation and all things associated with it, that the 'S' stuff does, indeed, happen, and it can be treated as such - just stupid 'S'.

Hopefully, the media will let this thing die, as it should. Crowley has taken the heat out the moment by speaking so well of his adversaries of just a week ago.

Sarah Palin, on the other hand never said a word about her partner's (John McCain) adversary that wasn't biting, belittling, mean or bullying. She could have fared so much better than she did if somewhere along the way she'd learned how to be generous and kind.

Palin was unable to be generous or kind the first night we met her and she never stepped out of the role as junior high school bully in the months that followed. She, and only she, can take the blame for that. If you don't know how to be kind when it's required of you, it's hard to make friends out of enemies. Crowley understood that concept and acted accordingly. Poor Sarah never got it. That's a matter of character and it tells me all I need to know about either of them.

Here's a fairly quick-read article I just found about Officer Crowley's press conference:   http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2009/07/30/politics/politicalhotsheet/entry5199511.shtml

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PETA leadership wrong on Michael Vick

I was watching THE ED (Schultz) SHOW last night and saw a PETA spokesperson talking about Michael Vick's return to the NFL and a life outside of prison. PETA is a much needed organization and I believe in so much of what it does. On the issue, however, of thinking Michael Vick should undergo a brain scan of some sort  before the NFL accepts him back, is ridiculous.

While I totally agree that Vick isn't someone I want to hang out with, at the same time, I do believe he's paid for his crime so far as the legal system's requirement; and unless we demand 'brain-scanning' every rapist, murderer and other felons guilty of horrible crimes before allowing them back into society, for PETA to even talk about such a stupid idea, somehow diminishes its many good works.

I abhor what Michaeil Vick was involved in and I'm glad there was a law that allowed for him to have a pay a price for his animal cruelty. Bottom line, however, is that he did his time and only his actions going forward from this point will determine whether he deserves a second chance from those of us who loathed everything about him when his activity in the torturing of dogs for sport came to life.

He may be able to do some good in changing the hearts and minds of youths that find these activities glamorous. If that can happen on any scale, we owe it to him to let go of a little piece of our own ego that continues to want us to demand even more payback. What he did in his past was horrible and I'm sure it created visions in our minds that we never wanted there. But, the future is what's important now - what MIchael Vick might be able to accomplish. Giving him a chance to make a living at what he does, without pickets and protests, takes nothing away from us, but can make a huge difference in the futures of some kids.

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Congratulations, Mr. Cink! You closed the deal in fine style.

What an exciting win for Stewart Cink and for The British Open or The Open Championship - whichever you choose to call it. And, here I thought that without Tiger Woods in the pack it would be a bore. No way.

Starting the day I was pulling for Matthew Goggin, the Aussie, who was playing with Tom Watson in the final group. He may have lost but he sure looked fine doing it. (Ok, ok, I'm sorry - what can I say? Sort of reminded me of Frank Nobilo a couple years ago.)

 [  Pictures are the property of Golf, Politics and Beyond. Both are Stewart Cink from one of the 2007 Masters Practice Rounds.  ]

Great charges and mini-charges by Lee Westwood, Ross Fisher and Chris Wood. Speaking of Chris Wood, doesn't he look like a cross between Princess Diana's boys? Give him some red in his hair and he's a tall ringer for Prince Harry. They were all great to watch, except for that horrible quad-bogey of Fisher's that took him out of the lead and dumped him 3 or 4 down the leaderboard. That was painful to watch.

As for Tom Watson - well, I guess the nerves, the fatigue and all the other stuff that goes with a major finally caught up with him. He did play well all week, though. It was that 8-iron over the green on 18 that did him in, though, and the missed putt. A bad case of SH - stuff happens, I suppose.

Stewart Cink's birdie putt on 18 to go to the clubhouse with the lead was lovely. The playoff was anything but exciting, but gave a great player his first major win. So, big Congrats to Stewie, as the guys on tour, obviously, call him.

If you watched today's final round, let's hear what you thought.

Email me at    golfbythecupful1405@verizon.net   (and, I will post your comments) or leave a comment.by using the button below.

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