More Thoughts To End The Week
Another day of too many thoughts and not enough time to churn out a real article. In other words, I'm lazy and don't want to edit for style, grammar or have any real theme running through. I also included some more social commentary since the other column featuring similar content generated the most interest of any of my columns thus far. I aim to please. On to today's thoughts.
Most annoying running subplot of the week behind Favre-watch: British Open talk revolving around whether or not an asterisk should be affixed to the winner's accomplishment. Are you serious? Tiger is the best player in the history of golf, so does that mean that Bobby Jones' accomplishments should have asterisks because he didn't play against the best ever? Should the Lakers' 3-peat have an asterisk because they didn't compete against MJ in his prime? Of course not. I know I'm not the first to make that point, but it just annoys me that so many people think that the winner this week isn't a bona fide major champion. Jack Nicklaus talked today about how it used to be that only 2 guys on the Tour could make a genuine living playing golf. Now he said it's more like 200, and me, I'd put that 200 number even higher. What that means is that the competition level has soared in recent years because of the monetary reward for being a professional golfer. The winner of the British Open this week will get $1.5 million. Think that will draw a crowd? Add in the fact that almost every guy is sponsored and you get some ridiculous competition. The winner this week will suffer through some gawd-awful conditions (40+ MPH winds and rain) against a field that will have world-class talent including past major champions. No asterisk affixed by this writer and none of you should affix one either.
Kelly Pavlik signed on to face Bernard Hopkins. Wake me up when that's over. Hopkins will try to sell the fight by being nuts although at least this time he can't say, "I'll never lose to a white boy" this time because he just lost to one last time out. HBO will promote the heck out of the fight, but unfortunately for the fight fans, then the fight will happen. I vowed after watching Hopkins lose to Calzaghe for free on HBO that I would never order another Hopkins fight. He'll throw 30 punches a round, try and use his head as a battering ram, Pavlik will land far more punches but do no serious damage because Pavlik will be constantly trying to cut off the ring against a running Hopkins and then you'll wonder where your hour and $49.95 went. Count me out. Pavlik in a decision. Easiest money you'll make all year besides Mosley over Mayorga.
I don't know why, but writing about Hopkins just made me think of sleep, which leads me to the highlight of my day thus far. A friend of mine called me around 12:15 a.m. this morning and in my sleep I thought it was my alarm going off. Of course I fell back to sleep in about 2 seconds only to wake up a few hours later in a panic thinking I overslept for work. But alas, it was 3:30 a.m. and I came to the realization that I still had another 3 hours to sleep. I love that feeling. It's like knowing you have a long walk or a long flight of stairs ahead of you and then you see the people mover or escalator. Just glorious. Conversely, my 3 least favorite things are: waking up thinking it's 3 a.m. then noticing it's 2 minutes before I have to get up. 2 and 3 are seeing a people mover or escalator up ahead and then coming to the realization that they are broken. Not glorious.
I'm seeing the new Batman movie tonight and couldn't be more excited. I used to see movies all the time and even had half of my major as film. Now, with school, I make it to about one movie every two months. Tonight, I picture Heath Ledger, Christian Bale and Aaron Eckhart putting on performances akin to that of the kid in the third Mummy movie's performance, only the exact oppisite. I saw a press preview of the Mummy movie. Some cool action scenes and computer work. Brendan Fraser, Tea Leoni, and Jet Li were serviceable. But that kid whose name I just looked up, Luke Ford, put on one of the biggest blockbuster stinker performances I've ever seen. He was far too involved in the plot line. He needed to pull a Steven Segal in Executive Decision and randomly die 15 minutes in. This kid went to the Keanu Reeves School of Acting and enjoyed it. He's the love child of Keanu and Paul Walker.
Top 5 sign that you're a nerd: I just called my favorite worst round in golf history being Ian Baker Finch's 92 at Troon after being prompted by ESPN Golf Writer, Jason Sobel prompted readers to do so in his blog today on the British Open. Of course I emailed him only to see that the Golf Channel writer wrote in and cited the same round. Yes, I'm a nerd.
Speaking of the British Open again, Greg Norman and David Duval in the top-4 as I write? Did someone take me back 10 years in time? I'll be rooting for both but not expecting much. My call for 2008 British Open champ: Jim Furyk. Great ball striker even with that loopy loop swing of his. It will come in handy in these conditions.
In other news, the Yankees signed Richie Sexson, who was so bad that the Mariners cut him and took an eight-figure loss. It's been a while since the Yankees won hasn't it.
For those of you taking pleasure in my losing money in the stock market, here's another column you don't want a stock you own a lot of featured in: 5 Dumbest Things On Wall Street: July 18. I don't care, I'm going down with the ship.
Yahoo News and the AP are reporting that McCain's supporters are less fired up than Obama's. Really? The old guy with too much spit in his mouth when he talks who represents the interests of the socially conservative and the rich doesn't have a base that's as energetic as the one for the young guy who orates better than anyone I can think of and represents the interests of the poor, middle, and otherwise highly ignored classes of society? You needed to do research for that? How much money was wasted conducting that research? Unfortunately, shouting matches conducted at rallies don't decide elections. An old guy's vote counts for as much as a young college kid's, unless you factor in how the Electoral College makes a vote in Montana count for more than one here in California, but that's another rant for another time. Forgive me for being cynical, but I'm not buying Obama as the favorite here (for the record, he has my vote though I voted for Hillary in the primary). I don't care what the polls say either. The one poll that I have seen that shook me was the one conducted during the Pennsylvania primaries. 19% of Democrats polled said that race was an important factor in their decision. Of that 19%, 58% voted for Clinton Translation: 10% of the Democrats who voted were saying "I won't vote for the black guy." And that's the Democrats. Not only that, those are Democrats willing to admit to being racist. Think about all of the people who will want to tell pollsters how liberal they are or won't mark a box admitting to racism but then check the box next to McCain's name because they're just more comfortable with the old white guy. I don't care what the polls will say, there are a lot of people out there who will say one thing and then do another, especially when it comes to a topic as sensitive as race. If you aren't as cynical as I am, drive by the capitol building in Columbia, South Carolina one of these days and tell me which flag you notice first. Hint: Stars and bars. I hope I'm wrong because it scares me to think what our Supreme Court will look like after Stevens and Ginsburg go if McCain wins. I'm not as staunchly against McCain as other Democrats but the Supreme Court is what will be my determining factor in voting for Obama. I hope my cynicism about the rest of our nation is not warranted and that the youth and minority voters come out in droves to support Obama. But you know what, I was saying the same thing in 2004 and it may be too late for any real change to occur anyway after the past four years. I hope I'm wrong.
Most annoying running subplot of the week behind Favre-watch: British Open talk revolving around whether or not an asterisk should be affixed to the winner's accomplishment. Are you serious? Tiger is the best player in the history of golf, so does that mean that Bobby Jones' accomplishments should have asterisks because he didn't play against the best ever? Should the Lakers' 3-peat have an asterisk because they didn't compete against MJ in his prime? Of course not. I know I'm not the first to make that point, but it just annoys me that so many people think that the winner this week isn't a bona fide major champion. Jack Nicklaus talked today about how it used to be that only 2 guys on the Tour could make a genuine living playing golf. Now he said it's more like 200, and me, I'd put that 200 number even higher. What that means is that the competition level has soared in recent years because of the monetary reward for being a professional golfer. The winner of the British Open this week will get $1.5 million. Think that will draw a crowd? Add in the fact that almost every guy is sponsored and you get some ridiculous competition. The winner this week will suffer through some gawd-awful conditions (40+ MPH winds and rain) against a field that will have world-class talent including past major champions. No asterisk affixed by this writer and none of you should affix one either.
Kelly Pavlik signed on to face Bernard Hopkins. Wake me up when that's over. Hopkins will try to sell the fight by being nuts although at least this time he can't say, "I'll never lose to a white boy" this time because he just lost to one last time out. HBO will promote the heck out of the fight, but unfortunately for the fight fans, then the fight will happen. I vowed after watching Hopkins lose to Calzaghe for free on HBO that I would never order another Hopkins fight. He'll throw 30 punches a round, try and use his head as a battering ram, Pavlik will land far more punches but do no serious damage because Pavlik will be constantly trying to cut off the ring against a running Hopkins and then you'll wonder where your hour and $49.95 went. Count me out. Pavlik in a decision. Easiest money you'll make all year besides Mosley over Mayorga.
I don't know why, but writing about Hopkins just made me think of sleep, which leads me to the highlight of my day thus far. A friend of mine called me around 12:15 a.m. this morning and in my sleep I thought it was my alarm going off. Of course I fell back to sleep in about 2 seconds only to wake up a few hours later in a panic thinking I overslept for work. But alas, it was 3:30 a.m. and I came to the realization that I still had another 3 hours to sleep. I love that feeling. It's like knowing you have a long walk or a long flight of stairs ahead of you and then you see the people mover or escalator. Just glorious. Conversely, my 3 least favorite things are: waking up thinking it's 3 a.m. then noticing it's 2 minutes before I have to get up. 2 and 3 are seeing a people mover or escalator up ahead and then coming to the realization that they are broken. Not glorious.
I'm seeing the new Batman movie tonight and couldn't be more excited. I used to see movies all the time and even had half of my major as film. Now, with school, I make it to about one movie every two months. Tonight, I picture Heath Ledger, Christian Bale and Aaron Eckhart putting on performances akin to that of the kid in the third Mummy movie's performance, only the exact oppisite. I saw a press preview of the Mummy movie. Some cool action scenes and computer work. Brendan Fraser, Tea Leoni, and Jet Li were serviceable. But that kid whose name I just looked up, Luke Ford, put on one of the biggest blockbuster stinker performances I've ever seen. He was far too involved in the plot line. He needed to pull a Steven Segal in Executive Decision and randomly die 15 minutes in. This kid went to the Keanu Reeves School of Acting and enjoyed it. He's the love child of Keanu and Paul Walker.
Top 5 sign that you're a nerd: I just called my favorite worst round in golf history being Ian Baker Finch's 92 at Troon after being prompted by ESPN Golf Writer, Jason Sobel prompted readers to do so in his blog today on the British Open. Of course I emailed him only to see that the Golf Channel writer wrote in and cited the same round. Yes, I'm a nerd.
Speaking of the British Open again, Greg Norman and David Duval in the top-4 as I write? Did someone take me back 10 years in time? I'll be rooting for both but not expecting much. My call for 2008 British Open champ: Jim Furyk. Great ball striker even with that loopy loop swing of his. It will come in handy in these conditions.
In other news, the Yankees signed Richie Sexson, who was so bad that the Mariners cut him and took an eight-figure loss. It's been a while since the Yankees won hasn't it.
For those of you taking pleasure in my losing money in the stock market, here's another column you don't want a stock you own a lot of featured in: 5 Dumbest Things On Wall Street: July 18. I don't care, I'm going down with the ship.
Yahoo News and the AP are reporting that McCain's supporters are less fired up than Obama's. Really? The old guy with too much spit in his mouth when he talks who represents the interests of the socially conservative and the rich doesn't have a base that's as energetic as the one for the young guy who orates better than anyone I can think of and represents the interests of the poor, middle, and otherwise highly ignored classes of society? You needed to do research for that? How much money was wasted conducting that research? Unfortunately, shouting matches conducted at rallies don't decide elections. An old guy's vote counts for as much as a young college kid's, unless you factor in how the Electoral College makes a vote in Montana count for more than one here in California, but that's another rant for another time. Forgive me for being cynical, but I'm not buying Obama as the favorite here (for the record, he has my vote though I voted for Hillary in the primary). I don't care what the polls say either. The one poll that I have seen that shook me was the one conducted during the Pennsylvania primaries. 19% of Democrats polled said that race was an important factor in their decision. Of that 19%, 58% voted for Clinton Translation: 10% of the Democrats who voted were saying "I won't vote for the black guy." And that's the Democrats. Not only that, those are Democrats willing to admit to being racist. Think about all of the people who will want to tell pollsters how liberal they are or won't mark a box admitting to racism but then check the box next to McCain's name because they're just more comfortable with the old white guy. I don't care what the polls will say, there are a lot of people out there who will say one thing and then do another, especially when it comes to a topic as sensitive as race. If you aren't as cynical as I am, drive by the capitol building in Columbia, South Carolina one of these days and tell me which flag you notice first. Hint: Stars and bars. I hope I'm wrong because it scares me to think what our Supreme Court will look like after Stevens and Ginsburg go if McCain wins. I'm not as staunchly against McCain as other Democrats but the Supreme Court is what will be my determining factor in voting for Obama. I hope my cynicism about the rest of our nation is not warranted and that the youth and minority voters come out in droves to support Obama. But you know what, I was saying the same thing in 2004 and it may be too late for any real change to occur anyway after the past four years. I hope I'm wrong.
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