Happy 80th Birthday, Arnold Palmer!
Surely one of the best-loved athletes in history, he is also one of the highest-earning athletes. He makes something like $25M a year.
Did I mention he is eighty years old?
Golf owes him a huge, huge debt of gratitude.
The Wildcat formation is causing defensive coordinators in the NFL to do some adapting, and this article does a nice job of explaining the whys and wherefores.
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Golf legend Arnold Palmer turns 80 on Sept. 10th, and USA Today has a bunch of reader rememberances.
In reading them, it’s very easy to see how he got to be so popular: he went out of his way to engage people. Probably because he’s just a nice guy and a people person. You know who could stand to loosen up a little bit in that department? Tiger Woods. But then, he wouldn’t be Tiger Woods. He thrives on focus and drive, and those things are incompatible with being a people person.
Golf could really use a guy like Arnold Palmer right now. How many people started playing golf entirely because of Arnold Palmer’s charisma? It sure sounds like a lot, from reading those letters.
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One of my favorite bands, Steely Dan, played the Chicago Theatre last week. Monday night they played “Aja” in its entirety at the start, and then a bunch of their other great songs. Check out this set list:
1 Black Cow
2 Aja
3 Deacon Blues
4 Peg
5 Home at Last
6 I Got the News
7 Josie
8 Black Friday
9 Time out of Mind
10 Daddy Don’t Live in that New York City No More11 Bodhisattva
12 Babylon Sisters13 Show Biz Kids
14 Hey Nineteen
15 Dirty Work
16 Love is Like an Itching in My Heart (Supremes)/band intros
17 Do It Again
18 Don’t Take Me Alive
19 My Old School
20 Kid CharlemagneEncore
21 Reelin’ in the Years
Color me bright green with envy. I’ve listened to most of these songs sooooo many times over the years, I know every solo, every chord change, every note and lyric. Except for the songs on Gaucho … never a big fan of that record.
My favorite Steely Dan records, in order:
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Locally, Chicago’s attempt to remake public housing has fallen somewhat short. So, to review, the Federal Government created the publc housing mess which helped destroy our cities, and then the city government has distributed that mess into the neighborhoods and suburbs, and done an inferior job at it, too. Maybe it’s time to bring sanity back to housing policy?
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Finally, Tony Woodlief writes about the quality of education today. I agree with everything he says there. We don’t home school, but I support and sympathize with many of those who do. And then we have this Education school lunacy. Do people realize what is going on under their noses? On their dime? To their kids? I really don’t think they do.
Categories: Cites · Columns · Education · Football · Golf · Local · Music · Sports
It must be Philosophy in Old Rock Songs Day today.
On the drive into work, I heard “Live for Today” by the Grass Roots, followed by “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” by the Rolling Stones. Also, “I Can Help” by Billy Swan was the first song out of the radio when pulling away from the house, a song that I really like a lot. There is a guitar riff in there that sure reminded me of Les Paul, a connection I’d never made before. One of those runs down the neck, and back up, repeating the same sequence of notes. Here’s a recent version:
Something about the mood I was in made it all sound extra good. I think it’s because I was already in a very good mood, after getting my first good night’s sleep in a quite a few nights. I’m pretty sure this is directly due to my bike ride last night, also for the first time in many days. Went with my youngest boy Jordan, just the two of us, so it’s a win/win. I’ve noticed over the last few years that on days when I get zero exercise, my sleep is low quality. It’s shorter and not as deep, and during the next day, I don’t feel as good, I don’t have as much ability to concentrate, my mood is often inferior, etc. I often wonder how many people who fight problems with sleep and are taking medication for it are sort of barking up the wrong tree.
On to the links:
A night of healing in Iowa – A summation of Friday night’s tribute to Ed Thomas, the coach at Aplington-Parkersburg who was killed by one of his former players in June. He was instrumental, also, in helping rebuild Parkersburg after a devastating tornado mostly destroyed the town in 2008.
Ichiro defies critics and odds – Computers sometimes don’t throw Ichiiro Suzuki lots of love. Proving, I don’t know … that computers can be stupid? Is there a GM that wouldn’t sign him if they had a chance to start a team from scratch and wanted to win a World Series? I sure would. The guy creates team offense by getting on base at a ridiculous rate.
Political Economics 101 – Eric Raymond explains how health care would respond to government intervention in that market. See if you can guess how it turns out!
Oh, come on: one extra club costs Jim Furyk over $130,000 – And that’s why golf is the most honorable game in the world. Rules is rules. It sucks when you forget and break one. Which encourages not breaking them, and rewards those who follow them. The higher the cost of breaking them, the more value they hold.
Chicago street-grid system turns 100 on Tuesday – So … I guess the Chicago City Council has done at least one thing right in the last 100 years.
Categories: Baseball · Cites · Columns · Football · Golf · Music · Random Thoughts · Sports
Here’s a review of the newly remodeled Cantigny Golf course in my area: Remodeled, renamed Cantigny Golf makes for fine experience
Maybe someday I’ll win the lottery and be able to play there.
Recently Jim Brown called out Tiger Woods for not giving back enough.
Well, Jim Brown can just suck it, because Tiger Woods gives back plenty to military families, who deserve it more than most: Tiger Offers Troops a ‘Fore!’ of July.
How about 30,000 free tickets to active-duty military and reservists? Allowing two wounded veterans with prosthetic arms to tee off with Tiger, and devoting a large section of the seating at the first tee to a group from Walter Reed Army Medical Center?
What the hell has Jim Brown done for anybody lately? Maybe I missed his big benefit for those who risk life and limb to defend our freedoms, and our “right” to lead cushy lives.
May God bless Tiger Woods and all he does for our military and their loved ones. They surely deserve all that, and more. And he deserves the credit for providing the leadership to make it all happen.
Categories: Golf · Just Plain Cool · Leadership · Military
10. Newborns cry at night.
9. Hasn’t kicked any Phil Mickelson hiney in a loooonnng time.
8. Bored with counting the money from his $100M yearly income aside from golf.
7. Have I mentioned, newborns cry alot? ‘Cuz they do.
6. Wants to try out the cool new set of irons he bought at Wal-Mart for $129. With free sand wedge!
5. President of CBS offered to wash Tiger’s fleet of cars, every week for the rest of his life.
4. You can only do so many Sudoku puzzles. Especially the impossible 6 star kind. Really, is that necessary? Making us feel like idiots? It’s a puzzle, not a torture device.
3. Baby … crying … must … get … sleep.
2. PGA Tour officials were starting to get a little too emo. Time to man up.
And the number one reason is …
1. Wife finally told him to get off his butt, cut out the beer drinking, get out of the house, and find a damn job.
Some AP sports writer named Paul Newberry is shocked and amazed that he couldn’t get Phil Mickelson to say “Tiger Woods”. Or “Tiger”, or “Woods”.
He asked three separate questions meant to hound Mickelson into finally admitting “yes, YES, fine, I’ll say it: winning this tournament might be a little easier without Tiger here, because, quite frankly, the rest of us are not as good.” And he even wastes extra words, and precious seconds of my life that I’ll never get back, noting that Phil wouldn’t even say “Tiger”.
Oh, good grief.
Well, it probably is true that Tiger Woods is just better than everybody else, but that doesn’t matter. He may go down as the greatest golfer of all time, but that doesn’t matter either. Because it isn’t about Tiger Woods. Since, he, you know … isn’t in the golf tournament.
Yet the media wants to continue yakking away about him.
Phil Mickelson, as a professional golfer, can’t afford to buy into the Tiger Woods Cult of Personality that the rest of the media world enjoys so very much. And any writer covering the frigging British Open, the most storied tournament in the history of golf, should damn well know that.
Let’s review. If you’re a professional golfer, your goal is to win the tournament you’re playing in that week, not to obsess over a player that is not at the tournament in question, and is out for the rest of the year. You should really not spend a single second of your week even thinking about a golfer who isn’t there. Mental toughness is part of the job as a professional athlete — the major part, at the highest level — so if you’re smart, you don’t take the bait of just any old goofy writer that jams a microphone in your face and asks about some other golfer that isn’t even there.
Even if that golfer is Tiger Woods, and even if the writer happens to be right.
I guess the thing that annoys me the most about such stories, though, is the way they are constructed. The whole story revolves around a game of “gotcha”, where the writer baits the athlete, hoping to get him to bite. What is this, Watergate?
Who do these “journalists” think they’re kidding? Harrassing a great guy like Phil Mickelson, just so you can get a Tiger Woods angle in there? No thanks, I’m trying to cut down.
Other than that, though, nice story!
Categories: "Journalism" · Cites · Golf · Media · Sports
The Chicago Tribune Magazine from Sunday, April 13, was devoted to golf.
Some of the interesting items there:
Reckless Driving, a memoir about a love/hate relationship with golf. Most golfers can probably relate.
Trivia time: the first 18 hole golf course in the U.S. was the Chicago Golf Club, originally in Downers Grove (about 6 miles from here) now in Wheaton (where I live). It was built by Charles Blair Macdonald (1855-1939), who was also a founder of the USGA. I’ve never played there, but go past it often. A curiosity: the sign at the street is about 18 inches wide, in a font no bigger than 4 or 5 inches for the capital “C”, and partially hidden by a big tree. If you didn’t happen to stare right at it, you’d never notice it.
Tribune columnist Rick Kogan — who is one of the better writers in Chicago media — weighs in on golf here.
And finally, some advice on buying clubs.
Which is, frankly, more of a comment on my knowledge of the golf world than anything else.
But still. Who the heck is Trevor Immelman?
Well, he must be good, because he won the thing.
But check out these stats: in the 7 tournaments this year before the Masters, he missed the cut 4 times, and finished 65th, 48th, and 40th. He’d won a total of $78,676.33 on the tour this year. That could be why I’d never heard of him.
Then he won the Masters. And the $1,518,676 payday that goes with it. And jumped to ninth on the money list. How does that add up? But congrats to him anyway. Anybody who can withstand the pressure that comes from winning the Masters has got the goods, at least for that one week, and nobody can ever take that away from him.
Plus he’s got a cute little kid, and a pretty wife, and he was pondering his own mortality just four months ago, lying in a hospital bed, awaiting surgery to remove a tumor that they did not yet know was benign. It’s pretty hard not to root for a guy like that. It’s also pretty hard not to root for Brandt Snedeker.
Tiger Woods is a great player, and may well be the greatest golfer of all time, but it’s still boring when he wins all the time.
The Gear Guy Speaks: Ex-USGA Expert Frank Thomas Says Golfers Pay Too Much for Too Little
He is not a pessimist. “The game will always be here, because it’s the most bewitching and beguiling game that man has ever devised,” he told me during a recent visit to his office and putting studio. “But the thing that concerns me is how commerce now dominates golf and is trying to squeeze the last dollar out of its most avid customers rather than trying to open the game up to more participants. If the goal is to improve the overall health and enjoyment of the game, that’s the wrong direction.”
A big part of the problem, he believes, is the disproportionate attention paid to the tiny percentage of players who compete at elite levels.
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In the last 30 years, Mr. Thomas contends, there have been only three innovations that had a major, beneficial impact on the game. The first, led by Karsten Solheim at Ping, was perimeter weighting on putters, irons and, later, metalwoods, which helps keep shots on line by preventing clubheads from deflecting as much on off-center strikes. The second was graphite shafts, which make clubs lighter and thus easier to swing faster. (He believes that in time graphite shafts will become nearly as common in irons as they now are in woods.)
The third innovation, spring-like effect in driver heads, came about by accident and, in Mr. Thomas’s opinion, was regrettable. “In the 1990s clubmakers started using titanium in drivers because it was lighter and stronger than steel and they could make the clubheads larger. That made them more forgiving, which was the purpose. But then they discovered that the big heads were hitting the ball farther, too, because of the trampoline effect it got from the thinner, bigger clubfaces,” he said. For pros who swing at 115 mph and make perfect contact, the added distance is 8 to 10 yards from increased ball velocity alone.
There’s lots more really good practical advice there; go read the whole thing. And click on his website: www.franklygolf.com
Unless you like spending $1800 on clubs to hit the ball further into the rough than you do now. Totally up to you.
At Least, The Stuff I Care About, and I’m Too Lazy to Provide Links, Edition
Lions 37, Bears 27
I think it’s official now: this team pretty much sucks. As if a 1-3 record could be spun any other way.
No running game. Crucial turnovers. A defense that can only plug these holes for so long each game. Shaky special teams play, except when Devin Hester rips out a beautiful touchdown, here and there.
Brian Griese played fairly well, I thought, but for 3 huge interceptions: two on potential scoring plays deep in Lions territory, and one returned for a touchdown. That’s 21 points, right there. But in all fairness, these might have been due to rust, and I’m willing to give him a mulligan for this game, this one time.
But the lack of a running game is killing this team. Absolutely killing them. Cedric Benson looks like a guy playing touch football in the park; where is the leg drive? The fire? Does he care who wins? He doesn’t seem to. I’ve lately been watching a lot of The War by Ken Burns, and I don’t think I’d want to share a foxhole with Cedric Benson.
The defense, as is usual this season, plays well, even dominates, for two to three quarters, and then appears to be gassed from the constant reps, and gets blown apart by the running game in the fourth. This is one more way that a lack of a running game hurts a team.
Special teams were OK until they gave up a touchdown on an onside kick. Hello?
More injuries. Kevin Payne, John Tait, probably others I’m forgetting now.
This week, with the 4-0 Packers looming on Sunday night, it will be interesting to see how the coaches react to this game and decide on personnel and strategy going in. If I’m Kyle Orton, I’m lobbying hard for my chance to lead this team. If I’m GM Jerry Angelo, I’m looking for running backs off the scrap heap; maybe Thomas Jones is available. If I’m Lovie Smith, I’m wishing I wasn’t.
Next week’s opponent, the Packers, beat the Vikings 23-16 on the road.
Super-fantastic Chargers defense update: the Chiefs torched them for 30 points in a 30-16 defeat.
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Cubs Clinch Friday, Then Play Two Meaningless Tune-Up Games
Went 2-4 this week on the “crucial” 6 game road trip, but won the game that counted when they needed to, and never let the lead drop below 2 games.
First round against Arizona. If it goes the full five games, they play two in Arizona (Wed, Thur) followed by two in Chicago (Sat, Sun) and back to Arizona for game 5 on Tuesday. Probable starters for game 1: Zambrano and Webb.
I have no idea how they will do in these playoffs, and am not expecting much. If they get great pitching and defense, they can play with anybody. (Duh.) If they don’t, their odds go down, and the offense will have to keep on hitting home runs like they have been all month. Never a good bet in the playoffs.
Keep an eye on the catching situation, with Jason Kendall and Geovany Soto; too much Kendall could be trouble. One key difference from 2003: instead of Dusty Baker, they have Lour Piniella, a huge upgrade. Piniella has been great at managing the pitching staff.
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Mets Miss Playoffs Completely After Blowing 7-1/2 Game Lead in 18 Days
Not that I would ever frolic in the misery of other people. Or even Mets fans. But if I did, I’d link to this Tim Brown column on Yahoo Sports: Amazin’ disgrace. And probably, this game summary.
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Kentucky 45, Florida Atlantic 17
No, this has nothing to do with Chicago sports. And thanks for pointing that out. But I picked Kentucky -24 to cover, at home, and they did. I’ve picked them twice this year, and they’ve been good to me both times. So I’m tied for first in my pool, with a 4-1 record, losing only when Arizona St. didn’t cover against San Diego St. a couple of weeks ago.
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Some Golfers Played in Some Confusing Cup-Like Event in Foreign Country to the North
Didn’t follow it too closely, and don’t really care that much, with playoff baseball looming. A tip for the the wizards at the networks: could you work a little harder at explaining just what the hell is going on with match play? And what is the deal with conceding putts, and why did Jack Nicklaus advise Phil Mickelson to concede a 3+ footer the other day?
Categories: Baseball · Essays · Football · Golf · Local · Sports
At Least, The Stuff I Care About, and I’m Too Lazy to Provide Links, Edition
Bears 20, Chiefs 10
Mediocre performance, but good enough to beat a deficient Chiefs team. Won despite losing turnover margin 3-2. Defense looked pretty good, holding LJ to 55 yards on 16 carries. Briggs and the entire line played well, again. On offense, Cedric Benson did a nice job, running for 101 yards on 24 carries, with more than a couple of 6-10 yard bursts. Grossman, of course, threw 2 more dumb interceptions. Devin Hester returned a punt for a touchdown, and almost had another TD return if not for a penalty that didn’t help him anyway.
Bottom line: they won a game they should have won. And the clock continues to tick on Grossman as starter.
Next week’s opponent, the Cowboys, won at Miami, 37-20.
And it sure is interesting that the Patriots hung a 38 on that super-fantastic Chargers defense that held the Grossman-led Bears to 3 points last week. The game was over at halftime. New England punted just once. Hmmm.
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Cubs 4, Cardinals 2
Still in first place, by one game over the Brewers, although they are tied in the loss column. Nice series against St. Louis, taking three of four at a time when they needed to kick it into gear. This division, however, still stinks. And so does Jason Kendall’s defense. Just play Geovany Soto, please?
The schedule the rest of the way: the Cubs have 3 at home (M-W) against Cincinnati, and 3 at home against Pittsburgh on the weekend (with an off day Thursday). Next week, off day Monday, then at Florida for 3, and finishing up at Cincinnati for 3 more. The Brewers have no more off days the rest of the season, and are at Houston for 3, then at Atlanta for 4, and finish up at home with 3 against St. Louis and 4 against San Diego. Who knew that a season-ending series between the Brewers and the Padres would factor into the playoff race?
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Jim Thome Hits 500th HR
Congratulations to a guy who, quite obviously, is NOT using steroids. ;^)
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Tiger Woods Wins FedEx Cup
Couldn’t see THAT coming.
Categories: Baseball · Essays · Football · Golf · Local · Sports
At Least, The Stuff I Care About, and I’m Too Lazy to Provide Links, Edition
Chargers 14, Bears 3
The Bears defense stopped San Diego completely until some turnovers put them back on a short field. Bears offense didn’t do much, except for a few long-ish pass plays that yielded nothing important, and two fumbles, one each by running backs Cedric Benson and Adrian Peterson. Special teams also caused a turnover on a freakish play, when the ball bounced off of Brendan McGowan, twenty plus yards downfield where I doubt he could hear any warnings from Devin Hester, the return man.
Bottom line: turnovers cost them this game. And I doubt that the Bears can win consistently if the RBs are putting the ball on the ground more than, say, once a month. ;^)
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Pirates 10, Cubs 5
Falling out of first place, probably for good. Who really cares, any more? This division really sucks, and any team that wins it and thinks they have accomplished something lasting and meaningful is kidding themselves. Including the Cubs.
Yes, yes, I know the Cardinals won the World Series after winning just 83 games last year. So you gonna start betting on the worst team in the playoffs every year to win the World Series? Didn’t think so.
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Tiger Woods Wins BMW Championship
Here’s a shocker: Woods shoots a final round 63 on the final day of a big tournament. I didn’t get to see any of it, we were busy doing stuff.
Can somebody else step up and beat this guy? Please? It’s getting boring.
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Oh, and One More Shocking Piece of Sports News: Roger Federer Wins Another Slam Event!
Like we didn’t know that was coming.
Categories: Baseball · Essays · Football · Golf · Local · Sports
If you’ve been wondering whatever happened to David Duval, read Searching for David Duval from John Hawkins at Golf Digest.
Duval and his wife are expecting their second child, to go along with the three his wife already had from a previous marriage. He is apparently a very devoted father to all of them. And not all that excited about publicity, just as he didn’t like it back in his 1997-2001 heyday.
This much longer article from 2004 is revealing; it reveals Duval as someone who learned, after he won the British Open in 2001, that sometimes the goals we set for ourselves end up not being as fulfulling as we’d thought. Hence, a crisis and a search for meaning.
His family background seems key: he lost his twelve year old brother at nine, after donating bone marrow for a transplant, and the death of his brother caused conflict in the family, so much so that his parents later divorced.
So, at least for me, it isn’t that hard to understand how he now values a strong and healthy family over the game of golf.
Apparently fewer people these days are “addressing the ball”.
The golf business is way down, for a few different reasons that we could all probably guess: too many courses competing for the precious time of busy parents. But the biggest decrease in play happened right after 9/11, due to a decrease in corporate golf on Fridays. This is the first I’d ever heard about that.
Some of the details:
According to the National Golf Foundation, the average number of rounds per course nationally has dropped from a peak of 40,040 per year in 1988 to a low of 33,300 last year, with the biggest dip taking place after 2001.
The number of core golfers—those playing eight or more rounds per year—has dropped from 17.7 million in 2000 to 15 million last year.
And perhaps the most telling statistic: For the first time in more than 60 years, the number of course closings nationally (146 18-hole equivalents) outpaced openings (119.5) by 26.5 in 2006.
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