Fred Funk (he's 51!), currently even
Camilo Villegas (love that putting preview), currently +2
Tiger Woods (admire his work ethic and his amazing determination), currently +1
Richard Lee (he's 16!), currently +2
Ian Poulter (golf wouldn't be the same without his sartorial splendor), currently even
Jose Maria Olazabal, currently even
Thursday, June 14, 2007
Living Up to the Hype
Oakmont is doing what all expected -- giving the world's best golfers a very tough time. Tiger closed with a one over 71, but former leader David Toms bogeyed five out of the last six holes. Sergio Garcia shot a nine over 79. Put me on the tips and expect a score somewhere above 120.
Tiger is Bleeding
After being -1 early in his round, Tiger has bogeyed three of the last four (9-12) and fallen back to +2. He's putting well, his problemis he keeps driving it into the rough, even with his stinger 2-iron. And the rough at Oakmont is almost always going to cost you at least one stroke.
Good Thing the Sound is Back...
...because now you can hear the "slurp" as the rough swallows any ball that doesn't find the fairway.
Speak Up!
ESPN has lost sound on its broadcast, but I can still see why David Toms is leading at -2: he just made a brilliant chip from one level of a green to another. The touch these guys have is just amazing.
Eating 'Em Up
Oakmont is already taking its bites. Jose-Maria Olazabal hits his drive into the rough and is able to advance his second shot only about 15 yards. Defending champion Geoff Ogilvy couldn't get out of a bunker on 8 (a 261-yard par three!) and Tiger two-putted from four feet for a bogey four.
It's Open Time
It's finally here -- the biggest tournament of the golf season. The U.S. Open. Sure, the Open Championship has more history in terms of sheer years behind it, and The Masters has the benefit of being played at the same course every year, which adds to its mystique, but the Open Championship belongs to another country, and The Masters is just too stuffy and exclusive to be as great as it could be. At the U.S. Open, virtually any golfer can play in qualifying tournaments and earn his way into the field.
The venue this year is the Oakmont Country Club, a diabolical test of golf. In addition to many deep fairway bunkers (including the famed "church pews" (photo above), the greens are VERY fast, with some slopes so severe that with certain pin positions golfers will have to hit the ball within a six-foot circle or else the ball will roll right off the green.
There will be something like nine hours of coverage today, and though I may not be able to watch ALL day, I'll try to keep you up to date on what's going on.
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
"To Get the Tchotchke!"
The quality is terrible, but here is a link to Julie White's acceptance speech at the Tonys. One of the best.
Thoughts on Hitch
I've finished Christopher Hitchens's new book and, as I expected, it made me angry. To be honest, I think he could have made the same basic point (religion poisons everything) in a long article in The Atlantic. But to read page after page discussing the atrocities committed in the name of god does have a way of reinforcing the ridiculousness of the whole enterprise. If wars and bloodshed weren't always started because of religious issues, churches almost always had a role to play in supporting one side or another. (Including the Vatican's support of Nazi outrages, for which they have only recently apologized.)
Look around and you will see the hand of god (or at least, as perceived by believers) at work in more stupidity and idiocy than one could ever imagine happening. According to a recent Gallup poll, only 24% OF people who attend church regularly believe in evolution, as opposed to 71% of people who seldom or never attend church. Despite all the scientific evidence, and even assuming that many church goers who believe in evolution believe in it only because they think that's how god chose to create the world, only a minority of people trust what empirical, verifiable, repeatable scientific effort indicates. And these people are allowed to vote!
What is to become of us if we can't see the truth that is right in front of our eyes? If we decide instead to play the make-believe game that an omnipotent being watches over us and prepares mansions for us in a kingdom in the sky and knows the number of hairs on the head of every one of the Earth's billions of inhabitants, we seem doomed to dwell in darkness and ignorance. It's time for a new Enlightenment!
Look around and you will see the hand of god (or at least, as perceived by believers) at work in more stupidity and idiocy than one could ever imagine happening. According to a recent Gallup poll, only 24% OF people who attend church regularly believe in evolution, as opposed to 71% of people who seldom or never attend church. Despite all the scientific evidence, and even assuming that many church goers who believe in evolution believe in it only because they think that's how god chose to create the world, only a minority of people trust what empirical, verifiable, repeatable scientific effort indicates. And these people are allowed to vote!
What is to become of us if we can't see the truth that is right in front of our eyes? If we decide instead to play the make-believe game that an omnipotent being watches over us and prepares mansions for us in a kingdom in the sky and knows the number of hairs on the head of every one of the Earth's billions of inhabitants, we seem doomed to dwell in darkness and ignorance. It's time for a new Enlightenment!
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Quote for the Day
From the last chapter of Christopher Hitchens's new book, "God is not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything":
"Religion has run out of justifications. Thanks to the telescope and the microscope, it no longer offers an explanation of anything important. Where once it used to be able, by its total command of a worldview, to prevent the emergence of rivals, it can now only impede and retard--or try to turn back--the measurable advances we have made. Sometimes, true, it will artfully concede them. But this is to offer itself the choice between irrelevance and obstruction, impotence or outright reaction, and, given the choice, it is programmed to select the worse of the two. Meanwhile, confronted with undreamed-of vistas inside our own evolving cortex, in the farthest reaches of the known universe, and in the proteins and acids which constitute our nature, religion offers either annihilation in the name of god, or else the false promise that if we take a knife to our foreskins, or pray in the right direction, or ingest pieces of wafer, we shall be "saved." It is as if someone, offered a delicious and fragrant out-of-season fruit, matured in a painstakingly and lovingly designed hothouse, should throw away the flesh and pulp and know moodily on the pit."
"Religion has run out of justifications. Thanks to the telescope and the microscope, it no longer offers an explanation of anything important. Where once it used to be able, by its total command of a worldview, to prevent the emergence of rivals, it can now only impede and retard--or try to turn back--the measurable advances we have made. Sometimes, true, it will artfully concede them. But this is to offer itself the choice between irrelevance and obstruction, impotence or outright reaction, and, given the choice, it is programmed to select the worse of the two. Meanwhile, confronted with undreamed-of vistas inside our own evolving cortex, in the farthest reaches of the known universe, and in the proteins and acids which constitute our nature, religion offers either annihilation in the name of god, or else the false promise that if we take a knife to our foreskins, or pray in the right direction, or ingest pieces of wafer, we shall be "saved." It is as if someone, offered a delicious and fragrant out-of-season fruit, matured in a painstakingly and lovingly designed hothouse, should throw away the flesh and pulp and know moodily on the pit."
Monday, June 11, 2007
Tony Night
Sorry about not posting much over the past couple of days, but I had a lot to do to get ready for last night's Tony festivities. Not just the awards for the best Broadway has to offer, but also the chance to finally learn the fate of the other big Tony, Tony Soprano. (Spoiler alert: if you taped or TiVo'd the Sopranos finale, things will be revealed later in the post that you won't want to know.)
First, the Theater Wing of America's Antoinette Perry Awards. I thought the broadcast itself was relatively well done, especially considering they get probably 1/50th the number of viewers that the Oscars gets. The audience was mostly dressed very elegantly and with a lot of class. No fashion train wrecks like one gets on Oscar night -- except for the woman (can't remember who) who wore the dress with a collar that looked like the pop-top from a 70s era beer can. Angela Lansbury looked terrific, the speeches were mostly elequent and gracious, and the musical numbers exciting and well-staged.
As usual, it was also the gayest night on TV. I think the first two couples shown during the TV broadcast were gay and lesbian, and it seemed like half the male winners were gay: David Hyde Pierce, Steven Sater, Bill T. Jones, Jack O'Brien, all the design winners, the producer of "Spring Awakening." Even the lone child on stage was already clearly on the road to being a member of the Family.
Best acceptance speeches came from female actors: Mary Louise Wilson (who, after saying she wondered that if she ever won a Tony would she feel as if someone had made a mistake, said: "And I don't.") and Julie White (who was genuinely shocked to have won for her role in "The Little Dog Laughed" yet had something prepared that acknowledged the shock and allowed her to give thanks with both grace and humor.) I'm also glad "The Little Dog Laughed" won something (the link I just gave will take you to the report from the trip when I first saw the show off-Broadway).
Also glad "Spring Awakening" took home eight trophies, including Best Musical. Broadway needs to encourage risk-taking, creativity and the desire to develop a new audience.
Now, on to the other Tony. I'll keep this brief, as the blogosphere is filled with commentary about the show. At the very end of the episode, the very end of the series, Tony is meeting his family at a North Jersey diner (famed, apparently, for its onion rings). Tony, Carmela, Meadow and AJ are all arriving separately. Once Tony is inside, every person in the diner seems to be suspect in some way. Every time the door opens, we wonder if someone will enter who is going to whack Tony. There's a guy sitting at the counter who seems especially suspicious. Creator David Chase does a terrific job of establishing a sense of the kind of tension Tony must be feeling: who's a threat? Who's not? The suspicious guy at the counter walks past their booth...then goes into the bathroom. A foreshadowing of "The Godfather" when Michael Corleone retrieved the gun from toilet tank to off one of his rivals?
Then...darkness. No music. No sound. Just black for a few seconds, then the credit roll.
Here's where I think Chase displayed his greatest genius. Prior to the finale, Vegas oddsmakers were taking bets on whether Tony would be whacked or not. But with the ending Chase chose, a strong case can be made to say both that he survived to say that he was killed. In the episode prior, we get a flashback to when Tony and Bobby Baccalieri talk about what it would be like to be shot in the back of the head: "Everything goes black. You probably don't even hear anything." was the gist of their conclusion. So is that what happened to Tony? Did the guy come out of the bathroom and pop a cap in the back of T's neck? Or with Phil Leotardo dead, did Tony consolidate his power and continue on as boss? A strong case can be made either way, which leaves the Vegas boys with a bit of a conundrum.
First, the Theater Wing of America's Antoinette Perry Awards. I thought the broadcast itself was relatively well done, especially considering they get probably 1/50th the number of viewers that the Oscars gets. The audience was mostly dressed very elegantly and with a lot of class. No fashion train wrecks like one gets on Oscar night -- except for the woman (can't remember who) who wore the dress with a collar that looked like the pop-top from a 70s era beer can. Angela Lansbury looked terrific, the speeches were mostly elequent and gracious, and the musical numbers exciting and well-staged.
As usual, it was also the gayest night on TV. I think the first two couples shown during the TV broadcast were gay and lesbian, and it seemed like half the male winners were gay: David Hyde Pierce, Steven Sater, Bill T. Jones, Jack O'Brien, all the design winners, the producer of "Spring Awakening." Even the lone child on stage was already clearly on the road to being a member of the Family.
Best acceptance speeches came from female actors: Mary Louise Wilson (who, after saying she wondered that if she ever won a Tony would she feel as if someone had made a mistake, said: "And I don't.") and Julie White (who was genuinely shocked to have won for her role in "The Little Dog Laughed" yet had something prepared that acknowledged the shock and allowed her to give thanks with both grace and humor.) I'm also glad "The Little Dog Laughed" won something (the link I just gave will take you to the report from the trip when I first saw the show off-Broadway).
Also glad "Spring Awakening" took home eight trophies, including Best Musical. Broadway needs to encourage risk-taking, creativity and the desire to develop a new audience.
Now, on to the other Tony. I'll keep this brief, as the blogosphere is filled with commentary about the show. At the very end of the episode, the very end of the series, Tony is meeting his family at a North Jersey diner (famed, apparently, for its onion rings). Tony, Carmela, Meadow and AJ are all arriving separately. Once Tony is inside, every person in the diner seems to be suspect in some way. Every time the door opens, we wonder if someone will enter who is going to whack Tony. There's a guy sitting at the counter who seems especially suspicious. Creator David Chase does a terrific job of establishing a sense of the kind of tension Tony must be feeling: who's a threat? Who's not? The suspicious guy at the counter walks past their booth...then goes into the bathroom. A foreshadowing of "The Godfather" when Michael Corleone retrieved the gun from toilet tank to off one of his rivals?
Then...darkness. No music. No sound. Just black for a few seconds, then the credit roll.
Here's where I think Chase displayed his greatest genius. Prior to the finale, Vegas oddsmakers were taking bets on whether Tony would be whacked or not. But with the ending Chase chose, a strong case can be made to say both that he survived to say that he was killed. In the episode prior, we get a flashback to when Tony and Bobby Baccalieri talk about what it would be like to be shot in the back of the head: "Everything goes black. You probably don't even hear anything." was the gist of their conclusion. So is that what happened to Tony? Did the guy come out of the bathroom and pop a cap in the back of T's neck? Or with Phil Leotardo dead, did Tony consolidate his power and continue on as boss? A strong case can be made either way, which leaves the Vegas boys with a bit of a conundrum.
Friday, June 08, 2007
Another Thing I Don't Understand
Why leaving Iraq should be considered defeat in the War on Terror. If this indeed a global war -- and every indication says it is -- why is Iraq the prime front? Other than the fact that we've made it one, I mean. Why not pull out, let the Muslims have their internecine conflict, and concentrate our resources on monitoring, intelligence, finding Bin Laden (and other terrorists) and securing travel? Leaving Iraq is not a defeat -- it's redirecting resources.
Thursday, June 07, 2007
What Unites Us is Bigger than what Divides Us
Bill Clinton gave the commencement address at Harvard this week, with the main thrust of his speech centering around the fact that the sequencing of the human genome shows that, for all our differences, all humans are 99.9% the same, genetically speaking. Read it if you have a moment.
Wednesday, June 06, 2007
Missing the Finer Point
Click here for an interesting example of how a subtle but important point is missed in coverage of a speech by Barack Obama.
Un-Winning the Cold War
It seems that George W. Bush isn't happy with spending a trillion dollars on a misguided war in Iraq. Now he's starting to talk in ways that could reopen a war we already won -- the Cold War. Of course, he'll need Putin's help in heating that conflict back up, but Vladimir -- he calls him Vladimir -- is obliging, and we're now facing down the Russians over missiles once again. The Cuban Missile Crisis may now become the Polish Missile Crisis. But don't worry, if George restarts the Cold War, I'm sure he can find a way to un-win it for us.
Tuesday, June 05, 2007
Racism is Alive and Flourishing
Read this horrifying story of a small town in Louisiana where three black kids who broke an unwritten rule to sit on the "white side" of the schoolyard were greeted the next morning by three nooses hanging from the tree under which they sat. Note also the disparity of charges and punishments meted out to black children and white children.
Monday, June 04, 2007
Saturday, June 02, 2007
Whither Wie?
I don't suppose many of you are paying attention to Michelle Wie, the teen phenom golfer who was supposed to be to women's golf what Tiger Woods has been to the men's game: a true crossover superstar who expands the reach and popularity of the game. I've written about Michelle before. First here, where I discussed the possibility of her transforming the game. Then again here, when I suggested she give up trying to play in men's tournaments and concentrate on success on the LPGA Tour.
Now it appears as if Michelle may not be able to accomplish any of it -- including competing on the LPGA Tour. On Thursday, Michelle competed at her first LPGA tournament in over four months, the Ginn Tribute. She had been idle due to a wrist injury; an injury of which many in the golf world were skeptical. So, after months of rehabilitation, hours on the range and play in practice rounds, it was assumed Miss Wie was ready to take the stage again.
Hardly. After posting a +14 score after 16 holes, Wie withdrew -- and under a cloud of controversy: had she lost two more strokes to par on the final two holes, she would have shot an 88 and been banned from the tour for a full year. Although her handlers deny they considered that rule when contemplating the withdrawal, it's hard to believe it wasn't in their minds somewhere. With $20 million in endorsement contracts at stake, Wie can't afford to be barred from her sport.
One of the best things about golf has always been that players had to perform in order to be paid. A promising quarterback or shortstop could sign a multi-year contract and still cash checks even if they averaged six interceptions a game or batted .126. A pro golfer had to finish in the money to pay the rent. That's been changing over the years -- John Daly can't find his way to the bottom of the cup even with a drink in one hand and a cigarette in the other, but he still draws fans, so he still gets endorsement dollars and appearance fees. But it seems to have reached an apex with Michelle Wie -- she has won ONE important tournament (The U.S. Women's Publinks), and none since turning pro a little over a year ago. She had finished highly in the tournaments she did enter, but as the pressure on her as grown, the cracks seem to be growing, as well.
Today, Michelle Wie could be the next Anna Kournikova -- a promising talent who can't deliver and is forgotten before her endorsement deals expire. Let's hope Michelle can pull it together and give Lorena and Annika a run for their money.
When 3BR/2BA Just Won't Cut It
India's richest man is building his own personal skyscraper home. Sixty stories, including six just for parking. Oh, and a staff of six hundred for a six-member family. (I wonder if six, or multiples thereof, have some special place in Indian culture.)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
