The very concept of prophecy has long been relegated to my misguided youth, but today I just felt the desire to use the term once more. I will make a prediction - a prophecy - that I can check back on for the next five to six years and enjoy my long-haul approach to fantasy sports. My way of seeing the fun, anyway.
Many of my golfing buddies have varying slants on the career of Tiger Woods and many of them adjust as the seasons roll by. Occasionally someone has to eat crow due to his past loud personal statements made at this time or that of Tiger's amazing six years as the top golfer in the world or during his three years of struggle on and off the course following his marital difficulties. My own assumptions have always been (since the phenom first began to dominate the game about fifteen years ago) that he is already the greatest player of the game and will almost surely be recognized as such by practically everyone at some point.
I was sure in my own mind (and said so publically without being loud and bellicose) during his worst times in the last few years, that Tiger was far from finished winning tournaments and would return to the top spot in the world rankings before he moves over to the Champions (senior) Tour after turning fifty.
Following the most recent tournament ending last Monday, Tiger is in second place in two categories of measuring professional golfing success: he is seven behind Sam Snead in total career tournament wins and four behind Jack Nicklaus in winning what we call Major tournaments. (Only four of these are played each year.) The majors are the most watched and seem to define a golfer's true measure of strength and prowess; Jack is considered by many fans to be the greatest ever to play the game.
My prophecy: Tiger Woods (now 37 years old) will be number one in the win record before he turns 40 years of age and will surpass Jack Nicklaus to become the number one Major winner by the time he is 43.
So there. Check out my predictions over the next few years. And one day, probably all will have to admit that Earl Tiger Woods is the best golfer ever. And I doubt anyone will overtake him in my lifetime.
On another topic - Why has MSNBC's Hardball commentator Chris Matthews not taken advantage of this highly unlikely coming spectacle of brother meeting brother in coaching the Superbowl football teams, by at least one time adjusting the opening line of his show to: Let's play Harbaugh!
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
Long Live Our President
Watching on television the second inaugural of President Obama fills me with two vastly competing emotions. Even more emotional strings are tugged, but the two overwhelming tugs are these: Pride in our nation for having the capacity to elect a man of high intellect and the potential for true greatness; Fear that this man of our people may not be allowed to fulfill his great work ahead.
My thorough enjoyment of seeing this leader in action is always guarded because of the theft of my innocence on a November day back in 1963. No one can ever feel completely safe in our society. So much hatred and misguided zeal come into play and weigh on the unbalanced minds of some of our fellow citizens. One madman can destroy much of what otherwise could be a beginning of the powerful rebuilding of our nation. Shades of Lincoln accompanied so much of our President's speech on Monday, but my mind couldn't totally shake the foreboding that also creeps in when thinking of what greater good Mr. Lincoln could still have done for our Union, had not a madman stolen life from this great leader. We probably would not have been hampered for a century in our development of civil rights, and we may not have had to witness the death of yet another strong leader at the hand of another madman in 1968. And still another in that same year.
Make no mistake, the eventual history of our society will treat our sitting President with the glowing terms he so richly deserves. It simply frightens me that so often, true greatness is feared, hated and sometimes cut short by the myopia that surrounds us. Fortunately a cutting short of this man's time in office was not done at the ballot box, but there are so many radical people who would feel that a high calling could be fulfilled at the point of a gun.
So my great hope is that the security details are all completely effective and that Mr. Obama will be ever cognizant of his need to take as few chances as necessary in doing his important job. It is my further hope that one day this statesman will be as effective and as active in his post-elected office position as is our former President Clinton today. So much more accomplishment could be ahead for Mr. Obama and for our nation's betterment if he is allowed to continue using that amazing intellect until he is quite elderly.
Long live Barack Obama.
My thorough enjoyment of seeing this leader in action is always guarded because of the theft of my innocence on a November day back in 1963. No one can ever feel completely safe in our society. So much hatred and misguided zeal come into play and weigh on the unbalanced minds of some of our fellow citizens. One madman can destroy much of what otherwise could be a beginning of the powerful rebuilding of our nation. Shades of Lincoln accompanied so much of our President's speech on Monday, but my mind couldn't totally shake the foreboding that also creeps in when thinking of what greater good Mr. Lincoln could still have done for our Union, had not a madman stolen life from this great leader. We probably would not have been hampered for a century in our development of civil rights, and we may not have had to witness the death of yet another strong leader at the hand of another madman in 1968. And still another in that same year.
Make no mistake, the eventual history of our society will treat our sitting President with the glowing terms he so richly deserves. It simply frightens me that so often, true greatness is feared, hated and sometimes cut short by the myopia that surrounds us. Fortunately a cutting short of this man's time in office was not done at the ballot box, but there are so many radical people who would feel that a high calling could be fulfilled at the point of a gun.
So my great hope is that the security details are all completely effective and that Mr. Obama will be ever cognizant of his need to take as few chances as necessary in doing his important job. It is my further hope that one day this statesman will be as effective and as active in his post-elected office position as is our former President Clinton today. So much more accomplishment could be ahead for Mr. Obama and for our nation's betterment if he is allowed to continue using that amazing intellect until he is quite elderly.
Long live Barack Obama.
Friday, January 18, 2013
Assault Indeed!
On January 19, I can offer another Happy New Year to you, however for me it is still a guarded re-entry to the land of the living and active. Even today, my internal jury is still out as to whether I should chance going out tomorrow for a relaxed eighteen holes of golf in 80 degree warmth here in California. Reason for "guarded" re-entry? I felt well enough after a five-day cold and sore throat in December to get myself up and out for a quiet and brief new year's celebration; then beginning January 2nd, my body rebelled in all respiratory related areas and only yesterday was I able to speak clearly with enough volume to be heard a few feet away. Still today, if I break into a laugh, I will certainly break into another fit of coughing that racks my body almost as strongly as it did a week ago. And for many of those days and nights, my cough was dangerously close to causing long-term damage to my system. On the worst night, I came to a partially awake hallucination that I had died during the previous attack, so it was thoroughly frustrating that I was still able to suffer another! Soon I will go in for a physical and will discuss with my doctor the concerns I have for that potential damage. (Yes, I will consider a shrink, too!)
'Nuff of that stuff - I'm here today to say, "I'm here today!"
The heading of this post was not a reference to the cold/flu assault on my body, but on the same assault all Americans are dealing with right now - the assault on logic and common sense. Our national political leaders have acted truly in a strong leadership role to ask all citizens to be reasonable and sensible about curbing violence perpetrated by gun-wielding mass murderers in our midst. Yet the radical elements among us want to press for the right under the second amendment to have any and every type of weapon available to anyone who wants to arm himself. Can anyone actually see this as logical? Reasonable? I'm pleased that polls show that something north of three quarters of our citizens say, "No." (And I don't even want to meet anyone who says, "Yes.")
The real assault being waged now is on our national peace and integrity by those aforementioned radicals. I was noticing the chinks in the armour of the NRA that are being revealed by the polls and the highlighted words of Bush-41 who ceremoniously resigned from membership in the NRA over their harsh stances back in 1995, and the strong appeal by the GOP's god, Ronald Reagan when he supported the ban on assault rifles. So I began to think perhaps there exists an association of more reasonable gun owners who can live with the idea that protecting the right to bear arms includes living within sensible guidelines. And perhaps this kind of organization could launch a concerted campaign right now to pick up new members who are sick of the way their NRA national representatives are going so far to the radical side that their words and actions mis-represent their base membership.
Good luck with that! My Google search revealed only (so far) groups who sound even crazier and promise to be "not so compromising" as the NRA!
Radical fools are committing the ugly assault on the whole human species. Even being a pacifist, I must admit that it occurs to me that all such radical fools should be invited to move into a walled (with bullet-proof dome) playground called Rad-Land, equipped with an unlocked free arsenal of every type of hand-held weapon ever devised and an unlimited supply of ammo.
'Nuff of that stuff - I'm here today to say, "I'm here today!"
The heading of this post was not a reference to the cold/flu assault on my body, but on the same assault all Americans are dealing with right now - the assault on logic and common sense. Our national political leaders have acted truly in a strong leadership role to ask all citizens to be reasonable and sensible about curbing violence perpetrated by gun-wielding mass murderers in our midst. Yet the radical elements among us want to press for the right under the second amendment to have any and every type of weapon available to anyone who wants to arm himself. Can anyone actually see this as logical? Reasonable? I'm pleased that polls show that something north of three quarters of our citizens say, "No." (And I don't even want to meet anyone who says, "Yes.")
The real assault being waged now is on our national peace and integrity by those aforementioned radicals. I was noticing the chinks in the armour of the NRA that are being revealed by the polls and the highlighted words of Bush-41 who ceremoniously resigned from membership in the NRA over their harsh stances back in 1995, and the strong appeal by the GOP's god, Ronald Reagan when he supported the ban on assault rifles. So I began to think perhaps there exists an association of more reasonable gun owners who can live with the idea that protecting the right to bear arms includes living within sensible guidelines. And perhaps this kind of organization could launch a concerted campaign right now to pick up new members who are sick of the way their NRA national representatives are going so far to the radical side that their words and actions mis-represent their base membership.
Good luck with that! My Google search revealed only (so far) groups who sound even crazier and promise to be "not so compromising" as the NRA!
Radical fools are committing the ugly assault on the whole human species. Even being a pacifist, I must admit that it occurs to me that all such radical fools should be invited to move into a walled (with bullet-proof dome) playground called Rad-Land, equipped with an unlocked free arsenal of every type of hand-held weapon ever devised and an unlimited supply of ammo.
Monday, January 7, 2013
HNY
Yes, it would be logical to assume I would have posted something since Dec, 23rd. The fact is, since the 26th, I have been connected to my bed and crawling to the bathroom. Can't eat, can't cough - though every fiber of my pain riddled body makes me try to cough - can't sleep; just cover it all: I CAN'T.
My desire has been to post something in the worst way, and this appears to be covering that!
At least the rest of 2013 has to be a fabulous improvement - unless I get better soon and die peacefully.
HAPPY NEW YEAR, everyone!
My desire has been to post something in the worst way, and this appears to be covering that!
At least the rest of 2013 has to be a fabulous improvement - unless I get better soon and die peacefully.
HAPPY NEW YEAR, everyone!
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