Monday, August 28, 2006

Tiger prowl is getting stronger

It’s just absurd.

I cannot think of the words to describe how incredible it is to watch Tiger Woods play a game that I have attempted to play for years.

It’s even more absurd to think that he played average at best on Saturday and Sunday in Akron at the Firestone Country Club and NO ONE could beat him.

I have had the good fortune to play at Firestone a few years ago when Elizabeth’s cousin got married in Cleveland. We played it about two weeks before the same event. The one thing I remember was my brother-in-law’s opening drive on the first hole.

It’s a straight hole – wide open with nothing but a great look at the hole right in front of your eyes. He stood up, and nailed a great drive down the left center of the fairway. It started to leak a little and took one bounce into the rough. One bounce – can’t be that bad right? We walked for five minutes and couldn’t find the ball. Great drive – one bounce and gone.

Why do I make this point? Well, for most of the weekend, Tiger was not only finding his ball in the rough (he had a little more help than we did) but he then was able to hit the ball out of that trash onto and towards the green. He kept plugging away and fighting himself but he kept surviving.

Many of the other players had better looks at the hole, but no one could beat him when he was scrambling.

It’s insane.

Aren’t any of these guys good enough to close? Aren’t any of these guys looking at the board and seeing Tiger hit four bogeys in a row on Saturday and saying, “this could be my week.”

Doesn’t matter.

He is Tiger Woods and they ain’t.

In ten years, he has won 52 times and 12 majors. The other four members of the top five in the world have won 52 times as well and nine majors.

Watching Tiger is like watching Picasso paint. Like watching Jordan hit a jumper. Like watching Gretzky on a breakaway. Like watching Bernstein conduct the Boston Pops. It’s just magic.

He ties Byron Nelson for tour wins and is behind Arnold Palmer by 10 tournaments four fourth all-time. All of this in 10 years.

He’s only 30. Don’t most golfers hit their prime in their 30s?

How much scarier can the man get?

I can’t wait to find out.

Wednesday, August 23, 2006

People Not Party Leads to Success

I grew up in Fort Lee, New Jersey. It’s a suburb of New York City and it was a wonderful place to grow up.

You could go outside and play with your friends and not have to be worried that a predator was going to grab you. Or that the sky was falling or that you needed to go into a bomb shelter to take cover.

Ah, the good ol’ days.

Time was when you could be blind and just vote down the party line come election day and the world was an OK place no matter how it shook out.

Ah, the good ol’ days.

Is there anyone out there that doesn’t understand that every time Israel is being challenged that OUR democratic way of life is being challenged as well? Does anyone actually remember September 11, 2001 or is it just a footnote on your busy lives?

I was born and raised a Democrat. Hey, if you were Jewish from up North, it’s the way it was. In the rare exception were you a Republican. But as I get older, I find myself joining a new party, Independents for Israel. Mind you, I made this party up, but it is more realistic than being either a Democrat or a Republican.

The Democratic party has NO clue what they are doing. They have no message and horrible leadership. President Bush handed John Kerry the last election and he still couldn’t win. By the way, if anyone knows of “The Plan” that Senator Kerry had, let me and the rest of the world in on that secret.

The final straw for me was when former Vice-Presidential candidate Joe Lieberman gets dumped by his party and his friends less than six years after being on the ballot. By the way, I wonder how much money Joe raised for Hillary and all those “great friends” that dumped him. Funny part is when Joe wins re-election, what will all those ship-jumping rats say then when they need his vote or help with a bill?

On the other side of the fence are the Republicans. Boy, there’s a group that I don’t want to be associated with. How does one group of American’s say that the other group won’t protect this country? How does one group basically say if you want values we have them and they have no heart or soul? The Republicans do it every day. On top of which, they have dumped on some of their own that haven’t agreed with President Bush on “The War.” Just sad.

So with that being said, I like being an Independent for Israel. I vote for people and also support numerous others that are fighting for Israel rights, which in my mind is our democratic right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. (Wouldn’t it be great if the world was that easy?)

We are at a major crossroads in our lives and I am terrified to say most people don’t even realize how serious it is. If it were up to the Radical Islamic folks, our way of live WOULDN’T EXSIST.

Read that sentence again. Think about it. It’s a fact of life. Don’t believe me? Go see the top stories on the news every night. Well, unless some guy gets in trouble in Singapore and confesses to a 10-year-old murder he didn’t commit so he could get his ass home.

Now explain to me what is more important – women’s rights or the fact that they want to wipe us off the face of the earth? If they succeed, we won’t need to worry about women’s rights, because there won’t be any rights to protect.

I have two young daughters and trust me, I struggle with the women’s rights issues. But I would love to see them grow up to be women so that they can fight for their rights. Odds are if that happens, then somewhere, somehow the Independents for Israel have grown and succeeded.

And just maybe when that happens, the two parties will stop acting like a bunch of children and deal with what really matters; the opportunity to keep debating and fighting issues for the people in a democracy. That is how and why our forefathers came here in the first place isn’t it?

Monday, August 14, 2006

HOW'S YOUR ASPEN?

Sorry been a bit ... wife and I went away for a week to one of the most beautiful places on the planet - Aspen, Colorado.

We had a conference there and stayed at the St. Regis Hotel. Not a shabby joint to stay at, by the way.

The city is pretty and clean as can be. People are nice and friendly and you can walk most places. The bus system is free to ride - how cool is that?

I know this will come as a shock to most, but I went hiking. Went to a beautiful place called Maroon Bells. It's not a bad walk if you aren't at 9,000 feet.

Only problem I found with Aspen is that you have to take a little plane there and connect either in Salt Lake City or in Denver. We chose Denver and United Airlines. Figured it couldn't be any worse than Delta. Well, in a matter of minutes in Denver's airport we found out that they are worse.

No one would help us when we got to Denver. Finally we got settled and were waiting for our flight when at the counter next to us a wild scene was happening. The flight was going to Rapid City or some small town when the woman at the counter grabbed the microphone and started screaming at the customers, "Back off! There's only one of me and 20 of you!! So just step back and we will deal with this as we can!"

I have seen a lot of things on Delta - have never seen that move. Just wild stuff.

Then on the way back to Denver from Aspen we are about to get to the gate when the captain stops the plane about 100 yards from the gate. We sat there for 30 minutes because we have to wait for someone to tow us in. Planes are moving all around us and we are just sitting there. People are missing connections and getting upset. What a mess.

Years ago I was stuck in Denver while still a student and I wrote a column for the Northeastern News talking about airline travel. I was also on United and found out what it stood for - U Never Intended To Ever Depart. Also came up with others - TWA - Try Walking Asshole. Delta - Don't Ever Leave the Airport ... etc.

All these year's later - nothing has changed. Airline travel stinks and so do all the carriers. Just a joke. Now we can't bring liquids on the plane - and it's no big deal to me, but at some point we are all going to have to just fly naked. This way they can do an easy search as we go through security.

But even then, someone will find a way to get around that too..... scary to think of.