Book Review

I got the Darren Clarke book in the mail today and I've already read it. Well, most of it. Some of the player profiles I skipped. I mean really, I don't need to read Tiger's profile. But here's my view of Heroes All: My Ryder Cup Story 2006:

First, it looked as though the book had been booted around the floor of a warehouse - the dust jacket was scuffed quite a bit. But I blame Amazon for that.

As for the book, my one pet peeve is the very inconvenient spots the publisher chose to insert the color picture groupings. There are two sets of color pictures and the first one not only interrupts a chapter, but it interrupts a sentence in the chapter. The second grouping separated Brett Wetterich's picture from his player profile.

The pictures are very good pictures, especially the picture of the course that opens and closes the book.

The writing: I have only one thing to say - Americans write like I do and Darren Clarke writes like this: "When I came out of my room, dressed in black trousers, white dinner jacket, white shirt and red bow tie, all I needed to look like a proper magician was a top hat and three rabbits tucked up my sleeve." I really think America is making a mistake by focusing more on math and science and letting language skills slide. Whether you're reading Peter Allis' book, David Feherty's column in Golf Magazine or Darren Clarke's book, you just get the feeling that there are some aspects of their respective countries' educational systems that are just plain better than America's, for all of America's No Child Left Behind rhetoric.

Contents of the book: The book cover's Darren's personal thoughts on Ryder Cup week, contains team profiles, a hole-by-hole guide of the K-Club course, a some history of the Ryder Cup which also includes some of Darren's comments about the previous teams of which he was a member.

Overall, my money was well spent on this book. There was a moment when I allowed the stray "agenda question" to run through my mind. You know the question - it's the same one you get when you read Greg Norman's book. You wonder what the other side of the story is. Being an American in this day and age, I have grown accustomed to automatically looking for the angle or political point of view of any and every news report I see or read - the Trust No One philosophy. So, it was unfortunately natural for me to wonder if there was some sort of underlying purpose for this book. Then, after a second, I banished that glimmer of cynicism from my mind and embraced the story for what it is - Darren Clarke's account of the 2006 Ryder Cup. It's probably a great help that I don't know much about Darren Clarke and wouldn't know if there's a particular slant to the facts.

So, go buy the book. Read the book. I doubt that you'll be disappointed.

Blah, Blah, Blah, Whose Week is it?

Well, it's Tiger Week again on the Golf Channel. I wish they would celebrate my birthday and do an all Spaniard week around the second week of December. I think the Tennis Channel is airing the top matches of the year this week in the evenings so if there's nothing else on any of my 200 channels, then I will probably have the tv on the Tennis Channel. I'm watching/listening to Justine Hennin and Amelie Mauresmo play a grass court match right now.

I've started a new story today that hopefully will turn into a new book. It's not golf related though. I'll have to get back to the golf stories eventually.

And tomorrow I will get back on the diet. I plan to stick to it since there are no upcoming eating events to derail me. We don't do anything special for New Year's Day. Well, mom fixes cabbage to eat, but there's no way I'm eating stinky food. You have to figure that God made it smell bad for a reason. Maybe watching all of this tennis will encourage me to work out some. I think with my diet, I can actually lose some weight without working out, so I might just ride that out for a while and see how far it gets me. Since my work hours now last until 4:30pm, it makes me that much later getting home and I don't really want to work out after I get home that late. Plus, if I'm writing my story then I won't have time to work out too.

Winnie is licking my fingers as I type this. I think I'll need to stop. She loves the attention. I think I picked the right Spaniard for her honorary daddy (Sergio).

Summer Travel

Well, my brother-in-law once again mentioned the idea of me coming down to Jacksonville some time during the year and visiting the World Golf Hall of Fame, which isn't too far away from where my sister and brother-in-law live. I might have to check into travel options. I've already checked online with the local airports and they don't have direct flights to Jacksonville. If I drive, it's about 12 hours. Yuck. I could always rent a car to keep from putting miles on my car. And the rent-a-car might come with a nagivation system that is not a paper map (hahaha). There might be a chance that I could do connecting flights and make it down there in less than 12 hours, but it is flying so I wouldn't bet on that.

I would also like to go back to the Bridgestone Invitational this year. I'll have to see how everything goes between now and then.

A New Book

I found a book on amazon written by Darren Clarke - it's about the 2006 Ryder Cup. It's called "Heroes All: My Ryder Cup Story 2006." I ordered it, so once I've read it, I'll let you know how it is. I don't have the amazon page up right now so I'm not going to link to the book. But you all can find it.

Review of the 2006 Ryder Cup DVD

It's a very good dvd. It makes spending $600.00 on my laptop that keeps crashing worth it when the picture quality is so good. Obviously, I played the dvd in the laptop last night. The only thing I could criticize about this dvd is the lack of press conferences and interviews. They could have put a lot more interviews and stuff on the dvd - even make it a 2 disc special edition.

Christmas Presents

I got the 2006 Ryder Cup dvd!!!! I'm so excited. I can fast foward and skip all the boring Tiger parts. Well, except for the parts where he gets beat. I will replay those in slow motion probably. Hahahaha!!!

Other gifts I got: a little soapstone pig pendant to wear as a necklace, a pewter pig with a unique hinged lid, the Pancake Puffs pan that you see advertised on tv, and $20.00 cash.

It was great to see the reactions of everyone to the gifts they got as well. I think that's the best part.

Now I have a bunch of candy to eat before I can get back on the diet. And I'm sure my dad will bring up more food tomorrow. He loves to dump all the candy and cake on me because he wants to be on a diet.

Wendy's Three Tour Challenge

A few weeks back, the new comentators for the 19th hole show on the Golf Channel did nothing but criticize the silly season and proclaim that the time had come to end all of the events except, of course, Tiger's. Because we all know that Tiger is the only, only, only reason golf should be on tv at all (a lot of sarcasm there). Well, the Wendy's Three Tour Challenge has done more for charity and kids than any of these comentators have ever done. Plus, this weekend's golf was exciting and fun to watch. Right down to Morgan Pressel's bad shots on the last hole that set up the playoff between the LPGA and the Champions Tour. The LPGA ended up winning, but the real winners are the kids who will benefit from the money raised in this event.

I love the silly season events and I always look forward to the Wendy's Three Tour Challenge. I want to see the girls play against the guys and I want to see Dave Thomas' legacy continue to help the cause of adoption in this country.

An Update on Jose Maria Olazabal

Click here for an article about the 2 time Masters Champion. Looks like he might return at the tournament in Dubai.

I Apologize in Advance...

I found the following joke on a joke website. I apologize if it offends anyone, including Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods. I thought it was cute.

The Pope met with the College of Cardinals to discuss a proposal from Shimon Peres, the former leader of Israel. "Your holiness," said one of the Cardinals, "Mr. Peres wants to determine whether Jews or Catholics are superior, by challenging you to a golf match." The Pope was greatly disturbed, as he had never held a golf club in his life.

"Not to worry," said the Cardinal, "we'll call America and talk to Jack Nicklaus. We'll make him a Cardinal, he can play Shimon Peres... We can't lose!" Everyone agreed it was a good idea. The call was made and, of course, Jack was honored and agreed to play.

The day after the match, Nicklaus reported to the Vatican to inform the Pope of his success in the match. "I came in second, your Holiness," said Nicklaus.

"Second?!!" exclaimed the surprised Pope. "You came in second to Shimon Peres?!!"

"No," said Nicklaus, "second to Rabbi Woods."

I'm Sure You've Heard This One Before.....

A joke to give you a chuckle:

One night, Peter was home watching TV when his wife entered the room and asked, "If I died, would you remarry?"

Peter thought for a second then said "Yeah I guess I would".

Then his the wife asked, "well would you have her as your golfing partner?"

Peter replied, "yep I probably would do that too".

"But surely you wouldn't give her my clubs?!", she cried.

Peter looked at her and said, "Nah, shes left handed."

Drug Testing Manual is Released

According to tonight's Golf Central, the PGA Tour released a 42 page booklet on the upcoming drug testing program. Many of the golfers interviewed on Golf Central hadn't even read through it yet. At first I thought, gee, they aren't readers, are they? Then I thought whether they think it pertains to them or not, all the golfers need to read all the material on the drug testing. As I understand it, something as innocent as cold medication can affect a drug test. The golfers really do need to be prepared to avoid any problems next year.

And yet, a criticism of Golf Central

This morning I was watching yesterday's Golf Central, I think it was yesterday's, and Inga Hammond was talking about Ernie Els and his loss last week. She called it Van de Veldian and said "sure it wasn't in a major against Tiger..." as if to say Vand de Velde had in fact had his collapse in a major against Tiger. Van de Velde didn't lose to Tiger at the British Open. He got into a playoff with Paul Lawrie and Justin Leonard, I think. I just love how these so-called journalists re-write history to suck up to Tiger.

19th Hole Criticism

One of the mouthy guys said that in choosing between Lorena Ochoa and Tiger Woods he would pick Tiger because Tiger has 13 majors and Lorena has 1. Well, Tiger's also been playing for several more years than Lorena. Hello. There was no logic at all behind his statement. The real discussion should have been whether or not a perennial #1 is better for the game of golf than a volatile world rankings chase. Competition or Monopoly. Ooh, the mouthy guy was someone named Hawkins. He's also very negative on the Skins Game and Three Tour Challenge complaining that they are just staged to sell products. Gee, you mean I don't see Buick commercials during the Buick Invitational? You mean it's really called the _____ Pebble Beach Pro Am? I personally like watching the Skins Game and the Three Tour Challenge. There's a reason I never watched this 19th Hole show. I thought it was because of that Duemig guy, but no, I think it's just the nature of the show.

My World - Brandt Snedeker

Boy does he drive a lot! I can understand wanting to sit down when your job is standing on your feet for 4 hours or more a day. But really, in the suv, out of the suv, in the suv, out of the suv. If he's going to keep driving like that, maybe he needs to get himself a hybrid vehicle. It was interesting to see a golfer living in Nashville. It's not a hotbed of golfing activity. And let me tell you, if I ever had to do a My World like thing, it would be the most boring half hour of everyone's lives. I would not take someone on a tour of my hometown and talk to the camera like that. I would show you all what it's like to sit at home and watch tv, play with my dogs and surf the internet.

A Bit off Topic - you know in the last post I was confused as to what day it was? Well, I'm even more confused now. They advertised the 19th hole show for tonight. I thought that was a Wednesday show.

A Day Early

Well, I came home tonight from work, got onto the internet and went to GolfBlogger's website eager to see what the Ridiculous Golf Item of the Week was. Then I remembered - This is Thursday. I have to wait one more day to see what the Ridiculous Golf Item of the Week is. Oh well, this is a good kind of disappointment - you know, "gee how will I ever spend that day off tomorrow waiting for Golfblogger's website to be updated?" LOL.

When It maybe Sort of Gets Left at a Neighbor's House

Here's my FEDEX story for the week. I ordered something from www.dog.com and chose FedEx for the shipping. I should have known better because the idiots they have driving for them don't leave packages at my house. They leave them at the neighbor's house. So, what happened to my package? Probably left at the neighbor's house. I don't know because I never got it and the neighbor never called to let me know it was there. The tracking on the website said the package was left at the front door and delivered on Dec. 1. Well, I wonder whose front door it was left at. How hard is it for a person to freakin' ask someone where I live??? So, I emailed customer service of dog.com and told them that I never got my order and that I would be ordering that merchandise from 1-800 Petmeds from now on. It's not really dog.com's fault, but they need to realize just how lousy FEDEX is.

If Tiger Woods hasn't gotten his FEDEX Cup trophy yet, maybe he should go up and down his street and ask the neighbors if they've received any packages. Now you know why the $10 Million is an annuity. It will take 20 years for FEDEX to deliver it to the right person.

Now This is News

Steve Stricker has won Comeback Player of the Year two years in a row. In 2007 where did he come back from exactly? Now, I can see how people might rationalize this - his comeback started in 2006 and since he never lost momentum and continued to build on his success in 2007, some people might see that his comeback was actually two years in the making. But, I also see a darker reason - The voting golfers were too chicken to vote for him for Player of the Year because they would get on the Great Tiger's bad side, so they gave Stricker this award. No matter who complains that Stricker can't be coming back from his comeback of last year, he does deserve recognition and it isn't like they are going to give him the award he deserves because of the incessant need to pander to Tiger Woods, it's only right that Stricker gets some kind of award.

Not News

I just read on a golf news feed website that Tiger Woods was voted PGA Tour player of the year. How can they possibly call this news? News would be something we didn't know before and something that is, oh maybe 'new'. Tiger's voted player of the year every year. Does the phrase "ho-hum" mean anything to the news people?

I think this player of the year vote that always goes to Tiger is doing a disservice to all of the other great pga tour players who have made big strides this year. Woody Austin comes to mind. I'm sure there are others who deserve to be recognized for their extraordinary achievements. I would suggest Angel Cabrera, winner of the US Open, but he didn't play all that much on the PGA Tour this year. How about Mike Weir? I think he won this year after having lackluster previous years and injuries and then went on to beat Tiger at the Presidents Cup. Here's a crazy thought - how about making the player of the year the Nationwide Tour grads who won tournaments? Or George McNeill who was the Q-School medalist in 2006 and then won this year?

Any of these nominees would make news.

Shark Shootout Sunday

Woody Austin and Mark Calcavecchia won today with a one shot margin over Greg Norman and Bubba Watson. More good shots and great putts during the coverage. I wish NBC would have either told us more often whose shot the teams were going with or let us see the whole thing. They had cut some shots out of their pre-recorded coverage. Seeing Chris Dimarco and Camilo Villegas show their collegiate team spirit on the 18th hole was very enjoyable. It's good to see the players having so much fun.

Shark Shootout - Saturday

A lot of good shots played in this event. Very entertaining. Issues/Comments: Tired of the Aquaman thing. And I think Woody Austin is too. At least Austin and Calcavecchia are doing their best to get people's minds on golf instead of the Presidents' Cup story. Norman and Evert. I didn't like Chris Evert as a comentator and I'm not sure I like that whole relationship. It's nice that they say they are happy, but I don't know if I want to see them on tv together. And I'm sure there's a whole lot more to how that came about that doesn't really need to be brought up in the media - and an interview on NBC might just make some people think that it's now fair game to shine a light on everything that's going on. Bubba Watson needs to play this well every week in regular tournament play. He always seems to do well in these kinds of events - remember when he played in the CVS thing? And I like to think that Fred Couples and John Daly are tied for 11th, not tied for last place. The important thing there is that Couples and Daly appear to be healthy. I hope they stay that way.

Huh????

I'm watching the first round of the shark shootout. Kelly Whatshername said that Bubba Watson's ball spinning back toward the hole was like a nascar move. HUH???? Nascar drivers go around in circles and drive forward. This ball went in reverse and straight back.

A Good Way to Spend an Evening

The golf channel is showing a Shell's Wonderful World of Golf match between Fred Couples and Greg Norman this evening. What a treat to be able to spend the evening watching Fred Couples. I hear he's playing in the Shark Shootout this weekend. Everyone needs to watch the event. A lot of good players are there. I don't know about the pairings though. Fred is apparently paired with John Daly.

Golf Magazine

Sergio is on the cover of the new Golf Magazine. Inside, there's an article on Jason Day, two offerings from David Feherty, some question and answer sessions with Woody Austin and Andres Romero. I was pleased that there was something for a non-golfer like me to read.

Wrap-up

Trevor Immelman won in South Africa. I missed the final round of the New Zealand Open this morning. And the Nelsons won the Father-Son/Daughter/Grandson Challenge. The announcers on NBC were talking about how David Duval says he wants to play his way on to the Ryder Cup team next year. I hope he does. It would be exceptional and out of this world, but unfortunately, even if he did, they would still give the player of the year award to Tiger.

Duval's Playing This Weekend

David Duval is playing in the Father-Son Challenge seen on NBC. I think he and his stepson are in second place. It's good to see him doing well.

The comemtators are making mention of all the ages of the fathers and how hard it is to play at their age and things like that. 71 year old Bob Charles made the cut in New Zealand playing from the young guys' tees. Apparently Dan Hicks isn't keeping up with the news.

Off topic: You know, if Public Television wants me to donate money to them, then they really should avoid technical difficulties during the Barry Manilow concert.

Rehabilitation is a Myth?

I was watching Golf Hawaii and Mark Calcavecchia was talking about his friend and caddie who had spent time in prison. Calcavecchia said that his friend had to basically start all over and didn't know anything about text messaging or email. The general public has been led to believe that there are rehabilitation programs and education opportunities extended to those in the prison system, but it would appear that this is misleading. I could get on my soap box about prison reform, but I try to keep my blogs from being controversial and argumentative, so I will simply say that there should be some kind of transition program offered to those slated to be released so that they can more easily assimilate back into society. At least Calcavecchia's friend had people out there to help him in a positive way.