Bye Bye Ms. 59

Annika Sorenstam, possibly the greatest female golfer of all time, retired yesterday. She shot a 75 in her final competitve round to miss the cut by 2 shots. A very unceremonious ending to a great career.

Nicknamed Ms. 59, because she is the only woman ever to shoot 59 in competition, Annika ends her career with 72 LPGA Victories and 10 major championships. She won 17 other worldwide events in a career that started with a US Women's Open title in 1995. Her best years were from 2001 to 2005, when she won a remarkable 43 tournaments out of 104 she entered. That kind of win percentage is unheard of in golf...even for Tiger Woods. People have said that Annika was the Tiger of the LPGA Tour. It may be more appropriate to say Tiger is the Annika of the PGA Tour.

Beyond all her accolades in golf, I credit her for increasing interest in the LPGA Tour. Like Tiger Woods on the PGA Tour, Annika forced a whole generation of players to get better to compete with her. She made the LPGA Tour relevant in a way that it hadn't been since Nancy Lopez was a rising star. Heck, before Annika went on her tear, I couldn't tell you, from week to week who was winning the LPGA Tour events. Now, I follow the LPGA Tour every week, right along with the PGA Tour.

At 38 years old, she could still make a comeback. Right now, she is going to focus on starting a family and expanding her off the course businesses, like her golf academy, her golf course design and her charities. She will be missed, but her legacy will be felt for years to come.

Miscellaneous

There have been a number of other ideas floating around in my head that I didn't have time to blog about. So, I'm going to summarize them here.

J.P. Hayes - This week, professional golfer J.P. Hayes disqualified himself from the PGA Tour's Qualifying School because he played an unapproved golf ball for 2 shots. No one ever would have known had he not called the penalty on himself. But, he did the right thing, and cost himself a shot at a Tour Card. However, his honesty should be rewarded with some good sponsor's exemptions into 10-15 tournaments. Good work J.P.!

The Auto Bailout - I was happy to see that the auto bailout didn't go through...yet anyway. Let's see what happens in a few months when George W. Bush isn't standing there with a veto pen.

NBA Basketball - The NBA season started...did anybody notice?

9-Pin No Tap Bowling - This week my bowling league did a 9-Pin No Tap event. In No Tap, 9 pins count as a strike. I affectionately refer to this as "Liberal Bowling", because it's hard to get all 10...let's just give strikes if people get 9. It's close enough! Everybody feels good about themselves, no one works as hard...it's perfect liberalism.

TV Series Review: Chuck, Season 1

As a Netflix subscriber, I end up watching most of my TV shows a year late on DVD. It's just easier than trying to keep up with a weekly show. Maybe some day I'll finally get a DVR, but until that day, Netflix is my refuge.

I just finished Season 1 of the NBC series, "Chuck". "Chuck" centers around the main character, Chuck Bartowski (Zachary Levi), who works for the "Nerd Herd" at the Buy More (similar to the Geek Squad at Best Buy). In the series opener, Chuck receives an e-mail from his former college roommate, turned Super Spy. When he opens the e-mail, all the nation's top spy information is "downloaded" into Chuck's brain. Chuck becomes, what they call, "The Intersect".

The rest of the series centers on Chuck juggling his private life (family, friends, job) with his new life as a government spy. Chuck is protected by his CIA handler, and love interest Sarah Walker (Yvonne Strahovski) and his NSA handler John Casey (Adam Baldwin).

I gave this one 4 out of 5 stars on Netflix. Chuck is one of the most likable characters in recent memory. There's almost nothing not to like about him. Sadly, that is one of the hardest parts of the show. While it's a comedy, you end up feeling bad for Chuck in almost every episode. I believe I said "Poor Chuck" at some point during every episode. The relationship between Chuck and Sarah is complex and adds some seriousness to the show.

The rest of the cast is great, and brings levity to the show. Adam Baldwin is terrific. He has made his niche playing this type of character (a gun-loving, pull no punches guy). If you like a light, funny, occasionally serious TV series, "Chuck" is for you. If you like a darker TV series, stay away from this series. I look forward to watching Season 2.

An Open Letter to the President-Elect

Dear President Elect Obama,

Please read the follow opinion from the New York Times before proceeding:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/19/opinion/19romney.html?_r=3

So, you're probably wondering why I asked you to read an opinion editorial written by a former Massachusetts Governor and a one time Republican Presidential candidate. Because this is your chance! This is your chance to prove me and all my conservative friends wrong. This is your chance to be the "Great Uniter" that you said you would be. This is your chance to appoint Mitt Romney to the role of Treasury Secretary.

Don't stop reading now! Look, Henry Paulson is failing miserably. I'm sure he's a nice guy, but he's not getting it done. Mitt Romney is a successful business man who obviously gets it. Look at the intelligence and common sense approach he wants to take with the auto industry. He understands what needs to be done to get things going again. He understands that, if the government must provide bail out money, lets spend it on development of new technologies, not just give blank checks to bad business people.

Don't get me wrong, I'm still against the government bailout, but the money's out there now. Tax payers are on the hook for billions. So, I figure we might as well put someone competent in charge of it. Here's your chance Mr. Obama...prove me wrong, do what's best for the country and make Mitt Romney your Treasury Secretary, and put him in charge of the economic bailout.

Sincerely,
One concerned American

The retirement of John Lynch

Who's John Lynch you might be asking? You aren't asking that if you follow football at all, but if you don't, I'll tell you who John Lynch is. John Lynch is a 9 time Pro-Bowl Safety who played 15 seasons in the NFL, the last 4 with my beloved Denver Broncos. He has 1,277 career tackles, 26 Interceptions, 13 sacks, and numerous bone crushing hits. While he only played the twilight of his career in Denver, he will go down as one of the Broncos' greatest defensive players.

But he was more than a football player. He was the consummate team player, and from all indications he is a family man. John Lynch is the type of athlete that can be a role model to kids. Every time I watched him play, he had a smile on his face and he was always there with a pat on the back to both teammates and opponents alike.

While we knew this was coming, it's still see it sad and he will be missed. Lynch's retirement, along with the retirement of Broncos' Wide Receiver Rod Smith means the NFL lost 2 of it's stand up guys this season. Here's hoping the example set by John Lynch rubbed off on the next generation of athletes in the NFL.

Fun Sunday Night Viewing

Thanks to my father-in-law, and some random TV channel surfing, I've discovered 2 shows that make Sunday and enjoyable evening of TV viewing.

First off is "Iron Chef, America" on the Food Network. I can't cook, but I like to eat and I like to watch sports. This is like a cooking sports show. There are 5 iron chefs. Each show pits a challenger chef from a high class restaurant against 1 Iron Chef of the challenger's choosing. The chefs have 1 hour to prepare a 5 course meal for 3 judges, who then rate the chefs on Taste, Originality and Presentation. Complicating matters is the secret ingredient that they have to incorporate into their dishes. This has ranged from coffee beans to beer to cheese. One of the strangest episodes was where the secret ingredient was random animal parts (brains, hearts, etc.). Making it even more fun is Alton Brown as the host. He is, by far, Food Network's most gifted personality. He is funny, quick and really understands cooking.

The 2nd show is "Storm Chasers" on Discovery. It's a "reality" show that follows 2 crews of storm chasers during tornado season. I'm a bit embarrassed to admit I watch this one, as it appeals to the lowest common denominator a little bit. But, I'm a bitter clinger, so what am I supposed to watch? There is very little education going on, and more focus on the rivalry between the 2 teams. It's good mindless TV to get you ready for Monday morning.

Obviously, if the Sunday Night Football game is a good one, this viewing gets preempted.

Movie Review: Get Smart

I also watched "Get Smart" yesterday. I wasn't expecting a whole lot from this movie, but I had modest hopes, because I've enjoyed most every Steve Carell film I've watched. "Get Smart" did not disappoint.

This was one of the funniest movies I've seen in quite a while. From Bill Murray's cameo appearance to the very final scene, I laughed the entire way. This was not "Austin Powers", it actually sort of took itself seriously, but in a good way. Steve Carell is great as the affable Maxwell Smart. Smart is a bit of a klutz, but he's not incompetent, which I liked. Carell is quickly becoming one of my favorite actors. He was great in "Evan Almighty", and really good in "Dan in Real Life" which was a more serious role. I highly recommend both of those movies as well.

Joining Carell were Anne Hathaway, Alan Arkin, Terrence Stamp and Duane "The Rock" Johnson. The casting was brilliant! Alan Arkin, as the Chief, was funny and a little over the top, but in a good way. Terrence Stamp always makes a good villain. Hathaway was good, as she always seems to be, and Duane "The Rock" Johnson continues to branch out from former wrestler turned action movie hero.

Overall, I rated it 4 out of 5 stars on Netflix. It is rated PG-13 for a good reason. There is some crude humor that I wouldn't want my kids to see. If you are a Steve Carell fan, I think you'll like this movie a lot. If his style annoys you, you'll probably hate it.

Superman

For all of you who have suspected that I'm a nerd, this blog will confirm that. For those of you who had no idea that I am a nerd...well, it's true, I'm a nerd. But hey, I've embraced that.

My wife and kids are out of town visiting her family. I had to stay behind and work. So yesterday, after doing all my errands and other tasks, I still had most of a day to kill. To occupy myself, I embarked on a mini Superman marathon. I started with the extended edition of the 1978 classic "Superman, The Movie", and followed that with the 2006 movie "Superman Returns". "Superman Returns" gets better every time I see it, and "Superman, The Movie" took me back to happy days from my childhood. It was a good time.

Whenever I watch anything with Superman though, I always have the following question: "When is he ever going to figure out that the over confident Lex Luthor probably has Kryptonite?" Far be it from me to question the creators of Superman...the 14 disc box set I borrowed from a friend is a testament to this character's popularity. Heck, in spite of this nagging thought, I'm a big fan. However, you would think he'd learn after making the same mistake over and over again!

This is the main reason I've always maintained that if Superman ever went off the deep end and decided to try to take over the DC comics universe, Batman (my favorite super hero) would be the one to stop him. There's one simple reason for this. Batman would bring Kryptonite to the fight! And Batman would never let Superman go once he had him. Simple as that.

There...it's confirmed. I'm a nerd (and proud of it)!