Are You Ready for Some Football?

Something is in the air. Do you smell it? The sound of Brett Favre coming out of retirement, again. The sound of whistles, and pads smashing. It must be football time. All over the country, from the smallest high schools, to major universities, to the NFL, players are hitting the field getting ready for another season of America's Game.

Without a doubt, football is my favorite televised sport. And NFL football trumps major College football in my house, though I do like College Football. This upcoming season has me pondering a few questions as we head to the NFL season.

1 - Do Vikings fans feel a little bit dirty? I mean, the guy was with your arch rivals for 16 years, and now Brett Favre is your quarterback. I think I'd feel a little dirty.

2 - Will my beloved Denver Broncos win more than 4 games? My gut says no. Too many changes, not enough talent...it's going to be a long year for me.

3 - Will John Madden unretire to match Brett Favre's unretirement? For a certain Vikings fan I know, I hope not.

4 - Can Kurt Warner and the Arizona Cardinals shock the world again and not only make the Super Bowl but win it? My gut says no again, but unless they are playing the Broncos, I'll be rooting for them.

5 - How long until Jay Cutler acts like a baby in Chicago? I think he'll make it, until he has a 3 Interception game and the Chicago media lets him have it. Then he'll see what a tough sports media town is like and wish he were still back in Denver.

6 - Will Tom Brady be back to his old self? Probably, and I think the Patriots will be as annoying as ever.

Finally, who will win the Super Bowl this year?
Here's my official prediction...the Superbowl will be the San Diego Chargers vs. the Philadelphia Eagles, and the Eagles will win.

Actor, President, Prophet?

A friend sent me this clip today. It's about 10 minutes long, but it's all audio, so you can start it and then do other things while you listen. This is Ronald Reagan in 1961 making the case against Socialized Medicine. He sounds almost prophetic to what is going on today.

Reagan knew, as many of us know now, that Socialized Medicine is a great way to push Socialism on society. Socialists throughout history have said so. As Reagan says, health care for all is a hard thing to oppose, so it's the perfect way for those who want a Socialist society to get their foot in the door.

But, as we all know, Socialism has never worked, and never will work because it takes power from the masses and gives it to a few in government. Eventually, those few will become corrupt and the government will cease to function for the greater good. Humans, by our nature, are corrupt, and power given to certain people in a socialist society will eventually corrupt them, leading to an oppressed and miserable people. That's the history of our world.

I can't say it any better than our 40th President, please listen and enjoy. I wish we still had leaders on the Conservative side who could communicate like this.

Book Review: "Ranger's Apprentice #6"

I just finished book #6 in the "Ranger's Apprentice" series. This book is titled, "The Siege of Macindaw" and wraps up the 2 part series formed by books 5 and 6.

"The Siege of Macindaw" picks up immediately following the end of "The Sorcerer of the North", and manages to round out the story nicely. Book #6 is slower than the others in the beginning, but picks up pace quickly after 120 or so pages. I'm very glad I stuck with it, as I ended up enjoying this story very much.

This story wraps up Will's first major trial as a Ranger. Assisted by his best friend Horace, who has managed to make quite a name for himself as a Knight of the Kingdom, Will has to free his friend Alyss from the clutches of the misguided Sir Keren of Macindaw, restore the rightful leader to Castle Macindaw and stop an invasion from the North. And, he has to do all this with 30 men. A very intriguing story with a really solid ending. If you've read the other 5 "Ranger's Apprentice" books and liked them, then I think you'll like "The Siege of Macindaw".

I'm already anxious for book #7, which is already released in Australia. Not sure when it will be out in the US.

Move Over Ed Fiori

Ed Fiori, a journey-man PGA Tour player, used to be the only man to ever beat Tiger Woods when he held the outright 54 hole lead. And this was 13 years ago when Tiger Woods had his first ever 54 hole lead. Since then, he's never lost when holding the lead. He's only lost 2 times when tied for the lead.

I say "was", because today, at the 91st PGA Championship, another player tracked down and passed Tiger for the win. Who is this player? Maybe Phil Mickelson or Padraig Harrington? No, it is South Korea's Y.E. Yang, the 110th ranked player in the world. Yang shot a final round 70 (-2) to pass Tiger who shot a 75 (+3). Yang was 2 shots back going into the day, and ended up winning by 3.

In the long run, I think this is good for both Tiger and the PGA Tour. Tiger needed to get beat. His strategy this weekend was awful. He got the lead on Thursday, extended it to 4 on Friday, and then got really conservative in his play. Basically, he played like he believed the other players would just fold based on his presence. He shot 71-75 on the weekend, which won't get it done. He should get stronger from this...he now knows what it's like to "blow it", and I figure he won't like the feeling.

This is also good for the PGA Tour, because players now see that Tiger can be caught. It is very rare, but he's not unbeatable...only mostly unbeatable. Maybe now the bigger name players like Mickelson, Harrington, and others will see that he is human and play better when paired with Tiger.

No matter what happens, this was a historic day of golf. Y.E. Yang became the first Asian-born man to win a major. Eleven years ago Se Ri Pak became the first South Korean to win a women's major, and it spawned an entire generation of South Korean girls who wanted to become golfers. South Korean women now dominate the LPGA Tour. I'm not saying this will happen to the PGA Tour, but this will ultimately lead to a bigger Asian presence in men's golf, which is a good thing.

Movie Review: Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

This has been a stressful week at work, and I knew I was going to have to stay late today. So, at 2:30 this afternoon, I headed to the West Conference Room (a.k.a. the movie theater next door) to watch "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen." This movie has gotten some pretty bad reviews, and lots of complaints about language and too many "adult themes". While I'll admit that there were some very unnecessary words said in this movie, I still liked it.

The second installment in the "Transformers" franchise delivers way more robot to robot combat than the first movie. It's as if Director Michael Bay said "hmmm, you think I've done action and explosions in the past, well you ain't seen nothin' yet". I'm sure Michael Bay has a better grasp of the English language than that, but you get the point. This movie is way over the top from an action standpoint. And let me just say this...Optimus Prime kicks some serious Decepticon Hindquarters.

There's not a ton of plot to this. In fact, it felt a little like the old cartoon, where they kept slightly modifying the plot to introduce a new robot. But, I think it worked...it's not supposed to be a riveting drama, so the plot can have a few holes in my opinion.

The acting was solid for an action movie. Shia Lebouf reprises his role as Sam Witwicky, and he is at his smart-ellecky best in this movie. I really like him as an actor and hope to see many more roles for Mr. Lebouf. The other really good performance came from John Turturro, who appears again as the conspiracy theorist from the now defunct Sector 7. Turturro is hilarious, in what seems like the type of role he was born to play. A nice addition was the cameo by Rainn Wilson, from NBC's "The Office".

There was 1 big downer for me. They introduced 2 new Autobots...Skids and Mudflaps. Both were totally unnecessary, and very vulgar. They were like a vulgar Jar Jar Binks. Hopefully they won't be in any sequels. The presence of these 2 knocked my rating down from 5 stars to 4.

Overall though, I really liked the movie. As an action film junkie, it's a must see.

The City Amateur, Day 2

I just finished up day 2 of the City Amateur, and while I didn't play as well as I had hoped I would, I still had an ok day. I shot 80 for the 2nd straight day, for a 36 hole total of 160. When I left the course, there were only 2 players ahead of me, but that will obviously change as the day wears on. About 30 players had finished when I left.

Bottom line is that 80 is a good score today. It was windy and it was raining off and on. Making it even more complex was that the flags were tucked in some difficult places on the greens. So, overall, I'm pleased with my golf this year. I could have played better, but I could have played much worse.

I really enjoyed competing in the City Amateur this year, and hope I am playing well enough next year to consider playing again.

The City Amateur

This year, I signed up to play in the City Amateur golf tournament. Being as I live in a semi-large city, we have a tournament with a cut. Usually, we play 54 holes, with a cut after the first 18 and again after 36. The plan is to start with 210 players on day 1, cut it to 110 for day 2, and cut it again to 60 for day 3. I've never made it to day 3, but yet I keep trying.

As has been the pattern with much of my golf this summer, nothing has gone as planned. Yesterday's round was rained out. This was a bummer for me, because we were playing a short, easy course where I have put up some good scores in the past. But, it meant we all got to tee it up again today, albeit at a more difficult golf course. The tournament was reduced to 36 holes with 1 cut, from 210 players to 105.

So, today I had a 7:20 am tee time. I have a long history of being a choker in golf tournaments, so I tried to change things up a little. I showed up later than in past years to make it more like a regular round. No luck though! I was still nervous on the first tee, though I managed to split the fairway. But, at the green, I missed a 3 foot putt for par, and then missed a 3 foot putt for birdie on the next hole. I'm thinking this is going to be a disaster, but I kept on grinding away, determined not to embarrass myself, even if I didn't make the cut.

I hit the ball poorly all day, but my putting got better and my chipping was great, and thus I managed to shoot an 80 (par is 72), which is in my range of scores for the course we played today. I typically shoot somewhere between 76 and 82 on this course. I've gone lower and I've shot higher, but that's the typical range. The way I hit the ball, I very easily could have shot 85, so I was happy that I was able to scrape it around and put up something that was not great, but respectable at least. And, I had fun doing it, which is pretty much a tournament first for me.

I just found out that everyone who shot 81 or better made the cut, so I'm in for tomorrow. I'm very excited! I know I have no chance to win tomorrow, but I get to play nonetheless. Hopefully I can go out tomorrow and have fun once again.