First time on the course in YEARS

     I had an enjoyable nine holes of golf after work yesterday. It was the first time I've golfed since 2003. I've been to the range maybe 7 times total in those 8 years and it clearly showed. They say the first thing to go is your game around the greens. My friends, the rumors are true. I could not chip or pitch to save my life. My putting was horrid too. I had a few decent drives and a few decent iron shots, but overall you could tell I had not played in a very long time.

     The course itself, Pocono Manor, East Course, was pretty long. It was roughly 6400 yards, but its spread out over the property. This was quite different than what I was used to in California. I guess, due the premium price for real estate in Southern California, the course are more compact. Same yardage amounts, for the most part, but just lots closer together. Does that make sense? The condition of the course… well, that left a lot to be desired. The greens were in fair to poor condition, the fairways were decent. The worst of all were the carts and cart path. The cart path has clearly not been maintained in YEARS. We could have used a 4x4 golf cart to navigate it properly. Then we get to the carts…they are obviously older, weren't clean at all, and to top it off, the one I was in died. We were able to push start it twice, but then it crapped out completely. This was around 7:40pm, we were supposed to be off the course by 8pm We were going to make it no problem, until the cart died. I called the Pro Shop three times before finally getting a live person. I was then put on hold until I somehow got transferred to the phonemail of the General Manager of the resort. I left him a fairly hostile message and it appears it worked as we all got a free round of golf to use at our convenience.

     All in all, I did have a great time with the guys. It was nice as it wasn't crowded, so there was no one "pushing" us from behind as I was used to in California. I am definitely looking forward to going again, possibly this Friday to use our free round.

The NBA is fixed and I HATE the Heat

I preface this post/rant with the fact that this is solely my opinion and while I believe it to be true, I could be wrong…

After watching Game 1, I come away practically convinced that the NBA is a fixed sport. David Stern and the other NBA higher ups want Miami to win so they all don't end up with egg on their face from the big "announcement" and all the hoopla surrounding it. To make matters worse, the announcers for last night's game were so incredibly biased and praise filled for the Heat. I'm not a Dallas fan, but my gosh, you'd think that the Heat were the best thing to come around since sliced bread. I thought at some point it would stop and they would go back to being the normal, unbiased announcers like they should be. These weren’t the local, hometown station announcers. These were the national television network announcers and they were talking the Heat up like they were Gods. It really disgusted me to say the least. Almost to the point of not watching and I do think for the next game, if I watch it, that I will watch with the sound off and look for a radio broadcast to listen to with the game. I am sincerely hoping I am wrong and that this turns out to be a fair series where the better team wins. But after last night and Dallas literally just falling apart near the end of the third and most of the fourth quarter, it makes me wonder. Perhaps it was just rust from being off, I guess we shall see in the next game. This situation reminds me of how I used to hate the CBS announcers for the Lakers/Celtics finals in the 80s. I'd turn off the sound on the tv and listen to Chick Hearn instead as I was a Lakers' fan at the time since I lived in Los Angeles.

Don't get me wrong, the "Small Three" are talented, well actually "Small Two" because I don't count Bosh as anything more than an overrated role player. If he's so talented, where did he lead the Raptors for the years he played with them? I really can't stand him. I really enjoyed the times Shaq would verbally shoot barbs at him, he deserves them all. D.Wade? I can't say much about him. I like and respect him. He's a great player and not an arrogant, flamboyant ass like a good portion of the players nowadays. Speaking of an arrogant ass, I save the worst/best for last. Lebron. In all honesty, him and his "talents" can go fuck themselves. I can't argue the man has talent and is one of the best players in the league, but he has to be the most arrogant SOB I've seen in a long time in professional sports. Think back, there have been many players before him who where "The guy" of their time period and none of them has been nearly the ass that he is. Dr. J? Magic? Bird? Jordan? No, those guys had class. Perhaps they talked a lot of crap on the court, but off the court and interviews, they weren't the huge A-hole that Lebron is. I sincerely hope the Heat fail and I have hoped for this their whole big announcement. The Celtics messed up by trading Perkins, else I might not even be writing this today since I do not think they would have gotten past the Celtics if they had a tough, inside presence that Perkins gave them.

I can only hope that the NBA is truly a competitive sport and not the fixed, money mongering machine it looks like. If the Heat win, this may be the end of me watching NBA basketball. All it will prove is money can buy championships and that three individual "superstars" weren't good enough on their own to win by themselves.