My two cents - Vick and Favre

I've listened to the ESPN Radio coverage, and watched NFL Network and ESPN coverage, about Mike Vick signing with the Eagles, and Brett Favre signing with the Vikings. I have to tell you, I'm more than a little disappointed in what I've heard and seen.

Concerning Mike Vick... Yes, I know what he did was absolutely awful. A despicable act. It's indefensible. And he knows it. He's also paid the price for what he's done. He's been out of football for three years now. He's lost $100's of millions of dollars because of it. He's done his time. He's out now, and should be given another chance. I've heard the talking sports heads, some of them anyway, say that they won't buy a Vick Eagles jersey, because they don't want to show support for him, but that he does deserve the chance to play again. Eagles fans, from what I've heard, are about 4 to 5 against him playing for their Eagles. I just don't get it.

What Vick did to animals, dogs to be specific, was a horrible act. But they were animals... not human beings. Some people seem to be more outraged about what Vick did to dogs, than what, say Donte Stallworth did to a human being. Stallworth killed a man while driving drunk (or high, or both.) People say that Stallworth made a mistake in judgment, doing what he did. The fact remains, though... his mistake resulted in the death of a human being. Oh, and he's only getting a few days in jail and probation for killing a man with a vehicle while driving under the influence. This does not make sense to me. I'd rather show my support for Vick with an Eagles jersey, than to show my support for Stallworth with a Browns jersey, and I'm a life long Browns fan.

Vick did his time, lost a ton of money, and hopefully learned a life long lesson. He should get a second chance and people should support him in his efforts to turn his life around. I'm not saying that Stallworth should not get a second chance... he should, but I find what he did to a human being is far worse than what Vick did to animals.

Concerning Brett Favre... I used to like Brett. He is an amazing quarterback and a true competitor. I felt that when he retired (the first time), he did it right, and felt it was the right time for him to bow out of the league. And then all that went away, when he decided that he wanted to come back to play... no... stay retired... no, come back to play... no... etc. It was ridiculous. When he started playing games with the front office at Green Bay, I lost a ton of respect for him. All that he had done in the past, on the field, was now tainted. Honestly, I was hoping he would be absolutely horrible playing for the Jets, not to slight the Jets, but just so he would look bad enough to retire and stay retired. He didn't do too bad for the Jets, but their season ended, just like it did in his last game for the Packers, on a interception. So he decided that, with his shoulder in the shape it was, possibly needing surgery, he would again, retire from the Jets. Great... now maybe he will go away and maybe he can regain a little of the respect he had lost, not only from me, but a lot of other fans of the game.

I guess Brett isn't the kind of guy I thought he was. Again, he decides that maybe, just maybe, he's got another year in him. Get his shoulder taken care of, he could be "that" QB again. This time, though, he wants to play for the Vikings, just to be able to stick it too the Packers two times in a season, at least. Again, the waffling begins, much to the dismay of the Vikings front office, and the head coach. The back and forth Favre was doing was, again, ridiculous and self-serving. Whatever respect I still had for him, is now gone. Great... he signed with the Vikings for a ton of money, for one year, of which $6 million is guaranteed whether he gets hurt or cut. I'll tell you what... if I was Sage Rosenfeld, Tarvaris Jackson, and/or John David Booty, I'd be asking for an immediate trade or release from the team. Absolutely no respect for these guys, regardless of their playing abilities, shown by the head coach or the Vikings front office. Rosenfeld, prior to signing with the Vikings, was promised a chance to compete for the starting job at QB. Favre signs, and is already going to start in their preseason game on Friday night... he's only been in camp for two or three days now... and he's starting??? Give me a break. I feel bad for these three guys. Sure, Brett's a hell of a quarterback, but in no way, shape, or form do I think he should be able to come in and be automatically given the starting job. (Yes, I know he'll probably win the starting job anyway, but it's the principle of the matter.) Hell, I'd buy a Vick and Stallworth jersey before I would ever buy a Favre jersey, no matter what team he played for (Packers, Jets, Vikings.)

Of course, if he's available at a decent pick, I would probably draft Favre in my fantasy football league. He is good at what he does. I just don't have to like what he does off the field.

Ryder Cup 2009 - A Recap

Well, it's been almost a couple of weeks since the Ryder Cup has ended. Ohio, again, came out victorious, much to my dismay. I, unfortunately, had to play on the losing side for the first time in four years, playing for the Michigan side, due to the leveling of handicaps for each side.

My play on Thursday morning, at Thunderbird South, wasn't bad. Since we had only 22 golfers, my opponent and I played a singles match, while the others played alternate shot. We had a rather late night on Wednesday, drinking and discussing the upcoming weekend of golf. With a 7:04 am tee time on Thursday morning, I'm not sure what we were thinking staying up until after midnight. I think I shot an 83, and won my match 1 up. The guy I was playing against had to give me 5 or 6 strokes. He didn't have a great round. He normally shoots in the low to mid 70's, but shot an ugly 81.

The afternoon round on Thursday, at Thunderbird North, was a Four Ball/Best Ball match. My partner and I played a great round, just like how we were supposed to. If I had a bad hole, he had a good one. If he had a bad hole, I had a good one. We won our match 4 and 3. I don't remember what I shot on the North course, but I played fairly decent... probably a low 80's round.

We partied afterwards, again a little too late, with another early tee time on Friday morning. We played at Sawmill Creek all day on Friday. The morning round was another Four Ball/Best Ball match. I played absolutely horrible... and so did my partner. We couldn't get anything going, and our opponents couldn't do anything wrong. They would hit, what would appear to be a bad shot, but they got lucky bounces (which we weren't getting) and the ball would be on the green or close to it. We got beat 5 and 4.

The afternoon round at Sawmill Creek was a two man scramble. I was paired up with a guy that plays in my Wednesday night golf league, so I thought, since I was playing bad, and he had a decent round in the morning, we'd be alright. He could hit a good tee shot, and then let me try to rip one long. At the first tee, he hit probably the worst shot I've ever seen him hit. It might have gone 30 yards, if even that far. Not what I wanted to see to start things off. I pushed one right, but headed for a fairway bunker on the right. Fortuntately, it skipped through the bunker and we had a decent attempt at getting on the green. Well, we got on the green, but were a long was away from the hole. Our opponents, whom my partner played against in the morning round and had said they were all over the place, put one to about 5 feet from the hole. Again, my partner and I couldn't do anything right, and our opponents couldn't do anything wrong. We lost the two man scramble match 9 and 8. You know it's really bad when we had to take a penalty stroke on a few holes, just because we had no other choice. Bad day of golf. I contemplated leaving my clubs at the course and giving up the game for good, I played so bad.

Saturday's round, at Eagle Creek, was singles matches all around. Michigan was so far behind after Friday debacle, we had to win 10 our of the 11 matches, which we knew was not going to happen. I played better than I did on Friday, but not as well as I did on Thursday. I shot an 87 at Eagle Creek, but lost my match on the last hole, 1 up. My playing partner, another guy from my golf league, shot a great round and tied his match on the last hole.

I don't remember what the totals were, but Ohio clobbered Michigan. It wasn't even close. It was a good time, and I did win a few longest drives, so I got a little money back.

Next year, the Ryder Cup will be in Michigan. Not sure about the courses yet, but either way, it should be fun. We may change things up on how we pick teams. Instead of trying to create some parity with the handicaps, we'll draft our teams from a list of people who are playing, on the Wednesday night before the Ryder Cup begins. That should be a fun time.

Ryder Cup Weekend is coming up!

The 4th Annnual Ohio vs. Michigan Ryder Cup matches are quickly approaching. We will be playing in Vermilion, Ohio again this year. Playing three courses... Thunderbird Hills Golf Course (South Course - Alternate Shot in the morning, North Course - Best Ball in the afternoon), Sawmill Creek Golf Course (playing twice, Morning - Best Ball, Afternoon - 2-man Scramble), and Eagle Creek Golf Course (Singles matches).

Should be around 20-24 guys playing. Ohio has won all three years. Fortunately, I've been on the winning team all three years. May have to play on the Michigan team this year, to even out the handicaps between the two teams. As long as I am on the winning team, it doesn't matter.

I can't wait until next Thursday!!!

July Woot! Off going on now!

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A weekend back "home"

Headed off to Akron, Ohio over the weekend to visit with the folks. Actually, my Dad was receiving an award from my old high school... an honorary alumni award, and my Uncle was receiving a lifetime achievement award from the alumni.

My whole family (my Mom, my two sisters, and me) all graduated from Coventry High School, in the Portage Lakes, just South of Akron. Dad graduated from Archibishop Hoban High School in Akron. Since my sisters and I were involved in sports and music for the schools, Dad began getting involved in various aspects of our school like. He coached little league baseball, was the announcer for football, basketball, and other sports, is a school board member, etc. Since he's done a lot of that for the schools and for us, he was nominated for an honorary alumni status, and received his award on Saturday night at the All Class Reunion, held at the (new) high school.

Backing up a little, being that I grew up in the Akron area, and listened to Akron and Cleveland radio stations, I had forgotten how much I missed the drive time (5:00 pm) songs that played on the various stations to kick the weekends off. As we were getting close to the Cleveland area, on the Ohio Turnpike, I was able to dial in WNCX 98.5 FM, and, since it was 5:00 pm, I was able to hear the trilogy or "Born To Run" (Bruce Springsteen), "This Beat Goes On/Switchin' To Glide" (The Kings), and "Bang On The Drum All Day" (Todd Rundgren). Man, I miss that. Sure, the Detroit stations do the same thing on Friday at 5:00 or 6:00 pm, but it's not the same. When you grow up hearing those songs (whether it was on WNCX or WMMS), and then move away, you miss that stuff. It was funny to even hear Kid Leo on WNCX. "The Kid" used to be a staple on WMMS back in my day.

Back to the All Class Reunion... while it is a nice concept, having all graduating classes gather at one place at the same time, to catch up with each other and see old familiar faces, it is lost on the younger generations (myself included.) Sure the younger classes have their separate reunions, you just don't see these classes participate in the All Class Reunion. I have to admit, this is the first year that I have attended, and the only reason for me going was to see my Dad and my Uncle receive their awards. Otherwise, I wouldn't have been there. It was exactly how I pictured it... a lot of white hairs and bald heads getting together. Don't get me wrong. These people really enjoyed getting together and seeing each other again. I would say that the majority of the people there were over the age of 55, and the younger in attendance were there to see their parents or other relatives receive awards. The Class of '59 were having their 50th class reunion that weekend, which included showing up at the All Class Reunion, and the Class of '49 was celebrating their 60th reunion, complete with balloons at their tables. I was the only person from the Class of '82 in attendance... out of about 175 graduates. While I see the purpose for the All Class Reunions, I feel that, at least for my school, unless some of the "underclassmen", or younger graduating classes taking an active roll in helping to organize and promote this reunion, I'm afraid that it will die a slow death, due to the lack of interest. I'm guilty of the "lack of interest" piece of the puzzle. Maybe it is because I don't want to be reminded that one day, in the not so distant future, I'm going to be one of those "white hairs or bald heads" in attendance.

It was a great weekend, and I am proud of my Dad and my Uncle for their accomplishments over the years, and what they've done for the local schools and the community.

May Woot! OFF is going on now...

Get over to WOOT! now to get a good deal. Remember... once and item sells out, another one will take its place.

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Woot!'s March Madness is underway... Woot! OFF

If you haven't checked out Woot! today, they are having a Woot!OFF. Once an item has sold out, another will take its place, until they tire of the Woot!OFF.

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