Baseball Playoffs-Go Rays!!!

Years ago I was a diehard fan of Baseball. I grew up watching the Detriot Tigers who, at that time, were the team to beat in Baseball. But when the 90's came along and brought with it 2 strikes motivated by obvious greed on the part of the players themselves, I lost all respect and interest in the sport I so loved in my youth...It wouldn't be until the Florida Marlins won their 2nd championship in 2002 that I started following baseball in any way again. Though I'm still not much a fan of the sport because of the greed that the players have displayed in their strikes over the last 15 years, I do enjoy the playoffs and this year what a great story we have in the Tampa Bay Rays. Formerly called the "Devil" Rays, this years Rays team is the epitome of why sports fans are sports fans. They went from last place in their divsion last year, to first this year and have shown the poise and patience of a team much more experienced than they are. And what about that Evan Longoria? Talk about a star in the making!!! The guy is a rookie and yet, watching him play, you would think he is a 10 year veteran who has been in this position so many times in the past that is like that old familiar "blanky" he cuddled up with as a child. In a word his performance this post season is WOW! Needless to say, I'm rooting the Rays on this year. Come on, who shouldn't be rooting this team on right now? After all, doesn't everone love to root for the underdog?

The Presidential debates

Three times in the last 6 weeks we've watched McCain and Obama debate, and in on those 3 occasions what did we, the viewers witness? NOTHING in my opinion. Sure, we saw a decent debate in their most recent face off last night, but, as with their first 2 debates, neither candidate gave us anything of substance. McCain, finally, went on the attack in last nights debate, but he is so far behind in all the polls, that all Obama had to do was sit there and take it-which is exactly what he did. But the bottom line is that neither of the 2 primary candidates for president have given us anything of substance as to HOW they plan to do what they SAY they are going to do if they become president. Neither of them seems to grasp just how bad our nations economy is right now. Neither of them have the right stance on the ongoing conflicts in Iraq or Afghanistan. Neither of them seem to have a clue on how to solve our growing energy crisis. And, even though McCain and Palin say they will, neither of them have shown, to me at least, to have the balls to stand up and clean out all the corruption that permeats Congress these days. Both of them say we need to do something about the ever growing federal deficit we are passing down to the next generation in this country and, in fact, both have economic, heath care and tax plans that would raise it by Trillions over the next 5-10 years! So what, exactly are we supposed to do? For most, it means another year of not voting, which is exactly how we got stuck with the idiotic politicians we have in office right now to begin with. But how can people cast a ballet on voting day when they feel forced to choose between the "lesser of 2 evils"? In sum, it's sad and it's a sad state we have found ourselves in this election year...No wonder most of the world looks at American culture and politics and giggles their silly asses off. As if they didn't have good reasons for doing so during both of GWB's runs-with the voting count scandals and all-now they look across the oceans and see a nation in complete turmoil, apparently on the verge of electing an inexperienced man with a muslim name who has socialist policies to rival those of Karl Marx, just for the sake of "change". Puh!-leeze!

Even more of the great American financial bailout!???

I can't believe it! As each day passes, Congress wants to add more and more to the bail out package proposed to help secure Wall Streets financial stability. Now they are talking about paying off peoples car loans, student loans, home mortgages; it seems now, that if you owe it, Congress is willing to pay it off for you. You have to be kidding me!!!!???? Are they serious???? Hell, if they actually want to do that, why don't they just tell every American to gather all their charge card bills, car payment books and mortgage payment stubs, send them in with next years tax returns and just pay them off in full for EVERY American who pays taxes. I mean, hell, if they are going to go as far as to be willing to pay off the majority of debt which most people have, they may as well go the whole 9 yards and just say "If you owe any money for anything, don't worry, we'll pay it for you". Not only is this bad politics, its bad business and whats more, it reeks of socialistic policy. We ought to just get it over with and replace the Stars and Strips with the effing hammer and sickle...Jesus...Talk about going to hell in a hand basket...But this is no joke. This is some seriously bad stuff happening to our economy, and our country, right now, and everyone needs to wake the eff up and start paying attention. We all need to take some responsibility not only for our spending habits, but for who we elect to represent us as well, because if we don't, my little joke about replacing the Stars and Strips may just be a reality in a few years...Yikes...

Millen gets the sack

As any of my friends know, I actually liked Matt Millen (Detroit Lions' former GM and prez), but I can't say I was surprised that he got canned today-not after what Ford Jr said Monday, anyhow. The problem I have is, if he was going to be fired, why now? In doing so the organization pretty much declares that this year is over with. That there is no reason for the team to even take the field. And seeing as how this years team is made up of nothing but Millen's draft picks and trade acquisions do we really expect any of them to play hard for the rest of the year after seeing the guy who hired them get uncermoniously fired? It's not as if they were playing hard anyways-at least that is how it looked to me, but now, Lions fans will be privy to watching 53 guys, all of whom making millions of $$$'s a year, basically slacking their way through the remainder of the year. If the team weren't a joke before this event, just wait until we get through half the year. By weeks 9 and 10 this organization will officially be the worst in ALL of pro sports-at any level. The sad thing here is that firing Millen really won't accomplish anything. The real problem with this team is it's owner. You have to look no farther than the auto company the Ford family runs to see how good of business men that Ford Sr and Jr are. What really must happen for the Lions to ever be a good team is for the Fords to sell them to someone who actually cares to bring a winning product to the city of Detroit. So for all of you morons who actually got what you wanted-Millen being fired-I ask this: What are you going to say 2-5 seasons from now when the Lions are still the worst team in the NFL?

The great American financial bailout

What a sad state we have found our economy in. In the last week several brokage houses on Wall Street have declared bankruptcy, led by AIG. The result is a rush to judgement decision by our 'president' to propose a $700 billion bailout, with no plan of over sight as to how the money is spent. I am sorry, but this has to be one of the, if not THE, worst idea in modern US economic history.
For one, the money will have to come from the tax cofers, meaning that we tax payers will have to foot the bill for this. I dont know about you, but I have no desire to be 'part' owner of several companies that have no idea how to run themselves and make money when I, and every other tax payer, wont even have any say as to how they will be run. Secondly, where the fuck are they going to get all this god damn money?!!! I mean, hell, if they can come up with this much effing money to bail out Wall Street to "keep our economy from falling into a depression", then where the hell is all the money we need to repair our crumbling infrastructure? Or how about our public shool systems? I suppose they just plan on 'printing' it. Yeah, like that is a good idea. As if the dollar isnt weak enough on the global market, generating another $700 billion worth of it-with nothing to back it but our 'word' that we will pay it back-should do wonders for its value. Oh yeah, I can just see it now...falling into a bottomless pit so deep that the effing peso is worth more than the dollar on the global markets. Fortunately, it looks as though Congress is going to be smart about this one and tell Dub-ya to stick it where the sun dont shine-as they should...

Personally, they should just let all these companies fail. Yes, I know, allowing it to happen would most likely send ours, and the global, economy into depression, but to me the solution is akin to that required by drug addicts when they need help-most times they have to reach bottom before they will seek help. And by bailing out all these companies they learn nothing except that if they get into trouble the Fed will step in to save-the-day (trumpets please)! Give me a break...Supposedly we live in a free market capitalistic society, and compnaies fail all the time here. You dont see local governments stepping in to bail out small business owners when they have to close their doors do you? No, of course not. And this isn't any different. Sure these companies are much larger and they hold billions and trillions of assets globally, but we should just let them fail. It's not as if someone with the capital-i.e. Trump, Gates, Buffet, or someone over seas-wouldnt step in and start up another company to fill the void left behind. And, by letting it happen that way, Wall Street and our Fed Govt would learn their lesson about just letting anyone and (quite literally) anything have credit-no matter how trust worthy they are.

The pathetic Detroit Lions

Ok, I have to admit-I am a Detroit Lions fan. Yeah, I know, it takes a LOT of balls to admit it, but at least I can. At any rate, I have to do a little venting about them...I am effing sick and tired of all the losing. It's not just the losing, but the ways in which they manage to lose. Whether it's just getting out manned by the 49ers like they did this past weekend, or spotting a team 21 points only to come back, take the lead and then have their pathetic excuse for a QB toss 3 pick sixes. It makes me sick. Just to clarify I don't blame Matt Millen one bit. No, the fault for this sick excuse for a sports organization lies solely and completely with Bill Ford Sr. The sad state that the Lions are in is no ones fault but his own. You need look no further than the sorry state that his automobile company is in. Ford Motor Co. is pretty much days-if not hours-away from bankruptcy. But, if you need more proof than that, just look at the Lions record while he has been their owner for the last 40 something years: one playoff victory and the teams only winning seasons coming during the 90's thanks entirely to Barry Sanders-the greastest running back to ever play the game.
Barry singlehanded carried the Li-downs into the playoffs for 9 of his 10 seasons with the team. And when he realized he was never going to win jack shit as a memeber of the Lions and he couldn't be traded before his body gave out on him he took the only option left to him-he retired. Good for him I say. At least he left the game with his physicality still intact. At any rate, I digress...So long as Ford Sr. owns the Li-downs the team will forever be the regular laughing stock of the NFL. My only hope is that one day the league wakes up to the realization that one of its oldest franchises is pathetic because its owner is and that they force him to sell the team to someone who will make them a winner. I just hope that this happens while I am still alive so that I can witness their rebirth into, at the very least, a respectable and competitive team again.

Where have i been???

Well, it's been a long time since I last posted on my blog and for those who read it I apologize. September has been a crazy month for the me with many good things happening to me, but I have a dark cloud hanging over my head at the moment which has been taking away from all the positive things going on in my life right now. Needless to say this negative energy has distracted me from keeping up with my blog. But no more. I will be posting regularly again and you can expect the same, sometimes over the top-sometimes borderline psychotic-opinions by yours truely to appear again right here. So stay tuned, I will return later this weekend with more of my thoughts and opinions...

And the VP nominees are...

I've intentionally waited until both McCain and Obama were officially named their respective parties candidates and when they had their VP nominee's in hand before jumping in too the presidential race debate. Now that they have, game on...Since we've known for some time that Barack-i-have-big-plans-but-aint-going-to-give-specifics Obama and John "I'll probably die before my term ends" McCain were their respective parties nomination's to run for President, we got to listen to them drone on and on...and on...In that time we haven't learned much of anything new about either of these guys. The little we have learned: Obama, we can now say for certain, is nothing more than a great speaker with an uncanny ability to spin the political wheel better than most; it's also official that he can't make up his mind about anything and, based on the little history we know of him, appears to have been this way for most of his life. As for McCain, we have learned that he is definitely determined to win the war on terror. Oh, and McCain has NO idea what to do to help reduce our energy needs and dependance on foreign oil. Ah, but now the game gets fun. Now, its official between these 2 men, and now that we know who their running mates are we have a real picture of what each party is up too. Because, unfortunately, the presidential race seems more about the battle between the GOP and the Dems than about electing the people best suited at the given time to lead our nation. This year, however, is guaranteed (for the first time in my lifetime at least) to make history...So Barack takes Biden. Huh?!? Where the eff did this come from? These 2 guys are about as far apart from each other as they can be and still be in the same party! However, it does make sense when given that the biggest complaint about Obama-by most-was his experience level and did he have the experience to lead us and Biden helps balance that out quite a bit. Biden also seems to have a decent idea about what to do with the rapidly growing energy crisis in America (can you tell I consider that a major issue?). All in all though, a pretty boring pick, in my opinion...On the other, McCain-that guy who is probably going to die before his term ends-hit a home run with Governor Palin from Alaska. Wow. This was a real stunner. And here, I was thinking Romney would be the top choice! Boy was I way off. Palin, in my opinion, guarantees a GOP win this year. To be clear, I've never heard of this woman before (and, in case you don't know, im as far from being a republican as being a democrat), but I was fortunate enough to catch her nominee speach live on a news channel. This lady is the full package, and, with her background and relative youth, she covers a broad socio-economic and socio-political range. She appears to be intelligent, well spoken, and has solid beliefs which she actually lives by. Based on what I heard she seems to have solid ideas of how to fix many domestic economic and cultural issues. On top of it all, she is an attractive woman, with a good looking-and young-family, which is not only of native american decent, but of a blue collar, working class background....Hit the brakes for a second...Did I just use the words 'blue collar' with a republican candidate? Damn, I just did, didn't I? I guess 'these times they are a'changin'...fffff...Took long enough, in my opinion...Anyways, I digress...Regardless, of what Palin appears to be right now, I'm sure someone, somewhere, will dig up some dirt on her or her family. Whether any of it ends up being true or not and how damaging it could be only time will tell but at least we are guaranteed of history this election because there will be a first regardless of which parties whens either we will have our first female VP or our first black President...

America's new minority

It was reported a couple of days ago that by the year 2042 "white american's" will officially become a minority in America. This both cracks me up and scares me. For one, "white's", relative to the combined numbers of "minorities" have been in the minority for at least the last 20 years. It's just sad that we have to actually have the Federal census bureau tell us that it will be official in 34 years. But what scares me more than anything is what this will mean to the laws we have on the books that guarantee rights for those we consider minorities today. Does this mean that these laws are going to have to be rewritten? Are us "anglo saxons" going to have to rebel against the "system" in 40 years so as to fight for our "rights"? What about getting jobs? Will companies have to start having a certain percentage of whites on their payrolls like some have to do with Black American's today? Having to ask all these questions makes me laugh, but it scares me too. As a white male in America, I don't want to ever have to feel like I'm a minority. Personally, I don't think anyone should ever have to feel that way. And that "whites" have forced people of other ethnic backgrounds to feel this way for hundreds of years, only makes it funnier in a way because, it looks as if in the year 2042 the proverbial shoe will be on the other foot...Too funny...There is a saying that goes something like "you reap what you sow" and it looks like all those morons who believe in ethnism and bigotry towards people of other ethnic and cultural backgrounds are going to have to eat their own words. The scary thing, however, is that these groups now have more fuel to feed their hatred and ignorance because now they will be in the minority.

The PGA Championship: Memories of the South Course at Oakland Hills

I consider myself lucky enough to have caddied for 9 seasons at Oakland Hills Country Club, the home of last weeks PGA Championship, so when that event was held there this year it was with great excitement that I was able to watch my favorite (and the hardest as myself and many see it it) golf course in the world humble the world's best golfers for 4 days. To be fair, the South Course at Oakland Hills is not an easy course by any means-even when set up for the membership. Its tight fairways, huge undulating greens with small landing areas and hundreds of bunkers are enough to challenge the most mentally tough of golfers-as proven by their scores last week. For me, it was simply nice to see my old caddy stomping grounds, grandly displayed for all the world to enjoy. It's rich history and knack for producing spectular finishes were only added to by Padrig Harrington's win as he needed to make what I knew to be a tough 15 footer for par on the 18th hole to secure his 3 major championship in his last 6 tries. Seeing the South Course on TV brought back many memories-like the time I caddied for Honda (yes the Honda, the one who founded the car company) and played a role in-at that time-was the largest parts deal between an American and foreign automobile company, and the time that I caddied for a scratch golfer who had never played the course before and thought he could break 80 in his first attempt, which was silly given that he earned his handicap playing public courses. After telling him his target should be breaking 90, he politely asked to "just carry my bag" and let him play his game. Well, after he 5 putted the 9th green for a 48 on the front 9, he finally was willing to listen to me, and, thinks to my advice and tips, shot a 41 on the back and managed to squeak in under 90. Those are just 2 of the many memories that the South Courses fabled grounds gave me in the almost 1000 rounds I caddied there. Watching it on TV almost made me miss where I grew, almost. Anyways, this year's PGA left me with more memories of the South Course. Like watching Sergio Garcia collapse in another major and a little known big hitter by the name of J.B. Holmes take the 54 lead into Sunday, only to watch "The Monster" rear its ugly head and humble him. Ahhh, the memories...