R U Ready For Some Football

Another football season has started and I'm already watching more than I need to. With the network swapping of Sunday/Monday night football, I've started critiqueing the coverage. One thing they all do, each a little differently, is showing us the starting lineups. Here's what I want out of this portion:

• Photo of the player
• Their full name, not just last name
• Number
• Position
• Number of years in the league
• College attended

This doesn't seem too unreasonable, even the local Denver station got this exactly right on the Broncos first preseason game. Last season, and the year before that too, CBS was the absolute worst with this (photo of one guy, last names, some stupid graphic of a rotating 3D helmet). I hope they improve on it this year.

Racist Coach Speak

There's much hullabaloo locally about the comments made by Fisher DeBerry, the Air Force Academy's football coach. After a recent shellacking by TCU, 48-10, the coach was quoted this week saying "Afro-American kids can run very well. That doesn't mean that Caucasian kids and other descents can't run, but it's very obvious to me that they run extremely well."

First off, an Afro is a hair style. Second, if you hear him talk, a very folksy manner with a southern accent, and consider his age, 67, you understand exactly his background and what he means. What he really wanted to say was: "We gotta get us some of them ni**ers, so's we can be fast too".

You'd think by now, any coach, commentator, whatever, would never, ever broach the subject of race and athleticism and expect to keep his job.

The Girls Can Play

Some observations from attending the second round of the U.S. Womens Open Golf Championship today at Cherry Hills in Denver.

• I believe the average male golfer can get more out of watching the women play to help their game than watching men. Their slower tempo and lack of brute male strength show you how swinging harder is not the answer to making the ball go farther. Other than lack of familiarity with many of the women themselves, I'd rather watch a women's tournament live, than men.


• I'd give my left nut to play Cherry Hills just once. What a beautiful course and wonderful layout. I probably wouldn't break 100, but I'd love it anyway.


• Some definite hotties out there: Natalie Gulbis, Cristie Kerr, Karine Icher. Hard to tell if Gulbis came to play golf or a fashion shoot. She had on a completely matching mauve outfit and looked like she spent at least an hour on her appearance before even hitting the practice range.


• The fish don't listen. The 18th hole tees off over a lake that starts right in front of the tee box. Carrie Wood was just about set to hit her drive, the marshalls raise their hands for everyone to keep quite, when this fish flops up out of the water right in front of her. Twice. She still laced it right down the middle.


• Fairways & greens are the key to the Open. The rough is so bad that I saw no one go for a green after hitting it the rough. Stuff was just too long. Chip it out and hope to make a par putt.


• Most disappointing performace I saw was Laura Davies. Just two weeks ago she almost won the LPGA Championship. Today she was all over the course and finished her two days at +22. Most of the amateurs were better than that.


• I think the best place to watch one of these tournaments is to find a shady spot next to the green where you can sit and watch a bunch of players go through. Trying to follow one person is almost impossible since you can't get close to them around the tee box or green. You also have to deal with how they've roped off the course where you find yourself in a dead end as the course loops back around.


• I can't get over the number of teenagers in the field: Creamer, Wie, Pressel; and how well they play. You don't see that with the men.

Athletes in Space

Saw the Today Show interview with Ron Artest, the Indiana Pacers basketball player suspended for the rest of the year for going into the stands to fight with fans. I do not believe this man has a brain bigger than a pea. Not only did he have no cognizant recognition of the situation, he was hawking the CD he has produced. What kind of an environment has he been living in his whole life? Obviously one of pampered existence where no-one ever said No to him or gave him any perspective on life. The man is an idiot. And he gets paid $7 million a year for shooting a basketball.

High on Highland Meadows

The crappy weather we've been having cleared up long enough to get in a round of golf at the new Highland Meadows course in Windsor. This is a links style layout reminded me quite a bit of Ute Creek in Longmont. I think the terrain here makes it a littler nicer though. Much more variety with the arroyos to avoid, plus no houses, yet.

The greens are big and undulating, with many multi-tiered. Put the ball in the wrong spot and you'll be lucky to avoid a three-putt. I liked the variety of the hole distances. From the blue tees, there are short par-4s: 325, 340, 349; and there are long par-4s: 442, 441, 436. On many of the holes there are options to play safe but have a long approach shot, or be aggressive and clear a bunker/arroyo but have a short approach.

A couple things need to be addressed yet:

• distances: there is only one 150-yard marker per hole. Nothing else unless your using a cart with the GPS. They need to either mark the sprinklers or put in multiple markers every 50 yards (on both sides of the fairway).
• pin positions: there is no clue as to where the pin positions are on the green except visually. No colored flags, pin position numbers, etc.

I'm really excited about having such a nice course nearby to include in our standard rotation. I can't wait to play it again, now that I know how it's laid out and where I can play my shots.

Masterful

Phil Mickelson finally did it, winning a major. Seemed to be worth the wait. What a fantastic final day to watch. Eagles, birdies, holes-in-one. What was missing? Only Tiger.

Now that Mickelson's off the list of greatest players to not win a major, who rises to the top of it? Verplank? Garcia?

Two lefties in two years! Yeah lefties!