Marler Causes Braves to Miss Playoffs

Everyone knows that baseball players are superstitious. Some of the rituals they go through are pretty silly. Sleeping with a certain bat during a hitting streak, not cutting their hair, not showering, stepping over the foul line going on and off the field, drawing pictures in the dirt before an at-bat and the ever annoying re-tightening of the batting gloves after every pitch.

I always thought it was kind of dumb personally, but I've turned a new page.

I grew up a Braves fan. I've been through a lot. I've watched sooooo many games that they have lost and too many 100 loss seasons to count. I came to baseball about the time Dale Murphy was breaking in the major leagues. I liked Ted Turner, hated Ted Turner and ignored Ted Turner. But through and through I was a Braves fan.

Then came 1991 and I became a Brave fanatic. Watched every game all 9 innings, read the box scored every day, followed all the major stats of the starting line up and read everything I could get my hands on Braves. And of course I - like many other Atlantans - got spoiled. Fourteen straight years of making the playoffs and I grew to expect it.

Fast forward to now. This year I liked our team, liked the starting pitching thought we had a good chance to win the division. But it seemed like every time I had a chance to watch them - they lost. They hoovered around .500 all season and roll into a 3 game home stand late this season against Cincinnati at home and got swept. I thought the season was over. Here we go again. Loose to teams we should beat. That's been the scouting report on the Braves for years.

I wouldn't read the paper, avoided reading about them on line, didn't want to talk about them. Yesterday while listening to ESPN Radio, they were talking about how the Braves had won 15 out of 17 and were only 2 games out of the wild card race. Damn!! How did that happen??

Of course I tuned in last night. Or course they lost again. And the Rockies won. I'm sorry Atlanta - my bad. I will not be watching until you make it to the playoffs. And when you do make the playoffs I'll only be watching until you are facing elimination.

Go Braves!
David

10 Million Reasons To Smile

I completely understand that Tiger marches to the beat of a very different drummer. Yes he is driven and yes winning is the only thing that matters to him - especially winning the majors. But have you ever seen someone who just won $10 Million Dollars look that SAD??

I realize Phil won the tournament and beat him this past weekend. And we all know that Tiger enjoys stomping him more than anyone. Do you really think that Tiger didn't know what Stevie was saying to press this past winter?

Granted he didn't win a major this year and you know that has to be eating away at him inside. To play so well during the week prior to each major and not to win one, must be a tough pill to swallow. So given the fact Tiger was a bit depressed with his $10 Million Dollar winnings here are the top 10 Reasons its good to be Tiger....

#1. He's the best golfer to ever play the game.
#2. He lives in a house almost as big as the new Dallas Cowboy stadium.
#3. He owns a boat that is about the size of Rhode Island.
#4. He's married to a woman that Hugh Heffner is still pissed off that got away.
#5. He makes more money each year than the GDP of some 40+ countries.
#6. He's pays his caddies what most CEO's make.
#7. He runs and funds a foundation that helps tens of thousands of kids.
#8. He has his own PGA Tournament.
#9. He flies around the world on his own jet.
#10. He can beat Colin Montgomery left handed and with his eyes blindfolded.

Tell you what Tiger - if it will make you feel better give me the $10 Million. I'll take $9 of it and start my own foundation. I'll create a foundation that is dedicated to improving the golf games of professional 12 handicappers. I'll focus on things like the proper liquor to have while playing, the correct cigar to get maximum enjoyment while outdoors, the only way to score a four putt and when to say "that's good".

The other million? Let's just say it will be used toward the golf trip of a life time for myself and 7 lucky buddies.

Cheers
David

$10 Million FedEx Package

So FedEx understands? They spend millions on advertising telling us they understand our love of golf. We have to watch silly men dress up in matador suits to kiss the ass of a co-worker in order to work their way up the co-worker's FedEx ladder. They even try to make us believe that some of us golf fanatics actually drive a golf cart in the office building.

All this for what? So they can give Tiger Woods another $10 Million dollars? Is the $80 million he's going to make off the golf course this year not enough? Is the $9.3 million he's already made on the tour this year a little light? I think Tiger would trade all that money for a major or two.

It's not that I don't like Tiger - I do. I think he is the greatest golfer that I will ever see in my life time and I do pull for him when he's in the field. The problem is with FedEx and here's why....

When was the last time that you saw a FedEx golf commercial and said to yourself - "damn I need to go ship that package and I think I'll use FedEx."

As a business do you ever get pissed off when you have to pay $25 for an overnight envelope and realize that $2.19 of that goes to Tiger? (yes I made that number up but you get the point).

I just don't understand why a company like FedEx spends the kind of money they do on a sponsorship that rewards wealthy white guys when there's really only 2 choices in their industry - them and a guy who wears brown shorts. There's plenty of ways that they can spend that same money, get the same or better exposure and actually do something that makes this country a better place. Or here's a novel idea - LOWER YOUR PRICES!!

I'm not anti-business or anti-free market economies. But I 100% anti-stupid business. From my perspective FedEx doesn't understand.

Have a great weekend. I'm off to Washington DC to witness some more stupidity up close and personal.

David

Who Made Matt Millen an Expert?

Ok - maybe this is just me. We all have hang ups that we don't understand sometimes. But this really irked me Monday night.

I realize Matt Millen had a very successful NFL career. With three Super Bowl rings the guy obviously knows how to play football. I certainly wouldn't want to be a running back trying to beat him to the sideline. He played hard and played to win and did it for several different coaches so he proved he could play.

I also realize that he had a pretty good broadcasting career. After all he was on the #2 Team at Fox for a couple of years. He's not a John Madden, but he was pretty good.

I think I can make a case that he may go down in history as the worst GM in professional sports. How can someone who knows football that well turn out to be so incredibly bad at running the Detroit Lions. I honestly think I could have done a better job. When you played on that many winning teams, played side by side with some of the great players of his era - how the hell do you suck that bad at drafting players and hiring coaches?

With all those high draft picks and he takes Joey Harrington, Charles Rogers and Mike Williams. Are you kidding me?? What was he doing - throwing darts at a board with players pictures on them? And to add insult to injury he got a 5 year contract extension from William Clay Ford, Sr before the start of the 2005 season. Does that answer all your questions about why Ford is such a mess? Maybe Millen was in charge of product development for them at the same time.

I respect the guy for his career. And I'll give him a high five for the broadcast career before the Lions. But I can't see how he can put his face on TV and trys to talk like he knows football. When you fall that far and openly admit that you suck at what you did - I'm just not going to listen to you. Sorry ESPN - I really like many of your TV personalities. Matt Millen is not one of them. You just lost one viewer.

David

I LOVE Football

I love football. I mean I really love the sport. I never played it - wanted to but never had the skill to do so. I remember watching it as a child growing up with my Dad. He loved it and I loved spending time with him so I grew up loving football.

I enjoy watching golf, but I don't remember the last time I watched an entire baseball game. I'll watch the last 5 minutes of the 4th quarter of Game 7 in the NBA finals, but that's about it. I do enjoy college basketball and will watch some of March Madness.

But somewhere along the way I really starting loving football. I schedule my day around who's playing. I read everything I can in the off season to follow recruiting. I love reading about the match ups and following the lines set by Vegas. I can even watch Southwest Montana State play Northeast Idaho Community College on a slow night - and watch it to the very end!!

I was playing golf with a good friend last week - the Mayor (LA for short) and he made this statement - "There were some really good football games last week that ended at the end". Now of course all games end at the end, but the scary part was - I knew what he was talking about. He meant that the outcome of the game wasn't decided until the end.

Golf can be exciting. Who doesn't love Tiger making a 14 footer on the 72nd hole to beat some poor slob who thought he had his first tournament won. But how much more exciting would it be if you could add full contact to golf? Think about it - wouldn't you love to see Tiger throw a chop block on Vijah Singh after he missed a 4 foot birdie putt? Or seeing Phil tackle Woody Austin when he three putts from 6 feet? Don't you think it be more fun to just get rid of the anger the games causes us?

I really love football.

Go Tech!
David

Let's Make it Complicated

I was taking a webinar today to learn about the "4 Things I need to Know About Internet in 2010". Very informative. The speakers knew what they were talking about. Very accomplished in their fields. I even took 2 pages of notes. And then he said something that made me think. He said, "I like to keep things as simple as I can." Granted he was merely trying to make us understand that what he was explaining was all that difficult to do - but it got me thinking.

Have you ever heard someone say, "let's make this as complicated as we can"! Seriously - in today's dumb downed world do we really have to say - lets keep this simple? You watch the people on the street interviews on the late night shows and it's scary to think just how dumb we've become as a society.

If you ever take a golf lesson and the first thing the Pro says after watching your swing - let's make this more complicated and he gives you 4 or 5 things to think about during your swing - run. And run fast. About the only thing I want to think about during my swing is not hurting myself. You want a simple swing?? Check out Steve Stricker. It's about as simple as they come.

Keep it in the short grass.

David

That First Bucket of Balls

It's like saying you're going to go to the driving range. You mean to. You want to. You have a genuine desire to do so. But something always seems to stop you. Your satisfied with your 12 handicap and win enough to make you think twice about really trying to get it under a 10. Sometimes it's the weather. Your back hurts. The Braves game is on early. Somehow you just never make it.

And then it happens. An unexplained aligning of the earth, moon and John Daly's pants happens and you find your self on your 2nd bucket of balls. And the sweat is pouring off your head and you realize you really can fix that slice - with practice.

That's what happened with this blog. I've talked about it for years. I write for the Men's Golf Association at the club where I'm a member. I love it. I'm good at it. But I wanted to try my hand at something outside the club. I was roaming the internet tonight. Found a way to get it started with no money in 3 easy steps and here ya go. My first of many posts.

The Daily Bogey is not a golf blog. It's a humorous look at life through the eyes of a professional 12 handicapper - with a whole lot of golf involved. It won't be where you come for news. It's not going to have the latest headlines in golf. But it is where you can get a good laugh several times a week. I can't promise you what it will eventually be, but I can promise you it won't be boring.

Keep it in the short grass.

David