Jul 11, 2006

OK, I'm going to hell for this post....

...but some things need to be said.

1) About the World Cup: Not much is being said about the Italian who got head butted by Zidane, which caused the captain of the French squad to be sent off. He (the Italian) should be lauded as an example on how to win without crossing the line. He knows that yelling insults is completely within the rules - it happens all the time - and some times that trash talking can induce your opponent into doing something stupid. I would wager that this Italian knew that a) Zidane had a short fuse, and b) found out some things that would tweak him; at the end of a long, long day, the Italian chose those insults to hurl at Zidane, which threw him over the edge. Shame on Zidane for acting this way, but kudos to the Italian who knew this and used it to the teams' advantage. Nothing illegal was done - a fine act of team play.

2) The National Special Olympics were held in Ames, IA this past weekend, which was the site of the Iowa Masters in which I played. A golf recap will be coming soon, by the way.
Many local businesses had signs welcoming the special olympic athletes - for example, the McDonalds sign said "Good Luck to all Special Olympians".

My question - what was the purpose for that? Can the athletes read the signs?

3) We arrived in Ames that Friday for round 1. On the news that night, there was an outbreak of flu-like symptoms at the Special Olympics, causing some venues to be quarantined for a bit.
I leave it for the commenters to deliver any punch lines.

4) On Friday, I played with a Korean professor from Iowa State. Although he spoke English well, it was with a heavy accent, and he clearly was born and raised in Korea. I asked him what his field of study is. He replied: "Hotel and Restaurant Management".

That answer actually rendered me speechless. Sometimes, the jokes just write themselves. I resisted the urge to ask him if his department was next to the department of veterenairy sciences.

5) A fellow Korean - one who spoke almost no English - caddied for the professor. He set the model for what a caddie should be. Whenever we (as a group) were walking from the tee to our ball, the caddie would make sure to sprint to make sure he is at the player's side during the walk. I would be walking with Joey and we hear these footsteps - it is the Korean caddie running (NOT jogging) to catch up with his player. Just a note for any caddies out there.....maybe for my next tournament, I will make sure I get an Asian caddie - they know how to show respect for their masters.

6) In all seriousness, I found this story on Tyler Swanson touching. A tribute to a star collegiate golfer (who made the cut, as an Iowa State sophomore, at the John Deere PGA event in 2003) who almost died in a car crash in 2004.
I especially like one of the last lines in the article- " For the record Swanson shot a 92 Friday but he didn't have the high score. ". Yeah, because the guy who DID have the high score played WITH ME!!!!! How can you shoot a 98, and get beat by a guy who LITERALLY has a hole in his skull (read the article) and hits the ball 150-170 yards off the tee? (Well, that was a rhetorical question - I know how- I saw it!)

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