Another Day At TPC Boston

Just like last year, I got my hands on a pair of tickets to the Deutsche Bank Championship Pro-Am, held at TPC Boston. I prefer the Pro-Am to the actual tournament because you can bring a camera, take a ton of pictures, you don't feel like you're missing any action from another spot on the course and the pros are a lot more relaxed. And, as you're going to see in these pictures, if autographs are your thing, they are very easy to get.

We had just gotten to the 10th tee when Nick Watney came up. Frankly, I wasn't expecting him and wasn't ready, which is why you're getting the extreme close-up and he's not looking at me. We ran into Watney's group throughout the day. Later, one of his amateurs missed hitting me with a drive by about a foot, even though I was well off the fairway. That's the one downside to the pro-am: some of the amateurs are really bad, so you need to pay attention at all times.

After Watney came Vijay Singh.
He doesn't have the friendliest reputation, but as you can see

he was also very willing to sign autographs.

Next came my boy, Hunter Mahan.
Since he is my favorite golfer I didn't even

make a comment about the white pants.
Did thank him for the reTweet a couple months back,

but I don't think he heard me.

After Mahan was Y.E. Yang.
Check out the guy in the tent: he's holding two extra putters.
I guess Y.E. is still tinkering, but unwilling to try the belly-putter.

Because the amateurs take FOREVER to play,

there was a bit of a logjam. It has to drive the pros crazy.
Worked out well for me, as I got Sergio Garcia

and Charl Schwartzel in one picture.

Proving just how long it was taking, Phil Mickelson had teed off
before 7 AM, so I thought there was no way he'd still be around.

It was after noon and he was just finishing.
Also, the dude signs EVERYTHING.

See that cop in the photo?
He was constantly moving, almost always to the direction

I was trying to go - it was like he was messing with me on

purpose. These two pictures of Phil took forever to get,

but I am persistent. Meanwhile, my dad simply walked

across the street and is just out of frame.
Moral of the story: getting closer makes pictures easier to take.

Here's Bubba Watson, coming off the 18th green.

We were just a couple of minutes too late to see him tee off,
which was too bad. I would have liked to see him hit a driver
off of a par-5. We were late because I was getting a free swing
analysis from Golf Town. Remind me never to make fun of
Charles Barkley's swing ever again. I'd show the video
and pictures of my horrid swing to you but,
much like Kim Kardashian and her sex tape,
I'm in the process of having all proof of their existence destroyed.

I saw Camilo Villegas at last year's TPC,

but wasn't quick enough to snap a picture.
Well, this year I found him up on the practice range.

(Told you - persistent.) He's much easier to get a picture
of when he's standing relatively still.

Also on the range were Jonathan Byrd and Stewart Cink.
Even though neither of these guys are known as big hitters,
both can hit the ball a distance I refer to as "stupid far".

A few feet over was Steve Stricker.
Since he's known as a great putter,

I was hoping he'd be on the practice green.

But, he's pretty good with the rest of his clubs.

The next guy I saw was Ricky Barnes. Seriously.

Working in the chipping area was Ian Poulter.
Yeah, he actually stops Tweeting long enough to practice.

I don't know what that thing is that KJ Choi is using,
but I'm getting one as soon as I find out.
As soon as his coach set it up, he never missed.

It was time to head out, but not before we saw

Padraig Harrington coming up #9. He was playing with

Chris Berman. I wonder how many "Back, back, backs"

he had to hear during the round?

It's Only Safe If You Get It From Us

Back when I was working at a football stadium, it always amazed me how much the mark-up was on drinks. And not just the alcoholic ones either: even though we got a little bit of a discount for buying such large quantities, everything went up in price the second you walked in the door. From a business stand-point I could understand it, because you have a truly captive audience. Ticket holders aren't allowed to come back in once they've left, so it is impossible to leave to get food anywhere else if they want to see the end of the game. With events lasting for several hours, people are going to get thirsty sooner or later, so stadiums can charge pretty much what they want (within reason) and people just have to accept it. They've got you - they know it and you know it.

But, that's also why I'm much more offended by the fact that you can no longer bring a drink into any place in the world. You've gouged me for the tickets and parking, and eventually you'll gouge me for food, drinks and merchandise, can't you let me save $4 to start the day by bringing a bottle of water from home? They're still going to win in the long run, can't they just let me have this one? It is not like they're afraid of me spilling my drink and ruining something: these arenas are more than willing to let me have a soda, I just have to buy it from them an additional 25% of what it would cost me at a store down the street. I actually think that makes it worse. If you just weren't allowed to have any kind of drinks in the area then it would make sense. But you can buy food and drinks the second you walk in the door, roughly 15 feet from the people who just made you throw out a perfectly good bottle of water for no good reason.

Now, these stadiums and arenas will tell you this 'no outside drink' policy is for safety's sake. "You never know what terrorists may be hiding in a bottle," they'll say. Yeah, well, that would be a lot easier to swallow if there were highly-trained security staff members walking around on high alert. A company hiring a team of expensive, mercenary bad-asses might lead me to believe they were truly concerned for my well-being. However, what they've actually got is a collection of out-of-shape guys and small girls wearing 'security' shirts, who only took the job because they want to see several concerts for free. They aren't even paying attention to what is going on and are much more concerned with getting a nice view than getting in the middle of a security breach. Something tells me if someone wants to cause a problem, they're going to be able to find a way, so why not let me just bring in a drink?

I know asking a place like a stadium or arena to give fans a break is probably a waste of time and space, because these places are just about the money, but I still want my displeasure on the record. Also, I want to offer a compromise: don't put the drink stands so close to the entrance. That way I don't have to be looking at a stand that is selling the very thing you are telling me is a security problem and making me get rid of, even though we both know that is a lie and you just want me to give you more money. Allow me to put it another way: if you're going to be a jerk, you don't have to be such a dick about it.

I'm Staying Right Here

Despite Hurricane Irene being downgraded to a tropical storm before her arrival in New England, the high winds associated with being on the wrong side of a hurricane still showed up and managed to do quite a bit of damage to the Eastern part of Massachusetts. Lot of trees and powerlines down; it was quite a mess on Sunday. But, what continues to blow my mind is that it's Wednesday and there are some people in the area who still don't have power. Look, I know Irene was strong as tropical storms go, but this should not be taking this long to fix. We didn't get it nearly as bad as others and it is not like we live in an area which is hard to get to, so I really don't see why this is still an issue.

A check online reveals that not only are parts of Wareham still devoid of electricity (which they lost almost before the storm even got here), but they aren't expected to get it back until Friday or Saturday. Alright, near the beach, I can almost forgive that. But most of the town of Foxboro still doesn't have power (I mean, the stadium does, let's not go crazy here). During the storm I never would have thought that area was being hit hard enough to even lose power to begin with, let alone for it to be out for an entire week. This kind of stuff should not be happening in this time and this area. Personally, I would be freaking out if I didn't have electricity this long. I don't like being without Internet access for too many hours, let alone lights. And don't get me started on A/C. If this week had been as muggy as last week was someone who was without power could have gone on a killing spree and no jury in the world would have convicted them.

This, as happens every time I experience a blackout, got me to thinking about how these dark nights were what it used to be like in back when this land was first being settled. And by that I mean really boring. No wonder those people were in bed by 7 pm and up at 4 - they had nothing to do once the sun went down but go to bed. Normally people talk about all the other periods of history they would like to have seen, but in thinking about it for more than five minutes I can safely say that I am good with staying put. Even if I had access to a time machine I don't think I could go back and live in colonial times. I might go back and visit just long enough to witness some type of major historical event, but as soon as that was over I would be back to Wi-Fi, Ipods and flatscreen TVs. (Not to mention that if we have time machines you know some other really cool inventions have also come along.)

People on the History Channel always talk about how much they would like to go back and experience these things for themselves. I call bullshit. I think they say stuff like that to sound sophisticated, but if push came to shove they wouldn't give up Starbucks and ebooks for a second. Even the people who work at historical reenactment sites are probably very grateful that they get to stop playing at 5 pm, then go home to their DVRs and iPhones. Just because you admire the grit and determination of the people who were tough enough to conquer the wilderness that doesn't mean you have to feel guilty about living in a technologically advanced society. But, if you are really curious to hear a first-hand story about what is like to live in a time where you don't have cable, Internet and electricity, why not ask some people a few towns over? I can sum it up for you: it sucks!

Maybe You Should Go Private

Lately, it seems like social media had been under a little bit of an attack. Between rioters in England and flash-mob-style robberies in the United States being organized through Facebook and Twitter, people are starting to question how useful some of these social media sites really are and whether or not officials should start to investigate ways to better monitor them. There is even talk of limiting the things you can do online. As a big free speech advocate I hope these (and all social media sites) are left alone because I really feel both provide valuable services and we shouldn't let a few bad people spoil it for the majority of law-abiding Internet users.

I give Facebook a lot of crap, but truthfully I will admit it has some real value. It can really come in handy if you want to know how someone you've lost contact with is doing without having to hear every little detail that has happened in their lives since the last time you saw them and you can do it on your own schedule. I'm sure if it had been around when I was working overnight shifts I would have found it very convenient. Meanwhile Twitter has become an actual source of news. This weekend, as I was tracking the storm surge from Irene I was really worried about how Swift's Beach was doing and whether or not it was under water. Well, there were no news crews in that area (around there, sure, but not actually there) so I did a quick Twitter searches for Tweets coming from around that area and I was able to find out that while the area didn't have power and there were some very strong winds, at least everyone was staying dry. So, really, Twitter was one of the better news sources I had during the storm. Those are the good sides.

The bad part come when people seem to forget that just anyone can look them up. While doing my area search, mixed in between people complaining about the lack of power and the Video Music Awards results (yeah, people actually still watch those), I saw one Tweet from a young lady reading, "Down at the canal, smoking blunts with [two other Twitter handles I have since forgotten]." How stupid is this girl? Does she not know that things put on the Internet are there for everyone to see? I get that people are very casual with marijuana laws, but it is still illegal. What if I had been a cop or some other person who feels vigilante justice is my calling? It's one thing to get caught committing a crime, it's completely another level of stupidity to call attention to yourself while you're doing it.

Every time an athlete is caught Tweeting or texting something they shouldn't to people they shouldn't be talking to in the first place, those self-help 'experts' are on TV saying things like, "Think about what you're about to do before you press send." Normally can't stand people who give unsolicited advice but in this case, I'll allow it. I don't think you have to be an athlete to appreciate that; I feel as though this is great advice, period. Especially when it is so easy to protect your Tweets and hide your Facebook. And if you're too stupid to realize that anyone could be seeing the private business you decided to make public, then you should be laying off the pot anyway, because clearly you don't have the brain cells to spare.

Final Irene Ramblings

-Made it through the storm mostly unscathed in these parts. A few branches down and one section of a tree to cut up, but for the most part I can't complain. The only major hassle came when the power went out. First it flickered and went out for a second. Then a minute later it went out for an hour. Then it came for 3 minutes (or just long enough to reset all the clocks in my bedroom) before going back out. Honestly, I don't care about losing power but if it's gonna happen I would prefer it stay off until it's ready to come all the way back. To tease me like that is just cruel.

-I couldn't help but laugh at all the Massachusetts "surfers" who were interviewed on the news during the storm. It seems like they were all acting like how they thought surfers should act - as though they were trying out for an 80s surfer movie. Because you know real surfers probably are nothing like that. I imagine it's the same way people who claim to be gang members in places like Kansas act - doing what they think is right, but in reality is just a caricature. Sure, technically, they're in a gang, but you know damn well that if they were ever in South Central Los Angeles they'd be calling the cops every time they heard a gunshot.

-This morning was filled with people on television, second-guessing all the weathermen and women about how much they had built up the storm (especially in New York city). People were complaining they had fed some kind of hype machine and blown the storm way out of proportion and made people unnecessarily panic. Now, sure, I will agree that some coverage got out of hand and that we really didn't need 10 guys standing on a beach getting whipped with sand in the face to let us know the storm was picking up (4 would have been more than enough). Still, this really bugs me for the simple reason that if the story was reversed and the weather people told everyone it was going to be OK only to see the storm picked up in intensity then those same people would have been on TV screaming about how the weathermen failed to tell us it was going to be so bad and why didn't they warn us more? You can't have it both ways.

-Drove down to Wareham this morning to see if the beach house was still standing. I'm happy to report that while the place has no power, it still has all its windows, siding, doors and shingles. Also it did not gain any addition high water lines on the walls, which was a concern when they started mentioning astronomical high tides on top of the hurricane storm surge which allegedly could have been as high as 11 feet. Not having any power sucks, but considering I vividly remember what the place looked like after hurricane Bob, I'll take it.

-The downside was that we had to get rid of everything in the refrigerator, which sounds like it would be quite a task. And normally it is, until you remember that the only things in the fridge in Wareham are beer, soda and ice cream. Hey, it's a vacation house - were you expecting healthy food?

-It was a weird destruction pattern down in Wareham, as some street just had a few tree limbs down, while the next street over had huge trees that had snapped in half. I'll tell you one thing I did notice: the church on the way to the beach house had a huge tree snap right in half and another church in Onset had its steeple blown off. You would have thought those would have been better protected. I mean, I'm just saying...

-Here's one from the "work smarter, not harder" files: Wareham had a place in the town yard where you could drop off your sticks and leaves, free of charge. When we got there we saw two older gentlemen about halfway through unloading a trailer full of debris. Now, my father and I are very good at clearing this kind of mess. We've worked out a system in which we put the largest branches on the bottom and slowly build from largest to smallest. The result is almost like a bird's nest in the pick-up's bed. So while it takes us a little longer to get loaded up it all comes out in one solid clump and we can dump our stuff much faster. We pulled up, had the truck bed empty in roughly 20 seconds (that is not an exaggeration) and were on our way while these guys were barely halfway through emptying their trailer. Amateurs.

Another Stormy Interlude

Admit it - you thought this was going to be "Rock You Like A Hurricane", didn't you? Believe me, I thought about it. In fact, I had considered using it since last week, thinking it was appropriate for the scandal with the Miami Hurricanes football program. If I hadn't already had another musical interlude ready to go I might have. Then when Hurricane Irene became such a big story this week I figured it was a no-brainer for this week. However, that was before everyone else had the same thought and pounded the Scorpions into my brain over the last couple of days. After hearing it so many times I just couldn't take it anymore. So, we're going with something a little different. Hope you're all safe and dry.

Weekly Sporties

-Because they own the rights to everything but the Championship game, ESPN has been over-loading us with the Little League World Series this entire week - bumping shows I (and a lot of people) would much rather watch in favor of coverage of an event that I seriously doubt pulls down strong ratings. Here's the thing ESPN apparently fails to grasp: the reason people like to watch sports is because they want to see world-class athletes perform at a level they never could. But the Little League World Series is full of mediocre pitching, bad base running and worse fielding. It is not particularly entertaining. Also, people really only care about kids athletics when it's their kid. I don't know these kids - I don't care who wins. The only people invested in the outcome are probably there watching it live. Also, watching kids sports without knowing any of the participants makes you feel like a pedophile. I thought about it perhaps being a regional pride thing, but even when a local team makes it I don't care. Next year move this thing to ESPN4 where it belongs.

-Because of this weekend's hurricane, the Red Sox have decided to move Sunday's game to Saturday and play a double-header. You know, hurricane or not, I would really like to see this happen more often in baseball. I don't see why you can't schedule more doubleheaders at the start of the season. Maybe if you did that baseball wouldn't stretch into November and the World Series teams wouldn't have to play with three layers and a jacket on.

-One more Red Sox item: when the Cubs fired their GM last week, Theo Epstein became the hot name on the market as his replacement. After all, he was the guy in charge when the Red Sox broke their 86-year championship drought, so who better to try and stop a Cubs' slide which is in its second century? Now, unless they sweeten the pie by offering him the team presidency, I doubt Theo goes anywhere. But, if he was going to leave the Sox, what I would really want to see is him take over some team which is more middle-of-the-pack when it comes to payroll. Let's see how good you can be when you don't have more money than all but two or three teams to play with and you can't just buy the best free agent every winter. Then we'll find out just how talented a baseball GM Epstein really is.

-When the Indianapolis Colts signed Kerry Collins a couple days ago, the Colts said it was just insurance, that Peyton Manning's neck injury should not keep him out of week 1 of the NFL season and that no Colts fans should be panicking. Yeah, if you're team is signing Kerry Collins with only two preseason games left to learn a hurry-up offense that is based on timing, it's time to worry. They can try and tell you everything is ok as much as they like, but you've got to think this is strong sign Manning will not be ready to start the season. That being said, the Colts will be fine if Manning only misses a game or two, so I really hope make sure he's completely healthy before they send him back out there. Necks are not something you mess with.

-So, after weeks of NFL 'experts' saying that Terrelle Pryor was destined to not even be drafted in the NFL supplemental draft, not only was he taken, but the Raiders drafted him in the third round. While that seems really high, I would expect nothing less of the Raiders, who have made so many bad trades the last couple of years that the didn't have a fourth rounder to offer. I think the bigger issue is just how wrong everyone else was on Pryor's draft status. It really kills all their credibility. I mean, why should I listen to how you expect a 250-person draft to play out when you can't even get a 1-player draft right?

-A couple weeks back I told you about Kyle Busch, the NASCAR driver who was pulled over driving his car 128 mph in a 45. At the time everyone laughed and made jokes about how big a ticket that was going to be. That was until Kyle's license was taken away for 45 days this week after he was charged with reckless driving. Now, you would think this would be a problem, considering Kyle drives for a living, but it's not. It won't change his status at all. Because, apparently, you don't need a license to drive in NASCAR. That has to make all the other drivers out on that track feel good. You can drive 200 mph three inches off a guy's bumper, but you still need someone to pick you up when the race is over.

-Rafael Nadal has a new auto-biography coming out later this month and in an excerpt released to the press the other day Nadal comments on how after suffering a sever foot injury in 2002, he thought about giving up tennis and becoming a professional golfer. I like how he throws it out there, like becoming a pro golfer is some easy feat. I'm not sure if I should be more offended that he thinks golf is so easy, or the fact that for him, it probably is.