It's Sunday, new week, happens to be a new month as well, I know I have only 5 posts on this blog but I have ideas that may not be enough to make a worthy blog post by themselves so I'll use this spot today to clean them out.
NASCAR: I used to enjoy a race on the TV on the weekends, always made sure I saw the super-speedway's like Daytona and Talladega and never missed the short tracks like Bristol and Martinsville. Since the car of tomorrow has been put in place it isn't as fun to watch. The blame may not fall all on the car, Jimmie Johnson has won 4 championships in a row, maybe its him. The competition is watered down, maybe the field is too large. Any given race day 43 cars start the race but only the same 20-25 have any shot at winning, you know it, I know it, and they know it. It can't be just because of the race team, it has to fall on the drivers too. Tony Stewart left a Gibbs team that was as solid as it gets and started his own team and never missed a beat. When this season started Nascar told the drivers it wanted them to show a little more emotion and wanted them to be more "competitive", said they wouldn't intervene as quickly. Maybe if some of the current feuds ended in a UFC style throwdown I'd consider watching more races.
PGA Golf: I watched almost every second of the 4 days of coverage of the tournament formerly known as the British Open. It was nice to have a sporting event on TV at 4am and off by 3pm. I actually enjoyed it more because the Old Course was actually a challenge. It was fun to see a course fight back instead of scores in the -26 range like the John Deere classic the week before. Watching The Open Championship left me with a few questions though, Why do the best players in the world, guys who hit the fewest shots and play in twosomes and threesomes need 6 hours to complete a round of golf? My friends and I could play a round as a foursome, the scores would range from 75 to 95, we'd walk, spend 3-5 minutes at the snack shack at the turn and still be off the course in under 4 hours. PGA Golf would be much more tolerable if they started with a clock instead of placing only the slowest of the slow on the clock at points during the round. Finally, and unrelated to the pace of play, anytime someone in the gallery screams anything after a tee shot or while a putt is rolling and they can be heard on television they ought to immediately be sentenced to 10 days in jail. If the individual hitting the shot didn't feel the urge to scream at his ball or tell himself out loud what gender he is then the guy whose parents didn't love him enough should stay quiet too.
ONLINE POKER: I enjoy playing poker, prefer to play it with real, live, people all at a physical table but, I do play online when I can. The internet version allows me to play for smaller stakes, fill random periods of time when I otherwise wouldn't be able to round up enough bodies for a home game. The problem is we do so many other things online that already eliminate the human interaction, we shouldn't do that to our poker too. I'm not saying don't play online but don't make it the only game you play. Don't be that guy. The one who becomes known amongst his buddies as an online player. I've learned a lot by playing online. I learned how to play in tournaments versus ring games or cash games, for those who don't think there is a difference, you are all invited to my next home game. I have used the internet version to try and get better or try different things, I'll be the bully one night and reckless the next. I always play with a female avatar to portray that image and have gone online to intentionally piss off a random player to see his "internet muscles" come out. Still, I favor the live game in any instance, part of the fun is the banter that takes place between hands or between cards. You can't pass the opportunity to take a shot at your buddies or just to catch up with one who doesn't get his manhood out of the marriage jar all that often. It also gives you the chance to practice your reads or tighten up your tells. Anyone can click mouse but can you sit on your hands, stone faced, while your pals are taking shots at you and you are trying to pull off the ultimate bluff. Can ya, Ross? Play online as much as you can but please don't let the home game die.
MOVING TO THE COUNTRY: I said that this blog would be mostly about sports but you never know when something else might slip in. I recently moved to the country and near a small town of about 6,500. Not a huge shock to the system since I grew up in a similar situation. For the kids it was all new, all they have ever known was suburban life and that grandpa lived in the country. Some of things have been nice others not so much. Fresh country air is a myth! In the burbs you could smell smog, quite often natural gas, and every once in a while garbage day was unpleasant. Out here the cows stink, the pigs stink, and my well water smells like sulfur. If fresh means different smells then OK its fresh country air. I don't miss the fact that when it used to rain it would rain rust from the waste products of the refinery but at least when it rained my power didn't go out. We have been without power for more than 5 hours 4 times already this summer. I'll be buying a generator before summer. I do love the fact that the neighbors are 1/2 mile away but the nighttime quiet is almost kinda scary. What used to take 15 minutes to go 2 miles to the store or to the kids school now takes 15 minutes to go 15 miles, kinda nice. My home poker games have been reduced to nil at this point and now a home game is an actual calendar event. Chicago sporting events used to be 1 hour commutes now they are potential overnight trips. Friends used to be meet me at the bar now its are you going to be home and can I crash on your couch. Taxes are cheaper by more than half yet I don't have anymore cash in my pocket. Kids are always bored but are spoiled rotten. Wife is happier but I'm not the benefactor. Yep, I moved to the country.
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