Greyhawk asks which MilBlogger has better photos than the ones which received Pulitzers this year.
Actually, I’d say most of them are better.
And if you know of a MilBlogger whose photos aren’t featured, put a link in Greyhawk’s comments.
**** UPDATE ****
Larry has the real scoop on this year’s Pulitzers.
When I was a sophomore in high school, I spent many of my summer days at the swimming pool. On two days of each week I gave one or two of those hours to CHAP kids. Children Have Potential. All were physically or mentally handicapped in some way. I helped teach them to swim and enjoy the water, and their parents got to relax and watch as someone else paid attention to their children. And I don’t mean that the parents dumped them on us. They watched in joy seeing their children having fun with others in a way they seldom did.
Varifrank spent a summer as a camp counselor doing something similar. He expresses the lessons learned quite well while talking about Robert. The value of a single life.
Frank also links to other tales of one person’s reaching higher, and the effect is has on the whole world. Take the time to read his post, and all those he links to.
Each of these men made choices in their lives that bettered not only their lives, but our lives as well. As Benjamin Franklin once said, “ What is the worth of a new born babe?”
With the right group, a scramble can be a lot of fun. That’s how it worked out yesterday. While the group ahead of us were four good golfers who wanted desperately to win the tournament, we simply enjoyed the afternoon. That enjoyment was dampened a bit due to slow play by the “pros” ahead, but we made do.
My partners were Chris, Tracy, and Brad. Of the four, I’m probably the best all-around golfer. But Brad and Chris could launch the ball. A long way. In many directions! Having said that, we still managed 3-under for the round. A tie for last.
There was a lot of food and beer available. Free. I ate too much, although I don’t really drink very often when playing golf. I stuck with water and Dr Pepper while my partners took care of their share of beer, and mine.
Humor abounded. Every one of us hit the big ball before we hit the small one at least once off the tee. We even had a couple of whiffs, and a tee shot that rolled three inches (I’m being generous!). On the last hole Brad topped a shot which rolled about twenty yards. Another group was driving by on the way in and he jumped in the cart and quickly drove up to his ball. He picked it up and exclaimed, loudly, “I got your ball, Chris!” for the benefit of passers-by.
We started the round on a par three hole. Chris put his tee shot about eight feet from the hole. We all missed the downhill slider for birdie. On the next hole, Chris nearly drove the green. Three of us made great chip shots, but not one held the hard green. We missed that long birdie putt, too. Had we made those putts, the round might have been quite different. We probably would have been much more serious about the score.
Nah.
Putting is the bane of scramble golfers everywhere. And it all seems so simple. Four golfers get to watch each other’s putts roll toward the hole. If it misses, the next person has a good idea of where the ball should roll, right?
Well, one thing I’ve learned over the years is that everyone putts a little differently. Most scramble groups are folks who don’t play together regularly, and have no idea how their partners putt. Some people drive the ball well past the hole, others roll it just enough to get to the hole. Some putt firmly on a putt with a lot of break, and others play more break and let the ball drift to the hole. If a ball skids before rolling, it holds the line better initially, but then slows and breaks more. For all those reasons, and probably a dozen more I don’t grasp, it is hard to predict the line of a putt for someone else. Especially for someone you don’t see play on a regular basis.
I played in a scramble last year where this was readily apparent. The three other guys in my group all missed a putt which had, in my mind, a huge break. Theirs didn’t break as much as I thought they should. I rolled the ball from about fifteen feet and played it about six feet above the hole. It went in. But I tend to read putts from Newton’s perspective–I think “gravity.” I try to put the ball into position where gravity takes over and pulls the ball to the hole.
My perspective would have done nothing to help the other three on their attempts because they all have different vision of the roll.
So it was yesterday. Beyond the simple ability required to make the ball go where we wanted it to go off the putter face, we had to see the bigger picture. And we didn’t.
But we had fun. And helped raise a lot of money for Jerry’s kids.
Off to a tournament for the day. It is for MDA, and a scramble. I don’t care much for scrambles, but this is for a good cause. The wind is supposed to be up to around 40 knots this afternoon. That makes the holes along the bay a bit testy. But we get to pick the best of four shots each time, so that is mitigated a bit.
My game may be the comic relief for the day.
Rob points us to a column by Peggy Noonan which has been in the front of his mind for the last few weeks.
Just go read them.
Karol Wojtyla is one of my heroes. He is the first non-Italian pope since 1523.
He spent nine days in Poland in 1979 and told the people, “You are men. You have dignity. Don’t crawl on your bellies.” He was right. They refused to.
He went to Cuba in 1998. Castro, the only Communist leader who seemed to understand Karol’s power, wore a business suit in his presence and treated him with tremendous deference.
I agree with Hugh Hewitt’s assessment:
With Reagan and Solzhenitsyn, John Paul II represents the three forces of opposition to communism that shattered the evil empire, the Soviet Union –the American-led West, the Eastern European resistance, and the Russian dissident movement. They also represented the three spheres of opposition: political, artistic and spiritual. Each man came into the field of his greatness later in life, and each has endured hard circumstances in their later years. I hope Solzhenitisyn is able to and inclined to write about his colleagues in the struggle that triumphed.
“This world,” he says, “is not capable of making man happy.” A challenge to capitalists.
I remember John XXIII, and Paul VI. “Good Pope John” was as well-known as John Paul II, and considered an amiable man. Paul did not elicit quite the same generosity, perhaps because he followed a man so loved. John Paul followed, and survived only 33 days in the Papacy. Karol Wojtyla took the name John Paul II in his honor, and became as loved as John XXIII.
As I mentioned, he was also feared. Despots dreaded his visits. And John Paul II visited–often. He made more foreign trips than all previous popes combined: 170 visits to over 115 countries. He knelt in prayer next to the Archbishop of Canterbury, and visited Buddhist temples. He visited Auschwitz and the synagogue in the Jewish District of Krakow, two places close to him from his younger days.
Europe, North America, South America, Asia, Australia, and Africa. He drew crowds of Catholics, but also people of all religions. And athiests. He had charisma, and he had faith. Those two characteristics allowed him to cross all boundaries.
His strength, long failing, was impressive. He will be a difficult Pope to follow.
God Bless Karol Wojtyla.
****UPDATE****
In an Istanbul prison cell, Mehmet Ali Agca, the Turkish extremist who tried to assassinate the Pope in 1981, was praying for his “brother”, according to his lawyer. The two men have long since made their peace.
****UPDATE II****
Eighteen holes of match or medal play will teach you more about your foe than will 18 years of dealing with him across a desk. ~Grantland Rice
Duncan has learned that.
Funny thing about golf. It will also teach you about yourself.
The game is humbling. Even Tiger Woods hits bad shots. Recently. Several in a single round. And I don’t mean that they are simply bad shots compared to how he usually hits the ball. I mean they are bad shots even by the standards of weekend golfers.
What Tiger and other Tour pros miss out on is the exhilaration we duffers feel when we hit a really good shot–one that comes off the clubface with that unmistakable feel, and the precise trajectory we envisioned, landing just the way we wanted it to, exactly where we wanted it to land. Tour pros expect all that every time they swing the club. The rest of us simply hope for it.
That is why we learn about our playing partners. It is very difficult to keep your own thoughts and emotions hidden in such circumstances. I have never broken par, even for nine holes. But I’ve come close. And there have been many times when I shot one or two strokes over par on the front nine and then played the back ten over. Jekyll and Hyde. It is not an uncommon thing.
Think of the range of emotions in doing something like that. First there is the boost that comes with confidence in yourself. Then there can be the nagging doubts about whether it is actually happening. Then, a resignation that it will all soon end. Finally, it happens. I’ve seen PBS many, many times–Post-Birdie Syndrome. Someone finishes a hole with a tough birdie, then scores double-bogey, or worse, on the very next hole.
For those of you who don’t play the game, consider a night out on the town with your high school or college buddies. These are people you know well, or so you think. Until the drinking begins. Some drunks are passive, some are belligerent. Some get quiet, others get very vocal. Yet you will often see one or two that go through the entire cycle of personas.
That’s what you see on the golf course.
What you find, though, is that most people deal with the ups and downs quite well. Others throw things. Some joke about their own play. Some get very quiet when things are going well and some get very quiet when things are going poorly.
If you, like Grantland Rice, are a student of social interaction, I cannot think of a better place for research than the golf course.
(HT BogeyLounge)
Powered by WordPress