Categories
golf

Relating Tom Bendelow To Our Current Golf Lives

You don’t hear the name Tom Bendelow often unless you really pay attention to the minutiae of Chicago golf. He was a prolific designer who lived from 1868 to 1936. And when I say prolific, I mean prolific.

I’m attached to the guy, although I’ve been too ignorant to notice until recently. He designed the course I grew up playing, Findlay Country Club (Ohio). He designed Medinah Country Club, maybe the most famous course in Chicago, which I played a few weeks ago. And he designed the course I’m playing tomorrow, Chevy Chase.

Of course, little about these courses probably bears any resemblance to what they looked like when Bendelow was roaming the country early last century. Nonetheless, the guy has had a huge influence on American golf (and me) yet you don’t hear his name batted around as much as Ross, MacKenzie, or Jones.

So we will dig into this. It’s going to be one of the things we do here.

As always, thanks for stopping by.

Categories
screen

Conviction

Rarely do I go into a movie with zero knowledge. I went into this one with an uncharacteristically low amount of information. Here’s what I knew: Hillary Swank learns law to get her brother out of jail. Oh yeah, and Gail said she heard it was good. That second part, about Gail saying it was good, was one of the primary reasons for seeing it.

So this woman, who didn’t graduate from high school, spends 16 years of her life getting her law degree so she can exonerate her brother, who’s serving life in prison for murder. She gets help from famous lawyer Barry Scheck, who runs this thing called The Innocence Project and they successfully prove the innocence of her brother Kenny Waters.

Hillary Swank turns in an inspired effort. I think I’ve only seen her in Million Dollar Baby, which rocked. I’m looking down through her filmography and I don’t see that many movies that I think I’d like, despite her popularity and consistent critical acclaim. What gives with that? Do people have favorite actors any more? You know, the actors for which every movie is a must-see. I guess I’ve seen a ton of Clint Eastwood movies and the majority of John Wayne movies, but I don’t really have any must-see actors anymore.

I watched this movie with my laptop open because I was half working, so I had The Innocence Project website up (plot killer). It got me into a little trouble because I broke the news to Gail that Kenny Waters died six months after getting out of prison, so the ending wasn’t as happy as it appeared. They did add a note that Betty Anne Waters won a settlement from the corrupt police department and continues to work on The Innocence Project, but neither of us noticed anything about the sad news of Kenny Waters’ death and inability of him to enjoy much of his late life freedom.

Categories
screen

The Wire – Season Two

This stuff just gets better and better. I’m done with season two now and looking forward to more. I’m moving at about a one season per quarter pace, which is sped up because I’m traveling a lot and always watch one episode per flight on my iPhone. Outside of sports and an occasional Netflix movie, this is my primary form of screened entertainment, which is good. I don’t covet more.

Aside: I’m struck by the odd mix of entertainment I’ve decided to restrict my consumption to as I get older. As of today, and it’s changing, here’s the hierarchy of entertainment media consumption in my life arrived at via an unscientific study based mostly on gut feel:

  • Books
  • Sports on TV
  • Music
  • Screened entertainment via iPhone
  • Movies via Netflix
  • Miscellaneous stuff on Facebook and Twitter
  • YouTube

Network TV is almost completely eliminated outside of the sports angle. Gratuitous TV watching is not part of my life, I primarily press power on the TV to watch a scheduled sporting event. That’s about it.

I assert, and my wife disagrees strongly, that I can do without the sports also. I’m ready to ditch cable at the drop of a hat, as long as Gail is okay with it. She wouldn’t even have to tell me.

However, I’m not one of those self-righteous snobs who shuns cable. I certainly have time for it. In fact, I get angry when fellow Americans say, “I don’t have time for that.” That statement is full of hypocrisy and lies. To be truly honest with yourself, that phrase should always be followed with the word because and an explanation of other time wasters that you choose to partake in. For instance, here are a few examples that pertain to me:

I don’t have time to read the WSJ because I read too much trash fiction.

I don’t have time to train for a marathon because I play too much golf.

I don’t have time to go to the movie theater because it’s NBA playoff season.

I could make time for seeing movies, training for a marathon, and reading the WSJ, but I choose not too. For me, there’s not a period or exclamation point after the words “I don’t have time for that,” there’s the word because with some insight and analysis into my own personal shortfalls and demons. I feel like I’m being more honest with myself. In truth, I have time for whatever I want to have time for. Any denial of that fact would be putting a blind eye to bouts of laziness and unproductiveness.

Okay, enough of that, back to The Wire. I was especially struck by episode 6 and the theme of accepting your life or trying to change your life.

** PLOT KILLERS FOLLOW **

Episode 6 was an inspired effort. It opened with the Omar’s testimony against Bird (hilarious and inventive) and closed with the murder of D’Angelo (surprising).

Omar says something like this to Levy during the cross examination:

I got the shotgun, you got the briefcase. It’s all in the game.

I watched it on a flight and busted out laughing at this. I probably got some looks.

Now D’Angelo’s murder, that was a little more somber. I should have seen that coming early in the episode after the prison book club meeting with D’s soliloquy about The Great Gatsby and how we can’t change our true self. I knew they were going to try based on Stringer making the payoff, but I thought D was too integral of a character to be killed off.

But as you know, HBO is not afraid to kill off key characters. They certainly did it during Game of Thrones. Check out this guys take on that (he’s an NBA writer but talks about TV every so often). I’m not familiar enough to make this proclamation because I think The Wire is the only HBO series I’ve watched. Oh wait, I think I saw the first season of that funeral home drama, Six Feet Under. Was that HBO or Showtime? I guess I could Google it, but I’m writing this on a plane on my iPhone after watching episode 9 and I think I’ve just met Brother Mouzone. Wow, this is such a cool show.

There’s a lot of rich stuff on the net about The Wire and it prompts some serious debate. I’m amazed at the cult following this show has. Check out Chuck Klosterman’s take at Grantland (no plot spoilers in that one, don’t worry). I hear references from friends and see references on the net, so I really have to make a conscious effort to avoid plot spoilers. It’s tough given the wide-ranging acclaim this show garners.

I’ll start season three in August some time.

Categories
golf

Golf and Pizza are Very Similar

So there, I said it. This is a relatively new phenomenon in my life. Hang with me on this. If you’ve ever seen me tear into a Lou Malnati’s pizza, you’re probably going to say to yourself, “That pizza must be good and that dude must love pizza.” Here’s the rub, you’ll probably get the same inkling if you see me tear into a Domino’s pizza. It’s true, I do prefer Malnati’s to any pizza on earth, but I get a lot of enjoyment out of Domino’s also.

I’m beginning to take this same attitude about golf, but it’s been a long time coming. I feel like I’m moving past any sort of golf snobbery and realizing that this game is very rewarding no matter what the field of play.

I say this shortly after playing 18 holes last week on a course that I would have referred to in my past life as a dog track. But this time, I had a ton of fun and assert that the four hours I spent that day on the dog track may be dollar-for-dollar the best entertainment bargain in the history of mankind. I spent $15 to walk 18 holes. That’s four hours of fun for only $15. Show me where you can get that type of fun for $3.75/hour.

This was the least I’ve paid for golf in probably a decade. And, as you would expect, it was the ugliest course I’ve played over that same period. But, it was not the worst time I’ve had on the golf course over that period. In fact, it was only marginally less enjoyable and fulfilling than rounds I’ve played this year that have cost five or six times more.

What I recognize is that conditioning, design, shot values, and prestige, the expensive things, don’t drop directly to the bottom line for me any longer. I can have a boatload of fun, with rough bunkers and greens with bare spots. Mostly, I need a scorecard with 18 holes on it, at least 6,000 yards of golf, and puttable greens. This course, Carlyle Lakes, had that.

This could be a sign of old age because I notice this happening in other parts of my life. The bar for gaining my appreciation is so low. Just give me a burger done somewhere between medium rare and medium well, don’t put stuff in my coffee, and let me have a game on in the background (any game, even on mute). That’s all I need.

This may make me appear boring, maybe so. But note this: when something turns out to be unexpectedly valuable, by that I mean it exceeds expectations based on the price paid, then my satisfaction jumps exponentially and sends me into this appreciation tizzy. I remember paying like $22 to walk The Rail in Springfield one Friday afternoon a few summers ago on the way to my in-laws, and the experience exceeded every expectation I had. I walked off the 18th with this high that I can’t explain (of course, I shot an 81, so that contributed). It was this immense feeling of satisfaction and I couldn’t wipe the smile from my face. It just felt good inside, like I cheated the devil. It made the whole weekend better.

Anybody can lay down $100+ for an over-designed, perfectly conditioned course with a brick and stone clubhouse and free range balls and guarantee themselves a high degree of satisfaction. But the chance of being surprised with something unexpectedly cool is pretty much eliminated. You don’t always get what you pay for. Sometimes you get a lot more.

Categories
music

Heaven and Hell – Black Sabbath

Someone told me the other day that “there is no new music.” I’ve heard people say that before. They say it as if every chord and vocal set has been exhausted and that now people are just regurgitating old stuff. What? That’s crazy. It’s clear that these people are thinking of the movie industry, not music. There is plenty of new stuff out there in the land of music.

That being said, I did get to this album via some regurgitation by a new artist. Here’s the route:

  1. Bought Recovery by Eminem.
  2. Noted that Eminem credits Black Sabbath/Ozzy for Going Through Changes.
  3. Grabbed original Changes from YouTube.
  4. Started exploring Black Sabbath and settled on Heaven and Hell.

But paying tribute is different from copying. Just because many hip-hop artists decide to throw chords and vocals into their songs from great artists in the past doesn’t mean they are less creative. It means they respect it, and that’s a good thing. I actually love it. I love it, because I feel like even if all music innovation stopped right now, I still have hundreds of years worth of music that I’ve never even explored. Eminem actually opened me up to a “new” old band. I would have never started rooting through the Black Sabbath catalog if not for Recovery.

I’ve never owned any Black Sabbath. They were a little before the 80s Hair Metal that I love so much. By the time I started buying albums, Ozzy and Dio were doing solo stuff, which I own a lot of. After listening, it’s baffling to me that I never owned any of this stuff because it is classic 80s metal that I love.

Best song? Easily Children of the Sea. Reminds me of Rock ‘n Roll Children, one of my favorite Dio solo tunes. Additionally, Bruce Dickinson says it influenced Children of the Damned on Number of the Beast (he mentioned this on a BBC-6 radio show interview). That’s serious business. Dio and Dickinson are easily my top two male vocalists in history.

The title track, Heaven and Hell, is also great. I like it when Dio’s vocals start out against a spare background of just base and drums. Then the guitars enter and Dio ups his scream. This stuff is paced nice and slow, with a melodic guitar solo. The guitar solo eventually speeds up and Dio joins in with furious lyrics, then it finishes with a slow guitar-only section.

RIP Dio.

Categories
music

Running from a Gamble – Company of Thieves

These are Chicago folks. They are youngsters with a female lead singer who has a cool voice. They put together some popular rock stuff. I like it. The female lead has a distinctive voice but I can’t quite peg why. She has this accent or something. It’s kind of like this wealthy, North Shore lockjaw thing without the pretentiousness. I know, that’s a strange way to describe someone’s voice and it probably speaks to my lack of ability to critique any sort of music. Her name is Genevieve Schatz and she seems to be gaining some acclaim. She rocks.

It’s mostly relatively mellow rock with strong vocals, but it doesn’t stick to the genre. It’s guitars and drums and keyboards and sometimes get’s loud enough that Schatz has to belt out some serious vocals, probably maxing out her volume. They throw in some horns and other stuff in a few songs. Good variety. Their lyrics reflect some anger and some angst, but are plenty uplifting.

I have both of their studio albums and it’s good stuff.

Categories
music

21 – Adele

This was loaned to me by a friend. I let it set around for months without listening. Then I started cranking through it, day after day. Then I started liking it. Then I started feeling guilty that I hadn’t paid for it yet. I mean heck, I’d never heard of Adele and this friend basically forces it on me one day. I had expected to listen a few times then give it back.

Then it hit the rotation so I had no choice but to make the purchase.

This whole old-school, European golf country, female singer thing just kind of crept up on me. I group Adele with the likes of Duffy and Amy Winehouse (RIP). Do I have that right? I can’t say for sure because I’ve never heard any Amy Winehouse, but I have a Duffy album, and it’s similarly good.

The two hits seem to be Rolling In The Deep and Set Fire To The Rain. And they are cool. Here voice just seems to move around a lot in both songs. You know, hitting some high notes, then some scratchy, throaty low notes. I don’t know, just listen to it. Cool stuff.

Then there’s this song Someone Like You. It’s the last one on the album. Check it out at the VMA’s. Damn, that’s pretty perfect. No lip-syncing happening there. This 21 year-old is not messing around. She’s clearly invested in this song.

Categories
books

The Ringer

The author of this book is an ND grad, which often motivates me to purchase, although not as often as I expected. I love the page in ND Magazine where they list the new published works by ND authors. I went through my book list and noted that I’ve only read three books by ND grads.

Damn. Feels like more than that. Oh well.

This is a drama of sorts and the first book by Jenny Shank. It’s a story told from the perspective of two people, one a single mother who’s estranged husband was shot dead in a botched drug raid, and the other the cop who killed him. They come together in the city of Denver through the sport of baseball, in which both of their sons are actively involved. Shank pretty much alternates chapters between the two perspectives and edges closer to the inevitable meeting between the two.

I liked the story and it kept me interested. The Denver angle was cool because it’s a town I love and one that I’m somewhat familiar with (relatives live there). The sports (baseball) angle was cool because I’m a sports junkie. This book had a lot of stuff going for it.

I want to read more and I’d like to see a follow-up to this. The perspectives of the two main characters were running parallel throughout the book so I thought they would be treated equally at the end, but it was weighted towards one. Makes me think she’s keeping these characters around for another book. Good ending though, it was surprising and creative.

I will keep her name in mind and when her next book comes out I’ll certainly grab it.

Categories
books

The Macrophenomenal Pro Basketball Almanac

My interest in the NBA was rekindled this year and a cynic would say I was just jumping on the Bulls bandwagon. Hey, I’m not disagreeing that the success of DRose and the Bulls were major factors. There were, however, significant other contributing factors.

One of the other factors was the richness of the NBA blogosphere and Twittersphere. During games, Twitter is absolutely jumping with commentary from everyone from indie bloggers to the heavy hitters of big media. It’s regarded by some pundits as the best blogosphere of any major American sport. It adds a lot to the in-game experience for me and has certainly helped rekindle the love for the game I had as a kid.

One heavy blogger and Tweeter is FreeDarko. Well, it’s actually inaccurate to refer to FreeDarko in the singular. It’s actually a handful of guys who have put a new spin on basketball journalism. They call themselves The FreeDarko Collective and this is their first book.

It was published in 2008, so it’s kind of dated. They take 18 players from that time period and break down their game and their personality. They look at things from every angle and throw a dramatic, appreciative, and sometimes twisted point of view into the mix. It’s difficult to describe. Here’s an example of their take on Kobe:

To his detractors, Kobe Bryant is Dracula: a spooky, inhuman being that gets shit done. Starstruck fans regard him as the epitome of glitz, glam, and accomplishment. In truth, he’s that most stormy, and mortal, kind of great man. If Shaquille O’Neal always represented Superman, then Kobe’s the Dark Knight: vulnerable, but all the stronger for it.

But it’s not all literary, pop-culture fluff like that. They put some thoughtful analysis into it, backed up with a ton of hard numbers. The Kobe section has a detailed comparison of Wilt’s 100 points and Kobe’s 81 points, with a color coded analysis of points scored relative to their respective team’s deficit. Kobe’s scoring binge came from a much more competitive game and it’s clear that Kobe’s feat is equal to, if not more impressive, than Wilt’s.

Besides super heroes, they pull references from world religions, like this take on Lamar Odom:

… He exists as a sideshow, a role player, a conundrum, an “almost,” a tempting flash of brilliance, a martyr, a fall guy so that other players can make All-Star Teams and receive MVP awards. A being of this epic un-belonging appears biblical. Yet while so many players try to perform the role of Christ, feigning death for the sins of others, Odom is better seen as some perpetual Job figure, facing hardships in the name of divine power.

And they give each player a spirit animal:

… Odom’s departure from positional convention is so bold it’s unsettling. He is indeed the mantid-fly, a living, breathing study in disjunctive beauty.

As with Kobe, they follow with hard facts. For Odom they did an intense, graphical, color-coded comparison of Odom’s big man stats and small man stats versus other players (two groups, those shorter than 6’4″ and those taller than 6’10”) using a random sample of his stats from 50 games during the 2003-2007 seasons. You have to see it to really appreciate it. Brilliant, brilliant stuff.

They dig deep into depths most fans would not expect. To use the term passionate to describe the collective’s love for the NBA would be an understatement. Who else would dig up obscure player quotes like this one to highlight Yao Ming’s wry sense of humor?

NOTABLE REMARK: On having a shot rejected by the five-foot-nine New York Knicks guard Nate Robinson: “I’ve been blocked by a five-foot-three guy before, so that’s not a record.”

Or who else would diagram every one of Amare Stoudamire’s tattoos and try and weave together their meaning in light of Stoudamire’s persona? The collective would!

This is a beautiful book. It’s a coffee table book; square and built like a textbook, each chapter introduced and summarized, a detailed glossary, and full of beautiful diagrams and images. I loved it and it really wet my whistle for the NBA next year.

However, it’s becoming apparent that I may need to slake my thirst for the NBA elsewhere. The FreeDarko Collective is closing shop and the chances of seeing any NBA hoops before 2012 is looking grim given the current lockout. Oh well, that’s fine, I have basketball books to read, including The Undisputed Guide to Pro Basketball History. And hopefully they keep the FreeDarko blog up forever. But if they don’t, their spirit for this style of sports writing will live on. Who knows, sites like Grantland or American McCarver may not have been feasible had FreeDarko not burned the path.

The ringleader of FreeDarko seemed to be this guy Bethlehem Shoals and he remains active in the blogosphere and still writes under the FreeDarko handle on Twitter. The book was written by Shoals, Big Baby Belafonte, Brown Recluse, ESQ., Dr. Lawyer Indianchief, and Silverbird5000 (don’t ask). The authorship of the blog is bit more extensive and you can get the names of the writers here. I follow a few of them on Twitter and they’ve opened me up to new method of appreciating sports and sports writing.

Categories
golf

Huge Bunker at Harborside Starboard Can Be Seen From Space

On the back nine at Harborside Starboard you’ll find a bunker that’s with you a lot. I’m talking about the massive waste bunker that slaps you in the face on the 11th and doesn’t leave you completely until you make the green on the 15th. Luckily we have a great satellite photo, thanks to Google Maps, to help us examine it.


View Larger Map

Huge. I’ve verified with the clubhouse that it’s a waste bunker, so you can ground your club in it. It’s a little more nicely groomed than your average waste bunker, but once you step in, there’s no doubt about it’s character because it has a lot of pebbles and the sand is pretty coarse.

Nugent and the crew of designers definitely had a sense of humor. See if you can find the characters they’ve embedded in the bunker. I see the villain from Scream and a pony-tailed laughing man. But you have to look closely.

It will befuddle you on the par four 11th hole, but just aim at the 150 yard marker. It will creep up on you on the par five 12th hole, so just stay to the right. You leave it for a hole when you go to the tough par three 13th. On the par four 14th, it will force you to make a decision on how much you can bite off, so make sure to test the wind. And finally, it will box you in on the short par four 15th, so don’t do anything crazy. It’s one of the great waste bunkers in Chicagoland, so enjoy.