05-16-23: i’ll sub-title this one ‘kuddos to my daughter, and everything is war’ … youngest daughter received two scholarships last-night, we knew about one of them, and were completely surprised by the other... the school calls the scholarship sponsors 'community partners'... one of those ‘partners’ used the scholarship presentation opportunity to make a political statement--or maybe it was just a 'philosophical argument'--regarding golf's LIV tour, the gentlemen making the presentation strikes me as a PGA teaching pro given his disdain for the liv-tour along with his vocabulary and demeanor—i’ve been friendly with many of those types in the past... he made me put my hands over my mouth to hold in a LOL once i realized what he was saying/doing, the points he was making, and the position that he was taking, he made a case for his position in the battle that he is partaking in... i don't really give a crap about golf so much these days, but i used to be a passionate addict, i never really had the disposable income to play a rich-man's game like golf, but somehow found the money (or room on a credit card) to fit a round in when the weather was right and i had some time on my hands... i eventually developed a fairly respectable game, but, over the years i've developed some chronic conditions in a few joints that are essential to a decent swing and serious ball-striking, the last couple of times that i tried to play i couldn't swing a club without writhing in pain by the third or fourth hole, so the rest of the time i just threw a ball onto the greens when i got close enough, and just tried to practice putting while my playing buddy (big Tony) and i joked about 'getting old'... anyways, let the rich folks that are heavily vested and passionate compete/war against themselves and the monopoly of a game that they seem to desire, so long as there is really no collateral-damage, so long as they leave normal-regular people out of their wars i'm fine with it, but once your silly games spill outside of your boundaries, and inflicting ‘collateral damage’ you become everyone’s problem and need to be contained… it's the world-stage elites that war against each other but have no problem utilizing/exploiting the resources, lives, and futures of 'innocent by-standers', civilians/citizens, and military folks to make their point and to do their dirty-work, those are the types of rich elites that need to be smacked-around to get an appropriate dose of long overdue ego-balancing, when folk's egos get too big and distorted to think clearly and utilize the real 'Golden Rule' then they typically require an exceedingly firm cheek-slap to bring them back to reality (helloo-OOoo world government folks, lust for power and control, and other entity-possessed dictators world-wide)... the golf guy presented two very generous scholarships to two kids on the golf team, and read part of their answers to a loaded question which their essays were based upon... i don't care what they answered, or how they answered it, and the golf guy's monopoly-war with liv-tour doesn't bother me either, i was just surprised by it, and got a good chuckle when i began to see the argument that he was framing, the vocabulary he used, and the intended emotional-tugging drama he used to deliver it (i’m actually suspicious that he may have been intoxicated during his presentation/performance)... and for what it’s worth, i happen to share their ‘side’, perhaps not through the same processing-filter/perspectives or reasons, maybe it’s just tribalism, i’m certainly not vested in golf in any way… but i got a good and unexpected chuckle from the gentlemen from one of the local golf courses… wish i could get a round in again one of these days, but it’s probably something between a pipe-dream and a fool’s-errand (or maybe just hoarding) for me to keep the clubs around still, i’m far too gimpy to even contemplate participating in my former addiction… OK, enough about golf, my own grieving, and the thought-provoking essay question presented to the scholarship participants... because, the reason we were there in the first place was based on the academic merits of my youngest daughter—who is art focused, not sport focused—she gave her school-work a high-priority (unlike her dad), and maintained a very high gpa all four years of high-school (unlike her dad)... super-appreciative of the two scholarships that my daughter was blessed with last-night, she's a hard-working conscientious student that struggled with some nasty adversity while maintaining a very high GPA, she's starting a BA program online in Sept... the scholarships were hard earned, and well deserved... well done girl, well done. -- ct
after all of that bitterness: https://www.foxnews.com/sports/pga-tour-announces-landmark-merger-with-saudi-backed-liv-golf