Personalize your balls...

In the category of products I did not know existed would come the ability to buy personalized soccer balls -- Yes the title was a bit deceiving but for those of you who went in other directions? Tsk...tsk...

As a parent of five, one advantage I could see for personalization of sports items would be you'd have less arguing over who it belonged to. I can't count the number of times one of my would lose something then claim an item belonging to a sibling was theirs...

Tiger Woods to slink off into the sunset...

He admits he was unfaithful and does what most celebrities do, either take a temporary break or go into rehab...From his website, www.tigerwoods.com.

I am deeply aware of the disappointment and hurt that my infidelity has caused to so many people, most of all my wife and children. I want to say again to everyone that I am profoundly sorry and that I ask forgiveness. It may not be possible to repair the damage I've done, but I want to do my best to try.

I would like to ask everyone, including my fans, the good people at my foundation, business partners, the PGA Tour, and my fellow competitors, for their understanding. What's most important now is that my family has the time, privacy, and safe haven we will need for personal healing.

After much soul searching, I have decided to take an indefinite break from professional golf. I need to focus my attention on being a better husband, father, and person.

Again, I ask for privacy for my family and I am especially grateful for all those who have offered compassion and concern during this difficult period.

Society seems to dictate that a penance time period be served, after an apology is written, it worked for Kobe, Vick and many more as to scenairos where it was felt the fans would never forgive, but? They do...and before you know it? Family photos of the Woods family enjoying orlando vacations with everyone posing and happy for the cameras will be out there.

Why would Tiger Wood's wife use a golf club when the door wasn't blocked?

There's something strange about the whole Tiger Woods accident, when you read CNN it says:

Police Chief Daniel Saylor said two Windermere police officers were the first to arrive on the scene.

"There was Tiger Woods laying on the ground in front of the vehicle with his wife over him rendering first aid," he told reporters.

"He was in and out of consciousness with lacerations to his upper and lower lip," Saylor said. "He was mumbling but didn't say anything coherent."

Woods' wife, Elin Nordegren, told the police she was inside the house when she heard the accident. She said she went outside and used a golf club to break out the rear window of the vehicle, then pulled him from the SUV.

Yet when you look at the pictures here it looks as if the passenger side of the truck is completely accessible...

After thinking this, apparently I'm not alone, I did some searching and TMZ is reporting:

Tiger has yet to be formally interviewed by the Florida Highway Patrol -- that should happen this afternoon. But we're told Tiger had a conversation Friday -- with a non-law enforcement type -- detailing what went down before his Escalade hit a fire hydrant.

We're told he said his wife had confronted him about reports that he was seeing another woman. The argument got heated and, according to our source, she scratched his face up. We're told it was then Woods beat a hasty retreat for his SUV -- but according to our source, Woods says his wife followed behind with a golf club. As Tiger drove away, she struck the vehicle several times with the club.

And a more recent update suggests Tiger's wife has changed her story.

Media to blame for "overinflated hopes for Chicago"?

One of the most interesting statements made on the whole Chicago not getting even into the next round of Olympic consideration is that the media played a role. It's hard to disagree with the fact that the media did hype up the power of Obama, but then again, they helped to create the whole "Obama is the one" imagery in the first place rather than to cover him as he truly is, a man who was elected president, not someone with magical powers who can by his mere presence wow the OIC into picking Chicago.

In the Chicago Tribune, Ambivalence of hopes it states:

Obama and the rest of Chicago's powerhouse delegation, which included first lady Michelle Obama, Mayor Richard M. Daley and his wife Maggie and the Queen of All Media Oprah Winfrey, were fighting an uphill battle all along.

Expectations were overinflated by the media hoopla. But as the final bidding indicated, the IOC has a mind of its own.

Speculation runs wild as to why Chicago lost. Most of it follows personal agendas. The negatives that various analysts and critics bring up -- crime, corruption and cronyism lead the pack -- are hardly unique to Chicago and are certainly no worse than the problems faced by Rio de Janeiro, the winner of the 2016 Olympics.

Rio took an edge in less tangible ways. Chicago's presentation to the IOC, despite the Obama glitter, was lackluster and disorganized compared to Rio's colorful and passionate presentation.

Brazil played the geopolitical card skillfully, holding up maps that showed South America to be the only region left without a single Olympics. This may have touched the hearts of IOC members, who like to think of the organization as a groundbreaking force for international development and unity.

And how savvy, for Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva to use a certain Chicagoan's famous slogan when talking to reporters to promote his country's bid: "Yes we can!"

Which really points out the truth as to why Chicago didn't get it, even the power of Obama was not enough to combat a poor presentation....Or maybe they just didn't like Oprah...

Roethlisberger...Shades of Kobe Bryant?

When I read about the lawsuit filed against Ben Roethlisberger I immediately thought of the similarities with the Kobe Bryant case. While in this case, the woman did not file criminal charges and is going right to a civil filing, we have accusations of rape and then rumors of a consentual relationship with some mental health issues.

In the Bryant case a settlement happened with the dollar amount not being known, at this point, Andrea McNulty is seeking $380,000 in medical fees plus an unspecified amount of punitive damages.

Though some are calling this junk journalism...

For me baseball means a mascot...

For me growing up in Toledo, Ohio the home of the Toledo Mud Hens, one of the things you think of is our mascot, "Muddy" and as an afterthought a later addition, "Muddona". The topic came up of New York Yankees tickets and I gave away my lack of knowledge when it came to the Yankees, I wondered what mascot they have. Evidently, mascots aren't popular in New York, of the nine professional sports teams in the New York market, five do not have mascots: the Yankees, Jets, Giants, Knicks and Rangers.

I read that the previous New York Yankee's Mascot, "Dandy" was beaten up by fans, but I was unable to confirm that as a source, and it's funny in reading this blurb that it appears some of the Yankee Management doesn't even want to acknowledge they had a mascot:

As Joseph M. Perello, vice president for business development for the Yankees, put it: ''Fans come to see the Yankees win. And that's entertainment.''

Mr. Perello said that as far as he knew, the Yankees has never had a mascot. Lonn Trost, the Yankees' general counsel, said there are official Yankee hamburgers, hot dogs and popcorn. But a mascot? No, he didn't think the team ever had one.

From 1982 to 1985, though, the Yankees had Dandy, a pinstriped character designed by Ms. Erickson.

Dandy was a failure. Mr. Harrison said that was because he wasn't allowed out of the nosebleed area in the stands. Nor did he do any outside appearances. According to Mr. Harrison, George Steinbrenner, the Yankees' principal owner, was less than enthusiastic about the mascot after Lou Pinella, the Yankee outfielder, got so angry at the San Diego Chicken's clowning that he threw his glove at the bird (not a Harrison/ Erickson creation). Mr. Steinbrenner, through his spokesman Howard Rubenstein, said he had no recollection of the pinstriped mascot.

Strangely enough, there are not many pictures out there of "Dandy", I've only been able to find one...Did Dandy exist or his he a figment of the imagination? I'll leave that to the hard core New York Yankee fans to debate...

Someone wants to hire Rod Blagojevich

This in today from my newswire that I subscribe to:



NASHVILLE, Tenn., Feb. 2 /PRNewswire/ -- TNA Wrestling is offering the newly created position of Chairman for its Main Event Mafia faction -- and the opportunity to openly sell chairs, steel chairs -- to ousted Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich.

TNA officials confirmed today that Blagojevich, who was impeached by the Illinois Senate on January 29, is being offered the "Chairman" job within its Main Event Mafia faction, an elite unit which includes U.S. Olympic Gold Medal winner Kurt Angle, former World Heavyweight Champions Kevin Nash, Booker T., and Scott Steiner, and reigning TNA Wrestling World Heavyweight Champion Sting.

Blagojevich was arrested on criminal charges on December 9, 2008, for conspiring to sell the senate seat vacated by then-President Elect Barack Obama to the highest bidder, but Angle truly believes in the American justice system.

"He's innocent until proven guilty," Angle said. "As the leader of the Main Event Mafia, I am a huge fan of the Illinois style of politics. As such, Governor Blagojevich is welcome to join me and the entire Main Event Mafia at any and all TNA events in the future, and certainly is welcome to sell his seat with us should he choose not to accept our generous offer."

Blagojevich is a former amateur boxer, so Angle is convinced Blagojevich, "easily will be able to handle the transition to pro wrestling," Angle said.

The Illinois House of Representatives voted in favor of impeachment by an astounding margin of 114-1. The Illinois Senate voted 59-0 to remove him as governor, and passed legislation to prevent him from returning to office in the future.

Cross The Line to TNA Wrestling, the most innovative experience in professional wrestling. The superstars of "TNA iMPACT!" can be seen every Thursday at 9 p.m. ET/PT on Spike TV and more than 110 countries worldwide.

TNA Entertainment, LLC is a privately-held company headquartered in Nashville, Tenn.

Spike TV is available in over 96 million homes and is a division of Viacom International Inc.

Cross The Line at www.tnawrestling.com.

English or Western...

Long ago in a different life I grew up in an environment where riding lessons were a part of what was "expected" along with knowing how to plan a dinner or cocktail party and the art of making vegetables into pretty decorations to adorn your buffet platters. I don't miss most of that country club type existence nor the elitist mindset that used to irk me. I do miss riding horses though, it was something I always enjoyed though my rebellion at that time was still in evidence since "all" of the young ladies were encouraged to learn to ride with a english saddles and I preferred western.

They would all be nicely attired in an English riding outfit, I'd be wearing my jeans, my flannel shirt and my boots, it's probably then that I gained my love of red boots, that I still have today. It's also when my parents decided that private riding lessons were the easiest way for them to avoid embarrassment...It's both funny and sad to look back on those days when so much time was spent worrying about how you appeared to others, and so much time wasted on gossiping about the behavior of a pre-teen or teenage girl as opposed to real life issues that were much more important.

How to find humor in life...

Things have been a bit "interesting" recently, but no matter what I try to keep my sense of humor. Given this, I've discovered that there are certain things you need if you are going to rely on bus transportation here in my town. Correct change, bus drivers don't have change here, as I discovered one time when all I had was a five dollar bill and my options were, wait another hour for the next bus, or pay four more dollars for the ride home. An mp3 player would be nice since the buses typically run between ten minutes early to 15 minutes late, which when your bus only runs once an hour is a big deal. Lastly? A pair of Nikon binoculars to be able to spot when your bus is coming because even though they are supposed to slow down for you when you are waiting at a bus stop? With the amount of parked cars on some of the streets if you are not paying very close attention, your bus will whiz right by you...I imagine having binoculars would probably really freak out the people waiting which could result in you have more seat options...

Olympics...have you watched and if so what?

Right now I'm watching something that I have never seen before, synchronized diving. Evidently I missed it in previous Olympics since it's been recognized since 2000.

I've watched a variety of sports in this summer Olympics, one of my favorites received very little television time, fencing.

There is of course the website but my experiences with it have been it's slow to load and at times frustrating. I also didn't like the fact that I had to download Silverlight to be able to watch videos. Which you can't watch any of the real videos because they are blocked. Evidently Buckeye Cablesystem is not one of the cable companies that allows you to watch a majority of the videos.

Stupidly they believed: "We will give the media complete freedom"

In 2001:

"We will give the media complete freedom to report when they come to China."

Anyone surprised that's not true? Evidently some in the media are, according to this report from my local Fox News station:

The censored Internet is the latest broken promise on press freedoms. In bidding for the games seven years ago, Chinese officials said the media would have "complete freedom to report." And in April, Hein Verbruggen and Kevan Gosper -- senior IOC members overseeing the games -- said they'd received assurances from Chinese officials that Internet censorship would be lifted for journalists during the games.

Dick says it doesn't matter, it's all about sports:
In an interview with The Associated Press, Dick Ebersol, chairman of NBC Universal Sports, said he would like to see more "openness" from Chinese officials. But he seemed to play down the news value of the Olympics. He said NBC was ready to cover stories as they come up, but "we're not going to cavalierly ... blow out sporting events to show news."

Skateboarding making a come back...

When my son who is now 24 was about 12, skateboarding was a huge deal here in our part of Toledo, then a few years later it seemed to fade away as far as his friends being interested in it. There were of course others who continued an interest but just not in the community we lived in. Now that my youngest daughter is in the teenage years, she's expressed an interest in skateboarding which makes checking out skateboard complete a great way to find what every 13 year old wants. A skateboard that is not one of the few selections that can be found here locally and what I want, for it to not be overly expensive. Not just because she might not stick with it, but because from my experiences with my son, the first skateboard takes quite a bit more "abuse" than the second or third one.

Snow golfing...

Up here in the northern climates there are hardy golfers that head for the course even when there is snow on the ground, my father used to be one of those who would take his bright yellow golfballs for winter as opposed to the white ones for summer and go golfing in the snow. Granted on a day like today with over 6 inches of accumulation that would make it a bit more difficult to find even a brightly covered ball, days like today seems like the golfer dream would be Branson golf instead of snow golf...

I admit I'm rooting for the Giants...

Those of you who know me will know my desperate hanging on to one of the accomplishments of my favorite team, The Miami Dolphins and their perfect season. Hence...it would be hard for me to root for the Patriots.

That and I like Eli, I've watched him play since college. While so far the game has not exactly been exciting, the touchdown was nice...

:-)

Superbowl Ads!

One of my favorite parts of the game, the ads and you can get a sneak peak of some of them on several different websites.

:-)

Former NFL players get raw deal...

Highly recommended story at Cleveland Scene entitled, Forgotten Forefathers that covers what has happened to some of the former NFL players who have been injured and have not received the type of help you'd think they would get from a multi-million dollar sport like football.

Senior Open headed to Toledo in 2011

A few days ago it was announced that the 2011 US Senior Open was going to come back to Inverness Golf Course here in Toledo. This is considered a big deal for our area given the number of seniors with their Nike golf equipment in tow will show up to play. Then the huge number of spectators these events draw, evidently when the Senior US Open was played in 2003 they enjoyed it enough to come back...

Surf's Up!

You may think that here in Ohio, the topic of Surfing or Surfboard Bags wouldn't be one that I'd know anything about. Here in this house two of my daughters are surfing fans, they love their yearly trips to Florida to be able to surf and one dreams of being able to move to California so she can surf. When they are near an ocean, they look for waves and then a place to rent a surfboard.

Surfing the waves of the Great Lakes isn't really what most people would call surfing, but here in Ohio my bunch consoles themselves with using the smaller body boards but they spend many a hour looking at boards and the huge number of fins are available. With the snow flakes starting to fall in this area, the topic of the desire to move out West is sure to increase and along with that, the Surf's up dream as well as the shopping for the perfect board and the perfect bag.

Even if you don't ski, North Face Ski Wear rocks...

I don't downhill ski anymore at all and my occasional cross country skiing is just that, occasional, but I am a huge fan of The North Face Ski Wear. Not because I want to look as if I do ski, but because it's warm, it's fashionable and it lasts for years. I have a North Face fleece vest that I've owned for years and it still looks as good today after many washes as it did the first time I wore it. Beyond the clothing line, their Daypacks are always my first choice when it comes to buying backpacks for my children, not only are they reasonably priced but it's one of the few brands I've purchased that actually makes it through one school year and beyond. Whether you ski or you just to stay warm and be comfortable for fall or winter, The North Face has plenty of options and Breck Gear is the place to shop for North Face online.

Sigh...not a banner football year for me so far...

Thankfully while I have been happy about previous years performances in the football pool that I play in, I have not gloated (well not gloated much) when I've done better than my husband. This year, he is near first place and I'm in the situation he's normally in, near last place.

Like my team, the Dolphins, all I can do is remember despite my current performance, I once did have a perfect season...

:-)