NEW RULES

I don’t know how many of you watch Real Time with Bill Maher, but Bill has a segment called New Rules that I really need to borrow this week.   During the course of the week, I have numerous conversations with people about any number of subjects, but there is one subject that I find people constantly distort the truth, lie and just make crap up is with politics.  Now I know that we all want to think that the guy we voted for is honest, he’s really working for all of the people, doesn’t take special interest money, and when he/she talks, you can take their word as gospel.  As a rule, I get my news from a number of sources, which include but are not limited to Fox News, ABC News, CNN, Yahoo and a free subscription to news papers in other English speaking countries.  As I read and listen, I hear all kinds of statements made by politicians and their supporters that at best are only half true or a repeat of some other false statement they’ve heard some other knuckle head make.  As an example; I had a conversation with someone recently who tried to convince me that OSHA, at the direction of President Obama has established a rule that says if a construction worker is using a ladder to get to a space more than 3 feet off the ground that the ladder must have safety lines.  Now, I’m going to give this person the benefit of the doubt and say that he was simply misinformed, but because he was so passionate about his position, I decided to pull the OSHA rule on ladder height, and it’s listed below for all to view.

If the total length of a climb on a fixed ladder equals or exceeds 24 feet (7.3 m), the following requirements must be met: fixed ladders must be equipped with either (a) ladder safety devices; (b) self-retracting lifelines, and rest platforms at intervals not to exceed 150 feet (45.7 m); or (c) a cage or well, and multiple ladder sections, each ladder section not to exceed 50 feet (15.2 m) in length. These ladder sections must be offset from adjacent sections, and landing platforms must be provided at maximum intervals of 50 feet (15.2 m).

Now because I don't know anything about construction, 24 feet might be a stupid rule, but it's a long way from 3 feet.

Ok, now that we’ve cleared up the ladder height thing, let’s get to my New Rules.

New Rule – If you’re on the payroll of a State or Federal Government, you don’t get to complain about deficits, after all, you’re part of the reason we have deficits.  It really doesn’t matter what you do for government, I’m still paying for it, so shut up and cash your check!

New Rule – If the tax payers are paying for your Health Insurance, you don’t get to be against Obama Care.  After all, if government sponsored health insurance is good enough for you, it’s good enough for the rest of the population that wouldn’t have health insurance without government assistance.

New Rule – If you make more than $250,000 a year, you don’t get to complain about your tax burden.  Unless you would just rather not have the 70% that’s left after paying taxes.

New Rule – Unless you’ve actually lived in a Socialist country, you don’t know what Socialism is really like, so stop calling people who don’t agree with you a Socialist.  By the way, that goes for Communist as well.

New Rule – If you’re truly a Christian, try reading the bible, I think you’ll discover that god wasn’t a Democrat or a Republican.  Jesus spread love, not hate, and contrary to what you might think, judgment is not yours.

New Rule – If you’re waiting for the good Union Jobs to return to America, get a grip, those jobs are gone for good, and they are not coming back.

New Rule – If you’re an employer who hires illegal workers because their cheaper, just be honest enough to say that.  Don’t add to the lie that American workers would rather collect welfare than work.  The truth is that Americans would take the job if you paid a living wage.

New Rule – If when you shop you look for the cheapest price, knowing that it couldn’t have been made in America, stop complaining because the unemployment rate is 9%.  If you took the time to look for the Made in America label and purchased those items, you could help create thousands of jobs in this country.  By the way be careful, the next job shipped offshore could be yours!

I’m Just Sayin, if you like New Rules, send me yours and I’ll try to publish another segment in a few weeks.

THE BACK NINE ON MONDAY

Every now and then, I see or hear something that I walk away thinking was really great, but I let it marinate for a few days before writing about it.  I take this approach because sometimes when you think something was great, after a few days or weeks, the shine wears off, and it turns out it wasn’t that great after all.  So now that I’ve had a chance to let the FSCC Club Championship Match between my friends Mark and Rob marinate for over a week, it’s time to share it with you.

In the last 25 years, I’ve traveled extensively, and I’ve had the good fortune to see lots of live sporting events, both professional and amateur.  Some were good, some not so good and a few were really great, but nothing more so than the 36 hole club championship match that I had the pleasure of watching  this past Labor Day.  In the interest of full disclosure, I competed in this event and was eliminated in the second round.  With that said, I don’t know if I or anyone else could have put on the kind of show that these two competitors gave those in attendance that afternoon.

I went to the club to meet a friend that afternoon and try to get 18 holes in myself, but because I was a little early, I decided to go out and watch a couple holes of the Championship match.  I caught up with the guys as they were approaching the 12^th green and was one of about a half dozen folks following the match at that time.  When I asked how things stood, I was informed that Rob was up either two or three holes, so I decided to ride along and watch for a while.  By this time, my friend showed up and agreed to watch for a while as well.   As we followed the match, it seemed to get more and more interesting as Rob’s lead was never more than three holes, and never less than one through the first 18 holes.  At the end of 18, Mark was still down 2 or 3 holes, and the tide had not yet started to turn, but he was hanging tough.  As other golfers finished their matches in the other flights, others started to join us in following Rob and Mark, and although Mark was still down, it was starting to become clear that this match would go deep into the second 18. 

After the first 18, the competitors agreed to take a 15 minute break to eat, use the facilities and so on.  Although I really wanted to play golf, I and a number of others were really invested in this match, and thus decided to grab some beer, scrap our plans to play ourselves and watch what would ultimately become our version of Ali/Frazier.   I know, Ali/Frazier is pretty strong, but if you had seen it, you would absolutely agree, it was that good.

As they started the final nine holes, Mark was still down either 1 or 2 holes, and it was obvious that both guys were starting to show some nerves.  Mark wasn’t putting well, and Rob had made a couple of very uncharacteristic mistakes, but both were still playing spectacular golf.  At some point, I heard someone say that if Mark could just get to even that he would win the match, and I remember thinking “that’s going to be a tall order”.  In all honesty, I don’t remember which hole the match got back to even, but I know it was very late on the final nine (I think maybe hole 35).  I do know that going to the 36^th and final hole, the match was even and I said to my cart mate that we were probably looking at extra holes.   By now, the nerves seemed to be gone from both guys, replaced by a resolve to win as both hit their drives and second shots into almost perfect positions.   Mark was out, and hit his third shot to the right rear of the green, leaving what most of us considered the putt from hell.  Rob hit his third just past the flag and it rolled back to within 4 or 5 feet, leaving one of the fastest downhill putts on the course.  By this time, there had to be between 50 or 60 folks or more watching around the 18^th green.  When Mark lined up his putt, he turned to his caddy Mike and pointed to a line to which Mike said that looks right and walked away.  The crowd went completely silent as Mark placed his putter behind the ball, and despite leaving a number of putts short all day, this one was hit hard enough, and seemed to be tracking from the moment it started rolling right up to the thud in the bottom of the cup for birdie.  The crowd went wild!  Now it was Rob’s turn, and although my vantage point wasn’t great, we could all tell that all he needed to do was touch it to get to the hole.   As he stepped up to the ball, the crowd once again went silent and not a sound was heard until the ball burned the edge of the cup, and all anyone could hear was the sigh of the crowd as it rolled by. 

Rob’s missed putt ended what for many of us was one of the best live sporting events professional or amateur we have seen.  I know that there ultimately can only be one winner, but both of these men played their hearts out, and gave those of us watching a super show.

Mark and Rob, thank you for not only putting on a great show, but also for the sportsmanship that you showed, you both represented yourselves with honor and distinction and that is truly appreciated.

“I’m Just Sayin”