johnguinness's Diaryland Diary
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golfy
What does a bad day look like? Well, if you're Phil Mickelson starting the U.S. Open, and you hit your very first shot into the water, a bad day has this many people unsuccessfully trying to find your tee shot four holes later.
I'm rooting for him & Rory McIlroy.
I realized this morning that in my own life, a good day is when I have a couple of really cold cans of Diet Mt. Dew. That's all it takes.
Contador and five teammates were in the Alps yesterday doing "recon" on a Tour de France stage. There's a massive climb called the Galibrier. The story hit the news that Contador got stopped by police during the afternoon descending the climb by guys saying he wasn't visible enough in the tunnels without a light on his bike. He tried to tell them that the team car right behind him had headlights on, but they said no and he put his bike in the car, moving on to the next huge climb.
His teammate told the story later, and said that one policeman tried to get them to go to the handy shop and buy lights and reflectors for their bikes. He thought maybe the guy's brother owned the shop. Another story had joggers being allowed to go right past them into the tunnel. The police chief called the hotel later to apologize for the incident and "excess zeal".
I'm watching bits of tennis to prepare for Wimbledon. I love watching grass court play. It's really different because of the way the ball bounces, especially after the grass gets chewed up. There are a lot more shots taken out of the air, and more spins used. There's also the predominantly white clothing, and the Royal Box, and the atmosphere. The Williams sisters are back, and Clijsters hurt herself again, so I'm going to focus on the early days starting with 128 each of men and women.
I'm enjoying watching cycling again because the riders I don't care for are doing poorly and barely on TV. It lets me watch great scenery from Switzerland and Lichtenstein, plus some exciting action. There are two more days to watch and then two weeks of Wimbledon t watch before the Tour de France.
I always had huge respect for Vancouver, as a cosmopolitan tourist stop and a place where lots of TV shows & movies are made. The brief bit of the post-hockey-loss riots that I saw on video this morning changed all that. There was a bald guy trying to keep a mob from turning over a pick-up truck, and guys pummeled the bejeezus out of him. They turned over cars, set them on fire, set police cars on fire, and threw beer bottles at a massive TV screen that had been set up for their enjoyment. Then they started looting, breaking into stores that had nothing to do with hockey and stealing things. Seriously, your hockey team lost, so you're stealing expensive make-up from a store after going in through broken windows?
I'm not picking on Vancouver, because I don't have TV news and haven't seen what people are up to in this country lately (NBA, etc.). But the mentality of human beings that would stand and watch a huge outdoor TV for hours and then destroy it, and turn over and burn vehicles that are probably owned by their own people, and looting - it's all just scary.
My big improvement for the day (first in ages) is that I'm making the effort to have cold beverages. I might even fill an ice cube tray later, for the first time this year. Go Team Me!
2:41 p.m. - Thursday, Jun. 16, 2011
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