Sunday, June 17, 2007

Car-free Sunday

I was sort of rooting for Angel Cabrera to win the U.S. Open - sort of - until I saw him flick a cigarette butt on the 15th fairway during Sunday's final round. Did somebody pick it up? Until today, the only player I ever saw smoking on the course was Rosie Jones many years ago. Some habits are hard to break. The weird part of me (is there not a weird part?) was rooting for Bubba Watson, since he's left-handed, and I can use all the lefty's I can get if I'm ever going to take up this game. I find myself reversing all the advice I see on TV - right is left - and filing it in my head for future reference. Mickleson is a lost cause.
Tiger came up a little short, and I suppose most media outlets were praying for a Father's Day win for the expectant father, but sometimes you cannot plan history. The other thing that I found interesting is how TV can make a golfer look as though he is out there alone without a playing partner. Having come from the McDonald's Championship last week and watching while the leaders waited patiently for their also-ran partner to hole out, I was reminded of how TV coverage cuts to someone else playing another hole while the partner hits. It's one of those perspectives that one earns from seeing a game in person, and later on TV.
I also am fascinated by the logos that the players wear. Nike on Tiger's cap (and the TW logo on his caddy, which I figure is some sort of contract deal), PING on Cabrera's cap and a host of others who use the stuff for the exchange for the free advertising that the companies get on TV while the players are roaming the course.
I watched the tournament on Hi-Definition TV. I find myself a fully willing participant of the digital TV age. As you remember, last week my TV took a dump, so I quickly ran to Best Buy and chose an Insignia 37" LCD TV, with which I could not be happier. I signed up for digital cable, thinking that the digital experience would be all encompassing, but I quickly learned that something was missing. Once I started scrolling through the hundreds of channels, I found that the Hi-Def channels required an additional subscription. Figures.
So, I called Comcast and found that the HDTV package was a mere $5 a month. This gives me access to Hi-definition local channels, plus ESPN, TNT, Fox and several others - most of which will be fully realized once football season starts. Today, I watched the Phillies, part of the NASCAR on TNT, and the Open on NBC Hi-Def where I had a splendid view of dimpled golf balls in sand traps and sweat beads on Tiger's face. if you are TV shopping, I can highly recommend the LCD set and its accompanying Hi-Def cable set-up, which is worth much more than the five bucks they charge, but don't tell them that.
I did, however, have to go to Comcast and pick up a new box - roughly the size of a small car - to retrieve the HDTV signals. I got it home only to find that there was no power cord. That's pretty important, I thought, so back I went. The cord was waiting on the counter, as though the clerk figured, "He'll be back for this," so when I went back, I didn't even finish the sentence; "I didn't get a..." before I had the cord. Clowns.
I'm partial to the look of LCD TVs, even though a "well-informed" friend told me that DTV was the best - "The mirrors" and all - but I like the matte look of LCD, and there's no light reflection, which is a problem where I am. I had to get over my brand bias and go with the Best Buy Insignia brand. On the big wall at the store, it looked identical (if not a little better) than the Phillips or LG sets that were beside it, and $300 less. Now, I see they are for sale for $200 less than I paid last week. How much do you want to bet that I can't go back to Best Buy on Tuesday after work and get their low-price guarantee?
Car-free Sunday entered it's second weekend. The bike has been a blessing, and today I used it to ride to Subway for a lunch-time sandwich (before the U.S. Open and another disappointing Phillies game) and a late-day trip to the gym, 16.2 miles total - while the car sat still without using costly gasoline and generating a side benefit of helping me lose a few pounds and get a little healthier.
I fear that if I ever take up golf, I will have to take up smoking to calm my nerves, so maybe I'll stick with the bike.

5 comments:

kimmyk said...

today while driving home from my parents house i was listening to their local radio station and i was half listening to it while talking to jamie and the kids in the car and i heard your girl's name [that golfer chick] across the airwaves and so i tuned in. apparently the jamie farr classic is comin' to town and your girls gonna be there. 40 bucks for two weeks ground pass or somethin? i thought that was a good deal...anyways...i never would have paid attention to the commercial had it not been for you. funny how someone you don't really know can sort of invade your daily thoughts like that. pretty cool.

oh. and i paid 2.69 for gas this weekend at the kroger's store here. even though that's a sucky high price i thought i had hit the jackpot lotto.

Anthony said...

Yep, the Jamie Farr Owens-Corning Classic (can you stand any more corporate tie-ins?) is July 9th, in Sylvania, Ohio.

Paula is a big deal in that one because the Pink Panther is a Fiberglas tie-in, and Paula uses the Pink Panther for her stuff, and it's her nickname. She was on the cover of the program last year.

Anthony said...

Oh, and $2.69 is a pretty good price - even for low-tax New Jersey. I'll probably have to fill-'er-up soon, and I think it's $2.79 here, or something. I don't pay attention to things over which I have no control.

Sparky Duck said...

Let see, when will i be getting an invite to check this LCD TV out? I wonder?

The TW is the Tiger Woods collection from Nike, but old Steveo is also sponsored nominally by Valvoline, he takes off his name apron on the 18th usually and you get that 5 second glimpse of the V.

I liked that Cabrera actually smoked, mostly because I bet alot of the golfers do, they just hide it better. Angel was so jittery he needed something. Its much more pleasant to see then Boo Weekley and his chew, yick.

I was pulling for Furyck, on strictly local terms, since hes from West Chester. I was really pulling for a playoff and 18 more holes of golf on Monday.

Anonymous said...

No, you weren't the only one:

http://abcnews.go.com/Sports/comments?type=story&id=3288446