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.