Tiger Woods had an interesting set of quotes today about his 3-2 Ryder Cup record at the American Express Championship. He rated his performance as “pretty darn good” and “I did the best I could". He also said he played well enough to place in the Top 15 of a regular tournament. Would Tiger be satisfied with doing his “best” in a major or finishing top 15? Of course not. He is apparently satisfied with mediocrity in the Ryder Cup. It isn’t sparking his interest, and why should it? I’ve said it before, the Ryder Cup has become obsolete. The ...

It’s quite fashionable to bash the current ineptitude of U.S. athletics in global competition. The Ryder Cup team was flat, the U.S. basketball team was upset by Greece before reaching the finals of the World Championships last month, and we’re not even kicking as much Olympic tail as we used to. Thankfully, our strengths can be found elsewhere. Namely: World’s Strongest Man. Yes, the competition where brute’s from all over the world haul tractors, carry atlas stones and trek to the underworld to arm wrestle Satan - or worse a Russian named Rasputin from Siberia. After a 24-year absence, the ...

I came to a few conclusions after watching the Ryder Cup this weekend and the subsequent fallout after Europe’s dominating 18.5-9.5 victory. Americans must engage in pyschological warfare: Since when did America, home of unilaterally invading countries and the 24 oz. Porterhouse steak get so dang polite? Sergio Garcia can’t wait for a shot at Woods, Paul Casey “hates Americans”, Paul McGinley even said after the match: “There’s one reason, and one reason only why we won. We had more talent.” McGinley went 0-1-2 this weekend. That’d be like France saying “we had the better army” after WWII. Guys who ...

Five star hotels. For the handful of us who can afford it, it’s pretty posh. Classy rooms, bell boys who don’t have a smoke in their mouth while they grab your bags, fine dining. It’s the life, right? I recently stopped by one of Prague’s five-star joints, Hotel President, right on the Vltava River, and noticed they had a sign, in English, for taxi fares from the hotel. I was shocked. 850 Crowns ($35 U.S.) to the airport, 500 Crowns ($20) to the Castle across the river, $150 ($7) to the Jewish Quarter. I could hit a teed-up 3-wood to the ...

I discovered something this weekend between all the leaderboards, box scores and gamecasts. It’s that Abba’s “Gimme Gimme Gimme” video is hypnotically uncomfortable to watch. Also, the “don’t do drugs” speech I give to my kids also just got a lot easier with this video evidence. Anyways, here’s the Sports Weekend in Review: Sports Weekend in Review Woods’ streak over, or is it? Acting like a true patriot, Tiger Woods chose to give up his streak in the World Match Play to stay fresh for the Ryder Cup this weekend by losing to Shaun Micheel early. Then again, Byron ...

Fall golf is here in Michigan, a lovely time to take in the autumn colors and course discounts. The weather starts getting a little spotty, yes, but most courses are offering discounts of 25-45% starting mid-to-late September. Here’s some of the season’s best picks: Forest Dunes: Greens fees are slashed $50 down to $75 after October 1st. Black Forest: Play Tom Doak’s challenging stand-out course at Wilderness Valley for $50 in Gaylord (down from $75). King’s Challenge is a beautiful course in a rustic setting a half hour west of Traverse City, sure to look stunning with an autumn backdrop. Rates ...

Recent outrageous opinions by writers and readers on TravelGolf.com have been a very amusing read. First, the 9/11 conspirators have come out in droves on Chris Baldwin’s recent blog, citing “proof” the Bush Administration not only knew the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon were imminent, but orchestrated by the U.S. government. Please. Like we’re supposed to believe one of the free world’s most incompetent administrations can not only orchestrate, but execute AND keep secret one of history’s gravest attacks. Don’t give them so much credit. Then, two of TravelGolf’s resident dinosaurs, Kiel Christianson - who was writing ...

Rick Dipietro, goaltender of the New York Islanders signed a 15-year deal this week worth nearly $70 million - all guaranteed. Only Magic Johnson’s 25-year deal with the Lakers is believed to be longer in all of sports. Ever. It’s hard to believe the guy who sat next to me in high school Latin class (and consequently detention) is worth $70 mil (but he doesn’t have a kick-ass golf blog. Boo ya!). DiPietro, who played on the USA Olympic team this winter, is a better-than-average NHL tender and was the first ever goalie taken number one overall in the draft. ...

Did anyone get anything productive done this weekend? Besides taking down your previous record of buffalo wings and Miller Lite consumed in a 48-hour span? The NFL season opened, college football had a #1 vs. #2 matchup, Tennis’ U.S. Open was filled with storylines and the MLB’s pennnant and wild card races continued to heat up (thanks to my Tigers doing what Detroit sports have been doing best lately: choking in crunch time after league-leading regular seasons). And with Michelle Wie ducking out of the Omega early, we didn’t have to waste our time tracking her over the weekend; instead ...

2002 – Reporters: “So Ma’am, you’ve just won the lottery! What are you going to do with all the money?” Valerie Wilson: “I can’t believe it, I’m going to spend all the money on…lottery tickets!” If Michelle Wie keeps taking weekends off, so will I. I’ll get back to golf-related blogs on Monday, promise.

I cannot stress to you enough the importance of “googling” your name every so often. It’s the only way you can really know how you’re perceived by the Google gods in this digital world. And the best part is finding out what all the other knuckleheads in your Name Fraternity are up to and how the search engine rankings change week to week. Battling for the top spot on Google is myself, Brandon Tucker the wrestler (toughest BT), Brandon Tucker the “make poverty history” guy (BT with the best cause) and Brandon Tucker the fine artist (poorest BT). Until today, ...

So what did you do while Michelle Wie was out of the news? It seemed like an eternity, didn’t it? (I was getting sick of writing about success stories the whole time) But in the interim I was able to read Wikipedia.org from A-Z, find six stray puppies a new home, and personally convinced Bill Ford its time to step down as CEO at Ford Motor Co. What a waste of time that was. Now we can all become obsessed with the inevitable Wie trainwreck at the European Masters this week - and we call the Maury Povich Show a ...

I’m confused. First I get reemed by our conservative readers (calling me a Democrat was below the belt, by the way. Anyone who reads me regularly knows I’m Socialist) for trying to spice up the mundane Tiger Woods conversation by questioning the legitimacy of his Sunday dominance, suggesting maybe he’s “distracting” his opponents the night before like another Hall of Fame athlete did in the 80s. (Is that more sensitive everyone? Hate to ruin any 9-year old’s future with a golf column…) Then, in an attempt to write credible journalism about a recent trip to Poland, someone in my own camp ...

My elders tell me that when cable television debuted, the reason TV suddenly wasn’t free anymore is because there weren’t advertisements on them. Today, cable TV usually has more than networks. Tiny Jim down at the corner barbershop tells me MTV had music videos 24/7 when he was a teenager. Today, it’s all product placement and big record companies paying big bucks for some artist face time on Pimp my Ride or Laguna Beach. In a decade, when my kid is playing his first X-Box 6000, which actually comes with a year’s supply of ritalin and potato chips, I’ll remark ...

Europe’s cheapest and possibly worst airline is now on the verge of becoming the most annoying as well. RyanAir, the discount air carrier that flies passengers all over the continent and drops them off at airports in the middle of nowhere will begin allowing cell phones on planes. The carrier plans to have each plane in their fleet capable of cell service by February 2007, a move likely targeted at all the young backpackers than jaunt around Europe on low-cost airlines and have meaningful conversations on their phones constantly such as: “Hey, I’m on the plane, where are you?…Ya isn’t ...