After following the Masters this weekend, I am convince more than ever that it is the most annoying sport.  I rarely watch golf except when Tiger is in contention or when Jack Nicklaus was in contention in the old days.  These two were so much better than their contemporaries that you just have to watch to see if they can come up with the heroics.  Sure, once in a while somebody like Lee Trevino, Seve Ballesteros or Tom Watson might go on a good run and you may watch.  But otherwise if Tiger or Jack were not in contention, I do not watch.

So this weekend with Quan Tianlang being the youngest player ever to make the cut and Tiger being in contention, I tuned in.  So what happens?  They penalize the poor 14 year old for slow play.  Now, I see players agonizing over two foot putts, changing clubs and even going to the porta-john during golf tournament and they are going to penalize this kid for slow play?  The LA Times wrote that since 1997 there were 22 penalties for slow play in the European Tour.  There were none in the U.S. PGA tour during this time.  The official that penalized Quan is European.  He is also the guy that penalized Ballesteros twice and Harrington once in a major.  It seems to me that is not uniform officiating.  Maybe this guy is one of the few who is enforcing the rules correctly.  Or maybe he just like to get on tv.  They said that Quan's group was 22 minutes behind by the 17th hole.  Well, the kid maybe the reason for this but I would think that Ben Crenshaw shooting an 84 during that round may have slowed things up.  If they want to speed up the game, have the players run the course instead of walking.  This way the 14 year old will have an advantage for sure!

Tiger then got penalized 2 strokes for dropping the ball 2 yards from where he was supposed to.  I mean what is 2 yards when you are 200 yards from the hole.  If he move the ball near the green, yes, he should be penalized or even disqualified.  I know Tiger should know the rules.  But he obviously did not otherwise he would not have incriminated himself by saying he dropped it 2 yards from his previous shot while being interviewed.  In fact, the rule committee had watched the tape after a view called in about the violation and decided there was not enough evidence to penalize Tiger.  It is only with his own incrimination that they made the ruling.  Can you imagine someone calling in and say Lebron had stepped out of bounds and the replay was not conclusive and they ruled only after Lebron admitted he stepped out, after the game.  If golf has all these anal rules and they insist they be followed, then have officials everywhere on the course to observe every shot and ball drops and make rulings right there.  It is a rich sport that can afford the number of officials needed.  It is not fair for the players to know every rule and then say that not knowing the rule is not an excuse on not calling a penalty on himself. 

Given all my displeasure with the game, obviously I don't think it should be in the Olympics.  We don't need to add another rich man's sport to a menu that already include sailing and equestrian.  It is a game even someone like Tiger or Jack win less than 20% of the time, so it is relatively meaningless to be called an Olympic champion.  Also can you imagine the controversy if an European official call a penalty on a Chinese golfer who is in contention for a medal?  It will be USA/USSR basketball 1972 all over again!

I am not too bummed about M losing to Louisville.  I think the better team won although M could have won that game.  Burke is going to the NBA as expected and Hardaway will probably also even though I think he will be drafted higher if he stayed another year.  I think Spike proved that he can be the point guard and the other freshmen will be much better next year.  I am already surprise how much McGary has improved already.  So I think they will be in contention again next year in the very tough Big Ten.

After I had said that North Korea did not post much of a threat, Kim Jong Un started to cause problems by putting North Korea in a state of war preparation.  That would seem counter to my claim that secular dictators are not irrational and their first priority is to survive and keep power.  Kim's action does appear irrational, trying to pick a fight with the most powerful country in the world.  It is possible that he is crazy and thus throw out all of my theory.  But it is not likely the case.  His father also had seem to be crazy at times.  But each time he threatened, he was just trying to get concession from the U.S.  Kim Jong Il also had at least 3 sons so if Jong Un is really crazy, I don't think he would have been picked as the successor. 

I think that being so young and being the third generation dictator, there is a lot of pressure to show that he is tough enough for the job.  There may even be some possibility of someone planning a coup.  If Kim knew about such threat, the best way to prevent it is to rev up nationalism and making himself look tough and capable of leading.  Certainly having been educated in Europe, he can't possibly think that he can win a war.  But if, like his father before him, he is able to get some concession, then his hold on power will be stronger.

The U.S. should act calmly.  We should put more military power into the region but do not sound threatened.  I think eventually China will get through to Kim behind close doors.  China has great interest in keeping the peace because a war would destabilize the region.  War would also likely destroy North Korea.  Even though North Korea is an unreliable ally, China gains leverage with the U.S. by being North Korea's main benefactor.  China also does not want war refugees coming over the border.  Most importantly a war would mean greater U.S. involvement in the region.  This will increase American influence in Asia and make China's goal of becoming the dominant power in Asia much more difficult to achieve. So China will make some assurance to Kim about his survival and convince him to pull back.

Well two final 4 picks correct isn't bad!  OSU should have made it given their easy bracket.  They have nobody to blame but themselves.  Syracuse blew up the other bracket.  I am just glad that M got lucky and made it.  I think you have to get at least one lucky game if you are going to win the tournament.  Now we have to see if Burke is truly the best point guard in the nation as he tries to solve the Syracuse zone.  It would be difficult for McGary to play like he has in these four games but then Hardaway has not been playing like he can.  He will have to because he is the only one other than Burke who can break down defenses and get his own shot.  Given that lucky game against Kansas, I think they can go all the way!

Saw parts of the women's game between Baylor and Louisville.  Even the women's game now has some parity where anyone can win.  Well, I don't think both Baylor and Connecticut will lose so Connecticut is going to win now.  But one thing I notice is that the officiating is much worse in women's basketball.  The game is slower with smaller people so you would think it would be easier to officiate.  So obviously the women don't get the best officials even in the playoffs.

This week mark the 10th anniversary of the Iraq war.  At the same time, Obama is traveling in the middle east.  This reminds us of the problems this area has caused us over the last several decades and the many mistakes we have made over there.  Here are some of my thoughts:

1.  The several thousands U.S. lives and maybe a hundred thousand Iraqi lives lost were terrible price to pay for a war that was wrong.  That was on top of the trillion dollars spent and the lost of focus in finishing the job in Afghanistan.  Never again should we allow crazy politicians lead us into such a war.

2.  One of the reason we are bogged down in this region is because of our dependence on oil.  We propped up despots who are friendly to us so that we can get the oil we need.  We must do everything we can to become energy independent as soon as possible.

3.  We spend a lot of money in the region trying to bring peace but we have not gotten much for it.  About the only thing the Israelis and Palestinians have in common is that they don't agree with what our presidents have propose for each side to do to even start the peace progress.  So lets withhold our financial support unless each side agree with our proposals. 

4.  Support Muslim countries that have been friendly to the U.S.  A country like Jordan must become economically much stronger in order to prevent extremists from taking over from King Hussein.  If populous Muslim countries like Indonesia and Turkey can become more prosperous then it will demonstrate to average Muslims that the U.S. is helping them and is not their enemy.

5.  Don't sweat about Iran and nuclear weapons.  Just like Iraq, Iran will not be dangerous to us.  By constantly worrying and complaining about their nuclear weapons program will only help Muslim extremists recruit terrorists.

On a lighter note the Big Ten did well this weekend.  Four teams made it to the sweet 16.  Minnesota and Illinois won a game and played well against tough opponents in the second game.  Only Wisconsin was disappointing.  As predicted the team that is in Gonzaga's region has the best luck.  That is OSU.  I think they will have a clear path to the final 4 now.

Well, OSU got that prize 2 seed in the region with Gonzaga.  As a result I predict that OSU will make it to the final 4.  M and MSU both got "home" games in Auburn Hill for the first 2 rounds so they should advance to the sweet 16.  If they don't it is their own fault.  I think M has a better draw than MSU.  I think Kansas and Georgetown are easier to beat than Louisville and Duke.  So I have M advancing to the final 4 along with Louisville.  I know that is homer talk and may jinx myself but hey this is one year that 3 or 4 seeds are almost as good as 1 and 2.  I will take Miami over Indiana in the last regional.  I think Miami could well have been a 1 and I think they are better than Kansas.  Plus I can't pick 3 Big Ten teams!

I think Oregon really got screwed.  A 12 seed  after winning the Pac 12 tournament?  I know that the Pac 12 is ranked low and deservedly so in some respects.  But Oregon went into a slump when their point guard went down.  If Trey Burke went down, M would lose a lot more games.  The guy came back and helped Oregon win the finals but the selection committee guy said that they had to look at the whole season, not just the last game.  But then they lowered UCLA to a 6 because they lost one of their starters before the final   They can't argue both ways!

Just finished watching DWTS.  My top 3 picks are Zendya (or whatever her name is), Jacoby Jones and Dorothy Hamil.  Zendya was by far the best but the concern is that nobody my age knows who she is and people at her age is not going to watch the show.  Jacoby Jones has great potential even though his technique was not too good today.  Did you see how out of breath he was? I know he had surgery and so been idled but he had more trouble than anybody I ever seen on the show and he is a young athlete.  Dorothy Hamil is pretty good and will get lot of sympathy votes due to her age and her cancer history.  The country singer Pickler was also impressive.  The gymnast was not as good as I thought she would be but maybe she can improve.  It seems to me Ashley Judd really let herself go!

Rand Paul did the good old fashion filibuster last week.  I don't agree with Rand Paul a lot but I think it is great that he was willing to stand up for hours speaking to a dwindling audience in order to get his point across.  This is a lot better than have the minority party simply say they are going to filibuster and if they got 40 votes then everything comes to a halt.  If you are going to filibuster, you should actually get up and stand there and talk nonstop, the way it was meant to be.

I don't think there is any chance that a president will order drone strike against American citizens unless there is a reason of extreme national security.  I think the debate instead should be setting guidelines internationally of when this type of weapon should be used.  Make no mistake about it, the technology of drones is spreading.  China, for example, has quite a bit capability in this.  If we use it without good reason, then in the future other countries will say that they are only using it the same way the U.S. did.  And what about terrorists acquiring the technology?  These are all more important debate than Rand's rant.

Let March Madness begin!  I am, of course, talking about the election of the new pope.  I think we should start brackets and see who can come up with the right champion.  I am betting on the guy from Brazil.  With Latin America having the most Catholics in the world, it is about time someone from there is elected.  Plus, I always pick Brazil for every World Cup.

Another election I want to mention is for the mayor of LA.  This took place last week and as expected there will be a runoff as no candidate received 50%.  This outcome was obvious since there were 6 candidates and none of them were that well known.  What ticks me off is that they have this election 4 months after the presidential election.  Why don't they have it in November to save some money?  Not only that, only 16% showed up to vote last week.  The electorate is pathetic but I am sure they would have had a much greater number in November.

The only election this month that is a slam dunk is the Chinese presidential election.  So you thought that had already happened last year?  Well, technically the election is now but it was decided behind close doors last November.  So I can predict the Yi Jinping will be the new president!

People may be making fun of Dennis Rodman's travel to North Korea.  But Kim Jung Un is supposedly a big basketball fan and he just maybe trying to open his country via basketball diplomacy.  Since ping pong diplomacy worked so well 40 year or so ago, who knows if this will be a break through?  At the very least Kim figures he would look respectable to the world next to Rodman!  If this works, I think we should send Hulk Hogan or Jesse Ventura to Iran since wrestling is very big in that country.

Who wrote comment #6 on my previous blog?  I can't make out what it is saying except something about expensive hand bags.  No thanks to that, I don't need purses nor can I afford them.

Saw the Oscar show last night at a party.  Usually I don't watch the whole show, maybe the opening when Billy Crystal is hosting.  But since this was an Oscar viewing party, I watched the whole thing.  I thought that Seth MacFarlane did a very good job.  I think he was certainly way better than Ann Hathway and James France were a couple of years ago.  I think only Crystal has been better among the recent hosts.  But for some reason the reviews were mixed.  It seems that MacFarlane offended some people. I don't see it.  I thought he was funny and his singing and dancing were pretty good.  I think the best performer was Shirley Bassey of James Bond fame.  She must be near 80 years old but she looks much younger and her voice is still tremendous!  I finished an amazing 2nd place among the party guests in predicting the winners.  This is amazing because I have only watched one of the movies nominated!  Unfortunately, first place went to my wife who had only watched the same movie I did!

It appears that no deal will be made before March 1st and the sequestration will occur.  As I said before, let it happen.  Both sides think that it will be to their advantage, so neither side is going to compromise.  So let's see who blinks first.  I don't think that the cuts will mean poor people dying in the streets or our national defense become number two in the world.  The stock market will fall for a while and the economic growth will slow down.  But I don't think those two things will last long.  We will not go back to a recession as a result of this.

The justice department is suing S@P for not downgrading banks in the subprime mortgage debacle that greatly contributed to the downturn of the economy.  I say:  It is about time.  Except for one South Asian guy, no big shot in Wall Street or in the banking industry have been charged criminally.  I understand that the burden of proof in a criminal case is great.  But only one person after all the wrong doings?  In civil cases the burden of proof is much lower.  So I would think the feds and the states would try to get a large sum of money out of these guys.  I don't know how hard it is to evaluate banks and financial institutions.  But giving someone about to go bankrupt a AAA rating?  I find it hard to believe that S@P and others were not sleeping on the job.  So yes, I think S@P should pay big time.

Michigan escaped tonight with an OT victory over OSU.  I think OSU got robbed at the end, not getting a foul call.  But that is the case with home court advantage.  I would say that if a road team loses by less than 6 points, it probably outplayed the home team.  Well, at least Michigan held serve and will see if they can grind one out against Wisconsin this weekend. 

I don't know why Obama decided to release a picture of him shooting skeets.  It really would not change the mind of the NRA supporters.  As expected they express doubt about the authenticity of the picture.  I don't know what is the big deal about presidents able to use a gun.  Clinton also made sure that people knew that he hunted when he was president.  It is not macho.  Anybody can fire a gun.  Six year olds have done it and to tragic results.  So who cares if the president have shot before?  Now, if any president can hunt using bow and arrow, that would be impressive.

As I predicted, by predicting SF would win I have given them the kiss of death.  From almost a blow out to an exciting finish was great.  If SF had won, future Super Bowl coaches will be so paranoid of a power outage stopping their momentum that they will bring their own generators to insure no stoppage!

I am not surprised by Indiana beating Michigan at home.  But now Michigan must beat OSU at home or they will be in real trouble.