Yes friends and neighbours it's nearly that time again when I am watching playoff baseball and the beginnings of both the NFL and the NHL seasons! I LOVE this time of year! Especially when I don't have to stay up all night to watch. But whatareyougonnadoo????
I've just been looking around the NHL and trying to see who might be good picks for the upcoming season. I've also been following pre-season scores closely. Not like they make much of a difference but... There are a few pretty exciting teams this year! You might be surprised which ones I think they are too. The following are my picks of what I think will be the top ten most offensive, (and therefore most exciting), teams to watch this year.
1: Washington Capitals. Most exciting team will be Washington again. No surprise there I'm sure. Ovechkin, Semin, Backstrom, Green, and they got an old speedy ex-Canuck to add some excitement too in Brendan Morrison. So I'll like them even better.
2: Pittsburgh Penguins. Again, no surprise. These two teams were just awesome to watch and I can't figure how they won't be numbers 1 and 2 in points at the end of the season either. Crosby, Malkin, Kunitz, Guerin, Gonchar and because they lost Whitney I think Chris Letang will be up there in defenceman scoring this year too. Staal, Kennedy, Cooke, just a solid character team! No shame in giving them the cup.
3. Chicago Blackhawks. The list of right wings on this team is incredible! Kane, Hossa, Sharp, Versteeg, Byfuglien... and their number one left wing is Andrew Ladd? Toews, Bolland and Madden are three good centres but I think they'll have to swap a right winger or two over to the left side. Plus they have Campbell, Seabrook, Keith and Sopel on D. Those are some good scorers on D!
4. Columbus Blue Jackets. Yes that's right. I told you this might be surprising. Take a look at their roster and you see absolutely NO defence except for Commodore, who's injured. That's my kind of team! Their top two defencemen, Klesla and Tyutin are both fairly offensive, and also injured. Mason and Garon are gonna see a LOT of rubber this year. But that's okay. If somebody scores on you, just got out and score two goals on THEM. This looks to be the perfect team to use their offence. And it just might put asses in seats too. Rumour has it that there is chemistry between Nash, (who scored 40 goals last year with a plumber centering his line), and Derick Brassard. Remember THAT name for your pools everybody. I've already picked him. With Jakub Voracek on the right side they'll be deadly. I always felt sorry for Vermette on Ottawa because they were so deep at center he couldn't show his skills. Well, now he can. They also have Huselius, Modin, and a candidate for rookie of the year the sharpshooting, young Russian, Nikita Filitov. Some cheap pick-ups for your pools.
5. The Toronto Maple Leafs! Don't look now but there's gonna be some scoring in Toronto! They have three, even FOUR lines who can put the puck in the net! Grabovski, Stajan, Mitchell, they'll all have good wingers to work with. Jason Blake will have no trouble getting 40 goals again. Maybe 50. I like the trade they made for Stempniak. He can score. They'll need him to hold the fort at right wing till Phill Kessel gets healthy. Another good acquisition. And watch out for the rookie Viktor Stahlberg on left wing. He's been a madman in pre-season. Defence is good too. Yet another great pick-up, Beauchemin will surprise many and Kaberle, Komisarik and Finger will likely fill the nets. Toronto could be both fun to watch AND dangerous this year!
6. The Edmonton Oilers. It's no secret that the small market teams who are not getting full houses are the teams who seem to get better by trying this new thing called scoring goals instead of worrying so much about the other team scoring on you. That's what the fans, including me, want to see. They have Visnovsky and Souray on defence. Maybe only Detroit has a better point on the power play than that. They still have old stand-bys like Horcoff and Hemsky but all the really young guys they had last year now have a full year under their belts and they'll be a LOT better for it. Watch for Gagner, Cogliano, and Nilsson to improve a lot. O'Sullivan could get 30 goals or more. And there's a young fella named J.F. Jaques who looks very good! And don't forget Mike Comrie and Ethan Moreau. What about a Gagner/Moreau/Jaques French Connection line? I will enjoy watching this speedy young team again this year!
7. The Montreal Canadiens. As much as I hate to see it, Montreal my be moving in the right direction. I might even have to vote for them a little this year. Any team with 4 offensive defencemen like Spacek, Mara, Markov and Hamrlik is gonna get some goals from point shots. And they shopped around and STOLE Mike Cammalleri one of the best young players in the NHL, and Gomez and Gionta to play with him. That'll be a strong power play even if they don't play together. They still have Plekanec and the Kostitsyn brothers. Plus they have two guys that I think could get more use in Montreal than they got on their former teams. Two GOOD guys named Travis Moen and Glen Metropolit. Trust me, they can score if you put them out there. I hope they play some offence now that they have the team for it.
8. Philadelphia Flyers. They'll be exciting but I don't think they'll be as exciting as last year. They will probably become a bit more defensive.
9. Ottawa Senators. I think they'll be the opposite of the Flyers and with new additions Kovalev and Cheechoo they'll try to be a little more offensive.
10. Boston/N.Y. Rangers. The Rangers have already traded for a guy, (Gaborik), who could win the scoring title if he were allowed to play offense and the coach has told him he WILL be set loose. Unfortunately he doesn't have a superb supporting cast. If the Rangers can get Dany Heatley, and they're trying, then they'll be my number 10. If not the Bruins will be awesome with Savard, Krejci, Bergeron, Wheeler, Ryder, Kobasew, Recchi, Lucic, Sturm, Chara... geez the list goes on. If Washington and Pittsburgh aren't first and second then maybe the Bruins will be.
Anyway, as we all know hockey is a dangerous game. There are always injuries and trades that change everything. It'll be fun to see it all play out this year. THESE are the teams that I will be watching.
P.S. I'm glad to see the Canucks picked up Samuelsson and have solidified an offensive defence with Ehrhoff and Schneider. I'm also glad that Demitra won't be playing for a while to start the season. This might give the Canucks a chance to let some younger, better players play. I wanna see Wellwood bust out this year offensively. And I'd like to see both the Sedins score 100 points. But I'm afraid that when you build your team around a goalie, even if you have the players to play offensively, you likely won't. But I REALLY hope they doooo!
I think it's gonna be a good year.
P.P.S. I didn't include one obvious team, (just to bug Angie), Detroit because with guys like Lidstrom, Rafalski, Datsyuk, Franzen, Holmstrom, even Bertuzzi, it's almost unfair. They'll be up there too, of course.
I think it's going to be a great season and I sure hope we have more than ONE 50-goal scorer this year!
Monday, September 28, 2009
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Survivor time again
Wow! That really snuck up on me! Or "sneaked" as the case may be. But I'd say it "snuck". Sounds more surprising than "sneaked" to me. I was just looking for a new show to get from mininova and BAM there's episode one of Survivor. So as usual I'll give my predictions. I DID watch the first episode and there is NO way I would have chosen Marisa to be voted out first! But who can predict what'll happen with a guy like Russ H around? He's gonna make things fun! For a short while. I'm gonna give you what I think of the players in the order that Jeff Probst reviewed them.
Erik: 28, Bartender. Probst likes him. Like me he hates "hooray-for-everything" fake positivity and he's out to bring anybody like that he encounters crashing down to earth. It's terrible but I LOVE that! Probst says he'll double cross. I agree. He loves stealing other men's women and says the only thing better than making a woman cry is making a man cry. I think this will make Natalie irresistable to him. I don't think he really has much respect for women. He dates 4 or 5 at a time and the only special female in his life is his dog. He's well educated but enjoys working as a bartender and feels he's not a "sellout". I think he'll be a very clever troublemaker. I think he could come in second place or even win if people don't get to know him. There MUST be a reason why Probst chose to talk about him first.
Ashley: 22, Spa Sales. Probst is surprised by her "gut". Says she could go deep. I don't think it'll be through any skill if she does but she could be someone people don't feel threatened by. Very good looking and will use that. But she's only camped once, she's a city girl and she seems very naive. However, says she has no qualms about selling stuff she doesn't like. She swallowed Russ H's bogus Katrina/Rocky story whole and is already giving him her trust. Not looking to be too bright yet. Could be an early casualty of Russ H's evil plan.
Dave: 38, Fitness Instructor. Danger Dave could be a danger to others or to himself. Probst expects him to self-destruct. He has the highest I.Q. of any survivor ever, 140. I am not convinced that will help in the survivor situation. However, he likes strategy games and has a LOT of world experience. Used to be a flight attendant, does martial arts, and has a degree in OPERA??? He wants to make life a rich experience. OBVIOUSLY. I liked his quote, "The issue of my sanity doesn't cross my mind that often." Don't know him well enough to guess whether that was wit or not but I'll give him the benefit of the doubt. His strategy is to "moderate my mouth". I like his philosophy but I'm not sure he'll be well accepted by others. But that might not hurt him. More people get voted off these days for being popular than not.Plans to retire to Thailand and become a minor warlord there if he wins the mil.
Russel S: 42, Lawyer. Probst feels like he's not built for the deception of the game. Not built for deception? He's a LAWYER! But he DOES sue people who hurt the environment so if such a thing exists, he might be a good lawyer. Still I've said it before, I don't think a lawyer should EVER win Survivor. Yet there always seems to be a whole herd of them on every show. Are there really THAT many lawyers in the States? Seeing him cut off his dreads won't be worth seeing him win. Was chosen as leader because of his suit and proved to be pretty good at choosing the right people for the right jobs. Except choosing John for swimming. The choice of Shambo for the smart person was fantastic. She kicked ass in both puzzles. I might like him but I won't vote for him cuz he's a lawyer.
Russel H: 36, Oil Company Owner. This guy is a jerk who would probably be more at home in jail than Samoa. From what I've seen I wouldn't be surprised if he deserves to be in jail. Even Probst called him evil! He's very intimidating and it has gotten him far. But intimidation won't work on Survivor. And he's not nearly as smart as he thinks. Already Betsy and Marisa don't trust him. But Marisa's gone because of it. He can't get away with that too many times before he gets the boot. But it'll sure be interesting to see what chaos he can cause! And when he gets voted off there might be a few death threats as he makes the walk of shame.
Brett: 23, T Shirt Designer. Probst calls him a "dark horse". He might sneak through. He's not gonna be the best or worst at anything. Perfect guy to slide through without ever getting a vote. I'll be interested to see if he's a REAL businessman and steps on people to get to the million bucks. For example I'm curious why he said Shambo looked like the best leader but then voted for Russ S. Did he want to put a target on Russ? As Russ says, "The highest nail gets pounded down first and I'm sky high right now."
Kelly: 25, Hairstylist. I think she'll be high on Erik's list of people to bring back to earth. Seems like a bubble-head. "Careful" and "Trouble" tattoos could mean, "Careful, this person has trouble." I couldn't even sit through her intro vid. There's nothing to her in my early opinion. One of several girls on this Survivor with annoying chipmunk voices.
Shambo: 45, Sales. She is instantly likeable. Biker bitch with a mullet. I like her voice and the way she talks. She just seems honest. I'm not going out on too thin a limb to guess that she might be the requisite homosexual on Survivor. Like a female Rupert. I might like her better. The puzzle QUEEN! I think she's smart and a great judge of people. Russ H is lucky she's not in his tribe cuz she'd already be on to him. Erik better be careful of her too. One of my early favourites.
Yasmin: 33, Hairstylist. Abolutely GORGEOUS! If I have learned anything from Survivor it's this: the girls I find the most attractive are always the first to be voted out. She'll be gone early. Says she's opinionated and a bitch. Might be kept around for that though. Probst thinks she's a softy but she performed well in challenges so far. I can only hope she sticks around. Maybe her and Kelly, the two hairsylists, will become friends. And go for swims, and tan on the beach and bathe together. Auuuuggghhh....
Elizabeth: 33, Lawyer. She was, (of course), picked for the intelligence task by Russ and got her ass whooped by Shambo in the puzzle. She said herself that the stereotype of Asians being smart also carries with it the negative stigma of being conniving. From my experience with Asians, it's well earned. Says she wants to be assertive without being abrasive. Her profession and her heritage certainly won't help. Says there are definitely a lot of whackos here. Is REALLY worried about annoying people. I wonder why that is... Says people need to be flexible to win. I.e. able to change alliances and/or their stories in a heartbeat. She's such a lawyer! Probst doesn't trust her and I loved when he used air quotes and called her the "smartest person." I hate her already.
Ben: 28, Mixologist. Will him and Erik swap cocktail recipes? They're both womanizers but I don't think I'll like Ben as much. He seems more like a jerk. Likes biking and killing stuff. An intriguing evil duo would be Ben and Russ but there's no honour amongst bad guys. Neither would trust the other. Says he's not a sayer but a doer then totally contradicts himself by bragging about his player life. Don't think he's gonna be Mr. Popularity and I'd be surprised if ANY of the gals like him. Probst calls him a time bomb ready to explode. I don't think he'll be able to recover if he does.
Laura: 39, Office Manager. Another biker. But I doubt her Christian, conservative personality will do anything but clash with other bikers in this bunch. In fact I could see her getting voted off if she's too vocal about her beliefs. Calls herself a fit version of Sarah Palin. Uh oh... She has maybe the MOST annoying chipmunk voice and she has used it to say "I can do it right and I can do it better." I think being in a tribe with Russ H might artificially prolong her stay. Otherwise she'd be given the heave-ho next I think. But Probst thinks she'll go all the way! Gotta disagree, Jeff.
Mike: 62, Chef. He's all by himself in the age category. Luckily not in the same tribe as Laura cuz he hates republicans. Former college football coach so he might use those skills. He's got a cool way of talking. Him and Shambo would be fun to listen to if they were reading cricket scores for crying out loud! But I have a feeling he'll be weak. So does Probst. Got his sleep apnea fixed? Can that happen? He better hope so. He's already gonna be viewed as expendible.
Betsy: 48, Cop. It's important to note that she has only been a cop for a year. Who becomes a cop at 47? Although, her cop-like reading of Russ H was impressive, her comment about Ashley being the weakest was not very peace officerish. Also was a boozer for a while. Sober 21 years though. The second she starts trying to turn Survivor into The Biggest Loser and get people crying about her husband's battle with prostate cancer I'm gonna stop liking her. But I think I just might like Betsy. Probst likes her and thinks she could win.
Marisa: 26, Student. She can go back to her studies. I think she was smart calling Russ H "pretty slimy." Not smart to confront him about it though. Probst said she was on paper made for the game but she'd get mixed up with the wrong people and be out by episode 5. Boy was he right! I think she was a good person. Did some volunteer work overseas. She had noble goals too. Too good to get rich I suppose.
Natalie: 26, Pharmaceutical Sales. She will break a nail in a challenge but probably won't eat a bug. Gorgeous and that might be what gets her voted off. Not much interesting about her except that she had better watch out for Erik. Probst thinks there might be something to her. I'm not sure yet.
Mick: 33, Doctor. Probst doesn't trust him but his tribe does. Voted the leader and he seems to be liking it more than Russ. He tried very hard to make himself sound funny in his profile. Didn't really work for me. And seeing him in the first episode, NAH. He's not funny OR a leader. He could be doing it badly on purpose but I doubt it. Says he's loyal and keeps his word. We'll see if that helps or hurts him. Or if it's even true.
John: 25, Rocket Scientist. Probst REALLY doesn't like this guy! Says he's a poser. Finds idiots and unskilled amusing and will tell them so. He'll stir the pot! Former soccer player but not such a good swimmer as we saw. Says he prefers, "justifyably confident" to "cocky." That's an awfully cocky thing to say. I think he's a bladder full of hot air and can't stand listening to him. I'm sure I won't be alone.
Monica: 25, Law Student. Studying to fill the obvious lawyer shortage in the U.S. She's gorgeous. I don't know if I'll be calling her Parvati or Pocohontas. Again I think she'll be interesting only by the company she keeps. I don't see a lot to her. And I don't want to see a law student win either. Another one of these chicks that thinks she has sales skills but dressed in her bikini, I'd buy ice from her if I were an Eskimo before she said a word.
Jaison: 28, Law Student. Maybe can study with Monica. U.S. water polo team. Good swimming is always a plus on Survivor and he won the swimming challenge in the first episode. Mr. California in Cosmo. Probst says he would love to give him the check. He IS well spoken and I like his idea of snowboarding down Mt. Everest but he's another damn lawyer!
I like: Erik, Dave, Shambo.
I hate: John, Elizabeth, Laura.
I DON'T hate: Russ H. He'll be a lot of fun if he can stick around.
Best shot to win: Russel S, Shambo, Brett, Jaison.
Erik: 28, Bartender. Probst likes him. Like me he hates "hooray-for-everything" fake positivity and he's out to bring anybody like that he encounters crashing down to earth. It's terrible but I LOVE that! Probst says he'll double cross. I agree. He loves stealing other men's women and says the only thing better than making a woman cry is making a man cry. I think this will make Natalie irresistable to him. I don't think he really has much respect for women. He dates 4 or 5 at a time and the only special female in his life is his dog. He's well educated but enjoys working as a bartender and feels he's not a "sellout". I think he'll be a very clever troublemaker. I think he could come in second place or even win if people don't get to know him. There MUST be a reason why Probst chose to talk about him first.
Ashley: 22, Spa Sales. Probst is surprised by her "gut". Says she could go deep. I don't think it'll be through any skill if she does but she could be someone people don't feel threatened by. Very good looking and will use that. But she's only camped once, she's a city girl and she seems very naive. However, says she has no qualms about selling stuff she doesn't like. She swallowed Russ H's bogus Katrina/Rocky story whole and is already giving him her trust. Not looking to be too bright yet. Could be an early casualty of Russ H's evil plan.
Dave: 38, Fitness Instructor. Danger Dave could be a danger to others or to himself. Probst expects him to self-destruct. He has the highest I.Q. of any survivor ever, 140. I am not convinced that will help in the survivor situation. However, he likes strategy games and has a LOT of world experience. Used to be a flight attendant, does martial arts, and has a degree in OPERA??? He wants to make life a rich experience. OBVIOUSLY. I liked his quote, "The issue of my sanity doesn't cross my mind that often." Don't know him well enough to guess whether that was wit or not but I'll give him the benefit of the doubt. His strategy is to "moderate my mouth". I like his philosophy but I'm not sure he'll be well accepted by others. But that might not hurt him. More people get voted off these days for being popular than not.Plans to retire to Thailand and become a minor warlord there if he wins the mil.
Russel S: 42, Lawyer. Probst feels like he's not built for the deception of the game. Not built for deception? He's a LAWYER! But he DOES sue people who hurt the environment so if such a thing exists, he might be a good lawyer. Still I've said it before, I don't think a lawyer should EVER win Survivor. Yet there always seems to be a whole herd of them on every show. Are there really THAT many lawyers in the States? Seeing him cut off his dreads won't be worth seeing him win. Was chosen as leader because of his suit and proved to be pretty good at choosing the right people for the right jobs. Except choosing John for swimming. The choice of Shambo for the smart person was fantastic. She kicked ass in both puzzles. I might like him but I won't vote for him cuz he's a lawyer.
Russel H: 36, Oil Company Owner. This guy is a jerk who would probably be more at home in jail than Samoa. From what I've seen I wouldn't be surprised if he deserves to be in jail. Even Probst called him evil! He's very intimidating and it has gotten him far. But intimidation won't work on Survivor. And he's not nearly as smart as he thinks. Already Betsy and Marisa don't trust him. But Marisa's gone because of it. He can't get away with that too many times before he gets the boot. But it'll sure be interesting to see what chaos he can cause! And when he gets voted off there might be a few death threats as he makes the walk of shame.
Brett: 23, T Shirt Designer. Probst calls him a "dark horse". He might sneak through. He's not gonna be the best or worst at anything. Perfect guy to slide through without ever getting a vote. I'll be interested to see if he's a REAL businessman and steps on people to get to the million bucks. For example I'm curious why he said Shambo looked like the best leader but then voted for Russ S. Did he want to put a target on Russ? As Russ says, "The highest nail gets pounded down first and I'm sky high right now."
Kelly: 25, Hairstylist. I think she'll be high on Erik's list of people to bring back to earth. Seems like a bubble-head. "Careful" and "Trouble" tattoos could mean, "Careful, this person has trouble." I couldn't even sit through her intro vid. There's nothing to her in my early opinion. One of several girls on this Survivor with annoying chipmunk voices.
Shambo: 45, Sales. She is instantly likeable. Biker bitch with a mullet. I like her voice and the way she talks. She just seems honest. I'm not going out on too thin a limb to guess that she might be the requisite homosexual on Survivor. Like a female Rupert. I might like her better. The puzzle QUEEN! I think she's smart and a great judge of people. Russ H is lucky she's not in his tribe cuz she'd already be on to him. Erik better be careful of her too. One of my early favourites.
Yasmin: 33, Hairstylist. Abolutely GORGEOUS! If I have learned anything from Survivor it's this: the girls I find the most attractive are always the first to be voted out. She'll be gone early. Says she's opinionated and a bitch. Might be kept around for that though. Probst thinks she's a softy but she performed well in challenges so far. I can only hope she sticks around. Maybe her and Kelly, the two hairsylists, will become friends. And go for swims, and tan on the beach and bathe together. Auuuuggghhh....
Elizabeth: 33, Lawyer. She was, (of course), picked for the intelligence task by Russ and got her ass whooped by Shambo in the puzzle. She said herself that the stereotype of Asians being smart also carries with it the negative stigma of being conniving. From my experience with Asians, it's well earned. Says she wants to be assertive without being abrasive. Her profession and her heritage certainly won't help. Says there are definitely a lot of whackos here. Is REALLY worried about annoying people. I wonder why that is... Says people need to be flexible to win. I.e. able to change alliances and/or their stories in a heartbeat. She's such a lawyer! Probst doesn't trust her and I loved when he used air quotes and called her the "smartest person." I hate her already.
Ben: 28, Mixologist. Will him and Erik swap cocktail recipes? They're both womanizers but I don't think I'll like Ben as much. He seems more like a jerk. Likes biking and killing stuff. An intriguing evil duo would be Ben and Russ but there's no honour amongst bad guys. Neither would trust the other. Says he's not a sayer but a doer then totally contradicts himself by bragging about his player life. Don't think he's gonna be Mr. Popularity and I'd be surprised if ANY of the gals like him. Probst calls him a time bomb ready to explode. I don't think he'll be able to recover if he does.
Laura: 39, Office Manager. Another biker. But I doubt her Christian, conservative personality will do anything but clash with other bikers in this bunch. In fact I could see her getting voted off if she's too vocal about her beliefs. Calls herself a fit version of Sarah Palin. Uh oh... She has maybe the MOST annoying chipmunk voice and she has used it to say "I can do it right and I can do it better." I think being in a tribe with Russ H might artificially prolong her stay. Otherwise she'd be given the heave-ho next I think. But Probst thinks she'll go all the way! Gotta disagree, Jeff.
Mike: 62, Chef. He's all by himself in the age category. Luckily not in the same tribe as Laura cuz he hates republicans. Former college football coach so he might use those skills. He's got a cool way of talking. Him and Shambo would be fun to listen to if they were reading cricket scores for crying out loud! But I have a feeling he'll be weak. So does Probst. Got his sleep apnea fixed? Can that happen? He better hope so. He's already gonna be viewed as expendible.
Betsy: 48, Cop. It's important to note that she has only been a cop for a year. Who becomes a cop at 47? Although, her cop-like reading of Russ H was impressive, her comment about Ashley being the weakest was not very peace officerish. Also was a boozer for a while. Sober 21 years though. The second she starts trying to turn Survivor into The Biggest Loser and get people crying about her husband's battle with prostate cancer I'm gonna stop liking her. But I think I just might like Betsy. Probst likes her and thinks she could win.
Marisa: 26, Student. She can go back to her studies. I think she was smart calling Russ H "pretty slimy." Not smart to confront him about it though. Probst said she was on paper made for the game but she'd get mixed up with the wrong people and be out by episode 5. Boy was he right! I think she was a good person. Did some volunteer work overseas. She had noble goals too. Too good to get rich I suppose.
Natalie: 26, Pharmaceutical Sales. She will break a nail in a challenge but probably won't eat a bug. Gorgeous and that might be what gets her voted off. Not much interesting about her except that she had better watch out for Erik. Probst thinks there might be something to her. I'm not sure yet.
Mick: 33, Doctor. Probst doesn't trust him but his tribe does. Voted the leader and he seems to be liking it more than Russ. He tried very hard to make himself sound funny in his profile. Didn't really work for me. And seeing him in the first episode, NAH. He's not funny OR a leader. He could be doing it badly on purpose but I doubt it. Says he's loyal and keeps his word. We'll see if that helps or hurts him. Or if it's even true.
John: 25, Rocket Scientist. Probst REALLY doesn't like this guy! Says he's a poser. Finds idiots and unskilled amusing and will tell them so. He'll stir the pot! Former soccer player but not such a good swimmer as we saw. Says he prefers, "justifyably confident" to "cocky." That's an awfully cocky thing to say. I think he's a bladder full of hot air and can't stand listening to him. I'm sure I won't be alone.
Monica: 25, Law Student. Studying to fill the obvious lawyer shortage in the U.S. She's gorgeous. I don't know if I'll be calling her Parvati or Pocohontas. Again I think she'll be interesting only by the company she keeps. I don't see a lot to her. And I don't want to see a law student win either. Another one of these chicks that thinks she has sales skills but dressed in her bikini, I'd buy ice from her if I were an Eskimo before she said a word.
Jaison: 28, Law Student. Maybe can study with Monica. U.S. water polo team. Good swimming is always a plus on Survivor and he won the swimming challenge in the first episode. Mr. California in Cosmo. Probst says he would love to give him the check. He IS well spoken and I like his idea of snowboarding down Mt. Everest but he's another damn lawyer!
I like: Erik, Dave, Shambo.
I hate: John, Elizabeth, Laura.
I DON'T hate: Russ H. He'll be a lot of fun if he can stick around.
Best shot to win: Russel S, Shambo, Brett, Jaison.
Thursday, September 17, 2009
After two years and one month I finally met my boss!
Today was the big meeting. It only took a matter of 25 short months for the occasion to arise but I finally met with this Snuffleuppagus known around Seogang College as Director Park. He's the director of the language department here. Kasia had told me about him many times. How she taught his kids, how his English is really good. She even assured me that at one point or another I had seen him. But I met him today and didn't recognize him at ALL!
To give you an idea how genuinely clueless I was about who this guy was, I was told to go to his office at 11. I showed up at the wrong office. I walked up to the guy who I had always assumed was Director Park, who has an office just off the new office where Peter, one of my supervisors works, shook his hand and said, "Hello, Director Park," to which he replied, "Mooyeoh? 'Recto Pak? 'Recto Pak?'" Then he led me out into the main office helpfully pointing at me and quoting me. "Recto Pak? Recto Pak?" I didn't know Director Park's full name and Peter wasn't there. I didn't know HIS full name either. It's never been necessary for me to know either. Luckily one of the other workers in the office figured out that Peter could probably help and she called him. I talked to Peter on her phone and he told me I was not only in the wrong office, I was in the wrong BUILDING! So I thanked her for her help and went to the right building.
I got to the office and Peter was there. He showed me in and took off. Things have been particularly tense around here lately due to the internet fiasco. I had a big blow-up and have completely stopped talking with Jung and Peter is now in charge of me. Everybody was expecting me to go in there and rant and rave. And to tell you the truth after the year I had last year and the way things have started off this year I really SHOULD have. Both Peter and Jung did there best to keep me from a private meeting with Director Park for as long as they could most likely for just this reason. A few weeks ago when I was trying to get permission to install my own private internet in my room in the dorm I asked Peter to set up a meeting with Director Park and me but he said he couldn't and set up a meeting with all four of us. I said it was completely unnecessary and aparently Park thought so as well cuz he cancelled it. Then I told Peter I would still like him to set up a meeting with Park and myself knowing he would conveniently forget to do so. He did. So I called Director Park and asked him for a meeting. I guess he called Peter and Peter called me into the office one day and said, "Okay I can set up a meeting Thursday at 11. That's the only time all four of us are free." I said difinitively then and there, "You and Jung don't need to be there."
So I'm SURE they were shitting their drawers expecting me to inform on them. Not so much Peter. I hadn't dealt much with him in the previous year but as you will know if you read the boring office politics I write about sometimes on this blog, Jung pretty much took the year off. And I admit to frequent insomnia and daydreaming caused by rehearsing a fire and brimstone, Jung-damning oration in the weeks leading up to the meeting knowing full well it would probably never be heard by human ears.
Sure enough when I got in there even though my compassion was undeserved I went really easy on Jung and just politicked about how when things are tough sometimes co-workers become less friendly and more competitive. It creates a palpable tension. Due to the global economic crisis things are tough all over and I sensed a tension at Seokang last year that wasn't aparent 3 years ago when I first started working here. I even mentioned how much I loved Peter and Jung and that they were the main reason I came back to Seokang and want to stay at Seokang. I oozed about how in 2006 they had made me feel welcome and appreciated and that is all I want from any employer and haven't been able to find anywhere else. But, I said, the atmosphere is different now. So in an effort to help get things back to the way they used to be I offered my services as a director of a kids camp during the summer and winter vacations. I could quite easily make it happen. I have connections. Between my connections and myself we would do virtually ALL the work and the college would make a few extra HUNDRED MILLION won a year for doing next to nothing. Pretty freakin' sweet deal for them! I put on my doe eyes and blathered on saying that if this extra money served to solidify some jobs and make people less combative and friendlier like the way they used to be around here, it would all be worth it. What a wonderful human being I am!
But I also told him that it would be a lot more convenient for me to have a camp here than to continually request permission to work at another camp; interview for jobs at several other camps; find a camp that looks like it might now rip me off; (and really there's just no way to be sure); find a camp that won't be a holiday PRISON; find a camp that looks to have some cool co-workers; move to another part of the country; stay in a strange town in strange lodgings; go through the hellish immigration for the camp etc... It would be a lot easier for me to just do a camp here every vacation. AND it would make me more money.
I continued on to say that I'm working at about 25% capacity here and I would like to maximize my earning potential for the school. I think I even said, "Put me in, Coach!" at one point. Then I said that if all of this worked out I would be responsible for making the school a considerable chunk of change and then the school would most likely appreciate me more. AAAaaaand they could show that appreciation by getting me an apartment off campus.
It was at this point that Director Park spoke for the first time. He said that there was no possibility of getting me a place off campus. Here was the first chance I had to HINT at the failings of others in the program to represent me. I said that there was no way of knowing exactly what Jung had told him as to WHY I wanted a place off campus but I said that if any reasonable man knew all of what I went through and what EVERY teacher goes through here, (all of which Jung had been informed), it would leave no question in his mind that off campus housing is mandatory. I explained all kinds of problems I had been having strategically omitting the problems that were exacerbated by Jung's negligence. Like the door key that took 18 months for him to get me. I didn't even talk about the hassles I had been having with the Idon'tcaretakers here! I should be canonized or at least knighted for my restraint!
Then I told him that I had given Jung an address of a very comfortable apartment that would cost a mere 180,000 won a month. That's about 150 bucks my American and Canadian friends. DIRT cheap. I then told him that if they replaced me with the requisite 4 students in my dorm room they would actually MAKE money by getting me a place off campus. He agreed! By that I assume Jung HADN'T told him any of this information and should be reprimanded. hoo hoo haa haaaaaa.
I then cleverly worked some extra duties I am doing into the conversation. I was EN FUEGO! I said that the dorm room was also tragic to my social life. I've never had less of a social life. I can't invite people to my apartment because it's too small. We can't watch TV because I don't have one. It stinks all the time because of a sewage anomaly whereby all the students' shit passes right under my room and if I don't smell it from my bathroom I smell it from the sewage grate outside my window. It's just not possible to entertain guests. The only friends I have nowadays are people I have to go downtown on weekends to meet with. So, (here comes the clever part), when, on Monday, Peter asked me if I could find someone to teach the President of Seokang's daughter I had to tell him I couldn't talk to any of my friends until the weekend. He wanted an answer by Wednesday but because of my social isolation caused by the dorm, I just couldn't oblige. hee hee hee.
Anyway, I think I did the best I could have at the meeting. It won't ruffle any feathers and it just MIGHT get me out of this gulag - I mean dormitory. And if we do the camp, that's fine. If not, that's okay too. I STILL think I might get outta here.
So I went out tonight to whack a few baseballs at the batting cage in celebration. I bought some new, (and ridiculously expensive), batting gloves and wanted to use them. They are the first pair I've ever owned. I never used them when I played. But teaching has made my hands soft I guess. The crazy part is I got a cut in my forearm from where the velcro strip was rubbing against it every time I swung. It was good exercise anyway.
I'll give you the results of the meeting in future posts you can be sure.
To give you an idea how genuinely clueless I was about who this guy was, I was told to go to his office at 11. I showed up at the wrong office. I walked up to the guy who I had always assumed was Director Park, who has an office just off the new office where Peter, one of my supervisors works, shook his hand and said, "Hello, Director Park," to which he replied, "Mooyeoh? 'Recto Pak? 'Recto Pak?'" Then he led me out into the main office helpfully pointing at me and quoting me. "Recto Pak? Recto Pak?" I didn't know Director Park's full name and Peter wasn't there. I didn't know HIS full name either. It's never been necessary for me to know either. Luckily one of the other workers in the office figured out that Peter could probably help and she called him. I talked to Peter on her phone and he told me I was not only in the wrong office, I was in the wrong BUILDING! So I thanked her for her help and went to the right building.
I got to the office and Peter was there. He showed me in and took off. Things have been particularly tense around here lately due to the internet fiasco. I had a big blow-up and have completely stopped talking with Jung and Peter is now in charge of me. Everybody was expecting me to go in there and rant and rave. And to tell you the truth after the year I had last year and the way things have started off this year I really SHOULD have. Both Peter and Jung did there best to keep me from a private meeting with Director Park for as long as they could most likely for just this reason. A few weeks ago when I was trying to get permission to install my own private internet in my room in the dorm I asked Peter to set up a meeting with Director Park and me but he said he couldn't and set up a meeting with all four of us. I said it was completely unnecessary and aparently Park thought so as well cuz he cancelled it. Then I told Peter I would still like him to set up a meeting with Park and myself knowing he would conveniently forget to do so. He did. So I called Director Park and asked him for a meeting. I guess he called Peter and Peter called me into the office one day and said, "Okay I can set up a meeting Thursday at 11. That's the only time all four of us are free." I said difinitively then and there, "You and Jung don't need to be there."
So I'm SURE they were shitting their drawers expecting me to inform on them. Not so much Peter. I hadn't dealt much with him in the previous year but as you will know if you read the boring office politics I write about sometimes on this blog, Jung pretty much took the year off. And I admit to frequent insomnia and daydreaming caused by rehearsing a fire and brimstone, Jung-damning oration in the weeks leading up to the meeting knowing full well it would probably never be heard by human ears.
Sure enough when I got in there even though my compassion was undeserved I went really easy on Jung and just politicked about how when things are tough sometimes co-workers become less friendly and more competitive. It creates a palpable tension. Due to the global economic crisis things are tough all over and I sensed a tension at Seokang last year that wasn't aparent 3 years ago when I first started working here. I even mentioned how much I loved Peter and Jung and that they were the main reason I came back to Seokang and want to stay at Seokang. I oozed about how in 2006 they had made me feel welcome and appreciated and that is all I want from any employer and haven't been able to find anywhere else. But, I said, the atmosphere is different now. So in an effort to help get things back to the way they used to be I offered my services as a director of a kids camp during the summer and winter vacations. I could quite easily make it happen. I have connections. Between my connections and myself we would do virtually ALL the work and the college would make a few extra HUNDRED MILLION won a year for doing next to nothing. Pretty freakin' sweet deal for them! I put on my doe eyes and blathered on saying that if this extra money served to solidify some jobs and make people less combative and friendlier like the way they used to be around here, it would all be worth it. What a wonderful human being I am!
But I also told him that it would be a lot more convenient for me to have a camp here than to continually request permission to work at another camp; interview for jobs at several other camps; find a camp that looks like it might now rip me off; (and really there's just no way to be sure); find a camp that won't be a holiday PRISON; find a camp that looks to have some cool co-workers; move to another part of the country; stay in a strange town in strange lodgings; go through the hellish immigration for the camp etc... It would be a lot easier for me to just do a camp here every vacation. AND it would make me more money.
I continued on to say that I'm working at about 25% capacity here and I would like to maximize my earning potential for the school. I think I even said, "Put me in, Coach!" at one point. Then I said that if all of this worked out I would be responsible for making the school a considerable chunk of change and then the school would most likely appreciate me more. AAAaaaand they could show that appreciation by getting me an apartment off campus.
It was at this point that Director Park spoke for the first time. He said that there was no possibility of getting me a place off campus. Here was the first chance I had to HINT at the failings of others in the program to represent me. I said that there was no way of knowing exactly what Jung had told him as to WHY I wanted a place off campus but I said that if any reasonable man knew all of what I went through and what EVERY teacher goes through here, (all of which Jung had been informed), it would leave no question in his mind that off campus housing is mandatory. I explained all kinds of problems I had been having strategically omitting the problems that were exacerbated by Jung's negligence. Like the door key that took 18 months for him to get me. I didn't even talk about the hassles I had been having with the Idon'tcaretakers here! I should be canonized or at least knighted for my restraint!
Then I told him that I had given Jung an address of a very comfortable apartment that would cost a mere 180,000 won a month. That's about 150 bucks my American and Canadian friends. DIRT cheap. I then told him that if they replaced me with the requisite 4 students in my dorm room they would actually MAKE money by getting me a place off campus. He agreed! By that I assume Jung HADN'T told him any of this information and should be reprimanded. hoo hoo haa haaaaaa.
I then cleverly worked some extra duties I am doing into the conversation. I was EN FUEGO! I said that the dorm room was also tragic to my social life. I've never had less of a social life. I can't invite people to my apartment because it's too small. We can't watch TV because I don't have one. It stinks all the time because of a sewage anomaly whereby all the students' shit passes right under my room and if I don't smell it from my bathroom I smell it from the sewage grate outside my window. It's just not possible to entertain guests. The only friends I have nowadays are people I have to go downtown on weekends to meet with. So, (here comes the clever part), when, on Monday, Peter asked me if I could find someone to teach the President of Seokang's daughter I had to tell him I couldn't talk to any of my friends until the weekend. He wanted an answer by Wednesday but because of my social isolation caused by the dorm, I just couldn't oblige. hee hee hee.
Anyway, I think I did the best I could have at the meeting. It won't ruffle any feathers and it just MIGHT get me out of this gulag - I mean dormitory. And if we do the camp, that's fine. If not, that's okay too. I STILL think I might get outta here.
So I went out tonight to whack a few baseballs at the batting cage in celebration. I bought some new, (and ridiculously expensive), batting gloves and wanted to use them. They are the first pair I've ever owned. I never used them when I played. But teaching has made my hands soft I guess. The crazy part is I got a cut in my forearm from where the velcro strip was rubbing against it every time I swung. It was good exercise anyway.
I'll give you the results of the meeting in future posts you can be sure.
Sunday, September 06, 2009
Why ARE Korean Women So Good At Golf?
Look at the results of the recent U.S. Women's Open. There's no denying it: Korean chicks got golf game! Why are they so good at golf? There are many theories. Some are HILARIOUS!
Just as an aside, the Hwang Woo Seok mentioned in the link above was found to have been faking his stem cell research and totally discredited. If you read the article in Time Magazine written about him before he was exposed as the fraud he is, it's really funny how the interviewer sneaks a little hint of his own discreditation into it in the way he describes Hwang explaining how chopstick skills directly translate into scientific skills and how Korean chopsticks are harder to use so they are more skillful. Even in print it was easy to tell the author didn't write that with a straight face. Here in Korea, if you're Korean, you have to at least act like you believe that baloney.
But back on track here: why are Korean ladies so good at golf. The answer is as simple as the people. Using the same phrase as many have used to describe my putting stroke, having been here as long as I have and having no cultural blinders that would lead to silliness like the above link, I feel like I am uniquely qualified to "take a stab at this".
I have met thousands of Korean women. Since my job requires me to meet new women so often I could safely say I've met more Korean women than most Korean people ever will. And since in my classrooms I try to foster a distinctly NON-Korean atmosphere, (that is, informal), people tend to say things in my class they would never say in regular Korean society where they are obliged to constantly act, perform and live by the rules of other people. MANY students and friends have commented on how comfortable they feel when they are talking to me or with other foreigners. Korean men are CONSTANTLY asking why a lot of Korean women seem to go for foreign guys. Well this would definitely be part of it. I won't mention any other parts of foreign guys because they have nothing to do with the subject at hand.
Getting back to the rules mentioned in the last paragraph, I think that this is at the heart of Korean golfing greatness. You see, women the country over are performing every day tasks by rote. Very little if anything they do is done with full consciousness. Walking, operating a shopping cart, a vehicle, talking, studying... if you studied Korean women you would see that they are very well trained to operate in a mental gear I like to call neutral. DATE a Korean woman and you'll find out even more.
I tell a joke in my classes: A Korean man has a really bad car accident. He's bleeding profusely from his head, one arm and one leg are broken but he manages to walk to a hospital on his own. A nurse looks at him and exclaims, "Oh my GOD! How are you?" He replies, "Iamfinethankyouandyou?" It could just as easily have been a Korean woman in the joke although she wouldn't walk to the hospital, she'd take out one of her cellphones and call.
If you hang out with Koreans you will notice that this is the response they've been trained to give to this question. In fact most "schools" I've worked for try their best to encourage teachers to teach the entire English language so that it can be spoken as mindlessly as this. And when you listen to Koreans speaking Korean I'm convinced that it's well on its way to becoming just a list of identical questions and answers used by everyone identically every time.
What a tremendous DRAG! I can't tell you how many times I've asked garden variety ice breakers and received some response like, "I never think of this." So LIVE a little for God's sake! Let language entertain you once in a while.
Speaking of that, language comedy? Doesn't yet exist here. Nothing but slapstick.
Try to be inventive with the Korean language yourself? Good luck. One time instead of saying, "I want dalk kalbi," I said, "I NEED dalk kalbi." (dalk kalbi is a really delicious spicy chicken dish here in Korea). The Koreans I was with not only didn't appreciate my adventurous linguistics, they took a LONG time to understand what I was saying and their final report was, "Nobody says that in Korean."
This is one of the major frustrations about learning Korean that has totally demoralized myself and a lot of other people who have tried to learn it. Say something slightly wrong and even smart people probably won't understand you. They have two sets of numbers in Korea and no discernable pattern as to when to use which. But use the wrong number and even though they know its meaning they likely won't understand you.
Then there are things that you can say a few different ways. For example "next" can be said as "tal men" or "daum". "Month" can be said as "weol" or "dal". If you say "See you next month it's "Daum dal mannayo." NObody will have a clue what you're saying if you say, "Tal men weol mannayo."
This is what happens when everybody operates by the rule. You cannot stray or vary one iota. You must stay the course. What did I say about the Korean national anthem in my last post? Like a steadfast pine standing on "duty" ever still THAT is the ideal Korean's resolute will. Any military man will give a description of an ideal soldier that sounds remarkably similar to this. And the best, most skilled killers in any military are the ones who have done their training drills so many times and they have become so DAMNED boring that they are able, in fact FORCED for self-preservation, to do them without thinking at all. By rote. Mindlessly.
This has distinct advantages in the military. You really don't want your pesky brain to be thinking about the family or friends of the person you are about to stab in the coronary artery. Or why exactly you are fighting at all. Your's is not to reason why, your's is but to do and die.
This brings us to our point. There are huge advantages to practicing golf so many hours a day that you become completely bored of it and are able to switch into that neutral gear while you do it and still do it well. You don't think of the pressure, the other people, the money, the TV cameras, the big crowds, you just do it by rote. There is nobody that I have met better at doing things by rote than a Korean woman and there are no people better at training people to do things by rote than Koreans.
THIS is why they're better than anybody. In my opinion anyway. Yes the Korean women golfers are the first to turn golf completely into a business. It ain't just golf they've done THAT to...
Watch some women's golf and see if you can spot any of these really great Korean gals having a little bit of genuine fun out there. NOT including their celebrations when they have won a tournament and are allowed to stop golfing for a few days. Or maybe only practice 4 hours instead of the usual 10 for the next few days.
The way I personally define a good athlete is I ask myself if he/she would be doing it even if there were no salary at all. Or like 99% of the rest of the world, if he/she had to PAY to do it. I pay through the arse to golf and in Korea it's like 200 bucks a round! Would any Korean gals be out on the links if they didn't consider it a job or an investment? Will they golf when they retire? Did they EVER enjoy it or did someone see an aptitude and force them to do it? And are they playing now out of duty to that person who paid 200 bucks for every round? Not to mention clubs, travel, professional lessons, driving range fees. It doesn't just happen in golf folks. A majority of people here are doing something they don't want to do out of duty. And to me it's most sad when it's something like golf that can and SHOULD be really really fun.
I don't see the enjoyment or love of the game from most Korean gals who play it. They're almost robotic out there. And it's sad but emotion just gets in the way. To go one step further into the barbarism that the lust for money has brought to the innocent, beautiful world of sport, is it possible that people who don't actually LIKE the sport but are forced to play it are even better at it than people who will let love, enjoyment or thrill of competition jangle their nerves? I think this is one of the reasons Chinese athletes are so great. Remember the emotionless, robotic Russians of years ago? Korea is probably just using these models to make their golfers better. But that's just my pointless rambling for the day.
Just as an aside, the Hwang Woo Seok mentioned in the link above was found to have been faking his stem cell research and totally discredited. If you read the article in Time Magazine written about him before he was exposed as the fraud he is, it's really funny how the interviewer sneaks a little hint of his own discreditation into it in the way he describes Hwang explaining how chopstick skills directly translate into scientific skills and how Korean chopsticks are harder to use so they are more skillful. Even in print it was easy to tell the author didn't write that with a straight face. Here in Korea, if you're Korean, you have to at least act like you believe that baloney.
But back on track here: why are Korean ladies so good at golf. The answer is as simple as the people. Using the same phrase as many have used to describe my putting stroke, having been here as long as I have and having no cultural blinders that would lead to silliness like the above link, I feel like I am uniquely qualified to "take a stab at this".
I have met thousands of Korean women. Since my job requires me to meet new women so often I could safely say I've met more Korean women than most Korean people ever will. And since in my classrooms I try to foster a distinctly NON-Korean atmosphere, (that is, informal), people tend to say things in my class they would never say in regular Korean society where they are obliged to constantly act, perform and live by the rules of other people. MANY students and friends have commented on how comfortable they feel when they are talking to me or with other foreigners. Korean men are CONSTANTLY asking why a lot of Korean women seem to go for foreign guys. Well this would definitely be part of it. I won't mention any other parts of foreign guys because they have nothing to do with the subject at hand.
Getting back to the rules mentioned in the last paragraph, I think that this is at the heart of Korean golfing greatness. You see, women the country over are performing every day tasks by rote. Very little if anything they do is done with full consciousness. Walking, operating a shopping cart, a vehicle, talking, studying... if you studied Korean women you would see that they are very well trained to operate in a mental gear I like to call neutral. DATE a Korean woman and you'll find out even more.
I tell a joke in my classes: A Korean man has a really bad car accident. He's bleeding profusely from his head, one arm and one leg are broken but he manages to walk to a hospital on his own. A nurse looks at him and exclaims, "Oh my GOD! How are you?" He replies, "Iamfinethankyouandyou?" It could just as easily have been a Korean woman in the joke although she wouldn't walk to the hospital, she'd take out one of her cellphones and call.
If you hang out with Koreans you will notice that this is the response they've been trained to give to this question. In fact most "schools" I've worked for try their best to encourage teachers to teach the entire English language so that it can be spoken as mindlessly as this. And when you listen to Koreans speaking Korean I'm convinced that it's well on its way to becoming just a list of identical questions and answers used by everyone identically every time.
What a tremendous DRAG! I can't tell you how many times I've asked garden variety ice breakers and received some response like, "I never think of this." So LIVE a little for God's sake! Let language entertain you once in a while.
Speaking of that, language comedy? Doesn't yet exist here. Nothing but slapstick.
Try to be inventive with the Korean language yourself? Good luck. One time instead of saying, "I want dalk kalbi," I said, "I NEED dalk kalbi." (dalk kalbi is a really delicious spicy chicken dish here in Korea). The Koreans I was with not only didn't appreciate my adventurous linguistics, they took a LONG time to understand what I was saying and their final report was, "Nobody says that in Korean."
This is one of the major frustrations about learning Korean that has totally demoralized myself and a lot of other people who have tried to learn it. Say something slightly wrong and even smart people probably won't understand you. They have two sets of numbers in Korea and no discernable pattern as to when to use which. But use the wrong number and even though they know its meaning they likely won't understand you.
Then there are things that you can say a few different ways. For example "next" can be said as "tal men" or "daum". "Month" can be said as "weol" or "dal". If you say "See you next month it's "Daum dal mannayo." NObody will have a clue what you're saying if you say, "Tal men weol mannayo."
This is what happens when everybody operates by the rule. You cannot stray or vary one iota. You must stay the course. What did I say about the Korean national anthem in my last post? Like a steadfast pine standing on "duty" ever still THAT is the ideal Korean's resolute will. Any military man will give a description of an ideal soldier that sounds remarkably similar to this. And the best, most skilled killers in any military are the ones who have done their training drills so many times and they have become so DAMNED boring that they are able, in fact FORCED for self-preservation, to do them without thinking at all. By rote. Mindlessly.
This has distinct advantages in the military. You really don't want your pesky brain to be thinking about the family or friends of the person you are about to stab in the coronary artery. Or why exactly you are fighting at all. Your's is not to reason why, your's is but to do and die.
This brings us to our point. There are huge advantages to practicing golf so many hours a day that you become completely bored of it and are able to switch into that neutral gear while you do it and still do it well. You don't think of the pressure, the other people, the money, the TV cameras, the big crowds, you just do it by rote. There is nobody that I have met better at doing things by rote than a Korean woman and there are no people better at training people to do things by rote than Koreans.
THIS is why they're better than anybody. In my opinion anyway. Yes the Korean women golfers are the first to turn golf completely into a business. It ain't just golf they've done THAT to...
Watch some women's golf and see if you can spot any of these really great Korean gals having a little bit of genuine fun out there. NOT including their celebrations when they have won a tournament and are allowed to stop golfing for a few days. Or maybe only practice 4 hours instead of the usual 10 for the next few days.
The way I personally define a good athlete is I ask myself if he/she would be doing it even if there were no salary at all. Or like 99% of the rest of the world, if he/she had to PAY to do it. I pay through the arse to golf and in Korea it's like 200 bucks a round! Would any Korean gals be out on the links if they didn't consider it a job or an investment? Will they golf when they retire? Did they EVER enjoy it or did someone see an aptitude and force them to do it? And are they playing now out of duty to that person who paid 200 bucks for every round? Not to mention clubs, travel, professional lessons, driving range fees. It doesn't just happen in golf folks. A majority of people here are doing something they don't want to do out of duty. And to me it's most sad when it's something like golf that can and SHOULD be really really fun.
I don't see the enjoyment or love of the game from most Korean gals who play it. They're almost robotic out there. And it's sad but emotion just gets in the way. To go one step further into the barbarism that the lust for money has brought to the innocent, beautiful world of sport, is it possible that people who don't actually LIKE the sport but are forced to play it are even better at it than people who will let love, enjoyment or thrill of competition jangle their nerves? I think this is one of the reasons Chinese athletes are so great. Remember the emotionless, robotic Russians of years ago? Korea is probably just using these models to make their golfers better. But that's just my pointless rambling for the day.
Tuesday, September 01, 2009
Watch yer language!
***Opinions expressed in the following post may or may not reflect those of the blogmaster.***
I am reading a lot recently about languages. I saw a pole on Facebook about whether English should be the official language of the U.S. Although in some areas and neighbourhoods it's all but unrecongnizable, I always thought it WAS! Is there any chance, or reason that this might be changed?
Then another friend sent me news about the possibility of the Canadian national anthem being sung in Hindi at the upcoming Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver. Although Canadians, who will very soon be the forefathers of the first totally beige country in the world are the last people you expect to get all emotional over such an issue, it seems to have happened. Check out this article.
Now I've posted my comments here before about how stupid I think it is for national anthems to be sung at sporting events, but that's not including the Olympics. It literally is country vs. country so it really DOES make sense there. But at an NHL game in Detroit they sing the U.S. national anthem for a team that they should sing either the Canadian or Swedish national anthem for. In the Canadian Football League most of the players are American but that doesn't stop us from singing "O Canada" does it? Other sports are similar. But when it does make sense to sing the anthems I would think the song of a country should be sung in the official language(s) of that country. It's really a non-issue to me.
The question I'm asking myself is what the purpose or pertinence of singing the Canadian anthem in Hindi might have been. Is it because we have a higher number of Indians in Canada now? Canada's evolving but it's still Canada. I don't see Hindi making a big splash in our popular culture. And I think it will be a VERY long time before Bollywood is more popular than Hollywood and the sitar replaces the guitar in Canada. In fact I'll go way out on a limb and say it will NEVER happen. At least not on MY watch. I have nothing against either, just, (shudder), not my cup of cha.
Besides, who will these new-to-Canada Indians be cheering for in the 2010 Winter Olympics? India or Canada. If we could get all the Indians in Canada to cheer genuinely for the Canadian national team to whoop the Indian national team in, uh, some sport that both India and Canada compete in, let's say for argument's sake snow cricket, then and only then would I even think about thinking about listening to an argument for singing O Canada in Hindi. But it's never gonna happen is it? The former, not the latter.
Just about everyone in India speaks English anyway right? Especially the ones who are immigrating to Canada. They have training, they have education, they have skills, they work for peanuts compared to Joe Canadian AND they speak English. So what's the big deal about singing an English song in English? If they feel they absolutely MUST sing it in another language, how bout French?
I live in Korea. If I were working construction or something like that I'd learn the language. But I'm teaching English so I don't need, (or want), to learn it. But every time I go to a Kia Tiger baseball game I stand up and sing the national anthem. In Korean. Okay, okay, I HUM most of it, but I sing the parts I know in Korean. There's one line in it that translates to, "Like that Mt. Namsan armoured pine, standing on duty still, wind or frost, unchanging ever be our resolute will." It pretty much sums up the country for me. So I know for a fact what would happen if I were to even TRY to sing the national anthem in English. Hey there are LOTS of people in Korea who speak English as their native language! Why can't WE sing their national anthem in English? Cuz they stand resolute and unchanging on duty and it would then be every other fan in the building's duty to lynch my "waygookin" ass. Well don't we in Canada, "...stand on guard for thee"?
Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying this is better than Canada or worse. All I'm saying is I have no problem at all singing the Korean national anthem in Korean. I've never even thought of singing it in English. And it's not for fear of the lynch mob. It's just the right way to sing it. It's like, it's like... Andrea Bocelli's Con te Partiro sung by Brittany Speares: "I'll go with you baby baby..."
I mean that just ain't right!
Con te Partiro is a song that almost makes me cry every time I hear it. Especially that last note. Damn! I don't really need to know the English translation. It is better without. And there's something about not knowing the meaning that makes my imagination take part in a way it couldn't if I knew.
Contrarily, if the national anthem of Canada were to be sung in Hindi at the Olympic games, not knowing what they are saying might serve a different purpose. You KNOW there would be people saying, "Now wait a minute, for all we know they could be singing:
O Canada
we're glad you're so naive.
We sing this song
but you don't make us leave.
With friends and kin
we barge right in
and pay your ways no care.
Why would I work?
I'd be a jerk!
I qualify for welfare.
gods keep this land
free from sanity.
We'll teach our language
to your kids for a small fee,
but o Canada
we won't learn English for thee.
No Canada
we'll only speak Hindi."
Now don't get me wrong, that's not what I think, but you KNOW there will be people thinking that. It's not a good way to promote the multiculturalism Canada stands for.
I find in life there are three things I turn to when I need a frame of reference or answers to a tough issue: Nature, the Good Book or cartoons. If you can't find any guidance there, just give it up. It turns out that there IS some guidance available. In Southpark season 8 there is an episode called "Goobacks". If you watch the episode, www.southparkstudios.com , and think you might want to talk like the visitors from a million years in the future then just keep on mixing up the languages, Smarty Pants! MAN, can you imagine spelling tests with that langauge? You have to watch it. "Ney nook er nyubs!" You won't get THAT one if you don't watch it either.
So let's stop all this nonsense and have a good, ENGLISH, (and French), Olympic games, shall we?
***Opinions expressed in the previous post may or may not reflect those of the blogmaster.***
I am reading a lot recently about languages. I saw a pole on Facebook about whether English should be the official language of the U.S. Although in some areas and neighbourhoods it's all but unrecongnizable, I always thought it WAS! Is there any chance, or reason that this might be changed?
Then another friend sent me news about the possibility of the Canadian national anthem being sung in Hindi at the upcoming Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver. Although Canadians, who will very soon be the forefathers of the first totally beige country in the world are the last people you expect to get all emotional over such an issue, it seems to have happened. Check out this article.
Now I've posted my comments here before about how stupid I think it is for national anthems to be sung at sporting events, but that's not including the Olympics. It literally is country vs. country so it really DOES make sense there. But at an NHL game in Detroit they sing the U.S. national anthem for a team that they should sing either the Canadian or Swedish national anthem for. In the Canadian Football League most of the players are American but that doesn't stop us from singing "O Canada" does it? Other sports are similar. But when it does make sense to sing the anthems I would think the song of a country should be sung in the official language(s) of that country. It's really a non-issue to me.
The question I'm asking myself is what the purpose or pertinence of singing the Canadian anthem in Hindi might have been. Is it because we have a higher number of Indians in Canada now? Canada's evolving but it's still Canada. I don't see Hindi making a big splash in our popular culture. And I think it will be a VERY long time before Bollywood is more popular than Hollywood and the sitar replaces the guitar in Canada. In fact I'll go way out on a limb and say it will NEVER happen. At least not on MY watch. I have nothing against either, just, (shudder), not my cup of cha.
Besides, who will these new-to-Canada Indians be cheering for in the 2010 Winter Olympics? India or Canada. If we could get all the Indians in Canada to cheer genuinely for the Canadian national team to whoop the Indian national team in, uh, some sport that both India and Canada compete in, let's say for argument's sake snow cricket, then and only then would I even think about thinking about listening to an argument for singing O Canada in Hindi. But it's never gonna happen is it? The former, not the latter.
Just about everyone in India speaks English anyway right? Especially the ones who are immigrating to Canada. They have training, they have education, they have skills, they work for peanuts compared to Joe Canadian AND they speak English. So what's the big deal about singing an English song in English? If they feel they absolutely MUST sing it in another language, how bout French?
I live in Korea. If I were working construction or something like that I'd learn the language. But I'm teaching English so I don't need, (or want), to learn it. But every time I go to a Kia Tiger baseball game I stand up and sing the national anthem. In Korean. Okay, okay, I HUM most of it, but I sing the parts I know in Korean. There's one line in it that translates to, "Like that Mt. Namsan armoured pine, standing on duty still, wind or frost, unchanging ever be our resolute will." It pretty much sums up the country for me. So I know for a fact what would happen if I were to even TRY to sing the national anthem in English. Hey there are LOTS of people in Korea who speak English as their native language! Why can't WE sing their national anthem in English? Cuz they stand resolute and unchanging on duty and it would then be every other fan in the building's duty to lynch my "waygookin" ass. Well don't we in Canada, "...stand on guard for thee"?
Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying this is better than Canada or worse. All I'm saying is I have no problem at all singing the Korean national anthem in Korean. I've never even thought of singing it in English. And it's not for fear of the lynch mob. It's just the right way to sing it. It's like, it's like... Andrea Bocelli's Con te Partiro sung by Brittany Speares: "I'll go with you baby baby..."
I mean that just ain't right!
Con te Partiro is a song that almost makes me cry every time I hear it. Especially that last note. Damn! I don't really need to know the English translation. It is better without. And there's something about not knowing the meaning that makes my imagination take part in a way it couldn't if I knew.
Contrarily, if the national anthem of Canada were to be sung in Hindi at the Olympic games, not knowing what they are saying might serve a different purpose. You KNOW there would be people saying, "Now wait a minute, for all we know they could be singing:
O Canada
we're glad you're so naive.
We sing this song
but you don't make us leave.
With friends and kin
we barge right in
and pay your ways no care.
Why would I work?
I'd be a jerk!
I qualify for welfare.
gods keep this land
free from sanity.
We'll teach our language
to your kids for a small fee,
but o Canada
we won't learn English for thee.
No Canada
we'll only speak Hindi."
Now don't get me wrong, that's not what I think, but you KNOW there will be people thinking that. It's not a good way to promote the multiculturalism Canada stands for.
I find in life there are three things I turn to when I need a frame of reference or answers to a tough issue: Nature, the Good Book or cartoons. If you can't find any guidance there, just give it up. It turns out that there IS some guidance available. In Southpark season 8 there is an episode called "Goobacks". If you watch the episode, www.southparkstudios.com , and think you might want to talk like the visitors from a million years in the future then just keep on mixing up the languages, Smarty Pants! MAN, can you imagine spelling tests with that langauge? You have to watch it. "Ney nook er nyubs!" You won't get THAT one if you don't watch it either.
So let's stop all this nonsense and have a good, ENGLISH, (and French), Olympic games, shall we?
***Opinions expressed in the previous post may or may not reflect those of the blogmaster.***
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