[Photo: Jose Chavez via Unsplash]

Trash Talk: Possession is 9/10ths of the Law

I am hijacking this weekend’s Trash Talk, taking adverse possession. I don’t give a fig right now about football — feel free to tell me what I’m missing though it doesn’t look like I’m missing much while the Redskins tear a new one into the Packers in the first quarter.

But Tiger Woods.

Jeez oh Pete, he was hot yesterday. HOT. He made an insane number of birdies in his first nine holes yesterday. He finished the third round of the PGA Tour Championship with a 65 — 12 under — three strokes better than second place Justin Rose with Rory McIlroy following. It was like watching early Tiger all over again, nailing exactly the shot he needed when he needed it.

I get heat from friends about watching Tiger. They can’t understand why I’m not hot for the rest of the new crop of golfers. Take a look at the field, I tell them. Take a look at the gallery. When Tiger began winning on tour years back I had big hopes for golf, that it wouldn’t continue to be a sport dominated by white men for a predominantly white male audience. After his marriage cratered and his sex addiction became public, along with increasing back problems, it looked like golf would sink back into a symbolism of everything wrong with capitalism.

But Tiger this year is a revelation. His is a comeback story when we need a comeback. I hope his improved performance after back surgeries is a sign of things to come and not a last hurrah.

And I hope he can once again be a symbol of what golf should be — not a flash in the pan but a life of striving for something more and better.

Yeah, all your favorites and heroes are problematic. This includes Tiger. But he doens’t need to save the world. He doesn’t need to save golf. He just needs to show that a man can straighten himself out and do better than he’s done in the past, and in doing so be a role model for others. I’m not alone hoping Tiger wins today.

Live coverage on CBS at this link. As I post this Tiger is wrapping up the second hole, having made his first birdie of the day on his first hole.

Bring it — what game are you watching? Treat this as the usual open Trash Talk thread.

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52 replies
  1. Rayne says:

    Yuck. I just checked the Bills-Vikings. What the hell? Tell me what I’m missing. I assumed Vikings would have been on the board by now.

    And is it just me or is Google News absolutely useless for sports now? There’s no longer a list of scores for any games in progress or finished in the last day.

  2. scribe says:

    Good Eli showed up, at least so far. Yawn.

    Not a golf fan, but I really hope Tiger wins. 5 years plus is a long, long time.

    • Rayne says:

      Tiger looks good. He looks fit, healthy, focused. It’s hard to define the look of a winner but he’s got it right now, a palpable intensity he’s not had for a long time.

      • Avattoir says:

        “Intensity” aside, it appears all the others have determined to cede the field to Old Tiger today. He started the day 3 shots up, hasn’t really done anything particularly outstanding or harmful, yet now is well into the home 9 with a 5 stroke lead.

      • Pete says:

        But, but… does Tiger like Trump. We know Trump likes Tiger – there’s that. As I write this, Tiger missed the drink by three feet on the 15th up 5. Bogeyed now up 4.

        Jordy Nelson of the Raiders – that’s right Raiders – ripped the Fins in the first half with all his signature routes with Rodgers. Not enough…Fins rallied for the win.

        I hear Clay Matthews got his third roughing the passer in three games and heard it was bogus like last week’s – which was. First one in game 1 against Bears – yeah.

        What will Marcy do with Pats at Kittehs tonight?

  3. John Forde says:

    Vikings have two kinds of seasons: those of heartbreak and those of suck. This will not be a heartbreak season.

      • bmaz says:

        The only putative Lions fan in these parts is currently in terminal hiding.

        Really, it is almost as bad as that time Appalachian State beat the Bo Merlots in the Big House right down the street from her. Sad!!

  4. Rayne says:

    GodDAMN that was an awesomely close put on 5. Tiger couldn’t get any closer without sinking the putt.

    Meanwhile McIlroy now has two bogies in a row under his belt. Feels like he’s choking.

    • Rayne says:

      Justin Rose looks like he’s playing it too safely. Wedge onto the green at 6th looked his stance was too close, ended up about two feet short of pin high. Seems just too safe.

      ADD: Whew, no wonder. Justin’s playing as if Tiger might fall apart. 6 was wicked for Tiger, hit his first putt from just off the green too softly, ended up with a par. Could have been a bogie very easily given green speed and downhill lie. Made me break into a sweat watching it.

  5. Neon Vincent says:

    “[W]aiting for a Lions fan to toss me to the lions” — not this one. We know how hopeless they are and learn it a young age. I picked up a Lions cup in September 1991 and my then 7-year-old soon took one look at it and said with disgust “The Lions? They suck. What a bunch of losers!” Yeah, the Lions won the NFC Central that year, but they haven’t won a playoff game since, proving my son right. I eventually learned, as they were so bad in 2008 I hoped they would lose all of their games so they would have a “perfect” season. They did. For once, I was not disappointed.

    P.S. bmaz, you’ll have to update your list of Lions fans to include me.

    • Rayne says:

      Right. Sure. They’re best buds. Not. Trump only sees access to an audience. If Tiger hadn’t been a legend in golf Trump would have nothing to do with him. And Tiger doesn’t want to be lynched on the golf course by a rich white mob while on camera — that’d kind fuck up one’s game.

  6. scribe says:

    Fly, Iggles, Fly. And cancel that mead.
    No Stillers game until tomorrow night.

    XFL: real offense, real defense, real hitting, real football.

    • koolmoe says:

      was so disappointed Eagles weren’t broadcast in my area. Stupid Verizon… :) Ravens game was decent at least, though two blocked punts was worrying!

  7. Rusharuse says:

    Oh, this Tiger . .
    “In the account, McDougal describes attending a golf event with Trump in California, where she said the real estate mogul told her that Woods had asked who she was. Trump, she recalled, warned her “to stay away from that one, LOL.”
    Years later, in 2010, Woods became embroiled in a media storm as more than a dozen young women came forward to claim they’d had affairs with the golfer, who was then married to Swedish model Elin Nordegren. Woods apologized for his marital infidelities in a televised news conference at the time.”
    https://people.com/politics/trump-playmate-mistress-tiger-woods/amp/

  8. jo6pac says:

    Well Oakland Raiders 0-3. I’m sure glad they traded that trouble maker KM to the bears;-)

    9ers 1-2 and might have loss the Q. They also set a team record penalties 147 I believe.

    I can’t wait until Basket Ball season starts. Go Warriors

  9. Peterr says:

    Mrs Dr Peterr was distressed but not surprised to hear the score the Wolvereenies put up on her Huskers. Says her: “Word before the season was that this would either be a rebuilding year or a disaster. 0-3 for the first time since WWII tells me it’s a disaster.”

    • Drew says:

      In 1981 I lived in Lincoln. One of our members was the Executive VP of the University of Nebraska (system). When the Huskers lost their second game & dropped out of the top 10 (for a week) he seriously thought his job was in trouble.

    • jo6pac says:

      Yep, we’ll learn more tomorrow. 9ers have announced they won’t be looking for a new Q. The 2 back ups are awful. I wonder if Colin would play there again? It would work for me, I like the young man.

  10. Tommy D Cosmology says:

    I am new to EW (this is my 3rd comment) and I can’t believe I had not found this space earlier. A lot of mixed emotions. My brother died playing football, I went to Penn State and had to accept that JoPa obstructed justice, I live in St. Louis and have no football team, and I thought I was the only F1 fan in town until my 13-yr-old daughter came in one Sunday and said that she hopes “Sebas-hole Vettel spins that arrogant Hamilton off the track and Kimi keeps his ride”. I have no idea where that came from, but, alas, Kimi lost his ride.

  11. Rayne says:

    Aaaaggghhhh!!!! Tiger!!!! That bogey on 16!!!! Two holes left and and now only two shot lead!!!! Too damned close for comfort!!!!

    I need a beer if I’m going to survive these last two holes.

    • Rayne says:

      He’s going to kill me. Swear to gods he’s going to kill me. Into the rough with his drive on 17, past the hole and into the gallery with his second shot, three and a half feet short onto the green with a downhill lie…fuuuuccckkkk. I have no fingernails left for a par.

      This last hole. I may be dead in 10 minutes.

        • Rayne says:

          This gallery. This is insane. You have to watch for photos or videos of it if you don’t play golf. They want Tiger to win so goddamn badly.

        • Rayne says:

          Beeeyoutiful shot out of that bunker, 6-7 feet from the hole. Gnawing on my bald fingers.

          Don’t smile yet, Tiger. Please, please, please…

        • Rayne says:

          One of the few times we’ll see a man of color escorted respectfully by police while holding back a yelling white horde behind him.

          That.

        • Rayne says:

          No. But look at what a black man has to do to get that kind of respect. Fucking be the biggest all time golf legend.

          I haven’t forgotten that racist shitbag Fuzzy Zoeller — he’s the reality of golf, its seamy closeted racism.

          And I haven’t forgotten that Colin Kaepernick still isn’t playing football. Would he have to play as long and as hard and bite his tongue and make nice with his sports racists for decades before he could protest without harassment?

        • Rayne says:

          “…I had a hard time not crying on that last hole.”

          Me, too. The gallery has gone berserk, not like any gallery I’ve seen. We were all on edge.

          Whew. What a comeback. What an end to the tour.

  12. Tommy D Cosmology says:

    My kids all went to Bellerive grade school, next to the country club where they had the 100th PGA Championship this year. At the time, I was slightly sickened by the number of people going crazy to get close to Tiger.

    Allow me to plug our public schools here. Michael Avenatti, Stormy Daniel’s attorney, went here. They really do teach the kids to stick up for each other. We are one district over from Ferguson, MO. A kid showed up at the high school with a confederate flag on his truck, only to learn that half the classrooms have Black Lives Matter posters plastered all over. The students had a little sit-down with the new kid.

    We are by no means perfect. Sadly, this is also the school district of our former Republican governor, Greitens, who blindfolded, tied up, photographed, and shared those photos of a woman without her knowledge. He was spared prosecution for resigning.

  13. J R in WV says:

    Given the MeToo movement recently in the public eye, and as much as I admired T. Woods back in the day…

    I can’t root for his win today, after the way he treated his wife years ago. Screw that guy…

    And I almost always root for the underdog… but not for misogynistic bastards!

    • Rayne says:

      He’s never going to hold public office, thank gods. And he should set an example for how to rehabilitate one’s reputation at work since scum like Weinstein and C.K. Lewis and Matt Lauer and Charlie Rose can’t do it.

      I also don’t think being unfaithful to one’s wife — breaching a contract between the two of them — is in the same ballpark as harassing, battering, or raping subordinates, abusing power, and/or destroying subordinates careers.

  14. Rayne says:

    What. The. Hell? Lions are up 10-0 into the second quarter?

    Are the Pats that bad or is this another Lions head fake where they do really well the first three quarters and fall apart in the fourth quarter?

    • Rayne says:

      Okay, looking like the usual head fake now that it’s Lions 13-10 to Pats at 6:00 min left in 3rd quarter. ~sigh~

      ADD: and now a Lions’ TD at 3:40-ish left in quarter. I can’t do this, can’t take the likely heartbreak. Stretched too much between Tiger’s comeback win and the crazy-pants reports of 2nd, 3rd, and maybe a slew more Kavanaugh assault victims.

      ADD: 1:20 min left in the 4th and it’s Lions 26-10. What.

      ADD: That’s it, that’s all she wrote, the motherfucking Lions actually won with Kerryeon Johnson rushing more than 100 yards. Now their season record is 1-2. Whoo.

  15. posaune says:

    OT here.   But I have to express a very personal rant about Chuck Grassley’s tweet yesterday (and this is a bit wacko and not intended as a distraction to Dr. Ford):    Grassley:  “With all the extensions we give Dr Ford to decide if she still wants to testify to the Senate I feel like I’m playing 2nd trombone in the judiciary orchestra.”

    Well, the guy obviously doesn’t know the trombone literature.   ALL (yes, all) of the good trombone solos in the orchestral repertoire are 2nd  trombone solos:  Tuba Mirum from Mozart Requiem, Korsakov Russian Easter, Scheherzade, Petruschka.  Because trombone tessiturae were derived from the vocal ranges:  bass, tenor, alto, and the parts supported those voices.   Tenor solos were the most common, thus the 2nd trombone inheriting the best parts (tenor), with full opportunity in the limelight.   And, there have been MANY MANY 2nd trombonists who could cover an entire orchestra with one long tone.   Think Chicago, Philly, NY Phil, LA Phil, etc.    Grassley’s an idiot.   Hmrff.  End of rant, per my handle.   Thanks for reading.

  16. readerOfTeaLeaves says:

    posaune, exceptionally edifying.
    Chuckie G is the Miss Manners of Judiciary.
    Perhaps some clever wit will have the time and talent to put one of your trombone solo’s as the audio track underneath the Senate Judiciary Hearings ;-)

  17. Eureka says:

    Magical thinking and sports and all, by the title I thought you were coming out as an Eagles fan, Rayne.  I didn’t catch the game until the end of the 3rd Q.  I went to bed thinking, ~ But Wentz isn’t the defensive backfield…
    From what I caught, seemed like game one redux (minus Philly Special), and I will take the W.

    To round out the trans-Atlantic shoe throwing>> Santa-booing  tradition, as one of your EW denizens recently reminded, I have to report that there’s some pure earnest joy down in South Philly.  @shamus_clancy is a young writer (~How Carson Wentz helped my Depression- he had it pinned not long ago).  He’s the one that wanted to recreate the Times Square kiss at the Party on Broad Street; a gal on twitter said yes.  They moved in together a few weeks ago.  His twitter feed is all Eagles hope and glory.   And the closest approximation to what it felt like round these parts for awhile post-LII.

  18. Eureka says:

    A couple trash talks ago, Sabrina mentioned how Leon Russell influenced Elton John.  Salient as I was about to see him, so I paid attention- I’m glad you brought it up.  (Aside, I was shocked when I listened to LR’s A Song for You and realized how much Billy Joel’s NY State of Mind is like a near copy of the start.  Made me think there should have been credit, maybe there is).  Anyway it was a great show, if anyone hasn’t heard this is his last world tour (Farewell Yellow Brick Road Tour) and definitely worth going.  Nearly three hours of rocking the house.  He told stories between some songs, Bernie Taupin was there (!), four percussion sets on the stage (not counting the piano, lol).  It was just a high-energy tour de force through music and life history.

    There was an extended jam at the end of Levon (total length about 12 mins. If you are looking on youtube.  I found a decent version but lost it, will try to get back later with it).  Plus Funeral for a Friend was like a mini rock opera, of course.

    My favorite video so far is this one of I’m Still Standing, because it shows his face.  About 2:50 he rears back from the piano and gives that classic Elton John face.  Adorable.  Plus the sound is a little fuller and it captures a little more of the energy of being there (…but nothing subs for being there- as usual, way better show than phone vids can convey).

    Elton John “I’m Still Standing” live Sept 11 2018 Phialdelphia PA – YouTube (misspelled in original)
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vXLK4beM4g

  19. scribe says:

    Well done, Stillers.

    That said, your D needs a lot of work.

    In other news:  “XFL:  Where roughing the passer is a way of life.”

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