There were a couple of events in the world of athletics and beyond this past weekend that really caught my eye. First, there was swimmer Michael Phelps’ victory Saturday versus Milorad Cavic in the 100m butterfly at the World Championships. Cavic was the swimmer who was on the short end of the stick at the Olympics when Phelps made his miraculous lunge in this same event that kept alive his hopes for the medal sweep that he eventually accomplished. Cavic sparkled in the semi-finals, breaking Phelps’ existing world record.
But he made the mistake of not keeping his mouth shut and just doing his job. He was everywhere talking about he was still positive he had won in Beijing. Even crowing that Phelps was missing the boat by not using the soon-to-be outlawed plastic swimsuits and would be left behind. It wasn’t a lot but it was enough. Phelps came out angry and beat Cavic without any doubts, regaining his world record. His glares and gestures afterward said it all:
Don’t poke the tiger.
Which brings us to Tiger Woods‘ victory at the Buick Open, where he started slowly then methodically dominated the field. It was a thing of beauty to see how he managed his rounds and how he could recover from even the worst of shots. It’s a testimony to his dominance that on a day when he was beating the field by several shots, the television commentator remarked after a good drive off the tee that he had finally hit a good shot. Even on a day when he wasn’t at his best, he still could prevail.
It’s a remarkable thing to watch on a single weekend two athletes who may easily go down as the most dominant ever in their respective fields. We’re lucky, those of us who care about such things, to be witnesses to these performances.
Another performance I saw was by Orly Taitz, the crazy Russian-born attorney/ real estate agent/ dentist who is the figurehead for this insane birther movement on MSNBC. She almost froths at the mouth, she’s so rabid. I began to wonder about all this fuss and I pulled out my own birth certificate. The original had been lost years ago and this replacement was from around 1973 or 1974. It doesn’t list my doctor, doesn’t list the time of birth. But it’s worked fine for me throughout my life and there has never been any question of my citizenship when dealing with the government. I wonder how many of us have just such birth certificates and if to nutjobs like Orly Taitz this raises questions of our legitimacy as citizens. This stuff has got to just stop.
One thing I didn’t see was any glimpse of Dick Cheney. Where has he gone? I mean, for a while I thought he was trying to fill the void left by television pitchman Billy Mays’ death. He was everywhere, all the time. Then suddenly silence. I guess the disclosure of a few incriminating documents and the screamed pleas of his legal team that he just shut up finally got through to him. Back to his subterranean lair.
It’s a shame though- I think he could have done a hell of an ad for Oxy-Clean…
Redtree Times 