Monday, 15 March 2010 09:58 Last Updated on Monday, 15 March 2010 10:37

The greatest unanswered question in all of sports, at the moment, is "When will Tiger make his return to competitve golf?". This is a question that everyone, including non-golfers and non-golf fans alike, are waiting in anticipation for. What will he say to the press? Will he take questions about his marriage, his sex therapy, Thanksgiving Evening? Enquiring minds want to know... I want to know (bonus points if you know where that last sentence came from).

At first, I thought that there was no way that he'd play in the year's first major, the Masters. It just seems that its too soon after the whole ordeal. Make your first competitive event back a major? No way. Well, I've been thinking about it and now I think differently. Here's the case for why Tiger will make his return to competitive golf at Augusta this year. 

The Augusta National Golf Club is the perfect place to return. It's a super-private golf club that makes its own rules. Despite the media frenzy, Tiger would be very comfortable there. Press access is limited - would TMZ be offered a press pass? Um, no.

Fan access is also limited. Tickets for the event are very expensive and usually limited to the wealthy and lucky few. And the fans that would have access are not going to be the same demographic as, say, the fans that would attend a US Open major at Bethpage in Long Island, New York. I have to believe that the Augusta crowd, made up of rich, elite club members, their friends and others that can afford the thousands of dollars that a ticket costs, won't be as likely to heckle Tiger as a blue collar worker from Brooklyn would. This is the most respectful gallery in all the majors, maybe even all of golf. Also, the course has some hole locations that are completely isolated from the fans (think the 12th green). Even on the course, he's have some much desired privacy.

What, Tiger miss the Masters? When healthy? Augusta staff and Steve Williams, his caddie, will do their best to protect him from any raucous intrusions.

Contrary to what PGA Tour player and world's number 2 ranked player Steve Stricker thinks about Tiger's return to Augusta, not even the great Woods is bigger than the Masters tournament. Picking any other event would mean that his return would overshadow that event, but Augusta National is different. He will not take away from the greatness of this event. Yes, he'll be a distraction early in the week when he makes his first appearance but there is no way Tiger will overshadow the rich history of the Masters and the greatness of the event.

That's not to say that the PGA Tour doesn't need Tiger Woods. The PGA Tour is hurting this year, particularly when it comes to tournament sponsors, something Tiger was great at attracting. For someone who acted so selfishly in the past, returning to golf to play in the year’s first major event, for a struggling sport that needs him, would actually be considered an act of unselfishness.

Tuesday, 16 February 2010 11:09

The VW-Prüfgelände Ehra testing track in Germany is where Volkswagen does all significant road testing of automobiles they develop, including the Bugatti Veyron. This track is supposed to be super secret but very little is suppresed in Google Maps. The track includes a straightaway that is over 7 miles long! The Bugatti Veyron is the world's fastest production car, with 1001 horse power, costing $1.7 million and capable of an "electronically governed" top speed of 253 MPH.


View Larger Map

Thursday, 07 January 2010 18:20 Last Updated on Sunday, 22 August 2010 23:32

Let me preface by saying that I'm not being critical of the SCGA because I'm out to get them or for some other silly reason (like a personal vendetta). I'm posting this because it's a classic example, in my opinion, of what's wrong with software development and technology operations in companies whose focus is something else (like playing golf in this case).

In 2008, the Southern California Golf Association (SCGA) decided that they would migrate away from the system that they'd been using for years to keep track of people's golf scores and golf handicaps (not handicap in terms of disability but a means of ranking golfers of different abilities so that they can complete against one another on a somewhat equal playing level).

Read more...

Wednesday, 09 December 2009 11:01

I feel like I just watched an execution.

Tuesday, 29 September 2009 22:31 Last Updated on Tuesday, 29 September 2009 23:35

Much to my surprise, Directv is finally offering up advice for expanding the hard drive capacity or recording capacity of their DVR units. This is something that I struggled with on my own last year after trying out numerous external eSATA hard drives. I even broke the seal in the back of my HR21 (and the warranty) in a desperate effort to make it work. Long story there, I got it to work utilizing a Maxtor L01F100 1 TB hard drive coupled with a Veris MX-1 hard drive enclosure. This worked great, for about 2 or 3 months, until the hard drive started freezing and I had to constantly reboot the box. Not happy, I finally gave up and resorted to the much smaller 250 GB standard internal drive. Man I missed the days of being able to record multiple, complete series of TV shows in HD (like all my Formula One programming, Big Love, etc).

Read more...

Thursday, 30 July 2009 09:35 Last Updated on Friday, 31 July 2009 10:08

Cash for Clunkers is supposed to help save the auto industry and the environment. Basically, someone with a perfectly operable car, from as early as 1984, getting 18 MPG or less, can trade that car in for $3500-4500 in cash towards the purchase of a "cleaner" vehicle. This program will work to some degree, but it is also absurd on a number of levels.

Read more...