Hey Jenn, you can hit from the girlie tees

By Joe McAdory

Golf is supposed to be a mental game, right? With my upcoming high-dollar showdown Saturday at Grand National against columnist Jennifer Foster, I figure it’s time to use a little mental warfare. After all, she’s been trying to mess with my mind too, making comments about upstanding LPGA star Natalie Gulbis’ attire.

Jenn, don’t mess with Natalie. Her outfits are perfectly within the etiquette of golf.

I figured it’s time to lay down a little smack myself. More than likely, smack talk will simply motivate Jenn to pummel me into oblivion. Or perhaps an over-motivated Foster will pull her shots to the left or hit beyond the greens.

Instead of words, I decided to make a little goofy video message for Jenn, who is due for an 18-hole lesson in the fine art of putting.

Saturday. 9:10 a.m. Grand National Links Course. Dime-a-hole. Bring your checkbook, Jenn. Hope your game is up to par, or better yet, double-bogey.

   

Holy cat?

By Joe McAdory

Below is a link to a cnn.com story about a family who believes its cat has the face of Jesus within its fur. The video shows it may have the face of somebody, or at least vaguely resembles a face. But how would anyone know it was the Son of God? Are there actual pictures of Jesus? There are paintings and drawings, but these are just renderings straight from the imagination.

The potential face in the cat’s fur could be the face of anybody with a beard. Anyway, it’s neat to have such markings on a pet and it’s worth talking about.

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/offbeat/2008/07/30/stang.holy.cat.wndu

Campaigns can be aggravating

By Joe McAdory

I don’t dislike elections. They are one of the most important freedoms of being American. It gives us a sense of power to be the ones to put people in power. Otherwise, we’d have no say-so at all.

However, I’m no fan of election campaigns. Television commercials. Radio commercials. Billboards. Yard signs. Folks passing out literature at local ball games, county fairs, etc. Enough!

Why must I see four Obama signs within five feet of one another? Wouldn’t one be sufficient? Why must a person have five McCain ‘08 bumper stickers on the back of his car? I got the message the first time.

One big thing I don’t like is mudslinging. Commercials these days ridicule opponents rather than inform the public what the candidate paying for the commercial plans to do if elected. Instead, we get into a name-calling contest where the winner isn’t necessarily the best person for the job or for the people, but the person who raised the most money in campaign contributions for a job that pays little in comparison.

Election Day will be fun, but I look forward to the day after when those commercials are off the airwaves and someone is commissioned to pick up the yard signs.

Municipal elections important too

By Joe McAdory

Forget Obama vs. McCain. There’s a pretty darn good election next month in Opelika. Forget the White House. Folks at city hall interact more with the people anyway.

Incumbent Mayor Gary Fuller and Rainer Meadows figure to have a good battle. We’ll see if people are satisfied with status quo or if they’re looking for some sort of change. But I figure that’s pretty much the case in any election.

Just like the Auburn Council seat elections two years ago, the race to fill Opelika’s wards on the council will be hotly contested. Whether incumbents are re-elected or not, change will be the order of the day on the Opelika Council. Why? Ward 3 representative Jerry Teel is not seeking re-election, leaving the seat open to a new representative. Folks seeking office in Ward 3 include Lucinda Samford Cannon, Janice Golden, Preston Long, Joey Motley and Loren Sutton. That’s a pretty powerful cast right there.

Also, veteran council member Clarence Harris, in Ward 2, announced his intention not to run again. Among those running for his vacated seat are Jerry Katz, Larry Gray, Arturo Menafee and Oscar Penn.

Races in other wards include:

Ward 1: Incumbent Patsy Jones against challenger Greg Jones. No relation.

Ward 5: Incumbent Dr. William Lazenby against challenger Rick Gaught.

In Ward 4, incumbent Eddie Harris is running unopposed.

One thing I love about municipal elections is non-partisanship. I do not have to see the words Democrat or Republican. People lead by their own merits, not with a party affiliation.

Election day in Opelika is Aug. 26.

Who is the greatest American?

By Joe McAdory

Our Web site’s current poll asks readers who they believe the greatest American of all-time is. The choices are a mixture of past presidents, a newsman, fighters for civil liberties and an inventor who dabbled in politics.

Through 10 days online, I’m a bit surprised that Ronald Reagan is the leading vote-getter. He did a lot of great things for this country, but wasn’t there some controversy too? Reagan had a ton of swagger, charisma and was a strong leader that leaders around the world respected. But is he the greatest American? Hey, that’s not up to me.

So far, here are the standings:
Ronald Reagan 153
George Washington 111
Martin Luther King 102
Someone else 64
Abraham Lincoln 47
Benjamin Franklin 38
Thomas Jefferson 26
Douglas MacArthur 7
Susan B. Anthony 4
Clara Barton 3
Walter Cronkite 3
John Glenn 2

I’d like to know who the “someone else” vote-getters are. There are plenty of fine choices not listed.

From the list above, I’d probably go with Ben Franklin. But I’d rather get theatrical, show a photo of Arlington National Cemetery and just say, ‘pick one.‘