Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Tiger
Tiger Woods needs no introduction, and quite frankly any one that is given is probably inadequate. The man won a championship golfing on one leg! He will become the first athlete to be a billionaire by the end of the decade, and he'll still only be 34. Tiger is the most recognizable athlete in the world, and one of the most influential people we have in the world today. He is one of the few athletes ever to live up to his lofty status as child prodigy, which was given to him at the age of 2. By the time Tiger is done swinging his clubs, and puts all of the pieces of his storied career in place (pun absolutely intended), he will not only be the greatest golfer of all time, he'll be one of the greatest athletes of all-time, if he isn't already.
Flickr and Photo Sharing
I personally don't have a Flickr account, or another photo hosting service for that matter. Truth is, I don't take many pictures of things. I'm more prone to videotaping events and then reliving them that way. I have a lot of photos, but most of them are from when I was a lot younger, and nobody want's to see me in my mullet rocking days of the mid-90's, trust me. It's like a bad car crash - you don't want to look because it's stomach churning, but you just can't look away. I looked like MacGuyver's long lost kid, or something close to it.
Anyways, photo sharing seems like a great idea; you just have to be careful what you put out there, because someday you may find that old picture that is, to quote White Goodman from the movie Dodgeball, "a skidmark on the underpants of society." Otherwise, going back to the fact of using it in the classroom, I think it can be a really effective way to help illustrate some of the points you're trying to make, regardless of the subject. You can find places that otherwise woul be on the internet, and use them to emphasize a point, or you could use it as a little humor to throw in with your lesson. Either way, Flickr seems to be very effective and useful, and even though that MacGuyver-like photo may resurface, your class doesn't need to know that.
Anyways, photo sharing seems like a great idea; you just have to be careful what you put out there, because someday you may find that old picture that is, to quote White Goodman from the movie Dodgeball, "a skidmark on the underpants of society." Otherwise, going back to the fact of using it in the classroom, I think it can be a really effective way to help illustrate some of the points you're trying to make, regardless of the subject. You can find places that otherwise woul be on the internet, and use them to emphasize a point, or you could use it as a little humor to throw in with your lesson. Either way, Flickr seems to be very effective and useful, and even though that MacGuyver-like photo may resurface, your class doesn't need to know that.
New York, New York
Why the long face young Yankee fan? Oh, wait - I know. It's because you know your team is one of the rest of us - mediocre. Or is it because you know that being a Yankee fan involves rooting for Alex Rodriguez? Maybe its the $82.5 million you just spent on a pitcher who hasn't stayed healthy for a full season since his rookie year (A.J. Burnett), even though the economy is down.
Could it be the fact your owner took the money to build the new stadium out of your pockets, and then spent all of his money on free agents, when he was bidding against himself due to the economy? Or is it because you're a closet Red Sox fan and you can't stand the thought of being a Yankee fan, even though both fan bases are universally loathed across the nation? Oh well, look at this way - you can't be any worse off than the Mets, so at least you're still the king of the Big Apple.
Could it be the fact your owner took the money to build the new stadium out of your pockets, and then spent all of his money on free agents, when he was bidding against himself due to the economy? Or is it because you're a closet Red Sox fan and you can't stand the thought of being a Yankee fan, even though both fan bases are universally loathed across the nation? Oh well, look at this way - you can't be any worse off than the Mets, so at least you're still the king of the Big Apple.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Social Networking
Pretty much all of the social networking places or online communities I am a part of are within the realm of sports. I don't have a Facebook, a Myspace, which leaves me in a vast minority with everyone else I know basically. I'm just too lazy to keep up with that stuff, and besides, if I want to find out how others are doing, I'll just call, text, or go see them - I really don't like doing it over the Internet. It just seems extremely impersonal, but not to the point that it's not a great tool to keep in touch with friends and family across the country. I just prefer to do it in a different way, more of the old school way of keeping in touch, and so far I'm fine with it.
As for the communities I do belong to, like I said, they're all sports related, and most are blogs. Places like Deadspin, The Big Lead, ESPN are all places that I am a part of, whether it be in the comments or message boards. It is however ironic that I called Facebook and Myspace impersonal, yet I've never met any of the people I've interacted with on those websites. Still, I love debating about sports related topics, and those places give me the forum in which to do so when I'm not debating with my friends. At the same time, I can read a lot of good information on sports while I'm at those sites, and see how people all across the nation feel on the same topics that I am trying to process as a fan. Best put, those websites and forums are like a large community of people with the same interests you have, which - as I bring this full circle - is exactly what I imagine a good online community to be.
As for the communities I do belong to, like I said, they're all sports related, and most are blogs. Places like Deadspin, The Big Lead, ESPN are all places that I am a part of, whether it be in the comments or message boards. It is however ironic that I called Facebook and Myspace impersonal, yet I've never met any of the people I've interacted with on those websites. Still, I love debating about sports related topics, and those places give me the forum in which to do so when I'm not debating with my friends. At the same time, I can read a lot of good information on sports while I'm at those sites, and see how people all across the nation feel on the same topics that I am trying to process as a fan. Best put, those websites and forums are like a large community of people with the same interests you have, which - as I bring this full circle - is exactly what I imagine a good online community to be.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
The Beginning
I guess that this first post should be directed toward why I named the blog what I did. For starters - not all of the posts will be about golf, even if Caddyshack is the name. The truth is that Caddyshack is my favorite movie, mostly because it's hilarious and about golf, something I have a huge passion for. When you can take four actors at the top of their game (Rodney Dangerfield, Chevy Chase, Bill Murray, and Ted Knight), and throw in the fact they are all great comedians (save for Knight), and the director, Harold Ramis, is the same guy who collaborated on the script for Animal House, the movie is going to be great. There hadn't been a definitive golf movie made up until the point in which Caddyshack came out in 1980, and, as the tagline says, it does a great job of pitting the "snobs versus the slobs."
The great thing about this movie is that if you don't even like golf all that much, you're still going to be laughing all the time, and if you are golf fan, you'll laugh at a lot of the little details in the movie along with all of the obvious comedy. Classic lines like "Get in the hole!", "How 'bout a Fresca?" and "So I got that going for me, which is nice" all stem from this movie, and if you walk on any golf course in America, you will inevitably encounter someone quoting this movie. I know this all sounds like rambling and glowing, which it is, but it's a movie that is pure comedy, and one that never fails to make me laugh, which is what I want to do with this blog as well. Putting all of that together, that's how I arrived at the namesake of this here blog - a name that will inspire me to keep the interest of people like Caddyshack did for me.
The great thing about this movie is that if you don't even like golf all that much, you're still going to be laughing all the time, and if you are golf fan, you'll laugh at a lot of the little details in the movie along with all of the obvious comedy. Classic lines like "Get in the hole!", "How 'bout a Fresca?" and "So I got that going for me, which is nice" all stem from this movie, and if you walk on any golf course in America, you will inevitably encounter someone quoting this movie. I know this all sounds like rambling and glowing, which it is, but it's a movie that is pure comedy, and one that never fails to make me laugh, which is what I want to do with this blog as well. Putting all of that together, that's how I arrived at the namesake of this here blog - a name that will inspire me to keep the interest of people like Caddyshack did for me.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
