Although this prompt looks simple enough it could have lots of different meanings. Maybe a better question would be do you enjoy your career? If you are a member of the so-called professions, do you consider what you do a job. If you do, then you need to find a new job. Let us look at the many definitions of job and answer each definition. A regular remunerative position. Yes, I can definitely say that I enjoyed my regular remunerative position. A specific duty, role, or function. I did not enjoy every duty or function that I performed while receiving some form of remuneration. Something that has to be done : TASK. Says who? I can quite emphatically say that I did not enjoy doing anything that supposedly HAD to be done. An undertaking requiring unusual exertion. I will have to say I might be on the fence about that one. It would depend on what the job was. I generally do not want to exert myself too much but if there was something that I wanted to accomplish that required physical exertion I would do it, but probably not enjoy it. The object or material on which work is being done. This is one of my favorite because it makes me think of nose job. I never thought of what I worked on was the job. I was fortunate enough to do something for 44 years that I loved, veterinary medicine. Of course, I never thought of it as a job. There were lots of ups and downs and some very sad moments over the years, but I looked forward to every day. Anytime I was at a gathering, meeting new people and told them what I did, a vast majority would say that was something that I always wanted to be. I would give some normal polite answer when what I really wanted to say ” Why the eff didn’t you, you shiftless lazy bastard. Now there is a much better writing prompt, wouldn’t you say.
Someone Else
If you could be someone else for a day, who would you be, and why?
This is really easy. I would be Donald Trump for a day. I would go into one of my buildings, go up to about the 20th floor, and then jump out the window. Seriously, the key words here are for a day. I realize that this is a fantasy but if it was for only a day, I might really like being that person and then when I had to go back to my life, which currently I really like, it might make me depressed. Other than what I wrote before, which would save the world, I have no desire to be someone else, even if it is only for a day.
Sports: Random Thoughts
Have not done on of these types of blogs for a while. I just kind of free base thoughts on various topics of the sports world. This will probably take place over a few days as I think of things.
Pro football to me had a very strange end to its season. The last 3 games the wrong team won each game. The Ravens should have beaten the Chiefs in the AFC Championship game. The Lions should have won the NFC Championship game. The 49ers outplayed the Chiefs in the Super Bowl but managed to lose. A very unusual ending to the season to have 3 such games in a row. It makes you wonder is one game really the way to decide a champion. Having said that I don’t know if football has any other options.
I have not watched one shot on the LIV tour. When the tour started the PGA tour players had nothing good to say about the tour and the players that defected. No question thanks to the LIV tour, the players of the PGA tour are going to make a lot more money than they would have in 2024 and beyond. All of a sudden, the LIV tour and their players are not such bad guys after all, with the PGA tour players taking back and softening a lot of the things they said in 2023. This is the perfect example of money talks and bullshit walks, and in this case walking back.
The Spring Training games have started, and it is shocking to me that neither Blake Snell nor Cody Bellinger have not been signed by any team. Snell even more so because this guy is a two-time Cy Young winner. Even though both are represented by Scott Boras it is a big surprise that neither has gotten a deal yet. In my view these are a couple of imperfect free agents and maybe teams are just gun shy at putting out the super bucks for two players that have some obvious flaws. Since starting this, Bellinger resigned with the Cubs but certainly not for the long-term deal that many thought he would get. Maybe next year Cody.
March Madness is coming soon, and I will have to say my interest in the tournament has waned over the years. There are so many teams, and it just seems like the regular college basketball season is just a waste of time. I don’t know how important seeding is anyway and that is about all the regular season does. I think the tournament needs a tweak in the format. The top 8 teams selected by the committee would automatically be in the sweet 16. Then the next 64 teams are in the tournament making a total of 72 teams. These teams will battle for the other 8 spots in the sweet 16. This will put new emphasis on the regular season. If you have that good of a season you deserve to be in the final 16 of the tournament. It should make for a much better tournament.
Even though we are not in their season, college football has to cut down the bowl games. They will have a 12-team playoff system next season which is great. Let’s stick with that nice round number of 12 and have 12 more bowl games. There will be 11 playoff games and 12 bowl games for a total of 23 post season games involving 46 college football teams and that is more than enough.
DIY Projects
When I first saw this prompt, I thought my answer would be none. I am about as far away from being a do it yourselfer as anyone could be. When I looked this up supposedly having a garden is considered having a DIY project. I am really not too sure I agree with that, although they did mention that this being in this category was because of building beds with railroad ties. I have never done that so maybe my answer should stay none. My Dad was the greatest DIY of all time. He could fix anything, take anything apart and put it back together. As a kid you either follow your father footsteps or rebel against it. This was one of the few things my dad did that I rebelled against. I don’t even know why but I did. In my adult life, being a veterinarian, one of my standard lines was if it doesn’t breathe, I’m don’t touch it. My mother always use to tell me, Bobby you are just not “handy”. I did nothing to change her mind. When I had my practice and my parents would come up to visit me, sometimes I would be finishing up a surgery before we went to lunch. My mother would see me in a dog or cats’ abdomen, and she would say, Bobby your dad and I just can’t believe you are able to do this. I would say to her, I know mom it is truly amazing. Parents, you just have to love them. When push comes to shove, I have fixed a few things in my time. I would never consider anything I have ever done as a project. These things would be like fixing a toilet that is running all the time or a leaky faucet. Things do not get fixed in my current environment. If something is not working or broken, it is most likely going to get thrown away. If it is a big ticket item, we will call a repair man. I rarely look under the hood of a car. Thinking about it I have put together certain pieces of furniture. In fact, the desk that this computer sits on, I put together. You know what, it is still standing. My greatest project is still standing. Is yours?
It’s Only Boring If You Lack Knowledge
It’s very tempting to say the daily writing prompts. First let us define boring. It is defined as something that is dull and uninteresting. The examples used are a boring discussion or lecture and a boring time. If you think something is boring it shows that you have not developed your brain above kid mode. This is one of the classic statements of the 6 to 12 year old crowd, “I’m BORED”! It is usually said, “I’m BORRRRRRRRRRED”! People will describe many things as boring when maybe they just mean that is bad or not very good. Movies, plays, and books can sometimes be described as boring when in reality they are not done very well. It is simply a misuse of the word. There are many activities, jobs, sports, and the arts that people will label boring. The reality is that nothing is boring. Individuals just do not take the time to explore and learn all of the intricacies of whatever they think is boring. The examples of this are too many to list. People just want to label something boring just so they will not have to learn something new. There are many things in this world that may disgust you, make you bewildered why so many people like to do something, seem ridiculous, or why something is so popular. None of those things are boring. There are many mundane things in life that we have to do. You can make all of these things better by doing things like reading about other things that you think are boring. Meditating during these times may be a way to learn how to meditate. Any time you say you are bored you are causing you brain to contract. Exploring and learning about things that you think are boring is a way to make your brain expand. There are always exceptions to such a philosophy, which brings us back to the daily writing prompt.
Favorite Drink
It depends. If food is not involved and I am just drinking fluid, then I will drink beer or Trader Joe flavored Sparkling Water. The Trader Joe drink may be the best drink ever invented. No calories no artificial sweeteners, which will kill you by the way. If you are drinking any kind of diet drink with any kind of artificial sweetener you might as well start smoking 4 packs a day and hope your death comes quicker and with less pain. Look for European medical articles to see how dangerous they are. I am surprised how people are so blind to the perils of artificial sweeteners. They are like the Donald Trump of additives. I like beer with certain types of food, any type of fried sea food, pizza, and salty foods like peanuts. I am not an IPA guy but do like all kinds of beer. Some of my favorites from number one on down are Shiner Bock, Yingling, Bass Ale, Labatt Blue, Iron City, Heineken Lite, and Labatt Blue Lite. Another beer I really liked was Anchor Steam that was brewed out in San Francisco. They recently went belly up and there are rumors they may be back. One thing about Anchor Steam was that it was pricey, at just over $40 dollars a case. I have never drunk wine without food being involved. Red wine goes with steak and red sauce pasta. White Wine goes with seafood and white sauce pasta. I like Merlot, Chianti, and dry Reisling. I do enjoy a gin and tonic once in a while before a nice meal at a restaurant. I have rarely drunk Vodka, Scotch, or other various whiskeys. I am also a big milk drinker. I will have cereal for breakfast about 2 to 4 times per week and will just drink milk at other times. I guess this could be considered an odd one, but I love milk with popcorn. I have one cup of coffee at least, every morning for my caffeine hit. I look forward to that and do enjoy it. One thing I do not like to drink is water. This is another place where the sparkling water is a godsend. I admit I really like carbonation. Water for me is just bland, whether you put a lemon or lime in it, is not going to make a difference. If I had to make a choice and drink only one thing the rest of my life, it would probably be Shiner Bock or sparking water. I did have beer and eggs once at 8 in the morning, so I guess the real answer to question is Shiner Bock. It’s nice that I don’t have to drink one thing the rest of my life. Thank God it’s always 5 o’ clock somewhere.
Favorite People
My favorite people to be around is my daughter and her family, including her extended family. When I go out to California to visit them, I could not have a better time. There is the old saying you can choose your friends but not your relatives. If I could have chosen them, I would have in a heartbeat. Everything is upbeat and we just have a good time. I don’t know how else to put it. My next choice is to be around people on the golf course. People I would do little else with I enjoy playing golf. Now there are exceptions both ways. There is one person I knew, who off the golf course was about as personable as anyone could be. He told great stories, seemed to be upbeat about anything and was just a great guy to just hang out with. Once he got on the golf course it was a different story. He would become upset at the least little thing. He could shoot a score of close to par or right at par, and you would have thought he shot 90, the way he behaved. Needless to say, as much I liked this guy, we no longer play golf with him. I enjoy being around anyone who likes to have a lively discussion about sports, especially golf, football, and baseball. I enjoy being around people at the neighborhood bar, even though I might not interact with them. I just like to be around people who seem like they are having a good time eating and drinking. I like to be in that noisy chaotic environment every once in a while. I love to go to concerts to feel the electricity and excitement before the main act comes out. I can feed off all of that, to feel an energy lift through my entire body. I enjoy being around people that are all rooting for the same sports team. I know that it can’t happen all of time, due to unfortunate circumstances, but any situation involving people that can lift my mood, I love to experience. The nice thing is that happens every time I visit my family.
Best Gifts
Without a doubt the best gift I ever received was the gift of life from my parents. We all wonder about fate. Being in the wrong place at the wrong time, or the reverse of being in the right place at the right time. Fate can sometimes be a wonderful or cruel thing. I don’t know if you have ever seen the Benjamin Button movie, but the Cate Blancett character is hit with a car that ruins her ballet career. It shows in the movie how many things had to happen had just the right time for her to have the accident. There are many situations in life that are comparable resulting in good or bad things happening in one’s life. However, the most fateful day of your life was day that you were conceived. Just think if your father was too tired or your mother had the proverbial headache you would not be here, plain and simple. There could have been dozens of things at that particular moment that could have prevented them from having sex. Instead, you were created, for better or worse. No question that is the greatest gift I have ever had, and I have my parents to thank for it. The gift of life, with all of its craziness, strangeness and wonderfulness, there cannot be anything greater than that.
I Can’t Stop Laughing
To explain my “approach” to budgeting I first have to explain my basic philosophy of money. My goal in life is to die a pauper. Having said that, I do not want to live like a pauper. My family is very well off. They are far from wealthy but unless something unusual happens they will never want for anything. My 3 grandkids will be able to go to the college of their choice without any help from me. I have no desire to leave anybody any money. I never really planned for retirement, and I do have a little nest egg, but that is the key word, little. Since I have retired in 2019, I have traveled to the Grand Canyon, Hawaii, London, and Paris. Later this year we are going to Italy. Naturally Covid cut into our travel plans in 2020. I play as much golf as I want but I play golf courses that are more senior and price friendly. I do not do as much travel golf as I once did. I am having too good of time to bother with a “retirement” job at the moment. I cannot rule out that I won’t ever get one, but for now, I don’t see that in the near future. I will consider myself a pauper when I run out of money and only have social security to live on. There are some things that could happen that could stop me from achieving my goal. I could die suddenly of varies ailments or injuries. I think most if not all of my money would go to my family. I have a will, but I don’t remember what I bequeathed and to whom. I do know I did not give anything to any organization because I hate them all. What would be better is to be told that I have a finite period to live and go crazy baby. If I live that long, I plan on running out of money between 81 and 83 years of age. Right now, with the way things are going I won’t do that. Not the way you think either, I still will have money, so I am going to free myself up a little bit as time goes by and spend a little more. I do have my money invested and since 2019 things have gone pretty well, but naturally that can always change. In a nutshell, my approach to budgeting is to be broke in about 8 to 10 years, sit around watching basic cable, have some sort of internet connection, eat about 2 meals per day, and drink tap water. Of course, I need a roof over my head, but I think social security will cover by basic age 80+ lifestyle. Who knows maybe I will be able to play golf 6 or 7 times per year. That is some kind of approach, don’t you think?
Golf: The Top 20 Golfers Of All Time
Anytime you make a list like this there is always going to be disagreement. I tried to make the process as objective as possible, with opinion thrown out the window. The criteria I used was wins and major championships. Winning is not emphasized enough in golf. There have been many golfers over the years that have made very good livings on the PGA touring with winning hardly any tournaments. The golfing media is into top 10 finishes and even scoring average to some degree. I gave a player one point for a win and 5 points for a major championship win. Since this is going all the way back to the 1900’s, the U. S. and British Amateurs are considered majors. I will go into this more as I go through the list but there still had to be some subjectivity when doing the process. Professional wins in some cases had to be weighted somewhat and some not included. I did not include any team events and no senior wins were included. The quality of play is very good, but it is not the quality that is on the regular tour. If it was, these guys would be playing the regular tour, because they would win about two to three times the amount of money. As much as I admire the longevity of players like Bernard Langer and Hale Irwin their senior careers were not included. The two surprises to me that just failed to make it were Lee Trevino, not enough regular wins, and Vijay Singh, not enough majors, both falling one point short of making the top 20. No active player on the PGA tour made it, with Rory coming the closest falling 10 points short. With no further ado, here is the list and since most of the surprises are from the middle on, I am going to go from no. 1 down to 20
No 1. Tiger Woods 95 wins 18 majors 185 points. No surprise here. Tiger’s record speaks for itself. The amazing thing here is that he has 38 European Tour wins to go along with his 3 British Opens which is third all time. He really is a winning machine. What is remarkable he did about 90% of this from 1997 to 2008. It was quite an 11 year stretch.
No. 2 Jack Nicklaus 64 wins 20 majors 164 points. Just not enough worldwide wins for Jack to catch Tiger. No question, major championship record 2nd to none, and with as many 2nd and 3rd place finishes he had, if the emphasis had not been placed on winning so much, he would have probably slipped just ahead of Tiger. Even though it is very hard to win in golf it still in my view the name of the game.
No. 3 Sam Snead 76 wins 7 majors 111 points. No question Tiger and Jack stand alone at the top. The next 5 are going to be separated by only 9 points. Sneads lack of a United States Open Championship is the big flaw in his record but even if he had won, he would not have challenged the top two. Other than the Open, it is clear that Snead knew how to close the deal.
No. 4 Gary Player 60 wins 9 majors 105 points. The first surprise for me on the list. I would not have ranked Gary that high. His worldwide wins put him in that position. Here is where I had to make some decision on the quality of wins and there were some, I gave no points for. The ones that I did give credit to were against good fields. You cannot argue about his record in the majors, he is tied for 5th all time.
No. 5 Ben Hogan 58 wins 9 majors 103 points. Many people rank Hogan 3rd on the all-time list. His horrible auto accident limited his activity. The odd thing about Hogan was his terrible playoff record of 8-12 and 1-3 in the majors. No question 1953 was his great year, playing in only 6 tournaments he won 5 including 3 majors.
No. 6 Walter Hagan 47 wins 11 majors 102 points. Hagan was a match play king winning 4 PGA championships in a row when it was contested at match play. During much of Hagen’s career there were only 3 professional majors to win per year. Even with less opportunity he finished 4th all time in major championship wins.
No.7 Arnold Palmer 62 wins 7 majors. 102 points. Tied with Hagen but I used majors to break any ties. The king was by far the player that gave golf its first major boost in popularity. Just could not win the PGA and only came close a couple of times losing by one shot to Julius Boros in 1968. His go for broke style which won him many a tournament and was popular, also lost him a couple of majors at least.
No. 8 Peter Thomson 65 wins 5 majors 90 points. By far the biggest surprise on the list. The man who gets no respect. He won 5 British Opens 4 in the 50’s when there was not a lot of American participation. He did win one in 1965 when it was beginning to get a foothold on being a big tournament again, thanks to Palmer. He won eleven times on the Senior Tour so it showed he knew how to play against his peers. He dominated what was known as the Great Britain tour in the 1950’s. It is hard to judge the quality of the competition at that time so I gave him only a half a point for those wins. It was hard to judge this player but one thing is for sure he knew how to win and is a forgotten great champion.
No.9 Bobby Jones 21 wins 13 majors 86 points. The only amateur on the list and the greatest amateur of all time. Another player who did not play in that many tournaments but won most that he played in. He had one of the greatest years in golf when he won the 4 major championships at the time in one-year, 1930.
No. 10 Seve Ballesteros 57 wins 5 majors 82 points. Again another worldwide player who had a magnificent short game. He got the Ryder Cup to go European and turned it into a premier event. He was wild off the tee which contributed to him never winning a U.S. Open. He finished 3rd in 1987. He helped put European golf on the map
No. 11 Greg Norman 69 wins 2 majors 79 points Again another worldwide player getting his just do. Second least number of major wins in the group but contended many times and had two unbelievable losses, the Mize pitch in and the Tway bunker shot. During 86 and the first major of 87 he was tied or in the lead in 5 straight majors after the 3rd round, the only player to ever do it. Then he lost the 6-shot lead to Nick Faldo in the 1996 Masters. What is amazing is that he still managed to finish 2nd even though he shot 78. Of the 44 players who played on Sunday only 11 broke par and just 5 broke 70. Faldo’s 67 was probably one of the best final rounds in major championship history. Normans career will always be thought of as what might have been.
No. 12 Roberto De Vicenzo 74 wins 1 major 79 points. Another surprise on the list. De Vicenzo was another great worldwide player whose wins had to be evaluated. He may have had 2 majors if not for the scorecard mistake at the 1968 Masters which cost him a place in a playoff with Bob Goalby. He was truly a great player and obviously new how to win. He and Norman are the only players with fewer than 3 major wins in the top 20. De Vicenzo had a great senior career which again shows that he could play with his contemporaries.
No. 13 Tom Watson 37 wins 8 majors 77 points. Another on the list that could not win the PGA, but he loved the British Open winning it 5 times. A player, like so many, that ran into putting problems late in his career, or would have won much more. Made the big chip in on 17 at Pebble Beach to keep Nicklaus from winning his 5th U.S. Open in 1982
No. 14 Phil Mickelson 46 wins 6 majors 76 points. It took Phil awhile but once he broke through in the majors he went on a tear. He ended it in 2021 by becoming the oldest to win a major. Like Sam Snead he never could win the U.S. Open but finished 2nd six times. 2006 was the brutal one when he double bogied the last hole to not even get into a playoff. His course management has been questioned the most of anyone on this list. There are many out there that think he would have won much more if had not made so many dumb mistakes.
No. 15 Harry Vardon 41 wins 7 majors 76 points. I put Vardon below Mickelson because there was no question the competition was not as great in the early 1900’s as it was in the 2000’s. Vardon is credited with starting the modern game. He was the dominant player for the first 20 years of the 20th century. Another victim of the bulky putter late in his career.
No. 16 Billy Casper 59 wins 3 majors 74 points. Casper went on a transformation in the mid 1960’s going on a diet that included buffalo meat. He dropped 40 pounds and added two majors, a U.S Open in 1966 which saw him make up a 7 shot deficit on Arnold Palmer, and a green jacket in 1970. He was the best putter of his era with that wristy pop stroke. He wrote an instructional putting article for Sports Illustrated, that my Dad and I followed to a T.
No. 17 Byron Nelson 48 wins 5 majors 73. I am sure many would put Bryon higher on this list. He had one of the greatest years in professional golf winning 11 tournaments in a row. Nelson is probably the only player on this list that did not enjoy tournament golf. For him golf was a ways and a means to buy a ranch and become a rancher, which is exactly what he did. He probably would have won a lot more if his heart had been in it. No Open championship for Nelson.
No. 18 Gene Sarazen 38 wins 7 majors 73 points. Sarazen had one of the most famous shots in golf the double eagle at no. 15 at Augusta in 1935 that propelled him into a tie with Craig Wood and the next day won the 36 hole playoff. It is unlikely the Masters needed any help in establishing itself as a major but the double eagle shot solidified the deal. This allowed Sarazen to become one of only 5 players to win all of the majors.
No. 19 Ernie Els 47wins 4 majors 67 points. Els will be always known as the man that Tiger Woods kept from winning even more. If Tiger had not come on the scene when he did, Els probably would have won at least 3 more majors. Els had one of the worst cases of the yips when he 7 putted the first green in the 2016 Masters. Els had a great career, but it will be what “Wood” have happened if Tiger had not come along.
No. 20 Nick Faldo 36 wins 6 majors 66 points. Last but certainly not least Nick Faldo was the man that started all the swing change nonsense. He made a big swing change with coach David Leadbetter and turned his career around. He went from a journeyman player with the nickname of Nick Foldo, to becoming a 6 time major champion winner and no. 1 player in the world.
There you have it, the top 20 golfers of all time. Some would argue that there is too much emphasis on worldwide wins rather than concentrating on PGA tour wins. I tried to value the wins but in some cases I think I went overboard. I was really surprised by Peter Thomson’s record. His British Open wins, particularly the ones he won in the 50’s have always been tainted by so called weak fields. However, the last time the British team beat the US team in the Ryder Cup was in the mid 50’s. I just cannot go along with the premise that the best golf was only played in America. I think it is a good list driven by one thing, winning. Winning on the world stage and winning in national events no matter where they are played is still one of the most difficult things to do in golf. I feel there will be some current players that will crack this top 20, but we will see. For now, I will take any of the top 20 against any other 4 you want to have.
The Goofy Game of Golf/Life Searching for the Answer 