- The
U.S. Open can be a grueling test of golfers’ mental and physical strength, but
it typically isn't quite as tough on the caddies who walk by their sides. Chambers
Bay is the site of this year’s tournament and while it’s known for being a
rugged walk for players, caddies, officials and spectators, thanks the layout's
hilly terrain, the carnage the course inflicted before the tournament
officially began. Two caddies were snipered by the course on the eve of the Open
and while their injuries weren't life-threatening, it was still a bad day for
the bag carriers. Damian Moore, who caddies for Stephen Gallacher, tweaked his
ankle when he fell and needed to be helped off the course with a stretcher. That
was merely the first major fall of the day and it was followed by Gareth Lord,
who caddies for Henrik Stenson, taking a tumble and injuring his left wrist. Don’t
blame this on a wet course with bad footing, either; this track is both dry and
burned out, with the grass a yellowish brown color and wispy off the fairways. Despite
its dry surface, the course can be slippery, especially on the hilly areas, and
caddies are not allowed to wear soft spikes. It might be time to change that,
at least for this weekend, especially with the course’s track record. Several
spectators were injured when Chambers Bay was the site for the 2010 U.S.
Amateur and the USGA attempted to limit spectator exposure by erecting more
grandstands and limiting areas where spectators can walk. Maybe it’s time those
protections expanded to the guys toting the clubs around……….
- Their
story is a welcome positive one amidst thousands and thousands of deaths
involving migrants trying frantically to cross over from Africa to find a new
life in Europe. Two men who barely survived their first trips across the
Mediterranean on rickety boats chose not to be scarred by their first journey,
but rather to take to the sea again to compete in a world championship sailing
competition. Elias Orjini, a Christian from Ghana, and Mohamed Sabaly, a Muslim
from Gambia, scored spots with the crew of the Ottovolante, a roughly 40-foot sailboat
run by the Catholic group Sant'Egidio. Ottovolante left Sicily on Monday bound
for Barcelona and it will compete in the Vela ORC world championship June
27-July 4. Orjini and Sabaly began regular training three months ago with Capt.
Fabio Santoro and the nine-member crew off the coast of Sicily as the catalysts
for a Sant'Egidio-backed project to promote inter-religious dialogue and
understanding. Orjini admitted that he had no desire to go back to the sea
after his dramatic rescue in 2011, a disaster in which the boat with he and
hundreds of other migrants crossing the Mediterranean sank and 350 people died.
"I watched all these people die. I watched husbands try to save their
wives and mothers try to save their children,” Orjini said. “I said to myself
that I would never have anything to do with the sea anymore." Yet here he
is, working on the deck of the Ottovolante, pulling up ropes and moving sails. Sabaly
made his voyage in 2013 and his vessel got lost at sea for a week and the
passengers ran out of food and water. Eight passengers
died, but he survived and now lives in Sicily in an Italian center for migrants
requesting political asylum in Sicily. Having these two as part of the crew can't
be anything but good for this race………
- Slayer's new guitarist just won himself a
lot of fans. Gary Holt first
performed with Slayer in 2011, but he joined the band fully following the death
of founding guitarist Jeff Hanneman, who passed away in May 2013 from
alcohol-related cirrhosis of the liver. If there was any doubt about Holt’s
ability to integrate himself into the Slayer lineup, that went on the window
when the thrash metal band performed at the Paramount venue in Long Island, New
York this week. Holt took to the stage wearing a shirt clearly meant in jest,
but one that will definitely endear him to so very, very many metal heads
around the world. He performed wearing a t-shirt bearing the phrase 'Kill The
Kardashians' on the front and while being rid of the family filled with
publicity stunting, camera-whoring members from oldest to youngest, the idea of
actually doing physical harm to any of these people simply because they refuse
to tear themselves away from awful reality shows and just live their lives like
normal people seems a bit extreme. Holt held down his spot on stage with the
offending shirt for the group's headline set and he is now officially part of
the outfit that will on release a new album, 'Repentless,’ on the fateful day
of Sept. 11. It will be the group’s 11th studio album and was produced by Terry
Date, who has worked with the likes of Smashing Pumpkins, Soundgarden and Bring
Me The Horizon in the past. If Holt doesn’t have an endorsement deal for the maker
of his stylish new concert attire by the time the album drops, then something
is clearly wrong with the world……….
- Drones
v. sharks. It sounds like the plot of the next terrible SyFy network movie, but
it’s actually the real-life story unfolding on beaches in southern California. Southland
lifeguards are making use of a new drone that is helping them get a better
handle on the shark problem plaguing beaches in the area. The drone has already
revealed a disturbing number of sharks just feet from the shoreline at one
beach. “This morning, we launched it and 10 minutes later, we knew there were
10 to 12 sharks all in the Surfside [Beach] area,” Seal Beach lifeguard Joe
Bailey said. Bailey has flown the drone regularly for the past month and said
that when he puts the unmanned craft in the air, it takes only a few minutes
for lifeguards to spot he 5- to 6-foot great whites up close in real-time
without going in the water. “It works great,” he said. “It flies up about 100
feet, looks down a wide area, and when we see the shadows, we’ll go down and
focus in on them.” Just this week, the
drone recorded video of a juvenile great white in waist-high water at Surfside
and while no swimmers were in the water at the time, that won't always be the
case. Bailey explained that if there are aggressive sharks spotted, the beach
will be closed. For now, the sharks are relatively small and non-aggressive,
acting like normal sharks, feeding on bottom fish and being intimidating. News
of the shark spottings has scared away a few locals who have decided to either
postpone their next surfing adventure or find a shark-free beach somewhere
nearby. Could the plot of a bad “Jaws” sequel be in the process of being
written right before our eyes? Here’s hoping………
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