Ideas on Dominance

No, Tilam, down boy, I said "dominance", not "domination"...freak!

Dominance is, and ever will be, the topic of useless debate. Coffee machine pundits debate for too many hours (there goes Monday morning productivity at the office!) about "who's better, Tiger or Jack?". "Tiger or Roger?". "1999 Yanks or 1978 Yanks or 1927 Murderer's Row?". "Niners or Cowboys or Steelers?" As american sports fan, we are obscenely obsessed with labelling everything as "the greatest" or "most dominant" when, in fact, there are too many points on both sides of the coins to come up with an answer.

Tiger is dominant in a sport that does NOT require him to beat his opponents, just the course. However, as Tilam suggested, Tiger's dominance is still noticeable, albeit an intellectual or emotional or mental dominance; in majors, how many times has he played top golf in the last group only to see bodies litter the course, through which he strolls to another victory? Tiger's (and Jack's, frankly) dominant alpha male role comes from the fact that they can handle the pressure, and all other KNOW that they need to play their "A" game to win, and ultimately they collapse under the strain (except for Bob May and Chris DiMarco, who lost in playoffs to Tiger). Duval, Ogilvy, Donald, Love III, Goosen, PHIL, Garcia (multiple times, including fading badly at least twice this year), the list goes on and on. Tiger and Jack instill doubt and a little trepidation in their opponents (including the course, who I'm sure shivers at their coming), at least 3/4 of whom are done before teeing off. Is their game THAT much better? Nah, probably not on the grass, but between the ears, it's light years ahead. And EVERYONE knows it.

Roger Federer's dominance is direct, except for Rafael Nadal on clay. Otherwise, pretty much lights out.

Do you measure NFL greats by how many Super Bowls? Franchise winning percentage? What?

The assignment of "the greatest" is merely a prelude to a ranpamt and spirited and beer-laden discussion for guys of all ages and background, who come together to yap and debate and have fun with the topic.

The Yankees-Sawx series is a wipeout so far for Boston. I mean not even close. Last night Papelbon served up a big ol' boner in the top of the 9th. I was hooting at 1am as Giambi took the cheese on a silver platter from Hansen and sent it into the bullpen. Then Georgie hooked a line drive around the pole, and it's done. Today is just the ending of the ass-whooping that is this series. But I'd sure like to know what Theo Epstein is smoking: "Things haven't changed because we lost three games, things haven't changed because we're thinner pitching-wise than we want to be. We're still on the road to get where we want to be. You don't start questioning everything about your processes because of a moment like this." And this was BEFORE last night's debacle. The Yankees have turned a 3½-game deficit into a 5½-game lead in just one month...I'd say it's time to start sweating if you're a resident of Boston...today is pretty much meaningless except to salvage a little pride for Boston...and I stress "a little".

Frankly, I'm pretty surprised that they took the Ramsey murder suspect back to the states in "business class", where he dined on king prawns and drank champagne. WHAT THE HELL! Fundamentally, it doesn't bother me except for the fact that I bet that the US taxpayers are footing the bill for that stuff. Put him in cattle class...