Cleansing my brain of negative thoughts

In light of the news that Tiger Woods won't be playing in any of the PGA Tour events until 2009, people are decrying the fact that there is no reason to watch professional golf on TV for the rest of the year. That's probably true except for one thing---to cheer against Retief Goosen, or whatever his name is, for suggesting aloud that Tiger has been faking his injury. It may not help divert the path of one of his potential tournament-winning putts, but when Goosen steps up to the ball, you can be sure I will send my vibes radiating toward the TV screen and yell like crazy, "Miss it!" . . . . .

Do you get the impression I cheer AGAINST players and teams more than I cheer FOR them. Sad, but true. But isn't it sweet that #1 Miami was sent packing out of the College World Series. Aw, that's a shame. Not! Florida State went home, too, and tonight we get to see either North Carolina or LSU eliminated. Whichever it is, SWEET! . . . . .

I sat through a rather entertaining amateur ballgame last night. The Vermillion Red Sox ended up with 13 runs, and the Vermillion Grey Sox had three, but an inning earlier it was a 5-3 game. Actually neither team won---the gnats and mosquitoes did. I hear the City of Vermillion is beginning to spray today. Glad to hear that! Coach Kirk Sorensen's wife asked if I wanted to share her Listerine. That wasn't a comment on my bad breath. She had a spray bottle full of Listerine and informed me that Listerine is a good thing to spray on oneself to keep the bugs away. So I tried it. I indeed smelled like sweet breath for the rest of the game, but the gnats stayed off me, at least until I cut through Prentis Park after the game on the way home. . . . . .

Boston, Boston, Boston. OK, I'm happy for Kevin Garnett. He has his ring, and he was decent enough to say something about Minnesota as he was wildly celebrating the NBA title. But it's Boston. I can't really explain how I can be such a diehard New England Patriots fan (because they play in Foxboro, the suburbs?) and despise the Red Sox and dislike the Celtics. . . . . .
What will the ESPN networks do now that the NBA Finals are over? Shut down for a couple of weeks until pro football training camps open? They now don't have ABC's coverage to promote on that ribbon that rolls across the bottom of the screen. They can't very well show films of the Celtics-Lakers finals from the 1980s. They actually may have to quit talking about Kobe Bryant? . . . . .

So Colin Cowherd of ESPN Radio is coming to Sioux Falls? Probably an entertaining speaker. But I hope somebody asks him a question that makes him squirm, such as an explanation of his derisive comment about the Iowa State football team playing "something called South Dakota State" in the opener this fall. . . . . .

I tried to erase all negative thoughts from my head, but with a Cubs-White Sox series looming each of the next two weekends, I can't totally do that. After all, they are the White Sox. . . . . .