The Vancouver Hockey Riots, Ben Johnson and my 2nd favorite city in the world..

Vancouver is my 2nd favorite city in the world, San Diego is my first.

I was in Seoul for the Olympics in 1988. While there I ran in to a Canadian journalist 3 times. Each conversation was a revelation for me, maybe for him.

The first time was early in the trip. Our conversation revolved around his contention that Americans were overly jingoistic. Americans were crazy emphatic about their country. They waved flags, wore their colors, were loud and overly proud. The underlying message was that Americans were scary, simplistic and embarrassingly patriotic. He thought that they were basically simple, stupid, mind numbed robots.

My explanation to him has (in my mind) proved to be incredibly prescient. I said, the Americans were not overly crazed about their country or athletes. As a matter of fact, in most instances we cared for our athletes and their performance much less than other countries. Brazil, Jamaica, Japan being just a few examples.

My point was American fans in Korea wanted to get on TV. Period.

American fans knew that if they wore their colors, went crazy, showed a sign that displayed NBC's letters or logo in some creative way, their friends and family would see them on TV from Korea. I said the American fan's ardor and passion were not signs of war mongering loyalty, they just were more media savvy and knew how to get noticed to get on television.

The Canadian journalist's reaction was perplexed. I think he thought I was smart and even tempered. I think he had a bit of a revelation and thought maybe this guy is right for SOME of the crazy Yankees. We toasted and parted.

The next time I saw him, (there were only so many bars to go to in Itaewon), Ben Johnson had won the 100 meter dash earlier in the day. He was about as pumped as the StayPuft dude in the last scene of Ghostbusters. A CANADIAN had won the 100 (IMO, a black, expat Jamaican, but whatever). He was buying drinks, woo hooing and having a great time. A sports fanatic knows what it's like when YOUR team wins. He was feeling it BIG TIME, +patriotism, + Canadian pride, +++ alchohol, +++ fellow Canadians. He was having a big, big night and I had a great time with the whole gang.

I think it was a day or two later, but I saw him the night they stripped Ben Johnson of his gold medal for testing positive for steroids. There are events that "legitimately" crush your spirit. They usually involve a real tragedy. You lose a love, a relative dies, your dog of 14 years passes, you get fired after 22 years, divorce, etc.

My Canadian journalist was inconsolable. He was crushed by something that many reasonable people would say he was crazy for even caring about in the first place. Examples include Red Sox fans before 2004, Ohioans after "The Decision", Cub fans and Skynard fans when they don't play "Freebird".

My Canadian journalist crashed, burned and flamed. For those two days HE was the crazy American he had contempt for. His joy in Ben Johnson was justified, righteous and superior because an underdog Canadian had WON. The highest of highs to the lowest of lows.

The Vancouver hockey riots reminded me of that Canadian journalist. The collective embarrassment of the Canadian media and citizens is like the crash of a 4 year old after an unlimited spree of Skittles and Red Vines. Canadians just are not like Americans. With stuff like this they are, well, just better than that.

The Vancouver citizens rioted because they were drunk, experienced in riots from the Olympics & that Global Capitalist meeting a few years ago, were sports heart broken, pride wounded, pissed off, without adult (police) supervision and it seemed like fun & good idea at the time.

Basically they rioted for the same reasons we celebrate/riot here in the USA - our teams win/lose or we kill Osama Bin Laden.

Our Canadian brothers and sisters are not better, worse or different than we are.

I love them even more for it.

I love it that President Obama golfs a lot.

I love it that our President Obama golfs a lot.

The fact that President Obama plays and loves the game I love makes me proud to be a golfer.

When I get a chance to play I play on San Diego courses, I pay $30 at Coronado, $29 at Balboa, $42 at Torrey Pines and $25 at some other courses. If I play twilight, I can pay less than $20 and often get in 18 holes. I always walk, so I do not pay cart fees.

The idea that golfers are all rich, country clubbers is one the most ignorant stereotypes that exist in the USA. I meet varied denizens of San Diego every color, creed, gender, sexual preference and income. I've made really good friends with people I have met on the course that I do other things with. I've met people who I enjoy golfing with because they share my love of the game, but off the course they are jerks and I'll have nothing to do with them.

Golf is a great physical challenge, it is hard to play well. Golf is decent exercise if you walk. Here in San Diego, golf is a beautiful experience, some times spiritual - Torrey Pines at sunset for example. For me, it is a contemplative, competitive, thought provoking sport/game/hobby/passion.

I think golf helps our President mentally. I am all for him playing as often as he can. My dream would be to join him, kick his butt and collect a few skins in the process.

My comment about hurricane possibility article in San Diego.

I read this story a week ago, it is really stupid and ill conceived.I lived in Honolulu and now San Diego, 1 and 2 on the list. Every USA coastal city and town in the Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean and Atlantic should be listed ahead of San Diego and Honolulu even if they got hit by a hurricane yesterday.The warmest the Pacific on the West Coast will likely get in at least the next 10 years is maybe 75 degrees and that temperature might last for about a week. That plus the jet stream out here with the high altitude winds that shear off the tops of hurricanes make the likelihood of a Category 1 or higher storm hitting San Diego about 0.

Honolulu' odds are higher, but Pacific hurricanes are so much more random in motion than the Atlantic spawned storms. Their erratic motion, plus they have to get past the cold water east of Hawaii makes a Category 1 or higher storm hitting Oahu much lower than any US East Coast city in August or September. But, for any place in Hawaii, like any place on the East Coast of the USA, the danger is real.

For San Diego, we should not waste our time worrying about hurricanes. That guy should get his license and ability to write stupid stories like his revoked.

We are not going to run out of fresh drinking water.

Some technologies that could be used to mitigate future waters shortages and water wars.

Down-welling/Aquifer replenishment - take water when there is an excess i.e. this year from the river floods and pump it down in to the aquifers and wells we have. Yeah I know, the filtration process of the earth purifies the water so we might be polluting the aquifers and wells, how about we start with the dried up and polluted aquifers that currently exist.

Massive storage - when you are storing something thing that is non toxic, you can build flimsy, cheap storage vehicles. If one breaks, crakes, fails patch it or leave it. These can be above or below ground (better) think that Saudi Arabia or other oil rich, water poor countries can't build massive storage reserviours.?

Desalination - rising oceans from global warming, massive desalination to create water supplies that will keep ocean levels consistent

Ice and water mining - glaciers melting? Build massive ships that can move water from point A to point B. Again, since we are building ships to move a non toxic material, who cares about double hulls and other safety features. Antarctica, Greenland, Iceland, Norway can become the new Saudi Arabia.

Pipelines - Now build massive pipelines that move this water from Point A to Point B. For example, it is relatively flat from the Mississippi accross the fruited plain going west. Why not build really big pipes to take all that excess water west to our farm lands where they can use or store it? Pipes spring leak, no big deal. In our country we can use rail and freeway right of ways to run the pipes on the surface. Same elsewhere

New reservoirs - think like the Chinese. Build new reservoirs and pipe systems distribution systems. A big pipe system right down I-5 to take water from the Pacific Northwest to LA baby.

My comment about Augusta National article from Joe Posnanski

Joe, I believe you give Augusta no chance at innocence based upon your words - "I REALLY don’t want them (your daughters) to be members of Augusta National. A ludicrously rich group of men will not invite a ludicrously rich woman to join their ludicrously exclusive club with its shameful history of denying anyone even slightly different?” You suffer from pure financial/class envy. Augusta hires Pinkerton Guards (yes I know the labor history of the Pinkertons). Maybe one of these contractors made a mistake, was not informed, or even acted maliciously. You give that no credence and automatically attack Augusta and the wealthy. You, Barak Obama and many Liberals believe being very rich is “ludicrous” and a negative to society. With the exception of inherited wealth, I believe the vast majority people in this country earned their riches legally, ethically and the accumulation of their wealth did not get taken away but rather benefitted many, many people. Finally, you have no idea if Augusta has or does not have female members. Their membership is private. I strongly believe that Augusta already has female members but do not feel it necessary to disclose that. Wouldn’t it be ironic to you and Martha Burke if Sandra Dey O'Conner, Condoleezza Rice and other prominent female golfers already are members? Perhaps there are members who love and have contributed to golf, who have even less money than you? Capitalists who attain great wealth and in the aggregate leave the world a much better place are not "ludicrous". Your socialistic bias and petty jealously has made you a bearded, Kool-Aid drinking, bitter clinger of 60’s era left brain washing. This attitude is shared by the members of your own Augusta – the sports journalists of America are even more narrow minded than Augusta members.

John M. Dowd Response

Danny - The value of privacy to very public people is extremely valuable, Barak Obama himself says it is what he misses the most. So it is very plausible to me that a member of Augusta might not want to disclose they are a member even if it benefited the Club. The Club, I assume, does not want members who use their membership in a public manner to benefit themselves. Bottom line, we do not know who are their members and there is no benefit to Augusta to disclose it even if YOU believe you'd rather disclose than be a protest target. My point about Bill Gates is that if you are Augusta, it might be cool to let the world know Bill Gates is in your club and visa versa the fact is neither disclosed it. Lez, Mr. P specifically and vehemently identifies Augusta members a ludicrously "rich" and that is why he does want his daughters to join. I believe a contractor might have messed up. J.P assumes Augusta is guilty and ties that in with being rich. My point is that we don’t know anything, it is private. Lez, I don not listen to, watch or read Glen Beck, I am a Dittohead. J - Mr. P himself repeatedly said "ludicrously rich" was his x-factor in joining Augusta, nothing else. Therefore, my takeaway is he has a problem with the rich. I have also read his other columns and you get a sense of his core values through his writing. J, you wrote “You are beginning with a particular, biased reading of his statements." Of course I am. I am reading his article. He did not write negatively or even mention power, he only mentioned "rich". Eron, as I said before, we do not know about Augusta’s policies, you and Joe P choose to believe they are discriminatory, I choose to believe there is a possibility that you are wrong and they actually might have female members. If they invite me to join (on scholarship) and I find out there are female members, I will not tell a soul because it would be none of their business. Wanting to know is not the same as right to know. We have no right to know Augusta's business.

That said, I really enjoy reading your stories and I have nothing negative to say about your personal choice of seeking a perfect beard or maintaining a middle income lifestyle in flyover country.