Wide Stance at Sharp Park

We had a foursome booked for a round at Sharp Park, but Brad had a hangover (my interpretation) so Ed, Zach, and I played as a threesome on a clear, brisk, windy morning. Brad has, of course, now been delegated to the Double Secret Probation Unreliable Golfer List.  

I've once again abandoned the "Live" aspect of my usual "Live Blogging" rounds, in favor of a single post with selected shots. While a relief to my playing partners, not live blogging the rounds to concentrate on my swing does not appear to be helping my game.

 After two rounds in two days at Lincoln and Sharp, with virtually identical (bad) scores, my widely anticipated golf breakthrough will apparently be pushed into 2016. This despite some coaching on the course, as Zach took it upon himself to begin proffering swing advice to both of us. Here he is coaching Ed on weight shift during the swing:

He was also highly critical of my wide stance. I adjusted it to humor him. Surprisingly, some of my best drives were realized with the narrower stance. This might be the golfing breakthrough I've been waiting for.

I've not been to Sharp Park in few months, so was curious to see some of the improvements that were finally implemented at the course after years of pointless litigation. The most dramatic change on the course was the rebuilt bridge and conduit at the 12th hole over the now cleared connecting channel from Horse Stable Pond to Laguna Salada. There should be a name for this bridge, like the "Hogan Bridge" at Augusta, or the "Swilcan Bridge" at St. Andrews. I'm thinking "Brent's Bane"... Just a thought. 

In any case, the frogs are going to love it. With tules partially dredged, algae filling in and an optimal open water breeding channel, we can expect a veritable population explosion of California Red Legged Frogs at the course. It will just make inevitable future litigation by the W.E.B.L.E.E.D.U. Axis that much more difficult for them.  Back to golf....

16th Tee

17th Tee Portrait

Ed brings us home on 18th Tee

We ran into Butch over beer and burgers at the 19th hole...

... where the Sharp Park Social Media Strike Force planned strategy for the coming year.

Oh yeah.

108.

I know.

Pathetic. But another good day of bad golf. 

Bad Day at Lincoln Park

Actually, it was a very good day. A little cool - in the 50's - but sunshine and crystal clear. One of those days when you feel like you can see for miles. Quite literally in this case. If you biggify the pic on the 5th green at the top of the post, you can see the Farallons in the distance - some 30 miles away.  I'm playing with Bob and Rick. The starter added Matias to fill out the foursome.  He said he was game to be documented for my live blogging golf fetish - so here we go.

The day was good, my golf was bad. By the time we got to the 5th tee I already had 3 snowmen on my scorecard with more to come. Rick did what he could to let me close the gap on the back, but to no avail. He beat me this round, which always makes me wonder whether it is time to give up the game.

I spent time distracting myself from the horror of my scorecard with underused features on the Samsung, including "Burst Mode".  I was hoping it would allow me to catch the ball in the air off the tee, and possibly create an animated gif or two.

That exceeded my technology bandwidth, so there was no "live blogging" this round. Instead, we are settling for this EOD post with pics from the round. Deal with it.

Missing a birdie putt on 11

Bob on 13th tee

Rick on 13th tee

Bob waiting for Rick's 2nd on 13

Matias on 17th Tee

Traditional 17th Tee Portrait

19th Hole

Matias had a 76.

In retrospect, none of the other scores matter.

Dawn Patrol at Lincoln Park

A rare fog free morning - on the 9th green

I generally do not blog my frequent back 9 Dawn Patrol outings at Lincoln Park. Today was an exception. Got a text yesterday from Tim, a bay area expat, now living in the frozen wasteland of Wisconsin. He was in town and suggested we get together. He is one of the few - perhaps only - golf buddy who ever joined me on my Lincoln Dawn Patrol excursions. He immediately signed up for this morning's outing. I brought an old set of backup clubs, which turned out to be relevant.., as you will see from this screenshot...

This is called "Foreshadowing"

On the 11th tee

Out of the trap and over the green on 14

This is where I break him....

On the 15th green, after my 200 yard uphill drive to the center of the fairway, and my Scottish style bump and run approach to the green in regulation. Shortly after this clip, TM broke down sobbing unconsolably on the green. 

Posted by Michael Wallach on Saturday, November 21, 2015

On the 15th green, after my 200 yard uphill drive to the center of the fairway and my Scottish-style, bump and run, approach lands on the green in regulation. Shortly after this clip, Tim broke down sobbing inconsolably on the green.

A practice shot on 17

17th Tee

Tim is complaining about the clubs. It's a poor carpenter who blames his tools. 

Final score:

MW - 48
TM - 53

Just sayin.... 

Sent from my T-Mobile 4G LTE Device

A Random Celebration

There was no reason for the gifts, balloons, cards or flowers on this day. None whatsoever.

Nor was there any reason for champagne on our way out for the evening.

Nor was there any reason to go out for dinner and enjoy our recently re-legalized  favorite - foie gras at L'ardoise - a French Bistro we wanted to try...
.

No reason at all. This was just a random Thursday celebration and absolutely no one involved was celebrating a birthday.  I just wanted to clear that up.

Nothing out of the ordinary. Nothing to see here. Move along.

17th and 19th Holes at Lincoln Park

Max was playing as a single and joined us on the 3rd tee while we were waiting for the group in front of us. I've run into Max on a golf course before. Three times, in fact, on three different courses.  Which is kind of weird when you think about it. We played with him at Sharp Park in August, 2015. And I ran into him at the practice green at Presidio a couple of months ago. He is either stalking us or is destined to join the Bad Golfer Association.

It was a great day to get outside, get away from the TV for a while and away from the non-stop coverage of the horror out of Paris.

Given the fact that I'd not stepped on a course in months, I had to be was quite happy with the result of today's round. Perhaps I'm  on the verge of a breakthrough. It could happen.

MS 92

MW 96

Sent from my T-Mobile 4G LTE Device

Not Live Blogging Lincoln Park At The Turn...

"Other Mike" talked me into heading out for or an afternoon round. I was not going to document this round since I've not played in two months. However...

...as it's a gorgeous day, and I am threatening to break 100 at the turn, I decided to go ahead and post our scores.

MS - 45
MW - 47

Stay tuned...

Sent from my T-Mobile 4G LTE Device

Time To Vote - Election Day in San Francisco

I think I've already made my position clear on the most important elective office in today's ballot in The City. As it turns out, there are some other elective posts and propositions on the ballot.  Here are the Chron Endorsements:

And the Alice B Toklas LGBT Democratic Club Endorsements:

And the SF Moderates Endorsements:

The interesting bit about these diverse endorsements is that all of the preferred candidates for all of the elected offices by those three organizations are exactly the same. Who am I to disagree?

MW Brigade Election Selections:

Done deal. Still prefer voting in person on the "day of" the election rather than casting an absentee vote by mail.

While completing my ballot, I listened to poll workers patiently explain for the umpteenth time that if you vote for the same candidate on the three Ranked Choice Voting options, your ballot will be invalidated. The simple fact is that Ranked Choice Voting is confusing for voters, subject to "gaming", and will never be as accurate a reflection of voter intent as is a simple "top two" runoff.  I am reminded again of the final word on San Francisco's election process as perfectly articulated in the November, 2011 edition of Walter Hinkle's Argonaut:

"Let us express our complete and unqualified contempt for the city’s system of ranked choice voting and taxpayer financing of campaigns."

Exactly. Nothing to do now but wait for the results and hope for the best. Stay tuned. We'll update this post as the results come in...

UPDATE: 11:00 PM

The results are in. Among the elected offices, six of my seven choices prevailed. The big one was, of course Vicki Hennessy with 60% plurality over Ross Mirkarimi's 30% vote. Our long civic nightmare is over at last. My loser was also a big one. I live in District 3, and Aaron Peskin defeated Julie Christensen by a decisive 53% to 43% margin. It's all about Chinatown in this district, and Rose Pak proved to be a bigger power broker than Lee.  I can only hope that Peskin has mellowed since his last stint on the Board of Supervisors and is not the same flaming asshole he was then.  TBD.  Rank Choice Voting was not a factor in this election, and that is a good thing.

As far as the props are concerned, it was a mixed bag, which I expected. Five of the eleven props went against my voting preference. However the ones I cared the most about - No on D, No on F, No on I, all went down to defeat.  All in all, a good election, except for Rose Pak's new pocket supervisor.

UPDATE II: 04-November-2015

Chron columnist C.W. Nevius has his finger on the pulse of the City. His take of the election gets it mostly right on Lee, Mirkarimi, and the Props,  I just hope he got it right on Peskin:

"Much will be made of Aaron Peskin’s win in District Three, but I fail to see it as the end of the civilized world. Peskin is no Chris Daly — the polarizing F-bomb thrower. Peskin is smart and knows how to figure the angles. You can deal with him — just be sure to count your fingers after you shake hands. 

And one more thing. Peskin campaigned his butt off. Every day there was another story of a Peskin sighting, on a corner in North Beach chatting up voters or attending a neighborhood meeting. I even heard he’d contacted a Republican group about speaking to them. 

The point is, this is no hobby. Peskin is all in for city government. Good. Now let’s see forward-thinking legislation and not just attempts to stymie the mayor. A good sign is he spoke with Lee on Wednesday."

TBD. I do find it interesting how the EssEff Progs were so incensed when "power broker" Rose Pak backed Ed Lee for Mayor, but were much more sanguine about her influence in Chinatown when she supported Aaron Peskin in D3.

Rose Pak backing Ed Lee

Do not mess with Rose

Rose Pak backing Aaron Peskin

x-posted on my other blog

Dear San Francisco, It's not our fault we have an incompetent buffoon for Sheriff. 62% of us voted against Mirkarimi. Blame Ranked Choice Voting. In the name of all that is good and holy, let's fix this. - Thank you for your attention to this matter.

Apparently there are people who are still intending to support our incompetent, unqualified, national embarrassment of a Sheriff (I mean, people beside his wife Eliana). No... really... I have it on good authority that there are people who are going to vote for him. I know. Weird. 

As a public service, I have curated a representative sample of articles and commentary culled during Mirkarimi's tenure as San Francisco Sheriff:

• Scandal Plagued Sheriff Limps To Election Day - New York Times
• San Francisco Sheriff's Driver License Suspended for Not Reporting Crash - ABC 7 News
• Reluctant Range Boss Transferred, Mirkarimi Fails Gun Test - SF Gate
• Sheriff Mirkarimi Suspended Without Pay - Bay Citizen
• S.F. has a sheriff who can’t shoot straight - San Francisco Chronicle
• San Francisco Sheriff Has Blood On His Hands - Ricochet
• Ross Mirkarimi Guilty: SF Sheriff Pleads Guilty To False Imprisonment - Huffington Post
• Ross Mirkarimi: Ethics Commission Says Sheriff Is Guilty of Official Misconduct - SF Weekly 
• Dianne Feinstein blames SF Sheriff’s Department In Kathryn Steinle Death - Washington Times
• SF Sheriff Mirkarimi Charged With 3 Misdemeanors In Domestic Dispute - CBS SF Bay Area
• S.F. Sheriff Mirkarimi guilty of misconduct in domestic violence - LA Times
• Steinle Family Files Claims to Hold SF Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi Responsible for Daughter's Death
• Deputies Union Files Grievance Against Sheriff Mirkarimi Over Pier 14 Shooting Suspect - NBC
• Sheriff’s managers endorse candidate — and it’s not Mirkarimi - SF Gate

And let's not forget this ...

You're welcome.

 One would expect that Sheriff Mirkarimi might have a tough time getting reelected given his record, but this is San Francisco. So who knows? Give him credit - he is actively courting some previously overlooked constituencies to his cause. First, he's locked up the Criminal Illegal Immigrant Vote, who flock to San Francisco's Criminal Sanctuary City status. Expanding on this previously untapped criminal voting block,  Ross Mirkarimi recently appealed to the domestic San Francisco criminals for their vote. He is fighting to eliminate bail for indicted criminals in San Francisco and release arrested crooks from jail before trial.  Political genius. With San Francisco's booming crime wave, this could very well be the swing vote needed to put him back in office. Look, I know this sounds batshit insane, and I don't want this to sound like I am saying I told you so...  Wait. That is exactly what I am saying.  I told you so...

In fact, this is when I told you so on 11/11/11,  shortly after his election:

"Mirkarimi is not one of my favorites. Who knows what damage he'll do to the Sheriff's Department. We probably should start on the recall petitions now."

And a few days later, this is when I told you so about Ranked Choice Voting:

"In the Sheriff's election I've no doubt that in a 2 way runoff our completely unqualified sheriff-elect Ross Mirkarimi would have lost to either the 2nd or 3rd place finishers who split the qualified vote and did not campaign in tandem to defeat Mirkarimi. Others disagree. That is the point. Nobody knows, because voters were denied the opportunity to make a clear, simple unambiguous choice between the top two candidates."

Then shortly after Mirkarimi took office as Sheriff, I told you so again and again:

"Like Jean Quan in Oakland, Ross Mirkarimi's election was a triumph for Ranked Choice Voting... "   

"Cunnie and Miyamoto split the rational vote with 55% of votes cast. Under the confusion of and vagaries of RCV, Mirkarimi is elected Sheriff even though 62% of first choice votes were cast against him. If there was a follow-up "top two" runoff election, he has no chance of becoming Sheriff. But there was no runoff election. Welcome to Ranked Choice Voting in the People's Republic of San Francisco."

They say you get the government you deserve. But I say the City of San Francisco is getting a bum rap. It was the confusion and game-playing of Ranked Choice Voting that put Mirkarimi in that preposterous uniform. So, San Francisco, let's not screw this up this time. It is time to put our long civic nightmare behind us. There are 3 candidates for Sheriff:

• Vicki Hennessey is eminently qualified to be Sheriff
• John Robinson is not qualified to be Sheriff but would still be a better choice than Mirkarimi
• Ross Mirkarimi is not qualified to be dog catcher and is an embarrassment to the City.

This is how the San Francisco ballot works. You can make three choices for Sheriff of San Francisco County in order of preference. This is how your vote should be ranked:

1. Vicki Hennessey
2. John Robinson (if you want) 
3. Blank or Anybody else on the planet except Ross Mirkarimi. 

VERY IMPORTANT! UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES SHOULD YOU ENTER ROSS MIRKARIMI'S NAME FOR FIRST, SECOND, OR THIRD CHOICE!

Thank you for your cooperation in this matter.

X-Posted from my other blog.