Sunday, August 26, 2012

Politicians, especially the U.S. President, should NOT play golf

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Yes, I know, Dwight Eisenhower played golf and he was a popular President. But Ike was tolerated because he was an old guy and had done heroic service in W.W.II . Still, even Ike had the whole "golf thing" hurt him; JFK came in and essentially called Eisenhower and old duffer. "The torch has been passed to a new generation, born in this century . . ." Get it? I'm young and virile, said JFK, not an old duffer like Ike. Golf is not a sport for any politician to be seen playing. Dan Quayle was photographed in his golf duds for a magazine and it made him look like the quintessential country-club elitist. George W. Bush didn't help his reputation playing golf. Presidents (really ALL politicians) should bowl, or play basketball. These are macho, "everyman" sports. Even horseback riding is OK. A man on horseback, ironically, doesn't look elitist in the USA. It looks like you're a "cowboy" and you got that whole "John Wayne" image going for you. Ronald Reagan routinely was seen riding horses and it made him look great. Also, don't jog. Jimmy Carter, as President, was photographed panting for breath and looking sick as a dog while jogging. Looks bad. Don't wind-surf. Candidate John Kerry did and he never lived it down. Bowl! Ride a horse like a cowboy! If the horse throws you, get right back on the horse and everyone cheers and says how brave you are to get back on the horse. Shoot hoops on the local playground. Another great sport is simply playing catch with a baseball and baseball gloves. Think Steve McQueen in the "Great Escape" with his baseball and glove. You play catch with your son or daughter and you look like a loving parent. But NO GOLF !!! Barack, I hope you're listening.

Sunday, August 5, 2012

I saw Woody Allen in one of his last stand up engagements

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True story: Shortly after he made "Everything you wanted to know about sex but were afraid to ask" Woody Allen performed in a theater of the round in the San Fernando Valley in L.A. County. The "opening act" was Jim Croce -- I put "opening act" in quotation marks because for some strange reason there was a delay that night and Croce actually went on second. Allen was terrific and took questions from the audience. But what I remember most was this bit he did with a little piece of lint on his jacket. You have to picture the scene: Woody Allen is alone on stage and it's a theater in the round. There is just a single spotlight on him; the rest of the theater is dark. Now, when there is just one spotlight it tends to light up the dust around the person and you can see stuff floating in the air. In the midst of his act, Woody plucks a small string -- a piece of lint -- from his jacket and flicks it in the air. The lint is floating in the air. Woody then tells a joke and the audience laughs. When the audience laughs, the air from the audience laughter causes the lint to jump up in the air ! After a couple of more jokes the audience notices this lint which is still hanging in the air. With each burst of laughter the lint dances higher and higher! Soon everyone is laughing twice: once for the Woody Allen punchline and then again when we all see the lint jump up higher in the air. After each burst of laughter, the lint jumps up! Then when we see the lint jump up, we laugh again and the lint jumps a second time ! It seemed that Woody kept this piece of lint dancing and jumping in the air for twenty minutes! True story.