Sunday Insundries

-I can only imagine how nerve-wracking and knee buckling it must be to step up to the tee on the 18th at a major championship. So, I am hesitant to poke fun at Phil Mickelson for his spontaneous combustion at the US Open. But, even he called himself an idiot afterward. An idiot!

It certainly did seem idiotic the way he played that final hole. He could have done better from the tee if he had pulled a weed-eater out of his bag. Then, after he puts himself in deep trouble to the left, all he needed to do was get the ball back onto the fairway and go for a bogey to clinch a playoff. But nooooooooo! He has to go for the heroic, through-the-trees, whack-it-and-pray shot to hit the green. Plunk...the ball smacks a tree and rolls back to his feet all but assuring that he's screwed.

If I'm Phil's caddy I feel equally idiotic that I didn't insist that he play a 3-iron off the tee to put it in the middle...then get it somewhere close to the green with his second shot. From there, he would have, at the very least, assured himself of a playoff. When he pulled out the driver, it was the only way the old, wild-and-crazy Phil Mickelson could come back to life. And come to life he did.

I wonder how he slept last night.

--The Cardinals continue to be impressive despite their sputtering starting pitching and the absence of David (Eckstein) and Goliath(Pujols). It will be interesting to see how Anthony Reyes adapts to being inserted into the starting rotation. From all I'm hearing that's what's going to happen on Thursday with Sidney Ponson going to the bullpen. Ponson won't care much for that demotion because he's pitching this year to get back to the income level he once enjoyed with Baltimore. He'll be a free agent at the end of the season...and was hoping his new-found sobriety, and revisited ability, would mean big bucks. Ponson in the bullpen might be best for the team, but it's doubtful Sidney thinks so.

--If what I'm hearing is true, the Blues will formally introduce the new Dave Checketts ownership at a Thursday press conference. The league will approve the Checketts group at the NHL Board of Governors meeting on Wednesday. The question at this point is...Where will the news conference take place? Most of the Blues current brass..and current media relations and PR staff.. (notice I use the adjective current because nobody really knows if they have a job until after the ownership changes) will be in Vancouver Thursday getting ready for Saturday's player draft in which the Blues have the first pick. We'll keep our ear to the ground.

--I had the distinct pleasure of playing the lead character in a short film produced and directed by my friend Tim Snider of Big World Media Group that played at The Tivoli last week. It's part of the 48 Hour Film Project. The idea of the project is to get a group of people together and make a short film (5-8 minutes) that must be written, shot, edited and turned in at the end of 48 hours. There were 48 teams that decided to try it in St. Louis. The organizers stage these competitions in most of the major cities in the U.S.

What happens is the directors of each group show up at a meeting on Friday evening where the local organizers tell you what elements have to be included in each film. They require one particular line of dialogue, a character, a prop, and they draw a genre for each crew out of a hat. This year's line was "Is that all I am to you?"...the character-Leo or Linda Garren, bank manager...the prop-a shopping bag...and Tim's genre was science fiction. Other directors get drama, silent film, spy film, musical etc.

Tim's group of collaborators came up with a brilliant script that features bank manager Linda Garren (even though I'm a guy) warning the world about an alien invasion in which the aliens take the form of plastic shopping bags. It was a lot of fun to play the bank manager...who was a lot more whacky than he first appears. The film had the audience at the theater bellowing with laughter Wednesday night. In my opinion, it was the best of our group of films. But, I'm a little biased.

Tim received good news today that his film will appear again at The Tivoli this Thursday as a finalist in the St. Louis competition. That means he has won an award for at least one of the various categories on which the films are judged. If he wins best film in St. Louis, it will go on to regional...and possibly national...competitions. I think Tim's team was awesome...and overcame the handicap of a "non-actor" as the lead character very well. I'll keep you posted.