A few items while heading into a very busy weekend. With company coming next week there’s much cleaning and work to do both inside and out.

I read stories like this and get sick to my stomach imagining the horror of what it must have been like in that airplane cabin. I mean, under the best of circumstances you’re confined in a small place with no place to go and nothing you can do about it. Add in a hijacking and you’re at the mercy of events spiraling out of your control. You’re screwed. I know the chances of anything like that are exceedingly small, but whenever I board a plane I can’t help but think about the possibilities and what an awful way to die it would be. But that’s what 9/11 will do to you.

Might be time for John Daly to consider another vocation. Ouch.

He started with a tee shot into the water. He had about 270 yards to cover the lake after his penalty drop and failed twice. From there, he hit a smother-hook well to the left of the water, only to hit what he described as a shank with his 7-iron well right of the green. He took three chips to reach the green and one-putted for a 12.

”I got two good drops and hit a heel-cut 3-wood into the water,” he said. ”Then I shanked a 7-iron, chili-dipped a chip, it was buried, didn’t get that out. … It was a good 12. I got up-and-down for 12.”

I mean, he’s still popular out on tour but he looks to me to be in terrible shape, and he’s struggling with his golf game to boot. Makes you wonder if he’s just living off of past glories and taking the place of someone who deserves a shot at their own glory.

What is David Ortiz’s problem? Man, he’s got three World Series rings, he’s popular beyond belief and living a life few can even imagine, and he’s grousing about his situation. David, grow up. Embrace everything you have. The shelf life of a ballplayer is so short. Don’t %$#@! it up.

Folks who follow this blog know I’m no fan of President Barack Obama, but I read stuff like this and wonder who on God’s green earth trusts anything this guy has to say anymore. I mean, how many outright lies can a President end up spewing over time before people tune him out altogether?

I’m no NBA fan by any means but this idea to me looks totally stupid. Why can’t they just sell them to fans and leave the ballplayers alone?