Happy birthday America, 231 and counting. What better time to celebrate than by reminding everyone about how stupid and ridiculous our heatlh-care system has become?
Recently I talked with a friend whose life has been full of challenges. That included a rare medical condition that, undiagnosed for several years, caused severe physical pain.
Worker’s compensation helped her pay for the treatments, all $10,000 of it. But getting that compensation took a decade of battles with the American health infrastructure.
At least she got the money, and the treatment. Imagine getting neither. Actually, you don’t need to imagine. It happens every day in this great country of ours.
It’s repulsive enough that 45 million citizens (at least) don’t have any kind of health insurance...

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For nearly a quarter-century, the British Open carried on without its beast. Carnoustie was a great test of golf, but without the proper accommodations nearby, it couldn’t manage the major-championship circus in a proper manner.
Once that was fixed, Carnoustie was welcome back into the “rota”, as they call it across the Atlantic, and 1999 was affixed as the time golf’s oldest prize would return to that vaunted Scottish turf.
What followed was a links version of Freddy Krueger meeting Jason Voorhees and Michael Myers at the pub for a few pints.
It rained too much in the spring, and by the time the R&A showed up, it couldn’t cut the grass without spreading a ghastly amount of fertilizer, so they left it alone...

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Each year, enough machinations and controversy surround the vote for the Baseball Hall of Fame. And those flare-ups will only get worse in the years ahead, as voters come to terms with the Steroid Era they conveniently ignored until it became profitable to be outraged.
But with a place as hallowed as Cooperstown, even the smallest of details can provoke a prolonged debate.
Take the issue of hats. On the surface, it’s beyond silly. Who cares what cap an inductee wears on his plaque? It doesn’t change any of the numbers they might have built up, or championships they might have won.
Still, it’s amazing the amount of time spent on this issue. Don’t leave it in the hands of players, for that just asks for trouble. Wade Boggs supposedly wanted to wear his cap from Tampa Bay...

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