I drive by Merion every morning on the way to work, so it was fascinating to watch the landscape evolve as the USGA worked feverishly to make sure the course was prepared.  While rain threatened some major trouble, the course stood up extremely well.  Torrential rain during the practice rounds before the US Open began had many predicting a low-scoring event.  In the end, Justin Rose won his first major and finished 1-over for the tournament.

Concerns ran so high that there was a plan ready to be executed to play two holes on the West Course if the two lowest holes on the East Course were under water.  Numbers 11 (one of golf’s most famous hole – Bobby Jones secured his Grand Slam on Merion’s 11th) and 12 are both bisected by Cobb’s Creek.  When I used to caddy at Merion, I saw the creek overflow to the point where only a few square feet of 11’s green was visible.  That meant multiple bunkers around the green and a sizable chunk of the fairway were completely under water.  Fortunately, Merion was spared  – though the effort from the USGA and Merion’s grounds crew was monumental.

Check out some pictures by clicking on the picture below.  All of the pictures were taken on the weekend preceding the US Open. The East course was open to the public for four days (Thursday through Sunday) prior to the practice rounds.  When I went the weather was picture perfect and everything was set up flawlessly.  While we were not allowed onto the actual holes, the roads around Merion run close enough that you can literally walk up to the edge of the fairway on many holes.

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+Cliff Satell

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Smerconish may have his thinking cap on, but he is wearing it backwards apparently.

Boy has Michael Smerconish fallen off the wagon as he comes to Obama’s defense. He used to be a highly respected centrist voice in Philly radio, and now he is a willing sycophant pushing this nonsense spin onto the world. Smerconish endorsed Obama out of nowhere 4 years ago, and he is so desperate to justify that very poor decision that he can’t see past his own keyboard.

The “context” of Obama’s remarks – as well as the remarks by Massachusetts Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren upon which his were based – show how truly out of touch this President is. It’s a pathetic “straw-man” argument… WHO, exactly, is arguing that America doesn’t create an environment beneficial to all? Who is arguing that successful people do it 100% on their own? Romney sure isn’t. The GOP sure isn’t. Just Obama, Warren and Smerconish’s made up enemies.

We need a President who believes in the ingenuity and industriousness of the American entrepreneur… someone who nurtures the competitive spirit; someone who challenges us all to take risks and thing big; someone who subscribes to the notion that individuals matter and that successful people are what powers everything that Obama cited (who do you think pays the tax bill to fund research programs like DARPA?)

This line particularly irked me because it is a total non-sequitur designed to de-legitimize any dissent. Ironically, it is Smerconish who is avoiding a “substantive conversation” by refusing to analyze and understand President Obama’s world view:

The trouble with the president’s remarks? They extended beyond the 20-second attention span of this campaign. And when the edited version made the rounds, a legitimate, substantive conversation about social contracts was instead reduced to silly charges of socialism.

Shame on you, Mr. Smerconish.

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Since I can remember, David Akers has been the Eagle’s kicker.  Except for that one time he got hurt and they had position players kicking for a couple of games.  Going to games, I used to watch him warm-up two hours before the kick off.  He’d start relatively close, easily knocking down 30 yard tries.  Then he’d move back to 38 yards, then 45, then 50, then 55, then 58, then 60+.  And he would always nail it.  For a small guy, he has one hell of a leg.  For years he was as sure as anything the Eagle’s have had.

And he is a good guy.  He never moaned, threw teammates under the bus, criticized his coaching staff or ripped the fans.  He was one of the easier guys in the NFL to like, mostly because he did his job better than anyone else and did it for a long time.  Obviously, he’d on the decline, though, and just like when McNabb, Iverson, Recchi and Brian Dawkins left, it was definitely the right time to move on, however sad it makes fans.  He is the last remaining vestige from the 2004 Superbowl team, too, which puts the nail in the coffin of the most successful era in Philadelphia Eagles history.  And any honest assessment has David Akers securely in the top echelon of the best Eagles players of the 2000’s.

The Eagles did try to keep him, by placing the “transition” tag on him.  But since he apparently lost a ton of money in a bad investment scheme, Akers declined the tender.  And when the Eagles drafted a kicker in the 4th round of this year’s NFL draft, it was all but inevitable that Akers would have to find work in another city, despite his professed desire to want to retire as an Eagle.  But it is a business, after all.  And he chose to head out West to join the, um, powerhouse 49ers where he’ll kick at Candlestick Park.  [Note: … guess the joke’s on me, the 49ers went to the Superbowl last year and lost to the Baltimore Ravens.

As Joe Tansy writes:

Eagles fans should remember how Akers won the 4th-and-26 game in 2003 against the Packers or how his magnificent onside kick opened the 2000 season against the Cowboys to make the beginning of a new era in Eagles’ history.

Eagles fans should also remember the consistency that Akers, whose field goal accuracy is a career 81.9 percent and has only missed six extra points in his 12 seasons in Philadelphia.

As a Eagles fan, it will be very different not seeing the veteran from Louisville in the No. 2 Eagles jersey, but it is a change that was coming and as the last member of the 2004 Super Bowl is almost certain to leave Philadelphia this off-season, the time for change is now, and I, on behalf of all Eagles fan, would like to thank David Akers for everything over the 12 years he spent in Philadelphia as a model of consistency and veteran leadership to the Philadelphia Eagles franchise.

Well said Joe.  Thanks David Akers for doing all that you did in your 12 years playing football here.

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