Darke County View

In this July 18, 1995, file photo, Amateur golfer Tiger Woods sits on the Swilken Bridge, following practice for the British Open on the Old Course at St. Andrews, England. Woods was competing in his first British Open. On his web site Friday night, Dec. 11, 2009, Woods announced that he is taking an indefinite break from professional golf.

Don’t know if this is a decision that will make or break his marriage? He loved golf long before he loved his wife. Can speak for the man, but I feel this is a bad decision.

Then again, his sponsors have been leaving, so maybe a break from golf will at least repair his career… as long as he leaves all the cocktail waitresses alone!

Good luck Tiger!

This has been a good week for Bradford basketball, boys and girls.

First on Tuesday, the boys beat Troy Christian 64-52 for the first win of the new season.

It was the second straight good performance for a senior-dominated varsity team that appears headed for a competitive season.

Then the girls played a strong game Thursday against Tri-County North, scoring 27 second half points, even though it came in a loss.

The girls team is young, and improving, with new head coach Christina Wolber leading the way.

Looks like better hoop days ahead for the Roaders!

Pictured: an hour and a half of the fountain of youth.

Everyone in America has seen a Disney film. Say what you will about them being an evil money grubbing conglomerate (everyone else has), but they have brought you happiness, if only for 90 minutes.

Admit it. Lady and the Tramp, 101 Dalmations, Sleeping Beauty, The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, the list goes on and on, and it’s a list of films that Disney made that made you smile and feel like a kid again. Credit where credit’s due, folks.

Then there was the dry spell. After Tarzan, they floundered for years, finally culminating in the travesty “Home on the Range”, featuring the vocal “talents” of *shudder* Rosanne Barr, of all people. And then the Devil closed their hand-drawn animation studio, sold all their equipment, and said that they were never going to return to the likes of that again, eschewing 2D animation for entirely computer animated fare, like “Toy Story” and “Shrek”, which is great stuff, admitedly, but that’s like saying you’ll never have a sirloin again once you’ve tasted filet mignon: it’s a dumb decision, because they’re both delicious.

They fired the Devil in 2005. It’s taken them this long to get back into their stride.

I watched “The Princess and the Frog” last night, which, as the title of my post suggests, felt like coming home. Entirely hand drawn, lovingly painted, delightfully scored and wonderfully acted, this film is hopefully the first submission of Disney’s third Golden Age. As I sat in that theatre (alone, because everyone I know is responsible and wouldn’t stay out late to see it with me), I felt like I was 6 again, watching Aladdin with my family and ignoring them totally because what I saw on the screen took me to another world, filled with songs and adventure, and where everything would be okay with a happy ending.

I realize that it’s foolish to stay in that world for too long. But for 90 minutes, it was beautiful. It was magic.

Thanks, Disney. Thanks for the magic, if only for a little while. Can’t wait to see the next one.

SpaceShip Two - 200K for one ticket to ride!

With all that is going on in this world, space sounds like a sweet sanctuary. Virgin Galactic recently unveiled the SpaceShip Two, which is said to be the beginning of commercial space travel.

One ticket to take a ride on this will cost you a cool $200K. Doesn’t appear they have coach, so only the wealthy will be checking their bags in for a ride on the Enterprise.

Iran close to nukes, Obama winning the peace prize and we have more jobless people than the Middle East has terrorists… I will just knock off a few banks, get me a ticket for me and my daughter so we can leave this mess and hang with E.T.