Sharapova: The Best Thing About The Story -- I Learn How To Spell Her Name

This past week could have been a horrendous week of driving. It was a very, very challenging week of driving and some days I referred to the driving as horrendous, but all-in-all, it was not that bad. I've been driving our two older granddaughters to "computer coding camp" every day -- a 30-mile drive each day through rush-hour traffic on the north side of Dallas.

It was my experience that, in general, the Texas drivers are most courteous There may be some issues on the interstates, and the parkways, and the tollways, where there may not be a lot of signalling at 70+ mph, but when one gets to the transition choke points, from one high-speed highway to another high-speed highway where everything comes to a stop, everyone is most courteous. It's an interesting phenomenon. For now, I will leave it at that.

When I get home, I go swimming with Sophia.

At her house. 

One week ago she was terrified to get on the alligator -- 

now she lets me get out of the water to set up the camera for a selfie.

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This has nothing to do with the Bakken or with anything else I really follow, but the Sharapova story really, really bothers me for some reason. Anyone who falls for her story that she was unaware the drug was banned, and anyone who falls for her story that she had medical conditions requiring her to take the medicine, are automatic nominees for the 2016 Geico Rock Award.

A world-class athlete in a competitive sport like tennis with medical conditions requiring medication? Give me a break.

A multi-millionaire with an entire medical staff at her disposal and no one knew that the drug was banned? Give me a break.

Sharapova admitted in March that she failed a drug test at the Australian Open. She'd been found to have been taking meldonium, a drug added to the World Anti-Doping Agency's list of banned substances in January 2016.

She's banned for two years, but she has appealed. If she wins the appeal, the ITF loses all credibility. But nothing will surprise me any more when it comes to professional sports, especially like biking, tennis, and soccer.

The drug -- whatever it's called -- this is what it does: is used to treat inadequate blood flow to the organs, especially the heart. Now, how is that different that doping? Give me a break. This is why she said she took the drug:

Sharapova said she'd been taking the drug since 2006 because of several health concerns, including magnesium deficiency, irregular results on a heart function test called an EKG, and diabetes, which she said runs in her family.

Irregular EKG? She probably had an occasional "escape beat" because of an extraordinarily slow heart rate (bradycardia) seen in most world-class athletes. Her doctors knew exactly what she was doing; she knew exactly what she was doing. A magnesium deficiency? Know where you see magnesium deficiencies? In bulemics.

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Bakken Man-Camps

I think the only other thing that bugs me as much as the Maria Sharapova story at the moment (and this moment will only last ... a moment) is the man-camp story in Williston. I am more than a bit upset about the "man-camp" folks -- everyone knew man-camps were a temporary solution to a temporary problem.

For now, Williston is "winning." A Williams County judge has denied a workforce housing company's requests to force Williston officials to extend its permits and delay enforcement on an ordinance requiring crew camps to shut down next month.

There are so many story lines here, but it's not worth the time to talk about them. 

Halliburton says it will cost them $3 million to shut down their facility. Big whoop. A single well costs $6 million. Halliburton's balance sheet shows HAL has $9.66 billion CASH sitting in the bank.