PGA Today, Genesis Open, Pacific Palisades, February 14 - 17, 2019

Because the first day of the four-day tournament was rained out, the organizers are trying to squeeze four 18-hole rounds into three days, pretty much resulting in full 27 holes each of the three days.

One can get a feeling for the mental and/or physical shape of these players -- getting up each morning at 3:30 a.m. and not getting off the course until 6:00 p.m. -- watching how they do in the later part of the day. This has been absolutely grueling. I can honestly say that I have not really enjoyed this tournament: it has turned into grinding exercise that the players really cannot be enjoying.

For some, it seems they are not in good physical or mental health. Exhibit A, Jordan Spieth.

At the end of the third round Jordan Spieth was near the top of the leader board. I was gone for an hour or so and when I came back, I couldn't find him. Then I saw how far he dropped down.

Look at his third round, at the end of which he was competing at the top of the leader board.

Nine holes later, at the end of the front nine, fourth round, ouch. Nine holes, one birdie, three bogeys and one triple bogey.

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The Next Big Thing -- For The Archives

I saw this article when it first came out. I was hesitant about posting it, but in light of so much that has happened in the past few weeks, and then other trends over the past few years, I thought it might be worthwhile to post, if nothing more than something for the archives.

From Fortune magazine via Yahoo! News: the twelve most popular stars in adult entertainment.

Not in any particular order, but events, trends, news stories in the past few weeks and years:

• New York and Virginia liberalizing abortion laws, including post-birth abortions (4th-trimester abortions)
• Trump's concerns about sex trafficking, his call for "the wall" which the Dems and many RINOs are trying to stop
• op-eds about the decline/end of the civilized world
• legalization of marijuana
• concentration of adult sites among a few companies
• one-click access to pornography on the internet
• the opioid/Fentanyl epidemic (there is some anecdotal evidence there is a close association between the opioid epidemic and the illegal sex trade
• the owner of the New England Patriots caught up in a sting targeting sex trafficking in Florida
• #MeToo movement
• any number of Virginia politicians caught up in moral and ethical transgressions

So, with all that as background, the link to the twelve most popular stars in adult entertainment, as posted above.

My hunch is that -- and I think I've posted it before -- hard-core porn will become mainstream within twenty years. Soft-core porn is already mainstream (movie ratings; cable television). Some would argue that porn is already mainstream. Statistics frequently posted by Matt Drudge at The Drudge Report supports that view.

On another note, an essay from a Las Vegas journalist related to the topic at hand, published July 9, 2009.