I don't mind coming to work, but that eight hour wait to go home is a killer.

I got my winter clothes down from the attic today. In Phoenix that means a half dozen long sleeve shirts. Now I’m good for the cold snap coming this weekend with highs not getting above the low 60’s.

One of the problems with “winter” here is that we don’t open windows and doors during the day. Wouldn’t be an issue except we have a dog aptly named Sir Al Fartsalot of Welk Manor. Whew!

Taking antibiotics every six hours has certainly had the intended effect on the tooth abscess. But, as sometimes happens with antibiotics, the microbes in my gut have also been knocked out, with predictable results. The standard solution is to eat yogurt to replace those microbes.
I am NOT a yogurt fan. Don’t get it. It’s slimy and has only a faint resemblance to whatever flavor they put on the label.
But if it solves my immediate problem I’ll push it down.

I ate heartily in the run-up to the triathlon because of the amount of energy I was burning each day. Now that I’ve dialed back the workouts I find myself still eating at the old level. I think it might be easier to go back to two-a-days than eat less, especially since Pam made a chocolate cake that’s calling to me from the kitchen, even as I type this. So today I went for a slightly longer run and did 600m in the pool.
Cake from the pan is in my future!

The Salahis, who crashed the White House dinner, have a publicist.
Tells me what I need to know.

I didn’t sleep much last night so I caught almost all of Mike & Mike In the Morning. That’s an ESPN radio show that is simulcast on ESPN2, the TV channel, where I catch it. (The fifth largest city in the U.S. doesn’t get ESPN radio.)

Mike & Mike (Greenberg and Golic) spent considerable time discussing the Tiger Woods situation, including whether or not they should be discussing it. They agreed with some of the listeners/viewers sending in emails who said this was a private issue involving Tiger, his family and a very small number of other people. (OK, that number seems to be growing.) What right do we have to any of the details of this man’s family matters?

On the other hand, Tiger is a public figure. He knew when he entered the sport what came with it, especially at the level he operates. He understood, or should have understood, that success included the loss of privacy to some degree. For example, he knew going in that he can’t drive to Red Lobster and enjoy a quiet meal with his wife.

More significantly, Tiger has signed endorsement contracts that earn him many times more money than he makes on the golf course. The premise of these contracts is that his persona, who and what he is, will induce us to buy a particular product. He is selling his image to those companies who in turn use it to sway us. His image as a great golfer and great guy thus becomes fair game for close examination when a situation like this arises. Live by the sword, die by the sword.

But what struck me was something Golic said. He pointed out that ESPN and similar outlets are media companies. This isn’t, he said, about journalism, it’s about media. Golic explained, and Greeny agreed, that the debate about the propriety of coverage was appropriate in the context of journalism, but the media is about selling a product - getting listeners, or viewers or readers. For that reason it’s a non-issue. If ESPN were to decide that, from a journalistic perspective, they weren’t going to cover the story viewers would very quickly change to a station that was. Like it or hate it, the media is a business and the high principles of journalism only carry it so far. Then the bottom line takes over.

Golic wasn’t saying anything we haven’t all instinctively figured out, but the openness with which he stated it struck me. Striking admission and a surprising glimpse behind the curtain pulled back by one of the wizards himself.

So where do we go to get real, objective and thorough news coverage? Where do the principles of journalism carry the day? Not (!) that there can’t be bias in journalism, but it’s a bias that comes from the views of the principals, not from market forces.
PBS?

Finally, someone I promised could remain anonymous sent me Tiger's Christmas card picture: