More idle thoughts

So Serena Williams got beat in the finals of Wimbledon. Not just beat, but thrashed by Germany's Angelique Kerber.

And then I saw a first. She was actually gracious in defeat. No, she didn't, OMG, admit Kerber was the better player that day -- heaven forbid -- but didn't make any of her usual excuses either. You know, her knee, ankle, back, elbow, eyeballs, ovaries,  -- SOMETHING -- hurt. But it's early. Give her a day or two and she'll come up with something. Anything but fess up to the fact she got whupped fair and square. Not in her DNA.

The annual main event (no-limit hold-em) of the World Series of Poker is being shown via replay these days. Now it's down to two players, out of a starting field of almost 8000. But something's wrong. Both these guys have about 200,000,000 chips. So why are the "blinds" a measly one and two million? Worse, the antes only an even more paltry 300K? They could play for hours, days, at this rate. I say, let's speed it up. Make the blinds five and ten million. And the antes at least two.

Not that long ago, a friend of mine was crowing about how the Detroit Tigers weren't so bad after all. They were only one game under .500, a couple games back of the Cleveland Indians in the AL Central, and very much in the wild-card hunt for a playoff spot.

It should be noted this friend is a life-long Detroit "homer". As a long-time season ticket holder to the Detroit Lions (misguided devil), he still thinks this might be the year they make the Super Bowl. Poor fellow has obviously consumed WAY too much Honolulu blue and silver Kool-Aid over the years. The Lions and the Super Bowl go together much like Donald Trump and diplomacy. As in mutually exclusive. Where one is present, the other cannot exist. And I'm pretty sure the Super Bowl will be played again next February.

At any rate, we recently bumped into each other again at a local watering hole. I gently reminded him how truly awful the Tigers actually are. They now sit a whopping 17 games under .500, and are dropping like like a stone thrown out of an airplane in their division. The not-so-good Minnesota Twins have blown by them. Instead of being one game behind the Indians, try 12. And that's the good news.

If they were playing in any other American League Division, it would be far worse. In the East, the Tigers would be a colossal 27 games behind the Bosox. In the West, 24 behind the Houston Astros.

Wild card? The Detroit puddy-tats are 23 games behind the Yankees and 19 behind the Seattle Mariners.

Everything about that team is bad. From starting pitching, to relievers, to decent hitters, to defense all over the field, to baserunning, and even the manager. In the current age of super-advanced metrics and analyses, kind of like the Jetsons of cartoon fame, the Tigers went out and hired Fred Flintstone, sometimes known as Ron Gardenhire, as their Skipper.

They've played a fairly weak schedule so far, or things would be even worse. But now they're in Houston.

Over the first two games, both losses, no surprise there, the Tigers have been outscored 12-1. This, while the Astros have been resting some of their A-teamers, and cobbled together a bullpen only pitching line-up for one game. Didn't matter. Tomorrow, the Tigers get a serious dose of one Justin Verlander, a former teammate. Also having one of his finest seasons to date. Look for Kate's hubby to mow them down like a blue whale does plankton. That could get uglier than Judge Judy or Roseanne on a nude beach. At least fifteen strike-outs would seem to be very likely.

But I bought my friend a couple beers. Hard not to feel sorry for him. He still thinks the Pistons and Red Wings will have a shot next season. Did I mention the Detroit Kool-Aid factor gone horribly wrong? As in the mass destruction of brain cells? A couple more brews can't hurt THAT scenario.

Too late, already gone.

Outta here.

And so am I for now.