Psyched For The Win

She’s back.

            Less than two years ago Seminole’s Brittany Lincicome, 21, was one of the Ladies Professional Golf Association’s glamour girls. Among her accomplishments: a World Match Play Championship. She was chosen for the prestigious Solheim Cup that biennially matches American and European golfers. Her earnings had already surpassed the million-dollar mark. Time magazine referred to her as a “blond, blue-eyed beauty.”

She seemed the embodiment of LPGA marketing manna.

            Then she stopped winning. Worse yet, she stopped being consistently competitive. It was a combination of factors, some physical, such as wrist and back issues, some psychological. She wasn’t as disciplined in the off season as she should have been.

            “I took too much time in the off season,” she acknowledges. “I bought a boat. I was on it every day. I switched coaches.” And caddies.

            Golf stuff happens – especially among uber competitive, elite athletes.

But less than a fortnight ago, Lincicome won the Kraft Nabisco Championship at Rancho Mirage, Calif. And the $300,000 check that goes to the winner. She became the first American winner in the past six majors.

            And she didn’t just “win” it. She made ESPN highlights with a dramatic eagle on the final hole to win by one shot. Her 210-yard approach on the 72nd hole left her four feet from the hole. “It was by far the best golf shot I’ve ever hit,” assesses Lincicome.

            No one, seemingly, had seen this coming.

            What happened?

            In short, she was mentally prepared, says Lincicome.

            Through her new caddy, Tara Bateman, she had become aware of Vision 54, a sports psychology-emphasizing golf school in Arizona. As a result, she is no longer her own worst enemy when things go awry on the golf course – as they always will.

            When on the links, Bateman reminds her to stay in the moment, to do her breathing exercises, to sing if necessary. Indeed, they sang (country music) songs between shots at Rancho Mirage.

            “It used to be when I would hit a bad shot, I would get down on myself,” explains Lincicome. “Then I would have four or five bad holes. I had a hard time letting go. Now, my caddy will take me off my bad shot. Take my mind off the negative. Sure, caddies have to be able to read greens, but the mental part is critical.”

            After her win, the positively-charged Brittany flew home to Seminole. But not for long. And not for boating. She quickly pivoted out for Phoenix.

            Another tournament?

            No, Vision 54 sessions.

Naked Sushi Models: An Upgrade

The latest incarnation of what was once the Amphitheater nightclub in Ybor City will be opening later this month. Changing demographics and music tastes kept taking their toll. Soon Amphitheater will have officially morphed into Club Tantra.

            The good news – at least for a lot of neighboring businesses – is that hip hop is out.

            Possibly even better news: Naked sushi models are in.

            You can’t make this stuff up.

No Time For Political Business As Usual

I don’t recall precisely when the dawning came. It wasn’t exactly a St. Paul-epiphany moment. But it was shortly after the presidential election.

I was probably watching “Hardball” with Chris Mathews, as was my wont during the campaign. And that, typically, would have been after having previously viewed David Gregory on “1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.” Recall that prior to the election “1600” had been “Race For The Whitehouse.” Seamless labeling update.

By habit, I would pass on “Countdown” with Keith Olbermann and then return to unfinished newspaper editorial pages. But if I wanted to sample some beyond the pale, beyond arrogant, partisan commentary, I’d flip over to “The O’Reilly Factor” to see which opinionated tops were in the “no spin zone.”

Rachael Maddow? She was better when she was merely well prepared, smart, articulate and one among many. Now that she has her own show, she’s compromised by redundancy and show biz shtick.

Anyway, I forget who was on Mathews. Maybe it was Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Or House Minority Leader John Boehner. Or Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. Or Florida Democratic Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz. Or the curmudgeonly Pat Buchanan. Or the affably beguiling Tom DeLay. Or any of the usual cast of constantly recycled characters — from bloggers to consultants — who have never been elected to anything but can assure political theater by guaranteeing one side of the conflict formula. Sort of the political counterparts of erstwhile quiz show staple Orson Bean, who have made agenda-driven careers out of the chatfest circuit.

Obama, for sure, was under the microscope and in the cross hairs about the tanking economy, our Mideast wars, prospective cabinet choices and what the DOW was already doing in the hours and days after his election. He wasn’t yet president and the long knives were ever sharper. He was President-Elect Barack Hussein Piñata to the disloyal opposition.

And I thought: Wait a minute. This is post-9/11 America. This is the era of global economic meltdown. It was, quite arguably, also a tipping point for the country.

The land of opportunity had become fertile grounds for excess, exploitation and entitlement. Deferred gratification, societal sacrifice? How quaint. Our medically uninsured ran well into eight figures. Our students trailed their international peers in everything but self-esteem. Cheap gas was still our birthright.

The American dream now conjured up images of Homer Simpson at the wheel of a Hummer with Gordon Gecko riding shotgun and the Lehman Brothers in the back seat. Our economy wasn’t generating real wealth.

Moreover, our foreign policy had become arrogant and unilateralist; jingoism was synonymous with patriotism. The moral high ground that was ours internationally on 9/12 had imploded into a geopolitical sinkhole. We were now into our sixth year of occupying an Arab country.

            And yet as I watched — addict-like — these paeans to political power, it became utterly obvious: this was business as usual for the all-politics-all-the-time crowd.  As if the impact of their 24/7 ubiquity went no farther than water cooler small talk among a few junkies.

The message received: We aren’t in this all together.

Too many partisans, seemingly, are determined to remain in their pragmatically political fox holes. Still polling, still plotting, still pandering to “bases.” Still salivating about a Limbaugh-Palin ticket. Still acting as if this were all a zero-sum political game – not a crucible for America’s future on the only planet we have.

And still hoping the other side doesn’t succeed – when the “other side” is also, alas, us.

Go Pledgeless

You would have thought the notorious, presidential-campaign declaration “Read my lips: No new taxes” — uttered by George H.W. Bush in 1988 — would be sufficient warning to future candidates. Don’t go on record with pledges that can never account for unforeseen circumstances – and could come back and haunt you politically.

And by the way, swearing allegiance to Grover Norquist’s “Taxpayer Protection Pledge” is not just a symbol of ideological commitment. It’s also a graphic example of irresponsible policy – and blatant pandering.

And Florida has its share of state legislators (seven senators, 22 representatives) — plus Gov. Charlie Crist — who are now on the spot because of a seemingly safe Norquistian pledge made during better times that they “will oppose and vote against any and all efforts to increase taxes.” And for good measure, they put it in writing.

Many pledgers — all but one, Republican — are now anxiety ridden as Florida confronts a $3 billion budget deficit. They have several options:

*Break their pledge and vote for some tax increases and say, in effect, “times had changed” but they meant well in a Ronald Reaganesque way.

*Break their pledge but try — hypocritically and disingenuously — to wiggle around it by labeling their votes as favoring hikes in “fees” and the additions of “surcharges.”  

*Keep their pledge, hope others’ revenue-raising votes will make up for it, and further hope that voters will remain gullible about their self-serving motives.

Really Smart Cars

Everyone will be trying to read the auto tea leaves over the next months and years to determine if this country’s car industry has, indeed, turned the corner of viability. Some of the signs will be familiar: from bankruptcy strategies to mergers to union concessions.

But here’s one that will be right on the money: when we finally see assembly lines churning out truly “smart” electric cars. Those that feature impressive mileage, quick acceleration, infrequent charging, reasonable cost – and aren’t butt ugly.

Jobless Benefits Governor

So, Florida now has a “stimulus czar.” That’s the unofficial handle given to Don Winstead, who is actually on indefinite loan from the Department of Children and Families. He’ll be a special adviser to Gov. Charlie Crist. His charge will be to oversee that $13.4 billion in federal stimulus money the state expects over the next three years.

A key priority: making sure that Florida gets all the stimulus money it’s entitled to – and that it’s spent properly. A key variable: the Republican-controlled Florida Legislature.

While Crist’s response to the stimulus money was, in effect, “bring it on,” there is a certain sticking point. The Legislature might decline more than $1 billion in extended unemployment benefits because it wouldn’t want to be obligated to pick up additional costs, including a slightly expanded pool of beneficiaries. Florida, which would have some legal “sunset” options, could be looking at an additional $70 million in outlays.

This could be another opportunity for Gov. Crist to bring that heretofore unused, bully pulpit out of storage and help his “czar” — and tens of thousands of Florida’s unemployed — by leaning on the Legislature. Every dollar in unemployment benefits is worth double that when it ripples into the economy. And somebody needs to say that leaving as much as $1 billion on the table to potentially save $70 million is both economically dubious and unfair to those most in need of unemployment “stimulus.”

Big Bulls Win

No, it wasn’t the NCAA’s “Big Dance.” But as far as consolation prizes go, the USF women’s basketball team came up huge last Saturday by winning the 2009 Women’s National Invitational Tournament. The Bulls downed Kansas 75-71 in front of the largest crowd, more than 16,000, to ever watch a USF women’s basketball game. Its 27 victories this season were the most in school history.

And USF had to win its championship the hard way – on the road. Its last three WNIT wins were at St. Bonaventure, at Boston College and then at Kansas.

Women’s basketball is a still a tough sell at a lot of schools – USF included. Here’s hoping that this historic win proves a breakthrough and maybe an inspiration to the USF men’s team – for whom an NIT invitation would be much more reward than consolation prize.

Biden Disappoints On Cuba

Vice President Joe’s Biden’s recent comment on the Cuban embargo was disappointing. His answer to a media question about whether the U.S. had plans to abrogate the 47-year-old, Cold War relic was: “No.” 

The venue was significant. Biden was in Vina Del Mar, Chile. He was attending the ironically dubbed Progressive Governance Summit and meeting with leaders from Latin America and Europe.

His beguiling rhetoric came right out of the playbook of the George W. Bush Administration – and its eight predecessors. Biden said that he and President Obama “think that Cuban people should determine their own fate, and they should be able to live in freedom.” As if that laudable goal were somehow incompatible with lifting the counterproductive embargo.

But let’s accord Biden the political benefit of the doubt.

President Obama has enough spoilers in the GOP over his administration’s stimulus plans, toxic-asset strategy and education-energy-health care hat trick. He doesn’t need to hand Rush Limbaugh and the “party of no” more ammo right now about “caving in to a dictatorship.”

It makes pragmatic, political sense.

But it’s not “change” we can believe in yet on Cuba. 

More Obama – But Not With Leno

When President Obama went on “The Tonight Show” with Jay Leno recently, it generated blockbuster ratings for NBC and general agreement among most observers that it was an astute, politically pragmatic move by the president. He got living room intimacy, unfiltered exposure to a key demographic and predictable questions lobbed up in a non-confrontational manner. And, he’s really good at stuff like this.

I still think it was an ill-advised gambit – and not just because the informal jocularity led to the “Special Olympics” gaffe while engaging in self-deprecating humor.

I think the dignity of the office, however old-school and pre 24/7 media ubiquity that sounds, matters. I think context still counts.

For example, Obama came on right after a skit about all the goofy crap you can buy at a 99-cent store. The last oddity was Leno’s favorite: a Jesus-on-a-cross keychain with an inexplicable reference to “Betty Boop” on the flip side. Obviously, one person’s hilarity is another’s sacrilege. Then: “We’ll be right back with the president of the United States.”

I cringed from my couch. But it wouldn’t be the last.

Before the president could answer a question about AIG bonuses and the House’s 90 percent ex-post facto tax, an ill-timed commercial break intervened. Prior to the president’s answer that he understood Americans’ anger, but that he had reservations about the punitive tax’s constitutionality, he and everyone else had to wait until a trailer for “I Love You, Man,” a tease to “Late Night With Jimmy Fallon,” a spot for Mississippi casinos, a commercial for AT&T and other stuff had played out.

The president, whoever it is, deserves better than having his Q&A interrupted by a Rogaine commercial.

But I finally found someone who agreed with me on Obama’s late night turn with Leno. Someone who also admits to being “old-school” when it comes to the “dignity” of the highest office in the land. The mayor of Tampa.

Pam Iorio, a literal student of history, recalled the time that President John F. Kennedy wouldn’t wear a cowboy hat to please photogs and Texans. He just wasn’t comfortable with it. It wasn’t the “image” he wanted to convey, she noted. She thought Obama’s chatting up of Leno on the set of “The Tonight Show” was not an “appropriate” forum for the president of the U.S. Even if he’s good at it, which he clearly is.

But she did offer up a media alternative for the president. He should consider doing a “Ross Perot,” she advised. In other words, do a prime-time television address – relying only on himself and graphs and/or charts – and explain to the American people the complicated, convoluted financial mess that has battered this and other economies around the globe. He has to assume the role, one he is uniquely suited for, of “Explainer-in-chief,” said Iorio.

And don’t limit it to that, she urged. He’s his own “best advocate.” Just don’t have him share the stage with anyone, she underscored.