2010 LPGA Prognostication Derby: Verdant Garden's In--Are You?

Here's Seoul Sisters.com regular Verdant Garden's projected top 30 on the LPGA for this season. Think you can do better in the 2010 LPGA Prognostication Derby? Join in via comments or our Seoul Sisters.com thread.

1. Shin, Jiyai
2. Ochoa, Lorena
3. Pettersen, Suzann
4. Creamer, Paula
5. Choi, Na Yeon
6. Kim, Song Hee
7. Kerr, Cristie
8. Wie, Michelle
9. Miyazato, Ai
10. Nordqvist, Anna
11. Stanford, Angela
12. Tseng, Yani
13. Kim, In-Kyung
14. Lang, Brittany
15. Hull, Katherine
16. Oh, Ji Young
17. Hurst, Vicky
18. Pressel, Morgan
19. Park, Hee Young
20. McPherson, Kristy
21. Mackenzie, Paige
22. Ji, Eun-Hee
23. Lee, Seon Hwa
24. Matthew, Catriona
25. Lee, Jee Young
26. Kim, Christina
27. Blumenherst, Amanda
28. Yoo, Sun Young
29. Yang, Amy
30. Pak, Se Ri

The Things I Do for My Readers

Hound Dog's regulars already know about the Mirassou wine LPGA sweepstakes, but for any of mine who aren't one of them, here's the set-up to my punch line:

One winner and a guest will receive the California wine and golf getaway of a lifetime, including round-trip air transportation to San Francisco, hotel accommodations, VIP passes to the CVS/Pharmacy LPGA Challenge tournament, a meet-and-greet with an LPGA player, and more. Plus, the winners will also dine California-style at a special dinner with wine expert David Mirassou. Visit http://www.mirassou.com/golf/sweepstakes.asp to enter now through July 31.

Since courtgolf and Tim Maitland have both publicly questioned my Ai Miyazato fanboy standing, I went ahead and entered this contest. So I'm counting on all of you not to. At least until after July 31st. I mean, the Full Metal Archivist and I are taking the girls to Skate Canada to watch Daisuke Takahashi's comeback attempt around Thanksgiving, but how cool would it be for us to escape from them enjoy a romantic getaway the last week of September? We deserve an Ai-chan/Dai-chan double shot, right? Right?!

This post was brought to you the Mostly Harmless Ai Miyazato Half Week organizing committee.

Lucky Imoto!

Turns out nobody in the Constructivist household shares a birthday with an active LPGA member. Except imoto, who turns 3 this month. If anyone can correctly guess who it is, I'll mail you an autographed piece of original imoto artwork. To make it easier for my regular readers (all 5 of you!), I'll throw out one other hint: she comes from the same state imoto was born in! To protect imoto's identity, I'm closing comments on this post--email me your contest entry at the coordinates listed in my profile.

Hitchhiker's Guide to Mostly Harmless 2009 LPGA Previews

Doing my Futures Tour Preseason Top 50 post this past weekend made me realize I haven't made it easy to find all my LPGA preview posts from earlier this season. Without further ado, I'll attempt to remedy that.

2009 LPGA Prognostication Derby
Mostly Harmless Preseason Top 30
The Next 20
Sleepers and Wild Cards
Pre-Projection Angst
Call for Picks
Last Call for Picks

Generations, Classes, Players
Generational Overview
Clashes of the Titans
Battles of the Veteran Stars
Prime Time
Young Guns
New Blood
On the 2009 Rookie of the Year Race
On the Class of 2009
On the Classes of 2010 and Beyond
On Lorena Ochoa
On Ai Miyazato
On Momoko Ueda

Schedule Speculation
Predicting the 2009 LPGA Schedule
On the 2009 LPGA Schedule
On the 2009 JLPGA and LET Schedules
For Dual JLPGA/LPGA Members
On the Fall of the House of Ginn
On the Future of the LPGA [added 7/7/09]

2009 LPGA Preview: The Mostly Harmless Top 30

One year ago today, I posted a ranked list of who I thought had the best chance to become the LPGA Player of the Year in 2008. Having done only all right then, I'm giving it another try and joining Mulligan Stu, Hound Dog, and Bill Jempty today. Anyone else want in on the LPGA Prognostication Derby? There's still time!

1. Lorena Ochoa
2. Paula Creamer
3. Ji-Yai Shin
4. Seon Hwa Lee
5. Ya Ni Tseng
6. Suzann Pettersen
7. Na Yeon Choi
8. Jee Young Lee
9. Cristie Kerr
10. Amy Yang
11. In-Kyung Kim
12. Morgan Pressel
13. Mi Hyun Kim
14. Eun-Hee Ji
15. Jeong Jang
16. Ai Miyazato
17. Angela Park
18. Jane Park
19. Hee-Won Han
20. Stacy Lewis
21. Karrie Webb
22. Song-Hee Kim
23. Momoko Ueda
24. Christina Kim
25. Angela Stanford
26. Brittany Lang
27. Shanshan Feng
28. Shiho Oyama
29. Candie Kung
30. Michelle Wie

Tomorrow: Those it hurt me the most to leave off this list.

LPGA Prognostication Derby Blues

So I've been thinking off and on lately about how to improve on my 3rd-place finish in the competition to identify 2008's best 30 golfers on the LPGA. For 2009, it seems to me I'm doing all right if I get 10 picks about right, 10 a bit off, and 10 wildly off. It's pretty rare for an acknowledged top 10 player to fall all the way out of the top 30, so I'm not too worried about the 1st two of those challenges. But how to minimize that last number? Well, I have to figure out how to approach the following problems:

• Schedule Speculation. Not that many golfers are as decisive--or transparent--about their 2009 schedules as Lorena Ochoa. It's an open question, for instance, how many JLPGA starts Ji-Yai Shin, Momoko Ueda, Ai Miyazato, and Shiho Oyama will make this coming season. Team Wie is spreading the word not to expect her to make more than 14 LPGA starts in her rookie season on the LPGA. How to factor in known or suspected limited schedules among the top/up-and-coming players on tour?
  
• Hot Streak or Quantum Leap? When you look at the LPGA's 2008 Performance Chart, it's clear that Shanshan Feng, Sun Young Yoo, Laura Diaz, Ji Young Oh, Karen Stupples, Brittany Lang, Katherine Hull, and Angela Stanford joined Lorena Ochoa, Annika Sorenstam, Paula Creamer, Cristie Kerr, Suzann Pettersen, Jeong Jang, Seon Hwa Lee, Na Yeon Choi, In-Kyung Kim, Hee-Won Han, Jee Young Lee, and Meena Lee in finishing last season off in style. The 1st group of names are those who surprised me by doing this, while the 2nd group either stayed at or played up to my preseason expectations. That's 19 players right there (minus Sorenstam) who are fantastic top 30 candidates for 2009. But who among them (aside from the usual suspects) have really made a quantum leap? And how many are due to cool off or go cold?
  
• Bounceback Time: Whether it's from injury, swing changes, or life-changing events (like death in the family, getting engaged or married, or having a baby), a significant portion of the candidates for the top 30 will have some serious bouncing back to do in 2009. Who will be as successful at coming back from an injury as Helen Alfredsson or Candie Kung were last season? I expect a youngster like Ya Ni Tseng to come back fully healed from her triceps injury, but are Natalie Gulbis's back problems and Jeong Jang's wrist problems as chronic and serious as, say, Grace Park's have been? Will Han, Stupples, and Catriona Matthew prove as adept at infant/toddler wrangling and elite golfing as Juli Inkster and Pat Hurst? How will engagement affect Ochoa's game and marriage Mi Hyun Kim's? Will Morgan Pressel finally groove her new swing?
  
• Blip or Trend? Will a healthy Alfredsson remain among the game's elite for the next few years, or was 2008 her swan song? Has Se Ri Pak put her worst season since 2005 behind her? Have we seen the last of Inkster, Laura Davies, Sherri Steinhauer, Hurst, Carin Koch, and Rachel Hetherington in the top 30? And what about other players who have fallen on hard times lately like Grace Park, Gloria Park, Jennifer Rosales, and Dorothy Delasin? And how about players in their prime like Young Kim, Shi Hyun Ahn, Sarah Lee, and Brittany Lincicome who are coming off rather (or very) disappointing seasons?
  
• Young Gun/New Blood Mysteries. Sure, the very best in the rookie classes of 2006 through 2009 are pretty well known, but how will former rookies playing their 1st full season like Amy Yang, Anja Monke, Anna Rawson, and Ashleigh Simon do in '09? Will Ai Miyazato and Brittany Lang be better than ever in 2009? Should we write off Julieta Granada and Meaghan Francella? Should we trust that the improved 2008 stats of players like Song-Hee Kim, Sun Young Yoo, Ji Young Oh, and Teresa Lu will result in even better results in 2009? And who among this year's rookies will step up and surprise?
  

And that's just the known unknowns. What about the unknown unknowns? I'm not looking for your best What Would Don Rumsfeld Do lines (although they would be much appreciated), but if you have other things I should be plugging into that 100-yen Nishijin crystal ball I'm using next week, let me know in comments!

2009 Preseason Top 30 Predictions: Let the LPGA Prognostication Derby Begin

Hound Dog has kicked things off when it comes to predicting the top 30 at the end of the 2009 LPGA season, just as he did last year. I'll be entering the LPGA Prognostication Derby on the 1-year anniversary of my last attempt to fire up the Mostly Harmless 100-Yen Nishijin Crystal Ball (which apparently is a bit less reliable than the Mostly Harmless jinx).

For those of you who don't blog, feel free to join Seoul Sisters.com discussion board and participate in the Pakpicker thread I've started. Or just post your top 30 in comments or in an email to me at the_constructivist18[at]yahoo.com. Good luck, and happy picking!

Who Wants to Read a 9,000-Word Treatise Online?

Methinks Andrew Sullivan is laying a clever trap for Michael Berube in the November 2008 issue of The Atlantic:

The blog remained a superficial medium, of course. By superficial, I mean simply that blogging rewards brevity and immediacy. No one wants to read a 9,000-word treatise online. On the Web, one-sentence links are as legitimate as thousand-word diatribes--in fact, they are often valued more. (109)

A little later in his essay, Sullivan uses the word treatise in contrasting Aristotle unfavorably to Plato, Aquinas to Pascal--and he would have if he could have when comparing classical music to jazz at the end. But that last example of his actually goes in the opposite direction, an acknowledgment that treatises have their purposes and their places. Just not on blogs.

So here's a Mostly Harmless challenge for 2009: who can prove Sullivan wrong?

Congratulations, 15,000th Visitor!

You win, uh, hmmm...shall we say, an original signed picture by onechan?

What is it, Onechan?

What's the white thing in front? What's the fuzzy blue thing in the background?

Extra credit: Is the Mostly Harmless Jinx in there somewhere?

Well, That's a New Way for the Mostly Harmless Jinx to Work

LPGA.com reports that play has been suspended since 9:15 am at the Hana Bank-KOLON Championship due to high winds that have made conditions unplayable on several holes. Not trusting the accuracy or currency of their news, I checked out the official tournament site, and lo and behold, their leaderboard is as blank as the LPGA's. Oh, and do not attempt to locate the golf course on Google maps (South Korea is blank) or Yahoo maps (you can't get to the resolution you need) or get a current weather report from weather.com. Been there, didn't do that. My usual webcast feed was showing a tv drama instead of the tournament. So I headed over to the Seoul Sisters Golf Forum to see if anyone there had any better luck than me. Nada. So here's a Mostly Harmless contest for ya: be the first to figure out what is going on and comment here and I'll write a post on the topic of your choice.

Worst-case scenario for me is the organizers cancel the final round of the event and call the whole thing after 36 holes. So I figure that has a 90% chance of actually happening right now. It would be the Mostly Harmless jinx sending me a little message: do not attempt to confuse the Mostly Harmless jinx. Kind of like the Super Wacky Fun Ball of old-by-now Saturday Night Live fame.

[Update 1 (2:12 am): The truly golf- (and sleep-) deprived can follow the action at the JLPGA event this week by clicking on the "real-time scoring" link in the top right corner of the page. Former champion Paula Creamer is looking smarter than ever for skipping the LPGA event in Korea--right now she's in second, two shots behind Miho Koga, who's looking to join the ranks of JLPGAers who have prevented Creamer from winning this year in Japan thus far.]

[Update 2 (1:14 pm): Hound Dog comments on the cancellation of the third round. From what I can gather, it was a combination of gusting winds and dying greens (thanks to an earlier monsoon and then especially cold weather during the week), which was leading to balls being blown all over them for the few people who actually did get out on the course Sunday. Makes me feel especially bad for Na-Yeon Choi, who, during her implosion on the back Saturday, incurred a penalty when her ball got blown around after she had addressed it and grounded her putter. I believe she was -2 at the time, so this was a big deal. If stuff like that was going to be happening a lot on Sunday and Monday, I can see why they cancelled the tournament--it would come down to who was lucky enough to avoid multiple such penalties. But I always wonder why tournament organizers don't at least wait till the next morning to see what the actual conditions turn out to be like. If the winds are down in the morning, I'll bet the fans who were angry on Sunday will be even angrier on Monday.]

Poetic Justice

So, speaking purely hypothetically, if a student on your campus were to have phoned in a bomb threat which turned out to be fake, and if you had the authority to offer the most fitting punishment (besides prosaic things like probable expulsion and felony), what would it be? I've been thinking putting him in charge of the campus committee devoted to evaluating emergency preparedness is too minor league. How about head of homeland security? We want something really really bad here, something that would deter aspiring Mad Bombers What Bomb at Midnight from calling in any fake bomb threats ever again.

Hardcore! Hardcore!

Why do I have Cartman's voice going through my head? It just occurred to me that I'm exactly the kind of golf fan all the golfy media are making fun of as the PGA heads into its Fall Series, the LPGA runs its last two full-field events, and pros everywhere are struggling to earn their exemptions for the 2008 season, either by money list or by Q-School. Mulligan Stu, clearly smarting from his runner-up finish in the first-ever Mostly Harmless Solheim Cup Blogger of the Year Award (or whatever I called it), is vying for Best-Ever LPGA Q-School Blogger.

Me, I'll stick to LPGA blogging--next week at the inaugural Navistar LPGA Classic, Ai-chan makes her no doubt soon-to-be-triumphant return to tournament golf (along with 14 other Super Sophs, Moira, half the U.S. Solheim Cup team and a few of the Europeans, and Lorena)! Until then, go Shigeki, go!

Berube Mayoral Campaign Kicks Off with Analogy Contest

Cross-posted at Citizen of Somewhere Else.

Because it's our last Friday in Fukuoka (for this year, that is) and we have it on good authority that "analogies are mostly the refuge of the simple-minded," I hereby announce that the Official Michael Berube Campaign for Mayor of Blogoramaville is leading off with an analogy contest. Just fill in the blanks on any or all of the following in comments!

1. Michael Berube:[x=Republican Presidential Candidate]::a:b
2. Michael Berube:[y=Possible Mayoral Competitor]::c:d
3. Michael Berube:[z=Possible Running Mate]::e:f
4. Michael Berube:g::h:i

And remember to keep it simple, stupid. No similes or metaphors allowed.

Take Your Blog to the Course: U.S. Women's Open

As promised and reminded, this is Mostly Harmless's First "Take Your Blog to the Course" Carnival for the U.S. Women's Open. I'll post here the no doubt vast number of submissions I'll be receiving at the[underscore]constructivist18[at]yahoo[dot]com between June 25th and July 1st (U.S. time--this blog is on Japan time while I'm still on this side of the Pacific) and keep this page at the top of the blog during that stretch. In addition, I'll feature my favorite post of the day each day I get multiple submissions.

July 1
It's home stretch time!

And they're off!

June 30
Here's why I'm looking ahead to Sunday!

Here's me not-quite-live-blogging "Friday's round," take two.

Here's a mix-tape (or open letter or whatever) to tide you all through all the weather delays today. [Ah, good to see the music scared the bad weather away!]

June 29
Here's my attempt at not-quite-live-blogging Friday's round.

Here's a little friendly advice to those actually live-blogging this thing.

June 28
Here's my Round 1 Roundup, a tribute to Charles Dickens.

In which I profile 1 KLPGA and 3 JLPGA stars in this year's field.

June 27
Elayne Riggs plugs TYBttC as her silly site o' the day.

In which I link to better bloggy events, make threats to friends, and link to pre-tournament articles and interviews.

June 26
Here's Hound Dog's U.S. Women's Open preview.

Here are some of my guesses as to why the rest of blogoramaville isn't embracing this carnival.

June 25
Be sure to check out my tournament preview.

First Mostly Harmless "Take Your Blog to the Course" Carnival Coming Next Week

With the Wegmans in Rochester happening this weekend--and my parents planning to attend Friday's round--it's time to return to some (limited) LPGA blogging. But I'm incredibly busy during my last 5 weeks in Fukuoka. So, as Dora would put it, "I need your help!"

Mostly Harmless's first Take Your Blog to the Course Carnival is coming between June 25th and July 1st--the week of the U.S. Women's Open. Just send me (at the[underscore]constructivist18[at]yahoo[dot]com) the link to any LPGA-related post(s) you care to write before and during their third major of the year. My aim is to raise the profile of the most competitive professional golf tour in the world and get new people interested in women's golf.

By "LPGA-related," I'm trying to cast as wide a net as possible--I want people who don't normally watch, much less blog about, women's golf to give the LPGA a chance during U.S. Open week. (Of course, regular golf bloggers are free to participate as well!) So if stats is your game, if gossip and buzz float your boat, if gender, globalization, or media matter to you, if you can't get enough of live blogging events great and small, if you're curious about Lorena or Annika or Michelle, or if you just want an excuse to make strange juxtapositions, this carnival is for you!

I'll collect all your posts in a daily-updated post of my own and each day choose my favorite. So warm up your keyboards and get ready for the U.S. Women's Open!

5000th Mostly Harmless Visit

This is just to say that our 5,000th visit was from Pittsburgh, PA. I know this is like daily traffic for certain group blogs, but I thought it was worth commemorating. The curious may check our sitemeter for the details of the visit. Anyone in for a pool on date, time, and location of our 10,000th visit?

Why Mostly Harmless Will Not Be Honoring Acephalous's Call for a Blogwide Strike Action

By all means, though, do leave the poor guy a comment. And if you want to join me in making this a fundraiser for a worthy grad student in dissertation hell, follow my suggestion in the update here. Or don't--I'm happy to take a CitizenSE vacation for as long as it takes!

But Mostly Harmless is a group blog and I would never dream of unilaterally making a decision of this magnitude. Plus it's too much fun for me to stop here with the daddy blogging and the golf blogging and the animation blogging and the plugging-my-WAAGNFNP-blogging blogging--and whatever other kind of blogging seems fun at the time.

To wit: when I get time this week, I'll be doing all of the above, including more Golden Week family blogging, more LPGA not-quite-live-blogging, and more on the American and Japanese versions of The Powerpuff Girls (which I was a fan of long before I became a dad, thank you very much). I may even get around to that sources of my sense of humor series, or TolkienWatch, or warm-up for the May 23rd Star Wars 30th anniversary blogging thing--all of which I semi-promised a while back. But I'm definitely keeping it light here, as I'll being pretty heavy (for me) at WAAGNFNP the next couple of weeks.

Which makes me appreciate today's peter ramus post all the more!

The Blogocalypse at the End of the Universe

Ah, you're here. Whaaa--? You let the Paranoid Android park your time machine?! Never mind, nothing. No, no, really--it'll be fine. Eh, what's that? No, it was not a good idea to give to the cyborg outside--what were you thinking? Never mind, I'm sure his children will be by soon to take care of him. Please walk this way...did you see the notice that William Shatner's Vogon poetry reading has been cancelled? Never fear, we were able to book an up-and-coming trip-hop DJ in his place. Perhaps you've heard of him--MC Rove? A rare talent, indeed. Ah, here's your table. Might I interest you in a drink? Old Janx Spirit? Hmmm, you don't quite look--never mind, never mind, coming right up. Ah, here's your waiter. You may refer to it as the Blogocalyptic Major Cow. Thank you. Please enjoy your meal tonight as if it were to have been your last.

Greetings and salutations. It's my duty, pleasure, and indeed honor to be your server and to be serving you tonight. Might I interest you in our latest menu? Or perhaps you would like our original? No? Its sequel was quite good. Please enjoy the apocalyptic stylings of post-punk/death-techno trio Hug the Shoggoth as you peruse the menus. I'll be back.

Excuse me. Sorry to bother you. I forgot to list our specials tonight. My deepest apologies. Our first is a dish sure to tickle your palate and raise your spirits, clearly inspired by the Robert Frost poem "Fire and Ice":

SOME say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I’ve tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To know that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.

Next we have a dish that will make you stop to savor its delightful juxtapositions and skillful thin-slicing. You'll definitely want seconds.

Our final special is less a dish than a multi-course meal, a veritable moveable feast.

Thank you. Please watch this documentary as you decide what to order. I'll be back.

Ah, excuse me a moment. Our chef just informed me we have another special tonight: blood pudding. It comes highly recommended. I know--so difficult to choose what to order. Some of our guests find it helpful to take a stroll down our holodeck and enjoy the installation and the virtual coffee table. Improves the appetite and clears the mind. Plus you can pick up a free coupon to join our book club. All right, then. I'll be back.

I'll need your order now. Hurry up, please, it's time.

[Update 4/7/06: Via Quiet Bubble, I ordered these here 1979 Douglas Adams interviews (one more coming). I almost never get to order any of those off-menu chef's specials and I'm loving these! Perhaps for dessert I'll order Tool's April 1 newsletter.]

What the World Really Needs Now: YouTubeocalypse Meets Blogocalypse Carnival

Yup, it's official! Mostly Harmless will be hosting the Blogocalypse Carnival on April Fool's Day 2007! So start those keyboards and send your links to the[underscore]constructivist18[at]yahoo[dot]com no later than the morning of Saturday, March 31. Anything that combines bloggy with apocalypsy matters will at least be considered. Apologies for the short notice, but hosting arrangements had to be worked out with a certain Party's higher-ups, and you know what they say about the wheels of Justice.

On a lighter note, here's a cheery clip (with ninjas!) that always brightens the spirits of the Constructivist household whenever we catch it on Japanese kids' tv in the morning or afternoon. Consider it inspiration for your blogocalyptic efforts, if not as The Official Dance of the End Times: