Perspective from the 19^th Hole is the title I chose for my personal blog, which is meant to give me an outlet for one of my favorite crafts – writing – plus to use an image from my favorite sport, golf.  Out of college, my first job was as a reporter for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon, and I went on from there to practice writing in all my professional positions, including as press secretary in Washington, D.C. for a Democrat Congressman from Oregon (Les AuCoin), as an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, as press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and as a private sector lobbyist.  This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime – politics and the art of developing public policy – to what I write.  I could have called this blog “Middle Ground,” for that is what I long for in both politics and golf.  The middle ground is often where the best public policy decisions lie.  And it is where you want to be on a golf course.

The Department of Inquiring Minds is open again.  It is one of five departments I run with a free hand to manage as I see fit because, you see, I am a management guru.

So, here is a list of inquiring minds questions:

SOCCER PLAYER SUPPOSED “INJURIES: “  Why do soccer players feign serious injuries whenever they fall on the field?  Looking at them, as I have done a few times during the World Cup, you would think they would never be able to get up.

Then, as quick you could blink a couple times, the “injured” player is up, running up and down the field. 

That’s probably when the player realizes the other player with whom they collided would not get a “red card.”  So, play continues.

See how much that I, a golfer, know about soccer.  I even used the name “red card.”

WHO DO SO MANY NEW YORK FANS BEHAVE THE WAY THEY DO AT PRO GOLF TOURNAMENTS?  Well, the answer is fairly simple:  Two reasons:

• First, many of them carry cell phones and use those phones to bet on outcomes in the middle of matches or even between shots.  That often prompts over-the-top protests because so much money is at stake.

• Second, too much beer flows.

At the last Ryder Cup in New York, fans blew through common courtesy as they roasted European players and, even, their wives.

Then the NY fans did the same in the recent U.S. Open when they mercilessly booed the player who eventually surmounted the attacks,  American Wyndom Clark.

My solution is also fairly simple:  Ban both phones and beer.

And, until that is done, I advise pro pro golf administrators to avoid booking tournaments in New York.