Golfer Tripp Isenhour Is a Jerk

PGA Golfer Tripp Isenhour has been charged with killing a protected red shouldered hawk with a well-aimed golf shot while filming a golf video "Shoot Like a Pro". Apparently, the hawk started singing while the video shoot was being conducted.

The golfer first tried to to hit the bird as it sat in a tree about 300 yards away from the video shoot but those attempts were not successful. However, after the hawk moved to a closer tree and started singing, Isenhour again aimed at the the bird, announcing, "I'll get him now."

Investigators allege that after about 10 tries, Isenhou which the hawk with one of his shots and knocked it out of the tree. After killing the bird, which fell 30 feet from its perch, Isenhour remarked, "I didn't think I would hit it," according to witnesses.

The dying hawk, "bleeding from its nostrils, its mouth opening and closing slowly," was later buried on the golf course. Isenhour has been charged in Orange County (Fla.) Court with cruelty to animals and killing a migratory bird.

Reminds me of a girl named Donna I went to school with. On a field trip, we stopped at a park for lunch. Donna went down to the pond and saw a mama duck leading her 5 ducklings on a swim. Naturally, Donna thought it would be great fun to throw rocks at them. After five or six tries, she eventually hit a baby duck which promptly rolled over on its side and died. Donna cried the rest of the day (good) and didn't come back to school the rest of the week (I always liked to imagine she wound up in therapy for that).

While Donna's conduct was repulsive even for a child, Isenhour is 39 year old adult. When I first saw the headline on this, I thought, "Oh, great, the audobon society has got their undies all in a bundle again." I thought it was just an accident like when Randy Johnson, then pitching for the Arizona Diamondbacks, killed a seagull (or possibly a dove) with a pitch. Johnson, a real jerk most of the time, was actually upset by the incident. And it was obviously a fluke occurrence. Not the result of repeated attempts of cruelty.

I don't know what the penalties are but I hope this takes Isenhour of the tour for a good long while. You can always tell bad people by how they treat animals and I know all that I need to know about Isenhour now.

Dumb "Jock" of the Week

There are dumb comments from athletes and there are dumb comments from athletes. South African golfer Rory Sabbatini drew some attention back in May when he opined that Tiger Woods was "more beatable now than ever." This was after Sabbatini had blown a one stroke lead on Tiger and finished tied for third (Woods finished first).

Then Sunday, Sabbatini starts the final round of the Bridgestone International Tournament tied with Woods. The two are paired for the final round and the results are predictable. Woods shoots 5 under and Sabbatini soiled himself with a plus 4. Sabbatini still managed to finished tied for second which is a remarkable feat but don't try to cast youself as Tiger's rival with ridiculous comments.

The worst thing about the Sabbatini debacle on Sunday (the debacle itself was magnificent) was that on the 18th hole, a spectator called out Sabbatini by asking him if he still thought Woods was beatable. Showing a remarkably thin skin, Sabbatini had the spectator thrown off the course. What a sack. If you tug on Superman's cape, you deserve what you get. Sabbatini was trying to draft off the greatness that is Tiger Woods but ultimately only showed that he too is unfit to carry Tiger's jockstrap (do golfers wear jockstraps?).