Sometimes things are hard to understand. Feelings between different people can lead to conflicts, riots, even warfare.

Emotions, words, gestures and the like are all that are needed to make even some of the calmest characters twist their attitude.

Saying that, it really shouldn’t take much to get me pissed off.

Dudes Don’t Dig the Longball

The first thing getting me peeved has to do with configuring a grand old game. They just don’t know when to stop.

What’s next, tee boxes from the moon?

Greens about twice the size of the hole?

Every hole to look like the infamous 17th green at Sawgrass (one that is completely surrounded by water)?

The head honchos of the Augusta National Golf Course have made yet another set of renovations to the home of the Masters.

This marks the second time in five years that the course has been lengthened (note: both times were after Tiger Woods victories? Coincidence?).

The major portion of the changes come from lengthening tee-to-green distances, which has occurred on half of the location’s 18 holes.

The reason that people are giving to this “necessity” of modernizing the course is that players are hitting the ball too far.

The best quote I found came from chairman Hootie Johnson.

“I think any of us probably hate to see people hitting sand wedges to 425-yard par 4’s,” he said, referring to a player’s second shot, not third.

This is plain and simple laughable. First of all, don’t include me in your “hate-to-see” crowd, Hootie. I’m amazed that someone could have the strength to hit an object that far. Jealous, yes, but amazed.

Secondly, it may be that the short game will ultimately win tournaments, but I haven’t heard anyone complaining that Tiger, David Duval or Phil Mickelson hit their drives too long.

Drama in golf comes from how the mind figures out the course and the conditions, not wearing out the arms of the competitors.

I’m not saying that the changes are unfair because most of these guys can easily adjust to them.

However, thinking that continuely putting holes out of reach won’t be good for the game.

Smells Like Flushing Sewage

The Tiger Woods shot in the last piece might have been a slight play on the race card, but I haven’t begun to rant.

Now there may be some people out there who think this is repetitive and is just whining.

You know what? I don’t care. I’m black, proud of it, and disgusted by the stench rising from Flushing Meadows tennis club in the last week.

Two of the game’s brightest stars made more than regular faux-pas in the pressroom and on the court. The top player on the women’s tour, Martina Hingis, recently told Time and the London Mirror that sisters Venus and Serena Williams use their skin color to their advantage.

She said that both sisters can get sponsors because they’re black and cry “racism” when things don’t go their way.

Last Monday, Hingis apparently apologized to the press, citing that she didn’t know the political correctness and laws of this country.

That’s not P.C., Martina, it’s a prejudiced slap in the face.

However, that’s not the worse incident that occurred at the U.S. Open.

Lleyton Hewitt, the fourth seed in the men’s draw, met a tough competitor on Friday in American James Blake.

According to ESPN, Blake was born in the New York City area, attended Harvard University, and won the NCAA singles title while at the Ivy League school.

He is also an African-American.

With a tight match unfolding, Hewitt made a foot fault on his serve, which was the second such call of the set against the Australian. The line judge who made both fault calls was a black official.

At this point, Hewitt lost it and complained to the umpire about the judge.

It was then that the Aussie told the official to look at both the judge and his opponent and tell the fourth seed what the similarity was between them.

The favorite went on to win the match, but overtly defended himself in another tasty press conference.

Hewitt claimed that the comments he made weren’t racial, saying that he was from a multi-cultured country.

Not even close to good enough, Lleyton.

Even if you’re from the most racially diverse location on the planet, the comment you made reeks of ignorance.

By now, you might think I’m huffing and puffing for no particularly good reason.

Again, let me say, I DON’T CARE.

What these two star did this past week was disrespectful to the players, the event and the sport itself.

That’s it, I’m done.

Absurd Predictions

Nothing could be more absurd than what happened at Flushing Meadows. No crystal ball this week.

Jonathan Lowe is a senior in meteorology from Kansas City, Mo.