Clinton the Cheater

I was once on a ski trip to Steamboat Springs in Colorado with the Gator Snow Ski Club. I was at that time the President of the club but just an intermediate skier. I chose a ski run one day based solely on the name, Rolex. Shortly after starting down the run I knew I was well beyond my skiing ability. I chose to ski nearly horizontally across the slope. This meant I was moving downhill at just a few feet per pass and it took dozens of passes and timid turns, about an hours worth, to slowly work my way down the terribly steep slope.

Later when I told someone about my experience they asked, "Why didn't you just scoot down on your butt". I replied, "Because I am the president of the ski club, I'm not going to scoot down a slope on my butt, that's like cheating, what if someone saw me?". Apparently I had more respect for my office as president of a ski club than Bill Clinton had or has for his office as President of the United States of America.

Ex-president Clintons' penchant for cheating at golf has been legendary and is recently reinforced by Tiger Woods. Woods was in Arkansas for a children's golf clinic, and was asked about playing golf with former President Bill Clinton. Woods described one hole with Clinton during which the former president first took a mulligan (golf lingo for a do over, a practice frowned upon by honorable golfers) then picked up a ball that was six to seven feet from the hole. In golf if your ball is so close to the hole that it is very unlikely you would miss the putt your opponent might give you a nod indicating that you can skip the actual putt, count the stroke and assume you made it. However, no one would allow a six foot putt and you shouldn't assume that allowance yourself even if it is a six inch putt.

Finally, Woods mentioned that when Clinton tallied the scores he didn't count his "mulligan" and recorded the count for the hole as Clinton 3, Woods 4. There was no mention of any bets on the round of golf which was a good thing for Tiger. I have it on good authority that in addition to playing fast and loose with the rules Clinton is also known to welsh on his bets (meaning he makes bets and collects when he wins but forgets to pay when he loses).