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Jordan Spieth adjusts to the stage

Sergio Garcia knows a prodigy when he sees one because he was one himself. And he can see Jordan Spieth.

The 17-year-old is right behind Garcia (66) and Colleyville's Ryan Palmer (67), co-leaders at 132 at the HP Byron Nelson Championship.

Spieth shot 2-under 68 on Friday at the TPC Four Seasons Las Colinas. He's tied for ninth, five strokes back.

"It's great to see," Garcia said. "We try our hardest to keep doing things to help the game of golf, but we need young guys to come up behind us, because they're going to be the future of the game."

Spieth already had a big Saturday in store. His Dallas Jesuit graduation ceremony is at 4 p.m. at SMU. He tees off at 11:21 a.m.

As for his golf, he's in better shape than at this point last year, when he finished tied for 16th. And the graduation: his last name starts with "S."

"Depending on how the day goes ... I'm going to shoot over there as quickly as possible," Spieth said. "I don't know how long it usually lasts. We'll see what happens."

In 2010, Spieth became the sixth-youngest to make the cut in a PGA Tour event (16 years, 9 months, 24 days). Although he shot the same scores, 68-69, in reverse order in 2010, Spieth was tied for 22nd, seven strokes off the lead.

If Spieth can't make his graduation, he'll get his diploma next week in a small ceremony for his family at the school with everyone in the proper attire. But in a real sense, this weekend might look like a graduation of sorts, just with a golf shirt and Titleist hat instead of a cap and gown.

Spieth is clearly no longer just a solid junior golfer hoping to gain experience inside the ropes at a PGA Tour event. That might have been the case a little last year, but Spieth has bulked up since then, fine-tuned his skills and brought with him a putter that acts like a magic wand straight out of a Harry Potter novel -- he leads in average putts per round after two rounds at 24.

The result is a 17-year-old playing golf at about 10 years above his age. He's essentially another "young gun" out here trying to outmaneuver the golf course with power and precision. "He had another year of what I'd call 'stressing his system' to the point where his ability to cope with the big stages and the knowledge that he can compete in those situations has helped him become a better player," said his golf instructor, Cameron McCormick, who has coached him since he was 12. "Yesterday, he got off to that rough start, and some players might crumble under that weight of expectations and pressure. But he was able to steady himself.

Starting on the back nine, he made impressive par saves on the first two holes with putts of five and six feet. Then he birdied No. 12 with a putt of about 25 feet from off the green, and hit to three feet for birdie on 14.

That was a drastic contrast to his first-round start, when he struggled with nerves while bogeying two of the first three.

"There just wasn't as many people on the first tee this morning, no one wanted to get up, so I think that helped," Spieth said. "Maybe just having already gone through one round. I've been waiting for this tournament for the last month, been preparing for it, so definitely some nerves to start, and now that I'm kinda into it, I think I'll be good."

Spieth, a Texas signee, was 4 under before he bogeyed 5 and 9 coming in.

The pros are certainly impressed with Spieth's resiliency on a course that is playing difficult. Winds were gusting more than 25 mph in the afternoon.

"All he's having to do is have fun," Palmer said. "He's got nothing to lose. But still, to be on this stage as a senior in high school, at 17, it's impressive. I'm starting to wonder if he's thinking about four years of college or just one year.

 

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Pippen, Jordan and LeBron, oh my!

Interview with ESPN radio on Friday morning, NBA Hall-of-Famer Scottie Pippen said Michael Jordan "is probably the greatest scorer to play the game" but LeBron James "may be the greatest player to ever play the game."

That set off an explosion on Twitter.

Pippen softened his stance later, writing: "Don't get me wrong, MJ was and is the greatest. But LeBron could by all means get to his level someday."

Jordan Spieth is going to be late for his high school graduation ceremony today, if he makes it at all. The teenager has another round of golf with PGA Tour players at the Byron Nelson Championship in Irving, Texas.

The ceremony for Dallas' Jesuit Prep's graduating class of 246 seniors starts at 4 p.m., at an auditorium on the SMU campus, about 20 miles from TPC Four Seasons.

As I have pointed out numerous times on UFR, in my opinion, Michael Jordan is the best and greatest basketball player who ever laced up a pair of sneakers. It’s hard to believe anyone would dispute that, although I could imagine a Kareem or Wilt or Oscar or Russell fan out there somewhere that might argue. Maybe even a Bird or Magic fan. But, I would think at least 90% of knowledgeable NBA experts would agree with me.

Nobody that I know, or have ever heard, would even consider putting LeBron in MJ’s category. And, the reason is two-fold. 1) Jordan won six championships, James zero and 2) James hasn’t done what he’s done nearly as long as Jordan did it.

The point I’m sure Pippen was making was that physically LJ might have an edge on MJ – and maybe he does. But, there have been a lot of incredibly gifted physical specimens in the NBA. Jordan isn’t the only player who could jump as high as he did or shoot as well as he did or defend as well as he did.

What ultimately made him uniquely special is that along with all those great talents, he eventually figured out how to make his teammates better too. And, when he finally got good teammates and he matured into playing with them, he became the best and so did his teams.

Grant, who won three titles with the Bulls before leaving for Orlando, didn't always see eye-to-eye with Jordan personally. But he still recognizes Jordan's greatness, and he questions what Pippen was thinking when he said "LeBron James may be the greatest player to ever play the game."

"Wow," Grant said in a radio interview. "Pippen's my man, and we'll always be close, but I totally disagree. LeBron is going to be one of the top players to ever play the game, but Michael Jeffrey Jordan -- who we bumped heads at times -- is I think, the best basketball player I've ever seen."

Pippen faced a backlash from Bulls fans after his comments, and at first he went on Twitter to defend himself, telling fans that he knows more about basketball than they do.

"For all of you that don't know , I played the game you keep watching and cheering," Pippen wrote.

But when the criticism didn't relent, Pippen softened his tone.

"Don't get me wrong, MJ was and is the greatest. But LeBron could by all means get to his level someday," Pippen wrote. "Every NBA generation has a new set of stars and LeBron is there as the best all around player in the game."

Yes, LeBron is the best player of his generation. But that's a long way from being better than Jordan.

 

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Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan

Jordan (Arabic: الأردنّ‎ al-ʾUrdunn), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in Western Asia spanning the southern part of the Syrian Desert down to the Gulf of Aqaba. Jordan shares borders with Syria to the north, Iraq to the northeast, Saudiar Abia to the east and south, the Gulf of Aqaba to the southwest, and the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and Israel to the west. It shares control of the Dead Sea with Israel. Much of Jordan is covered by the Arabian Desert. However, the north-western part of Jordan is part of the Ancient Fertile Crescent. The capital city is Amman.

During its history, Jordan has seen numerous civilizations, including such ancient eastern ones as the Canaanite and later other Semitic peoples such as the Edomites, and the Moabites. Other civilizations possessing political sovereignty and influence in Jordan were: Akkadian, Assyrian, Judean, Babylonian, and Persian empires. Jordan was for a time part of Pharaonic Egypt, the Hasmonean Dynasty of the Maccabees, and also spawned the native Nabatean civilization which left rich archaeological remains at Petra. Cultures from the west also left their mark, such as the Macedonian, Roman, Byzantine, and Ottoman Turkish empires. Since the seventh century the area has been under Muslim and Arab cultures, with the exception of a brief period when the west of the area formed part of the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem and a short time under British rule.

The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan is a constitutional monarchy with representative government. The reigning monarch is the head of state, the chief executive and the commander-in-chief of the armed forces. The king exercises his executive authority through the prime ministers and the Council of Ministers, or cabinet. The cabinet, meanwhile, is responsible before the democratically elected House of Deputies which, along with the House of Notables (Senate), constitutes the legislative branch of the government. The judicial branch is an independent branch of the government.

Jordan is a modern Arab nation, its population is 92% Sunni Muslim with a small Christian minority. Jordanian society is predominantly urbanized. Jordan is classified as an emerging market with a free market economy by the CIA World Fact Book. Jordan has more Free Trade Agreements than any other country in the Arab World. Jordan is a pro-Western regime with very close relations with the United States and the United Kingdom. It became a major non-NATO ally in 1996, and is one of only two Arab nations, the other being Egypt, that have diplomatic relations with Israel. It is a founding member of the Arab League, the WTO, the AFESD, the Arab Parliament, the AIDMO, the AMF, the IMF, the International Criminal Court, the UNHRC, the GAFTA, the ESCWA, the ENP and the United Nations. Jordan is also currently undergoing close integration with the European Union and the Gulf Cooperation Council. Jordan expects to receive "advanced status" with the EU by 2011.

Source:en.wikipedia.org/

Modern Jordan

With the break-up of the Ottoman Empire at the end of World War I, the League of Nations and the occupying powers chose to redraw the borders of the Middle East. The ensuing decisions, most notably the Sykes–Picot Agreement gave birth to the French Mandate of Syria and British Mandate of Palestine. More than 76% of the British Mandate of Palestine was east of the Jordan river and was known as "Transjordan". The Permanent Court of International Justice and an International Court of Arbitration established by the Council of the League of Nations handed down rulings in 1925 which determined that Palestine and Transjordan were newly created successor states of the Ottoman Empire as defined by international law.

The country was under British supervision until after World War II. In 1946, the British requested that the United Nations approve an end to British Mandate rule in Transjordan. Following the British request, the Transjordanian Parliament proclaimed King Abdullah as the first ruler of the Hashemite Kingdom of Transjordan. Abdullah I continued to rule until a Palestinian Arab assassinated him in 1951 as he was departing from the al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem.

During the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, Jordan occupied the area of Cisjordan now called the West Bank, which it continued to control in accordance with the 1949 Armistice Agreements and a political union formed in December 1948. The Second Arab-Palestinian Conference held in Jericho on December 1, 1948 proclaimed Abdullah King of Palestine and called for a union of Arab Palestine with the Hashemite Kingdom of Transjordan. The Transjordanian Government agreed to the unification on December 7, 1948, and on December 13 the Transjordanian parliament approved the creation of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. The step of unification was ratified by a joint Jordanian National Assembly on April 24, 1950. The Assembly was comprised of 20 representatives each from the East and West Bank. The Act of Union contained a protective clause which persevered Arab rights in Palestine without prejudice to any final settlement.

Many legal scholars say the declaration of the Arab League and the Act of Union implied that Jordan's claim of sovereignty over the West Bank was provisional, because it had always been subject to the emergence of the Palestinian state. A political union was legally established by the series of proclamations, decrees, and parliamentary acts in December 1948. Abdullah thereupon took the title King of Jordan, and he officially changed the country's name to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan in April 1949. The 1950 Act of Union confirmed and ratified King Abdullah's actions. Following the annexation of the West Bank, only two countries formally recognized the union: Britain and Pakistan Thomas Kuttner notes that de facto recognition was granted to the regime, most clearly evidenced by the maintaining of consulates in East Jerusalem by several countries, including the United States. Joseph Weiler agreed, and said that other states had engaged in activities, statements, and resolutions that would be inconsistent with non-recognition. Joseph Massad said that the members of the Arab League granted de facto recognition and that the United States had formally recognized the annexation, except for Jerusalem.


Jordanian parachute flares illuminate Jerusalem during the Arab-Israeli war in 1948
The Jordan salient. June 5–7 during the Six Day War.
Amman became Jordan's capital in 1921The United States extended de jure recognition to the Government of Transjordan and the Government of Israel on the same day, January 31, 1949. President Truman told King Abdullah that the policy of the United States Government as regards a final territorial settlement in Palestine had been stated in the General Assembly on Nov 30, 1948 by the American representative. The US supported Israeli claims to the boundaries set forth in the UN General Assembly resolution of November 29, 1947, but believed that if Israel sought to retain additional territory in Palestine allotted to the Arabs, it should give the Arabs territorial compensation.

Clea Bunch said that "President Truman crafted a balanced policy between Israel and its moderate Hashemite neighbours when he simultaneously extended formal recognition to the newly created state of Israel and the Kingdom of Transjordan. These two nations were inevitably linked in the President's mind as twin emergent states: one serving the needs of the refugee Jew, the other absorbing recently displaced Palestinian Arabs. In addition, Truman was aware of the private agreements that existed between Jewish Agency leaders and King Abdullah I of Jordan. Thus, it made perfect sense to Truman to favour both states with de jure recognition."

In 1978 the U.S. State Department published a memorandum of conversation held on June 5, 1950 between Mr. Stuart W. Rockwell of the Office of African and Near Eastern Affairs and Abdel Monem Rifai, a Counselor of the Jordan Legation: Mr. Rifai asked when the United States was going to recognize the union of Arab Palestine and Jordan. Mr. Rockwell explained the Department's position, stating that it was not the custom of the United States to issue formal statements of recognition every time a foreign country changed its territorial area. The union of Arab Palestine and Jordan had been brought about as a result of the will of the people and the US accepted the fact that Jordanian sovereignty had been extended to the new area. Mr. Rifai said he had not realized this and that he was very pleased to learn that the US did in fact recognize the union.

Jordan and Iraq united in 1958 to form the Arab Federation of Iraq and Jordan under the Hashemite crowns in Amman and Baghdad. A coup later that year would end the union with the execution of the Hashemite crown in Baghdad. The United Arab Republic consisting of Egypt, Syria, and Yemen quickly moved to antagonize Jordan's young King Hussein with Soviet support. King Hussein asked for England and American assistance. The RAF and the USAF was sent to patrol Jordanian airspace and British troops were deployed in Amman. The UAR backed off but then turned to Lebanon. The Americans would later be deployed in Beirut to support Lebanon's pro-Western government.

In 1965, there was an exchange of land between Saudiar Abia and Jordan. Jordan gave up a large area of inland desert in return for a small piece of sea-shore near Aqaba.

Jordan signed a military pact with Egypt in May 1967, and following an Israeli air attack on Egypt in June 1967, Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Iraq continued the Six Day War against Israel. During the war, Israel captured the West Bank and East Jerusalem. In 1988, Jordan renounced all claims to the territory now occupied by Israel but its 1994 treaty with Israel allowed for a continuing Jordanian role in Muslim and Christian holy places in Jerusalem. The severance of administrative ties with the West Bank halted the Jordanian government's paying of civil servants and public sector employees' salaries in the West Bank.

The period following the 1967 war saw an upsurge in the activity and numbers of Arab Palestinian paramilitary elements (fedayeen) within the state of Jordan. These distinct, armed militias were becoming a "state within a state", threatening Jordan's rule of law. King Hussein's armed forces targeted the fedayeen, and open fighting erupted in June 1970. The battle in which Palestinian fighters from various Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) groups were expelled from Jordan is commonly known as Black September.

The heaviest fighting occurred in northern Jordan and Amman. In the ensuing heavy fighting, a Syrian tank force invaded northern Jordan to back the fedayeen fighters, but subsequently retreated. King Hussein urgently asked the United States and Great Britain to intervene against Syria. Consequently, Israel performed mock air strikes on the Syrian column at the Americans' request. Soon after, Syrian President Nureddin al-Atassi, ordered a hasty retreat from Jordanian soil. By September 22, Arab foreign ministers meeting in Cairo arranged a cease-fire beginning the following day. However, sporadic violence continued until Jordanian forces, led by Habis Al-Majali, with the help of Iraqi forces, won a decisive victory over the fedayeen on July 1971, expelling them, and ultimately the PLO's Yasser Arafat, from Jordan.

In 1973, allied Arab League forces attacked Israel in the Yom Kippur War, and fighting occurred along the 1967 Jordan River cease-fire line. Jordan sent a brigade to Syria to attack Israeli units on Syrian territory but did not engage Israeli forces from Jordanian territory.

At the Rabat summit conference in 1974, Jordan was now in a more secure position to agree, along with the rest of the Arab League, that the PLO was the "sole legitimate representative of the [Arab] Palestinian people", thereby relinquishing to that organization its role as representative of the West Bank.

The Amman Agreement of February 11, 1985, declared that the PLO and Jordan would pursue a proposed confederation between the state of Jordan and a Palestinian state. In 1988, King Hussein dissolved the Jordanian parliament and renounced Jordanian claims to the West Bank. The PLO assumed responsibility as the Provisional Government of Palestine and an independent state was declared.

Although Jordan did not directly participate in the Gulf War of 1990–91, following Iraq's invasion of Kuwait, King Hussein was accused of supporting Saddam Hussein when he attempted to persuade Saddam Hussein to withdraw from Kuwait. As a result of the alleged support, the United States and Arab countries cut off monetary aid to Jordan, and 700,000 Jordanians who had been working in Arab countries were forced to return to Jordan. In addition, millions of Iraqi refugees fled to Jordan placing a strain on the country's social services.

In 1991, Jordan agreed, along with Syria, Lebanon, and Arab Palestinian fedayeen representatives, to participate in direct peace negotiations with Israel at the Madrid Conference, sponsored by the U.S. and Russia. It negotiated an end to hostilities with Israel and signed a declaration to that effect on 25 July 1994 (see Washington Declaration). As a result, an Israeli-Jordanian peace treaty was concluded on 26 October 1994. King Hussein was later honored when his picture appeared on an Israeli postage stamp in recognition of the good relations he established with his neighbor. Since the signing of the peace treaty with Israel, the United States not only contributes hundreds of millions of dollars in an annual foreign aid stipend to Jordan, but also has allowed it to establish a free trade zone in which to manufacture goods that will enter the US without paying the usual import taxes as long as a percentage of the material used in them is purchased in Israel.

King Hussein died in 1999. His son, King Abdullah II succeeded him.

Following the outbreak of fighting between Israel and Palestinians in the Second Intifada in September 2000, the Jordanian government offered its offices to both parties. Jordan has since sought to remain at peace with all of its neighbors. Particularly good relations have been maintained between the Jordanian royal family and Israel, with the Jordanian government frequently dispersing rallies and jailing demonstrators protesting against Israeli actions. The government also censors anti-Israeli views from the Jordanian news media.

The last major strain in Jordan's relations with Israel occurred in September, 1997, when two Israeli agents entered Jordan using Canadian passports and poisoned Khaled Meshal, a senior leader of the Palestinian group Hamas. Under threat of cutting off diplomatic relations, King Hussein forced Israel to provide an antidote to the poison and to release dozens of Jordanians and Palestinians from its prisons, including the spiritual leader of Hamas, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin. Sheikh Yassin was later assassinated by Israel in a targeted bombing in early 2004 in the West Bank.

On 9 November 2005 Jordan experienced three simultaneous terrorist bombings at hotels in Amman. At least 57 people died and 115 were wounded. "Al-Qaeda in Iraq", a group led by terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi#Biography, claimed responsibility.

Recently, Jordan has revoked the citizenship of thousands of Palestinians in an attempt to thwart any attempt by Israel of permanently re-settling West Bank Palestinians in Jordan. West Bank Palestinians with family in Jordan or with previous Jordanian citizenship would be issued yellow cards which guaranteed them all the rights of Jordanian citizenship. Palestinians working for the Palestinian Authority or the PLO were among those who have had their Jordanian passports taken from them, in addition to anyone who did not serve in the Jordanian army. Palestinians living in Jordan with family in the West Bank would also be issued yellow cards. All other Palestinians wishing such Jordanian papers would be issued a green card which would facilitate travel into Jordan and give them temporary Jordanian passports in order to make travel easier. In addition, no Palestinians from the Gaza Strip are given any such privileges because Jordanian authority never extended into the Gaza Strip.


Source:en.wikipedia.org/