Recently, there was a thread over there in which a younger guy was dating a divorced older (meaning older than him, but much younger than me) woman. Moreover, this woman had a kid to boot, which I assume was a drawback because he was 24, and it put the nix on nooky. (That's just an assumption on my part simply because I have two kids.)

This poster turned to the Bogleheads for advice. That was not surprising because Bogleheads are known as masters of the art of love. They are the professores di amore. In fact, they have a chapter in the Bogleheads Guide on how to get to third base without spending more than 5 bucks. The thread lead to about 40 posts in which everyone, including the original poster, pretty much proved that either they, or someone else who posted to the thread, was a jackass. This lead to another thread on whether you should have a mistress. Pretty soon, people were discussing their private parts, Miley Cyrus' photo shoot, dogs sleeping with cats, and all sorts of mean nasty, horrible, things.

This lead to a redefinition of the off-topic forum as somehow, sorta, kinda being limited to do with money or consumer goods or other topics which don't deal with either of those two, but which the moderators will permit, such as your favorite unknown actor. That brings me to my point.

Somehow, in the midst of all of this, it was decided that a discussion of who will win the Masters would not be permitted. If you are a golfer, the Masters is sacred.

If you were a Catholic and a football fan, it would be like Pope Benedict visiting New York, saying mass, and then playing quarterback for the Giants in the Super Bowl. I was reminded of the scene in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest where Nurse Ratchet won’t let McMurphy see the World Series. The thought of not being able to watch the World Series is unthinkable to a baseball fan like McMurphy, even if he is a sociopath.

Similarly, the thought of not being able to discuss the Masters while people are discussing topics like, “Best way to save string” is maddening. Now I can understand why you wouldn't want people asking questions about whether to dump their girlfriend. That's even more true if the person asking the question is such a loser that he doesn't have friends to discuss the issue with. I can also understand why you don't want people discussing their mistresses, or even other people's mistresses, or even dumping their mistresses, on a forum devoted to important things like investing, and selling books and DFA funds. But the friggin' Masters? As Reverend Wright would say, "Is you outside your mind?!

Well, I guess I may have to start my own forum. Wait. I kind of do have my own forum. Thanks for the right side of the page.

Petrocelli