Tiger Woods went directly from Ohio, where he made the entire PGA his bitch yet again, to New York to play a practice round at Bethpage Black, the site of the U.S. Open in just under two weeks. This is seriously bad news for the rest of his opponents – it clearly shows that he is intensely focused ad ready to defend his title. Add in the fact that he’s obviously in top form, and you have the makings of a heavy favorite. There are few things better than watching him when he’s in the zone.
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Author: T.O. Whentam
Andy Roddick lost at the French Open today. What a shock. Actually, he got crushed. He lost in three decisive sets to hometown hero Gael Monfils. This victory sets up one heck of a quarterfinal match. Monfils has only dropped one set, and he’s playing as well as he ever has. His next opponent – Roger Federer. Federer is building a nice unbeaten streak on clay, but he had to fight for his life to come back from 0-2 against Tommy Haas to win in five sets. Federer is obviously favored to win the match, but it won’t be easy for him. The winner of this match will be in very good shape to win it all, so this could be a classic. It should go down on Wednesday.
Three quick thoughts to end the week:
Joe Torre said today that he doesn’t think that Manny Ramirez should play in the all-star game if he gets voted in. I’d go a step further – if the fans vote Manny into the all-star game then MLB should immediately ban people from entering every stadium in the league. It would be better to play in empty stadiums then to let people who are stupid enough to vote a suspended druggie into the all-star game make the team. This would make a mockery of the all-star game. Of course, the mockery ship sailed years ago when it come to all-star games.
I find myself writing about Kentucky basketball way more than any single program deserves in the offseason, but so much of what is going on there is just so compelling that I can’t help it. It’s rare that a team goes through such a complete overhaul in an offseason, never mind an iconic program like this one. The program found itself in the news three different times yesterday, for three totally unrelated reasons:
It continues to amaze me just how bad the American tennis players are on clay. The latest disaster came today in the French Open when James Blake was beaten in straight sets by a 22 year old Argentinian qualifier making his grand slam debut. Mardy Fish is out as well after a first round setback to another Argentinian. The Americans have three players ranked in the top 22, and only Andy Roddick survived to the second round. It’s pathetic, really. Roddick has played in seven French Opens. He has lost in the first round four times, the second round twice, and once more in the third. This was Blake’s seventh Open. He has two first round departures, four more in the second, and one in the third. Fish has only made it as far as the second round once in four tries. That’s 18 tries combined without so much as a round of 16 to show for the effort. Over the same period the players have a grand slam win, five semifinal appearances, and 12 more quarterfinal showings in the other three slams. It’s pretty clear what the problem is – clay.
I want to weigh in on the whole Michael Vick thing, and I promise not to use any bad dog puns as I do so.
I have to admit that I don’t buy a lot of the arguments that are being made concerning Vick these days. The most common opinion in the media seems to be that he’s a bad, bad man who hasn’t yet done enough t earn another shot in the league. I don’t agree, and I think it’s a matter of perspective. I don’t for a second want to make you think that I condone what he did. I’m an animal lover and I’ve had lots of dogs in my life, so I think what he did is worse than terrible. Here’s the thing, though – he has spent time in prison. He was sentenced and he is almost done serving that sentence. I think that that has to mean that, provided he behaves like a responsible professional, he deserves anther chance to be one. There are a lot of guys in the league that have done a lot of really bad hings and have been given another chance – Leonard Little and Tank Johnson come to mind without even thinking about it. Vick’s crimes were worse than Johnson’s, but then so was the punishment. This idea that Vick should never be able to play again just doesn’t sit well with me. I don’t particularly respect the guy, and I’m not sure that I would want him on my team, but I believe absolutely that he deserves another shot. He should be on a short leash, and he should have to remain on his best behavior to stay in the league, but as long as he does that then I get very uncomfortable at the thought of the league making moral judgments that stretch well above and beyond the scope of the legal system. Lord knows that the league is powerful enough already without giving them total control over our thoughts and actions as well.
This is how sure I was of the likely outcome of yesterday’s Cavs game – I didn’t even bother to watch it. I watched a movie instead (Incidentally, it was the second Pirates of the Caribbean movie which was on TV – what a piece of crap. Talk about wrecking a good thing). I like watching the NBA playoffs, and I think this series is fascinating, but I was sure of how it was going to turn out. I mean, think about it – the Cavs had lost just twice at home all year, they were looking all but invincible in the playoffs, they were well rested and prepared while the Magic were coming off a tough, long series, and they have the best player on the planet. I thought that the Magic could keep the series interesting, but I gave them almost no chance in this first game. Neither did the oddsmakers, apparently – the Cavs were favored by a healthy 8.5 points.
There’s an NBA story that won’t get a lot of attention that deserves to – the Raptors have dropped the interim tag from coach Jay Triano and given him a three year extension. At first glance this might not make much sense – he was just 25-40 after taking over from Sam Mitchell. You need to look at two things, though – what he had to work with and how he finished. The team was a total mess last year between injuries, the whole Jermaine O’Neal debacle, the big trade at the deadline, and so on. The fact that he won even 25 games in those circumstances is a miracle. On top of that, down the stretch when nothing mattered and the team had every reason in the world to collapse, he got them to finish at 9-4. Granted, there were some soft opponents in there, but they did beat Orlando in Orlando. I’ve been partial to Triano for a long time – he’s a Canadian like me, and the only guy in recent memory who has had any success coaching our national team. He’s also one of the good guys in the sport – he’s intelligent, strategic, and he knows his stuff. Toronto desperately needs some stability and something that works, and that can start with a good coaching regime. Triano brings that. I was high on Toronto coming into this past season. I won’t be fooled again, but this certainly improves their chances next year.
It turns out that drug cheating isn’t just limited to baseball. NASCAR driver and team owner Jeremy Mayfield tested positive for an illegal substance and has been suspended indefinitely. He’s following the script exactly as he is supposed to – he claims that this is all a big misunderstanding and that it was just prescription medication that caused the problem. Shocking. This should be a much bigger story than the baseball ones. What’s the worst that can happen if a baseball player is high or juiced – he hit better than heshould and makes a mockery of the record books. There is nothing good at all that can come from a guy who is driving 200 miles an hour inches away from other cars who is baked out of his mind.NASCAR really should have a one-strike-you’re-out policy.
It’s not particularly surprising that LeBron James was named MVP today – he certainly deserved it. What was surprising, though, is the margin by which he won it. There are 121 first place votes cast, and James picked up 109 of them. He’s the youngest player since Moses Malone in 1979 to win the award, and the third youngest ever. Cleveland coach Mike Brown was also named coach of the year last month, and that raises a surprising stat – this is just the fourth time that a team has had the MVP, top coach and the best record in the league in the same year. Just one of those teams, the 1996 Bulls, has gone on to win the title.
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