Tiger is Being Tamed by his Age

Awhile back I wrote that I was hoping Tiger Woods wouldn’t break Jack’s record of 18 total majors won. I’m feeling a little more confident of that semi-prediction after seeing Tiger go 0 for 3 in majors so far this year with some of his favorite courses (Augusta, Pebble, and St. Andrews) lined up for him to win, err, lose. We thought he might be holding all four championship trophies by the end of the year, but now we will probably be surprised if he is even holding one. Will he ever win another major again? Ok, that’s probably a bad question, since I’m sure he’ll win at least a couple more over the next decade, but at St. Andrews we saw him do something he’s never done throughout his entire career; question his abilities. For the first time in over a decade of dominance he changed his putter just before the tournament and opted for a Nike putter over his trusty Scotty Cameron, and then on Sunday, he inexplicably changed back to his old trusty Scotty Cameron. It was like Lebron’s choice to make his decision on national TV. Well thought out, but ultimately a bad idea. Does this mean Tiger is starting to blame his equipment for his deficiencies on the course? Is this a sign that he isn’t confident in his abilities, and is looking for new equipment to make up for it? Nearly every guy on the tour changes their swings and equipment to get better, but we never have heard about Tiger changing his trusty putter that sunk everything within ten feet at every critical moment throughout his career, so I’m thinking he’s starting to doubt himself at least a little for more reasons than just the putter switch. Read more of this post

Tiger Should’ve Listened to Eddie!

By now I’m sure you’ve heard about Tiger’s record divorce settlement that rewarded his now ex-wife Elin, around $750 million, and is the largest ever dolled out by any athlete. I have to say I think Tiger should’ve listened to Eddie. I don’t know a friend or college student that hasn’t watched Eddie Murphy’s bid at one of the best all time standup routines ever in Raw. His breakdown of marriage and divorce for celebrities is something every celebrity and superstar should learn from. Maybe Tiger was hitting the books too hard at Stanford to have time to watch something that would make him smile. Apparently that was his big loss. He was married in 2004 well after the Tiger slam, and he was on top of the world rolling in money and endorsements. Why wouldn’t he have gotten a prenup knowing his thirst for women was so strong?!? Oh well, live and learn I guess… I’m sure he’ll return to billionaire form before you know it. Now that he’s got a clear mind and conscious, maybe he will start dominating again on the course, and show us FU mode once again. One thing I’d like to see is D-Wade and Tiger throw a big singles party somewhere in Florida. Maybe even at that $80 million Jupiter house that Tiger refused to give to Elin in the settlement!

Players to Watch For in the 2010 US Open at Pebble Beach

I think I’ve been a little too overly excited for the the upcoming US Open at Pebble Beach, mainly because it’s at my former workplace, which is why I started the stories from Pebble Beach series earlier this year. I’ve never seen the course set at an open level, but know that even back when I was working there from 2004-2006 they were continually adding in obstacles and changing tee boxes to make the course tougher for this very event. Hopefully this time around it won’t be a blowout like the 2000 US Open at Pebble where Tiger won by a ridiculous 15 strokes. It sounds like nearly every hole has been changed since Tiger’s dominating US Open, whether it’s an added bunker or trees, a little extra length off the tee, narrowed fairways (they moved many fairways closer to the cliffs), etc. We all know about the length of the rough in the Open, and that will surely cause the players the most grief over this weekend. It sounds like it’s going to be a chilly weekend in the Monterey Penninsula, so hopefully the wind kicks up too making it tougher to shoot low. I’d like to see some 4 or 5 irons being used on the famous 109 yard par 3 7th hole. Here’s a few players that I’ll be looking forward to watching how their weekend unfolds… Read more of this post

Jack vs. Tiger

Jack Nicklaus is still golf’s record holder for most majors won (18). It was thought for years that Tiger would destroy Nicklaus’s record when he was racking up Majors championships at the same rate he was picking out mistresses, and honestly, I still think he will break 19 major wins. Over the years I’ve felt that Jack was slightly bitter that he knew his record of 18 championships would fall to the hands of Tiger. I even remember him saying something to the extent of I should’ve won more to make it harder for him. Today Jack had some comments about Tiger that I found pretty interesting.

Nicklaus says if Woods, with 14 major wins, doesn’t win the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach or the British Open at St. Andrews — two of Woods’ favorite courses — this year he will have a hard time catching him.

“If he does he will probably go ahead and break my record,” he said. “If he doesn’t win this year he has a tougher road to go. He will be 36 next year and time starts to go. He has to win five majors. Phil Mickelson won his fourth at the Masters, but prior to that three was the next closest (active) guy. So Tiger has to win almost two careers (of a ‘regular’ player) in the next five or six years to do that and that is a pretty big chore.”

While I agree with Jack’s thought that Tiger would dominate this year since the majors are at his favorite courses/courses he dominates, I don’t buy that it’s his last chance to get close to the record. It’s probably either head games or a reminder that it’s pretty damn hard to do what Jack did regardless of how talented you are. Jack isn’t rooting for Tiger to break his record or ever has. I know for a fact that Jack wouldn’t have said this a year ago before all the scandals broke out, because lets face it, Tiger was untouchable, and Jack would’ve just come off looking like he was a grumpy old bitter man. Now he can publicly challenge Tiger without the whole golf world going into a frenzy. I’m sure it felt good for Jack to get those thoughts off his chest!

Early US Open Storlines

You may remember back in my first edition of Pebble Beach Stories, I wrote how much I despise the Fijian Bastard, Vijay Singh. Today I saw that Vijay missing the cut at the Byron Nelson Championship last Friday dropped him from the 51st ranked player to the 59th ranked player. That’s not all that exciting in itself, but it has forced him to play in a 36-hole playoff to try and qualify for the US Open at Pebble Beach. It could be the first time he has missed the US Open since 1994, and I hope he chokes in the qualifier so this does in fact happen. Not just to see him struggle, but so he’s not at Pebble creating hell for my former co-workers on the driving range! The part that I find most entertaining is Tony Romo could actually be in the US Open and Vijay could be a spectator. Couldn’t have drawn this up any better myself!

It’s been all over the newswires the last couple days that Phil Mikelson could be the #1 ranked player with a win at the Colonial this weekend. He would only be only the third player since 1998 to be ranked number 1, that isn’t named Tiger (David Duval and Vijay are the only other two to hold the #1 spot). If Phil doesn’t do very well, he will most likely still be #2, but if Lee Westwood, currently #3 pulls out a victory, he could conceivable jump Phil in the rankings. Tiger is supposed to play again next weekend, but no matter who ends up being in first come June it could set up to be a great storyline for the US Open. Despite it being a great major tournament, adding in the question of who will be the #1 golfer adds that much more drama. A non-US Open related story, Tiger might not be invited to the Ryder Cup according to captain Corey Pavin. I’m not buying it, but he is the 11th ranked American this year, so there’s a chance, but I’d say that’s a slim one since golf will want him to be in there for the ratings if he’s healthy. I think Pavin is just trying to pull in a little attention while he can!

Phillin the Love at Augusta

It was quite a fun weekend of golf, even if you aren’t that into the sport. There were plenty of memorable players and shots that made it interesting and fun to watch. The whole time I was waiting for the wheels to fall off for Phil, instead I was pleasantly surprised it was Tiger falling apart on Sunday. There were a lot of fun story lines that kept me from changing the channel, including 50 year old Freddy making a push, Anthony Kim coming out of nowhere, Lee Westwood playing solid, but not quite pulling it out in a major once again, and a lot of great golf shots in between. Read more of this post

Tiger and Playboy?

Tiger’s losing his sponsors left and right if you haven’t noticed. Gatorade (aka. Pepsi Co.) just kicked his contract to the curb, which isn’t all that surprising since he never said when he’d return to golf. Why pay the guy that goes into hibernation. I’m think that this is a bigger deal than losing his sponsorship with Accenture since they are a company that caters to the upper class. Gatorade on the other hand is drank by pretty much everyone, at least the people I’m around. I guess they thought his little fake sobbing during the speech wasn’t convincing enough to keep him on the payroll. Maybe it was those references to having a tough life, the Gatorade front office thought “Well, we will  try as hard as we can to make your super celebrity life harder!” Maybe they decided they only wanted one robot in Federrer. What’s next for Tiger? Only he could tell you that, and I’m sure he’d have to write up a prepared statement that he can’t even memorize ready for you in six short months. This would only confirm he is indeed some type of cyborg, and has only learned the same amount of emotions as a Terminator.

One thing I’d like to see come out of all this, is him losing ALL of his sponsors, and starting from scratch. As soon as he wins his first major all this will be in the past and new opportunities will be coming along. I’m guessing Nike and EA will stick with him, because they have products based completely on him, but he’s going to have to pick up some new sponsors. Maybe he could get sponsored by Playboy. I’d probably pin him more as a Hustler type guy from all the fetishes he seems to have, but since Playboy is a little classier it would be the more likely of the two scenarios. Playboy has had some rough times lately due to the huge surge of internet porn out there for free. Hugh is an idol to most men, and I’m doubtful Tiger’s marriage will work out, so he’d be an amazing spokesman for the company. Instead of getting sponsored, he should just buy the company! We could even have a reality show with him feeding off the Girls Next Door success called Girls on the 19th hole or maybe Get in the Hole. Hugh you need to make this happen, there isn’t better icon to save your empire than sponsoring the most publicized affair of all time. Would people all of a sudden change their opinion on Tiger? Doubtful, because he doesn’t have the dynamic personality that Hugh does.

Hope you enjoyed the rant. I had a long conversation about this with a buddy today.

Doin Work’s Knee Jerk Reactions to Tiger’s Speech

Chappy81: Well, Tiger did look remorseful, and apologized to everyone including the kids that are his fans. He used “I” in nearly every sentence, which was good to see him blaming himself. I liked how he owned up to everything that he did, but like so many others, I feel like he’s only remorseful because he got caught. I’m surprised that he’s trying to keep the marriage together, and that Elin is actually giving him another chance. It now makes sense why he was in the rehab classes now. I never understood why he was in the classes, especially when it was reported that their marriage was over. I guess they’re really trying to work it out. Maybe his re-found connection to Buddhism will help. The one thing I really wanted to know from the press confrence was when he’s coming back to golf, and that question went unanswered. I’ll still be shocked if he misses Agusta and the Pebble Beach majors since he dominates those courses in the past, but Tiger didn’t rule out sitting out for the whole season. We shall see… I can’t picture him sitting out that long with a mental injury. If it was a physical injury, that would be much different.

Cali4Dre: Tiger the budding Buddist?  Is this the first time we have really heard this from him, a man of supposed faith at some point in his early life?  Interesting that he chose to use this crutch to help him through this situation… I guess that’s what rehab and you’re mom will do to you.  And a little surprising to not see Elin there.  Especially considering that she’s willing to stand by her broken marriage with an adulterer a thousand times over.  I don’t believe it is to keep the family together, I believe her excuse of her own parents’ divorce is prompting this decision is a quite frankly a farce. I think it is more likely because she has grown accustomed to the lifestyle that Tiger has provided, and the future greatness that will be reserved for Tiger and whomever he is with in the future.  He was already a legend at 30, hell at 20, and his legend will only grow.  He is royalty in the sports and business worlds, which by definition makes him the alpha of alpha’s and any other man would fail in comparison when it comes to picking a mate.  I agree Tiger is only apologizing because he got caught, and not because he is truly sorry.  He broke his forced humility long enough to berate the paparazzi, which again he brought upon himself by not speaking out in public sooner.  This “apology” might have been more believable about two months ago.

The Best and Worst of the Double O Decade in Sports

Conan told us what to expect in the year 2000

It has been one wild decade full of fraud, juicers, womanizers, gamblers, cheaters, dopers, racists, and pretty much everything else in between. I’m not sure what to make of this decade, but the sports world has never been present more in our society. The economic hardships will undoubtedly change the landscape in the next decade as teams and leagues face bankruptcies and lockouts. Maybe we can blame the easy access of the internet/blogoshpere, and TMZ for coming along and showing us everything that is wrong with the athlete’s we adore making every one of their moves into a Michael Jackson type fiasco. It’s tough to see how diluted and foggy our perception of sports and athletes has become as the bad seemed to heavily outweigh the good. Many great things happened over the decade which kept us happy content after having to hear all the wild buzz on the athlete’s personal lives. Since nobody likes to listen or watch things about how the NBA Cares and United Way commercials for the NFL, we are stuck hearing the controversies that plague our sports including wild semi sports related stories like the Erin Andrews reverse peephole video. Here’s what stood out the most on what I liked and disliked in the world of sports! Read more of this post

More Fun With Tiger

Yeah, I know that you’ve probably heard millions of Tiger jokes by now, but at our annual Christmas Eve party I was shown this Billy Dee Williams clip from the Jimmy Kimmel show that was pretty funny! If there’s one thing Tiger has given us for the holidays, it is plenty of new jokes and skits from all the great comedians out there. I guess it’s a little too late to get this fabulous plate set and meat clever for Christmas, but it would be a solid birthday gift that keeps on giving! Happy Holidays!

The Race Draft Revisited

This has always been one of my favorite Chapelle Show skits. I was especially happy to see that the Chinese picked up the Wu-Tang Clan, it made me proud! I guess I revisited the clip because of the flurry of Tiger propaganda spewing out every media outlet. My first thought after re-watching it was, I wonder if this was the turning point in his career when he decided to gangster up! He knew that being picked #1 overall, and converting to 100% black that he’d obviously have to toughen up that image, and make a few changes. That was the point in his life when he broke away from Stanford University Tiger. To get that ghetto pass stamped he decided to quietly find a chick for each stop on the tour, which worked great for awhile! Or maybe not depending who you are. What these fine accomplishments mean for him, we aren’t quite sure yet. The one thing that is for sure, he will gangster up when he gets back out on the golf course whether you like it or not! Two of his favorite courses hold Majors this year, there is noway he is sitting out!

Tiger is Special, Cable is NOT!

So, you may have heard by now that Tiger has cheated on his wife more times than he has fingers, but most major sports outlets aren’t really saying their opinion. Yes, I’m talking about you ESPN, SI, Yahoo, etc. I’m guessing it’s because of money, but I found it interesting that sites like TMZ and US have shed the true light on our most recognizable sports figure of this generation. Giving us the texts and voice-mails he sent to his mistresses. It got me thinking are these media outlets scared of the Jordan factor. When he went to play baseball Sports Illustrated put him on the cover of their magazine telling him to go back to basketball. He blackballed them for the rest of his career never giving them another cover shot, advertising shots, interviews, etc.

Tom Cable had a dream, and that dream was to be a head coach. The dream has worked out pretty well so far, as the Raiders have more hope than they’ve had in years, and like anyone living a normal life, he has had some “transgressions” along the way. I can’t defend whatever happened to “the punch” of assistant Randy Hanson. He was portrayed as target #1 bad guy by ESPN as they even ran an Outside the Lines report on the women he abused, and people he didn’t get along with. It was fine and all, because all of it was true, but where’s our expose on Tiger!?! It’s lame how they pick and choose what guys they are going to throw under the bus, and in fear of upsetting possible future connections they aren’t going to run a trashy story on Tiger. Make your mind up ESPN give us the tabloid trash or don’t, just stop being a hypocrite!

Doin Lines Week 14

You may as well put her out there since Ulacher's replacements haven't stepped up.

I was pretty pumped on Saturday, as I hit both the predictions I made for the Civil War and SEC Championship game. I didn’t do quite as well when it came to Sunday, but I still went 5-3 on the week bringing the season record to 36-34-1. It’s nice to see I’m not losing money as fast as Tiger is with all these mini settlements or the big one with his wife. One thought on the game I didn’t actually see tonight. How bad is this Steelers team that lost back to back games to the Raiders then the Browns? I’ll let you answer that one, but it’s not a playoff contender that’s for sure. As always the home teams are in bold.

Denver (+7) Over Indianapolis

Indy easily handled one of the hottest team in the league taking the Titans down in blowout fashion, but in the end the Colts love to play in close games. I think this week will be close as Denver seems to have regained some of their early season form and won their last two games. With Orton looking healthy again their offense is back on track, and can keep up with the Colts on the scoreboard. I’m not predicting that the undefeated streak is going to end here, especially the way the breaks are going for them. I know that the Broncos sure have a lot more at stake with this game, and I could see them possibly winning outright.

Cincinnati (+7) Over Minnesota

I guess this is bold picking two teams in a row to upset two of the top three teams in the league, but last week was the Vikings first real test since they played Green Bay six weeks ago. Minnesota showed that they aren’t unstoppable when they play a GOOD team, and Cincy is a GOOD team this year. I also think Cincy will come out a little more pumped than normal as they play the game with a chance to clinch their division. Aside from the game fell asleep on against Oakland they have been great this year. I’m sure they picked up a few pointers from Arizona last week, so maybe we will see Favre turn into Farva!  This should be one of the best games of the week!

Green Bay (-3) Over Chicago

Uh oh, last week I picked all road teams, and now I’ve already picked three! I really like this line though! It might be the easiest pick of the week! I think I like Charles Woodson more than the Monday Night Crew. He’s always been a favorite former Raider of mine. I still can’t figure out why teams would throw to his side of the field. If only we still had him and Asomugha, nobody would throw on us… Anyways, Green Bay is rolling right now, and the Packers have finally been keeping Rodgers upright. He’s currently tied for third in the NFL in passing TD’s and I don’t see any reason for him not to continue putting up big happy fantasy owner numbers against a suspect Bears D. I know this is a rivalry and all, but one team just isn’t that good, and the Bears fall off was worse than Tara Reid’s fall from fame.

The Media (-1,250 articles) on Tiger Woods OVER

I have to admit that I am surprised I ended up doing two posts on Tiger’s troubles, but since it’s all we hear about I had to add to the 30,000 articles already out there. Anyways, I’m taking the over 1,250 articles coming out this weekend that are Tiger related. This is slowly turning into a bigger fiasco than Michael Jackson’s death! Hopefully A&E doesn’t make a show about it like they did with the Jackson 5.

Houston (-6) Over Seattle

Yeah, I know the Texans have sucked lately, and the Seahawks have been playing decent, but just looking at Seattle’s 1-5 road record and haveonly score 16.7 points per road contest. Those numbers alone make me a believer in the Texans. Matt Schaub should be able to put up a solid fantasy day with a TD connection or two with Andre against a banged up 25th ranked passing defense. The Seahawks DON’T have a good offense, especially their supposed big play-maker TJ Houshmanzadeh who is averaging a stellar 3 catches for 7.9 yards per game with no touchdowns. One thing I do like about Seattle is that they are giving a chunk of carries to Forsett as he gets his shot to be the next big thing out of Cal. Funny note from Yahoo on Forsett about Jim Mora’s awesome job as coach!

Dec 7 Forsett scored a touchdown but got only eight touches Sunday as the Seahawks stubbornly stuck with the less dynamic Julius Jones.

Recommendation: Jones got 25 touches and did little with them, totaling 64 yards. Forsett totaled 34 yards, almost all of it coming on a 25-yard reception. It seems obvious to everyone but coach Jim Mora that Forsett should see more action. Perhaps that will happen, but don’t count on it until there’s official word. Forsett’s “tweaked” quadriceps was not a factor.

Tennessee (-13) Over St. Louis

The Titans hit a speed bump last week on their march to an improbable playoff berth. I doubt they can do it, but you never know. I see them winning convincingly after a tough game against Indy. Going home is always a boost, but playing the Rams might be even more of a boost. The biggest hype for the Lambs is Todd Mcshay and Mel Kiper Jr. arguing over whether they should pick Jimmy Claussen at the top of next year’s draft. I’m already sick of their big boards and projections, we don’t even know if the Rams will have the honor to pick that high! They might even improve their pick by pulling out a win in Tennessee! Ok, just kidding, I think if that happened, the Nets will make the NBA playoffs! Which by the way you can get a good discount on this site by buying them now!

Oakland (+1) Over Washington

Yes, I finally get my chance to gush on Gradkowski, and yes, I’m going to go right ahead and jinx him right now by picking the Raiders to win at home. Sure he throws some ugly looking passes, but didn’t Jeff Garcia do that his whole career!?! Bruce has given us a true leader in the huddle. I haven’t been this proud/excited with anything Raiders related in quite some time, and now that the offense looks like it actually has some confidence with the play-makers after FINALLY getting them some touches! Louis Murphy has been a fan favorite since they drafted him, and it’s good to see him being able to showcase his skills by having a QB that can get the ball to him. Washington does everything they can to lose each week, and that was on full showcase against the Saints. They are about as healthy as Al Davis, so I wouldn’t expect much of a showing on the road. If their spirits weren’t broken last week, then maybe Zorn isn’t that bad. Maybe they’ll come out fired up, but more than likely after that rough loss they might just pack it in for the rest of their games this season.

San Diego (+3) Over Dallas

This match up features the hottest team in the league versus the luckiest. Is it just me or do teams like to give games away when they play the Cowboys. I hate that their game is always televised, and I hate even more I have to watch some dumbass move by the other team that gives Dallas a win. It’s getting ridiculous. I keep thinking that it can’t happen again right!?! Well, I’m sure it could, but the Chargers look as focused as they’ve ever been. I think even Norv Turner has made me think that he can actually coach a little. I guess those Turner theories only work in the playoffs. I see Romo making one too many mistakes this week against an improving San Diego defense. We all know that Dallas likes to crumble in December, so lets just hope it’s fun to watch!

What the Kids Think!

Thought this was kind of funny. I especially liked the last one! I never really liked him either!

What Can Obama Learn From Tiger!?!

The new Golfers Digest hit newsstands, and the front cover will not be changed in leiu of Tiger’s many mistresses that seem to be popping up daily now. I’m not sure why these girls didn’t try to get their payday earlier! Now that Elin knows what’s up there are no more paydays coming! This cover has tons of unintentional comedy or maybe the Golfers Digest people are funnier than I ever thought. (Load it & Let it Go! How to Outsmart your Buddies. Tips Obama Can Take From Tiger.) Classic! Anyways, the article talks about how golf can be good for the economy, and the picture was actually photo shopped in case you were wondering if Obama actually had time to go golf. The Tiger Saga continues to unfold and keeps getting more fun to me at least, since I never truly liked the guy in the first place. Not to say I’m not impressed when he wins tourney’s or any of his accomplishments, just never liked him… We are doing the right thing and being true Americans, by bringing down Tiger. It’s the American way to bring down anything that is at the top!  Here’s some Golfer’s Digest reader responses to the cover some of them are a little to serious for me.