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!
Is this a big deal? Rodger Goodell, and every media outlet seems to be making it a top story. Whoopity do, the NFL has never had a snow/cold Super Bowl! I’ve talked to a few people since I heard the news and heard pretty much the same reaction: huh, who gives a f***. That was pretty much my reaction to hearing that the new billion dollar stadium in New Jersey won the sweepstakes to host the 2014 Super Bowl beating out Tampa Bay. I mean, it’s probably exciting for that city and all, but why is this a top story? As a fan, I could care less if the Super Bowl is held in a good market or a warm place. Is it really going to make it more or less watchable? Sure, I’d like to see a snow game, but the only important thing about the Super Bowl for 99.9% of fans (I think), is that the game is close and competitive (or winning their bets). There’s only going to be two teams in there regardless, so most fans will have seen their team exit either before or during the playoffs.One other reason I think that this has been such a big deal in the media is because all of them have to go to the Super Bowl to cover it. Cry me a river media members, I’d go to the Super Bowl in a second wherever it is if I had the opportunity!
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!
A couple weeks ago, I wrote how the playoffs have been a snoozefest, and was hoping the Conference Finals would bring a little drama. So far, not so much. After watching about two and a half quarters of the Boston-Orlando game 3 Saturday, it was clear that the Magic didn’t have any Chris Angel in them. It felt like they didn’t even care that they were losing. I guess they decided that they only wanted to sweep or be swept, and as AP wrote, they don’t have a backbone and would rather be at Disneyland. Superman disappeared, and looked powerless against a big baby. Pretty much the whole team decided to lay down, even Jameer, who I always thought was a gamer. Vince was probably the only one that looked like he was even trying to compete, and that’s a really bad sign for a team, when he looks like the only guy that cares!! I think we can safely say Rondo is Boston’s best player now, and will give any opposing guard fits on offense and defense. All those other guys they have aren’t too shabby themselves, and know what their roles are. I’m hoping that the Celtics can wrap it up in game four so they have plenty of time to rest before the finals. They should give the Lakers one tough battle in a wet dream matchup for the NBA with Lebron out of the picture (here’s to hoping that will jinx the Lakers with that comment).
The Suns are who I’ve been pulling for all along, and tonight, they at least showed that they weren’t going to lay down to an obviously better Lakers team. The thing I found so strange about this game is I thought that Phoenix’s bench would be the reason they’d win a game. This wasn’t the case, as the bench was held to minimal production, and if it weren’t for Amare getting back into his game (42 points, 11 rebounds), the sun would’ve set on their season tonight. Robin Lopez played well, and on this rare occasion the Lakers bigs weren’t the story of the night. I’m not sure if the Suns really won this game as much as the Lakers lost it. Odom, who had huge games in the first two made his usual disappearing act following a couple big performances. Hopefully that will last for a couple games. Bynum was just a big guy handing out fouls as offensive players streaked by him to the rim. Fischer might have been their third best player on the court. I don’t think I’ve said that about him since he was on the Jazz! Kobe will always be Kobe, and just missed a triple double by a rebound. Doug Collins and Marv Alberts seemed to think that the zone D the Suns were playing was slowing Kobe down, but they must not have looked at his stat line (36pts, 9 rebs, 11 assists).
All in all, this game has me feeling like the Suns have a good shot to even this series up on Tuesday. I still wouldn’t bet on them to win, but the most promising part about tonight’s game is that they didn’t really play their best. Nash wasn’t spectacular, their bench didn’t help out, they shot the three ball horribly, and the barometer of the Suns success, J-Rich, didn’t score 20! Looking down the need to do list before the game, I figured they would need to do a combo of all of these things for them to win, and even though none of them panned out, they still pulled out victory. I think the real question now becomes is Amare satisfied with putting up his one big game or will he come back for more? If he is done, the Suns will have a tough road ahead. If he isn’t, we could be in for a great series! I hope tonight doesn’t make him feel like he showed us he can do it, and he disappears like he did in LA for the first two games. The Suns won’t win another game if that’s the case. I’m hoping he wasn’t just “lucky” tonight!
With the A’s sputtering over the last couple weeks, I’ve wondered why they haven’t called up their big hitting prospects Michael Taylor and Chris Carter to inject some power and life into the lineup, alas, I keep hearing wait until June. Same goes for fantasy enthusiasts wondering why the hell Strasburg isn’t called up to the MLB yet, since he’s been dominating the lower levels, and has looked ready since the first pitch he threw in AA ball. Maybe you’re wondering when your Pirates prospect Pedro Alvarez is getting called to the show. The answer keeps being June. Why June? Simply put, money. I’m not buying the argument that the Nats are bringing Strasburg along slowly; it’s a big load of BS. What teams are truly concerned about, is their bottom line, and if these players make an impact and never go back down to the minors they will have to pay them. Teams don’t want their “top prospects” being good enough to earn the “Super 2” status. What is the difference between being a super 2 and a normal player you may wonder? The ESPN’s and MLBTV’s of the world have failed to clarify it for me, so I had to do a little research to find what it truly means, and now that we have a blog I figured I should clear it up for our readers as well. Continue reading
I have to say that Mikhail has grown on me. I didn’t know a whole lot about him when he bought the Nets, but over the past few weeks he’s shown me his great personality that many spoke of when they dubbed him the Russian Mark Cuban. He might not be the best speaker, but maybe now that he’s around Jay-Z more he can pick up some cool slang terms, and will make them sound funny in his accent. If I were an NJ fan, I’m sure I’d be in love with the guy. I WANT to know what his secrets are, and that’s probably the way he wants it…
If he really wants to be a winner, here’s a little scenario that would make them an instant contender. Phil Jackson is reportedly supposed to take a paycut next year, and it made me wonder if the billionaire can do the impossible. Lure Lebron, and pay Phil whatever he wants next season to come to NJ. It’s a slightly far fetched idea at the moment, but we know Lebron wants to be a global icon, maybe not in Russia, but that does make him global. And we also know that Phil isn’t taking a discount for coaching, especially if he wins back to back championships this year, shouldn’t that mean he gets a raise instead of a pay cut? I know I wouldn’t take a pay cut!
We’ve made it well known that we are fans of big fans of Conan O’Brien, and he IS the comedic voice of our generation. I will watch him whether it’s on youtube or TBS. I feel like he’s sincere in his approach to comedy, and really understands the younger generation. Some late night hosts, put off the vibe that they truly do view their show as a job and only worry about plugging the sponsors and the network. Conan on the other hand, feels like he’s actually having fun doing his job. I think that is what has drawn me to the guy over the past decade plus. I really wish I had known about his comedy tour before I saw the youtube clip below from his trip to Google’s headquarters, because I definitely would’ve tried to go. I guess I’ll have to follow his twitter account a little closer now.
Anyways, if you enjoy Conan, and are missing him in his absence from late night TV, here’s a great hour long video that is well worth a watch. He has some great insights into being a celebrity, and the crazy people he runs across that think they know him. He even busts out his best Ludacris impersonation. There’s also a portion where Andy Richter is with him on stage, and I have to say some of the employee questions were pretty good. The best part about this whole appearance may not have been his comedy, but when he described his falling out with NBC (around 15 minute mark he gets into it). He continues to talk about the breakup sporadically throughout the rest of the hour.
We rarely cover much fantasy sports here at Doin Work, even though all of us are in multiple fantasy leagues playing nearly every sport, including golf and hockey! Sure we do our mock drafts, and some awards when the season is over, but no up to the minute fantasy news. One reason might be because our friends over at The Fantasy Geek, are on top of all the important relevant news, that we figured we should just go to their site instead of doing the research ourselves! Plus, if it were me writing our fantasy stuff, I’d just rant about my teams, and everyone can agree, your team is VERY important to you, but everyone else you talk to could really care less about it. Maybe this is why a win in fantasy is only mildly satisfying, because you feel like your team should win every week, and losses are completely devastating because of that same reason. They’ve had a few podcasts, and I was a guest on the 4/24 episode as a caller. Yesterday they had a great podcast on just about everything from the NBA Playoffs, to what prospects you might want to think about picking up, since they might be getting called up to the big leagues sooner than later. If you are in seach of some help in your fantasy league, you should check out their podcasts and website to help build yourself a winning team!
You may have read my post last week that former MLB outfielder, Eric Byrnes, decided to take up softball and join the Dutch Goose team. Looks like he might not be able to hit major league pitching anymore, but he sure can wail on a slow pitch softball, and he should, the guy is only 34! The details were foggy about his abrupt departure from Seattle, and some thought he disobeyed the managers order to bunt, and took off after the game on his bike avoiding meeting with the owner and media. He cleared his name up on ESPN First Take yesterday in case you care, here’s the clip. He pretty much wanted to make it clear that anytime you avoid the media, you let them assume the worst! Anyways, it must be nice to be young and rich, so you can golf and play softball! I’m pretty sure we will see him behind a sportscasting desk before you know it.
I’ve really been trying to get into the NBA playoffs this year, and have enjoyed some of the games/series. This past round however should be called The NBA, Where Blowouts Happen. There’s been an amazing lack of drama that the NBA thrives on, which has had me hitting the snooze button on lots of games. And by snooze, I mean, change the channel for 10-15 minutes, and check back. Once I check back, and see its still a blowout, I’ll jump back to baseball or golf and not look back. It’s sad the playoffs have been losing out in the channel surfing rotation, because most years it doesn’t. It’s going to be tough, but Im going to try to pull together a few things that are intriguing me in the 2010 Playoffs. Continue reading
It’s been a few weeks since we had our last power rankings up, and the landscape has changed a little now that we are about 1/5th of the way through the season. There were a few teams that fell out of the rankings, and some that moved up from the first power rankings we did. I’m really pumped that I haven’t had to put the Angels on the list. I think as long as Fuentes stays their closer that will help keep them off the list. Anyways, here’s how the top 16 shaking out.
#1 Tampa Bay Rays (22-10) – Getting zero hits and zero runs in one game doesn’t lose you the top spot, especially when it was the first time they lost two straight on the road all season, and it took perfection to do it. The Rays worst starter ERA is Wade Price’s 3.18, and is the reason they are doing so well. We will see if they can hold up when they start playing in their division more. If the Yankees hadn’t mirrored their losses, I may have moved the Rays down a spot.
#2 New York Yankees (21-10) – They’ve only lost one out of ten series they’ve played in this season. Maybe if Brett Gardner played a little better they might be number one, haha, just kidding. I’m pretty shocked how good Gardner is doing, and if he keeps it up I’ll be mad I didn’t pick him up for the fantasy team. Swisher has been great lately too, which makes me somewhat root for them, because I love my former A’s players. They’ve lost a couple in a row, but there are no concerns in NY now that Texiera seems to finally be seeing the ball.
#3 Philadelphia Phillies (20-12) –After taking three of four from the Cards, and playing ten days in a row going 8-2 makes me think they must be the best team in the NL right now. Jason Werth wants that huge contract this winter hitting .329 with 26 RBI’s already! Their starting pitching is doing well as of late too only giving up 8 earned runs over their last six games.
#4 Minnesota Twins (21-11) – No Mauer, no problem. Wilson Ramos seems like he belongs as someone’s backstop in the league. He might be able to take up a few extra games behind the plate sliding Mauer to the DH more often, so he can stay a little fresher. I don’t see why not with the way Ramos burst onto the scene last week (10 hits in his first three games). The Twins pitching has been better than I expected. They are +48 in run differential, and have allowed the sixth fewest runs, a good recipe for success.
#5 San Diego Padres (19-12) – I along with everyone are wondering when will they fade? Not anytime soon, if their pitching keeps going the way it has. They are tied with the Giants for the fewest runs allowed (97). They don’t hit for average or power, but they do lead the league in stolen bases, and seem to push the right buttons in their small ball approach. When Adrian Gonzalez starts heating up, watch out NL West! Continue reading
Dallas Braden of the Oakland Athletics isn’t an overpowering pitcher, but as I said in my preview a month ago, he’s a gamer, and will give you everything he has when you put the ball in his hand. Whenever he’s on the mound he doesn’t back down. He’s already proved that twice this year. He proved that by telling A-Rod to get off his mound. He followed that up today by throwing a perfect game against one of the best teams in the leagues, Tampa Bay. I caught innings six through nine, and he never really looked nervous, just fired up the way he always is. After Kaplar fouled off what felt like 20 pitches in the 6th, Dallas cruised the rest of the way and only fell behind one hitter 3-1 after that. I was strangely confident that he was going to come through while I watched, maybe a little too confident for comfort. The main reason was because he threw a ton of strikes mixing up speeds and locations. He was hitting the target nearly every pitch. Since he’s not overpowering it was truly a masterful performance. Braden is a guy that didn’t seem like he was ever overwhelmed by it on the mound, he just kept dealing with one pitch at a time. He had a ton of friends and family including grandma on hand, as he bought out a lot of section 209 to watch the game. It was the first perfect game in Oakland since Catfish Hunter decades ago. Dave Stewart threw a no hitter in 1990, but there has been nothing since! I’m not sure if the difference was NOT having their normal catcher Kurt Suzuki behind the plate. Instead he had Landon Powell, his catcher he worked with routinely in AAA, and from what I saw he rarely shook off a pitch, so you have to give Powell a little of the credit. The one bad thing about this perfect game is if/when he does bean A-Rod, it will be more obvious because now everyone knows he has great control!
I probably go to a comedy show about every two months, because let’s face it, everyone needs more laughter in their lives. Last time I caught Dave Attell, which was hilarious, and almost inspired me to write a post about the experience, but I never did. At that show I did have a Ron Jeremy sighting. He was sitting four rows in front of me with his bandwagon of pornstars, and Attell pulled out all the porn jokes he could think of. Tonight, I’m going to go see Jim Breuer do some standup at the Irvine Improv. I figured I should throw up one of my personal favorite Jim Breuer routines, about Alcohol. If you haven’t seen it, you are in for a treat. If you have, it’s worth watching again if you haven’t seen it for awhile!
One of my favorite former A’s outfielders, Eric Byrnes, always came to the plate with Burn Baby Burn playing on the PA with Roy Steele announcing his name while he strolled to the plate. Looks like he’s decided to hang up the fast pitch spikes after being cut by the Mariners, and is going to join some of his buddies in some good ol’ beer drinking, and softball. Screw taking a step backwards like our good buddy Jack Cust accepting the demotion to AAA, and being pissed he has to commute. At 34 years young, Byrnes has decided to join the Menlo Park softball team sponsored by the Dutch Goose, and will be the biggest ringer in the Bay Area rec leagues, since Vernon Davis joined the curling squad. I wonder if he can convince old buddy Jermaine Dye to join the league too that would be one solid 3-4 combo in the slowpitch league. I’m also wondering if Byrnes would want to double as a security guard at the Oakland Coliseum. Back in 2005, he didn’t need a security guard with a taser to take down a fan that ran wild on the field. Instead he chased the fan down, and tackled the guy against the left field wall! I can’t find the footage, but here’s a great picture of the incident.
Said Byrnes on returning to the Bay Area to play softball: “This is going to be a blast. Playing with my buddies. I can’t wait for my first hit. I’m going to ask for the ball.” One of my favorite things about Byrnes was that he always hustled. He’d sprint to the outfield every inning, and he’d sprint to first on infield pop ups. I think his major contribution is keeping guys loose, and demonstrating how to give 110%. I do wonder if he will be Mr. Hustle when his belly is full of beer…
Byrnes wasn’t setting the MLB on fire with his .094 average over 15 games this season in Seattle, but he will still make $11M this year, thanks to that awesome deal he got from the D-Backs a few years ago! At the time it was fair market value for his services. My how times have changed, and guys like Dye are rejecting $1.5M to play. I hope he has fun, and isn’t out of my baseball for good. His personality is just too good to keep away from the game. I’m sure we will see him behind the broadcast desk throwing some goofy analysis out there. I see him as the Charles Barkley type, funny, but never loses his true opinion on the subject.
Well it’s finally been announced that the Raiders will give in and cut JaMarcus Russell. As Cali4Dre said, “they paid him $5 1/2M per win.” He was paid in excess of $39M, and will likely go down as one of the biggest draft busts of all time. It’s awesome that Al decided to do this, it took him a long time, but he is old, so I forgive him for moving slow. I was actually kind of scared that when Jamarcus was told he was being cut, he might have eaten Mr. Davis, and that was why it took so long. Anyways, the writing was on the wall for awhile, and it was surprising that it took Al this long to realize it. I guess that’s what happens when you don’t listen to anyone. Maybe he is starting to listen, because he had a sane draft, and seems to be making some quality moves. I just hope this isn’t a Jack Cust with the A’s, and they end up signing JaMarcus back on for a discount. He’s wasted too much of our time to ever have him wear the silver and black again. Maybe he’d be a good fit as a lineman in the CFL or maybe, just maybe, there is some team stupid enough to sign him. Whatever his future, I wanted to revisit his top moments in the silver and black.
The 2007 Holdout – Russell held out until week 2 of the 2007 regular season to sign his monstrous $68M ($31.5M guaranteed) six year contract. It was well worth the wait, for him that is. I remember wondering why it was taking so long to get a deal done, and Len Pasqurelli at the time said “the long holdout seems to have garnered Russell a very advantageous payout structure. Of course, it also cost him any opportunity to win the starting job in training camp.” What?!? He wanted to start!?! I had no idea! Continue reading
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.
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