Tag Archives: winner

February 6, 2012

Stanley’s Super Sunday

By chappy81

Leading up to the kickoff for the Super Bowl there was a golf tournament going on out in Phoenix, and honestly I got more joy out of watching that than seeing Brady lose. I usually like watching the Arizona tournaments simply because of the crowd. For some reason the crowd in the tournaments there are always pretty drunk and rawkus as far as golf standards go. I’d even go as far to say the Happy Gilmore crowds were based on these same Arizona crowds. Even a golf fan like myself can get bored with the sport, especially on TV, so tournaments that the crowd is more into helps pique my interest level.

Collapses are as mesmerizing as comebacks, and in two weeks Kyle Stanley gave us both. It was eerily similar the way this Sunday ended the same as last weeks’ tournament in Southern California at Torrey Pines ended, with Kyle Stanley crying. This time it was much different than last week though. At Torrey Pines, Stanley was crying because he quadruple bogeyed the par-5 18th hole when he had a four stroke lead heading to the final tee box. He completely choked by spinning one in the hazard and missing a 4-foot putt that looked like a sure make. Of course they showed the Jean Van De Velde collapse a few times, and the final result was a playoff to crown the tourney winner. A disheartened Stanley ended up losing the playoff and the tournament to Brandt Snedeker.

This weekend in a miraculous reversal of fortunes, he capitalized on the meltdown of another first time 54-hole leader, Spencer Levin. Since golf is such a mental game, I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone collapse the weekend before only to come back and shoot a 6 under to take the next tournament. I can’t remember exactly which hole it was, but around the 13th hole in the midst of a Levin double bogey, Stanley holed two birdies on two straight holes to took the lead for the first time in the tournament never to relinquish it. Sure, it wasn’t a major or anything where the best of the best are in the field, but it was a testament to Stanley as a man, and was easily the best comeback story of Super Sunday, unless you care about the Giants I guess. His tear filled interview says it all. We spell redemption K-Y-L-E.

6 Comments   |  tags: , , , , , | posted in Sports

September 29, 2010

There Shouldn’t Be A Debate Between Felix and CC For Cy Young

By chappy81

I must really be fired up about this AL Cy Young race, because it’s the second post I’ve done on it, and I rarely go back to any subject I previously poured out my views on a post, but hearing people argue that CC should win it aggravated me enough to write a post on it again. It’s obviously a two man race for the AL Cy Young Award, and both Felix and CC made their final starts of the year last night. Like I said back in August, it was Felix’s award to lose. If anything Felix has strengthened his case over the last month and a half. Since I wrote in the original post (end of August) that it was Felix’s Cy Young to lose, they both have the same record (3-2), are within a few innings pitched of each other, have about the same K’s as each other, but CC’s ERA is two full points higher over that span. CC just happened to win his 21st game during that time span, which made more people jump on his bandwagon. Does that make him a better choice for the award? I don’t think so, because I don’t value wins and losses all that much. The award is supposed to be given to the best pitcher period, not the best pitcher on the best team. Greinke winning the award should show us that you don’t have to be on a good team, same with Cliff Lee on the Indians. Over the whole year it’s easy to see who should win the award. They both had the same amount of starts (34), but Felix threw 12 more innings, had nearly one less run on his ERA (0.91 lower), struck out 35 more hitters, and threw four more complete games (6 total) than CC. I will argue for King Felix on the points that I keep seeing light on why CC should be the winner. One last stat, 12 of 13 pitchers that held the lead in strikeouts and ERA won the award, so I’m hoping that it doesn’t go to 12 out of 14 this year.

Argument: CC won 21 games on the best team.

I know CC has won 21 games, but he’s on a team that scored the most runs in the league by nearly 50. Conversely, Felix is on a team that scored 70 less runs than anyone else in the league. You tell me which guy you’d put money on to win more games. Hell, I’d probably would’ve put money on AJ Burnett or Javier Vasquez to have more wins than Felix. If wins are so important, why aren’t Lester, Pavano, and Verlander in those Cy Young talks? They still could get 20 wins, and are comparable to CC in ERA and K’s.

Argument: CC is in a tougher division. Continue reading

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April 11, 2010

Phillin the Love at Augusta

By chappy81

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. Continue reading

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March 6, 2010

Grammy Night, And The Award Goes To Bar’ Bo’ Sa’

By chappy81

I’m not much of a movie buff, but I did catch a few of the flicks this year including Avatar. I was actually slightly disappointed with the 3D as I was hoping they would’ve made it more Disney style. You know, like in Captain EO and the parts when the stuff in the film feels like it’s flying at you, and you find your self flinching or wanting to grab something that isn’t there. Avatar was more 3D from the screen and back. I want it to come at me! Maybe I had too high expectations, but all in all it was a pretty good movie. I think it’s ridiculous that some people want to join the Navi culture, but if anyone would fit in with them it’s probably the tallest of our species, NBA players. I remember when this clip first came out, I thought this has Nash inspiration written all over it. If you were a player, how could you not like playing in Phoenix!?! You have Nash, the most ridiculous man in the world, great weather, a free flowing offense to pad those stats in, and you don’t even have to play defense. Even the fans are pretty good sports like this guy who got a face full of iron! Then you get Barbosa dressing up on the plane and scaring teammates (Lopez’s reaction was priceless). I most likely won’t catch any of the show tonight, but I’ll predict that Avatar gets at least six awards, and one will be best spinoff, by the Phoenix Suns.

5 Comments   |  tags: , , , , , , , , , | posted in Comedy, Movies, Random

February 22, 2010

Is the AL West the Best Division in Baseball?

By chappy81

I guess it might be a stretch, since none of the four teams residing in the AL West are truly considered a threat to knock the Yankees off their thrown, but is there really anyone that looks like they can derail the Yankees besides injuries? I don’t think so… Can you name the only division that had three teams finish the season with 85 wins? Surprisingly, it’s the AL West! Sure you can argue that the AL East had three 84 win teams, but the basement is a lot worse than it is in the West.

The Yankees have pushed over the $1 billion mark in payroll a long time ago, and the Red Sox aren’t all that far behind, so we’ve been trained to see the East as far superior. Surprisingly the AL West had a great record versus the East going 95-79 in 2009. I think the best team in the West (Angels) regressed a little over the off-season losing their horse/ace in Lackey, and their versatile infielder Figgins, and that has put the division up for grabs.

I felt that Seattle made the biggest push to be a force in the west by trading for a bonafied yearly Cy Young contender, Cliff Lee, and last year’s runner up Felix Hernandez was already there setting up one of the deadliest duos in the league. They also stole Figgins away from the Angels, which should get them two guys on base if Ichiro and Figgy are hitting one and two. Milton might be able to knock them in if he’s on the field for more than 80 games, but that’s a big IF.

The Rangers bolstered their roster, but there are question marks already on the health of the players they signed. Vlad seems past his prime, but if he can be productive anywhere, it’s going to be in Arlington where careers being revived happens. They also signed the often injured Rich Harden, which could be a boost if they have a plan b for all the starts he gets scratched from each year. They were in the race for the West crown up to the last couple weeks, and have a ton of young talent that will only be better this coming season. It seems like a lot of the experts are picking them to win the west this year, but those predictions don’t seem to have much confidence behind them.

I’ll do my A’s preview a little closer to the season when I’ve gathered all my expectations of them, but honestly, all I’m hoping for from them is to stay healthy for once. We’ve used the DL more over the past two years than anytime in franchise history, and broke records two straight years in a row for DL usage. Not a good stat for a young team trying to figure out what pieces go where, and far from a recipe for success! Not sure about the offense, but the pitchers must be happy to have a true ace on the staff in Sheets. They owned a better run differential than Seattle last year, so there’s some hope!

All in all, I’d say the top teams of the AL West aren’t as good as the AL East. From top to bottom though, the West has teams that will be able to pull out wins night in and night out. You know you aren’t getting that from Toronto or Baltimore, who have both probably already given up on this year. I’d say that one distinct advantage that the West has over the East is in the farm systems. The East gets better through buying free agents that most of the time we can’t afford, and the West gets better by building up their prospects from within. I’m pretty pumped to see how it all shakes out, and one thing is for sure, the West is up for grabs this year with none of the teams completely out of the picture. Can’t say the same for the AL East.

What really defines the best division in baseball? The degree of difficulty? The balance from top to bottom? General intrigue?

Maybe I’ve been worn down from all the northeastern hype, and the YES network, but I believe there’s a solid argument that the west is the “best” division in baseball!

6 Comments   |  tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | posted in Sports

November 8, 2009

The Chinese Liked the Big White Guy!

By chappy81

Phil Mickelson HSBC Championship Trophy ChinaLao Mi or Phil Mickelson won the HSBC Championship in Shanghai on Sunday, which was really Saturday here in America. Highlighted in Nanfung Daily was how Phil might be ranked second in the world, but he was number one in approachability. This comes to no surprise of the Americans, as we’ve always felt closer to Phil than Tiger. I just found it interesting that Tiger wasn’t more well received, since he is in fact Asian. I guess they aren’t that big on half Chinese. I figured that alone would win him a good chunk of the popularity vote. The paper cited how Phil would hang around and sign autographs, but Tiger would leave immediately. It also said good luck getting Tiger to acknowledge you even if you are one inch from him! Once again, we see that Tiger is just a machine, and probably is the one reason I still root against him to this day.

I think that's better than I could do!

I think that's better than I could do!

In the end it was Laohu (Tiger) vs. Lao Mi (Phil), and Laohu only really had one good moment during the day sinking a birdie from about 14 feet away. He was constantly distracted by camera’s clicking during his backswing, and was quoted “I couldn’t wait to get out of here.” Phil on the other hand was giving the classic high-five to everybody that he walked by as he edged Els out for the victory by one stroke! Hopefully Phil is getting back on track after a disappointing season last year. His family seems to be okay, so now we’ll see if his focus goes back to the golf course!

6 Comments   |  tags: , , , , , , , , , | posted in Sports