The Sports Guru

You could see the look on his face as he put the Green Jacket on rival Phil Mickelson’s shoulders.  Sure, he was disappointed he didn’t play better, that he didn’t win a 5th Masters, but there was something else.  The look of a son who feels he has let a father down.  The look of a son who knew he let an opportunity slip away that he may never have again, to celebrate a Major Championship with the man that taight him so much about the game of golf and the game of life. 

A year prior it was Woods who had won his 4th Green Jacket, and mentioned publically for the first time that his dad was sick, too sick to come to the course and celebrate with him, to give him the big bear hug that had become a constant betwen father and son after a Major win.  Woods went on to win his 2nd British Open at St. Andrews later that summer, ironically in the event that included the last competitive round for than man he is chasing in the record books, Jack Nicklaus. 

The strain on Woods was apparent, however, as his father became more and more ill.  He was still winning, but he was faltering at times as well.  Mistakes on the couorse were getting to him and lingering.  The focus that had become he trademark was being shaken, as his mind was 1000’s of miles away with his dad.

The culmination was the 2006 Masters, where Woods knew it would probably be the last time he played a Major with his father alive.  He played well, but not well enough, missing makable putts on the back-9 to fall to Mickelson.  Just a couple weeks later, on May 3, Earl Woods passed away.  Tiger had lost his best friend and secluded himself, awy from the public, away from the media, away from the game he loved.  He didn’t pick up a club or 8 weeks.

It was probably 1 week too long, when Woods returned for the U.S. Open.  He didn’t make the cut.  Questions began to rain down.  Was he in a slump?  Could he re-focus and get his game back?  Could he ever be as dominate without his father there to support and mentor him?  It didn’t take him long to answer those questions.

I had a theory after the U.S. Open.  The emotional toll that having a sick father took on Tiger was finally lifted, and after grieving, Tiger would come back, better than ever,  Better than in 1999-2001 when he won 6 out of 8 Majors at one point and even winning the “Tiger Slam”.  Some thought I was crazy, that the ‘field’ had caught up to Woods and it was ‘Hefty Lefty’ Mickelson primed to make a big run.  Some even thought he was the best golfer in the world…

Tsk tsk…After the failure at Winged Foot Tiger has done nothing but win 3 out of the last 4 tournaments he has entered, finishing 2nd in the other.  Two of those were Majors, and all three were going away.  He has that look in his eye again.  He can focus on golf again, not wondering if he is going to get ‘the call’.   Sure, he wants his father back, and woould give up golf for it, but he can’t.  The best way for him to pay tribute to his father is to win, and win big.  His focus is renewed, his mind clear.  The rest of the golf world had better watch out. 

Woods now has 12 Majors, and he is 12-0 when he is leading or has a share of the lead after 54 holes.  The countdown to 18 and beyond now begins.  Using his ratio of winning 12 of his first 40 Majors(3/10), Woods would tie the record in 5 years, presumably at the Masters, the sight of his first Major Victory, and his first bear hug.  Odds are, that would all but make up for the disappointment felt at Augusta in April.

WILL NOW BE —->

Something big happened over the weekend, and barely received any attention at all. ESPN officially “took over” all sports programming on ABC and the “ABC Sports” monniker will be dropped forever, replaced by “ESPN on ABC”. For anyone younger than, let’s say 25, this is not a big deal at all. ESPN has been around the whole time, and has alway been the place to go for sports programming. There was a time, however, that sports programming was relegated to the three major networks, NBC, ABC and CBS and was only broadcast on weekends, with the exception of Monday Night Football. ABC Sports was the ring leader of the three, have MNF to go along with the wildly popular Wide World of Sports. “The Thrill of Victory…”

ABC Sports was more than just a network timeslot. It was personalities, voices like Howard Cosell, Jim McKay, Frank Gifford, and Al Michaels. Monday Night Football became a tradition in this country. Dozens of championships and big moments. No one will ever forget, “Do you believe in Miracles? YES!!!” That was ABC Sports, and that’s what I will miss. ESPN is all glitz and glamour, similar to the atheltes of today. ABC Sports was raw and rough around the edges, similar to the athletes of a time gone by. This is an idea whose time had come, but it’s also the sign of the times. A sign that things won’t be like they used to be, “…The Agony of Defeat”

ESPN and ABC are sister comanies, of course, both owned by Disney. As ESPN grew and network sports viewership shrank it was only a matter of time before this happened. Why should disney bid against itself when negotiating TV contracts? It makes good busness sense. But as someone that grew up watching ABC Sports, the golf, the football, cliff diving from Mexico, it is the sad end of an era. Certain sporting events will still be carried on ABC, but the look and feel will be all ESPN. All part of the maturation of the 24-hour sports society we live in, but disappointing to say the least.

R.I.P ABC Sports. You’ll be missed…..

Projected Record

8-8, 3rd Place NFC South

Projected Schedule W/L
Baltimore (W)
@Atlanta (L)
Carolina (W)
@New Orleans (L)
Cincinnati (W)
Philadelphia (W)
@NY Giants (L)
New Orleans (W)
@Carolina (L)
Washington (W)
@Dallas (L)
@Pittsburgh (L)
Atlanta (W)
@Chicago (L)
@Cleveland (L)
Seattle (W)

John Gruden arrived in Tampa Bay in 2002 to take over a team that had been on the cusp of playoff success for several years. Gruden promptly led the Bucs to the Super Bowl bringing the franchise it’s first World Championship. Gruden knew the team was a timebomb, with age and salary cap issues mounting quickly. He preceded to slowly dismantle the Bucs, sending away team mainstays like John Lynch and Warrick Dunn. Popular players in the locker room and community. Gruden set out to build the Bucs more in his image, as opposed to former coach Tony Dungy. Last year that construction came full circle as the Bucs finshed 11-5 and won the NFC South. The Bucs did lose a tough playoff game at home to Washington, but with a young quarterback in Chris Simms, a young running back in Cadillac Williams, and a young receiver in Marc Clayton the Bucs are poised to make another prolonged run at Super Bowl success.

Team Strengths – The Bucs have traditionally been known for their defense. Derrick Brooks, Simeon Rice, Ronde Barber are all great players, but all are also one year older, one year slower. The team has focused much of it’s attention on the offense and the defense has grown a little long in the tooth. They are still strong and can still get it done. I really like Chris Simms. He has the size, tools. and pedigree to be a great quarterback in this league. Cadillack Williams started strong last season before breaking down. His health will be key. March Clayton and Joey Galloway form an above average receiving corp. Gruden is as good at it gets.

Team Weaknesses - Though the defense is still above average there are holes. The D-Line is anchored by Chris Hovan, fiery but undersized. Teams are going to double Simeon Rice so someone wles is going to have to make plays. The offense was controlled by good teams late in the season as seen in lopsided losses to New England late in the season and the playoff loss to Washington. Simms is still young and needs to make quicker decisions. The coaching staff has been decimated, as other teams have ripped quality assistants away. The offensive line has several question marks as well and Simms needs to have time to throw.

Best Case Scenario – A copy of last year. The NFC Suuth is a tough division, with Carolina and Atlanta having playoff aspirations and New Orleans coming fast. The Buccaneers were able to finish 5-1 in the division. If the Buccaneers can complete a similar fate this season the division is there for the taking. Chris Simms needs to keep improving at the same pace he has to this point. The defense needs to dominate opponents like they did in the Super Bowl years.

Worst Case Scenario – The Bucs don’t have the same success in the division they had last year. Tampa was only able to muster a 6-4 record outside the division and this year’s schedule is even tougher. Home games against Cincinnati and Washington, along with road games at Pittsburgh and Dallas on Thanksgiving mean a tough road ahead for the Bucs. Any time lost by Simms at quarterback would be devastating as well.

My Opinion – Tampa has alot of young talent. They also have alot of proven veteran leadership. Many times these ingredients provide for success in the NFL. This is surely the case in Tampa, but alot of teams that have young quarterbacks take a step back after experienceing a little success and that is my take on Tampa. Atlanta was that team in the South last season and I think it will be Tamp this season. Success in pro football usually happens in stages and this will be a step back in W/L but a step forward in Simms’ development as a quarterback. If we were doing to 2007 Preview I might be talking about the Bucs as a Super Bowl team, but in 2006 it will be 8-8 in a tough NFC South.

***This is great! Appeasing fans that were looking for a way to report rowdy fans around them, the Cincinnati Bengals announced the ‘Jerk’ line. Starting with Saturday’s Pre-Season game with the Redskins fans will be able call a hot-line to report fans that cause unnecessary rowdiness during games. According to the story, a call to 381-JERK will alert security to check out the rowdy fan question via camera. If warrented, security will talk to the perp’ in person.

“We are not going to be the curse police, you have to understand you are coming to an NFL game”, said a representative of Paul Brown Stadium. “We want to make sure we are paying attention to the fans that go over the line”

According to the story, Paul Brown stadium is equipped with 38 video cameras and more than 500 security personnel at each home game.

People have complained that beer has become increasingly responsible for the misbehavior problem in the stands. Complaints of excessive drunkenness, “people that were kind of falling down drunk”, and reports of fighting. The representative reported there were a “few more fights than normal” last season.

The team will be informing season ticket holders of the policy and the punishment for bad behavior. They will also show a video promo for the hot-line during games. For it’s part, the NFL says 6 teams have similar concepts started in Philadelphia a couple of years ago to deal with their rabid fans.

The question I have is this….Why haven’t the Bengals set up a Hot-Line for people to call when on eof their players is being beligerant in public. With all the legal troubles facing Bengal players, it might just be a good idea.

***Another reason why athletes should avoid anyone with a MySpace page. Mets catcher Paul Lo Duca has had better days. In the last week it hass been reported that Lo Duca’s wife has filed for divorce, claiming among other things that Lo Duca had an affair and was a problem gambler. Lo Duca has said that he enjoys going to the track and the Mets are now investigating how deep Lo Duca is in the gambling world. I have talked at nauseum of how bad an idea it is for a pro athlete, especially a baseball player, to have his name involved with any type of gambling.

I digress…It seems the other woman in Lo Duca’s wife has come forward. Feel free to read the whole article in the link above, but in short, the 35 year old Lo Duca was seeing a 19 year old college student from Long Island for the past 4 months. Lo Duca met the teen on “18 and over Night” at a popular night club. 18 and over night? I felt weird going to 18 and over night when I turned 21. Not Lo Duca, apparently, who sent a member of his entourage to hit on the teen.

They continued to see each other and “burned up the phone lines” when Lo Duca was on the road. Most nights they went to Lo Duca’s house, only going out in public once. The teen used her MySpace page to document her relationship with Lo Duca, even going so far as posting pictures of the “couple” out and about. Lo Duca had told the teen that he was divorced, even though he was still married. Now, I don’t know much, but I think I would avoid anyone with their own website if having an affair, especially a MYSpace page owned by a 19 year old.

For his part, Lo Duca isn’t saying much and the 19 year old say he is a “2-timing scumbag”. Go Mets!

With news coming from Here and Here, the story of former Ohio State star Maurice Clarett has reached pathetic stage. Already in trouble for alledgedly robbing 2 men behind a Columbus nightclub, his trial date is rapidly approaching, Clarett led police on a high-speed chase early this moring in Columbus. That isn’t the worst of it. Clarett was carrying 4 loaded guns and a hatchet. Police tried to subdue Clarett with a taser which was unaffective because Clarett was wearing a bullet-proof vest. The police used mace instead, and even after getting Clarett in the paddy-wagon he continued to kick the door and try to escape.

Four guns, one a loaded AK47, a hatchet, wearing a bulletproof vest, drunk on vodak, it is easy to see that Clarett was up to something big and the end result would not have been pretty. The underlying theme though is just how sad of a story this is. I wrote a column yesterday about Lenny Cooke, and basketball phenom that was led down the wrong path by the advice of people who supposedly “cared” about him. Cooke has been to hell and back and now seems to have his life back in order. I talked about LeBron James, and the positive influence his support group had on him growing up. We can see the end result of that.

Maurice Clarett, who graduated high school the same year as LeBron, sadly has followed a path similar to Cooke’s, but the fall has been alot farther, alot faster. Clarett entered Ohio State in the spring, graduating early to get a head start on his college career. He was the starter at tailback from day 1 and it looked like he was going to be the next great running back at Ohio State, the next Archie Griffin, the next Eddie George. As a freshman Clarett garnered Heisman consideration before injuries cut his playing time. He was healthy by the the the Buckeyes faced Michigan, and Clarett made several huge plays enabling the Buckeyes to play for the National Championship. In that game, Clarett scored the winning touchdown in 2OT as the Buckeyes upset the Miami Hurricanes. The world seemed to be Clarett’s oyster, until the summer of 2003.

At the same time that friend LeBron James was signing a $90 Million shoe deal, Clarett was detailing cars at a local used car dealership, probably making $10 an hour. Clarett often compared himself to LeBron. Fact is, Clarett picked the wrong sport. The NFL had rules prohibiting underclassman from entering the NFL draft. Players had to be a full 3 years out of high school. Clarett was extremely jealous and bitter about that. His first trouble started that summer when a car he was “borrowing” from that car dealership was broken into and the audio equipment stolen. Clarett filed a false police report, then lied to the NCAA about it. Ohio State was already beginning to distance itself from Clarett after he was critical of the University for not allowing him to attend the funeral for a gang-banger buddy of his from hometown of Youngstown the week of the Fiesta Bowl.

It’s at this point that the story turns sad. Clarett was receiving advice from somewhere, and it was bad advice. If he had come clean, he probably woould have been reinstated and resumed his football career. Instead, more allegations arose involving Clarett receiving special treatment in classes. Ohio State then suspended Clarett for the entire 2003 Season. He was not aloud to practice with the team or workout at the team facility. In my opinion, a mistake by Ohio State. Sure, he made a bunch of mistakes, but it was obvious Clarett needed help. Instead of setting up a support system and helping Clarett, Ohio State turned it’s back on him.

More bad advice, this time from Jesse Jackson and others who used Clarett to forward a political agenda against the NFL. Clarett sued to be included in the 2004 NFL draft. After initially winning the case, hiring an agent and losing college eligibility, the ruling was overturned and Clarett was left with no where to play. There was talk of Canada, but again, Clarett was advised againt it. Instead, Clarett sat out 2004 and waited.

His chance finally came in 2005 at the NFL Combine. Clarett once again runined an opportunity. After running a poor 40 Clarett quit the combine and left, further fueling the fire about his toughness and willingness to work. He held a private workout for teams later, and was impressive. There seemed to be a light at the end of the tunnel. At the 2005 NFL draft, the Denver Broncos surprised everyone when they drafted Clarett with the last pick of the 3rd Round. Was there a better situation for a running back than the Denver Broncos?

Things soured quickly in Denver. Clarett signed an incentive laden contract that included NO signing bonus. That left no liability for the team. After a couple of practices Clarett injured his groin. Even after given a clean bill of health by the training staff Clarett refused to practice. Teammates begain to question Clarett. Denver wasted no time and cut Clarett outright. Once again, Maurice was out of football.

There were rumors of tryouts, but Clarett once again blew an opportunity, on January 2, 2006 the same day Clarett was due to sign an NFL contract he turned himself in to Columbis Police regarding an Armed Robbery charge. He was released on $50,000 bond. On July 26, just weeks before Clarett’s trial was to being he fired his legal counsel, again on the advice of his “advisors”.

This all leads back to early this morning and the latest arrest. Has anyone so high fallen so far, so fast? In January 2003 Maurice Clarett was on top of the world. Just 3 1/2 years later he is looking at serious jail time and the end of a promising career and life. It is true that Clarett is a man and is responsible for his own decisions. But there were people and establishments along the way that could have stepped in to help someone that was crying out for it. Instead the system chewed him up and spit him out. A sad, sad story indeed.