An Unsatisfied Tiger

We all know why anyone goes to the Masters to compete:  To Win.  First off congratulations to Phil “lefty” Mickelson on winning the Masters yet again.

Although he won the show, Tiger still took most of the spotlight.  I’ll be fair to you and myself; I predicted Tiger would do a lot worse than what he had, but even he wasn’t satisfied with his performance.  I’ll give him credit though, he had a lot of poise and stayed calm throughout the match even though towards the end things got a little imbalanced for him.  Looking at the big picture though, if you take away those bogeys he had without question he would have made it a lot closer than where he ended up.

Overall, the performance was far more reputable and better off than what I had anticipated.

Looking into the future, I’d say another 2-3 more matches and we’ll probably be getting used to what we were seeing before: Tiger Woods winning more so than not.

Big Ben Update

Straight to the point:  The accusations of Big Ben have now been turned in to the DA.  If I’m the Steelers, I’m hoping that nothing more comes from this other than a probation charge, if anything at all.  Here’s to hoping Ben!  If he is accused it’ll be a shame to watch good talent go to waste for whatever the punishment he could receive.

Uconn Women: Unstoppable and Overpowered?

The other day the University of Connecticut (Uconn) women’s basketball team repeated as undefeated champs.  Is this a dawning of a new era for women’s basketball or is Uconn just swarming in all the best talent in the USA to maintain their status? Could it be great coaching by Geno? All the above?  I’d like to live to see Uconn hit 100 straight wins but eventually this non-stop montage of winning will eventually cause the audiences to get bored of it because it would be so predictable.  Hopefully after 100 wins, there may be other things to watch other than Uconn trampling other teams as if they don’t even belong on an NCAA Women’s team.

Mike Tomlin: Friend or Coach?

Like I do when conversing with peers, I have to yet again wage a war against the concept of the “managers vs. buddies” psychological circumstance.

Mike Tomlin, 38,  has lost all control over what his players do during both the offseason and regular season of football.  Yes he is the youngest coach to win a Super Bowl, but that could be the problem.  He’s so young that Steelers players are clearly having a problem respecting him as their coach at this point in time.  He’s never played in the NFL, and before becoming head coach of the Steelers, he was simply an offensive coordinator beforehand.  Tomlin’s main issue is that he is trying to be friends with his players instead of being a coach to the players.  After all the prior events that has happened (Holmes 3 times, Roethlisberger 2 times, Harrison, Reed) one would think that it is time to start cracking down on what the players do and/or discipline them accordingly.

Just a thought here:  How many Steelers players were in trouble when Cowher was coaching?  I do not really recall any.  Cowher was a disciplinary zero-tolerance type of guy is the reason.

Don’t get me wrong, I am a firm believer that Tomlin is a great coach, but only when he wants to be and that’s usually during the NFL season.  Otherwise, it’s almost as if he and his team is on their own path to doing whatever they want, regardless of the consequences.

I know sometimes it sucks to have to play the role of “The Bad Guy”, but that’s part of why you are being paid.  This isn’t an episode of The Office where you play the part of Steve Carell, Tomlin (always trying to be a friend first then a boss second as he puts it).

Point is:  If Tomlin continues to allow his players to have as much freedom as he has, he and the Steelers are going to end up losing skilled players either due to jailtime, being cut due to team misconduct repeatedly, suspensions, or all the above.  Be a coach year-round, not just 16-20 weeks out of the year.

Making Matters Worse for Pittsburgh

Holmes

As if Roethlisberger is not doing enough for the Pittsburgh Steelers in the wrong ways, Santonio Holmes has furthermore caused problematic circumstances that requires attention.  Holmes is being accused of hitting a woman (Anshonoe Mills) in a Florida Nightclub with glass.  Reports stated that he had hit her in the face, causing a cut near her eye.  At this rate, the Steelers are not going to have much of an offense should either of these two allegations become convictions.  Both Ben and Santonio have not attended voluntary workouts now, and, even though it’s probably better that they do not because of their “off-field performances”, it can still have an affect on their conditioning.

What humors me is how this Steelers team is becoming the rebellious, troublesome version of what the Dallas Cowboys were in the 90s having to deal with a bunch of troublesome people who would choose nothing else than to be a “thug” in the offseason (I.E Roethlisberger, Harrison, Reed, and now Holmes).  Santonio has had 3 other charges in the past (marajuana possession, domestic assault, and disorderly conduct) which all have already been dropped.  At this juncture, at may be time for Holmes to realize that the more trouble you get into, the more of a negative reputation you are going to have and the higher the probability that the individual taking you to court will win.  I’m not saying anything, but I’m just saying, if you will.

Crosby / Ovechkin Era: One-Sided?

With the Penguins once again losing to the Washington Capitals for the 3rd consecutive game, Ovechkin is slowly closing in on the Wins category against Sidney Crosby on the head-to-head battle.  Ovie has now 7 wins against Crosby’s 11.  Many Capital fans argue how Ovie is such a wonderful player; however, time and time again the numbers game may speak on the stats sheet in Ovie’s favor to the tunnel-visioned hockey fan, but I have to intervene and look at the big picture. 

 How many Gold Medals does Sid have? 1. 

How many Stanley Cups does Sid have? 1.

The most important number Ovie has to those two questions: 0.

He may be coming up to catch Sid in the battle, but he has not been anywhere near Sid’s clutch shooting where it matters most.  Yes Ovechkin made the goal in the Shootout in last night’s game (March 24) to keep the Capitals alive, but Sid also made his for Pittsburgh.  Point being, Sidney Crosby has either matched Ovechkin’s play head-to-head or made him look nothing more than 2nd place to his status.

Point is: Ovechkin wins the irrelevant battles, but Sidney Crosby wins the important wars.

Open to your opinions on this matter even though it’s going to be difficult to argue the fact of Sid having a gold medal and a Stanley Cup.

Using Cocaine Makes it “ok” to be a Ranger, Right?

Texas Ranger’s baseball manager Ron Washington testing positive for usage of cocaine is nothing short of amusing, humorous, and out right wrong.  I have to agree with NBC sportswriter Craig Calcaterra: ” How many people try coke for the first time at age 57?  Especially those who worked in an environment absolutely lousy with cocaine for so many years of their youth?”  Craig, that rhetorical question says it all.  Given the circumstances and the dramatic fashion that professional athletes have had to bear and withstand on the steroid issues in Major League Baseball, how does Washington get off so easily from not only the “media abuse” but also the fact that he gets to keep his job.

Last I checked if I’m working for and making a drug abuser look good with my playing style (even if it is the Rangers), I’m not going to easily forgive such actions done.  I’m highly against drug usage let alone having sports managers “trying” it for the first time at 57.  By the time you are 57, you are pretty much your own man, established yourself as to what you do with your everyday life, and where you stand in society.  Trying something, let alone cocaine, is highly unlikely.  It’s not like we’re talking about going to the supermarket to try a new flavor of Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream.  Although I agree with giving people second chances, I feel as though giving someone their exact position where they were when the problem was being dealt with is ludicrous.  If I was a top-line manager for a retail company, not only would I lose my job, but chances are the company wouldn’t want me back, or if they did and knew my potential and credibility that I’ve done for the company beforehand, they would at least make me work to get it back and not just casually hand me the position back over.

Tiger Woods: Keeping Score on the Golfcourse, and Not a Scoring of Females

Recently after manwhoring with a montage of females like the pimp he has become, Tiger Woods, and, assuming his family, has finally decided that he wants to return to golfing.  Other than the previous 10 or so mistresses that he was involved with beforehand, Tiger has finally realized that it is best for himself, being the role model that he once was, to keep score on the golf course, rather than a score of how many women he was with.  There has been a lot of controversy over this.  According to ESPN’s site on Tiger Woods, he has not played Golf since November 15.  There is a multitude of things Tiger is going to have to deal with.  Naturally, there is his publicly known ordeal with him using Hugh Hefner as his role model.  However, we cannot forget the injures he has sustained from the other year as well.  Personally, I believe Tiger Woods will not even compete to the level we all used to know him to do, and, at the very best, will make the cut and fall back to roughly the top 15.  Regardless of who you are and what you do, when you take as many days off on a consistent pattern as Tiger has, you’re going to be sketchy.  I’m just looking forward to seeing those 2-3 morons in the audience who is going to yell something profound at Tiger, not only getting tossed out, but also testing Tiger’s mentality and focus on the golf course to maintain his “cool”, but also how he shoots the rest of the day in the Field.

I pose this question to you, the reader:

Before The Masters, is Tiger Woods going to win the Masters or will the Field win while tiger still tries to overcome the public criticisms?

Ben Roethlisberger: Stay in Pitt and Keep it in Your Pants

According to ESPN, the Ben Roethlisberger status as, at the moment, stayed true to his innocence although it is not guaranteed that he is.  The court has now decided not to request a DNA sampling on the Sexual Assault accusations.  Thus far, this whole scenario with Ben sexually assaulting the 20 year old college student (binge drinking mind you, having the bar serving a minor) has gotten nowhere thus far.  Mike Tomlin has stated that he is nervous about the whole situation with Ben (and who wouldn’t be when it’s the team’s star Quarterback?) and has maintained daily conversation with him to keep track.

This whole situation is easily avoidable 9 times out of 10 for the average Joe.  However let’s take a deeper look into this situation in its entirety.  For one, I personally don’t think Ben is that bad looking of a guy so women are naturally going to want him.  Going further, the man has got a lot of money, and a lot he can do with it, so, again, women are naturally going to want him.  So, I’m not saying the girl is accusing Ben just to try to get his money because we have no final say in what’s fictional and what’s real.  But how many instances have there been with professional athletes getting involved with some girl and then they make a commodity about sleeping with them so they can A) make a name for herself and B) Try to “cash in” on their opportunity and finding the easy way through life?  We already saw dozens of times.  According to a copy of the 2008 USA Today’s sports section, there have been 164 athletes and former athletes who have faced sexual assault allegations in the past dozen years.  That is astronomical!

It’s almost to the point where the average Joe like you and me have a better chance at sleeping with an athlete, filing for a charge, and hoping for the best rather than playing the US Lottery.   Again, to the readers, I am not saying that the girl who has made the allegations is lying, but there’s been a lot of “he-said she-said lingo” and these cases turn out to be nothing short of a publicity stunt.

Bottom line is, with 2 months to go before the season starts, professional athletes with so much achieved already such as Ben Roethlisberger has, and having so much more time to go in his NFL career, needs to stay in Pittsburgh and stay away from the ladies with training coming soon.  It’s already caused him to miss voluntary workout week, and who knows what else this could potentially come to if this case becomes drawn out (i.e  Miss games or what have you).

Worst comes to worst, if Ben is charged, it’s going to be a dark, gloomy football season for Pittsburgh Steeler fans I’m sure.

So from here on out, especially to you Ben, as the spring training nears for the team, keep your body in Pittsburgh, and keep your hands on a football.