Around The Horn

GOLF - If there is anything that is more confusing then the Fed Ex Cup in golf I would be afraid to see it. The announcers and hi light people keep talking about it but to actually find out the standings is not easy. If this is your "Playoff" would you not want to put it out in the public eye a little more. I guess that if you have a scoring system that is near impossible to understand then I guess I would hide it too. The whole playoff thing is so trumped up to try and make tournaments seem more relevant and try and add some better ratings and to force more players to actually play in these tournaments. If not for the money Tiger would have shut it down for the season 3 weeks ago otherwise.. The NASCAR style playoff system just doesn’t work in golf...heck it barely works in NASCAR. It is so bad that Tiger Woods won the thing and was in the final pairing on a Sunday and was surpassed by Phil Mickleson who won the tournament and still it couldn’t draw people in. Mickleson won the tournament, Tiger hung on to win the overall championship and took home the $10M winnings. Mickleson at least had a good line saying, tongue in cheek - I win the tournament and Tiger is the one going home with $10 Million? -

NASCAR- Jimmie Johnson ran his typical Dover race and led the most laps in taking the checkered flag. The win now puts him into second place in the Sprint Cup Standings. Johnson is looking to go for a record 4th straight Cup Championship. As of right now he is in a great position going forward as he is a mere 10 points back. The only trouble with the win is that the driver that has won in Dover has never won the Championship, so he has that working against him. There is also the solid performances from Juan Pablo Montoya and veteran Mark Martin amongst others that are looking to de-throne the reigning Champion.


NFL- The worst possible thing happened in the Vikings game yesterday. Brett Favre threw a last second "gun-slinger" type ball that was grabbed in the end zone for a phenomenal catch by receiver Greg Lewis. After the game Favre said he didn’t even know who caught ball nor did he even know that the guy was even in the huddle but he knew it was a great catch. If people keep encouraging him and giving him praise he will never leave. What is even worse is that the Vikings will be playing the Packers this coming week and this is going to do nothing but bring more attention to Favre and that will just be an ordeal.

There were some just terrible throwback uniforms in play this weekend. Sure it is nice to honour anniversaries with these alternate jerseys but just because you call something vintage doesn’t make them nice or even appealing. The Seattle bright lime green jerseys looked like they were vests from a laser tag game that was just hit and the Houston Texans red "Onesie" was just awful. If you bring these alternate jerseys every week, at what point does it just become a regular uniform?

NCAA- Tim Tebow was sacked in the Florida game and his head violently hit the ground. He was taken to the hospital with a concussion. It is believed that the medical personnel for the Gators were by his side before he even hit the ground. When the chosen one goes down everyone goes triple speed.

Michigan is now 4-0! Trust me I am shocked but know that this is more of a fluke then the turning around of a bad team. Any win is a good win but I am not going to go crazy and overvalue the early record.

#6 California got blown out of the water by the un-ranked Oregon Ducks 42-3. How this happens is beyond me. What makes this loss even worse is that it was one of my "sure thing" Proline picks, you know the game you just throw in so you don’t have to worry about it...so yeah.... between that and Chelsea from some soccer league had a rough couple of tickets on Saturday.

Truly a Final Round Unlike Any Other

In a round that left 2 of the competitors 3 and 4 shots back, it was those 2 that made The Masters Tournament worth watching. It was exactly what the PGA and CBS were looking for. Phil Mickleson and Tiger Woods put on a show all day as Mickleson came out early firing on all cylinders and Tiger Woods started slow but then hit his stride. The beauty was that these 2 players were matched up together on Sunday and in pursuit of the Championship. Unfortunately they began fairly far back on the leader board making it very difficult to make up that kind of ground. These to greats did do their best to erase the deficit and put some serious heat on the leaders Kenny Perry, Chad Campbell and Angel Cabrera. Watching Tiger and Lefty end the front 9 and thru the back nine it was like they were the only 2 players on the course, despite the fact tat they never did even get a chance to tie for the lead. It was some of the most compelling golf with great shots and devastating misses . It had everything except the actual tournament on the line. Strange that 1 super pairing that just didn’t have a shot to win was the best storyline of the final day. Mickleson ended -9 and Tiger ended -8.

Crazy thing about it is the Masters eventually came down to a 3 way playoff between Perry, Campbell and Cabrera. Even with that exciting finish it didn’t have the same buzz that followed Phil and Tiger all day. One could compare it to winning an MVP while being on the loosing team. Each player did all they could to make a poor shot and do their best to give the tournament away in a sudden death playoff starting on 18 then eventually followed it up with a huge save. Campbell was the one exception as he missed a makeable putt that eliminated him from the playoff. Perry and Cabrera moved on to the 2 playoff hole where Perry missed a relatively easy 2nd shot into the green and opened the door wide open for Cabrera, who put his 2nd shot pin high and put all the pressure on Perry to get up and down from just off the green. He was not able and Cabrera held on for the victory. It is too bad, Perry would have been a good story with the chance to be the oldest to ever win a Major. Instead, Cabrera who is, for lack of a better team and interesting character and golfer at best, is victorious and earns the right to go to Butler Cabin and put on that Green Jacket.