AP/David J. Phillip

I’m talking about the batons that were dropped by both the U.S. Men’s
and Women’s Relay Teams. What is wrong with these people??! This is
the history of U.S. relay teams in the Olympics - it’s been done before
and it surely will be done again.

Why? Attitude. Not just the ability to work together - they have the
ability. Hard work is a given. It’s the commitment to get the job
done as a team - this is what they lack. The rule is simple, don’t let
the baton go until it is taken from your hand. No matter what, no
matter how difficult, no matter what strange position the other hand is
in, no matter what - don’t let the baton go until it’s taken from you.

In the Men’s 4×100 meter relay, Tyson Gay dropped the baton which he
never had. Look, it doesn’t take a brain surgeon to figure out that you
put the baton in your right hand to pass on the left side to an open
hand. Davis Patton came in fast on the wrong side and tried to reach
the baton to Tyson’s open hand. But Tyson’s hand was open and turned
away from Patton. Two mistakes and the baton is dropped.

The Women’s team in the same relay suffered the same fate. Incredible.
Lauryn Williams failed to get the baton, ran off and left it, then went back
and picked it up as she then ran to the finish line. She had
been involved in a baton drop in Athens and she said this time, no
matter what, she had to cross the line with the baton. My take, she
already had been badly burned by Jamaican Veronica Campbell and took
off a little early trying to get the edge. She ran away from the
exchange too soon, causing the baton to drop on the track.

The U.S. Women’s Team hadn’t failed to miss the finals since 1948 - and
the Men’s Team haven’t failed to miss the finals since 1988. Both
dropped batons happened on the third leg. What can you say? Nothing
except that for Olympic relay teams they both looked very sloppy.

Yeah, I’m talking about Tiger Woods. What more can you say about the man, the athlete the warrior with the mind of a tiger. Always stalking and watching you. Make a mistake and you’re toast. Play your heart out, and you’re still toast.

If you weren’t watching the Open over the weekend, whether you’re a golfer or not, by Sunday night you were watching highlights on the news with the same intensity as a prime time cliffhanger. Tiger was battling himself first, Rocco Mediate second. Rocco wasn’t really a factor in Tiger’s game, more significant was the battle Tiger was
having playing thru the pain caused by his bad knee.

In the overall picture, it didn’t matter who Tiger was tied with - in this case it just happened to be Rocco - the story was that Tiger battled thru every hole, and came from behind to force an 18-hole playoff today. Rocco’s presence definitely made it a better competition for the television audience. Rocco also gave the bias TV commentators something to build their stupid comments on, such as Johnny Miller supposedly quoting Jack Nicklaus when he said he wondered why other golfers, when they play with Tiger, open the doors for him to win. Is he kidding? It’s like Tiger doesn’t have to hit the ball or make the putts. I’d like to see Jack, even at his prime, play these courses at 7,600 yards - and they legalized the length of these courses to cool down Tiger and his long drives. I think Jack would have retired sooner.

Rocco was good, but the long course was too much for him. Tiger’s bad left knee caused him to hit a lot of tee shots to the right. The left leg is the pivot leg on the downswing, which puts a lot of pressure and pain on that knee. The kind of pain he played through we will probably never know because he’ll never complain or tell you. After receiving the cup Bob Costas asked Tiger if the knee was a factor. Tiger simply said he was “glad that it’s over”. That’s the most he complained. He said he’s shutting down for a while.

This was a good, no make that great win for Tiger - his 14th major. And what we saw was vintage Tiger with eagles, birdies, 300+ yard drives, miracle shots out of traps, and some heart-stopping putts. Tiger was Tiger in spite of his bad knee, the commentators and the gallery - all of whom seemed to favor Rocco. Go Tiger! You are the man.

The NFL is in meetings concerning the rules and regulations of the
upcoming season. I have a couple of ideas that I think they should
seriously consider:

First, I’m a former Marine, did my duty, served my country, love the
flag and certainly will fight for what it stands for. Now, having said
that, let me relate my unyielding patriotism to this country and talk
about some football.

Before a game, the locker room is full of anxious
players ready to do battle, and after hearing a “Knute Rockne” speech
by an inspirational coach, they run outside ready to take on the enemy.
Then suddenly we stop, gear ourselves down a notch, and sing the Star
Spangled Banner. I’m most definitely okay with the anthem, but wonder
why it needs to be played at this time? Why not play it after the
players are finished warming up? It’s damn hard to regain that high
energy you had when you first ran onto the field from the locker room.

Second, football is supposed to be a contact sport. The 5-yard contact
rule should be extended to 10 yards. The rule says you can’t bump or
touch a receiver after he goes past 5 yards, but I say make it 10 yards
and give the pass defender an even chance. When I played, you could
bump the receiver all over the field prior to the ball being thrown.
Once the ball was in the air, you couldn’t touch him. There was an
even chance between the receiver and the defender. This no-bump rule
strongly favors the receiver, so 10 yards makes it more interesting.

I watched what was supposed to be “the big fight of the year”. Didn’t happen. Instead, Bernard Hopkins and Joe Calzaghe gave us a slow dance of hugging and holding.

Hopkins showed good defensive skills, but no offense. Calzaghe won with aggressiveness, certainly not with hard punches. Calzaghe threw twice as many punches as Hopkins - and according to CompuBox, he scored more punches than anyone ever has against Hopkins.

Still, the “fight that wasn’t” was a bore. Can’t believe that Judge Adelaide Byrd actually had Hopkins ahead on her card. What was she watching? Not only that, during his post-fight interview with Max Kellerman, Hopkins made it clear he thought he had won the fight.

See ya later, Bernard. You had a good run.

Okay, I like basketball as much as the next guy, but enough already.   They played 100 games to get down to the last four teams.   True, some major stars have come from this competition - Michael Jordan, Dean Smith, wilt Chamberlain, James Worthy, Roy Williams and Larry Brown to mention a few.   Still, March Madness now goes on past March and it can make you “mad” (as in crazy).

An aside about Coach Roy Williams, can you believe the KU fans have turned against him?   He left five years ago and the KU fans are still on his back, they call him a traitor. There were some comments that he had to lose to KU for the fans to forgive him. That’s harsh.All the press was about North Carolina and Kansas, but there were two other teams that showed up, UCLA and Memphis.  

Okay, here is an idiot college move.   KU lost a guard because he was a dumb kid trying to show off. Rodrick Stewart fractured his knee cap trying to make a showcase slam dunk while at practice Friday.  This is after the coach had already told the players he didn’t want any seniors trying to dunk during practice. Freshman, okay, but no seniors.   His career may be over before it ever got started.   It’s a wait and see proposition.

It’s like I said earlier, the high profile teams (i.e. NC and UCLA) never show up to the big dance.   For some reason they just can’t close the deal.   UCLA had all the fancy dribblers, but no scorers.   Their rebounding was horrible, didn’t exist on the offensive side.   They never had a second shot at the basket.   Memphis had the rebounds and was pressing down the floor.   Memphis controlled the boards on both sides.   UCLA was out-gunned, out-manned, out-classed and out-coached.  

Also, as I said, the Jay Hawks are going all the way.   They looked really strong in the first half, but got sloppy in the second.   Instead of continuing to push the ball down the floor, they decided to be fancy and try miracle passes, and take fancy shots.   It almost cost them, but the coach pulled them aside, did his “Knute Rockne” thing, and they shaped up.   By the way, I saw the T-shirts after the game - the big sellers said “Ruck Roy”.   Wonder why.

Finally, the “final four” was down to two and we had Memphis and Kansas to finish it off.   I said it would be Kansas - so I’m a sports guru, what did you expect?   Memphis looked good in the first quarter, then it was the Jay Hawks all the way.   Still, they kept it close and any championship game that goes into OT is exciting.   The Jay Hawks pulled it off - not totally as I expected, but a win is a win.   Memphis could have pulled off the upset, but when their last free throws missed their mark it cost them the game.  

This sports season we have seen two game-winning “Hail Mary’s”.   The first in the Super Bowl when Manning thru that long pass to the receiver who caught it on his helmet and literally changed the course of the entire game, and last night when the Jay Hawks threw up a successful 3-point Hail Mary with two seconds left.   Now, what’s next?   Oh yeah, the pros!

Baseball:    San Francisco just built a huge memorabilia facility which is great for players and fans alike.   What makes it so interesting is that there is no sign that Barry Bonds ever played baseball for the Giants.    With all the memorabilia on display, there are no Bonds jerseys, shoes, hats, bats…nothing.   Up till now the question was whether or not to have an asterisk after Bonds’ name - it appears that San Francisco’s answer is to just delete his name.   What’s up with that?

 Basketball:The Phoenix Suns are on a roll, but my Shack has disappeared.   He seems to have run out of steam, but I hope he’ll be getting fired up again soon because the Suns will surely need him if they have any hope of holding off the Lakers for the western championship.  

Now we’re down to the Final Four - this is real college basketball.   My take, the Jay Hawks.   The high profile teams in most sports don’t usually show up for the big game (i.e. New York, Chicago, L.A.).   New York just broke the jinx in football, but that’s the exception not the rule.   I figure Villa will fold and Kansas will win it all.

Have you noticed how many sports are being dominated by people whose names you can’t pronounce?Let’s take boxing first. Gone are the days of Jones and Louis - welcome to Klitscko and Ibramovich. Forget about tennis - Ivanovic, Hantuchova, Sparapova… Whoa! Not that easy to be a sportscaster anymore.I’ll stick to the easy names like Brady, Owens, Manning. Yup, just another reason to be a football fan. So, what’s the deal with all these foreign names in the American sports world? My take? It’s about desire, my friend, their desire to win is bigger than most of the Americans. They have a huge desire to win, and when they can win in America they’ve won the world. Their desire drives them to work harder. It’s that simple.Many years ago professional boxing matches were 20 rounds long. Do you think any fighter today can go 20 rounds? Maybe some of the foreign fighters - but not the Americans. Mexican fighters can probably go 30 rounds. Why? Hard work, yes, and great work ethics. The are committed to the win. American heavyweights have become a joke. They can’t go more than 5 rounds without their tongues hanging down to their belly buttons.We like the glamour, the flash, the cash. But the hard work and sweat aren’t quite as attractive. As Americans, we usually try to get by on natural talent. Natural talent is essential, but it only gets you by for a short time. When the game gets into the long haul, then we see the big fade which usually leads to the big defeat.As Americans, we haven’t lost the will to win - but because in general our lives are easier, we’ve mostly lost the will to work hard to get the win. Nobody said it was easy.