Ramblin' Thoughts On A Saturday Afternoon

 Some Idle thoughts from an idle mind.....

The Pirates have started the 2026 season on a fairly good note.  They are 8-5. The staring pitching of Skenes, Keller, Mlodzinski, Ashcroft, and Chandler had been quite good, if not very good.  New additions Brandon Lowe and Ryan O'Hearn have delivered as hoped; new addition Marcel Ozuna, not so much.  

And 19 year old rookie phee-nom, best prospect in baseball Konnor Griffin has arrived!

After getting an RBI double in his first AB, Griffin has collected only two hits since and is hitting .143, in 21 AB's in seven games.  Way too early to worry, and one thing that Griffin has shown is that he can flash the leather.  It appears that the Pirates have got their short stop for the next decade or so.

Did I say "decade"?  The other big news concerning Griffin is that he and the Pirates signed a nine year, $140 million contract  extension that will tie Griffin to the Bucs through the 2034 season.  This, of course, is completely out of character for Bob Nutting's Pirates, and it certainly is a positive development, but let's not give Nutting the Dapper Dan Award because of this.  As the owner of a professional sports team that purports to be all in on winning and winning championships, this is doing merely what you are supposed to do, something that Nutting has NOT done in his tenure as Pirates CEO.  As comedian Chris Rock says, you don't get special credit for doing WHAT YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO DO.  

As usual, The Grandstander will wait until the thirty game mark of the season before giving a more thorough evaluation of this season's Buccos.

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We are now halfway through (now speaking in hushed, reverential tones) The Masters, A Tradition Unlike Any Other. I confess to having been glued to the early round coverage of the event on Prime and ESPN for the last two days.  What can I say?

While I have no gripe against Rory McIlroy, he's a likable enough guy, I hate to see what he has done over these last two days.  Through two rounds, he is at twelve under par and has a six shot lead over his nearest competitor.  He has threatened to remove any semblance of drama from this year's tournament.  Like I said, I have no axe to grind with McIlroy, but I hope that he comes back to the field a bit, or that three or four guys surge forward to make it interesting come the fourth round on Sunday.

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In honor of The Masters I will close with this musical interlude from well known golfer and sometime crooner Bing Crosby.  May all your shots be "straight down the middle".

There Is No "Next Tiger"

As all golf fans know, at the age of 21, Tiger Woods won the 1997 Masters in record-breaking fashion.  At the age of 32, he won the 2008 US Open in an 18 hole playoff while, oh yeah, playing on a broken leg.  In that span of time, forty-six of golf's major championships were contested, and Woods won fourteen of them, or 30% of them.

Nobody would have predicted that that '08 Open would have been Woods' last major championship, and while I will "never say never" where Woods is concerned, it must be conceded that with each passing year that does appear to be the case. Also with each passing year, the clamor arises as to who will be the "next Tiger".  

Time for The Grandstander to open up a spreadsheet.

	Masters	US Open	British Open	PGA
2008			Padraig Harrington	Padraig Harrington
2009	Angel Cabrera	Lucas Glover	Stewart Cink	Yang Yong-eun
2010	Phil Mickelson	Graeme McDowell	Louis Oosthuizen	Martin Kaymar
2011	Charl Schwartzel	Rory McIlroy	Darren Clarke	Keegan Bradley
2012	Bubba Watson	Webb Simpson	Ernie Els	Rory McIlroy
2013	Adam Scott	Justin Rose	Phil Mickelson	Jason Duffner
2014	Bubba Watson	Martin Kaymar	Rory McIlroy	Rory McIlroy
2015	Jordan Spieth	Jordan Spieth	Zach Johnson	Jason Day
2016	Danny Willett	Dustin Johnson

As you can see, the chart above represents each of the twenty-eight Majors played since Woods' Open win in 2008.  There have been thirty-two of them that have been spread out among twenty-two different winning players.  Six of them - Padraig Harrington, Phil Mickelson, Martin Kaymar, Rory McIlroy, Bubba Watson, and Jordan Spieth - have been multiple winners, with McIlroy winning four of them, and each of the others winning twice.

McIlroy was the first obvious Next Tiger candidate, winning four majors in the span of four years, but he hasn't won since, and when he has been in contention after three rounds, he has spit the bit and not been close, often fading dramatically, as he did in this past Masters. Jordan Spieth appears to be the next most obvious candidate.  He has won twice in the last six tries and has been in contention in five of them.  Others like Jason Day and Dustin Johnson appear to be on the verge of superstardom, Day, in fact, is already there.  All four of those guys are young enough to be factors in and winners of Majors for years to come, but do you really think that they will accomplish what Woods did over a twelve year span of competing in Majors?  Again, "never say never", but I certainly wouldn't bet on it.

Two of the names on the chart above, Ernie Els and Mickelson, won additional Majors outside of the time frame of the chart.  Phil won five of them, Ernie won four.  Mickelson is undoubtedly the single greatest "other" golfer of the Woods Era, and Els is certainly in that same discussion, but they finish far down the track from Tiger when the tally of Majors is viewed.  In fact, going back to a point made in the prior paragraph, I'd say it's a good chance that neither McIlroy nor Spieth will surpass Mickelson's career total of five majors.

The point, if there is one, is that it is extremely hard to win a professional golf tournament.  You have to be better than over 140 other players over a four day period of time.  You have no team mates to block for you, get on base in front of you, or to set you up and feed you that ball or the puck. Sometimes you might get lucky, like Yang Yong-eun did back in 2009 (I mean, do you remember that he won the PGA that year, and have you ever heard of him since?), and there are some other One Hit Wonders that come along (Lucas Glover, Keegan Bradley)  It is real crucible out there, and with each passing year of Tiger not winning, his accomplishments in that twelve year span become more and more remarkable.

My conclusion - there is no "next Tiger", and if there is, I will be a very, very old man when I see him (and I'm old now!).

One final point for this little bar room argument.  Jack Nicklaus won 18 majors beginning with the 1962 US Open and ending with the 1986 Masters.  That was a total of 92 Majors during that span.  Jack's winning percentage was 20%, compared to Tiger's 30%.  If you tell me that Nicklaus was the greatest golfer of all time, I won't argue with you, and I would probably agree with you, but if you tell me that he was more dominant that Woods during their times on Golf's main stage, I might argue with you, although I would also grant you that Nicklaus nineteen second place finishes in Majors are a huge point in Jack's favor.

Just a little something to think over as we await the The Open Championship next month.

Sunday at the Masters, Pre-Game

(Okay, before I begin, I need to address what I wrote yesterday, which was that in the final pairing of the third round, Rory McIlroy would post a better score than Jordan Spieth.  Didn't happen.  Spieth went +1 and McIlroy went +5 yesterday.  Don't ever say that I brush my bad calls under the rug.)

Here's your leader board as we await the beginning of the Final Round of The Masters:

-3 Jordan Spieth

-2 Smylie Kaufman

-1 Bernhard Langer, Hideki Matsuyama

E Jason Day, Dustin Johnson

+1 Lee Westwood, Soren Kjeldsen, Brandt Snedeker

+2 Daniel Berger, Rory McIlroy

I only went that deep on the leader board in order to show Rory McIlroy.  His +5 yesterday puts him five strokes off the lead, not an impossible lead to overcome, but he would also have to jump over ten golfers to win.  McIlroy's quest for the career Grand Slam will have to wait until 2017.

The high scores are a function of the winds that laced Augusta National over the last three days, and for me, at least, that has reduced the enjoyment of the tournament this year.  I like seeing guys making birdies at The Masters, having eagle chances on thirteen and fifteen, and going low.  I don't enjoy seeing best players in the world struggling to make par.  However, forecasts call for calmer conditions today, so that could make today a lot of fun to watch.  I plan on wearing a groove in the couch today from 2:00 until the ceremony in Butler Cabin, as I am sure many of you will.  

I believe that the winner will come from among the six players currently at even par or better:

 Jordan Spieth - I got home from Mass last night with Spieth at -5 and enjoying a four shot lead after sixteen holes.  Had he parred out, I would say that today was a forgone conclusion, but he went bogey, double bogey on 17 and 18, and now it's all up for grabs.  Of course, if the winds die down as predicted, he could shoot a 64 or 65 and slam the door on everyone else.  Still, how Spieth bounces back from that terrible finish yesterday will tell us an awful lot about how he plays the game between his ears.

Smylie Kaufman - Okay, raise your hand if you had heard of Smylie Kaufman before this week?  Oh, you folks with your hands raised?  I don't believe you.  I found this brief story on the 24 year old Kaufman this morning...

http://www.nj.com/golf/index.ssf/2016/04/masters_2016_who_is_smylie_kau.html

...and honestly, how can you not root for this kid?

Bernhard Langer - The presence of the 58 year old Langer in this group is an even bigger surprise than that of young Mr. Kaufman, and a third green jacket for Langer would be one heck of a story, but I don't see it happening.  Plus, and nothing against Langer, who by all accounts is a great guy, I don't want to see anyone supplanting Jack Nicklaus as the oldest Masters Champion.

Hideki Matsuyama - All three of his Masters rounds have been par or better.  No one else can make that claim.

Jason Day - The world's Number One ranked player was one of only five players under par yesterday.  I see him making a run at the lead today.

Dustin Johnson - As long as I have been writing this Blog, I have been predicting Majors wins for Johnson, and he always seems to fold on Sundays.  Maybe this will be his time.

PREDICTION:  I see Jason Day, in the third to last pairing putting on a big surge and pressuring Spieth.   If the conditions are mild, wind-wise, I see low scores from Spieth, Day, and Johnson.  In the end, regardless of weather conditions, I call for a win for.....

JASON DAY.

As always, watch, but don't bet.

The Masters: The Battle is Joined

Well, you want drama at The Masters every year, and you couldn't have ordered it up any better than what Round Three will serve up this afternoon.  Defending Champ and World #2 Jordan Spieth at -4 and World #3 Looking for the Career Grand Slam Rory McIlroy at -3 in the final pairing.  Oh, and don't count out World #1 Jason Day just yet.  He is currently T-15 at +1. He is capable of shooting a 68 or 69 in these conditions, and if he does, that will put him right in the thick of it.

The weather conditions, i.e, the wind, at Augusta National has really affected scoring through the first two rounds, and I believe that those conditions will continue to prevail today.  I watched a lot of the second round yesterday, and based upon the demeanor of the two players yesterday, I will offer the following prediction: At the end of round three this evening, McIlroy will be ahead of Spieth on the leader board.  That doesn't necessarily mean that Rory will lead the tournament, just that he will shoot a better round than Spieth today.

Should be fun to watch!

The Future of Golf, or Post-Masters Reflections

Four days after the conclusion of an amazing Masters Tournament, it's time to reflect upon just what took place and what it might mean.

First off, the wire-to-wire win for 21 year old Jordan Spieth prompted this great cover and tag line to appear in the mail box today:

Clever take on the book about Michael Jordan, and a statement that the "Spieth Era Begins Now".

First the tournament itself.  Spieth's performance was nothing short of, sorry about this, Masterful.  Only the fifth wire-to-wire win in the history of the Masters, and a tie for the all-time low score.  On Saturday, he stood up to the challenges and charges of the biggest names in the sport (McIlroy, Mickelson, and Woods), and on Sunday, every time someone looked like he would challenge him, Spieth answered with a birdie, an amazing up-and-down, or a clutch par, all leading to this moment.

Does this mean that a "Jordan Spieth Era" is now upon us?  

Well, how do you define an "Era"?  Is Spieth the next Tiger Woods?  Sorry, but no, or at least no one should be ready to declare so at this point.  Does it mean that Spieth can be a dominant player on the PGA Tour for the next 10-15 years?  It is quite possible that Spieth could indeed be just that, although, I do not think that we shall ever see anyone dominate professional golf the way that Woods did in the period from 1997-2008.  The probability of such dominance is infinitesimal, if for no other reason than this guy:

Rory McIlroy is only 25 years old and already has four majors to his credit.  And if McIlroy will prevent Spieth from being the "next Tiger", then Spieth, in turn, could prevent McIlroy from being the "next Tiger" as well.

What does excite the imaginations of golf nerds everywhere is the possibility of Spieth-McIlroy duels over the next dozen years or so that will be reminiscent of earlier days when Arnold Palmer battled Jack Nicklaus, and Nicklaus battled guys like Tom Watson, Johnny Miller, and Greg Norman.  It is a measure of Woods' total dominance during his time that there never was a real challenger to him, not even Phil Mickelson.  The idea of Spieth and McIlroy going head to head on Sundays at Augusta, Oakmont, St. Andrews and other such places over the next decade to so is wonderful to think about.

Oh, and we should also keep one other thing in mind.  Spieth could end up being a one hit wonder like Trevor Immelman, Lucas Glover, Andy North, or one of the many other golfers who have managed to win one major, and little else.  It certainly doesn't appear likely that Spieth will fall into that category, as he has already won several times on Tour and performed well in a Ryder Cup competition, but you never know.  It will be interesting to look back at the ledger at the conclusion of this Tour and Majors season and re-evaluate the possibilities.

Of course, you can't make any evaluation of the State of Golf without talking about these guys:

Phil Mickelson had a terrific Masters.  His score of fourteen under par would have won the Masters 70 of the 78 times in its history.  It appears that he has something left in the tank, at least at Augusta, and it would have been interesting to see how Spieth would have held up had he been paired with Mickelson instead of Justin Rose on Sunday.  One of those intriguing "what ifs" that makes sports so much fun to follow.  However, Phil is now 44 years old.  It's hard to win anywhere on tour at that age, much less a Major, which makes his performance at Augusta all the more remarkable.

As for Tiger Woods, he is 39 and he managed to shoot eight under par over the second and third rounds of the Masters. He also was two over par over rounds one and four.  The fact that he scraped by in one over on Sunday, when he could never find a fairway off the tee, is amazing.  He could overcome such erratic driving at Augusta, but if he drives like that at a course set up for the US Open, he won't make the cut.

The key points in the above two paragraphs are the ages of the two golfers.  In all sports, and especially tournament golf, Father Time beats all comers.  I don't doubt that Mickelson and Woods all again win tournaments here and there on the PGA Tour.  Woods may even possibly still be able to dig down and win a Major one more time, but at this point it's a long shot.  This takes nothing away from what they have been, which is two of the greatest golfers of all time (and in Woods' case, he is in the argument for THE greatest golfer of all time).  It will still be fun to see them play and watch them on TV, but I am afraid that their Days of Dominance are over.

The US Open will be played in Oregon this June, which means prime time telecasts here in the east.  You know that Fox, which is televising the Open this year, has to be licking its chops in hopes of young guns like McIlroy and Spieth going at it at Chambers Bay.  Bring it on!!

Tiger and Rory - A Look Back and a Look Ahead

At the conclusion of last week's PGA Championship, my friend Joe Risacher made an observation on Facebook, and I am not quoting exactly, to the effect of "Is it time to start comparing Rory McIlroy to Tiger Woods and the race to catch Jack Nicklaus?"

Well, thanks to that seed planted by Joe, I decided to do a little research, and away we go....

Rory McIlroy is playing the 2014 season at the age of 25 (hereafter referred to as the "25 Year Old Season").  So far, McIlroy has accumulated 9 PGA Tour victories, and 4 Major Championships.  He also has six other professional victories world wide, for a total of 15 professional victories.  No one would dispute that this is very impressive, and he still has a chance to add to those totals in his 25 Year Old Season.

Tiger Woods 25 Year Old Season was 2001.  When that season was over, Woods had 29 PGA Tour victories, and 6 Majors.  His career totals in these categories are 79 and 14, respectively.  Woods has also added an additional 27 other wins world wide, for a total of 106 in all (I do not know how many of those twenty-seven wins were by the age of 25).

So, doing the simple arithmetic, to catch Woods over the next 13 years (Tiger is now in his 38 Year Old season), McIlroy will have to rack up another 70 PGA Tour wins and 10 Majors wins.  Because he plays much of his schedule between both the American and European Tours, and this could change, he is simply not going to win 70 more times.  As for ten more Majors in that time, well, that could happen, but would you bet on it?

And what about Nicklaus, the guy they are both chasing?  

By the end of his 25 Year Old Season, 1965, Jack had 17 Tour wins and 4 Majors.  He would go on to win 73 total tour wins and, we all know, 18 majors.  He won his last Major, the 1986 Masters, at age 46.  This was also his last Tour victory as well.

Nicklaus also went on the play a bit on the Senior Tour, but not  as  full time Geezer Golfer.  He won a total of ten senior tournaments, and eight of those were Senior Major Championships.  Jack pretty much saw that he could dominate the Seniors when and if he chose to do so, and then hung up his clubs as a serious competitive golfer.

Arbitrarily, let's say that Rory will win five more Majors over the next three seasons, not unreasonable given how he has played this summer, but no sure thing, either.  That will give him nine Majors by age 28, and at that time we can start the -can-he-catch-Jack discussions seriously.  Even then, the odds against him will be long (Exhibit One to support this statement: Tiger Woods, himself!)

And what about the all-time "standings" of Majors winners?  Take a look:

Jack Nicklaus 18
Tiger Woods 14
Walter Hagen 11
Ben Hogan, Gary Player 9
Tom Watson 8
Bobby Jones, Arnold Palmer, Gene Sarazen, Sam Snead, Harry Vardon 7

(By the way, the one name on that list that all but serious golf history nerds have forgotten is Walter Hagen, and he may well have been the most interesting and most colorful guy of anyone else on the list.   Look it up if you don't believe me.)

So, even if you give McIlroy his five additional Majors as speculated above, he would be tied for fourth all time, and in some VERY exclusive company, even if he doesn't match Nicklaus and Woods.

My conclusions:

• No one is going to catch and surpass Nicklaus' 18 Majors records.
• Woods will catch and surpass the record of 82 PGA Tour wins, held by Snead, which isn't the record he wants, but will be a gold standard in and of itself.  And one of those wins might even be another Major Championship, but he is running out of time to win five more of those.
• The greatest professional golfers of all time are Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods.  I could be talked into supporting either one of them for the honor, depending on what argument you make.
• Rory McIlroy may well be in the discussion one day, but let's wait anther 3-5 years before we begin making that argument.

One final word about the guy who may well be everybody's favorite golfer, Arnold Palmer.  I don't believe that anyone would argue that Arnie was the greatest golfer of all time, but a case can be made that he was and is the most important golfer of all time (I'll bet even Jack Nicklaus would agree on that one.)  That, however, is a subject for another post.

Rory McIlroy Wins the PGA

I got very caught up in watching the final round of the PGA Championship yesterday as it evolved into a four horse race among Rory McIlroy, Phil Mickelson, Rickie Fowler, and Henrik Stenson, which McIlroy, as you know by now, eventually won by one shot over Mickelson.

This one had everything going for it, drama-wise:

• Would McIlroy continue the dominant streak that he has been on, having won the Open Championship and the WGC Bridgestone event in his last two starts?
• Would the crafty, but aging star, Mickelson, be able to pull off what would be his seventh Major victory?
• Would the emerging young star, Fowler, finally break through?
• Would the tall Swede, Stenson, who just happens to be the #4 ranked player in the world, steal the show from all of them?

As the back nine began with a birdie for Fowler, I thought that my Saturday morning pre-third round prediction that called for him to win the Championship was looking good.  However, shortly thereafter, McIlroy, who was then three shots back, pulled off a shot from the tenth fairway from over 230 yards out to within seven feet of the cup, which he then drained for an eagle that got him to within one of Fowler and Mickelson.  In retrospect, that was when this tournament was decided.

No doubt about it that Rory McIlroy, winner of three straight tournaments, the last two Majors, and four Majors by the age of 25 is now the best player currently trodding the world's fairways.  The inevitable talk of "can he catch Jack" will now start up.  Please, great as he is, let's hold off on that talk until he wins, let's say, four more Majors over the next three years.

As for Tiger Woods, who missed the cut, it is starting to look like he - and he will turn 39 this December - is becoming just another guy out there on Tour.  Except for one thing.  He had major surgery on his back just three and a half months ago. I have had that same surgery on my back, twice, and I can tell you that there is no way he should have been even playing in these recent tournaments, much less contending in them, much less winning them.  He should not even try to play again until next year.  My own thought is that Woods will win tournaments again, he may even win another Major, but he will not break Nicklaus' record of 18 Majors.  That ship has sailed.

Just for the fun of it, I found myself "live Facebooking" the PGA Championship as events unfolded, and my posts were greeted with massive silences from the universe of my Facebook friends.  I guess I should have sent out pictures of my neighbor's cat if I wanted to generate traffic.  Apparently, golf tournaments just don't move the needle in the social media world.

The "Champion Golfer"

I haven't watched a whole lot of golf on TV this year because, face it, without Tiger Woods (more on him later) in the mix, and with Phil Mickelson now in his early forties, and throw in the fact that the US Open turned out to be a pretty boring cakewalk for Martin Kaymer last month, there hasn't been any compelling reason to watch every weekend.

The British Open, or excuse me, The Open Championship, was looking to be more of the same with Rory McIlroy opening up big leads through each of the first three rounds, but I tuned in yesterday morning anyway and was surprised to see that McIlroy, who started the final round with a six shot lead, had come back to the field a bit, and that after seven holes, Sergio Garcia was three back and Ricky Fowler was four back, so maybe this was going to be interesting after all.

At one point early on the back nine, Garcia had gotten to within two of McIlroy, and the tournament ended with Garcia and Fowler tied for second, two shots behind McIlroy, but in point of fact, it never really was all that close, and when all was said and done, Rory had laid a fairly methodical beat-down on both Sergio, Ricky, and the entire field.

Very impressive, and at age 25, McIlroy now finds himself only one green jacket short of a career Grand Slam.  Very impressive indeed. 

One disappointment was the weather.  I like watching the British Open when the conditions are wretched - wind, rain, sleet - but it was beautiful for all four days in Liverpool.  Oh, well, maybe next year in St. Andrews.

Oh, yeah. Tiger Woods.  He finished six over par, twenty-tree shots behind McIlroy, and only four spots from the bottom of the scoreboard.  He had major back surgery on March 31.  I,  myself, have had two major back surgeries in my life, and they take a long time from which to recover, and I am not someone who relies on his physicality in my life as does Woods, or any other professional athlete.  Anyone who expected Woods to contend at the Open this week, much less win it, was severely deluding themselves.

That said, Tiger is now 38 years old, and his body is breaking down on him.  When he is fully recovered physically, he will win again on the Tour, he may even win another Major sometime, but Jack Nicklaus's record of 18 Majors is safe. Tiger isn't going to win four or five more Majors.

The PGA Tour Turns Back the Clock

Most people think that the PGA tour doesn't really begin until The Masters (A Tradition Like No Other), but, in fact, the golfers have been teeing it up since the first weekend in January, but it's kind of gotten lost in the shuffle of the NFL Playoffs.  Until, that is, the past two weeks.

In case you missed it, two weeks ago Tiger Woods won, and in pretty much Tiger-like fashion, the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines.  This was the eighth time that Woods has won a tournament at Torrey Pines.  This past weekend out in Scottsdale, Phil Mickelson went wire to wire in a beatdown of the rest of the field, including a round of 60!

I don't think that we will ever see the dominant Tiger Woods of the early part of this 21st century, but let's remember that he did win three tournaments last year, and he looked pretty damn good two weeks ago.  Of course, Woods has set major championships as his standard, so the big question about him is always, will he ever win another Major, and if so will he break Jack Nicklaus' record of 18 Majors (he has 14)?  My thought - yes, he will win another Major, sometime, but, no, he will not break Jack's record.

Mickelson has reached an age, he is 42, where guys just don't win with regularity on the big Tour.  I'm not sure how many more performances like we saw this past weekend Phil has left in him.  Still, his performance last weekend, and Woods' the week before, does tantalize you with hopes of Tiger-Lefty showdowns at Augusta and the US Open later in the year.

Speaking of Mickelson, how did you like the pity party he threw for himself about how he was getting screwed by the tax laws on the Federal and the State of California levels.  My heart really ached for him.  By the way, he made $45 million in 2012.  I would happily trade him my income and taxes for his income and taxes.  Guys who have grown up in the life of country clubs and elite amateur and then professional golf, they really have a handle on the real world, don't they?

Some of the biggest off the course news this year was the signing of Rory McIlroy, the current #1 in the world, to a mega-millions deal by Nike.  In case you haven't seen it yet, Nike has produced this cool commercial featuring their two big guns.  Interestingly enough, Woods and McIlroy were NOT together when this commercial was produced.  A triumph of clever film editing.

A Football / Baseball / Golf Hodge-Podge

Some quick hit thoughts (apologies to Peter King) for a Friday morning....

With no Pirates game to occupy me, I did watch the final Steelers practice game of the year, and four things stand out:

1. Charlie Batch threw about as pretty a touchdown pass to Emmanuel Sanders as you will see all season, and he will probably end up getting released today.  Crazy.
2. Two jaw dropping punt returns for touchdowns by rookie Chris Rainey in the first quarter, both nullified by Steelers penalties.  Poor officiating by the scab refs, or poor special teams play by the Steelers?
3. An absolutely brutal looking knee injury to rookie linebacker Sean Spence.  Why do NFL teams play four of these meaningless games, other than to get two full gates for the owners?
4. It seemed that on every play, huge chunks of turf went flying through the air.  Good to see that the Heinz Field playing surface was in mid-season form.

On to other thoughts.....

Football:

• During the Steelers game I switched briefly to ESPN for the South Carolina-Vanderbilt SEC tussle.  Steve Spurrier, the Ol' Ball Coach, always seemed to me to be a "young" guy.  Not anymore.  He looked ancient last night,and what's with the voice?  If it gets any higher, he'll shatter glass.
• And speaking of voices, why is Lou Holtz still on the air?
• I see that Fraud Graham's Arizona State Sun Devils high octaned themselves a sixty-something to six win over Northern Arizona last night.  Can't wait until ASU starts playing some of the big boys in the PAC 12.  I'll even be rooting for a snake like Lane Kiffen to put the Whoop-Ass on Coach Fraud. 
• College Football begins in earnest tomorrow: Youngstown State @ Pitt, Ohio U. @ Penn State, Marshall @ WVU, Robert Morris @ North Dakota State.  All compelling games for various reasons.
• The big TV game of the week pits Michigan against Alabama in Jerry's Palace in Dallas.  That should be a fun game, and kudos to each school for being willing to open against each other rather than the traditional opening game against Cupcake University.

Baseball:

• It was fun switching to MLB Network last night and seeing the Nats hand it to the Cardinals, 8-1, allowing the Pirates to pick up a half game in the wild card race.  September baseball could be a whole lot of fun this year.
• First, however, three games in Miller Park beginning tonight.  Got to take care of those annoying Brewers.  I'm not greedy.  I'll happily settle for two out of three.
• Am anxiously awaiting to see how the Pirates will set the post-season roster by midnight tonight and whether or not that make a Waiver Deadline Deal, also by midnight.

Golf:

The PGA Tour is in the midst of their FedEx Cup playoffs, and the Ryder Cup is just around the corner, but some old news, if you don't mind.

Rory McIlroy won the PGA Championship earlier this month by eight shots, a most dominating and convincing win, not unlike his US Open win in 2011.  Congratulations to the young Irishman, who is indeed one of the top half dozen or so players on tour today.  Stop, however, with the "next Tiger" nonsense.  I will probably be dead by the time this will finally be reckoned, but I am willing to bet that Rory, who now has two Majors on his resume, will not get within sniffing distance of Tiger Woods' total of fourteen (14) Majors wins.  As I said, it will probably be another 20 or so years, give or take, (and that's if everything goes right for him) before McIlroy is not longer a factor, so I may not be around to collect my bet, but I say he gets nowhere near 14 Majors, and I'd be shocked if he gets that total to double figures.

On the subject of Woods, right now, he is 36 years old and very good golfer, just like about 50 or so other guys on Tour.  He is no longer "Tiger Woods".  He will continue to win golf tournaments, and may even win another Major or two, but the Jack Nicklaus standard of 18 Majors is safe, at least in my lifetime.  I do think, however, that Woods has a very good chance of breaking Sam Snead's PGA Tour record of 82 career wins.  Woods has 74.

Monday Musings

Thought I'd pass on this very cool picture of Andrew McCutchen's swing that appeared on the PG+ site today. I think it might appear in tomorrow's edition of the Post-Gazette. Now, on to some Monday thoughts.....

• Did I predict that a European golfer would win the Masters? I meant to say that an international golfer would win.


• Still Rory McIlroy was making my prediction look pretty good until he got to the back nine - excuse me, the Second Nine - on Sunday, which as we all know is when the Masters really begins.


• By all accounts, McIlroy is a very decent and good kid, which makes his El Foldo all the more painful. Here's hoping he can bounce back from that.


• How about that finish by winner Charl Schwartzel: 4-2-3-3. That is called grabbing opportunity by the throat and not letting it go.


• It is beginning to look like Jack Nicklaus' standard of 18 majors is not going to fall. Can't see Tiger winning five of these things from this point going forward, despite his strong showing this weekend at The Masters.


• Big news out of PNC Park was the Pittsburgh Police tasering and putting a beatdown on some drunk at Saturday's Pirates game. It is a YouTube sensation (it went viral, as the kids say), although I have not seen it. I wasn't there, I didn't see the video, and I am sure that the cops will end up as the bad guys in this, but a part of me says that no punishment is too severe for obnoxious drunks at sporting events.


• Obnoxious drunks are why I gave up my Steelers tickets eight years ago.


• An interesting observation by a caller to The Fan this morning: with beer going for $7.50 and up at PNC Park, who can afford to get so blasted at a ball game?


• Took in my first Bucco game of the '11 campaign yesterday. After overcoming a 4-0 deficit, it was a tough one to lose. Once again, those dreaded bases on balls killed the team.


• Another first of the season this morning: first round of golf for 2011. Scored a 44 at Clover Hill. For the first round of the year, that's OK, I suppose, but having to mark down a snowman on the ninth hole was most definitely NOT okay.