Outside of the NHL Playoffs (seriously, watch every second of the Flyers-Blackhawks if you can; it's on Versus during the week; you need to know that), what is going on in the world of sports to make people excited? I saw Tiger smile on the golf course yesterday during the Memorial Skins Game. He wasn't wearing sunglasses while making his fifth attempt at a molester goatee. Step in the right direction.
I find myself tucked in the hills of SE Tennessee, broadcasting the 2010 NCAA Men's Golf Championships, and thinking back to a week where only the most loyal sports fan could be really excited. So, without further ado, here is why the world of sports is so great:
#1 - The power of the bounce back - Shameless shout out to my current work this week. But in round 1 of this championship, Virginia Junior Henry Smart started his championship with double bogeys on his first two holes. He limped it home to shoot 82 and not count for his Cavaliers team. His highest round this season so far: 76 (he came in off of back-to-back 68s in the NCAA Regional). Let's put it in perspective... He royally stunk up the Honors Course. Put me on the course with my 1.9 handicap (trending higher, beware!) and I've got a good chance of beating him. This is NOT a blog to blast Henry Smart. Why? Because he is an athlete with pride. Showed up yesterday in round 2 and owned the place. Finishing in near darkness, he calmly drained an 8-footer for par on the last, shooting 66, tying the competitive course record (set just minutes earlier) and breaking the 67 that Tiger Woods shot back when he was laying college girls in 1996 (oh, and winning an NCAA title) on the same course. Smart knocked 16 shots off his first-round score. You just can't write this stuff. Well, I guess you can. While standing just off of the 18th green watching this happen, a writer next to me said, "I never would have guessed that I'd be interviewing a kid from Virginia today who shot 82 to open the tourney." I hope he gets the Tiger treatment back on campus.
[Silent shout out to Alex Ching who also fired a record-setting 66. But, he had also shot 69 in the first round.]
#2 - A national championship decided in 5 seconds - No, not golf, but please tell me you watched the lacrosse national championship on Memorial Day. Duke won their first national championship and came all the way back from the scandal that marred the program and completely elevated the perception of "The Man" to the most sinister of heights. I got up as soon as regulation was over, went to grab a drink, and sit back down for sudden death. Then, CJ Costabile won the opening faceoff and owned some fools. It wasn't anti-climatic or too fast. It was Bad Ass! A long pole sprinted through everybody and busted a Joel Zumaya fastball passed a stunned goalie. I think the net in the cage is still vibrating. Lacrosse is coming on fast in this country, and that goal was the explosive play that may do more to advance the sport. It had everything: power, speed, suddenness, drama, despair and the most-needed characteristic of an epic moment... the 10-second afterthought where you stare at the TV stunned and say, "What the f*@$ just happened?!?"
I hope the Dukies got to party hard after that one, with some high-end talent funded by one disbarred Mike Nifong.
#3 - My retirement savings are still in a shoebox - Ken Griffey Jr. retired yesterday. Guess he needed a nap after all! (Thank you, thank you. I'll be here all night. Try the veal) Do you know what my first thought was about him. Nope, not the catch in the old Kingdome. Or all of the home runs. I will always think of his rookie baseball card for Upper Deck. It is THE card of my generation (anybody who is between the ages of 26-34 and collected baseball cards as a kid, before the mass production and internet ruined much of the business). Honestly, I would rather have that card than the mysterious Honus Wagner golden ticket. Why? I don't know. I just know that, for a period of my life, baseball cards were the greatest thing. I go back through what is left of my collection and can tell you that I idolized Andrew Dawson and Ryne Sandberg, and apparently Benito Santiago had a really good season. I had a subscription to Beckett, and actually thought that my thousands of cards would appreciate into millions of dollars. Only true sports fans, raised with this obsession understand this. And it is glorious.
[Epilogue - I did a basic Google search after writing this and came across this Amazon link to buy the card. I am pissed. This is what has ruined card collecting! I don't have to find a collector the old-fashioned way. And think what $99.99 was to a 10-year-old back in 1991!!! I may blow some savings just to buy this card out of principle.]
So, today, as you watch the minutes tick away towards the start of the NBA Finals (yawn, but I'll watch), remember all of the little things that keep sports great. Forget Jim Joyce and his blunder last night costing all of us another perfect game. Instead, go grab a beer at a minor league game and watch a player try to stretch a double into a triple, just because he is trying hard. (Don't hate on that suggestion... I gave you a beer at the start)
-Will
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