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I don’t care if Tiger Woods never wins another tournament…

I mean it. I’ll miss the amazing moments, but I really don’t care if he doesn’t win another tournament.

Uh, except the Majors, of course.

After Sunday’s victory at Bay Hill one would assume Tiger is a “lock” to break Jack’s record. And I’ll admit, it seems likely. He does seem to have it all. Still, it is not in the bag. There are lots of good up-and-coming players out there, Phil is playing well, and we’ve yet to see if the knee holds up over the long run. Despite changing his swing to alleviate the torque on his knee, he may still have some physical challenges. I hope not. Watching him is a true joy. I don’t think even Michael Jordan comes close in terms of the amount of drama Tiger has generated. It makes watching golf every other week or three a real treat. And yet, like Tiger, I would trade all the non-major victories to see him reach his goal.

Tiger Woods (© JMP Photography LLC, Flickr)

And I also don’t care if he stops at 19 majors, retires into the sunset and goes off to enjoy family life.

In fact, I might prefer it. It would be fitting. He has set a goal and worked for it. Not out of a dislike of Jack Nicklaus, but out of respect. I would like to see the bar raised, but not by that much. In this age of megalomania, it would be a wonderful lesson that enough is enough. (Something the financial industry obviously didn’t learn, and in doing so has now damned us all.)

What has separated Tiger over the last decade has been his mental toughness, which can be attributed to his father’s teaching and the Buddhist philosophy inspired by his mother. And this gets me back to my point. I want to see that balance.

Continue Reading Tiger Not Out of the Woods Yet

It’s official, is there a sports team in the country that puts their fans through more tribulation than the Gonzaga University basketball team?

Gonzaga fans felt their loyalty tested again with another embarrassing exit from the NCAA tournament, in the latest instance in a history of high-profile losses featuring undisciplined play.

Gonzaga’s Friday night matchup against North Carolina was a 4-seed vs. 1, so it should’ve been a game, but it wasn’t. Just the same, it was another one plagued by basic mistakes from the start.

It’s one thing to lose, it’s another thing to lose dumb.

The ball was tipped and Gonzaga came out and delivered more ill-considered Gonzaga play – three-pointers off no passes, pushing the ball up the floor for no apparent reason, sloppy passing and four turnovers in four minutes.

Suddenly they were down by 10, in a chase to try to make it a game.

This was all before the Zags got around to trying to set up a half-court offense to see if they could get the ball inside.

So it begs the question: if any 8th-grade coach knows that in order to open up three-pointers you want to at least try to establish an inside game, why doesn’t Gonzaga coach Mark Few?

Continue Reading Average Frank Views: Gonzaga Makes Them Suffer, Again

BREAKING THE RACKET–I MEAN BRACKET—NO! I MEAN WHAT A RACKET!

I was so depressed at my dismal showing in my first round bracket; I decided to wait until Sweet Sixteen weekend to write a follow-up column.

Recovering nicely, I bracketed 14 of the Sweet 16. For my Elite Eight, I have Pitt, Villanova, North Carolina, and Syracuse, along with Louisville, Kansas, UConn and Mizzou.

There will be no upsets this far into a 64-team tournament. Any team in the final eight is capable of winning it all.

RACKETOLOGY

So, what the hell am I supposed to write about?

Wait for it… A little longer…

Yes, my friends… something is very, very wrong…

Let me start this timely bitch-fest with a March Madness factoid courtesy of Kristen Knight on BizReport.com: Continue Reading (B)racket

Editor’s Note: A new FierceAndNerdy.com cross-post.

Sunday night Japan eliminated Team USA in the Semi-Finals of the second World Baseball Classic by a score of 9-4.

Finishing third was a huge step up for the United States, which finished a woeful eighth three years ago in the augural Classic, barely making it out of the first round.

Hard to believe, isn’t it? One would that the United States, birthplace of the sport, would fare better on the world stage. Say it ain’t so, Joe!

But it is. And for one glaring reason: the US is not fielding the best team possible, especially in regards to pitching.

Although Major League Baseball created and sponsors the World Baseball Classic to spark more interest in the sport across the world, the individual major league teams are not keen on their players (and particularly pitchers) partaking in the event. A lot of this has to do with the timing of the Classic taking place during Spring Training. Unfortunately, there really isn’t a better time: after the World Series is too late, before Spring Training too early, and during the season a complete no-no.

Continue Reading Fierce And Nerdy: The World Baseball Classic – Hey, At Least We Improved

Anyone recall what I said a month ago about Villanova and Big East Dominance? Sheesh! The ACC is supposed to be the second-best conference and the Wildcats manhandled the Blue Devils. When I wrote that article in February, ‘Nova was dominating Syracuse, but in the last month the Orange have become dramatically better. Five of the Elite Eight being from the Big East is well within the realm of possibility. The Final Four may very well be a rematch of the Big East Conference tournament!