Woods Popularity

I am posting this just for you.  I think he is the epitome of how not to act, but his a crowd favorite.
He only lost by 10 strokes in the tourney.
I literally cannot hardly listen to the jarheads talk about him on the Ryder Cup.  But all praise him for moving into the top 50 at number 47 in the FedExCup points.   Ridiculous.

And we know that the President Cup will not be doing drug testing with him as the Captain.  What a disgrace to US Golf.

NBA Free Agents next year.

After all of the press kill with Lebron, George, and Paul signing, I decided to look ahead.

I really like next years NBA class much better than this year for nothing more than an age factor. 
These are in no particular order.  Some have a Qualifying options.

1. Kemba Walker.
2. Kryie Irving
3. Jimmy Butler
4. Klay Thompson
5. Devin Booker
6. Kawhi Leonard 
7. Goran Dragic
8. Karl Anthony Towns  Why is he listed as Forward.. Seriously.  Him and Duncan. Ha. 
9. Kristaps Porzingis

I tried to leave off the folks with a team option and I am sure I missed a few.

If a few of these guys play this game of going the same place again next year, we could have another super team coming.

J.

NFL Offseason

The MMQB offseason grades. I love the site, but this is just hard to explain. Each division had different writers is probably part of the grading issues.

Saints A-
Falcons B+
Bucs B
Panthers B

Cards C
Rams B+
Sea C
49ers B

Bears A
Lions B
Pack B   They have Jimmy Graham now...How did I miss that.
Vikes B+

Cowboys C 
Redskins C
Giants B 
Eagles B  Lost Celek, Smith WR, Robinson CB and added a dim witted and divisive DL in Bennett.  B?

It was too hard to get thru the NFC, I will pass on the AFC.


j

LSU and Coach O

Does anyone truly have faith in Coach O winning big at LSU?

Coach O is pulling in a haul on the recruiting trail recently.
You have to give to him credit for selling the Tigers.

Hopefully, last year may have been an anomaly in recruiting because it was first year with early December signing period and some schools moved up that adjusted before the coaches in Alabama and Baton Rouge.

LSU is currently 3rd nationally in the rankings at 24/7 and 4th on Rivals.
But, they are still 3rd in the SEC West rankings with Bama and Fisher taking 1 and 2 nationally..

It is going to be a fun few years in the SEC.

Anyone care to guess on how long it is before Coach O brags about beating the Aggies and then we cringe when Fisher gets revenge.


J.

Golden State vs Everyone

I enjoyed watching the Warriors go through this playoff season beat up and a shell of the itself, while still winning a title.  The rumors are about discontent within the organization, which we would expect from a team in today's society.  I mean even my favorite coach Kerr is acting like his mentor Pop and preaching politics from his Ivory Tower in fantasy land.  Always a good sign of delusional tendencies from their popularity.

 The over saturation of the NBA on ESPN, seemed to forget that Curry, Thompson, Green and Iguadoa were all injured for the conference finals.

 Harden is truly a great offensive machine, but the rest are not special players.
It was truly a disservice to everyone to be forced to watch Chris Paul look like a saviour playing against these injured players. I wanted to puke.  He will always deserve what he has received in the playoffs losses most of his career. No one should survive with his hand checking, dirty play and constant poor sportsmanship.  I truly dislike media created good guys, at least Laimbeer admitted he was dirty.

After watching the series, it is my opinion that the difference between the teams in the league has not changed.  Only injuries kept the conference series close.

Soon, we need a post on the new rules in the NBA and the horrible things it has done to basketball.
We have too many defensive restrictions and the 3 point shot is easier with these rules. Ignore the screams, but realize that this great sports still ranks as the favorite of only 5% of America. 

J

Cowboys Off Season in my eyes.

True Signs of a 500 organization.

• They have done nothing that I find too unsettling in the roster moves.  The cuts all seemed to be appropriate. Witten and Bryant obviously were past their prime. 
• The trades and free agent additions seem very ordinary and maintained the status quo. . 
• The draft class seems solid with no surprises, other than the QB White who I loved in college.
• Since the local media predicted the new player for a month prior to draft, I understood the need.  ... (Sean Lee being the MVP...has to stop. Love him, but he is aging and injury prone.) Leighton Vander Esch has the physical attributes and fit the most glaring need. 

I am curious to see the new WR's and can only hope that Garrett breaks his pattern and lets them play.    I also want to see those DB's from last years draft.   Moving Jones to CB had better signal some change in how they play pass defense.(see below on Kris Richard.) 

More Important Changes. 

• Named Kellen Moore quarterbacks coach-  Confusing to me, but I assume Red sees himself. 
• Sanjay Lal receivers coach-  They are selling this guy but I honestly see nothing from his time in Indy, Buffalo or the Jets to make me think it will matter.  I think Garrett blamed the past WR coaches for his poor schemes and inability to develop players.   
• Paul Alexander offensive line coach-  I like unique guys and he definitely qualifies and besides anyone that can put up with Marv Lewis coaching in Cincy has to be loyal. 
• Kris Richard passing game coordinator/defensive backs coach- The Main coach the team is selling big time.  His resume is solid as defensive backs coach and Seattle had a great defensive run. Was it scheme or talent?

Marinelli has been around since 2013 and like Garrett, I see a decent coach that gets out schemed frequently in the 4th quarter. I had hoped for a change this year, to date, I have seen nothing new.   

J

DeChambeau's career is going to test the PGA ruling body.

Currently with 2 wins on the tour at age 24, the SMU grad is creating tension with the higher ups within the PGA tour.

First the PGA outlawed his side saddle putter because the shaft was reported too far back from the face.  Even though it fit the currently written rules.  Silly, because they did not make side saddle putting style illegal, but just the putter. 
His comment from Jan 2017 . "They've said to me, too, that they don't like the way I'm doing it. But it's within the rules, and I don't know why they don't like it. They say I'm potentially taking skill out of the game. Anything that helps shoot lower scores or makes golf more fun and grows the game, that's what I'm all about."  

Here is the putter.

Then this weekend, the PGA opened an investigation into Bryson for using a Compass. (Not the common one used in navigation, but the geometry class compass with a pointy end.) He says he uses it to verify pin location.

The rules are as follows.
Rule 14-3, which bans the use of any artificial device or unusual equipment for the purpose of gauging or measuring distance or conditions that might affect his play. This prohibits players from using items like rangefinders that have activated a feature that calculates the affect of slope on distance. Also, outlined in Appendix IV, under Rule 14-3, an artificial device is not allowed if it provides “recommendations that might assist the player in making a stroke or in his play [e.g., club selection, type of shot to be played, green reading or any other advice related matter]."

Other experts are admitting it doesn't give him any data that isn't already available. 

The primary factor maybe the complaints about the computer printouts the pros get showing the exact slope and angle on the greens.  The tour is not happy with these sheets.

Could it be that a physics major like Dechambeau may well know how to better extrapolate the data and get an advantage? Yes!


I love that he is challenges the preconceived theories for the golf swing. His one length iron approach seems logical to me, even though at my old age i would likely prefer 2 length irons, a common sandwedge length for my first 3 wedges and the 7 iron length starting with the PW. Habits are hard to break on the scoring clubs inside 120 yards.

J.

Bubba and Rory on Golf

Bubba has 3 wins this year after 0 last year.
He had signed a ball contract with the vivid golf ball by Volvik in January of 2017. He opted out with Volvik and started playing the ProV1x without a contract.

3 Wins
Immediate improvements from the strokes gained charts, the drop with the Volvik ball is dramatic and even an 8 yds in distance.

The Ball Matters.



The other end of a career flat-lined after a club/ball change.  More Rory disappointment since that NIKE scam of clubs and ball.   Even though TaylorMade is much better, I miss the Rory prior the change.

A week after missing the cut at US Open.
He does this again:

Strokes-gained: tee to green - First. Strokes-gained: putting - Last.

He actually said that he didn't hit the ball very well.

It is ashamed that he cannot figure out the greens.

J

Old School Conference Alignments

During some recent radio talk about the conference line-ups, I found myself wondering if I could reconstruct in my head the way the conferences looked when I was growing up.  Check it out.  See if you can do it without looking.  I sure miss these days!

SEC

LSU
Ole Miss
Miss St.
Alabama
Auburn
Georgia
Florida
Kentucky
Tennessee
Vanderbilt

BIG 8

Oklahoma
OK St.
Nebraska
Kansas
Kansas St.
Iowa St.
Colorado
Missouri

SWC

Texas
Texas A&M
Texas Tech
SMU
Houston
TCU
Baylor
Arkansas

PAC 10

USC
UCLA
Cal
Stanford
Oregon
Oregon St.
Washington
Washington St.
Arizona
Arizona St.

BIG 10

Michigan
Michigan St.
Wisconsin
Ohio St.
Indiana
Purdue
Illinois
Northwestern
Iowa
Minnesota

ACC

Virginia
Virginia Tech
North Carolina
NC St.
Clemson
Duke
Wake Forest
Maryland

S

2018 MLB HOF Class

This new class might not seem very sexy or historic, but closer inspection reveals that it's actually a fantastic class.  I'll get Trevor Hoffman out of the way first.  I'm not a fan of the 3-out low-stress closer; I think they were quite overrated as compared to the likes of Goose Gossage, Rollie Fingers, or Bruce Sutter who came in to put out fires and routinely pitched 2+ innings.  But, as a group they were highly valued for a time and Hoffman was one of the best.  Whatever.

But the hitters in this class qualify as great in my estimation.  Vlad Guerrero was a beast; he was big, he could throw and he was aggressive.  In the middle of his career, he was hitting over .330 with power.  You hit .318 lifetime with 450 homers, you could rake.  Vlad got an MVP and was in the top 5 several times.  Yes he hacked away, but his career OPS of .930 tells the story.  He wasn't quite Frank Thomas, but he's one of the all-time great right-handed hitters.

Chipper Jones is interesting.  As a can't-miss #1 pick, did he live up to it?  Some would say no, but in reality his numbers are historic.  His WAR says he was the #6 all-time 3rd baseman.  His career slash line of .303/.401/.529 is fabulous for an infielder.  In his prime from age 24-31 he churned out 8 superb years in a row before injuries mounted up.  In his 30's he continued to hit through the injuries winning a batting title at 36.  Chipper also collected an MVP and was the definition of professional hitter.

Jim Thome falls into the Ralph Kiner, Harmon Killebrew mold of hall of famer, hitting with prodigous power and a good eye at the plate, overcoming slightly lower batting averages.  He has the best OPS of this class at a truly fantastic .956.  He just kept bombing to the tune of 12 30-homer seasons and 612 total, making him a shoe-in.  My only issue with Thome was that he never was really close to an MVP award.  But he was really underrated in his prime, toiling for a lot of bad teams.

S