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01/29/2007: "The "Damn - It's Monday Already" Sports Rant"

Spent most of the weekend rebuilding my back yard after a tough winter, but still had time to watch some sports:

- It looks like the Tiger Woods of 2007 looks damned similar to the 2006 model, and that's bad news for the rest of the PGA. Playing in his first event of the year at Torrey Pines, Tiger waited until the front side of the final round before calmly passing the leaders. For those of you counting, that's seven straight stroke-victories on the PGA Tour - 5 short of the incredible Byron Nelson record. There'll be lots of time to debate whether he'll challenge the record (and adjust his schedule so that the Masters is the record breaking event ...). What I find amazing is the impact he continues to have on his competitors. When they see Tiger in their rear view mirrors, they react as we do to a fire engine - they pull to the side of the fairway and let him pass. Certainly much of that is the psych-out effect, but I think there's another factor. Over the last 10 years, Tiger has won 55 events. That's not only 55 trophies on Woods' shelf, but 55 that aren't in the trophy rooms of the other guys. There's an entire generation of Tour players now that have no real experience at closing out events, because Tiger wins them all. And the scary part? History has shown that pro golfers shoot their best in their thirties ...

- Serena Williams - unranked after a long year of injuries - finished off an amazing run in the Australian Open by absolutely dismantling #1 ranked Maria Sharapova. Perhaps even more amazing is the fact that she was clearly out of shape (for her) and out of practice. Playing on instinct and raw power, she pummeled the field. A lot is made of Serena and her body type, but the fact is she could probably kick your ass - and could certainly take out anyone on tour. If she ever gets her mind fully in the game and stays healthy for a full season, I think she could give Federer and Nadal a real run for their money - and that's one match I'd pay to watch!

- Is it just me, or has the runup to the Super Bowl been remarkably low-keyed? I know it's still a week off, and we'll certainly see more hype this week, but it's almost as if people are worried about getting burned by the build-up followed by a stink bowl like the BCS Championship. So far, the only thing I've seen is a lot of talk about Britney's ex K-FED (or F-KED, as they're calling him now - think about it ... ) and his SB commercial. Strange ...

- One of the more compelling sports stories of the last year ended today as 2006 Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro was put down after a long fight to recover from injuries suffered during last year's Preakness. At the time, Barbaro's handlers admitted they were going into uncharted territory as they tried to treat an injury that would have seen a less prized mount euthanized on track. I'm not much of an animal person, but it's clear even to me that this horse caught the attention and emotions of many. In the end, they did what was right for the horse and not their business bottom line, and for that they should be applauded. Hopefully, veterinary science will be able to use the lessons learned from Barbaro to save more horses in the future.