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09/17/2007: "Sports Rant"

Forced to spend the weekend on the beach, so I had to watch sports. Oh, woe is me ... ...

- Is there any sight in sports as engrossing as Tiger Woods when he's hitting on all cylinders? Keep all your talk of new swings, new babies, new wives or new challengers. Woods flat kicked the ass of the elite field in this weekend's Tour Championship, and along the way collected the inaugural FedEx Cup. Woods always says that winning takes care of everything, and he was right. By concentrating on winning, rather than getting caught up in the whole "playoff" thing, he not only collected the $10 million annuity that comes with the Cup but also picked up his 4th win in 5 starts, including the final two rounds of the playoff format. Tiger's 8 stroke win wasn't even as close as the score indicated. He waited Sunday until someone got within a couple of strokes and just found another gear. How demoralizing must it be to be one of the 30 best golfers in the world, and know from the outset that you're playing for second every time Woods tees it up?

- How bad must your defense be if you throw for six touchdowns - and still lose? Someone ask the Bengals' Carson Palmer, as that's what happened to him. There was a time when coach Marvin Lewis was considered a defensive specialist, but clearly these folks have no defense at all. When you let a guy who's basically keeping the seat warm for the next guy roll up 51 points on you, you really need to take a closer look. Nearly as embarrased? The New Orleans Ain'ts ... er, Saints, who are clearly unable to match last years emotion or performance.

- The Marlins are going to lead the league in two different categories this season - total home runs hit and total losses. Goes to show you the value of pitching. Makes it all that much harder when I watch Brad Penny and Josh Beckett lead the staffs for LA and Boston, respectively. Oh, well - at least we're not saddled with Carl Pavano ...

- I was raised a USC fan, and when you grow up pulling for the Trojans, you learn to pull against two teams - UCLA and Notre Dame. Saturday was SoCal bliss, as SC blasted Nebraska while ND was being shut out by Michigan and UCLA shellacked by Utah. Utah? The real shock is just how bad the Irish are. Three games in and they haven't scored a single offensive touchdown. Charlie Weis may have been an offensive genius, but so far he's not showing much in the way of leadership. His QBs keep transferring to other schools, which isn't exactly a sign of faith, and if they lose to Michigan State this weekend - a distinct possibility - they could be 0-8 before coming up on a team they can beat. Between the Notre Dame and UCLA beatdowns, a fella could almost feel sorry for them. Almost ...