Do you think the NFL intentionally planned to conduct its annual big owners' meetings -- with its dribs and drabs of news parceled out to a football-starved public -- to coincide with the opening of baseball season?

Could the NFL be that shrewd, that conniving, that Machiavellian?

Is a field goal worth three points?

So today at the owners' meetings in Palm Beach, they announced 2008's first ESPN Monday night game (as part of a MNF doubleheader): Vikings-Packers at Lambeau Field. It'll be the first game since they moved back the goal post pole (or so it seems) that Brett Favre will not be the starting quarterback for the Packers. If you think that doesn't mean that Favre won't be a presence at the game, you really do believe that the timing of the owners' meetings is an accident. The Minnesota-Green Bay game will be followed by Denver at Oakland.

The first game of the season will be Sept. 4, a Thursday night, on NBC and that will be Washington at the New York Giants. The first Sunday night game on Sept. 7 will be Chicago at Indianapolis.  It's expected to be the regular-season christening of the Colts' Lucas Oil Field.

Posted by Bill Ordine at 2:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
                    

Sean Avery has "enemies." The New York Ranger, an eight-year NHL veteran once described by People magazine as one of the sexiest men alive, says that's the only explanation for why his name and number show up in what a New York newspaper purported to be the "electronic black book" of an alleged madam connected with disgraced former New York governor Eliot Spitzer.

The lawyer for Kristin Davis, the woman in the case, says that Ms. Davis has never had any "contact" with Mr. Avery.
However, the fleeting connection between the two had the Rangers in stitches and in case your not a hockey fan, Avery is a pretty entertaining guy to begin with as we see here (much of it from his days with the Red Wings and Kings).

Posted by Bill Ordine at 12:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
                    

So which college team would you rather be a fan of today, Davidson or Memphis? OK, it's something of a trick question .. or at least, a tricky answer.

Davidson, a 10th seed from the Southern Conference, was eliminated last night by Kansas in a two-point game where the losing Wildcats had the ball for the last shot.  Just didn't work out.

Meanwhile, Memphis, a No. 1 seed, rolled over Texas and stormed into the Final Four with a chalk field that includes fellow No. 1 seeds, Kansas, UCLA and North Carolina.

So you'd rather be a Memphis fan, right? Makes sense. But consider that Memphis freshman Derrick Rose, an incredible talent who played gangbusters in getting his team to the F4, is pretty much assured of entering the NBA draft while Stephen Curry, Davidson' sparkling shooting guard who can go point on occasion, just announced he's returning to college for his junior year.

None of that is to suggest what the prospects will be for either team a year from now in college basketball's last-man-standing free-for-all, if that's the primary reason you invest yourself in college sports. But if you're the type of fan who appreciates watching young athletes mature and play their hearts out for a concept as corny as alma mater, I think those Davidson fans are just as fortunate today as those pulling for Memphis.

Yep, Memphis still has life for college basketball's grail -- and in spectator sports, that's all that seems to matter ("We're No. 1!") -- but should Memphis fail, their season will wind up like 64 other tournament hopefuls. With a loss. And they won't have Rose next season despite those pleading chants of "One more year!"

Meanwhile, Davidson fans will be able to look forward to another season of the smooth operating Curry -- perhaps with even a few more muscles on that slender 6-foot-3, 185-pound frame -- sinking three-pointers, driving the lane and representing his university. In declaring his intentions to postpone a pro career, Curry -- son of former NBA star Del Curry -- said something absolutely shocking for a young athlete these days:  "I don't think I'm ready."  Talent and honest self-awareness.  Wow.

So who's the lucky one? Memphis or Davidson? Depends on where you place value, I suppose.

Photo credit: L.G. Patterson/AP

Posted by Bill Ordine at 10:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
                    

If the Orioles needed any suggestions on how to start a season where the operative word is Hope, they only have to look down I-95 last night where the Nationals opened their season and inaugurated their new ballpark with a 3-2 win over Atlanta with a bottom-of-the-ninth home run by 23-year-old Ryan Zimmerman (right).

Like the Orioles, the Nationals won't be contending for a World Series this season. Returning to those wagering odds, the Nats are 150-to-1 to win the Series and also like the Orioles, Washington is contending with divisional opponents that have a big head start, the Mets, the Phillies and even the Braves, last night's foils.

And even in victory, some of the the Nationals' weaknesses were pretty apparemt. After jumping out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning, Washington went 24 batters without reaching base. The Nats failed to hold a one-run lead in the ninth allowing the Braves to tie, 2-2, on a passed ball. Only Zimmerman's two-out blast kept the ballpark's opener from a stain that would have been been recalled over and over as a harbinger of future defeats.

Instead, that first game ever in the Nationals' new home can be a reference point of, here's that word again -- Hope.

And it can be that because Zimmerman did save the day and for this day, at least for several hours, Washington fans can look in the newspaper or online and see this -- their team is in first place.

Photo credit: Evan Vucci/AP

Posted by Bill Ordine at 9:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
                    

For starters, I want to thank colleague Kevin Van Valkenburg for stepping in last week and keeping the ball rolling here with insights, entertaining links and posts that invited audience involvement.

And secondly ... PLAY BALL!

The Orioles open their season today with a late afternoon game down at Camden Yards against the newly abbreviated Tampa Bay Rays.  I actually liked Devil Rays but then I have a way of getting attached to things.  I was always a little confused about that Redlegs-Reds thing, too.

A headline on an article by fellow Sun scribe Childs Walker  put the Orioles new season in perspective. It said: 2008 Orioles: selling hope.  The release of Jay Gibbons over the weekend was the ending punctuation mark (a period if not an exclamation point) to an offseason that had transition written all over it.

With today's game, most realists will accept that the battle for fourth place in the AL East is officially on.  In Las Vegas, the Orioles are expected to win closer to 60 games than 80.  In online odds, they are the longest of long shots in the entire Major Leagues to win the World Series ... 200-to-1. And with their ace, Jeremy Guthrie. on the mound at home today against the less-than-powerhouse "Rays," the O's are still slight underdogs for the opener.

But this is not about today, it's about a year from now and beyond.  We will have to look for signs of optimism in a young, talented outfield; development from some promising arms, and perhaps later in the season, some contributions from a few of those prospects picked up in those off season trades that helped unhitch the future from a losing past. What we hope to see is enthusiasm, some grit and improvement, and have to accept that it will be incremental.  Victories at this point have to be considered gravy.

But it would be nice to start out 1-and-oh.

Posted by Bill Ordine at 8:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
                    

Want a quick laugh? Check out this clever brief from this week's Onion -- America's best satirical newspaper, for the uninformed -- titled "Mike Mussina convinced he has won a World Series."

Posted by Ron Fritz at 3:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)
                    

Earlier this week, I asked readers, in the tradition of Festivus, to list a few of their minor grievences with the world of sports, then promised to print some of the submissions. As a man of my word, here are a few of the things that bothered you this week, edited only for punctuation, and only when necessary.

-- Kevin Van Valkenburg

I read your article: "Getting annoyed? Me, Too" and since I was ranting in my kitchen with my wife I wanted to let you know I feel your pain; My Brother from another Mother.

2 minutes before I read your article, I too was reading about how Jay Gibbons was going to go to the minors while being paid $5+ million.

The fact this guy is still on this team constantly baffles me. Frankly, my Mrs. is tired of hearing my rants about this guy. However the fact that made me even more upset this morning which you didnt include on your rant list is the fact that John Maine (former Oriole thrown in with the trade for stellar performer Kris Benson) threw a one hitter and struck out 7 in a
6 inning clinc against our O's. According to the Sun, he walked off the field to a standing ovation. ... And Cory Hall from the Oriole's ticket office wonders why I don't return his calls.

Regards,

John McDade

KVV Response: Former Orioles seem to have a knack for performing better once they leave town, don't they? I mentioned Erik Byrnes -- who, to be fair, was just terrible here -- in today's column, but Maine is another one. Even LaTroy Hawkins improved last year after a dreadful 2006 and he went to the thin air of Colorado, for the love of Angelos.

It’s probably too early to be annoyed, but in my gut I know the Ravens won’t try to trade up to land Matt Ryan from BC, and it will be like Big Ben going to Pittsburgh -- the stud who got away. I’m ouching already. You can get tackles and guards in free agency/trades, but QBs are tough to find.

Jeff Mariner

KVV response: I'd be willing to gamble on Ryan if I ran the Ravens, because college starts are, statistically, the best indicator of success in the pros. Ryan started three years for the Eagles, and completed 59 percent of his passes or better all three years. But the Ravens aren't the gambling types, especially after the Boller Experiement. (By the way, Boller seems to be the exception to the starting rule. He started 28 games at Cal.)

Here's one I'm sure you don't hear much about: How about The Sun covering hockey as much as you cover the other sports?!

Don't make the case that we don't have a hockey team because I see at least 1/2 page basketball coverage everyday, including box scores, and I have not seen more than a small "blurb" on hockey in several years.

We don't have a basketball team either. In a time when The Sun wonders where their readership went, I'd think that covering more sports, not less, would bring some people back from the 'net.

Mike McGee

KVV response: Mike, I feel your pain, because I enjoy hockey, but we're talking about a sport that gets worse ratings than beach volleyball on television.

Unfortunately, we have only so much space and so many resources at the Sun. More hockey coverage, sadly, might mean less Ravens, Orioles and Terps coverage, and I doubt anyone wants that.

On the sports front page of the Sun (3-25-08) Tiger Woods is shown because he lost. Geoff Ogilvy's picture should have been there because he won. I am so damm sick of the media following Tiger Woods on everything he does. Next thing they will follow him to take a pee. Yes he is a great player. All golfers should be seen also. Enough already

Gerald Yamin

KVV response: Gerald, Tiger is one of those few athletes that seems to transcend sports. Even my lovely wife will watch Tiger Woods on TV (although she doesn't approve of his cursing). As a golf fan, I love seeing other players, and get overwhelmed by Tiger Madness sometimes, but for the most part, he's the guy people want to see, win or lose. In the instance you cited, Woods hadn't lost in six months. I'd say, regardless of Ogilvy's victory, Tiger was still a story.

Kevin, in case you and your boss did not know it, horse racing is a sport in Maryland and it goes on 4 days a week. Not once or twice a week like baseball and football. It is disgusting how The Sun ignores this sport. I bet if you had the entries and results back in the sports page your subscriptions would double.

Janon Fischer

KVV response: Subscriptions would double? Can you guarentee this? Can I get it in writing? Because my bosses would definitely be interested in that scenario. Look, in all seriousness, my boss is a big horse racing fan. Huge. And we do our best to cover the sport with the space we have. We wish we could do more, but the economic realities of the business mean we have to make tough calls, and sometimes cutting back coverage is one of those calls.

I think we all have to admit that Tiger Woods is a great golfer. We have watched him mature over the years and he no longer has his little fits as he did when he was younger. He is magical with what he can make a golf ball do. Lets not forget there are hundreds of other professional golfers out on tour.

Duane E. Campanello

KVV response: I'm not sure the headline is ever "Tiger Fails" but I do understand your point. How many people out there know who Henrik Stenson is? Or Camilo Villegas? Or even Americans like J.B. Holmes? Those are all some of my favorite golfers, and it would be great to hear more about each of them, but none of them is going to pull in the number of readers like Tiger Woods, and that's why he's usually in the headline.

Here's my grievance for the day: If I hear one more general manager, manager, coach or sports writer say that this pitcher or that pitcher is invaluable to his team because he chews up innings, I'm going to do an uncanny imitation of Jack Nicholson's character in "The Shining." Since there's obviously no distinction between quantity and quality, pay me a couple of million dollars a year and I'll be happy to stand on the mound and lob the ball up to home plate for 7 or 8 innings. Like all the other pitchers on the Orioles, I'll get pounded into submission and head to the clubhouse with a smile on my face. Then Dave Trembley can lie in bed at night and mumble to himself, "man, that guy is horrible....but he sure gives us innings!"

James

KVV response: Sometimes at night, I lay in bed and wish that above-average sports writers (a group I try desperately to claw my way into each day) were paid like average or below-average veteran pitchers. Seriously folks, teach your kid to throw left-handed when he's 5, whether he wants to or not.

Hello Kevin,

Paul Mied

KVV response: Tiger's attitude makes me grumpy too at times, but I do admire the way he manages to channel that intensity into his shots. Sergio Garcia just manages to channel his misfortune into excuses.

What really ticks me off is when ESPN or any other highlight show shows you the play, but between the crawl and the commentators name or score, you really can't see the highlight because it takes up 1/3 of the TV screen.

Tom Demunda

KVV response: Tom, some mornings, when I haven't yet had my coffee and I'm still bleary-eyed, I worry that the graphics are trying to suffocate Scott Van Pelt.

Posted by Ron Fritz at 2:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)
                    

With no Maryland teams left in the NCAA men's tournament, maybe it's time for you to throw your support behind the one team with the most visible Maryland player: Memphis and Joey Dorsey.

Memphis plays Michigan State tonight, and even though the Tigers are a No. 1 seed, they've been somewhat ignored the first week of the tournament. Everyone thought at the start of the tournament that Memphis was the worst of the four No. 1 seeds, even though the Tigers lost just once all year. But Memphis has been going about its business quietly, playing the "everyone is doubting us" card that has become too ubiquitous in sports, but seems to be working for the Tigers.

I covered a couple of Dorsey's games when he was a prep star at Frederick Douglass, growing up in West Baltimore, and you could see how much raw athletic ability he had then, back when he went by the name Richard Dorsey. It's been a long and, at times, humbling journey for Dorsey, who grew up living in neighborhoods most of us only experience by watching The Wire.

But he's also a prime example of something I write about often: How sports can provide structure and discipline in kids lives they can't find elsewhere. Dorsey has been upfront about the fact that people thought he'd never make it out of Baltimore, that he'd be just another 6-foot-8 guy standing on a corner in West Baltimore. But basketball helped him stay, ultimately, on a path to something better. He's the first person from his family to graduate from high school.

ESPN's Pat Forde details some of his journey here.

Steve Megargee, of Rivals.com, also covers some of the same ground over on Yahoo.com.

You can also wish Dorsey luck on his MySpace page, if you're into such things.

-- Kevin Van Valkenburg

Posted by Ron Fritz at 10:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
                    

It looks like Brian Roberts, according to reports from my Sun colleagues in Florida yesterday, is going to be an Oriole when the season begins. He’s been told by Andy MacPhail that it’s unlikely the team will be able to swing a deal in the next few days, and he’ll still be wearing orange and black for, at least, the next few weeks.

It’s become almost comical to watch Roberts get yanked around like this over the last four months.

Every day, it seems, we’ve been subjected to another report out of Baltimore or Chicago (but mostly Chicago) that the deal was on the verge of completion, this it was super close to being done, that it was just a formality, and that the Orioles two-time All-Star was on his way out of town.

And yet, as of right now, Roberts is still an Oriole.

It’s unclear if the Orioles realize they are, in fact, allowed to trade with teams other than the Chicago Cubs, but that’s between McPhail and his rolodex, I suppose. Either way, watching this saga makes you feel like Roberts is in a relationship where the other person is openly shopping around for something better, flirting with other suitors, and then trying to pretend that everything is fine each night when they have to come home and share the same bed.

Roberts needs to be traded, and in the coming months, I hope that he is. But not for the Orioles’ sake. For his own sake. Because frankly, he deserves better that this. I want to see him get as far away from the Funny Farm/Madhouse of a franchise before it’s too late.

You could argue that Roberts did his share to contribute to the Greek tragedy that is the comic fall of the Orioles, admitting that he used steroids one time in 2003. I’d argue that was more likely a symptom of the toxic environment that surrounded him. Any team that would give Sidney Ponson $20 million has only itself to blame when even its smart players start making dumb decisions.

Roberts will probably go somewhere else and thrive, because if he can excel despite the force field of negativity that has clouded the Orioles in recent years, he might become Ryne Sandberg if you put him in a Cubs uniform.

Look what happened to Eric Byrnes. During his short stint in Baltimore, he literally could not hit his weight. He ended up in Arizona and nearly won the National League MVP. Byrnes isn’t he only player who has struggled with the Orioles bad vibes and found peace elsewhere. Even Sammy Sosa – who looked like the worst player in Major League Baseball during his year with the Birds, and was easily the rudest media interview – showed signs of life in Texas last year.

Roberts gave the Orioles five excellent years starting in 2003. He signed autographs for the fans, he cared about the community, he hit for average, stole a few bases, played great defense, and showed some occasional pop with his bat. More important, he was humble enough to make you feel proud to be an O’s fan, even in the darkest of times.

The Orioles rewarded him by surrounding him with a collection of fools, liars, cheats, con men and frauds. Certainly not every teammate of Roberts fits into one of those categories, but some do. Most are gone, but a few remain.

It could have been different. Roberts was never going to be Brooks or Cal to the city of Baltimore, but he could have been, at the very least, the bridge that got us from Ripken to Nick Markakis and Adam Jones. It would have been a lot of fun to see him as the grizzled veteran on a team contending for the wild card in a few years. Instead, he’ll be a footnote.

So out of respect for the way he went about his job despite the lunacy that sometimes surrounded him, let’s hope we say goodbye sooner rather than later.
Because he gave the franchise more than it deserved at times.

May he find good vibes, and thrive, elsewhere.

-- Kevin Van Valkenburg

Posted by Ron Fritz at 4:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (19)
                    

So it turns out, according to researchers in Germany, that there really is such a thing as a runner's high.

It's, like, better than drugs, man.

I think half the kids I went to high school with just went online to buy running shoes.

-- Kevin Van Valkenburg

Posted by Ron Fritz at 4:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
                    

As one might suspect, I'm not a big fan of those who champion the demise of print media.

Usually when people trash newspapers and champion the speed and beauty of the Internet, they fail to take into account the fact that 90 percent of the blogs out there steal most of their information from newspapers, link it, then make snarky comments about how the story has a liberal, conservative, or anti-Billick bias.

But my favorite nerdy sports fan Keith Olbermann, formerly of SportsCenter fame and now obsessing over politics at MSNBC, used the Fantasy Baseball edition of USA Today's Sports Weekly to make a point this week about how foolish newspapers can look when they try to compete with the digital world without much forethought.

Sports Weekly's Fantasy Extra edition came out on Tuesday. Which, because the Red Sox and Athletics were playing in Japan, also happened to be Opening Day. Any fool who competes in a fantasy league had his (or her) draft at least a week ago, something Olbermann pointed out as he shook a copy of the issue, naming the folks at Sports Weekly his runner-up for Worst Person in the World. (Feel free to watch just the first 40 seconds of this clip.)

Even if you wanted to wait for Sports Weekly to help you draft your fantasy team, you couldn't. Most of those loyal readers probably jumped to the Web to get their info. Hopefully they'll be able to catch up by reading -- in our newspaper -- the fantasy column written by my man Childs Walker, fantasy baseball guru.

In the meantime, take this quiz to find out which major league baseball player you would be if you could, you know, throw, hit and run. I'm Matt Holliday, minus the weird facial hair. If you turn out to be Jay Gibbons, then we here at "O, By The Way" offer our sincere condolences.

-- Kevin Van Valkenburg

Posted by Ron Fritz at 1:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
                    

Baltimore native Frank Deford, one of my literary heroes, has an interesting piece of commentary today on SI.com about growing concerns over the Beijing Olympics, which are now just 133 days away.

The pollution is still atrocious and the alleged human rights violations are, somehow, even worse and there is now little expectation that things are going to get better before August. It's a subject that's been on my mind a lot the last few days, because I was in Ann Arbor, Mich., hanging out with Michael Phelps, the one athlete who will undoubtably be the face of the Olympics as they get closer.

The debate over China puts Phelps in a difficult spot.

He is, first and last, a competitor and an athlete. He wants to swim and take swimming to places the sport has never been before. The Olympics are the only stage where he can do that. He's not a politician, and doesn't really like to get caught up in political debates. But he knows he's going to get questions about the situation, and people will ask him to take a position.

He told me the student newspaper in Ann Arbor recently wrote an article saying he shouldn't worry about winning a single gold medal while he's in Beijing, he should focus solely on human rights while he's there. It's kind of an unfair position to be put in, in my opinion.

Phelps has worked his entire life for this moment. It wasn't his decision to award China the 2008 Games. He values human rights as much as anyone, but he also wants to prove he's the best swimmer ever. To use his athletic ability as a political tool feels somewhat misguided.

Although conventional wisdom seems to be that any kind of Olympic boycott only hurts the athletes, Anne Applebaum, a columnist for Slate.com, breaks down some of the reasons why the Olympics are a perfect place for a boycott.

-- Kevin Van Valkenburg

Posted by Ron Fritz at 9:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
                    

If the autographs and the baseball aren't enough to get you excited this weekend, you might want to check out the Johnsonville Big Taste Grill.

The Big Taste Grill weighs more than 53,000 pounds and measures a total of 65 feet. The grill requires its own semi-truck to haul it. It can cook more than 750 bratwursts at a time — approximately 2,500 per hour.

The grill will be at the Baltimore Ravens Autograph Signing on Saturday (9 a.m.-9 p.m.) at Johnny Unitas Stadium in Towson and before Orioles Opening Day (10 a.m.-3 p.m.) at Pickles Pub near the stadium. Proceeds from donations and sales will benefit local charities, including ASA Soccer Club, according to a Johnsonville news release.

Posted by Ron Fritz at 9:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
                    

You might have missed it, but there are four schools with teams left in both Sweet 16s. Sorry Terps fans, you're not even left in the NIT on the men's side.

The four: North Carolina, Louisville (with the women coached by former Terp assistant Jeff Walz), Stanford and Tennessee.

It will be interesting to see which schools continue to advance teams. Something will have to give on the women's side because North Carolina faces Louisville on Saturday in New Orleans. On the men's side, North Carolina and Louisville could meet in the Elite Eight if the Tar Heels get past Washington State and the Cardinals beat Tennessee.

Posted by Ron Fritz at 11:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
                    

In case you were sleeping when the Maryland women's basketball team played Nebraska at College Park last night, here's a short recap from The Sun's Milton Kent:

The Terps (32-3), the top seed in the Spokane Regional, shook off perhaps their worst shooting performance of the season to grab a 76-64 win over eighth-seeded Nebraska (21-12) to advance to Saturday’s regional semifinal against Vanderbilt, the fourth seed.

“I think there are times when we’re kind of bored or we lose focus,” Maryland coach Brenda Frese said. “Sometimes with young people, you kind of lose focus or intensity. It’s a credit to just how competitive we are. We love to compete. We love the challenge and we love to stay in those battles.”

The win before an announced 8,715 capped an unbeaten home season for Maryland and was its 21st win of the year at Comcast Center. All-American Crystal Langhorne had 18 points and 12 rebounds in her final home performance, but it was a pair of Maryland juniors, guard Kristi Toliver and forward Marissa Coleman, who bailed the Terps out of their funk. Toliver and Coleman scored 19 points each, including 11 and 13, respectively, in the second half.

The game started at 9:53 p.m. and ended around 11:45 p.m. The fun continues Saturday in the Sweet 16 with a 9 p.m. game in Spokane against Vandy.

In other late action last night, the Wizards fell to the Portland Trail Blazers 102-82 on the road in the NBA and the Phoenix Coyotes beat the San Jose Sharks in a 5-4 overtime thriller in the NHL.

Posted by Ron Fritz at 9:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
                    

The New Republic (via the Philadephia Daily News) has an interesting item about Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, and his decision to appear on a Philadelphia sports talk radio station in hopes of appealing to "working-class" voters in the upcoming Pennsylvania primary.

It was interesting not because Obama loves to play pick-up basketball, which he does; you can read about he and Sports Illustrated writer S.L. Price playing one-on-one here:

It was interesting because Obama and the radio hosts, Angelo Cataldi and Al Morganti, didn't talk about sports at all. Personally, I like politics and follow it regularly. It's just as entertaining as sports, and often, it's just as superficial. But I'm not sure I'd be too thrilled if I were a Phillies fan interested in discussing whether or not Cole Hamels can stay healthy for a full year, and I tuned into my favorite radio station only to have to sit through a half hour of what amounted to a political endorsement. It annoyed me to no end that Curt Schilling decided to celebrate the Red Sox World Series victory in 2004 by running out the next day and campaigning for George W. Bush.

Or when Bill Clinton was suddenly the world's biggest Arkansas Razorbacks fan during the 1994 NCAA Tournament. Let's not even get started on Hillary Clinton's claim that she can be both a Cubs fan AND a Yankees fan.

A lot people listen to sports talk radio specifically because they don't want to spend their commute thinking about politics, whether they get their news from Rush Limbaugh or from NPR. They don't want to concern themselves with John McCain's thoughts on how to beat a zone defense or Brian Roberts' position on school vouchers.

Does it annoy you when those two worlds collide?

-- Kevin Van Valkenburg

Posted by Ron Fritz at 9:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
                    

It was going to happen eventually. He simply couldn't win every single time he teed it up (could he?). Still, it was somewhat remarkable this morning when Australia's Geoff Ogilvy officially snapped Tiger Woods' winning streak by wrapping up the rain-delayed WGC-CA Championship.

Ogilvy shot a 1-under 71 to end the somewhat absurd talk of Tiger's perfect season, finishing at 17-under par, one shot better than Retief Goosen, Vijay Singh and Jim Furyk. Woods started the day five back, and finished in a tie for fifth.

Tiger is always the subject of much debate in my tiny household and how you view him, I think, is a reflection of how you watch sports. If you're a Tiger Woods fan, you like to see dominance. Excellence. You want to see records smashed and the game humbled.

If you cheer for Tiger's opponents, you're someone who roots for the underdog, the Cinderella story -- with tears in his eyes, I guess -- to take down the most dominant athlete of our lifetime. I'm one of the latter. I like Phil Mickelson because I know what it's like to hit a shot off a hospitality tent or a tree. I don't have abs of steel. And most likely, neither do you.

As we close in on The Masters, it's almost impossible to see anyone else winning the tournament other than Tiger. If he drives the ball well, you can start carving his name on the trophy right now. Assuming, however, no photographers snap pictures during his downswing. That happened today on the ninth tee and Woods looked like he might ask caddy Steve Williams to choke the offender to death with his bare hands. But just for kicks, here are five golfers that could sneak in and steal the trophy if he sprays his driver into the trees like he did last year:

1. Vijay Singh -- Other than the time he and Mickelson almost came to blows in the clubhouse because Vijay claimed Phil was leaving spike marks all over the greens, Singh really hasn't made much noise at Augusta recently. But he seems to have his mojo back after a disappointing 2007. I've always looked at Vijay like he was the John Updike of golf. Boring as he is, you can't deny his brilliance.

2. Adam Scott -- Right now, fellow Aussie Geoff Ogilvy is having the career Scott was supposed to have. He has so much talent, it's difficult to pin down why he hasn't broken through yet. He played well this week on Doral's Blue Monster, but hasn't quite put it all together. I'm not sure whether to love him or hate him, though, because my wife thinks he's just about the most dreamy professional athlete alive. Curse you, Adam Scott.

3. Justin Rose -- Rose is all kinds of cool, and not just because he's English. Last year, I watched him get a round of applause after coming out of a port-a-john at Tiger Woods' tournament in D.C., an awkward situation that he handled with a graceful smirk and a wave. That's style under pressure, in my opinion. Rose can hit it long, has great touch, he putts well, and finished fifth at the Masters last year. Once upon a time, Europeans used to thrive at the Masters, so perhaps it's time for a revival.

4. Ernie Els -- If I could spend an entire evening drinking beer with any professional athlete, The Big Easy would rank high on my list. He's played fairly well this year, and always seems like he's a threat at Augusta, where you have to hit it long and putt well to contend.

5. Fred Couples -- The best thing about Couples -- other than the fact that he shares his first name with my dad, my favorite golfing partner -- is that even at 48 years old, you can't count him out. He doesn't wear a golf glove, his hair is starting to turn gray, he rarely contends on a weekly basis on the PGA Tour, but inside the ropes at Augusta he can still summon some magic. Had he not gagged that 3-putt from 10 feet on the 14th green (we were corrected by a reader) two years ago, there is a good chance he would have scared Mickelson down the stretch.

Feel free to list your non-Tiger Masters picks below, kids.

-- Kevin Van Valkenburg

Posted by Ron Fritz at 12:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)
                    

Folks, Kevin Van Valkenburg here, pinch-hitting for my man Bill Ordine, who is on vacation this week.

First up this morning, how about a big hand for baby-faced baller Stephen Curry, Davidson College's Mr. Everything, who dropped 25 second-half points on Georgetown to send the Wildcats into the Sweet 16, and massacre office pools all throughout the nation's capital.

Davidson hasn't done anything like this since good ol' Lefty Driesell took them to the Final Four in 1969, and here is hoping Lefty is kicking back in his chair -- with a cool beverage in his hand -- grinning every time he sees Curry launch another 3-pointer.

Remember when this kid wasn't even supposedly good enough to play at Virginia Tech? How good would he look in a Hokie uniform right now? Or, dare we say it, a Maryland uniform?

Sun alum Heather Dinich, now writing for the cool cats at ESPN.com, has the details of Curry's slick performa