Month: March 2010 (Page 36 of 59)

Conflicting reports on when Tiger will return

There have been conflicting reports over the last two days about when and where Tiger Woods will make his return to the PGA Tour. Yesterday, the New York Post reported that Woods would play at the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill in two weeks, but now the Associated Press says that Tiger wouldn’t return until the Masters.

From ESPN.com:

Meanwhile, Woods’ longtime friend, Mark O’Meara, told the Golf Channel Wednesday that he “wouldn’t be surprised” if Woods played during the Tavistock Cup, a competition between two high-profile golf clubs in Orlando where several prominent PGA Tour players are members. The tournament is scheduled for March 22-23 at Isleworth.

The event would be a good way for Woods to ease back into competitive play, O’Meara told the Golf Channel.

Woods has been practicing at Isleworth near his Orlando home the last two weeks, and swing coach Hank Haney flew there during the weekend to work with him. That led to speculation Thursday he was close to playing again.

Well, what will it be, Tiger? Do you want a small (Tavistock), medium (Arnold Palmer Invitational) or big (the Masters) stage when you return to golf? Last week I predicted that he would return to the Masters and make a big splash, but the other two events make sense as well.

It never ceases to amaze me how the focus has now turned to Tiger’s return to golf. It’s prove that the media and we as an American public have a short attention span and will move onto the next big storyline as soon as humanly possible. For months the headlines were about Tiger bumping uglies with porn stars and him going to sex therapy, now we’re trying to figure out when he’ll return to golf. Amazing.

Update: TMZ has put some clues together and it appears that Woods will make his comeback at the Tavistock. Nothing has been confirmed yet, however.


Photo from fOTOGLIF

Oregon QB Masoli could face five years in prison

Oregon quarterback Jeremiah Masoli will be arraigned this morning on a charge of second-degree burglary in Eugene, Oregon. If he’s convicted, he faces up to five years in prison, which is the maximum sentence for a Class C felony in Oregon.

From SPORTSbyBROOKS.com:

The seriousness of the charge is also hard to believe considering Masoli has faced no punishment from Oregon Coach Chip Kelly, despite the coach’s assurances that he was closely following the matter.

Also charged in the alleged second-degree burglary is former Oregon football player Garrett Embry.

Embry, who didn’t figure to see a lot of playing time in 2010 for the Ducks, was dismissed from the football team by Kelly on Feb. 1. In the official statement about Embry’s release, Kelly claimed that the player had actually been kicked off the team on Jan. 8 for a previous team rules violation.

But after the theft report Ken Goe of the PORTLAND OREGONIAN reported that on Jan. 24, “Oregon officials refused to confirm he (Embry) had been dismissed (from the team).”

If Embry had already been dismissed from the team on Jan. 8, why didn’t Kelly report it then? Meanwhile, starting quarterback Masoli has faced no such penalties since the theft allegation – though both have now been charged with the same crime.

This is certainly a horrible situation for Kelly and the Oregon program. Not only does Masoli (who is a Heisman candidate by the way) face major legal issues, but Kelly will also come under fire if he booted Emrby off the team but not Masoli, who committed the same crime. Everyone knows there’s a huge difference between the way a starting quarterback is treated compared to a backup player, but the media will have a field day with Kelly if he indeed let Masoli off easy because he’s a star.

The entire situation is ugly.


Photo from fOTOGLIF

How is Darko doing in Minnesota?

TrueHoop’s Henry Abbott asked Idan Ravin (a private trainer) a few questions about the Minnesota Timberwolves, who just had him in for a few workouts. Abbott asked about how the team was looking and Ravin mentioned a familiar name:

And Darko Milicic — he’s way more talented than anyone ever gave him credit for. He has been beat up in his first six years in the NBA. I wish I could sneak you into the gym so you could see what he can do. He really is seven-feet-plus. He’s really bouncy. He’s really running. You can see why it was a debate who should be first, second or third in that draft.

And your’e a Carmelo guy!

Carmelo’s my guy. But Darko’s ta-len-ted. They’re doing something smart here by welcoming him openly, and making him feel a part of what’s happening. He’s a good kid. There’s nothing bad about him. What’s the point of all the yelling and screaming and cursing and insulting that he has endured? Once you have lost your dignity and self respect, it’s hard to be professional. Now he’s somewhere where they are acting like they’re happy to see him, and it’s awesome.

For all his struggles, Milicic is just 24 (a year younger than ’07 draftees Aaron Brooks and Acie Law) and has been through a lot of adversity in his career. Some of it was his own doing, and some of it was being unfortunate enough to start his career under Larry Brown. In 2005-06, the year he was traded to Orlando and got decent minutes, he had a PER of 15.21 (which is above average) and shot 51%. He was solid (13.88) in his second season in Orlando as well.

Even though he’s getting 20+ minutes in Minnesota, Milicic still plans to abandon the NBA and head overseas to play professionally.

Marquette knocks off #10 Villanova

If the Golden Eagles didn’t already have a bid to the NCAA Tournament, they should now. Marquette beat Villanova, 80-76, in the quarterfinals of the Big East Championship.

Joe Lunardi had Marquette as a #9 seed before the win, so they should be a sure thing at this point. They have five losses to ranked teams (Wisconsin, West Virginia, Georgetown, Syracuse and Villanova twice) by a total of 19 points, so they play everyone tough. Plus, they have nice wins against Georgetown, Xavier and now Villanova.

« Older posts Newer posts »