Stealing signs

It seems like an eternity since a young Sergio Garcia dueled with Tiger Woods at the 1999 PGA Championship at Medina Country Club.

That 19-year-old boy has grown up without winning a big tournament, until now. Garcia won The Player’s Championship on Sunday in thrilling fashion with an island-green playoff victory.

The ending couldn’t have been more dramatic even after his opponent Paul Goydos plunked his tee shot into the water. Garcia, really only needing to avoid getting wet, followed with a beautiful shot within a few feet of the cup.

Finally, Garcia was able to win a big tournament on the PGA Tour. After blowing last year’s Open Championship I thought he might be cursed. Here’s a guy who was one of the most talented youngsters in golf back in ’99, but never really amounted to much since then.

I’m glad Garcia finally got to win a big event, but his words after winning solidified my claims in last week’s blog. Garcia thanked Tiger Woods for not playing in the event, saying that it makes things much easier when he isn’t out there.

With Woods out with an injury, he was unable to play the event, but should be back for the U.S. Open in June and hopes to return to play before then.

Another note from The Player’s Championship is that Goydos, the runner-up, was such a good sport. I was pulling for him to win a little bit just because of how cool he seemed. Even after tanking on the playoff, Goydos was all smiles and joked with Sergio on the way to the green. He complimented and congratulated him at every opportunity. He even wrote “Mom” on his golf ball for Mother’s Day. I hope we see more of him this year.

So, I played in the Alamance-Caswell County Hospice Golf Classic on Monday at Alamance Country Club. To no surprise, my team didn’t win, but we might have come close. We shot an even-par 71 in the Captain’s Choice format and that score isn’t impressive by any standard, but the way the tournament was set up, we might have had a shot.

The organizers divided all 35 teams into four flights, with a winner for each flight. The winning teams shot 58, 62, 66 and 70. That’s right, one of the teams was just one shot better than mine. There were several teams better than 70 that didn’t win, but apparently all the teams in the 70 flight were just as awful as mine. Too bad we didn’t shoot one stroke better, we may have won $500. But that point could be mute since we might have been in the flight with the score of 58 all along.

I wasn’t happy with our score, but I guess I can’t be disappointed either. None of us had played in this event before and none were too familiar with the course. I’d played there just once about three years ago. Also, the conditions were tough with gusts over 30 mph blowing right into our face.

Also, we made the mistake of not purchasing a lot of mulligans. They had a table set up before the event to buy mulligans for $5 a piece. I didn’t see the table, therefore didn’t get any. Our team had three and we used them, but they didn’t help us at all. Who knows how many other teams bought, but from watching other groups take about 10 putts on the last par 3, I think they had a lot more than we did. Rookie mistake. I’ll know better for the next time.

But as my Dad says, a bad day on the golf course is better than a good day at work. And it wasn’t a bad day of golf, it was really nice.

It’s May and we’ve already watched The Masters and golf is supposed to be in full swing. But not this year.

With Tiger Woods missing in action due to injury a usually fun to watch tournament like The Players Championship has lost its appeal.

The winner for this tournament and every other Woods will miss is tainted because they didn’t have to beat the best.

Every tournament Tiger is the favorite because he’s the world’s best and maybe greatest ever, but with him on the sidelines the competition level seems down, or just nonexistent.

It’s always, how is anyone going to beat Tiger? Now it’s just who cares who’s going to win.

It’s not completely anyone’s game which I think might be good for golf to try and develop some other dominant players while Woods is gone, but in the long run, when Tiger returns, it will be back to the same old story. Tiger is the favorite and Tiger wins.

I realize Woods doesn’t win every tournament he plays in, but he seems to always be in the running. So, until he comes back, I probably won’t watch much golf. I plan on playing a little bit, but I’ll stay in the woods and off the couch.

I’m actually playing in a tournament Monday with some other folks at the Times-News. It’s at Alamance County Club which I’ve played once before, compliments of my friend Ricky. But I didn’t turn in a good score that day; in fact it was one of the worst efforts in recent years. Hopefully I’ll have better luck this time around.

It’s a Captain’s Choice format, but I’m not sure how many of my scores we’ll be using. I plan on heading out this weekend to try and sharpen my skills, but I’m sure they’ll stay pretty dull.

Elon University took down the Davidson Wildcats 10-5 on Thursday afternoon and successfully finished its regular-season league campaign.

Elon (38-16, 19-8) is in prime position for postseason play. I think the Phoenix will earn an at-large bid no matter what happens the rest of the way, but Elon has a good chance at winning an automatic bid at the Southern Conference Tournament in two weeks.

The Phoenix also has a strong chance at capturing the regular-season league crown, but it needs a few things to go its way.

First, Elon needs Furman to lose to of its six remaining league games. The Paladins are currently in first place and have three games with Appalachian State and Georgia Southern remaining. Elon swept Furman this year so it would win a tie-breaker.

Second, if Furman loses the two games, Elon needs UNC Greensboro to lose one of its six games. UNCG has three games against Georgia Southern and three against last-place Davidson. Then Elon would also win a tiebreaker, having beaten the Spartans two out of three a few weeks ago.

If it wins out, College of Charleston has a slim chance to tie Elon for the league crown if those other two factors happen.

Bottom line, it’s all possible and Elon needs to pull for Georgia Southern to play well to end the season. The Eagles control Elon’s chances at winning another Southern Conference title.

So, the Kentucky Derby came and went and I haven’t had a free moment to post a new blog since it happened.

The favorite Big Brown won the race, but the victory was overshadowed when the runner up, Eight Belles, was euthanized.

Immediately following the race, the horse feel to the ground and both broke its ankles. Trainers then put down the horse on the track in front of the Churchill Downs crowd.

I’m not a race horsing expert, nor have I ever been to a race, but from what I’ve heard, this doesn’t happen all that often.

It was a tragedy to lose a horse in that fashion right after the race concluded, but the decision was made to save the horse from suffering.

NBC chose not to broadcast what happened and rightfully so. I don’t think anyone would have wanted or needed to see something so sad and horrific.

On the positive side, Big Brown is this year’s darling horse and now it becomes the horse everyone will pull for to win the Preakness and hopefully have a shot at the Triple Crown.

My friend Mike bet a ridiculous amount of money on the race and lost miserably. He should’ve stuck with the favorite, but didn’t. He went with Pyro who finished 14^th, not good. I picked Colonel John who didn’t finish much better in 12^th.

The Boston Celtics and Cleveland Cavaliers tipped off their playoff series Tuesday night with the Celtics taking Game 1 at home. This series should be a great one after last night’s close finish.

LeBron James had a miserable game along with Celtics players Ray Allen and Paul Pierce. You have to think that James will bounce back with a monster Game 2 on Thursday night. James dominated the Celtics all season which is why I was surprised he struggled in Game 1.

 Boston’s defensive game plan looks to be this: smother James and let everyone else step up. It’s working so far. James was 2-for-18 with 12 points; most of those came at the free-throw line. With the ball in his hands at the finish, James missed what looked like a gimme layup. It rolled off the rim and James Posey got the rebound for Boston.

 Allen was held scoreless in a game of any kind for the first time since 1997. Ouch.

What a week for members of the North Carolina basketball team. Earlier in the week the Tar Heels were shooting hoops with democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama in Chapel Hill, now they’re jumping off balconies into pools at UNC frat houses.

Let me be the first to say I had some wild days in college and I did some stupid things, but I never jumped off a balcony into an above ground pool. And even if I did, I didn’t play Division I college basketball and have millions of dollars in my future as an NBA player. So, not the brightest move by Tyler Hansbrough and Bobby Frasor.

I won’t mention the dumb things I did college because they’re probably not appropriate for this blog.

Let’s start with Frasor. The talented point guard sat out almost all of last season with a knee injury. He hasn’t completely healed from the injury yet he finds it acceptable to jump off a balcony into a pool. Not smart.

Then Hansbrough, who could have been a lottery pick in the 2008 draft, but chose to stay for his senior season, has such a bright future that he almost ruined it. I’m sure coach Roy Williams and NBA scouts aren’t too happy with Hansbrough taking the plunge.

He could’ve sprained an ankle, broken a leg or even worse. These guys need to be careful. I know it’s the end of the school year and of course these guys are still kids and they want to have fun, but you’re a college basketball celebrity. Your star power is your wild and crazy times. Your trip to the Final Four is your fun. So, diving off balconies into pools is the stupid thing for guys like me to do, with no NBA career to jeopardize. Be smart.

The 134^th running of the Kentucky Derby is Saturday at Churchill Downs and every year I get excited for the historic race.

The Kentucky Derby has days and weeks of build up but the race itself is over in a split second. Twenty horses will compete for the first prize of the Triple Crown and every year the derby winner gets all the attention for the months leading up to the Preakness.

Horse racing is a wonderful thing. Gambling, drinking and sports combined to make a wonderful Saturday afternoon.

This year I’m going with Colonel John, a 4-1 favorite. I never actually bet money, except maybe a side bet or two with a few friends.

I hope I don’t miss the derby this year. I’ll be en route to Charleston, SC on Saturday afternoon and hope to get there before the race starts around 6 p.m.

Whoever wins the race will then become America’s obsession for the rest of the summer. The Triple Crown of horse racing is one of the most coveted accomplishments in all of sports and it’s a rare feat. Whenever a horse can win the first two legs of the crown the hype builds even higher. I hope whoever wins can win the Preakness and at least provide the opportunity for a Triple Crown, but it’s a long shot.

Somehow the Atlanta Hawks have won two straight games an evened up their best-of-7 game series with the Boston Celtics 2-2.

I don’t know how this happened.

The lowly Hawks are the worst team record wise in the playoffs. I never thought they’d even come within 10 points of winning a game against the Celtics.

My friend Brian is a big fan of anything Atlanta sports and he sent me a text message following the game last night that said “How bout my Hawks now.”

Well good for them, they won two games at home. But I’m not scared as he kindly suggested. In the playoffs, a team is supposed to win at home, so no worries. The Celtics have home court advantage and will win at home. So, worst-case scenario the Celtics win in seven, but they still win.

I think the Hawks definitely have Boston on its heels, but there’s no way the Celts drop the series, I mean come on, let’s be real, the Hawks aren’t even a .500 team. They’re just a bunch of punks playing prison ball out there.

My friend Zack also text messaged me about the series. He’s a big Celtics fan too. I think he’d agree with me that we’re surprised, but not worried.

I’m boycotting the NFL Draft this year. Well, kind of.

Of course I’m interested in the draft and who my favorite team the New England Patriots draft, but I don’t care for the ridiculous amount coverage.

This time of year ESPN dedicates its network to the NFL Draft even though the NBA and NHL playoffs are in full swing. I’d also much rather watch a college baseball game on ESPN than 20 some odd hours of the draft.

The network will be airing every round and pick of the draft with pregame, postgame analysis. Everything you need to know, don’t need to know and wouldn’t even care to know will be covered this weekend.

I don’t care for the product I just want to see the end result. I’ll glance when it’s all over at who went where.

This weekend I’ll be keeping a close eye on Elon’s baseball team. The Phoenix has a three-game series against UNC Greensboro on the road. The Spartans are hungry to stay in the conference championship race. Right now, Elon, College of Charleston and UNCG all have five losses in the league. Elon is in first because it has more league wins because it has played more games.

This weekend is a big series for the Phoenix. Last weekend Elon dropped two of three from the Cougars which hurt Elon a little bit, but it still controls its own destiny.

Another thing I’m excited for this weekend is Elon’s spring football game. Usually I don’t care for this stuff and prefer to wait until August, but after attending Elon’s road tour in Greensboro last night, I’m excited for the upcoming season.

I’m not sure I’ll be able to attend Saturday’s game at 3 p.m. in Rhodes Stadium, but I’m going to try. Coach Pete Lembo spoke at the event and seemed extremely positive about the team he has for the upcoming season.

Elon returns its two best and most explosive players, QB Scott Riddle and wide receiver Terrell Hudgins. I can’t wait to watch these two go off again this season.

The NHL and NBA playoffs are in full swing. Hockey already got its first taste of drama with the Montreal Canadiens knocking off the Boston Bruins in Game 7 of a first-round series Monday night.

I wasn’t as bummed out that the Bruins lost as I thought I’d be. I definitely got excited when they won game 6 to force a deciding game, but the loss didn’t mean all that much to me.

I wasn’t expecting much from the B’s since they were a No. 8 seed and to be honest, I haven’t followed the Bruins as religiously as I do with the Red Sox, Patriots and Celtics. But I did watch a few games of the series, whenever they were on, and naturally pulled for my hometown boys in black and yellow.

But I do stand firm in saying that the NHL playoffs are extremely entertaining. I love this time of year. The intensity rises and the hits are ferocious on the ice. I remember just two years ago this month I was on the Carolina Hurricanes beat as they cruised through the playoffs and into the Stanley Cup finals.

The Hurricanes won it all that year and it was one of the greatest experiences of my life. It was so cool to be at a major sporting championship, and yes, hockey is still a major sport.

Alongside the NHL is the NBA’s postseason which I don’t usually care for. I think both leagues drag out their postseasons, but the NBA seems to start off at snail speed. For example, the Celtics crushed the Atlanta Hawks on Sunday night in Boston. Game 2 of that series isn’t until Wednesday night and the game is still in Boston. There is no reason they can’t just play the game Tuesday or even Monday. Why do they need at least one day off after every game, it’s ridiculous.

There are also so many teams in the playoffs that I don’t really start paying attention until it gets closer to the end. I mean the Hawks for example are the No. 8 seed and they’re terrible. They have no chance of beating Celtics. Their record is way below .500 and they flat out stink and aren’t worthy of the playoffs. A team like the Golden State Warriors, well above .500, just missed the playoffs.

It’d make more sense to just take the 16 best teams, but that’ll never happen. It just doesn’t make me want to watch the lowly Hawks play instead of a quality team like Golden State. It’s really too bad.

I’m fed up with Chad Johnson.

The star wide receiver for the Cincinnati Bengals is getting on my nerves. If I hear one more time this offseason that he wants to be traded I may fly to Ohio and whoop his … OK I’m just kidding there. I don’t really care that much.

But seriously, Johnson demanded again Wednesday that the Bengals trade him. He’s been vocal about his dislike for the organization and the direction it’s headed and pronounced he wanted to be traded “now.”

I admit, I used to enjoy Johnson’s end zone celebrations after touchdowns and looked forward to watching whatever antics he had cooked up. His acts were a regular part of the football routine which is Sunday afternoons. I also loved his ESPN commercial which was basically a brainstorming session on new TD dances.

But now I realize that all of his showboating, trash talking and dancing was just because he’s a punk.

Looking back at all the stunts he’s pulled he really is a child in a grown man’s body. Let’s remember a few.

1.) He dies his hair blonde and shaved it into a mohawk.

2.) He wores a grill in his teeth before several games

3.) He wore a jacket with Hall of Fame written on the back

4.) He wore special cleats with pictures of himself on it.

5.) He taped the words Ocho Cinco on the back of his jersey.

And of course, don’t forget about the TD dances which have accumulated thousands in fines. The CPR one might be my favorite.

He sat down with Michael Irvin a few months back and the interview was out of control because Chad is out of control.

After hearing his Bengals quarterback Carson Palmer say that he expected Johnson to be at training camp, Johnson went off. He called ESPN NFL reporter John Clayton, the ugliest man I’ve ever spoke with in person, to vent.

Johnson said he wanted Palmer to stay out his business and reiterated his demand for a trade, saying not after the draft, not over the summer, but “now.”

But who is he to demand trades? I hate more than anything when players make demands like this one. Johnson is under contract therefore too bad if you want to be traded.

I don’t mind if players ask for a trade in a respectful manor, like behind closed doors with management like an adult. But going off in the media and demanding left and right you be moved without actually setting up a sit down with your bosses is so childish. Short and simple, Johnson is a baby. He signed a contract to play with the Bengals, that’s his problem and no one else’s.

I hope the Bengals don’t trade him and he spends the year miserable. I hate when players get what they want in situations like this. As if the millions of dollars and fancy cars he already owns aren’t enough to keep him happy. Just play football and shut up already. I don’t care how good you are. Enough of the crap.

Tiger Woods underwent arthroscopic surgery on his left knee Tuesday and this news is huge.

Not only will Woods miss at least a month for recovery, but it hints that he wasn’t 100 percent during The Masters, perhaps the reason why he didn’t win.

The surgery repaired cartilage damage and is the second operation on the same knee that Woods has had in five years.

Woods’ rehab schedule should have him missing The Players Championship, but it’s likely that he’ll play in the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines.

Golf experts are predicting that Woods will come back stronger and better than ever, but as I wrote the other day, will whatever he does really mean that much?

After losing The Masters there is no chance of winning a grand slam which seems like the only big feat Wood has left to accomplish. Since it’s early in the golf season and that goal is already unreachable, who really cares how good Woods is the rest of this season?

Of course I’ll watch him crush the field at the British Open and the rest of the majors and big golf events, but it won’t mean anything, so I don’t think it’s that big of a deal.

But one thing is for sure, the media sure does. I’ve seen the headline “Woods has knee surgery” everywhere since Tuesday, probably in too many places.

Another thing I’m sick of people talking about is Spy gate. I watch “Mike and Mike in the morning” on ESPN every morning while getting ready to come to work. I enjoy the radio show, made television show and they usually have great guests and good stuff to say. But today was different. Mike Greenberg started to annoy me. He is a big New York Jets fan and his hatred for the New England Patriots has become unprofessional.

His show is watched and listened to by millions, yet he continues to drag out the Patriots Spy gate incident.

He said this morning that fans want to know the truth behind it and that it is still buzzing around the country. He’s wrong.

I haven’t heard anyone mention anything about it except him. The only reason it’s still occasionally talked about is because people like him keep bringing it up.

He said today that he gets e-mails and phone calls from people telling him to let it rest and move on, but he said he wasn’t going to because the ordeal wasn’t over, but he’s wrong. The NFL wants nothing to do with it anymore and they’re trying to end the whole nightmare. But people like Greenberg won’t let it rest.