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 (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.

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.

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.

Both teams were eliminated from the first round in just five games, basically blown out of the playoffs. These teams have been stellar squads the last few years. Dallas played in the NBA Finals, losing convincingly to Miami in 2006.

Phoenix has been one of the best teams in the league over the last five years or so. Steve Nash has been one of if not the best point guards in the league, but somehow the Suns couldn’t get it done.

With the West as tight as it was this season, we’re now starting to see how important seeding is. The Suns drew the defending champion San Antonio Spurs in the first round, an unfavorable matchup for anyone. This series was the most exciting in last year’s playoffs with the Spurs advancing after Amare Stoudemire’s controversial suspension in the middle of the series.

Some say that suspension cost the Suns the series. But this year it wasn’t even close. Despite trading for Shaquille O’Neal before the trading deadline Phoenix never got better.

Speaking of blockbuster trades to improve your team, Dallas added Jason Kidd, but looked much worse with the All-Star point guard. How does that happen?

This is one of the rare circumstances with coaching changes that I feel a move is for the better. Usually I question how much of a role a coach really has with a team. Every team is filled with professionals and I often times think they should be able to produce no matter who’s on the bench holding the dry erase board.

In this case, these are super talented teams and there is no excuse for why they aren’t producing. The only reason I can think of is that the coach isn’t doing his job. So, maybe it’s for the best.

D’Antoni hasn’t been canned yet, but I wouldn’t be shocked if it happens later today, despite the front office dying those allegations.

Game 5 between the Boston Celtics and Atlanta Hawks is tonight. This game is a huge turning point in the series. I think whoever wins this one will have all the momentum in the series. Atlanta has more right now, but I can’t say they have it all since they have to hit the road and play in Boston tonight. I guarantee the Boston fans will make the environment hostile for the Hawks who have stirred up trouble and a few confrontations thus far in the series.

Go Celtics!

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.

So, I’ve gotten a few e-mails about my blogging absence and I apologize. I’ve been back on the campaign trail the last week with former president Bill Clinton visiting Elon last Wednesday and Sen. Hillary Clinton making a stop in Graham this morning.

To be honest, these campaign stops are wearing me out. I can only imagine how tried both the Clinton family and Barack Obama must be after countless hours, days and weeks straight of campaigning for the democratic presidential nomination.

Both Bill and Hillary have been in and out of North Carolina the last few weekends with the May 6 primary approaching quickly. North Carolina’s primary will matter for the first time in a long time and could be the deciding factor in who takes home the party’s nominee and continues their campaign for the White House.

But back on the sports front. I won’t touch on a whole lot today, but I’ll mention a few things from the weekend.

First off, Elon University took two of three on the road against UNC Greensboro to stay close in the battle for the regular season Southern Conference title.

After losing the first game with ace Steven Hensley on the mound, Elon bounced back and took two close ones against the Spartans. Elon has six conference games remaining, three against Appalachian State and three against Davidson. Both are much lesser teams and Elon should sweep the six games, but of course that’s easier said than done.

The College of Charleston holds a slim winning percentage points advantage over Elon for first place.

For some weird reason, both those remaining conference series take place during the week with doubleheaders.

The NFL Draft took place Saturday and Sunday and as promised I didn’t tune in. I did check the paper Sunday morning to see who went where, caring only for who the Patriots and Panthers drafted and where my boy Matt Ryan of Boston College ended up. Ryan went to the Atlanta Falcons officially ending the Michael Vick era in ATL. Finally.

I heard a funny skit on the radio on the way to work last week about Vick. The radio host pretended to interview Vick from jail, but it was obviously someone impersonating him on the phone. The interview took place with the sound of inmates lifting weights in the background and was pretty hilarious.

Vick talked about how he’s been lifting and staying strong. He said he feels stronger and tougher than ever. He also added that he’d been playing and dominating on the prison football team. The fake Vick also said he’d been writing Falcons owner Arthur Blank a latter a day, trying to show his continued commitment to the Falcons. He said he asked in some letters for Blank to purchase equipment such as a shovel and a garden hose so Vick could escape “Shawshank Redemption” style.

The interview was funny and further pushes Vick’s life into humor than seriousness. I doubt Vick will ever be as successful as he once was.

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.

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.

The Phoenix (28-11 overall, 12-3 conference) lost to Western Carolina, High Point and Coastal Carolina, matching its longest losing streak of the season.

This isn’t the best time for Elon to be entering what might its toughest three-game set of the year with a trip to Charleston, SC on tap. Elon begins a series with College of Charleston on Friday.

The Cougars have owned the SoCon in recent years except in 2006 when the Phoenix claimed the regular season crown. College of Charleston did go on to win the conference tournament.

College of Charleston (25-12, 8-4) is coming off a three-game sweep last weekend against Furman and for the first time in a long time, it was the Cougars doing the sweeping. The Paladins took three straight in a major upset. Elon swept Furman earlier this year.

The rest of the season has a lot of road work for the Phoenix, but the competition isn’t all that stiff after College of Charleston. Leaving with a series victory this weekend is crucial for Elon’s hopes at winning another regular season conference title.

Elon plays host to Wake Forest next week at Latham Park in non-conference action which would indeed be a resume builder after taking a hit with the loss to 14-22 High Point on Tuesday.

If Elon can finish strong, an at-large big in the NCAA Tournament is a strong possibility.

While on the subject of baseball, my favorite sport, I should mention Thursday night’s marathon. The Colorado Rockies defeated the San Diego Padres in 22 innings. What a long game, but the more impressive part is the score, especially since neither team scored a run until the 14^th inning.

The game didn’t end until 1:21 a.m. and was the longest game in the majors in 15 years. Petco Park was nearly empty when the game finally ended after 6 hours and 16 minutes.

I can only imagine how horrible it must feel to lose a game after 22 innings. But it must feel just as good to win.