Quality Start

Yesterday was pretty chock full of goodness…a full slate of baseball, the NBA Finals and the French Open final, and yet everything loomed in the shadow of one, Eldrick Woods.

Golf: I wake up to find this on the batphone courtesy of clown (from Jason Sobel’s Weekly 18 at ESPN.com)…

“Anyone with one of those pocket guides filled with swing tips and enough moxie to discredit a 14-time major champion has been calling for Tiger Woods to make some fairly drastic changes to his game following a return from knee surgery that included just one win in his first half-dozen starts.”

Yesterday…all the criticism and mechanical hullabaloo was rendered a thing of the past.  Yes, prior to the Memorial, Tiger’s swing was in shambles, leading many who follow the sport closely to think that maybe it was time to dump Hank Haney.  He was a paltry (for him) 42nd in driving distance, 142nd in driving accuracy, finding 10% less GIR’s than he historically does and was a streaky putter…yet, he hasn’t finished outside the top 10 in any stroke play event this year.

That’s the thing though…he DID make changes. 

He went from a 9 degree driver to a 10 degree model and ditched the new VR blades he was using in favor of the older models with the giant swoosh on the back.  His swing was more upright (when he gets into trouble is when his swing plane is too flat and he starts blocking things right) and there wasn’t that pronounced head dip or violent move through the ball.  But it’s hard to blame him for all that because he couldn’t work the way he used to and when you can’t practice because your knee isn’t healthy, then it’s hard to improve your ballstriking.  But damn, it was working at Muirfield.

What happened yesterday was different than his win at Arnie’s event at Bay Hill…yesterday wasn’t a Houdini act…it was domination, golf perfection.  Every fairway hit, long bombs with the putter, a miraculous flop shot for eagle (that was a solid 9 out of 10 in terms of difficulty), I’ve seen maybe five rounds in my lifetime that can even come close to being that flawless (the two most recent being his final round at the 2007 PGA Championship and Sergio’s final round at the 2008 Players), and two weeks out from the US Open at the 5th toughest course on the tour’s rota last year that’s essentially Augusta North?  Lets just say the smart money’s on Tiger.

If he’s truly returned to form…this might be the best Tiger we’ve ever seen.

Tennis: Roger Federerererererererer has completed the career Grand Slam with his win at Roland Garros, a place that has seen some of his toughest moments in his sterling career.  Big Fed was dominant, much like his Gillette-shilling bro was on Sunday, taking down the manly-named Robin Soderling 6-1, 7-6 (1), 6-4.  Of course, if Nadal didn’t shit the bed earlier, this might have actually be interesting, and after a 2nd set rally, it was kinda intriguing, but then BAM.  Door shut.  Big Fed proves why he’s the big man on campus and is staking his claim to be the greatest player of all time.

Magic 96, Lakers 101 (OT): If you’re a fan of good basketball, this is not the series for you.

15 first quarter points?!?!  FIFTEEN!?!?!?!?  Moses smell the roses that’s fucking pathetic, and I know pathetic…I’m a fan of Mo Williams.  Why the hell couldn’t SVG turn into a retard during the Cavs series?  This makes me sad, because the Magic aren’t playing like they were against the team I root for…fucking assholes.

Anyways, the Magic had a chance to win at the end with a brilliant play where Dwight screened Kobe, letting Courtney Lee get right to the basket, and after a sublime lob pass by Hedo, it looked like the Magic were about to tie this series, but Lee missed and to OT we went.  And OT was not kind for Whore-lando.

Good news for the Magic is that, after a Monday practice round at Bethpage Black, Tiger will be in attendance on Tuesday, meaning they’ll probably win by double digits.

Baseball Notes: Roy Halladay is the tits supreme.  The owner of the best, non-Asdrubal name in baseball, Clete Thomas, hit a salami to help the Kitties beat the Angels.  The Indians fucked the Meth Sox’s Colon.  The Cubs beat the Reds in 14.  Ryan Braun is the Hebrew Hammer.  Livan Hernandez beat up a retard and the Rockies and Cardinals played…isn’t that cute?